An invitation to a sweet Revolution

2007-12-25T19:11:00.000-08:00

My brothers and sisters,

If you believe what you’ve been reading and listening to on this website;

If you believe that the time has come for us to put across, with no bluster but with faith, what we believe according to the Gospel of grace;

If you believe that this can be the time when the Holy Spirit may want to provoke a fire of repentance leading us back to the Gospel of Jesus…

Then here is one suggestion I offer about a sweet subversion of love and a kind expression of a faith-based challenge.

Please read the text below. If you believe that the contents’ statements are according to the soul and the spirit of the Gospel of Christ, then make it your own Contemporary Reform Thesis. Print it in every way you can. You may want to display it as a banner, a big sign or simply a “scroll”. You can post it upon the door of churches, seminaries, cathedrals, and on the door of your house as well, or anywhere else you have a chance to put it. Please read it. If you believe, do what is in your power.

By the end of the next month, I will be glad to know that it was posted in as many Christian centers and churches as possible. What's more: Such an act is personal. Therefore, don’t ask for anybody’s permission. But don’t vandalize anything either. Be discrete. Only hang your flag as a thesis of faith and life in God’s Grace. The size and the quantity are up to you. Send me pictures of some of these places if you want to. I will post them here on the website.

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BYLAWS FOR A PLENTIFUL LIFE

Article 1
It is hereby decreed that there is no condemnation for those who remain in Jesus, for the Spirit of Life in Christ frees humankind from all guilt forever.

Article 2
It is hereby decreed that all days of the week, including Saturdays and Sundays, carry within themselves the dawn of the Day that is called Today, and for this reason humankind will forever have more value than the obligations and rituals of any religion.

Article 3
It is hereby decreed that from this moment on there will be vineyards, and their wines may be drunk by all people. There will be olive trees and with their oils everyone may be anointed; mangos and mango trees of every kind, and every person may indulge in them.

Fashion Statement:
All the flowers will be flowers of hope, for every color, including black, will be the colors of hope before the eyes of those who know how to behold. No color will ever again stand for good or evil, but only for its own shade and hue, for whatever goes beyond this will always be in the eye of the beholder.

Article 4
It is hereby decreed that humans will no longer judge other humans, and each will respect his/her neighbor like the Negro River respects its differences with the Solimões River—meeting their waters and running together although individually—in the same course toward the sea.

Statement of Continuity:
Humans will give freedom to other humans in the same way the eagle gives its offspring the freedom to fly and soar.

Article 5
It is hereby decreed that humans are free and never again will any human be judged different from any other human for any reason. All the gags will become bandages so that the wounds caused by the tyranny of silence may be healed. The joy of humans will be the pleasure of being themselves before the Creator, and before anyone else they meet on the way.

Article 6
It is decreed that, for as long as time can measure, all peoples of the Earth will be only one people, and that all will bring their offerings of Gratitude to the main square of New Jerusalem.

Article 7
By the virtue of the Cross it is established that even the most unjust of humans who repents from his/her evil ways will have access to the Tree of Life, and will be healed by the balm from its leaves and will be fed by its fruit for all eternity.

Article 8
It is decreed by the power of the Resurrection that never again will any human present to God another human's guilt, praying with hatred the “blessings of damnation”, for the entire handwriting of ordinances and debts that was against humankind has been canceled, and the accusers of wickedness became forever confounded.

Statement of Individuality:
Each one will learn to care for the peace in his/her own heart.

Article 9
It is permanently clarified, with the Light of the Sun of Justice, that only God knows what goes on in the soul of a human. Therefore, each conscience should know of itself before God, for forever will all things be permissible, and wisdom will always be in knowing what is appropriate.

Article 10
Let the world be warned that the only clothes that fit a human well before God are not made of cloth, but of Blood, and that those who are clothed with the Garments of Blood are covered, even when naked.

Statement of What is Right:
The only nudity that shall be punished will be that of the presumption of the one who thinks to be clothed by his/her own efforts.

Article 11
It is forever discerned as truth that nothing is beautiful without love, and that the eyes of the one who does not love will never see beauty anywhere, not even in Paradise, nor in the most profound Abyss.

Article 12
It is permanently decreed that all beings will coexist. For this reason, nothing is ugly, not even making friendships with gorillas, or calling the snake from the marshes of the Amazon Forest your friend. The poisonous flowers are forever free simply to be the beautiful plants that they are.

Statement of Life:
Only one thing is forever forbidden: To try to be someone other than oneself.

Article 13
It is ordained that never again any Grace will be offered in exchange for something, and that money will lose all importance in the worship of humankind. All offering plates will become dim memories, and all the money being given will be passed with such lightness and goodness that the left hand will not know what the right hand did with it.

Article 14
It is established that everyone who lies in the name of God will be forced to vomit their lies, and from such lies be fed as a camel, until such a person makes a decision only to glorify God with the truth of the heart.

Article 15
Never again will anyone use the phrase "God thinks...", because once and for all it is decreed that humankind does not know what God thinks.

Article 16
It is established that the Word of God cannot be bought nor sold, for each one will learn that the Word is as free as the Wind and as powerful as the Sea.

Article 17
It is permitted forever that a Cathedral be born wherever two or three people call upon The Name in harmony, even if the place is covered by the simplest of all roofs.

Article 18
The use of the Name of Jesus is forbidden to anyone who would use the name to exert power over one's neighbor, and silence is better than insincerity. From now on nobody will say: "The Lord told me to say this to you", for God will speak directly to the conscience of each and every person. All humans who believe will be equal, and no one will demand submission from another, but will acknowledge everyone's right to freely be and love.

Article 19
The delirium of prophets become hereby permitted, and utopias are now instituted as the purest form of reality.

Article 20

Amen!

Caio

and everyone else who believes that a revolution doesn’t need to lack poetry

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From the originals: “DECRETOS DA VIDA VERDADEIRA” and “UM CONVITE À DOCE REVOLUÇÃO”

Translation: Ciro D'Araújo
1^st Correction: Anonymous

2^nd Correction: F. R. Castelo Branco | June 2007

SWEET REVOLUTION

An invitation to a sweet Revolution