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Scent of Light Episode
by Ken Norton
Church and State
Original Broadcast August 25, 2019
Mp3 Player
The audio file above is the spoken word recording
without background music provided to Radio KOWS 92.5 FM broadcast of the
Scent of Light episode for insert into the Radio Spotlight Magazine
with host Andre Marc.
Transcript
In this episode on the Scent of Light I will speak on
Church and State. In the United States we have the tradition of separation
of Church and State arising from our Revolution for Independence from
England whose ruler believed in the divine right of Kings. We even have the
First Amendment to our constitution in the Bill of Rights that protects
freedom of religion and frowns on a State religion.
I recently saw a Netflix documentary called “The
Family,” based on books by an investigative reporter Jeff Sharlett, who
became a member of The Family in the 1990s and discovered that their
sponsored activities was encouraging crucial lobbying of political powers
like presidents and members of Congress to happen under the cloak praying in
Jesus’s name under the radar of agencies set up to regulate such meetings to
prevent the purchase of legislators or the president in making decisions.
The Family also produces the privately funded National Prayer Breakfast that
began under President Eisenhower, who was seeking a state ideology to
counter that of the Soviet Union and communism. A Russian spy, Maria Butina,
was recently convicted of failing to claim she was a lobbyist of a foreign
power as she infiltrated the National Rifle Association and the National
Prayer Breakfast to seek favors for Russia.
I was reminded of my experience of being born again
in a Pentecostal Church in 1971. I was 23 and just out of college where I
was an active student protester of the Vietnam War. I was raised in the
Catholic Christian religion and I referred to the Jesus I learned about when
I had conscience conflicts, such as fighting in a war and killing another
person. I was attracted to the Jesus who gave the Sermon on the Mount with
all those wonderful tips on being united with a beneficial creator, blessing
the peacemakers. When I was asked to raise my hands in praise of Jesus at
the Pentecostal Church, I at first hesitated but then thought that I am not
ashamed of living by the principles of this Jesus and raised my hands. I
could feel the love and acceptance of the group spirit, gathered in “His
Name.” A couple weeks later at the church I heard a sermon that was praising
Nixon as being chosen by God and the congregation should vote for him, and
that ended my affiliation with that church. Already back then the right-wing
Evangelical movement had taken hold of American politics, and it placed its
attention on converting the hippies and flower children that were protesting
the Vietnam War. I wrote this poem about that experience:
Lord, Lord
Yield
and be saved.
You can do nothing by yourself.
Give in and accept the Lord.
Lift your arms
and surrender
and say "Praise the Lord,
Alleluia!"
Seal yourself with the Holy Spirit
and prepare for the Rapture.
Listen to his voice,
Praise the Lord,
the voice of the preacher,
the voice of millions
saying "Amen,
Amen, Amen."
We are his chosen ones,
Alleluia!
We have found it,
Alleluia!
A dollar for His cause
will bring you ten.
A vote for authority
is the Bible's command,
and security is His holy word.
Trust in the Lord
and pass the ammunition.
Sing praises to the Lord -
now is the appointed time.
His spirit flows and reaps the harvest.
We are the children of God,
his annointed.
Preach the word:
Security can be yours.
One voice, one faith, one salvation.
Yield.
Praise his name in the churches,
Praise his name making cake,
Praise his name making cars,
Praise his name making commercials.
God bless our factories
and our freeways.
God bless our missionaries
in backward lands.
His name is wonderful,
comforter,
pension plan,
the almighty.
His way is perfect.
Armageddon is justice.
And we'll meet him in the sky,
singing "Alleluia!"
"Glory be!"
"Amen!"
No thank you. I distrust this trust.
This is Ken Norton on the Scent Of Light. You can
contact me via Ken at KennethENorton.com. The Scent of Light episodes are
archived on the web at
kennethenorton.com. Thanks
for listening.
About the Author and Producer
Ken Norton earned his master's degree in Materials Science from Stanford
University as the Vietnam War was ending. During that time Ken served as the
personal assistant to a poet/sociologist Dr. William Hermanns as he prepared
his writings for publication, exposing Ken to not only the sciences but also
the humanities and comparative religion for making conscious and
conscionable choices.
Ken is a regular contributor to Radio Spotlight Magazine with his episodes
on the Scent of Light.
