EASTER SUNDAY: does Jesus save?

Biker's style 

"Over my years it has been a hard sell to think that white women could be free from the terror!" - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 4/2/18

model Roxanne Gould nearly 60yrs. old symbolizes something earthly about grace that age introduces to the equations of doubt! Then there is something about the crucifixion of Jesus mentioned there within her stance we need pay attention to, and ask: "Who really died on the Cross; the ideal of womanhood, or a man to free the soul at deepest levels?" - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 4/2/18 

ELDER TALK: Jesus, Belief and Practice

Many have stood at this crossroad with these questions relying less on scholarship, and the probes into the mystical teachings of this walk, and more on other's thoughts on the subjects you raised.

Your first question: "Baptism. Does it mean the Holy Spirit comes into a person automatically?" Your second question suffers with the first question in a tangle of dogma from various sects in Protestantism: "I thought confessing Jesus, as one's Lord and Savior, meant one was born again?" The last question you ask has the embracing fragrance of innocence and honesty. "So how can you get baptized and not get the gift of the Spirit, that I flat out don't get because the Holy Ghost is a gift after all your sins have been washed away through the blood. I thought a gift is just what it is: a gift!"  

My first inclination is to suggest you begin your study, in the Bible, accepting that it is a long process delving into this subject matter. Because the question is fundamental to Christianity. The answers should be more than passable understanding of its progenitor religion, and that worldview needs to be learned to have depth as a follower of these teachings! It is important to have depth with substance, and breaking the tradition of glib answers to profound questions follow Paul's admonishment to "Study to show yourself approved..." and follow suit with your own spiritual practice!  

In easier language, there is a nest from which the answers to your questions flew away from! From animal sacrifices to the quest in the first century Church to rid itself of the vestiges of its Hebrew roots, to the horrible centuries of blood conquest/missionary work, to the 20th century revivals until now; the answers to your questions have been altered by histories of actions, politics, and the business of slave trade maintenance. So, your answers are easily assessable in the Bible, but do you really want to explore the fundamentals of your religious belief, or do you simply want to be sure of your salvation?  

To honor the questions, I am obligated to honor the teaching style of the Rabbi Jesus, who was initiated into his role, into manhood. He comes from not what passes today as a way into the kingdom of God, but from a tradition steeped in probes into the Unknown, with the tradition of study and introspection of their holy books and rituals interlinked with the development of the abstract and the intellect simultaneously!  - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 9/18/17 

The cost

Gospel singer, Tina Campbell, made a smug statement supporting Donald Trump for President during his bid for the office in 2016. Tina Campbell, of the powerful gospel dual, Mary Mary, nearly a year since Trump has been in office is feeling the consequence of her support for Trump, from her fans. She felt it clearly admitting: "...overall ticket sales haven’t shown that we have the support that we need to continue the tour at this time"

Since Mary Mary member and gospel singer Tina Campbell revealed her vote for former reality television star Donald Trump, disappointment has washed over her devout fan base because she ignored her people's history, and scorned their deep knowledge of white men! Despite Tina’s adamant defense and explanation for her political decision, fans did not buy it. In one movement she isolated herself from her people's collective history.

She should have kept her mouth shut and she should have studied what she really believed instead of insisting upon being the version of Christianity that is the source of Black people's tragedies. This raging conflict with so many Colored folks, like her, is the lie that supports the myth that some white guy, who looks like the white Jesus, will save 'us'. That little thing called 'studying to show one's self approved...' has to be intelligent counsel. Voting against one's own interest is the unstudied way of being both loyal to the perceptions of white people, and being a 'good Christian' making a stand to make white people feel good about themselves. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 10/31/17 

Donald Trump, our president, as he presents himself. 

Soldiers Prayer?

There is a question simmering beneath the appearance of patriotic America: should troops be free to worship anywhere?

