Track Listing

1 - How to Create the Middle Class

At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord's release has been proclaimed.

One of the greatest sins of the modern age is the refusal to forgive debt. It has moved from a way to help people get further along in their lives to a way to keep them oppressed over the years. No one should be shouldered with debt for longer than what scripture calls for, for what we have done is create perpetual debt, and no one can rise above that. It is killing the whole idea of a middle class.

How many exceptional people have we left behind because we have burdened them with a lifetime of debt and obligation? Forgiving debt isn’t a socialist idea and it’s not a communist one. It’s in that book you keep quoting and editing to suit your own purpose.

2 -Border Patrol

 And the second is like, namely this: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

America First, UKIP, and just about any exclusionary practice throughout history has only led to strife, sadness and death. You must love your neighbor, no matter how different from you they are.

Why did the LORD have his chosen people wonder the desert for 40 years? Not as punishment, as many are taught, but to give them time to adjust to the commandments. Give them two generations to learn them and live by them, because the Promised Land already had people living in it – strangers – and if the people could follow all of the rules given them then perhaps everyone could have lived in peace.

Alas, people are less than perfect, and did not live up to the potential of what could have been. This strife exists to this day.

No Human Being is illegal. They exist. They are your neighbors. If you have no room for them in your heart how can you have any room for the LORD?

3 - Even Scrooge Can Learn

Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

The wealthy do not need your help. The powerful do not need your help. Life is service – at least the life we are trying to teach you. Can you learn? Can you adjust?

You must help. It is why you’re here.

4 - War

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask

Tif we may be so bold as to quote Edwin Starr, 

“War, huh (good God y'all)
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing, say it again”

5 - Seven Mountains

None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, and none of the sons of Israel shall be a cult prostitute.

Time and time again we see examples in scripture of God using the lowest of people, people without station or influence, to do his great works. Never, not once in all scripture, is it commanded to be at the top of mountains – it is shown time and again that the Lord may do his work any way that he sees fit.

So in seeking to control the seven mountains as commanded by Televangelists and others are you following the path or are you worshipping idols? Did you know that the man who coined the term “Seven Mountains” is the only leader who calls himself a Christian who has refused to condemn the violence of January 6, 2021?

Have you prostituted yourself to the worship and friendship of power? Are you, like those espousing the philosophy of Seven Mountains, ensconced in a cult of your own making?

6 - Corruption

What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

“To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:

“‘We played the pipe for you,
    and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge,
    and you did not mourn.’

Do you honestly believe that the man who will pave the way for Him will be a rich man? A man of vanity? It will not be a man in soft clothing, living in his comfortable castle. It will be a great man, but a lesser man than the slightest of those who have been saved. More a peanut farmer and home builder than a man who wears a suit to baseball games.

And what have you become? Children – willfully uneducated and only interested in your own temporary joy and the people who participate in it with you. Make America Great Again? Perhaps it was already great, and it was only terrible to be you.

It’s not the words you must see, but the actions. The actions of those in soft clothing, the rich and comfortable, and those living in comfort becuase they are in the pocket of the rich and powerful, have led you away from the path so far that you may no longer recognize it when you cross it once again.

It is not the rich that will save you. They are false. Places where small miracles have taken place and yet throw their weight behind the rich will be forsaken by the rich – and you in your ignorance will thank them.

7 - Leaving the Path

For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.

It is far easier to leave the path than most realize. In point of fact, most people who believe themselves on the right path left it so long ago, have gone so far down the wrong path, that when they accidentally come across the right path again they do not recognize it.

This is not a uniquely right-wing trait, but they have turned it into an art.

And the Atheist thought the lyrics were funny.

8 - Beloved Prostitute

By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.

There is actually much discussion amongst scholars about whether or not Rahab was a prostitute. She may have been an innkeeper. It may have been slanderous tongues that gave such a label. It may have been anecdotal to the lesson being taught. We find the discussion irrelevant. The whole purpose of this passage is to show that someone who had help the spies who planned out the invasion of Jericho, and that this was just a single example of the rewards given to people who aided the Israelites over the years. That because they shared the same faith and stayed true they did not suffer when Isreal came to hand out its wrath, or to be saved within circumstances.

