On Edwin Kaiser and Related Topics

[Scott Kaiser]

For awhile I believed the CIA had their headquarters in Opa Locka, that is where my father also worked, I should say, where I thought my father owned his business, as did the FBI. But, that business was just another front business Maurice Ferre fronted, it was located right behind Bob's Used Auto Parts. That is where many of the CU members would plan, plot and carry out their meetings.

I did make the mistake thinking that's where the CIA moved their headquarters, it wasn't there, they moved to Miami Beach after JM/WAVE shutdown. I'm sure you already knew that, you also knew that's where my father stole the photos, you also know that's where the CIA set up my father to work on a boat, you also know that the boat was docked in Miami Beach, you also know that's where my father was killed, you also know that the boat was taken out and sunk. You also know that the CIA had that boat registered in the Cayman Islands, how did you know all this?

Because, I told you.

[Scott Kaiser]

I always find it admirable when discussing what many others find to be true events. It helps piece together a lifestyle, occurrences of events that took place, wouldn't you agree?

At some other place, I read this interesting tidbit that paints a picture of an aging man who's basically fighting for his life and seems to be "on his last leg", so-to-say, then, six years after Kennedy's assassination he's discovered dead. But most importantly, the picture itself quickly describes how the weight of his obligations and responsibilities shifted to one man in charge of it all after the disaster. I wonder, if this man had as much responsibility as the top brass said, why then wasn't he given the power to use United States troops at wartime to help serve, protect and defend those who were trained by the United States from the unwarranted call the president of the United States made April 17, 1961?

The post goes on to say;

[FONT=&amp]"After the invasion failed, Dulles fell into a period of shock. ThenAttorney General Robert Kennedy later wrote that he "looked like living death" and "was always putting his head in his hands." John Kennedy dismissed him a few months later.

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[FONT=&amp]The declassified transcript of a closed hearing that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held two weeks after the invasion shows that some of Kennedy's advisers attributed the fiasco to Dulles' dreamy absentmindedness. "He showed up at meetings and sat there smoking his pipe," said Admiral Arleigh Burke, chief of naval operations. "I blame him for not being there."

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[FONT=&amp]Years later, in an oral history now available at the Dulles family archives at Princeton University, another witness to the disaster, William Bundy, made a similar judgment.

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[FONT=&amp]"I had the feeling that by then, he was slowing down a bit," said Bundy, who at that time worked under Paul Nitze, Assistant Secretary of State for International Security Affairs. "He hadn't been quite the man I had known. All through, he hadn't been as much on top of the operation as I expected."

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[FONT=&amp]Several years after his forced retirement, Dulles wrote rambling notes for an essay defending his performance, but his sister, Eleanor Dulles, persuaded him not to publish it because "he had already begun to lose his command over his memory and ideas." In retirement, he began losing his way on the streets of Georgetown.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]"Perhaps it was what we call Alzheimer's disease today," a cousin, Eleanor Elliot, who cared for him later suggested. She recognized what no one at the White House or CIA had seen or dared to mention in the weeks leading up to the Bay of Pigs invasion.

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[FONT=&amp]When Allen Dulles died in 1969, obituaries focused on his responsibility for what one called "the greatest U.S. intelligence blunder." His appalling performance may be explained at least in part by the onset of dementia. It taught Kennedy what he called "sobering lessons," but it remains the low point of his presidency.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&amp]That's the guy top perps picked to orchestrate the murder of JFK?"[/FONT]

I always find it odd at how the Attorney General described Dulles as a man which death became him. ([FONT=&amp]Kennedy's advisers attributed the fiasco to Dulles' dreamy absentmindedness.) Someone had to be blamed for the fiasco right? [/FONT]Admiral Burke, chief of naval operations says. "I blame him for not being there." As if that were going to make a difference, being there right? Bundy, made a similar judgment years later. And, all of Kennedy's men blamed one man for the fiasco, certainly, this was not the presidents fault though he accepted public responsibility. I always wondered why Kennedy would do such a thing when all of Kennedy's men were blaming Dulles?