I agree. People in objection don't understand combat or living in the constant threat of being killed with a sense of duty to something larger than them. All the emotions around outrage over church over state, and anger over religious experiences that didn't make life easy for many, or fury over the system of religion influencing thought and action, melt away in war. What is left is the raw, bare bones of awareness of the fragility of life, and you start to pray sensing the beyond, like never before! 


Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 
April 10, 2017  

Greek soldiers in combat.

Arms up!

Esta preciosa tu modelo. 

oil painting by T. Kelly undecided 8x12 inch

Older woman as Art 4. photographer unnamed.

photographer, Mila Reynaud for Glamorama Studio of Janet Fischietto.

InkSpired magazine model, Inked Lady (2016).

Honey covered woman by Blake Little.

The question was did Jesus save your soul? Yes or no. I had to answer the group saying, "No."

I walked the Jesus Road different because my soul didn't need saving. It needed to find a way to continue living within the mysteries, the magic I was born into. All children are born into magical atmospheres. It where we all come from. I know my answer is too esoteric, but in this venue I won't explain what is beyond expectation. I just needed in this moment to see what it looked like written down. But, I also wanted to express in this medium what is easy for me say in person that there is no child born into sin. From living deep as a child and later initiated into manhood ceremoniously, and studying the Bible it became impossible to live under the weight of such an assertion! I discovered low self-esteem associates its energies with belief in being born a sinner in most people. It became abundantly clear working with the lives of people at the bottom of society. But, the whole notion of not believing in the fundamentals of sin aligned with the creation of mankind debunks believer's structure leaving them naked without a place to stand.  . . - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories [2/16/17]

Jesus is the Way?

Indigenous People Of America,


All of US native American Indians can become a successful human being! I am from the tribes of the Shoshone / Paiute of Southern California. We are very intelligent and inventive, we have so much natural talent and our minds are an amazing tool If we choose ! so why WHY do so many of our people of the native nationalities allow themselves to be given over to alcohol and drugs and self pity then they die a lonely heart wrenching death! I gotta say that hurts me so bad it's hard to understand that someone's son or daughter is lying in gutter dying and no one seems to care! 

American Indians MATTER! I am soo thankful that before I was born a fearless Preacher found his way to the Tehachapi mountains and told my grandfather about the precious love of Jesus for the Indians and my grandpa was saved by God's amazing grace and not only him and my grandma but a lot of my aunts and uncles were saved! Through the generations the children of those Indians have chosen the love of Jesus Christ and have accepted Him as my Lord and King !! I will tell you it's the best decision I have made! Christ is the ONLY answer for the Indian Nation. I will be praying for Bro and sisters of the American Indian Nation. Love you so much! Jeannie.

Lyle Budlong


I am of the Absaroka, the Muskogee, and the West African peoples. I have lived this life the whole of my life as an Indian, an African and walked the Red Road first from birth and later the Jesus Road for many years learning deep things applicable to both, and later for the betterment of my Medicines.

The question I want to ask this brother comes from our tradition of not trying to disrespect a person's walk. I want to understand how Jesus is the only answer for the Indian nations? We had our own Red Road, our own walk with the Creator. Were not the teachings of Jesus and the tool of the missionaries Jesus to undermine our way of life taking our lands, customs and teachings away from us? How a taker becomes a savior is beyond me, far outside reasonable!

These are my words. I am Alowan Chanteh Inyan Wichasha
(Dawn Wolf), Keeper of Stories 1/15/17

bead work - concentric circles of Life, time & memory.

artist unknown. sorry.

"The fall of light is not a descent it is an arousal of substances that make up the composition of dark creating colors and light." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

SUNDAY Morning services.

Art world of Joy Mollnar titled this piece, Dancing On Sacred Ground

Color struck: America's White Jesus is a global export and false product

by Wesley Muhammad, PhD.


