“Life in these United States”

KEVIN PUFFER·WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 2017

A Prime-Time tragic drama.

Next Episode: Season IV, Episode 33

Synopsis: Professor Selflove builds a private sanctuary community, funded by taxation, promoted to openly welcome anyone and everyone, and keep out those who disagree with anything.

Newthink Media prepares to launch its new hyperbole module, a plug-in to the existing “shred and twist” story modulator. The powerful hyperbole module will allow Newthink Media to break news stories before they actually happen, and finally effectively influence the future for profit.

The Mansoulites continue to search for meaning from any place except “The Unthinkable”.



Previously on “Life in these United States”….

Season I
Episode 18:
The Good Originating Designer surveys Mansoulopolis and is severely disappointed at how His good gifts have been abused. Ungodliness, unrighteousness, and everything corrupt is out of control among the Mansoulites, who are the smartest creatures of His creation. From His lofty vantage point, The Good Originating Designer witnesses Mansoulites intentionally suppressing the truth and propagating untruth, just to get what they want more immediately.

Ep 19:
The Good Originating Designer reveals Himself to the Mansoulites, showing them what is truly good, and how to live in goodness. He knows they are fully able to understand everything He has shown them because He made them.

Ep 20:
Although The Good Originating Designer is very different, He makes sure that He’s easy to recognize, offering abundant evidence of His presence, being seen in the things He has made. Just simple open minded observation is enough to spot His infinite power and His glorious supremacy. No one can miss it. No one can say they don’t see it. The Good Originating Designer makes Himself so obvious, that He will not allow ignorance to be an excuse.

Ep 21:
The Mansoulites clearly recognize the existence of The Good Originating Designer, but they stubbornly refuse to acknowledge Him as their creator, and they willfully refuse to be thankful for being created. To cope, they reject His very existence and He becomes to them “The Unthinkable”. This causes their very thoughts to become irrational; this causes them to accept foolishness as knowledge, and reject wisdom as foolishness.

Season II:
Ep 22:
The Mansoulites constantly affirm each other’s rights, and their individual prerogative to choose which rights they will make their own. They cackle on about how very smart they are while they are actually becoming ridiculous.

Ep 23:
The Mansoulites refuse to honor their true creator, they intentionally give credit for their own being to anything imaginable, manageable deities, time and chance, space aliens, etc. . A fabricated progressivism causes them to reject their true creator as an archaic pre-modern fantasy, and so they come up with all kinds of new preposterous theories for their own existence.

Ep 24:
The Mansoulites struggle to affirm each other in the popular belief that a creator doesn’t actually exist. In response, The Good Originating Designer permits them to experience the outcomes of living in an imaginary world. He watches them wade in all the ensuing filth and obscenity that their wayward hearts conjure up so they will see the results of their foolishness.

Ep 25:
The truth Mansoulites choose to reject and the lies they choose to believe summarily debase them, taking an awful toll on their own bodies, and ruin their capacity for reason. Their corruption is intensified as they choose to honor anything that opposes The Good Originating Designer, who is always good forever.

Ep 26:
Bent on rejecting any dependence on “The Unthinkable”, the Mansoulites fully experience the product of their precious independence. The Good Originating Designer sorrowfully permits their audacious insolence to completely disintegrate their lives, the very lives that a simple humble dependence on Him would have kept peacefully integrated. They cannot understand that rejecting “grace” yields “disgrace”. Left to their own desires, they completely humiliate themselves with their own insatiable hungers.

Ep 27:
Sowing weeds of independence, Mansoulites reap that which is untrue and unnatural, and the result is self-destruction. Thinking they are wise and progressive, they chip away at any hope of continued existence. Focusing only on their own immediate fulfilment, Mansoulites lose any sense of authentic love and therefore repudiate their own posterity because the blatant lie they choose to believe is the very lie that keeps them from being fruitful and multiplying. Bowing to the false gods of personal pleasure and natural selection, Women are encouraged to form erotic relationships with other women and likewise men with men, unwisely bringing them a single generation away from their own extinction.

Ep 28:
Any thoughts of The Good Originating Designer become difficult to bear, and so Mansoulites collectively purge those thoughts from their minds. Without them, only a hollow, debased, and fanciful world view is left, a world view bent on doing things which are horrible and self-destructive. Every Mansoulite thought gets turned upside down; relegating love to hate and promoting hate to love, satiated with self-appreciation, the simple are called shrewd, sarcasm becomes popular, to be political is to be brutal and harshly critical of others who hold opposing views. Ironically the summit of self-love takes no notice of the highest suicide rate in the history of Mansoulopolis.

