Pass the Salt, Please

March against Monsanto

A few weeks ago, my wife and kids and I joined about 80 to 100 people on a Saturday to march against Monsanto and GMO (genetically modified) crops. We met at a park near downtown. After the organizer gave a rousing speech, everyone carried signs and marched through town to the Capitol Building. Some people honked their car horns in support, while others looked skeptical or amused. There were similar protests held that day in about 400 cities around the world. It was a global event to promote the safety of our food supply.

Did you know for at least 30 years Monsanto has buried scientific evidence linking the herbicide Roundup (glyphosate) to cancer, just like the tobacco companies did? Glyphosate is what farmers spray on GMO crops. Countries around the world recognize the dangers and have banned GMO crops and glyphosate. Even the World Health Organization lists glyphosate as probable carcinogen. Yet almost all corn, wheat and soybeans grown in the US are GMO and our food supply is absolutely drenched in glyphosate. Air, water and soils are contaminated with it. Have you wondered why so many people around you are getting cancer? Well there's a reason for it.

Did you know that many lab studies on animals as well as first-hand experiences by farmers show that GMO crops cause massive tumors, digestive tract disorders, bowel cancer, infertility and chronic disease? Yet Americans are fed GMO food at every meal. Ever wonder why so many people are getting wheat sensitivities, food allergies and infertility problems? Well there's a reason for it. Did you know Monsanto's former chief lobbyist Michael Taylor is now the FDA Deputy Commissioner? The truth is that US federal oversight agencies are corrupt and beholden to corporate interests. There are no long-term studies that show GMO foods are safe, yet they are approved for public consumption anyway. You can bet a lot of money is changing hands behind the scenes.

Salt and Light in the World

At the march against Monsanto I did not see any groups that looked like they came from a church. Maybe individual Christians were there, I don't know, but mostly I saw hippie types and concerned mothers with children. Good for them! But where were the churches? Why weren't church members protesting by the thousands against GMO foods poisoning all of our families and children? Why aren't churches leading this movement?

Jesus said his disciples are to be salt and light in society:

"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house."
 - Matthew 5:13-15

Christian churches are supposed to be the primary institutions in society that proclaim the truth, expose dark deeds and corruption and stand up for justice. Salt of the earth and light of the world, not salt in a pew and light under a church steeple. The gospel is meant to be lived out through personal and societal transformation.

Salt and light just pertain to personal morality and lifestyle, some might say. Really? You mean Christians aren't responsible for engaging societal and political issues that make an EARTHLY difference in the WORLD? I beg to differ.

Wilberforce and King

As a good example, the English parliamentarian and Christian William Wilberforce fought a long, hard political and public battle to abolish slavery in England. He stood against the political and commercial powers of the day to win justice for fellow mankind.

Another example is Martin Luther King Jr. He preached and marched peacefully against segregation and, in spite of persecution, helped win civil rights for blacks in America. He also came to see the war in Vietnam was immoral and spoke against it. That's why they killed him, by the way. The power elite did not want an influential minister like King stirring up sentiment against their pet war.

Next we'll look at examples of what not to do.

Isaiah 1 - Seek Justice

In the first chapter of Isaiah, the Lord sets forth his complaint against Judah and Jerusalem. The people have rebelled against God and abandoned his ways. If they continue in rebellion, the Lord says the land will be made desolate, the cities burned with fire and the whole country overthrown by foreigners. 

So, what must the Israelite do to avert catastrophe and be restored to God? It is written here:

"Cease to do evil,
Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Reprove the ruthless,
Defend the orphan,
Plead for the widow."
- Isaiah 1:16-17

The reason for God judging Judah and Jerusalem was because they did not seek justice in society. They did not reprove the ruthless or stand up against the powerful who oppressed others. They did not stand in the gap and defend the orphans, widows or downtrodden. They let injustice stand. Oh sure, they continued to present offerings in the temple, but God wasn't interested in that. He wanted JUSTICE and expected his people to pursue it.

After many years of prophetic warnings and pleadings to repent, the Lord allowed Jerusalem to be destroyed because the injustice had to stop.

Sodom and Gomorrah

Many know the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, how these cities were destroyed by fire and brimstone because their gross immorality reached the heavens. What most people miss is that Sodom and Gomorrah were not destroyed only or even primarily because of sexual perversion. The Lord explains the reason right here in Ezekiel:

"Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it."
 - Ezekiel 16:49-50

Sodom was destroyed because the people were wealthy and decadent, yet failed to help weak and poor among them, and allowed the powerful and wealthy to oppress them. In other words, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for the same reason as Judah and Jerusalem: The citizens failed to seek justice in society.

[Credit to my friend Greg who pointed out the real lesson of Sodom and Gomorrah, and fully understood the importance of seeking justice long before I did.]

How bad was it in Sodom? The Book of Jasher gives details here. (Side note: The Book of Jasher or Jashar is one of two books directly referenced or quoted in the Bible - see Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18. The other is the Book of Enoch, which is quoted in Jude and whose content is discussed in Genesis 6 and the gospels. Both books are important to understand the background history of Scripture.)

