CHRISTIANITY WITH AN EDGE-WITH SCOTT E. ROKELY

I discuss: how constructive criticism can literally get us back into our right mind (of Love), why we all hate to be criticized and why that hate is bad, 13 biases all people have, a new operating system that can free us from our 13 biased brain, and I finish with great quotes from some great people regarding the value of criticism.

Everyone is prejudiced. In fact, science now shows us we all have 13 built-in biases. Social media skillfully uses our built-in biases to control us, and we don't even know it is happening. Also, the genius of the U.S. Constitution.

How I got through 8 days of Hell. When Adversity starts talking, don't passively listen to it. Learn to fight it, and yes, to win victory over it. Learn how to make Adversity pay, and you'll begin seeing the blessing inherent in all Adversity.

Jesus seems to command us to be afraid of God in Luke 12:5. What point was Jesus making here?

I talk about the only things God even cares about, and it is not how you stack up against other people. I discuss: religious hypocrisy, a surefire way to tell if a supposedly religious person knows God very well, and what really does impress God.

I suck at keeping religious rules. How about you? I've got news for you, God is more tired of religious rules than you are. "Christian" Bible studies, hypocrites, modern day Pharisees, and how horrible Christianity is when not filled with the Spirit of Christ are all discussed.

Jesus says if you don't champion the poor and help them, you might not make the cut. I discuss: how helping the poor makes you "clean" before God, modern Pharisees and Scribes, when tithing is missing the point, and how failing to help the poor is failing to love God.

I discuss: what the Kingdom of God really is, exorcisms, why the majority thinks the devil is more powerful than God, testing God, what it looks like when you Consciously live in the Kingdom of God, righteousness, peace of mind, joy, who the "strong man" is, and how to overcome all adversity.

How does someone start out good and end so bad? I'll use the example of Mao Zedong who grew into a person who would not tolerate any other human being who didn't think 100% like he did. Where did this attitude come from? I'll hazard a few educated guesses.

It's astounding how evil some people's behavior is. You can write this off to ignorance and superstition, but demonic activity is involved. Listen as I talk about the life of Mao Zedong. He started out trying to do good, and he ended committing the greatest atrocity in human history, the "Great Leap Forward." I also discuss the Cultural Revolution and the sheer terror it unleashed on the people of China.

Demons don't give people cancer physically, but they can tempt us to adopt attitudes which will make it much more likely we will develop cancer in our life. Also, Eddie Van Halen's legacy as a creative guitarist and problem solver.

The problem is, nothing satisfies us for long. Listen as I discuss the disease of "More"-itis, what both Christ and Buddha had to say about this, and then as I discuss the satisfaction that never ends. American culture, politics, Thomas Merton, Nirvana, Heaven, Zen Buddhism compared to Christ's teaching, and the empty place inside all of us are all discussed.

We all pray for a lot of different things, but no matter what you pray for, Jesus the Christ says there is one answer to prayer that will solve any situation you can ever get yourself into.

Hardly anyone prays the way Jesus teaches us. No, God is not thin skinned. There is Power in Persistence. And Yes, God is asking us to bother Him.

Believe in a harsh, unforgiving, wrathful, violent, and stern God? Then you believe in a God who doesn't exist.

The words of Jesus Christ have never been more true than right now. They can heal our nation. We must either listen to him, or we will destroy ourselves.

First a shocking quote uttered by Jesus the Christ along with two historical examples that back up what Jesus said to some religious fat cats of his day. I discuss imperial China, the Europeans vs. China opium wars, drug dealing as the policy of a so-called "Christian" nation (Britain), and the one thing that leads to salvation that many religious people don't know. Let's dive in!

I start with Jesus' two verse long summary of what life is meant to be, which was given to a crowd of religious people who wanted to kill him. I end with the warning signs of an unhealthy, disfunctional church. If you've had an uneasiness about your current church, listen as I discuss what happens to a Christian church when religious people control it.

Religion always works from a script. But God is the original Free Spirit who is not constrained by religion's scripts. No surprise that God's Son is a Free Spirit who regularly went off religion's scripts. Listen as I discuss two people who lead to Jesus going off religion's script. The first was a so-called immoral woman, the second a hopeless invalid, who meet Morality and Hope incarnated.

Jesus disregards silly religious rules. He constantly violates other people's religious rules, and He clearly has no regard for these rules. Jesus talks to the poster child for organized religion in Judea, and Jesus is not impressed with him. Listen as I discuss the type of "religion" God has in mind for the human race.

This is the ultimate cage fight: God vs. An Extremely Religious Person. Guess who wins? Nicodemus knew a lot, but he doesn't know God very well, and he completely missed what God was working to do in his country.

Jesus, God incarnate, "cleansed the temple," as some call it. But I call it a premeditated physical attack on bad organized religion. Resisting evil, God's heart, bad religion 2,000 years ago, bad religion today, religious cults, and religious bigotry are all discussed.

The bigger question is whether God sent the Black Plague in the Middle Ages, which killed 1/3 of Europe. Listen as I answer one of the biggest questions on Planet Earth right now.

Getting better at discerning the still small voice of the Spirit is the whole point of life. Listen as I discuss how to get to know the Spirit better than you do now. This just might save your life some day.

For 2,000 years the Christian Church has made little effort to teach the Holy Spirit. And this sparse teaching has been remarkably ineffective considering the person being taught. Listen as I discuss why the Holy Spirit can't really be taught, the Spirit must be caught.

No shortage of bad news these days. But I've got good news for you. I've got a solution for you, the Ultimate Solution.

