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I had a big disagreement with my pastor about this. He insisted that we had to be obedient to the law, that the GOVERNMENT itself was "given by God." I agreed, but they had no such thing as a true democratic republic in Paul's day. In our system, the GOVERNMENT is the Constitution. Even our presidents and military people swear an oath to protect it against "ALL enemies foreign and domestic," including, presumably, themselves. We owe zero allegiance to Joe Biden when he is violating the Constitution. In another blog, I found an interesting analysis of people hiding Ann Frank: when the German gestapo or SS came by and asked, "Are there any Jews here?" the family said "no." The author argued that they answered honestly because the real question was "Are there any Jews here we can kill?" The same would apply to Rahab, who basically said that the Israelites (for them to kill) were not there.

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Larry, you’re spot on and I agree with your point— we should not blindly obey the law as government twists the government for its own bidden. Government is made by humans and therefore not perfect, and it must be disobeyed if it promotes wickedness.

Here are some articles on the topic you may enjoy:

https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/wow-everything-we-know-about-democracy

https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/how-a-party-uncovered-the-forgotten

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8hEdited

They are putting the MRNA covid vax in your food you need to

do this right now....... https://t.co/KXjORB2xR3

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Churches were bought off by our government with tax exempt status. Pastors fear losing their tax exemption status if they speak out against the evil of our government and politicians. Pay the taxes (as Jesus commands) and speak out! Jesus overturned the money changing tables outside the temple, the center of the quasi religious/political rule in Israel at that time.

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I agree and anyway it doesn't seem like a big deal. If churches were to lose both their federal and state exemptions and assuming they make no profit and thus owe no income tax, about all they'd pay is property tax. They may have to collect and remit sales taxes on things they sell, if any, and pay sales taxes on supplies and services they buy. Members should still be permitted to deduct cash or in-kind charitable donations from their AGI for their own individual income tax purposes.

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If I remember correctly, a recent biography of James Garfield - perhaps the only truly serious evangelical president - stated that Garfield opposed special treatment of churches by government. Unfortunately he was assassinated after only months in office.

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God absolutely doesn’t want us telling Nazis Anne Frank is in the attic.

My FAVE bible story is Jael and the evil soldier. He came to her tent asking for a place to sleep for awhile. She said certainly, and I will make you some warm camel milk, too. She made him a pallet and warmed the milk, tucked him in, (and the emmy goes to…) When he was fast asleep she rammed a tent peg into his temple.

Basically, God doesn’t want us to lie BUT, God is ALL about doing what you

must to stay safe or keep someone safe or for the greater good.

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Not every soldier (or activist or politician) gets to die peacefully in their sleep.

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My favorite Bible story too my friend 😏👋🏼🫶🏼

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I disagree with your pastor. Government is not "given by God" it is only allowed by God because He allows freedom to everyone to experiences whatever we choose. If we, as citizens, chose to be honest and ethical, we would never have allowed our governments to become as evil as they are.

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Given by God, translation across languages and carring authentic context has a lot to answer for as does cherry picking isolated verses by dogma driven clerics. Several church organistions exist today based on such deliberate misinterpretations.

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Greed has a lot to do with this- our govt has gotten too big and we’ve allowed evil to wield power- and influence our officials

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That is rather ironic wouldn’t you say?

“To know who rules over you, simply look at who you are not allowed to criticize.”

This observation holds particularly true today, as there exists a single group shielded by legal protections against criticism. Politicians continue to advocate for new policies—or updates to existing ones—that further solidify these protections.

This group exerts control over banks, 94% of mainstream media, Hollywood, search engines, immigration policy, Big Pharma, and even holds significant influence over the judiciary.

There is only one correct answer.

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Did THE ONE Tell us - warn us through John in the first chapter of the last book about "the churches?" Yes! 2 of the 7 types mentioned were found worthy. They knew and taught the truth. Be very aware in these days of any claiming to be sent by HIM.