Could it be because he was Commander in Chief he felt somewhat responsible for the fiasco? Or, could there been something more penetrable? Perhaps, something kept secret between the Attorney General and the President whereas only they knew why, but nevertheless requested for an investigation?

The facts have led me to believe that Mr. Kennedy adamantly announced to the American public before the invasion took place there would be no American military involved. However, Mr. Kennedy also committed to air-cover only without engagement, but, how could you cover your wing-man and not engage when you're fired upon? This was a huge dilemma the president had just gotten himself into, and without the Senate bringing up a possible impeachment for engaging with the enemy without Congress' approval on an act of war. How could the president of the United States stay faithful to his word for air-cover, yet, not engage the enemy to avoid the use of American military while on the other hand show Congress no American military was used.

I call this "the plan"

There had to be some sort of negotiations with the Russians prior to committing to any plan. The president assured the Russians there would be no American military used, unfortunately. I did not get to see the Russians response to the presidents letter, however, I do understand what the president is saying to the Russians on D-Day two, April 17, 1961.

The biggest question I've always had is just how did the president know the battle was over [before] it was over?

Now that we know what really happened, was president Kennedy correct when he took full responsibility and just after a few days from the resignations of the top three who were suppose to be in-charge of the operation?

You make the call!

[Scott Kaiser]

Can man really define good and evil, or distinguish it? Is there really any hope for humanity? Or, is this it? I believe God's story to rescue humanity from evil which He no longer feels man should be destroyed or scattered because of sin all lies in the acceptance of truth, what is truth?

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Is there more? Of course there is. If it were just that easy right? Man has given man laws to follow or man faces consequences. If you steal, you go to jail, thou shall not steal. If you kill, you may end up receiving the death penalty, thou shall not kill. Man's laws have been written and re-written over and over by your local government right up to the president of the United States, God's laws have been written only once, by God.

[video]https://www.bible.com/videos/1095-genesis-part-1-the-bible-project[/video]

[Scott Kaiser]

Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices?

32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.turning…: or, ease of the simple

33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

[Mark A. O'Blazney]

Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices?

32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.turning…: or, ease of the simple

33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

"So let it be written……… so let it be done"____________ Yul Brynner, 'The Ten Commandments'

[Scott Kaiser]

There are three books in the Bible, and they're called what's become of the wisdom literature. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Job. And all these books are addressing the same questions. What kind of world are we living in, what does it look like to live well in this world, and how to live a good life. So each of these books tackles these questions from the unique perspective, and it's important to understand all of them to get a full biblical perspective on a good life. As a thought experiment, you could imagine each of these books as a person.


So Proverbs would be like this brilliant young teacher and Ecclesiastes, a sharp middle-age critic, and Job would be this weathered old man who's seen a lot in his day. We're going to start by meeting the book Proverbs, the brilliant teacher, and she's not just smart, she smart about everything. Work, relationships, sex, spirituality, she has incredible insights into things you would not see on your own. She would be the perfect friend to have around when you need someone to talk to when you really need specific advice.


So what makes her so smart? Proverbs can see things most, she believes there is an invisible creative force in the universe that could guide people how they should live. You can't see it like you can't see gravity, but it affects everything we do. So what's this force? In Hebrew it's called hocma, and it usually gets translated into English as wisdom, it's an attribute of God, that God uses to create the world. Hocma has been woven into the fabric of things, and how they become so, wherever people are making good, wise, just decisions they're tapping into hocma, and whenever someone is making a bad decision they're working against hocma. As it says in Proverbs chapter 1 the wayward of fools will destroy them, but the one who listens to wisdom lives in security. So it's more like amoral law of the verse, it's a cause effect pattern no one can escape.


Proverbs personifies all this as a woman. As if she is roaming around the earth calling herself out to anyone who's willing to listen, which leads to the second thing Proverbs believes, that anyone can interact with wisdom. You can use it to make a beautiful life for yourself or for others. Hocma is something you develop as a skill to make a good life. So let's go find some wisdom, but before we do, Proverbs has one more thing to consider, hocma isn't some personal force, it's an attribute of God himself. Your journey doesn't start off with wisdom. Wisdom is inherited by fearing the Lord. It's this healthy respect of God's definition between good and evil, and true wisdom is learning those boundary lines and not crossing them.


