My tribute to John Lennon, fellow Libran and musician

To John Lennon:  Even though I was just a kid when you died, I was devastated when I learned what happened. How fitting it is that the planets in our solar system aligned this year, and the distant planet Gliese 581G was discovered during the zodiac period Libra, in constellation Libra. If you were alive today, maybe popular music would be more artistic rather than the strictly commercial commodity it has become. When you said that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus, at the time you were just stating a verifiable fact. Ironically, I'm  afraid that's generally true about popular music today and sadly, if it was said today no one would care. Your outspoken like-it-is stance on social/political issues and your avant-garde approach to music are missed.

-H.E.Miller  http://www.ApocalypticDreams.com

How class warfare can save the rich

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”, Charles Dickens wrote in ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ set in the late 1800’s. Unfortunately the same is true today.  After the tough economic times between the years 2000-2010, the super-rich are richer than ever, the middle class and poor are struggling, and the already wide gap between the rich and poor is getting even wider.  Hundreds of millions of people across the globe go hungry every day, including millions of children. In the United States alone, one of the richest countries in the world, tens of millions of people live in poverty.  Certainly these are the best times for some, and the worst for many others. 

But when someone advocating for the middle and lower classes attempts to point out that government policies and economic systems are unfairly favoring the rich, they are often accused of waging class warfare, which is a clever tactic that is designed to put an end to the topic so that the rich can go their merry way and the poor can ‘stop their whining’.  So, it’s usually the lower classes that are accused of waging class warfare against the rich. 

Ironically, multi-billionaire Warren Buffet, one of the richest men in the world, was quoted recently as saying “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.”   But it actually would be better for the rich if class warfare was being waged against them;  It might help them get to Heaven.

Now some may use religion to justify that wealth is a blessing from God, but I would like to point out some very relevant things the bible has to say about the prospects of the rich getting to heaven, which, if the bible is right and there is a God who is watching this world, we may be well advised to listen to:

When an honorable rich man asked Jesus ‘What good thing must I do to get eternal life?’ Jesus replied:  “Sell all your possessions and give all the money to the poor.”  When the man went away deeply saddened by the answer he had received, Jesus said to his disciples “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  I'll say it again--it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” (Matthew 19:16-24)

Jesus also said “Don't store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  (Matthew 6:19-21)

And from the second chapter of the book of Isaiah, a warning:   “Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end of their treasures. Their land also is full of idols, they have adored the work of their own hands. Enter thou into the rock, and hide thee in the pit from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty. The lofty eyes of man are humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be made to stoop, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. Because the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and high minded, and upon every one that is arrogant, and he shall be humbled. And idols shall be utterly destroyed. And they shall go into the holes of rocks and into the caves of the earth, from the face of the fear of the Lord and from the glory of his majesty, when he shall rise up to strike the earth.”

Now, I don’t intend for this to be a rally cry to the lower classes to wage class warfare against the rich. Instead, this is a plea to the rich to come to their senses, to think about what the bible said, and consider that if Jesus was right and it is in fact easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get to heaven, there still might be a way.  Perhaps Jesus didn't really expect anyone to bring themselves to sell everything they own and give the money to the poor. And people must be wary of false prophets who will try to convince you to give them all of your money.  But to the rich: in light of Jesus’ answer ask yourself if you are doing all that you can to help those less fortunate than you.  And if you are, then maybe the eye of that needle might get just a little bigger.  That is of course given that there’s enough time left.

-H.E.Miller   www.ApocalypticDreams.com

Listen to the song 'Strike the Earth' from the Rock Opera 'Apocalyptic Dreams' by H.E.Miller:  http://www.musicxray.com/xrays/21424  

H.E.Miller is working on his second rock music album, to be released 2011

Going back into the studio over the next few months to finish up my second rock music album. Will post updates.

-Thanks, H.E. Miller

Music video for H.E.Miller’s rock music song ‘Industrialization Blues' is up on his YouTube channel

Check out the Video for H.E.Miller’s song 'Industrialization Blues' from his rock music CD ‘Apocalyptic Dreams’, on his YouTube channel.  

http://www.youtube.com/hemillermusic

Trash Can Magazine wrote:

"I’m a blast from the past, a calling to the future,” H.E. Miller sings in “Industrialization Blues,” one of the standout tracks in his debut full-length LP Apocalyptic Dreams. Staying true to his word, Miller’s sound is decidedly retro, evoking a pantheon of rock ‘n’ roll legend throughout the 14-track record."   http://bit.ly/9gkG37 

-H.E.Miller     www.ApocalypticDreams.com

Welcome to the camp… Check out H.E.Miller's rock opera Apocalyptic Dreams

“Welcome to the camp, I guess you all know why we're here...” -from the rock musical Tommy by The Who. 