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Larry, you are correct. The government acting in the unlawful capacity of a criminal organization is not to be obeyed. Your pastor failed to review the precedents set in the Bible. Which notable characters in the Bible obeyed the unlawful instructions given to them by crooked governments? None. Not even Jesus. Thanks for being faithful, and God bless you. Many pastors these days are trading their belief in their "religion" off against belief in the Word of God. We were given the Word of God for the purpose of guiding us in the last days....and warned about 'false prophets'...[prophesying is preaching, to be clear].

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Re: "Could it be that evil works by seducing the minds of ignorant people who are not in the habit of thinking seriously about anything?"

Yes.

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And it seems the mRNA injections are making that seduction a lot easier. Perhaps it's a feature.

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Personally those who took shots can’t bare to think they may have injured themselves or were duped - so they keep playing along or don’t want to know

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Spiritual warfare. Paul also speaks of it in 2 Corinthinas 4 - "Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

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Blinded minds. Explains a lot aye?

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Ever worked in academia? These people think seriously about many things and write published peer reviewed papers on their serious thoughts. They have excellent credentials, high IQs and impressive vitae. They can also be very evil. They can also led god knows how many people world wide to being maimed, disabled and killed under the Covid debacle. And the victims for the most part don’t even know what happened them.

Why was Dr Mengele the way he was? Why did Mao think nothing about starving millions to death? What about all their helpers? I guess some people get a thrill from the power of life and death over other humans. I guess it elevates them to a god like status. But that evil does not come from not having serious thoughts.

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people are not ignorant on purpose. people remain ignorant if the truth is hidden from them. Since Covid, the truth has been rising to the top. it's an ugly realization to acknowledge what has been kept secret. there is more to come. buckle up

Check out some of these interviews https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/

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Or if the truth is too difficult to face

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Whether one considers the reasons for things like war in Syria, alcohol abuse and drug addiction, or the promotion of transgenderism to children, the battle between good and evil in our world is ultimately a spiritual battle. The rulers and authorities are spiritual entities. We have a real and powerful spiritual enemy, Satan, who is the god of this world. It says, in 2 Corinthians 4:4, "In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."

Satan wants to kill, steal and destroy as many people as he can and he is active in human trafficking, abortion mills, pornography etc. In 1 Peter 5:8 it states, "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." He is a liar, and he and his legions can put thoughts in our minds to tempt us to envy, lust, hate, kill. We can only defeat him by staying close to God, arming ourselves with God’s truth, and by prayer.

In this Christmas season, we remember that though Satan has struck Jesus’ heel, Jesus has crushed Satan’s head. Jesus's death paid for our sins, so that we can one day live with God in Heaven, where he will wipe away every tear, and death will be no more.

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I agree. I tend to blame the devil, as I like to call him, for lots of bad things. I often wish Jesus had finished the job!

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Don't blame the prosecutor for your misdeeds. Yes, Ashmedai encourages continuing misdeeds to the point consequences ensue, as he enjoys Schadenfreude, but the devil (Samael) elicits them in the first place.

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Just as there is a God, an actual Being of ultimate good, a creator, there is a Satan, an actual being of ultimate evil, a destroyer.

God is our Father, who loves us, and has as His work our eventual return to Him. Satan opposes everything God wants, hates Him and us, and does all in his power to destroy us. He is limited in what he can do, however, by our choices. As long as we choose to follow God's laws, choose to live His way, Satan has no power over us. He annoys and nags us, puts stones in our way to trip us up. But keeping our attention focused on Christ and His love for us, serving as He did, will keep us on the path.

Spread the good news!

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See my reply to Adele Weeks.

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Very nicely put.

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I often think about this verse in Ephesians these days. If you have never read C.S. Lewis's Space Trilogy, I find it very apropos for our times, especially the last book in the series, "That Hideous Strength." Lewis wrote it in 1945, but the depiction of how propaganda works on a susceptible person is a spot-on description of the ways "the Government Narrative" is promoted now. Lewis depicted the humans who promoted that narrative as--in reality, and due to their own hubris--being controlled by spiritual forces that they did not understand, just like the forces Paul describes in Ephesians.