In Sodom and Gomorrah, the civil authorities (judges) required that beds be erected in the cities. When foreigners traveled through, the citizens forcefully placed the foreigner on a bed. If he was shorter than the bed, they were to stretch him from both ends and cause excruciating pain. If he was taller than the bed, they folded the bed in half and crushed the foreigner to the point of near death. So they tortured foreigners to discourage them from coming to the cities.

When a poor foreigner arrived, they would give him silver and gold but then issue a decree forbidding anyone from giving him food or water. Eventually the foreigner starved to death, and the people reclaimed their gold and took the man's clothes. Not only did they not help, but they mocked the poor too.

One of Lot's daughters Paltith had compassion on a starving foreigner and secretly fed him for days. When the civil authorities discovered she was doing this, they ruled that Paltith be burned alive in the street for failing to obey the law. A similar thing happened in another city, and they ruled the woman be pasted head to toe with honey and set next to bee hives to be stung.

America Headed for Judgment

America also has serious problems with injustice. There are problems that many Christian churches acknowledge, such abortion and the radical homosexual agenda, but what particularly concerns me are the problems that most churches fail to even acknowledge exist, much less do anything about. They are blinded by patriotism and a belief that authorities have good intentions and tell them the truth. I'm afraid this is naive to the point of ridiculousness. 

* Did you know that the airplanes that hit Twin Towers on 9/11 could not have caused the buildings to fall? Hundreds and even thousands of engineers, architects and scientists have analyzed the 9/11 data and proved it is unequivocally impossible for that to have happened. See www.ae911truth.org. Did you know the Twin Towers fell at free fall speeds directly into their own footprint, which is only possible through a highly coordinated and controlled demolition? Did you know people heard explosions in the basement and other locations in the building and that residue of thermite, an explosive that melts steel and blows out steel structures, was found throughout the debris? Did you know a third 50-story steel building, World Trade Center Building 7, also fell into its own footprint at free fall speeds that day after explosions occurred, but we were told it was because of some burning office furniture? Totally impossible. Neither office fires nor jet fuel can melt steel, not by a long shot.

Did you know that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced to Congress THE DAY BEFORE 9/11 that the Pentagon could not account for $2.3 TRILLION dollars in funds, and afterwards this issue was swept under the rug? Did you know that no plane was photographed hitting the Pentagon, even though it is one of the most highly surveilled buildings in the world, and no jet plane debris was found. (It was a missile or drone.) Did you know the only department hit and destroyed in the Pentagon was one investigating financial fraud and abuse? The people and records were destroyed.

Yet the government used 9/11 as a pretext for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, killing and harming millions of FOREIGNERS, militarizing our local police and establishing a total surveillance state in America.

I once fell for all the patriotic propaganda around 9/11, Iraq and Afghanistan, but the Lord woke me up.

The church was supposed to expose and oppose this. 

* Did you know our government and others are engaged in a climate engineering or geoengineering program that is causing tremendous harm to human, animal and plant life on this planet?  Did you know it is virtually impossible for modern turbofan engines to create contrails, or vapor trails that follow behind the planes? Yet I regularly see jets flying over my area spraying a persistent trail that slowly disperses and forms artificial clouds and makes the air hazy. Some days the spraying is so heavy and coordinated that the sky looks like a tic tac toe board. 

Numerous scientific studies of water, air and soil have found dramatically elevated levels of aluminum, barium, strontium and other compounds from this aerosol spraying. These are neurotoxins that cause chronic disease, including autism and Alzheimers.

Did you know that one in three people in America now die with (not necessarily from) Alzheimers or dementia? Did you know that autism rates have risen by more than 10,000% since the 1960s? The Ivy League university MIT recently said that if current trends continue, ONE IN TWO CHILDREN WILL BE BORN WITH AUTISM IN ONLY 10 YEARS. We can't survive as a species at that rate. See Wake Up, You Live in The Matrix #8 - Geoengineering, Judgment of God and Coming Restoration.

The church was supposed to expose and oppose this.

* Did you know when the US and NATO killed Gadhafi and destroyed the government of Libya, it created a failed state that is now full of jihadis and proliferating radical Islam? It was a peaceful, prosperous oil country before we showed up. Did you know Benghazi was really a weapons running operation from Libya to supply radical jihadists in Syria, namely ISIS? Did you know that the US military, contrary to US law, left behind billions of dollars in military equipment in Iraq (tanks, humvees, machine guns, artillery) that it allowed ISIS to subsequently capture. This is why ISIS now controls half of Syria and Iraq.

Did you now federal government has stood down on our southern border and many ranchers and Border Patrol officers say Islamic jihadists are flooding across, probably by the thousands?

If you are an American, your tax dollars are being used to supply and fund radical Islam to behead, rape and enslave Christians and others throughout the Middle East and North Africa, and they're coming here next.

The church was supposed to expose and oppose this.

Speak Truth and Stand for Justice

Yet too many Christians don't question authorities or hide behind Romans 13 submission to government authorities. Well I have news for you: The citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah were submitting to government authorities when they abused the helpless and poor, but it didn't save them from the wrath of God. Romans 13 only applies to righteous governance.

Like Ancient Israel and Sodom and Gomorrah, America is on a slippery slope for judgment. See my previous posts here and here. 

For the remnant Christians, the small minority who are awake and standing in the gap, I SALUTE YOU! God bless you!

To the rest I ask: Will the church in America yet wake up and be the salt of the earth and the light of the world?