Why do some people do things like hoarding? I explain from the perspective of a brain scientist. In fact, I explain why we are all so predictably negative.

God created the Universe through the Logos Principle. When we employ the Logos principle, our lives get more life. And when we do not employ the Logos principle, our lives unravel. Listen as I relate how I employed this Principle recently and hear how it changed my life. You, just as God did, can create your own Universe.

It's a whole lot easier to just go to church, than to develop and maintain an intimate friendship with God. Listen as I talk about how historical Christianity has almost completely misunderstood "faith" and what God really means by "faith." "Faith" is not so much what you believe, as who you trust in.

We are all prisoners in jails we have constructed in our own minds. Listen as I talk about one gigantic step we can all take toward more sanity for ourselves, and our world. Here's how we can all start our life over again.

We get upset when God tests us, but this week I remember that Jesus the Christ himself was tested by God before he began his public ministry. This testing is necessary, so listen why it is necessary.

What is your worldview? Your worldview is critical because it colors everything you look at and it determines what you see and what you can't see. Which worldview do you have?

I explain God's Great Christ Project which you have never heard about, along with: how to forgive your father, what is salvation according to the Buddha, the prevalence of contention in Christianity, and lastly a salvation that transforms people as opposed to simply giving them a ticket to Heaven.

I explain how to do Centering Prayer, which I've been doing for about 30 years. This practice has revolutionized my walk with God. I pray that it will help you too.

St. Augustine and the anonymous author of the classic 14th Century devotional book, "The Cloud of Unknowing" both recommend a type of prayer and intimacy with God which doesn't involve using words or thoughts. Listen as I discuss this revolutionary and life changing way to relate to God.

I begin working through the Dhammapada, a Buddhist scripture and compare and contrast it with my faith, which is Christianity. The ethical teachings are almost shockingly identical.

How exactly do you love God with your mind? Start taking some thoughts prisoner as St. Paul urges us to do. Listen as we talk about how to stop allowing the devil to rent space in your magnificent creation, the human mind.

Are non-resistance, non-attachment, and non-judgment Christian or "Eastern Religion"? Why not go to the ultimate source, Jesus the Christ to get the answer? And what about adversity, what is the point of it all? Listen to some more "zingers" from the lips of Jesus that hardly any Christians take seriously.

Why are the New Testament, Father Pierre de Caussade, Eckart Tolle, Buddha, and the Apostle Paul all saying pretty much the same thing? Find out as I discuss the classic Christian book, "Self Abandonment to Divine Providence," and how Eckart Tolle comes clean near the end of his marvelous book "A New Earth."

Whether it's the GREAT ME, or poor me and my sad story, we run through what the EGO loves and hates, it might surprise you. I end with a cure for your wounded heart.

You can have a slice of Heaven right now, on this Earth. Listen as I discuss how everything in the Universe is constantly connected and communicating, a spiritual lesson I learned from an atheist, salvation is more collective than we have ever imagined, and the beautiful way the Holy Spirit endeavors to connect everything and everyone into unity.

Some say it's a demon, some call it the ego. But whatever you call it, it's evil and it's out to control your thoughts, speech, attitudes, and behavior. Listen as I discuss what the ego wants. At the end of the podcast I give a simple way to vanquish the ego, that actually works.

I take a brief glance at an incredibly unselfish and honest person, Jiddu Krishnamurti. I hope you are as inspired by him as I have been. How meditation is misunderstood in both West and East, praying without ceasing, non-reaction, the poison of unforgiveness, and how wonderful it is to have a friendship with God are all discussed.

Something has got to die. It's either going to be our ego, or it's going to be God's dream for us. Listen as I discuss: doing the unthinkable, how to avoid acting like a Pharisee, one way to attack your ego, and how St. Francis of Assisi handled his ego.

When you first hear it, you won't believe it's true. But as time goes on and you look at your life, you'll realize how true it is. The strangest secret of life, name calling, labeling others, finding the lie, undisciplined discipline, and observing the Ego are all discussed.

There are real monsters. Every single person has this monster inside of them. One of its names is = Ego. Eckhart Tolle calls it the Pain Body. The New Testament calls it the devil. But no matter what you call it, this monster is real and if you keep playing its game, you will suffer. Listen as I talk about the only sane way to deal with your Ego, and the Ego of others.

What would happen in your life if you began seeing God everywhere, and in everything? It's happening to me right now and I can tell you it's the most wonderful thing. Listen as I discuss a new way of seeing Christianity, and the World, and why going outside might be a quicker way into the Presence of God than going to a religious service. I also discuss Eckhart Tolle's book, "A New Earth."

We all know about the second Bible, completed about 2,000 years ago. But hardly anyone knows about the first Bible, which is about 13.8 billion years old. I also reflect that God has a vision for the planet that is big enough to include everyone and everything. Tribalism tends to destroy what God is actively building in this Earth. The choice is simple: God's plan for one world, or unending tribal warfare.

After God created the world, he looked at it and declared that it was "very good." And this original goodness which God has continually blessed must be the starting point for spirituality, not original sin or the so called fall of humankind. Because what happens when you focus on the negative is tribalism on steroids. And tribalism is destroying human society, as it always has.

Wouldn't it be nice if the powerful forces of the Universe worked for you as opposed to against you? I discuss something I've discovered that has helped me tremendously, and I believe it will help you too. What organized religion doesn't seem to get, the destructive force of conformity, proof God doesn't care what name you call him, why life is like a simulator, and how God wants to recycle absolutely everything in your life, even the mistakes, are all discussed.