Season III
Ep 29:
The angry boastful lives of Mansoulites become completely inverted, their minds degraded with all sorts of evil imaginations. Promoting designer ethics that are conveniently accepting of certain forms of sexual immorality, they employ forms of wickedness, covetousness, and maliciousness as a situational necessity. Their corrupt minds are filled with undisclosed envy, their thoughts turn to methods of assassination. Practitioners of strife and captains of contention, they engage in double-talk and forms of deceit which they consider to be honorable.

Ep 30:
Mansoulites casually gossip about hating gossips while they themselves are covertly spiteful backbiters. They smugly declare hatred of haters; they proudly bully bullies. They may even claim to be followers of Jesus while their actions disrespect everything that God The Father advocates.

Ep 31:
Mansoulites gather in large groups, waving dissension banners in the streets, violently protesting violence, proud that they are not like the arrogant, boasting of their own humility. Inwardly they are progressive inventors of ancient evil schemes; excusing vice they harbor criminals, demanding protection from the same authorities against whom they foment disobedience, undiscerning of truth in their academic priggishness, untrusting of those they call comrades, unloving towards victims they claim to be protecting while continuously promoting unbridled eroticism, unforgiving of opposition, and by their own personal privilege they are violently unmerciful to those they consider to be privileged.

Ep 32:
Mansoulites create for themselves a politically correct moral code that condemns anyone who is not broadly accepting, and ostracizes anyone who is intolerant of any kind of intolerance. This new morality is a convoluted post-modern brand of ethics that openly denounces others who do the very things they allow themselves to practice, condemning them as undeserving of existence. Unwilling to admit that the root of all morality originates with the very One they have rejected, they not only continue to practice deplorable things, but they persistently encourage and applaud others to do them more openly.

Fictionalized extrapolation of Romans 1:18-32

A conversation of Listening

Consider a kind of conversation where even though two people are conversing, one person is never offered the opportunity to speak and is imposed upon by the other to repair all their problems.
There are two ways to view GOD:

1. The one who reveals our sin, displays our shortcomings, and corrects our mistakes; or
2. The one who reveals our glory, points out our goodness, and gives us credit for our victories.

Both of these views may contain truth, but how we view Him will determine how we view our relationship
There are two ways to view our relationship with Him:

1. The one who fixes our problems, resolves our difficulties, and heals our infirmities; or
2. The Shepherd of our souls, our faithful guide who leads us away from dangers and terrors.

How we see our relationship to Him colors how we relate to Him.
There are two ways in which we relate to Him:

1. We will ask Him to fix things for us all the while expecting Him to respond by pointing out our sin, accusing and protesting, “Why should I intervene on your behalf?”
2. We realize our dependence on Him, listen intently for His guidance and to hear the counsel of His spirit, expecting Him to tell us, (like He always does) that he has personally paid any debt we owe, that we are good, that we are important, we have purpose, and that we are very much loved and accepted as His precious child.

When we stop talking and begin to listen, we are likely to hear that we are His special children, unique in Him, created for engagement in the things that make us all happy and fulfilled. 
He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds. (Ps 147:3)

The Narrow Trail of Truth
- and -
the Highway of falsehood.

It is silliness to think that any statement or a fact must be untrue simply because it is unpopular, or visa-versa. 

Obeying God is an expression of faith.

Believing that a random thought entering your head is God telling you what to do is an indication of psychosis.

