Should it be shocking that a seasoned Methodist minister should tell us the Bible isn't all that it's cracked up to be and that God did not create the human species after all? Should we expect a learned scholar to warn us about our dangerous reptilian brains that are the real cause of today's evils? John H. Brand is the first to tell you he "thinks out of the box," and because he does, he's "madder than hell." Writes Brand: "The scourge of materialism has gnawed the sinews of the principles of democracy to the bare bones... There is nothing sacred about private enterprise. As a matter of fact, it has turned out to be the embodiment of evil."

Although Brand is not without hope for rescuing America, he warns us to act fast-and now: "Maybe there is still time to recover the essence of human freedom. Maybe the will to do so might somehow be generated in our populace. However, time is short. Evil men intent on imposing their political, economic, and religious self-serving goals on America are not far from achieving their goal of mastery."

"Dr. Brand is a true renaissance man, one who has studied religion, science, philosophy, law, and business. In his life he has been a soldier, a minister, a businessman and a teacher. He has read Nietzsche in the original German. I doubt that Fundamentalist or right wing Republicans will read or comprehend his writings, but for the open minded, the journey will be interesting and for many enlightening."

-- Orin Winn, B.S.E.E.

I met John Brand on the pages of Yellow Times. He immediately impressed me as one of the great contemporary thinkers of human behavior. His analysis of the vagaries of the creature with the big brain which developed the weapon, and the distorted wiring of that brain which leads to a never-ending cycle of blood, is incisive. John is a freedom lover, but he is also a skeptic as to the ability of humans to ever achieve the freedom they so desperately long for.

John is a social philosopher who transcends the universal belief in the inherent goodness of humans into the realm of that mysterious subconscious that took millenniums to evolve and that still affects and dominates our behavior, that still makes us opt for wars rather than peaceful means to solve our problems. John does that in a language that one need not be a scientist to understand.

John is cynical of the people who end up holding the reins of power. In a great many instances - too pervasive for comfort - their morality tends to be on a scale lower than what is required for mankind to shed the burden of its animal origins and forge a morality compatible with the awesome technology - good and evil - it has developed.

In times like the ones we are passing through now, with the threat of terrorism by remote individuals on the one hand and the erosion of individual liberties at the hands of those elected (or appointed) to preserve them on the other, John's writings go beyond making a political point on current affairs, but provide insight into why that complex creature who roams the earth, carrying a gun in one hand and a holy book in the other, behaves the way he does.

--Raja G. Mattar, M.B.A.

About the Author:

John H. Brand is a Purple Heart, Combat Infantry veteran of World War II. He received his Juris Doctor degree at Northwestern University and a Master of Theology and a Doctor of Ministry at Southern Methodist University. He served as a Methodist minister for 19 years, was Vice President, Birkman & Associates, Industrial Psychologists, and concluded his career as Director, Organizational and Human Resources, Warren-King Enterprises, an independent oil and gas company. John is a regular columnist for www.yellowtimes.org and he is the author of Shaking the Foundations, also published by Dandelion Books.

Excerpt:

SECTION I - THE STATE OF RELGION

The first article, "I Am Mad... Madder Than Hell," provides the general background for my essays. Four articles about the state of American popular Christianity follow it.

The column "The Rev. Dr. Billy Graham's Unpardonable Sin," my first article published by www.yellowtimes.org, brought the biggest number of responses from readers. Almost all were supportive of my position.

"Popes, Priests, and Pedophiles" probably is the least understood of my columns. I wanted to show that the church's long-standing denial of sexual criminal behavior is based neither on disrespect for the law nor disrespect for the laity of the church. The problem is purely and simply theological in nature. Not even many of the church's well-schooled lay people seem to want to understand the difficulty.

The main reason I devote four articles to aspects of the current American religious scene can be found in the fact that a dogmatic minority group is exerting major influences on present mores. It is my conviction that this cultic Christianity has little to do with the teachings of Jesus and, in the long run, will be destructive of freedom.

Imposition of narrow dogmatic principles on a civilization is a major reason for its eventual downfall.

Present-day provincial interpretation of the Scripture sweeps the grandeur of biblical views under the rug. In its place we find a narrow, self-centered religiosity that has little concern for the essential elements of justice and righteousness.

Chapter One

I AM MAD... MADDER THAN HELL

On November 4, 1944, Co E, 410th Reg., 103rd Infantry Division moved on the line outside of St. Die, France. We relieved a unit of the 3rd Division that had been on the front for over 100 consecutive days. As soon as we moved into position, German artillery hit our area. The Baptism of Fire is a cruel experience. Within a minute I lost all sense of being a civilized, caring human being.