What color was Jesus? Most American Christians—Black and White—would dismiss this question as both irrelevant and unanswerable as the Gospels fail to give us a physical description. The irony is that most of these same Americans in their heart of hearts are pretty confident any way that they know what color Jesus was. They attend churches with images of a tall, long haired, full bearded White man depicted in stained glass windows or painted on walls, and they return home to the same depictions framed in their living room or illustrating their family Bibles.

Further compounding the irony is the fact that America actually has an obsession with the (presumed) color of Christ and has exported her White Americanized Savior around the world, as recently documented by Edward J. Blum and Paul Harvey in their book, The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America (2012).

In fact, the world’s most popular and recognizable image of Christ is a distinctly 19th-20th century American creation. It is true that versions of the “White Christ” appear in European art as early as the 4th century of the Christian era, but these images coexisted with other, nonwhite representations throughout European history. The popularity of the cult of the Black Madonna and Black Christ throughout Europe is evidence of the fact that the European ‘White Christs’ never acquired the authority and authenticity that the White Christ now has globally. This Christ and his authority are American phenomena. As a predominantly Protestant nation Early America rejected the imaging of Christ that characterized European Catholicism.

By the mid-19th century, however, in response to American expansion, splintering during the Civil War and subsequent reconstructing, “Whiteness” took on a new significance and a newly- empowered “White Jesus” rose to prominence as the sanctifying symbol of a new national unity and power. As Blum and Harvey observe:

“By wrapping itself with the alleged form of Jesus, whiteness gave itself a holy face … With Jesus as white, Americans could feel that sacred whiteness stretched back in time thousands of years and forward in sacred space to heaven and the second coming … The white Jesus promised a white past, a white present, and a future of white glory.”

As America rose to superpower status in the 20th century she became the world’s leading producer and global exporter of White Jesus imagery through film, art, American business, and Christian missions, and has thereby defined the world’s view of the Son of God. This globally recognizable Jesus is a totally American product. Indeed, he is an American. Warner Sallman’s iconic image of Jesus called Head of Christ (1941) became the most widely reproduced piece of artwork in world history and its depiction the most recognizable face of Jesus in the world. By the 1990s it had been printed over 500 million times and achieved global iconic status. With smooth white skin, long, flowing blondish-brown hair, long beard and blue eyes, this Nordic Christ consciously disguised any hint of Jesus’s Semitic, oriental origin—and departed from the older European depictions. It both shaped and was shaped by emerging American ideas of whiteness. The beloved White Jesus of today’s world was Made in America.

What, then, did Jesus actually look like? Despite the absence of a detailed description of Jesus’s physical appearance in the Gospels (though John the Revelator saw the risen Christ apparently with wooly hair and black feet, Rev. 1:14-15), there are non-biblical evidences that actually allow us to visualize the Son of God from Nazareth.

Revelation 1:14-15 - King James Version (KJV)
14) His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
15) And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

The first century Jewish writer Josephus (37-100 AD) penned the earliest non-biblical testimony of Jesus. He reportedly had access to official Roman records on which he based his information and in his work Halosis or the “Capture (of Jerusalem),” written around 72 A.D., Josephus discussed “the human form of Jesus and his wonderful works.” Unfortunately his texts have passed through Christian hands which altered them, removing offensive material. Fortunately, however, Biblical scholar Robert Eisler in a classic 1931 study of Josephus’ Testimony was able to reconstruct the unaltered testimony based on a newly-discovered Old Russian translation that preserved the original Greek text. According to Eisler’s reconstruction, the oldest non-Biblical description of Jesus read as follows:

“At that time also there appeared a certain man of magic power … if it be meet to call him a man, [whose name is Jesus], whom [certain] Greeks call a son of [a] God, but his disciples [call] the true prophet … he was a man of simple appearance, mature age, black-skinned (melagchrous), short growth, three cubits tall, hunchbacked, prognathous (lit. ‘with a long face’ [macroprosopos]), a long nose, eyebrows meeting above the nose … with scanty [curly] hair, but having a line in the middle of the head after the fashion of the Nazaraeans, with an undeveloped beard.”

