MAY ALL THE GIFTS HIDDEN INSIDE YOU MAKE THEIR WAY INTO THE WORLD, AND MAY ALL YOUR DEEPEST DREAMS COME TRUE.
Sending each and every one of you LOVE... and wishes for a joyous, abundant, wondrous year full of peace, harmony, prosperity -- and AN END TO WAR!! God Bless You!
No, I have not joined a Halloween cult. This is a photo of Claudia Wells ("Back to the Future") and me at Chiller in New Jersey, Oct. 2005. The guy in costume is scaring us, which reminds me of our current political climate. Sorry for all the changing pictures; my web guy can't be reached and I want to post the new photos with friends!)
2005 wrap-up:
I have to admit I'm getting a little paranoid here, wondering if my e-mails are being monitored or I'm being spied upon simply because I don't agree with the corruption of this administration. What a terrifying thought: that the very freedoms our country was built on -- freedom of thought, religion and speech -- are being usurped. The blatant propaganda of the Fox network has contributed to this Orwellian climate of fear. And the news blackout on electronic voting fraud is also quite astounding.
This Christmas, I have to say that I spent hours in prayer for the mothers, children and spouses of soldiers who died in Iraq. I can't imagine spending the holidays without your only child -- and my heart goes out to all of you.
Here is a letter I got from a Marine Combat Vet in November:
Dear Lydia,
I heard you on the radio with Brad tonight. For what it's worth, Lydia, you have my strong and full support here in my little corner of the world in Oklahoma. I can barely stand the thought of our kids fighting bravely in a hostile land as a result of lies and self-serving motives of this Administration.
I'm a combat Marine veteran of Viet Nam (1969) and was awarded two Purple Hearts for combat wounds for which I am very proud. For sure, my military service makes me no more or a less a "patriot" (whatever that word means anymore) than any other American. But, I relate it to you to encourage you to maintain what you're doin g by speaking out and don't back up an inch! I know there are many veterans like myself who appreciate you and your courage. And I especially appreciate the fact that you pray (and that you keep your clothes on, too, by the way.......not that I'm a prude or anything, but...well, you know).
Don't let Coulter get you down. Who knows......maybe the Lord has plans for you in Ann's life. God knows she needs something. Stay strong and good luck on your show. I'll be watching.
John Conley
Dear Lydia, Your email took my breath. Yes, we live in a strange world, Lydia. And I admire those of you with such national exposure (by the very definition of your career) speaking out from your heart, untainted by political pressures.
There are so many things I would like to express to you about the soldier's heart, but I don't want to take very much of your time. If you do happen to find some time, please go to http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/heart/view/special.html and hear from other soldiers and Marines. These are clips of interviews with four veterans and I believe you will find them interesting and informative. I relate more to Jim Dooley and Viet Nam, but then again, though we are of different generations and different wars.....in ways most important we are all the same. Pray, Lydia, that God guides my memories and my words. Love, John
After my article was published, a Brad Blog commenter named Freedom Fan, asked me: "In your conversations with God Lydia, has he revealed to you when your life began? At what moment do you think all genetic information is in place to create a human life? Does God consider it a sin to intentionally snuff out innocent human life?"
My response: "When I got sober on Sept. 11, 11 years ago -- I experienced a string of catastrophic miracles, spine-tingling evidence of what I now call God in my life. Around this time I found my beloved younger brother's dead body, bloated and purple with lividity -- and I began my spiritual search. It became clear to me that flesh does not contain life. Life is spirit. And yes, I am absolutely sure of the answers to these questions. But I don't want to impose my discoveries on you without some background, and this is not the place. I have written extensively on life, love, death, faith and spirit -- and my own hilariously embarrassing adventures in spiritual growth.