All of life centered around one thought, "Get the bastards before they get you." Next morning we had our first casualty. Private Kopko, the only son of a widowed Mother, took a direct hit. The shrapnel pierced his helmet and skull. Quicker than you can read this sentence, what had once been a vital human being, now lay dead on the cold ground.

I don't even remember the name of the next guy who got it. He was a schoolteacher, a rather quiet man. He joined our platoon just before we went on the line. I understood he had a wife and child. Shrapnel hit his guts-as nasty a wound as there is. He was still alive when the stretcher-bearers carried him, screaming and writhing, to the rear. I don't know if he made it. Probably not.

Death. Wounds. Hell. Screams. Fear. Hate. Bastards.

Yet, deep down inside, we knew we were fighting because Hitler's madness had to be stopped. We were citizen soldiers. Our aim was to get on with our private lives. But before we could, there was a job that had to be done! Behind the terror and the bravery, the screams and the stealthy night patrols into enemy lines, was a strong belief that our sacrifices would make this a better world.

The final paragraph of the Yalta Conference Report, February 1945, expressed our hopes: "To the soldier who slogged it out in the mud, the Yalta Conference and the San Francisco Conference are tangible evidence that the United Nations have a definite goal... that this time the peace will be carefully and deliberately planned... that the hours in muddy foxholes, the eternal moments lying, pinned down to the muck by machinegun fire, the swift seconds of the assaults of a strongpoint, will not have been spent in vain."

The back of the World War II Victory Medal bears the inscription, "Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, freedom from fear." Those declarations made our sacrifices worthwhile. They put meaning into the hell of war. We really believed we were fighting for a better world.

We returned home and set about to build a greater nation. Filled with the assurance that our dead did not die in vain, that those of us who came home with disabilities would see the fulfillment of our dreams, we worked hard to realize this nation's potential. And now over fifty years later, our dreams are crushed, our hopes are destroyed, our sufferings are a mockery. I am mad... madder than hell.

While those dominating politics, business, and religion spout patriotic slogans, proclaim the virtues of capitalism, and preach that this is a nation under God, the reality is the grim dismantling of all things decent and right and honorable.

And for what? That a few bastard businessmen can deposit a few more millions into their personal checking accounts? That a few plutocratic politicians can pervert the welfare of the people? That a few paranoid preachers can evoke more division than unity in the gospel they spread?

I am angry because a handful of propagandists have caused the American people to buy into the charade that government is bad and private enterprise is an unqualified bonanza for all. Well, it certainly has turned out differently, hasn't it? While executives at Enron, WorldCom, Anderson and sundry other corporations were putting millions into their personal bank accounts, the employees and investors hold worthless pieces of paper in their hands.

And what really makes me angry is that our Attorney General recused himself from the case because his own Senatorial campaign fund received contributions from Enron. But has he appointed a Deputy to pursue this matter vigorously? Surely, among the many thousands of laws, regulations, executive orders, there must be one who can make Kenny Boy accountable. But no, he is still roaming the streets or holed up in one of his many mansions laughing at the poor suckers he has taken for a ride. And that makes me angry... madder than hell.

There is nothing sacred about private enterprise. As a matter of fact, it has turned out to be the embodiment of evil. Ask the millions who were bilked out of billions in the sovereign State of California by the Enron shenanigans. Glory to God in the highest! And it is ordained by the Almighty that profits are good for everyone. Ask the more than 40,000,000 uninsured citizens. Ask the ones who receive inadequate care by HMOs. Just the other day my wife went for her blood pressure checkup. Her doctor has done a fine job of controlling it. After he finished his exam, she asked him what she might do about feeling constantly tired.

He looked at his watch and said, "Ruby, you have to make another appointment to talk about that. Time has run out." The poor man has to see so many billable patients and just has a few minutes for each one. Glory to private enterprise making people's health a profit center.

Glory to God in the highest for having major industries pollute soil, air, and water. Then their minions in Congress pass laws to keep the corporations from having to assume liability. The cost of the clean-up is shifted to the taxpayers. And then the funds are cut because we don't have enough money to take care of everything that needs attention. But we still plan a Star War Defense Shield. Although every respectable scientist has said that it cannot be done and every test has failed, we still fill the trough with the swill of money so the fat boys can grow fatter still.

Death. Wounds. Hell. Screams. Fear. Hate. Bastards.

Count the blessing of unrestricted free enterprise. You see it in the face of untold elderly who have to make a choice between buying needed medications or food. The large pharmaceutical companies change a few molecules in prescription medicines so they can obtain new patents. The new product, in most cases, is not much better than the old one. Holding new patents in their grubby little hands, they can squeeze more bucks out of a captive public. Ain't free enterprise grand?