This short, black-skinned, mature, hunchbacked Jesus with a unibrow, short curly hair and undeveloped beard bears no resemblance to the Jesus Christ taken for granted today by most of the Christian world: the tall, long haired, long bearded, white-skinned and blue eyed Son of God. Yet, this earliest textual record matches well the earliest iconographic evidence.

The earliest visual depiction of Jesus is a painting found in 1921 on a wall of the baptismal chamber of the house-church at Dura Europos, Syria and dated around 235 A.D. The Jesus that is “Healing the Paralytic Man” (Mark 2:1-12) is short and dark-skinned with a small curly afro - see below.
This description has now been supported by the new science of forensic anthropology. In 2002 British forensic scientists and Israeli archaeologists reconstructed what they believe is the most accurate image of Jesus based off of data obtained from the multi-disciplinary approach. In December 2002 Popular Science Magazine published a cover story on the findings which confirm that Jesus would have been short, around 5”1’, hair “short with tight curls,” a weather-beaten face “which would have made him appear older,” dark eyes and complexion: “he probably looked a great deal more like a dark-skinned Semite than Westerners are used to seeing,” they concluded. The textual, visual, and scientific evidence agrees, then: Jesus likely was a short, dark-skinned Semite with short curly hair and dark eyes.

Colossians 1:15 describes Christ as the “image of the unseen God” and in the Gospel of John (12:45; 14:9) Jesus declares that whoever sees him has seen God. What Jesus “looks like” then is not irrelevant as it is in some way a pointer to God Himself.

Guns to Jesus



Gun deaths vs Terror deaths poster

Gun control is white fears awakened. Fundamentally, that is all it is. Unable to control their own rages, or corral their propensity to violate, take and kill they have to do something, but as a rule do nothing effective. As an antidote, they found solace in denying the existence of God, and run to the church to sell the idea of war. Can peace and reconciliation arise from this? Can Jesus save?

 

To the latter question: no. He hasn't in times past what is different today to make it possible?

 

 

Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

July 28, 2016



gun held by Jane Fonda

 

Naked Before The Captor

Escape From Abuse
By Dr. Sinclair Grey III


Do you know someone who has been abused or is currently being abused in a relationship? They've gone through physical, sexual, emotional, and/or mental abuse. No matter how you label it, abuse in any form is destructive to one's psyche and spirituality. Going through abuse shouldn't be taken lightly. I want you to get into your spirit that men are not the only ones who abuse because there are plenty of women who are guilty of the same behavior.

In this life, I've discovered if you continue to live in an abusive state, you'll be messed up from the floor up. In other words, when you fail to escape from abuse, the abuser has control over you. Your thoughts and actions are centered around the abuser. In many cases, people who spend so much energy focused on the abuse and the abuser will end up missing what God has for them. Getting over any abusive situation requires plenty of work, plenty of faith, and plenty of self-determination. As one who faced physical, emotional, and mental abuse from past relationships and friendships, I can testify to the goodness of the Lord. Whatever you're dealing with in your life, I want you to know that God has the ability to pick you up when everyone else is trying to keep you down. God has the ability to provide you with a supernatural escape route from the abuse.

In this spiritual journey, I want to offer you a few suggestions in helping you escape from abuse. The first thing you need to do is tell yourself that you're better than the abuse. You must reiterate to yourself that you deserve better and no one and nothing is going to hold you back. The more you tell yourself that you deserve better, the more you reinforce your self-value. The second thing you need to know is that you're not defined by the abuse but by your relationship with God. Don't allow your spirit to be broken by people trying to hurt you. Once your spirit is broken, they have control. On the other hand, if you've got faith in God and hold on to His Hand in the midst of it all, you'll begin to see your escape route.