The second part of Proverbs is a collection of hundreds and hundreds of Proverbs about any and all aspects of life, and hocma gets applied to them resulting in this wise guidance in helping you to select this path in life no matter what you do, if I design my life with these sayings, life is going to be good. Health, prosperity, and a rich life which is a really big claim.


You can see how it's often the case, wise people, they tend to do better, life usually works out well for them, and so that is the promise and wisdom in the book of Proverbs. The book of Proverbs is really beautiful, but if we take a step back, some people would argue that it's too simplistic because some horrible things happen to some really wise people, and sometimes foolish people get rewarded, it doesn't always work the way we think it should work, or the way we would want it to which is why we would need to go to our next wise friend Ecclesiastes.

[Scott Kaiser]

So we examined Proverbs who I think of as a bright young teacher, she is all about pursuing wisdom and attributes, an attribute of God that's woven into reality. She's optimistic that if you use wisdom you will build a successful life. Then we come to Ecclesiastes, who's more like the sharp middle-age critic, and he says you think using wisdom will bring you success, you better think again, because life here under the sun is meaningless, and that's a phrase he uses a lot in this book.


Ecclesiastes is the critic, he has wrestled with that very same problem, and he's going to push us further in our journey to find the good life.


To understand this book, we have to understand that it's like two individuals communicating with each other. The first is the teacher, we're going to call him the critic. He's the main voice in the book. He is introduced to us by the other figure called the author, he's the one that has collected the critics words, and at the end of the book he summarizes everything, and gives us the final word. So why does the author want us to hear from the critic? Well, he wants to turn your view of the world upside down, he is going to let the critic explore three really disturbing things about the world, and I should warn you these are pretty intense.


The first is the march of time, whereas the critic says generations come, and generations go, but the earth has been here long before us, and it will be here long after. No one remembers people from long ago, and all the people yet to come, they too will be forgotten by those who come after them. So, on a cosmic scale you and I are just a blimp. Stars are born and then they die, they form planets that births new stars, and those planets, they change overtime, and eventually everything burns out. And, amidst this cosmic backdrop my entire existence is like a blink of an eye. Which leads us to the critics second disturbing observation, that we are all going to die. Humans face the same fate as the animals, death. All people, the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, those who offer sacrifices to God, and those who don't. We all share the same destiny, our only guarantee in life. We all join the dead. (Man, this book is depressing).


And so, we come to the third and final observation by the critic and that is life's a random nature, so in Proverbs life isn't random, there is a clear cosmic effect that's doing the right thing, and being rewarded, but the fact is life doesn't always work that way. The critic has observed a glitch in the system, and he calls it "chance." The race isn't always won by the swift, or the battle to the strong, nor does food always come to the wise, or wealth to the brilliant, or favor to the educated. Time and chance happen to them all, his point is that you can't really control anything in life it's just the way it is, it's too unpredictable. But, I want to master life, so I'm setting myself up for a fall. Now, throughout the book the critic uses the metaphor to tie together all these disturbing ideas nearly 40 times. He says that everything in life is Hevel, a Hebrew word for smoke or vapor, like smoke, life is beautiful and mysterious, it takes shape of one thing, and before you know it, it takes shape of another. Smoke looks solid, but if you try and grab it, it will slip right through your fingers, and when you're stuck in the thick of it, like fog, it's impossible to see clearly.


Now, the modern translations has lost the metaphor, they translate Hevel as meaningless, but if you read closely, the critic doesn't say life has no meaning, but rather its meaning is never clear. Like smoke, life is confusing, disorienting and uncontrollable. So what are we supposed to do with all of this?


Well, surprisingly, the critic offers the perspective of Proverbs, he says, it's a really good idea to learn wisdom, and live in the fear the Lord. Really? But, he just said that doesn't guarantee success, but he also knows, it's the right thing to do, and secondly, more often he says, since you can't control your life, you should stop trying. Learn to hold things with an open hand, because you really only have control over one thing, and that's your attitude in the present moment, stop worrying he says, and choose to enjoy a good conversation with a friend, or the sun on your face, or a good meal with people who care about you, the simple things in life, and both the good things and bad are both rich gifts from God.