Who in the hell needs governmental oversight? Well, the people do, to level the playing field. But does "Big Bidness" want equity and fairness? If you believe that, I have a really good deal on the Brooklyn Bridge. You see the blessings of free enterprise in the sorrowing faces of those who lost loved ones when their Ford SUVs turned over, killing some of their relatives.

So we enter into a debate whether Ford or Firestone are to be blamed. And not a single executive who knew about this death threat has spent a day in jail.

Unrestricted free enterprise is not enterprise at all. Lack of oversight provides a license to steal.

Death. Wounds. Hell. Screams. Fear. Hate. Bastards.

Of course, I am mad at the politicians. If they want to get elected and reelected and reelected, they have to have money.

NEWS BULLETIN: The name of the Lord God Jehovah has just been changed. The President, upon advice of the Attorney General, and with the approval of the Congress, the Supreme Court by a 5:4 vote, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, changed the Lord's name to: The Lord Mammon. So everything is all right with our nation under our new god.

And the representatives of the people have to have money to go on TV and tell us about their grand plans to fulfill the expectations of the people that this shall be a government of and for and by said people. Oops! Sorry! I made a mistake. No, they have to have money to tell us how sorry their opponents are and how unworthy they are to represent us-the people. And who gives our reps the money to provide this meaningful information? Why, it's the proponents of the only true God, The Lord Mammon. So when laws are written, who writes them?

Death. Wounds. Hell. Screams. Fear. Hate. Bastards.

That leaves me with the final object of my disappointments and the realization that our sacrifices were in vain. I am mad as hell about the fake religion that charlatans have presented to the American public as Christianity. In the early 1950s, I was driving home along Highway 82 in North Texas rather late one night. The only radio station coming in loud and clear was one located in Mexico carrying religious broadcasts. I was rather amused at the ignorance that came over the airwaves. I thought to myself this sort of cheap emotionalism would only be accepted by the most ignorant of people. I heard the following spoken with a deep southern drawl and a saccharine voice.

"Friends, neighbors, this is your Christian friend, (sorry, I forgot the man's name) speaking from Kentucky. Now friends, I know that many of you have problems with your wife or your husband. Some of your children are not turning out all right. And I know that some of you are having trouble with your boss. Well, friends, your troubles are over. Every Thursday morning, I go to the upper room in my house and I pray hard. I pray hard to the Lord and the Lord blesses me. Holy drops of oil appear in the palms of my hands. (At this point the voice was quite shaky and filled with emotion.) Now friends, if you will send me $5.00 I will send you a cloth on which I have wiped some of the drops of holy oil from the palm of my hands.

"Now neighbor, if you take that cloth and touch your loved one with it, drape it over a picture of your loved one, rub your boss's car, or toolkit, or his desk with it, neighbor if you do that, all your troubles will go away. Send your $5.00 to me and I will send you the cloth with holy oil. The Lord God Himself has blessed it."

I submit to you, America's popular religion today is nothing more than snake oil being peddled by charlatans. Educated people have bought into the claptrap of personal salvation without social responsibility. Popular religion is like the rabbit's foot supposedly bringing you good luck. It has all of the superstition of a four-leaf clover or hanging a horseshoe over your barn door with the open end pointing upwards. It is like the witches' brew in Macbeth.

Myths, fables, and belief in the absurd make up the potion guaranteed to bring whatever one wishes. Our leaders think if we invoke the name of God long and loud enough, God will descend from heaven and bless this nation.

The prophetic tradition of the Bible is quite clear on the point that a nation preoccupied with materialism will go down the tube. I am paraphrasing Amos 8:4 - 6 bringing his words into our own socio/economic setting: "Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land saying, When will the weekend be over so we can get on with the business of making money and cooking the balance sheet by transferring debts to offshore companies? We will provide inferior services and products and make a hell of a lot of money. We will be deceitful but it's all within the law because we have written the laws ourselves. We will charge the masses more than our stuff is worth and overcharge them for things they must have, like electricity, food, and gasoline."

If you think I have overstated the case, read the passage yourself, find out its historical setting and you will realize that Amos was twice as tough on the controlling alphas as I ever thought about being.

What do these self-styled Christians know about the great prophetic tradition of an Isaiah, an Amos, a Jesus? All they can ask is, "Are you saved?" And by the Lord Mammon you are not if you don't do it my way! Damn you if you don't!

This is not what we died for and suffered for. This is not why we suffer our disabilities gladly. This is not why Pvt. Kopko got a piece of shrapnel in his skull.

Death. Wounds. Hell. Screams. Fear. Hate. Bastards.