For me the key is in Christ’s words and the meaning behind his parables. We are eternal and spiritual. And God is love. Love is an actual force, the creative force of the universe, more powerful than hate. Where you put your thoughts, there your heart is. If we were all to focus only on the GOOD in each other -- and return love for hate -- (very difficult to do, hence Christ's famous saying that the "gate is narrow") -- but if we could do this, we would create heaven on earth. It's here, we just can't see it, but some can when they change their perspective. (When we are all able to do this, to change our hearts, that is when I believe the "Second Coming" will happen. That's what Christ meant when he said that only he was the way to the Father: it is LOVE! And it's an inside job.) And in this expression, as a reflection of God, we come into form to express God’s qualities through man, His most glorious creative idea. Our natural state is joyous and childlike. And we are all in fact capable of doing what Christ did, we are supposed to be doing the healings he did. We are all the sons of God, made in God’s image, which is spiritual. You cannot kill spirit. So putting so much emphasis on the fetus or body as “life” is wrong to me. Now dont' get the wrong idea: I am against all killing, and I don't believe in partial-birth abortions. But not everyone in America subscribes to the belief that fetal cells prior to 8 weeks have consciousness or soul; and since we can't legislate religion in a free country where separation of church and state is a tenet of the Constitution - we have an obligation here. I also don't think Jesus wanted us to worship him, his flesh, his body so much -- he wanted us to acknowledge the Christ-truth within ALL of us. It's similar to when Jesus said not to focus on the "letter of the law, but the spirit." Soul, consciousness never dies, cannot be killed, is at-one-with God (atonement.) Is killing pro-life? Wars cause more damage to the families left fatherless, motherless and without their loved ones. We are here in this embodiment to learn to love and accept ourselves and transfer that love and acceptance to each other. Life is spiritual and eternal.
I feel God can be proved through science -- because love is a powerful force, an energy, and it's molecular. Anyway, there is no solid matter. Christ meant what he said when he said we could move a mountain with our faith. The problem is, we just don't believe it. If we did, we'd be walking through that metaphorical Gate. But all our doubts arrest God's work through us. Perfect Love casts out Fear, remember? I have had absolute transformative miracles through this kind of prayer; anyone can. Anyone can heal, for we must put our thoughts on the true spiritual essence of life, not the body. Beneath what is visible is the invisible where true power lies. It's like the software or inner language of a computer, beneath the surface. A great movie to rent to begin to understand in layman's terms this field of infinite possibilities is "What The BLEEP Do We Know". Also click on Google and type in "The Message in the Water" -- and read about a famous Japanese scientist's experiment in how our thoughts create everything. Anyway, my own personal journey (and horrific crash and burn) is coming out in a book soon. I was forced to find these answers on a very personal level. I explain this better in the book, and with more humor. Getting too serious lately. Just saw SYRIANA and GOOD NIGHT and GOOD LUCK. Two excellent movies.
More wrap up from 2005: This is from a BRADBLOG commenter named "Big K", who posted numerous comments on my article, and kept attacking me as a member of "the abortion party." I am getting sick of this; I have never even connected being a liberal with abortion! It's the furthest thing from my mind. This right-wing evangelical cabal invented this as a political smear campaign. There are so many wonderful things about the Democrats, which I will post in my next blog -- and no Democrat likes or wants abortions. Like Jimmy Carter, I am NOT pro-abortion and resent this bizarre right-wing obsession. To me, "liberal" means freedom loving, open-hearted, compassionate toward the poor, saving the earth and pro-LIFE in the ways that REALLY matter: we hate senseless death in any form, especially seeing our young bright soldiers killed and maimed (15,000 without legs and arms now) in a needless, corrupt war! If this war was to get rid of an evil despot and to save the poor Iraqi lives, then why didn't we go to Rwanda where the genocide was actually visible on a constant basis? Okay, so it was to fight terrorism. But the terrorists weren't even there at the start of the war. At least not the ones we were pursuing. Finally Big K explained to me: " What many of us have been saying here Lydia is you are just as liable for the “hate speech” you supposedly despise. Likening us to Nazi’s is not going to get me to see any point you have. (I never likened anyone to a Nazi; I simply pointed out that Coulter's "joking" about killing liberals is the same exact "joking tone" Hitler used when he as dehumanizing the Jews in the early propaganda days.) Then Big K goes on to say this: In Mosaic law, you should stone homosexuals since this is an abomination of nature" does not sound very liberal to me." First of all, I can't believe Big K believes Christ would have stoned a homosexual! Is that what he is saying? He lost me there.
Then a Democrat named Autarkis chimed in: "I can't imagine Christ taking a look at a secular leader taking his largest lifetime contributions from an outfit like Enron, which was the case for President Bush until just a couple years ago, and think that this was what he had in mind. Christ might be troubled to learn that the disparity between rich and poor in this country is growing at a staggering rate with no end in sight, and that Christians, at least the Fundamentalist ones, seem to celebrate this as the bounty of God when they're on the receiving end. But that's Ceasar's business. Maybe Christ wouldn't have given it much thought at all. He probably would be astounded to find that someone capable of mocking a prisoner begging for her life, (as Bush did to Carla Faye Tucker) called Christ his favorite philosopher. And then that this fellow launched wars, if not in his name, at least because he thought God put him in the Presidency to do this? And God's vicar, The Pope, tried to talk him out of one of them?"