My own rock opera is at http://www.ApocalypticDreams.com 

Thanks -H.E.Miller

Welcome to my Blog

The voice of one crying out in the wilderness…  H.E.Miller is a rock musician, singer, songwriter, recording artist, philosopher, theologian, social commentator.

Music video for H.E.Miller’s song 'Miracle' is up on his YouTube channel

Check out the Video for H.E.Miller’s song 'Miracle' from his rock music CD ‘Apocalyptic Dreams’, on his YouTube channel.  

http://www.youtube.com/hemillermusic

Trash Can Magazine wrote:

"Apocalyptic Dreams, a strongly-thematic concept album that tackles religion and the end times in the 21^st century, is a statement in itself in today’s post-album music world.  For a debut garage rock album to be precisely conceived, so carefully executed, is both shocking and inspiring. "   http://bit.ly/9gkG37 

-H.E.Miller     www.ApocalypticDreams.com

How to choose a political party, and know if they’re telling the truth: “By their fruits you will know them”

It’s basic human nature to assume that you can trust what someone tells you. But when it comes to politics one needs to be careful to not automatically accept at face value what members of a political party say they stand for.   Political parties routinely accuse each other of being dishonest, so how do you know who’s telling the truth?  Fortunately there is a way, and it is this:  “By their fruits you will know them.”  (Matthew 7:16).

That passage is from the Sermon on the Mount, at the point where Jesus warned of false prophets being “wolves in sheep’s clothing”.   By comparing a deceptive prophet to a bad fruit tree he gave us a way to know if they are being untruthful, which is “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.”  (Matthew 7:18).   

That analogy can also be applied to politics, in which case the politician is the ‘tree’. While it’s debatable in the case of false prophets whether their ‘fruits’ are their works or their prophecies, undoubtedly the fruits of politicians are their policies.

Now in choosing a political party to support, there are two major considerations: 1) is the party being truthful about what they stand for, and 2) does the party have your best interests at heart in terms of promoting policies that support what is important to you. 

Only you can determine what’s in your own best interests and what is important to you.  For example, do you believe the government should take an active role in helping those of its citizens that are less economically fortunate than others, fight for equal rights, protect the environment, and regulate corporations to prevent economic meltdowns?  Or, do you value money and material possessions above all else, believe it should be ‘every man for himself’,  and believe that government should be limited mainly to fighting wars and enacting policies that favor those of its citizens that already have the most?  These are some of things that people consider to be their own best interests, and the politicians of opposing parties may profess to support. 

But the question is, how do you know if a political party is telling the truth about what they really stand for?    Well, ‘by their fruits you will know them”.   

Consider the following examples regarding one issue, the well being of the middle class:

1) Party A and Party B both say they care about the strength of the middle class.  But when Party B tried to enact legislation to extend unemployment benefits during a recent major economic downturn, Party A fought diligently to prevent the legislation from passing and as a result many families went hungry, lost homes, etc., until Party B finally prevailed.  Which party really cares about the middle class?   By their fruits you will know them.

2) Party A and Party B both say they want a fair system of taxation.  Party A enacted 10 years of tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefitted the wealthiest citizens and corporations, while offering a relative pittance to the citizens of the middle class. (Coincidentally, during those same 10 years, the wealthiest citizens got even richer while the average middle class family saw its income stagnate or decline).  After those 10 years, when Party B tried to let the tax cuts expire for the wealthiest 5% but leave the tax cuts in place for 90% of its citizens (the middle class) Party A fought diligently to stop it from happening, attempting to keep in place the grossly disproportionate tax breaks for the wealthy (and also claimed falsely that Party B was trying to raise taxes on everyone).  Which party cares more about the middle class? Which party favors the wealthy?  By their fruits you will know them.

3) Party A believes that outsourcing manufacturing and high-tech jobs, thereby putting millions of their fellow citizens out of work, is a good thing for the economy. When Party B tried to enact legislation to encourage  companies to create jobs here at home and end tax breaks for companies that outsource and ship jobs overseas, Party A fought diligently and prevented its passing. Who really cares about the middle class? By their fruits you will know them.

The above examples surround just one of many issues to consider in choosing a political party to support, but the same logical process can be followed for any issue.  That is, to listen to the rhetoric of the political parties, and then evaluate not only if their policies truly reflect what they say they stand for, but also if they really have your best interests at heart.   

Remember this: “By their fruits you will know them.”

-H.E.Miller     http://www.ApocalypticDreams.com 

Video One-Sheet for H.E.Miller’s rock music CD ‘Apocalyptic Dreams’ is up on his YouTube channel

Check out the Video One-Sheet for H.E.Miller’s rock music CD ‘Apocalyptic Dreams’, on his YouTube channel:  

http://www.youtube.com/hemillermusic

‘Apocalyptic Dreams’ is a unique blend of high-intensity classic rock/punk that’s been called theological rock.