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John, it is admirable that this time you chose to quote THE ABSOLUTE THUTH, THE WORD OF GOD, instead of a book or a movie.

THESE ARE THE RULLERS, AUTHORITIES, POWERS !

To Ceil Wilson I will add:

This verse, Ephesians 6:12, speaks of dEVIL, dEMONS, which we humans imagine and worship as IDOLS, “the Greek and Roman gods”, and others.

It speaks about the continuous cosmic, spiritual, war between THE TRUE GOD, THE LORD GOD JESUS CHRIST, and devil and his legions of DEMONS.

One can see that this is the correct interpretation of the text, just by looking at context: read the preceding verse 11, and see the last word, “devil”.

The verse 12 describe in all of its words, the categories of “devil’s FIELD GENERALS”: “SPIRITUAL wickedness in high places”, is just one of them.

The whole text V 10-13 describe THE ORGANIZATIONAL CHART OF THE UNIVERS: V 10, see the word “THE LORD”---V 11 see the word “devil”---V 12, all the words describe “devil’s FIELD GENERALS” =the demons--- V13 , see the world “YOU”, which is you , me, and society at large.

Please read all verses yourself.

Devil and the demons, as spiritual forces, indwell and control Bill Gates, George Soros, Klaus Schwab, Antony Fauci, and their collaborators, and cause them to generate “toxic ideologies”.

How is this possible to happen, more obvious in 2019-2024, in the form of COVID frauds?

Because in this time, we reached a pick of REJECTION OF GOD, FROM OUR SOCIETY. This void was filled by DEMONIC SPIRITS. God allowed this to happen. He is continually shouting to us: “RETURN UNTO ME”.

To Adele Weeks, I will add: Jesus was born to die, instead of us, for our sins. He was buried 3 days, and was resurrected, and will come again to rapture ONLY HIS Church. Anyone who believes and confesses this statement, WHICH IS THE GOSPEL, WILL SPEND ETERNITY IN HAVEN, not in hell, as we all deserve, because we all are sinners, and come short of the standards of our Creator God.

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Archas, exousias, kosmokratoras, pneumatika tes ponerias ... you ask, "Who and what exactly are these rulers, authorities, cosmic powers, and spiritual forces of evil to which Paul refers?"

Priests and shamans, philosophers and mystics of every culture on every continent in the world have described this inhuman Presence and named it. For the ancient Greeks it was the Archons—the Powerful Evil Ones. In Christian literature it's Beelzebub, the devil, Satan, and Shaitan. For the Hebrews it’s Abaddon. In Islam it’s Iblis. To Native Americans it's wetiko and windingo.

Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung called this deceiving force “antimimos, the imitator and evil principle” and equated it with the Antichrist. Russian mystic philosopher George Gurdjieff called it “the machine.” Sri Aurobindo, an Indian philosopher and teacher, termed it the Hostile Forces. Hollywood portrays these entities as physical vampires. Modern-day philosophers and science fiction writers often refer to this Presence as the mind parasites.

Despite world-wide historical recognition of this insidious "other," humanity has not yet caught on to the reality of the Archons' presence. Why? Because over the millennia these advanced, non-physical beings have created a thought matrix of lies—a false mental reality we have bought into that keeps us fundamentally blind to their presence, cooperative with their degenerate, elite human minions, and vulnerable to their ultimate agenda.

We do not see this all-pervasive influence because humanity has long been deliberately educated to believe that unseen realities and the devil are superstitious nonsense. (Never mind the exploding popularity of evil/supernatural storylines in the entertainment industry.) We are trained to laugh at conspiracy theories because many global financial leaders, corporate media conglomerates, and NGOs such as the World Economic Forum and IMF are notoriously aligned with this dark force, implementing its agendas.