The Psalmist said, "I will lift up my eyes to the hills, From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber." Please don't miss this last lesson. You can escape from the abuse because you have power on the inside that's greater than anything on the outside. In a real sense, abusers don't know who your Heavenly Father is or what He can do for you. As I close this message, you need to know when God gives you an escape route; He closes the door to the abuse and abuser. That's shouting material because God is able to do what others deem impossible. With God, all things are possible. 7.18.14

art of Paul Gauguin titled Spirit of the Dead Watchin' - Vogue 1992

Watch out! White Women!



protest by white women

"This is shattering! What an observation and statement!! Is it from irreverence, anger or righteouness this protest? One has to ask when white women are involved." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 6.12.16
 

JESUS is who?

Who is Jesus?

At the heart of Christianity is a central question, "Just who is Jesus Christ?" It may be astounding to some that such a question is still relevant after nearly two millennia of Christian activity, but as strange as it may seem, even Christians do not agree about the nature of the founder of their religion. This fact says a great deal about those who profess to be "Christian," which at its most basic means "follower of Christ." If Christians display such profound disagreement about Jesus Christ Himself, can they all really be following the same Person?

This subject becomes all the more important since, in its most common form, Christianity is proclaimed as a message about Jesus. What a person believes about Jesus, then, informs his understanding of the religion itself. We can see the result of this process in the thousands of Christian denominations in all parts of the world. While they all proclaim to be Christian, the individual sects emphasize different aspects of Jesus in their teaching. For instance:

Baptists name themselves after Jesus' practice of baptizing converts, and they traditionally stress conformity to certain behavioral rules: no drinking, no card playing, no dancing. Jesus, to them, is a great moral Teacher.
Pentecostals, on the other hand, call themselves after Jesus' promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit, which was fulfilled on the Feast of Pentecost after Jesus' death and resurrection. They are known for their great desire to express the gifts of the Spirit, particularly being able to speak in tongues. In other words, their Jesus is a Miracle Worker.

Seventh-day Adventists take their name from the seventh-day Sabbath, which Jesus is plainly shown to have kept, as well as from His promise to come again. They promote Jesus as the bringer of the soon-coming rest of God. Methodists are so called because John Wesley emphasized a structured, methodical approach to Bible study and Christian living, teaching that believers must exercise their free will to come to Christ (as opposed to being absolutely predestined to salvation). Thus, they highlight Jesus' many commands for the individual to be actively involved in his own salvation and Christian growth. The Reformed Churches, descendants of the teaching of John Calvin, underscore the necessity of grace through faith in Christ, a reaction to abuses of the medieval Catholic Church's doctrine of works. In this way, they see Jesus as a gracious Redeemer.

Most denominations can be characterized—some would say caricatured—by identifying their concepts of Jesus Himself. He is Christianity's central figure, so how one views Christ determines what one believes and the religion he follows. This confusion about Him actually began during His own life—even among those who had known Him all His life:

When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, "Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?" So they were offended at Him. (Matthew 13:54-57). It seems that there was general disagreement in Judea over just who He was:

When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" So they said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." (Matthew 16:13-14) And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?" So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee." (Matthew 21:10-11)

Now some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill? But look! He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ? However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from." (John 7:25-27)
Of course, His enemies had questions about Him too:

And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" (Luke 5:21). And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" (Luke 7:49). Therefore some of the Pharisees said, "This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath." Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" And there was a division among them. (John 9:16). However, Matthew 16:15-17 provides us with the best starting point, confirmed by Christ Himself, in answering the question, "Who is Jesus?"

He said to [His disciples], "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven."

The God-revealed answer is that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the literal Son of the Supreme Being of all the universe. Of course, He is a great deal more than this, but these two facts are the most foundational to our spiritual understanding of this wonderful Being. They give us the basis of His relationship to us and our future, as well as His relationship to Deity, fixing Him as the bridge between man and God. From this foundation, we can begin a deeper consideration of the biblical Jesus.