The way of falsehood is a broad, high speed highway affording comfortable passage for many.
Large groups of unsuspecting victims, locked arm-in-arm spanning the breadth of the path, carelessly skip the day away singing as they go. It is well-worn hard-packed pavement on which any traveler can safely and comfortably walk barefooted. Everywhere along the berm, the path is festooned with many billboards promising better living and broad acceptance of everyone like-minded, and dutiful tolerance of everyone else. The traveler on this path encounters countless perfumed festivities, each serving tasty treats which lull the unconcerned consumer into growing fat, complacent, and sleepy. The highway is a series of closely coupled serpentine curves, so not much of the future can be seen ahead of you. The billboards offer a constant promise that around every next bend there will be a new party waiting for happy partygoers. Even if regular experience proves that the party-promise fails more often than it delivers, the assurance is held resolute. Swept along by herd mentality, fueled by the powerful blind acceptance of fellow travelers, the individual in undeterred. When a traveler feels the current party has become stale, the siren call of the highway leads them immediately into the next social shindig, a gathering very much based on similar philosophy as the previous one, but packaged in new glitter . There is no lack of pleasant accommodations along this highway, so you are never too far from the disorienting blare of pretentious performers, and the approving clamor of an energized crowd, but holiday seekers are very reluctant to stop and enjoy them for more than a few seconds. An awkward discomfort grips any stationary traveler with an illogical fear that they are being left behind, having stepped out of the mainstream; a mysterious inexplicable sense of shame overshadows one who dares to even slow their pace against the march of the masses. Life lived on the highway is in a constant flow of seemingly inescapable traffic; pulled along, bumper to bumper along a broad road hosting many wide and welcoming on-ramps, yet offering only tiny and infrequent off-ramps. Travelers on this highway are never satisfied, always expecting a better party, always thinking things "This is great, but things will surely be much better soon."

If a courageous traveler dares to sneak down one of the narrow, dark, off-ramps, they find quiet Truth patiently waiting at the end of the rugged trail. It lies unannounced, deep in the wilderness, unmoved by popularity, ready to give all without compensation, because it requires nothing. Those who would find truth must leave the comforts and optimism of the teeming crowds, and diligently search where few care to go; pursuing reality as precious prey, against all opposition and enduring any proportionate pain with patience, and perseverance. 

 To walk the trail to truth is quiet, lonely, difficult, costly, and desolate. To continue to travel this trail necessarily requires a traveler to abandon their current route forever. It is understood that the only provisions found along the trail will be hard-tack and warm-water but the promised glory that awaits at the end of the trail makes any hardship inconsequential. The faint trail has no signs of trampling, and there are few signs that remain from previous travelers, which is eventually explained by the understanding that each travelers trail is uniquely designed for them personally. Looking ahead, the way is only illuminated by brief shards of unfocused light cutting through the dark shadows of tall trees. The traveler is given two things to insure completion of the journey. The first is an invaluable ancient map, filled with difficult to understand symbols, personal testimonies of others who have traveled the same path many years ago, and what initially seem like esoteric puzzles one must decipher to apply. The second is an ever-present traveling companion who is not like anyone else. This companion is invisible but not imperceptible, civil but completely wild, mute but not quiet, gentle but incontestable. This companion is also conveniently the author of the map, so learning to trust the teaching of the quiet companion is essential for success. The traveler also must pack their own personal resolve because the only sensory encouragement along the trail comes from faint whispers in the wind floating across the treetops, and barely audible echoes calling from distant rock formations. The travel is slow and advancement is made only with intentional times of stillness and reflection. Only by frequent periods of rest, quietness, uninterrupted worship, and waiting for direction can confidence be obtained for travel. Also it is learned that only while sitting or kneeling can one catch glimpses of obscure scarlet ribbons that blaze the trail. These markers are low, sparse, and inconspicuous.  Never more than one can be seen at a time, and often it is found where it is least expected. Spotting one assuages any nagging doubts if you are still on the right path. Therefore, each ribbon is deeply cherished when it is spied. When spotted and verified, each one is received as charismata; an unearned gift, a token symbols of Truth’s love, a new supply of His strength to continue.

I would sit and write and tell you more wonders that I have seen, but I need to get-up and keep traveling myself. I hope you find this note encouraging. As you travel this road, I'm sure you will find everything I have found and much much more.

Bon Voyage

A Father Reminisces

Long ago, in simpler times,

my tiny children sang their rhymes

in playroom brimmed with modest toys
quite suitable for active boys.

I loved to sit in still disguise

 observing dressed-up clowns or spies;

to simply view with rapturous joys 

my boys delight in playtime noise.

As they grew so grew their reach, 

to ball fields, forests, stage, and beach.

New toys and sharp imaginations 

fueled their complex machinations.

I watched them fail through many tries 

to grant discovery as their prize.

Respecting unique inclinations, 

witnessing God’s own formations.

My boys now men, the nest have flown, 

and raising children of their own;

all able men of gallant might 

watch o’er their charge through day and night.

Yet still I watch, and bless, and pray 

that God may grant them everyday

His gracious gift of oversight. 

Surveying growth is a dad’s delight.