Materialism, hierarchy, wars, drugs, porn, AI, The Great Reset, Covid, etcetera—components of the matrix all, are fearful drivers purposefully designed to keep us divided, distracted, and at each other’s throats, asking any question but the one you have just posed: "Who and what exactly are these rulers, authorities, cosmic powers, and spiritual forces of evil to which Paul refers?"

Not to be self-serving or anything, but I'm a 35-year veteran journalist and I've researched this presence for the last 4 years. Here is the result of my inquiry: https://amzn.to/3VR2gMI

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Scott Peck also has written extensively about the nature of evil.

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He didn't go far enough or go into details about methodologies, agendas, and origins.

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Yes - “People of the Lie” is a riveting book about what defines evil!

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I've been thinking similarly lately. When I look around at family, friends, people I know generally, and most of the general public, it looks like hardly anyone tries to understand different points of view or read or think about anything in a critical manner. And these same people are close to impossible to have a rational discussion with, because apparently they believe they already know everything. So all they have to offer is to tell you what is true and what isn't and that's the end of it.

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Clayton - that’s my observation, also. Gone are the art of debate, sharing different ideas and listening to each other, agreeing to disagree, critical thinking, ANY thinking at all, live and let live, ethics, morals, respect, consideration for others, basic manners, etc. Even the art of conversation seems to be a thing of the past. I don’t really have meaningful conversations with people any more. There are a number of factors involved…the Internet being a major one.

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"Blinded minds." St. Paul.

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Exactly! Paul’s letter to the Romans in the first two chapters explains it all.

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This is a very poignant observation John, and you’re probably and sadly correct. Although, I would amend it to definitely include quite a few highly educated people who can be described as educated idiots, as my Mother used to say. Cheers and Merry Christmas:

Observing contemporary culture and politics, it occurs to me that stupidity is, in fact, the primary means through which evil acts in the world. Could it be that evil works by seducing the minds of ignorant people who are not in the habit of thinking seriously about anything?

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Education wasn't always a medium by which to develop idiots...As Classical Education of the past, abandoned decades ago, grew whole human beings of wisdom for the most part.

There are always exceptions to the rule. Coming out of the 'Dark, Middle Ages' when education was almost non-existent in Europe, indoctrination/brainwashing students into deliberate STUPIDITY wasn't a goal. In some ways, even the illiterate and uneducated of that ominous time after the fall of Rome were far more intelligent than the educated are today.

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Education does not make one smart. It just makes one knowledgeable about what one is taught. Critical thinking skills seem to be no longer taught.

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Intelligence and knowledge do not necessarily lead to wisdom, sound judgment and correct action.

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John, do not underestimate the roll of Israel in determining Policy in the middle east. The Israels just annexed part of Syria...do you really believe that was coincidental.

The Israels love a destabilized Syria, just as they loved and promoted a destablized Iraq, a for they too fomented via GW Bush.

How many 10's of thousands of Gazan's and Palestinians have been slaughtered by the Israels in retaliation for their ignorant defensel failures about a sneak attack by Gazans the killed at most 1200. How many Gazan's were slaughtered by the Israels before that sneak attack, which in fact was the cause of the sneak attack. There are no mysterious forces, just as there are none causing the blood bath in the Ukraine...nor any war. There is always an agenda, in teh Middle East always look at Israel's ambition to be greater, expansive at the expense of everyone. this story is milenia old.

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First, the primary movers and shakers of Earth are the cowards hiding behind Judaism or Judeo-Christianity when they are in fact outright Pagan Demon Worshipers which is addressed in Ephesians referenced in this post.

Second, the top of this International Crime Syndicate is NOT in Israel but founded roughly 2,806 miles to the west/northwest of Damascus in the City of London and 2,373 miles to the west/northwest in Basel, Switzerland.

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Exactly Peter!