Ralph Fequa 6.18.14 

Parenting LIGHT

Parenting the Light of the World is erroneously thought to be the exclusive role of Mary, his mother. That assumption stopped creative processes the world over as women in every country birthed light into the world. It is a special privilege raising light. Believing there was only one light limits that light and intimidates the light out of lives that could do better than Jesus' life. It was his fervent wish that we do better and more than he and live life more abundantly. Belief, since he expressed that wish, suppressed creative people's dreams. In other words mothers and fathers suffocated the possibility and the notion of another child becoming a Messiah simultaneously killing the unction within many spirits to be God-like and create with the power Jesus said we had access to. To make it plainer, the Church didn't believe a cotton pickin' thing Jesus said that required more than rudimentary belief in authority, and blind obedience to simple rules.


In a very real sense belief became a 'mother fucker'. I say that with heaviness and deep sensitivity to the negative power and connotation of the word. Motherfucker is one of the two most despised words in the English language to me, but in this instance it is a logical fit into understanding the bad programming we live with as a society! The word speaks to a horrible thought process, and tells the long story of an awful assimilation into mediocrity twenty centuries of people have submitted themselves to as a superior force outside of nature because they couldn't and didn't believe and understand what Jesus said and meant as a legacy for the following generations!  

- Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 11.23.14

Jesus say no . . . 

... it (the cartoon)brings to a point of consideration the unique challenges of raising a gifted child. How do you raise one gifted child to be a child amongst other children without spoiling or killing their spirit? - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 11.23.14

Do You Know Jesus?



Condoleezza Rice was nominated for Secretary of State
by George W. Bush on November 14, 2004,
and assumed office on January 26, 2005

The Axial Period of world history was unique. The major religions in this time period of a few centuries saw enlightenment expand into the development of major religions. Islam, Zoroaster, Jainism, Hindu, Christianity and others came into the light of human awareness birthing new shifts in consciousness.

There is a lot missed thinking that Jesus is the only way. Considering that Jesus was a Rabbi means nothing if one does not understand what a Rabbi has to learn, how he is initiated and how deep their skill at research, analytical thought and not the least their disciplined grasp of major disciplines. Compared to the mediocre trysts into critical thought the average Christian makes beyond being saved how relevant is this type of religious focus if it is narrow?  Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 6.8.15 

L A W of worship

prayer to the divine source by Burton Gray

This is a reach. If one is without Jesus are they nothing or are they the I AM presence without a label? Is Jesus a prerequisite for relationship with the Creator for everybody, every soul? Spirituality and religions existed before him upon the Earth, our Mother, and long after the Axial Period more spiritual development continued not in Jesus' name. So, without Jesus does that negate his powers making him something?

- Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 10.24.15

 

Blood of our Brothers

Israel woman soldier in combat (2013)




murder

Jesus said these words, "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." not exclusively to soldiers, but to men born of a woman. In that moment amongst the Hebrews the disciples culturally understood Jesus as man, an initiated man talking to them because men's relationship with blood is profoundly and basically different from women's relationship with blood. He was addressing primal truths centered around life-death-resurrection as if love is stronger than death! 


The covenant relationships between men Jesus spoke of to his disciples are about love between men beyond normal relationships between men with or without substance to their friendships. I say 'his disciples' because Jesus, as a Rabbi, had to speak the way one speaks to initiates when addressing his men, and to regular people another way he spoke so ears may hear with clarity in the context of what they know and who they are. . .


There is a lot more to share, but in the context of this medium one can only plunge so deep into the wells of knowledge and the warrior teachings soldiers don't get until they have died, faced their shadows, or lost parts of their spirit killing people in the killing theaters. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories (Creek, African) Nov. 3, 2015





Israeli soldier has sparked controversy after posting pictures of herself on Facebook
posing with bound and blindfolded Palestinian prisoners.