Bob at CDBaby.com wrote:  “Great forward thinking rock;  This record screams out hi-energy rock. From the start of the record until the end you are taken on a journey that not only excites the imagination but pleases the very center of your rock and roll being. If you don’t own this record you are doing yourself an injustice!”

-H.E.Miller    www.ApocalypticDreams.com

Why the Public should be skeptical about the newly found ‘Earth-like’ planet Gliese 581 G

In September, 2010 the scientific community made the announcement that it had found an Earth-like planet in a far away solar system in the Milky Way galaxy, and implied that the probability of life existing there is extremely high. Immediately the media trumpeted this to the general public as fact, complete with spectacular graphical depictions.  There are a few problems with this. First, no one has actually seen this planet, but now there’s a perception in the general public that someone has. Second, the techniques used by scientists to ‘discover’ this planet are so obscure that if the general public were aware of them they might be more skeptical about the whole thing.

But finding an actual explanation of the process scientists used to ‘discover’ this planet and determine that it is ‘earthlike’ is extremely difficult.  What I did manage to find is this:  “The discovery was made using radial velocity measurements combining 11 years of data from the HIRES instrument of the Keck 1 telescope and the HARPS instrument of ESO’s 3.6m telescope at La Silla Observatory”   (Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliese_581_g).

On further research, I found that the HIRES instrument (High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer) breaks up incoming starlight into its component colors to measure the precise intensity of each of thousands of color channels, and The HARPS instrument (High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher) uses Doppler Spectroscopy to detect if the light from a star indicates that it is wobbling. The theory is that if a star is wobbling it must be caused by the gravitational pull of an orbiting planet ‘tugging’ on the star.  The star, Gliese 581, is around 20 light years from earth (that’s about 117,572,507,463,660 miles).

So, in as plain words as possible, the entire assumption that the ‘earthlike’ planet Gliese 581G exists is based on scientists trusting the accuracy of the radio telescopes and the HARPS/HIRES instruments to provide flawless data on the behavior of the light from a distant star that took 20 years to reach us, in order to ascertain that the star has a virtually imperceptible wobble, and assuming based on this data that it does, to then make the further assumption that the wobble is caused by a planet that cannot be seen.  And then based on those assumptions, scientists claim that the  distance this new planet is from its star gives it a high probability that it is like Earth in that it has all the right conditions to support life.

To me, those are a lot of (potentially flawed) assumptions and therefore I am skeptical of the claim that this even planet exists.

Now, I am someone who supports scientific discovery, and I’m not saying that I think the scientific community is wrong about the Gliese 581G planet.  What I am saying is that the general public should not automatically accept as fact what the scientific community presents to them, without being made aware of the basis from which the scientific community is making these assumptions.  And the Media has a responsibility to not just automatically sensationalize what the scientific community tells them, but to research the processes that were used in making these discoveries and effectively communicate that information to the general public.

One more caveat:  Another reason why the scientific community and the media need to make more of an effort to disclose the basis for these discoveries is that sometimes the nature of the discoveries themselves can cause a rift between the religious community and scientific community by potentially challenging long-held beliefs about the universe from a religious perspective (for example that we may be unique and therefore special in the universe).   I believe that the religious community should be open to considering these discoveries, but it is critical that the scientific community and the media provide all of the details regarding the processes and techniques that the scientific community used as the basis of their assumptions, so that a well educated public can decide for themselves if they believe it is fact.

-H.E.Miller     http://www.ApocalypticDreams.com

On Apocalyptic TV, RevGen and the Angel of Light

A few things were going on a couple of weeks ago that are prime examples what’s wrong with the world today. First, the History Channel was airing a series of  ‘Apocalyptic’ shows, i.e. in-depth analysis of biblical predictions of the end of the world and speculation that this could be happening in our time. I have no idea how many people out there believe it, but apparently the History Channel thinks a lot of people might. I happen to be of the mindset that it is true; or it’s as much of a coincidence as ever that the problems the world is experiencing today really do fit the abstractions described in the book of Revelation (aka ‘The Apocalypse’).

The second thing is that there’s this yearly Christian oriented rock music festival called ‘Revelation Generation’  (or RevGen) that was going on a few weeks ago, and I really should have been there – not as a spectator but as a performer. You see, I’m a rock musician/recording artist with some extremely relevant things to say on that topic, but nobody from that community seems to know or care that I’m here. The problem is that today’s Christian oriented music scene is just as worldly as the non-Christian music scene, with its superstars having all the power of the world behind them… Their music sounds just the same as non-Christian rock only with some spiritual references thrown in; but even so, it doesn’t say what needs to be said if you truly believe that the book of Revelation is speaking of our time. Remember, Satan will come as an Angel of Light (I’ll have more on that in future posts).

-H.E.Miller    www.ApocalypticDreams.com