I don't think this is fair, reasonable, or wise. So, does that align me with the Tea Party mentality? Would our government officials and their loyal followers call me an "arsonist", an "anarchist", or a "terrorist"?

When name-calling is your thing ...you are so entrenched in emotion, you suddenly become so flooded with venomous language that you are going down for the third time, drowning in spiteful and malicious accusations, unable to break contact with the surface of truth long enough to even breathe a decent breath.

A common technique, that I observed often while working in the prison system ...is to get the jump on everyone else, being the first to accuse, and usually with the content of the accusation being the every thing they are guilty of and trying to hide.  One thing I want to make very clear, right now, is that I do not aspire to that mentality or technique ...being a prisoner to one's own self: absorbed with deception and striving to gain malicious diversionary advantage; equipped with competitive pride & arrogance; or lulling into the complacency of ignorance.

Let's look at some unpopular forms of employment through the years:

• Tax collector (during Jesus' time on earth):  Very much despised for the way they would demand of everyone to pay, yet Jesus chose Matthew to follow Him.

• Bounty hunter (during the time of the Wild West):  Also despised for their methods of collecting money, with little concern whether the hunted had a fair trial, or were innocent or not.  (Just after Jesus' death, Saul was not collecting money ...but coats, as they stoned followers of Jesus.  Yet, our resurrected Savior chose him too ...and renamed him Paul.)

• Navigator (recently described position): I hear they are going to be paid rather substantially.  It comes out of our pockets, since the government will employ this program under the Affordable Care Act.  Yet, the word 'penalties' also seems to keep entering the conversation.  It is my hope that the 'navigators' won't be aided by the IRS and their kindly selective stereotyping.  And hopefully they won't be going door-to-door like the SA and Gestapo agents of the Nazi regime, as was the case during World War II.

All these things did happen.  Persecution comes in many forms besides that of Christians, or of Jews during the Holocaust ...and though those concerns may not be believed by all, any early warning signs should be welcomed by all who'd want to prevent injustices and the worst of horrific evils.  Sadly, such warnings are often dismissed as mere fairy tales or conspiracy theories or plain & simple paranoia.  To all who don't believe in God, it may not stir up enough concern whether this vicious slander, persecution, or even horrific murdering is real or not.  And where then would the concern be to also enthusiastically seek out certain other concepts of 'truth', or any at all?  

Shallow & deep ...hot & cold ...bitter & sweet ...light & dark ...heaven & hell; it's hard to acknowledge the existence of one, without acknowledging the existence of the other.  I favor enlightening to warning ...but if no light is shed early, the warning becomes more a necessity.  

I feel it necessary to believe in Jesus.  There has to be a beginning point.  And it so happens I'd like for us to join Him now by starting to believe, not only in ourselves, but in Him ... so we'll be able to be with Him when it all ends.