Israeli female soldiers shopping and leisure travel beach gun their hands Israeli female soldiers to participate in the live-fire exercises Leisure on the beach (1)

 

8 Forces = Creation

hair flung into the air by belly dancer

During the years time moved around and gave me age I've thought about the so-called struggle with the Devil, and I began to see the emphasis on him as a Magician's Trick; a clever way of throwing out of sync where the focus of spiritual work should be: within. Not only is the universe reflected within our being the shadows and the light of our souls is reflective of the elements that compose Creation. Creation is a dance of elements. It is math and law, as Old Man taught me over the same years that gave me age, and insights.

Morihei Ueshiba, who founded Aikido, observed and shared that "Eight forces sustain creation: movement and stillness, solidification and fluidity, extension and contraction, unification and division."  When the Sioux war chief, Sitting Bull was in a battle he said, "Today is a good day to die, for all the things of my life are here." Jesus said, "I am the way the truth and the Light..."

These are long ways of men saying what women teach by their powers of Birth. Life-death-resurrection is the fundamental thread within the mystery teachings of Judaism, and from the ancient mysterious of the Egyptians, and many other indigenous traditions lives these sensible  observations felt in the way one lives with the Earth, our Mother.

War-like cultures have to have an enemy. Islam talks about the holy jihad as the inner battle, or struggle one undertakes within one's soul between light and dark, good and evil. These themes are fundamental to growth, and uncovering the mysteries we come from and are born into and are compelled to explore. If one needs a devil to focus on to become his/her best self; so be it. It is just that Old Man forbade me giving Satan any energy by acknowledging, or saying his name. Old Man said Christians say his name, and gave him more credit for things than they do Jesus!

- Gregory E. Woods, 

Keeper of Stories

10.10.13

CREATRESS

Bradley Cooper's fine 

"Women like God are the ultimate givers. The appearance of real man who loves unconditionally is at the core of Jesus' intention to restore the broken family of God. May God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit guide men to become the safety, dependability and love for God's bride and children we were created to be. As a man I feel repentful for the collective cluelessness and immaturity of my kind. When women and children are loved, protected and respected, we will have heaven on earth. Women have waited since the beginning of human existence for men to act like men."

- Adruma Victoria 9.12.13

baseball player in white heels!
"If a woman has the potential of the Goddess will they realize it within
the social construct they live in and support?"
- Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories
7.18.15 

JESUS IS A WHITE MAN

The sad fact to face as a lay person, and a pastor is the resistance of Black and White Americans to go against the traditional relationship set up between slave and master (black and white) in the American lexicon of relationship. The question we all ask ourselves at some point in our existence is what do we do about it when we see it affecting our offspring. But, the interpretation of the Eastern document (the Bible) by Western thought binds honesty to a pillar thus preventing clarity from gaining power in the consciousness of everyone bound by the rules of subjugation. 



Freedom is feared amongst Americans because of its demands to look each other in the eye and tell the truth, and to look one's self in the eye and decide to embody the truth. Because white Americans chose to view the Bible as a means to subjugate they are unable to lose themselves from the bondage they created. Entombed in fear the white man turns white with the element, and Black men turn grim against the reasons to become men and become free. Black people, as a whole have become Wasicun Sapa (Black White People) in the name of survival, and white Americans have learned to bully. This is why the symbol of Jesus remains, by popular denial, white. This is the American story, and why so many Christians from other countries come here as missionaries. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 7.24.13

Jesus after resurrection convincing Thomas...

Fashion of the CROSS

Piper PERABO

Why the cross? you ask. What is the potency of the cross, and why is it worn with devotion and how does it give attention to the details of one's mortality? From torture to death to salvation is the red of the cross, the blood of the Lamb. Redemption comes from the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, who died on the cross of his own volition. This is how the story of the Cross is told from the pulpit, has been told from ancient Rome to the missionaries cutting a swath across the Americas. This accumulation of power(s) is how the Cross became a symbol of holy war. These powers are intertwined with the notion that the gospel has to be told everywhere out of concern and fear of souls going to hell forever, and Nature not being turned into property by the indigenous peoples of the world!