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Such a foolish and childish understanding of the power dynamics between Israel and the US, Middle Eastern affairs. Driven either by ignorance or the eternal 'Hate the Jew' mentality. Only you know which.

Israel is the tail of the dog. The US/UK "special relationship" is the dog. Within the US/UK dog is the CIA and State Dept. Consider both of those agencies to be muscles at the dog's butt that wags the tail. Israel is a creation of the US/UK intelligence and statecraft agencies. Not a coincidence.

The tail doesn't wag the dog. Israel doesn't dictate to the US/UK or world what it wants to do. It is an arms's length extension of the US/UK's intelligence and statecrafting agencies. This is what Iran refers to when it calls the US the Great Satan and Israel the Little Satan.

One of the reasons it's useful for the US CIA, State Dept and UK partners to have so many fingers pointing at Israel as the culprit is it allows them to operate with impunity. Redirecting the ire of the global audience, and more importantly domestic audiences at Israel. Allowing them to go unmolested, unchallenged.

And it's actually easier for those who don't like what Israel does to focus their ire at the smaller, "bad" actor, less powerful, less intimidating, less dangerous to oppose than the massive US/UK agencies with real power they'd otherwise have to confront to hold accountable for the actions of their biggest pawn in the Middle East. The tail of the big, bad dog makes a much easier target, with less risk of doing something about one's own very, very, powerful government actors who can come and take everything away from you for opposing them, your property, your freedom and your life.

It's truly cowards who pick on Israel. Too cowardly to focus their ire at their own government. And hating the dirty Jew is always so rewarding for the Jew-haters - double bonus self-satisfaction of the cowards pointing at and tsk-tsking Israel! Want real change? Clean up your own backyard first. You'll find the global messes they're responsible for cleaned up, remarkably quickly, when your own backyard is cleaned. But that's harder to go up against. Might end poorly for those who try. So they just focus their ire on the tail, not the big, bad dog that can chomp their heads off.

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The rest of that passage in Ephesians 6 tells us to therefore take up the whole armour of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all, to stand. - girded with truth; put on the breastplate of righteousness; feet shod with the Gospel of peace; the shield of faith; the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.

Satan has his legions - they are the angels who fell with him. He also masquerades as an angel of light himself. These are the rulers of the darkness. We are tasked with exposing them. Eph 5:8-14. This would include governments who do not honour God.

These fallen angels rule over certain parts of the world. This is clear from Daniel 10 where an angel who visited Daniel tells him that he was delayed by a prince of Persia for 21 days who contended with him to the point that Michael one of the chief angels had to come to his assistance. However, God is sovereign over all, including Satan, who cannot make a move unless God allows it. See Job Ch. 1.

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There are real angelic beings who interfere with principalities in the heavens. Michael fought with them in Persia and reported to Daniel about the delay in his prayer request.( Read Daniel) Reading the Bible is a useful tool in understanding Jesus and Satan.

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I like your track on this subject. But I will add one more piece. It seems to me that this unseen force is not invisible, at least with a more spiritual eye of discernment. All societies, no matter where, have one thing in common. The belief in a spiritual world. I think it exists. We easily believe in aliens with superpowers, but many balk at a spiritual universe. An evil spiritual force influencing world events for their selfish, ambitious goals and using equally evil, ambitious humans as pawns certainly would explain a lot of questions and problems we have.

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It is a known fact that the members of the US Congress and the State Legislatures do not read, evaluate or debate any of the particulars of the Legislation they vote on. They cannot read or debate the issues because the Bills approach 2000 pages each. And there are one hundred new bills for them to vote on every day they are in session.

During the 1992 Presidential campaign, Ross Perot called attention to this insanity with a diplomatic observation that "a general lack of accountability among elected officials and those in the bureaucracy was the one specific reason that the people in America suffered".

Mr. Perot then suggested that the best and perhaps only way to make government officials accountable was to include the citizens in the decision-making process - every hour, every day.