To better state the point, it does not matter what one does as long as one properly holds up their faith, and remains true. The 10 commandments do not outlaw prostitution – man does that. If she holds true to the LORD’s commandments why would it matter what she does to earn a living?

Do not impose your personal morality on others – they will be saved by their own actions; not yours. Some lawmakers tend to forget this.

9 - We Don't Do That Anymore

If his offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves or pigeons. And the priest shall bring it to the altar and wring off its head and burn it on the altar. Its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar. He shall remove its crop with its contents and cast it beside the altar on the east side, in the place for ashes. He shall tear it open by its wings, but shall not sever it completely. And the priest shall burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

One of the great sins committed in the name of our Savior is in the taking of scripture as literal. While this is not a uniquely American sin it can be seen most often in that nation. Just about every law in the book of Leviticus includes punishments that seem barbaric to the modern mind, and yet there is a whole section of people who want everything in this book followed exactly.

But if you read deep enough, you might notice that many of the punishments for various crimes involves holding a barbeque for your Priest. We don’t do that anymore. We selected this verse to show an exceptionally gross example of something we just don’t do anymore, but there are many many examples all through this book of the Bible.

So have you ever asked yourself, what is the purpose of this book? Is it about naming sins, or is it about putting you under the control of the Priesthood? Putting you under the control of those who write the laws? Have you never noticed that this book is the only one where the title is in Latin? When did this book become part of scripture?

Follow nothing blindly. That’s not faith – that’s gullibility. 

10 - Breaking Wheaton's Law

Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴ Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.

Everyone you know, or have ever known, has had a bad day. They’ve had great ones too, and ordinary ones, but you have a day where nothing works properly and you react badly. It happens to us all, even the divine. There are countless examples of this in scripture but one of the funniest is when Jesus curses a Fig tree.

If you can forgive the sin of someone just having a bad moment or a bad day for one seen as divine, how can you not forgive it of anyone else? We all have those days – those moments. You don’t want to be a dick about it, but sometimes you will be. Let those moments pass and you’ll be remembered for the good you’ve done, not the momentary lapse of decorum and judgement. No one remembers Jesus as the man who curses fig trees for not having fruit out of season.

Don’t be a dick.

This is the only single with a “B Side”, an instrumental called “It Doesn't Say That”

11 - Daughers Without Names

This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;

Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, and after his image; and called his name Seth:

And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:

And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.

And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos:

And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters:

And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.

And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan:

And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters:

And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died.

And Cainan lived seventy years and begat Mahalaleel:

And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters:

And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died.

And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared:

And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters:

And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died.

And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch:

And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:

And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died.

This song originally had more, and continued the line of births and begats up to Moses. But the song would have been 15 minutes long instead of a concise 6 1/2. Something every 12 year-old boy notices when this part is taught in Sunday School is just how much sex is in scripture. There are all these begats and children produced and once you learn what begat means you find yourself giggling in the corner with the other 12 year-old boys for hours on end.

But did your Sunday School Teacher ever point out something missing? Daughters are mentioned, but not one of them is given a name. Not one.

As we get older this discrepancy becomes more and more conspicuous and troubling. Women are important in history and scripture. Might this have been a concerted effort? After all, but Old Testament is mostly the same as the Torah, but the books of women (Ruth and Esther) are absent and/or retitled.

Did you not give your daughters names in order to insure their subservience? They had names, but most were not preserved. Is that why you don’t believe that women can be equal and even superior?

Can sexism be left in the past?

12 - Postcard to America

You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. 

America really failed this one. He’s not a savior, he’s not a messenger, he’s not an unlikely person put here to lead/save you – the LORD always fixes those people first. The closest equivalent in scripture is the golden calf.

Chris played his grandfather’s clarinet, performed on an album for the first time in 75 years.