For the duration of their tenure as a world power Rome dotted their country sides with men hanging from crudely erected crosses. Those men had committed an assorted of crimes, challenged any number of culturally held mores, and lost their lives, and value to a worldview that valued and assessed life that today feeds the concepts of life, liberty, justice, and the pursuit of happiness in today's American value system. And now strangely, the perception of life from an apex predator, a sexual vulture's appetite for death and dying, and an altered sense of self based upon enslavement created energies that sought input from the Most High when economically feasible, and from God salvation from the Cross of Jesus! We believe in the Cross for reasons that steer us away from the natural flow of the life-death-resurrection Jesus came from!

It is an incredible leap of faith that there are no repercussions if the symbols of death are converted into the hope of salvation. That leap has shaped us all. I ask, should that spirit of thought be held at arm's length because it is the devil? Why wear the cross? Why do you wear it if you do not know the trail it took to become a holy symbol? - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 8.17.2014

TRUTH OF THE MATTER

"Color does matter. It mattered enough to alter his ethnicity for 20 centuries! Reverting to the truth of the matter seems to be honest." 

Black Jesus in National Church in Mexico City 

Jesus

Tami, expressed incomprehension at the breathe and depth of racism with some naivete. But she also asked for solutions to a complex problem that is constantly expressing itself, and unraveling in our lives on a daily basis. Denial and assertions of mixed race relationships in white families is a mixed bag of contradictions when used as a defense against being called a racist. Marrying a white woman or man in a Black family is not felt the same way in Black families, and if one pays attention to details each claim of a white person not being a racist is matched by pained reactions from Blacks. Why? Because every action of white Europeans for centuries has produced dark ominous realities for people of color around the globe. This is too much for whites living today to bear. It is unbearable the historical weight of what they have done, and who they have become as a result. My heart has learned to go out to them. The pain is in their actions, their heart songs, and their words. The spiritual work required to heal these deep wounds is feared because it is so intense, so terrifying because it will rend asunder the fabric of individual's lives.

The healing modalities available are being used by healers in sacred circles and lodges around the globe, but sadly Christians are not great participants in these circles. Immersed in a pitiful state of denial, and a bizarre commitment to mediocrity millions of Christians envelope themselves in asinine dialogues that dismisses facts, and asserts destructive images in to replace fact and knowledge. It's weird, but a subject of great interest in the atheist and agnostic communities, and in indigenous circles the world over. 

Claiming Jesus was not an African, not a married Rabbi, that the 12 tribes of Israel were of all four races is a profoundly soul damaging assertion into the face of fact, and the face of the man, Jesus,to whom so much accord is given as being the Son of God. In his day on Earth there were only two people of the white race in African affairs: the Greeks and the Romans. The racial conflicts we have now are traceable. There is a need to mention how the Church validated conquest, and murderous missionary work. The end result is in the racial claims Christians are fond of making that continue to degrade people of African descent, and the Africans living in the Mother Land suffering deeply from the colonist's legacy and the missionary's bloodied handiwork. What continues to be done to the tribes within the United States by the churches is a sin before God and Man, but it is condoned and sanctioned by the Father's and the lay people of those churches who believe, who need to believe in a white Jesus!

Judaism, Christianity and Islam are African religions. The Eastern thought that authored their revered sacred books is disrespected by inserting previously non-existent theology, and socially restraining dogma, and teaching conquered people to assume that the Bible is a book of Western orientation of thought and spirituality, and that Jesus was a white man! 

These are my words from my life. - Gregory E. Woods, DawnWolf KeeperofStories (7.5.12)

[So what image, or dream replaces the truth with reverence?] 

Playboy Playmate October 2014 Roxanna June