He went on to note that this can easily be done with computers and called the proposed mechanism

THE ELECTRONIC TOWNHALL.

With this computer program every interested citizen can indicate whether or not they agree or disagree with every line item of every law, policy and program on the books or that was being advanced. It can be used at every level of government and in every jurisdiction.

To prevent chaos the basic law, our Constitution and Bill of Rights would be exempt from review.

Mr. Perot speculated that the Founding Fathers would probably have done the same had the technology been available. He referred to it as the Fourth Branch of government; The Citizens Branch / The Electronic Townhall.

If the government is truly of the people, by the people and for the people then what better way is there to perfect every section of the various laws and policies that do effect each and every one of us every single day?

It would not be difficult to expect at least 500 thousand qualified citizens, per congressional district, to read four pages of law or proposed law and get their Ratify or Annual input every day the congress is in session. The results could be aggregated, made known and we would all be better off.

The program would even allow a citizen to go back and change their vote as they matured. And when a super majority is reached the law/proposed law is either ratified or annulled by immediate recognition of the enforcement mechanisms.

With tens of millions of laws and tens of thousands of taxes there is plenty of work to be done.

According to Mr. Perot, this, the harnessed experience and the combined intelligence of hundreds of thousands or even millions of citizens focused like a laser light on the real issues, will, as surely as night follows the day, perfect every law in our country and eventually it will right every wrong.

Mr. Perot publicly announced his intention to give the fourth branch of government to the people in America if he was elected President.

But this attempt to empower our humanity was so far removed from the business-as-usual-two-party-system that the talking heads and trolls yelled out that Mr. Perot was trying to destroy our Constitution, our government and our way of life.

The ELECTONIC TOWNHALL was denounced as unworkable.

How would the poor participate?

How would fraud be prevented?

What about those who do not know how to use a computer?

In a final act of desperation, the control freaks claimed that letting the average citizen to pass judgment on the individual pieces of public law would lead to chaos and pandemonium.

But we all know the truth: only the concerned will bother to participate.

The media was so intensely negative towards the ELECTRONIC TOWNHALL that Mr. Perot was forced to stop talking about it, but he never withdrew it from his platform.

It’s now been thirty-two years since the proposal.

No other person of national reputation or significant influence has picked up the idea. BUT the big two political parties regularly stage "townhall meetings" where they talk of "reform" and "returning power to the people" and try to link themselves to the empowering part of the idea without adding to its manifestation.

And still we suffer in the hopeless loop of: "candidates with a sense of morality and respect for the Constitution who understand true brotherhood, justice and democracy and who will do the right thing for us each and every time, trust me".

While we cannot make light of sincere individuals who get into public office, we must acknowledge the fact that regardless of who has been elected to public office the problems in our government get more complicated and our people continue to suffer.

Could we possibly admit that our national situation, now being made global, is far too complicated for the President and the 535 elected members of the legislature to manage in our best interests?

You, the person reading this know some of the things we need.

Your friends, our fellow countrymen have their solutions too.

The only way to organize the workable ideas is to create a device that will enable all of us to simultaneously contribute our best thinking and most benevolent experience towards solving our most complicated problems.

That device is THE ELECTRONIC TOWNHALL and the place to begin is with our existing laws.

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I can’t help but agree with your conclusion, John. It is easy for evil to capture the minds of stupid people because they cannot think critically. They can only repeat what they have been told and what is believed by like minded friends.

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Yep. Brains have been ruined by staring at screens, instead of ‘doing things’ and ‘learning’.

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Well said sir.

I am as confused about "this present darkness” as the next citizen with multiple graduate degrees, global work/travel experience, and a deep respect for history, however, I stand sure of this core tenant of the human experience…Satan is the ultimate puppet-master, and SATANIC PUPPETS ABOUND.

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My heritage is with the King James Version:

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

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Correct. Whatever (undefined) other translation was a distraction.

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