Let me say that again, both good things and bad, are rich gifts from God.

That's the surprising wisdom of Ecclesiastes, listening to the critic is painful, and can lead you into some dark place, and that's why the author speaks up at the end of the book. He doesn't want you to lose hope to someone you trust, he wants to show you life has meaning even when you can't make sense of it, that one day, God will clear your Hevel, and bring justice to all that we have done. And so, he tells us that the proper response to this is to fear the Lord, and keep his commandments, that's the book of Ecclesiastes, now there's one more voice in the Bible's wisdom literature, and that book is Job. Job will bring us the final and much-needed perspective of our journey into wisdom.

Job will really open our hearts.

[Scott Kaiser]

We have now reviewed two of the three books in the Bible known as the wisdom literature. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and now we come to Job.

In our review we learned in Proverbs, it TEACHES us that God is wise and just. The righteous are rewarding and the wicked is punished, in other words, you get what you deserve. Then we come to Ecclesiastes the critic who tells us that people don't always get what they deserve. He says life isn't always fair and life is unpredictable, and hard to comprehend, in other words, life is like smoke, and this makes you wonder is God really wise and just and it's that question that gets explored in the final book of wisdom, Job.

All right, so let's dive in.

Job begins with a strange story that takes place up in the heavens which is described something like a heavenly command center. God is there with these angelic creatures called the sons of God and they're all there reporting for duty. God points out that Job is his faithful servant, God is practically bragging on Job about how righteous and good he is. So, within the heavenly command center one of these angelic creatures described as saton approaches God. Saton is questioning how God is running the world. He proposes that Job may not actually love God, that he's only a good person because God rewards him, if God were to take away all of the good things he gave to Job then we would see his true colors.

Saton believes that Job is just working the system, maybe he's obeying just to get what he wants, so God agrees to this experiment and allows saton to inflict suffering on Job, so Job loses everyone, and everything he cares about, it is devastating, remember, he deserves none of this and God even said so. The remarkable thing is that in the mist of all this suffering, Job still praises God, after his suffering, or within a while we begin to really see how Job is feeling inside. He reveals this pawn that releases this devastation, it's a long elaborate curse on the day he was born. After this some of Job's friends comes to visit him, they all want to offer up their help, some of them are even talking among themselves wondering what it was that Job did so horribly wrong to deserve what he's going through. Some have implied after all, we know God is just, and we know the world is ordered by God's justice and fairness, so you must be getting what you deserve.

So, the friends of Job interact with each other back and forth on some very dense Hebrew poetry. His friends keep speculating on why God sent such suffering, so they begin to make a list of all the hypothetical sins that Job may have committed, but after each accusation Job defends his innocence, and Job really is innocent and he's also on an emotional roller coaster, at some moments he feels very confident that God is still wise and just, and at other moment he's doubting God's goodness. He even accuses God of being reckless, unfair and corrupt. So by the end of this book Job demands that God comes and explain himself, and God does so. He comes in the form of a great storm cloud, now God doesn't give Job a direct answer, he doesn't tell Job about the conversation God had with saton, instead, He does something very different, he takes Job on a virtual tour of the universe. He shows Job how grand the world is, and he asks him if he's capable of running it, or understanding it just for a day. He begins to show Job just how much detail there is in the world. Things that we might see everyday, but we really don't understand. That's where the beauty of all of this comes in because God understands it all in ways we could never imagine or places we will never see.

Then to conclude, God shows Job two wondrous beast. God brags about how great they are, yeah they are dangerous, they would kill you without thinking about, and God says, they're not evil, they're actually apart of His good world, and that's it, that's God's whole defense. It's kind of weird so what is this all about, so from Job's point of view it looks like he's saying God is not just, but God's perspective is infinitely bigger, He's dynamically interacting with the whole universe and its complexity when He makes decisions, and this is what God calls His wisdom, so for Job to call on God to defend himself is kind of absurd. Job couldn't comprehend this kind of complexity even if he wanted to. So, where does this leave us? It leaves Job in a place of humility. He never learned why he suffered, and yet he is able to live in peace, and in the fear the Lord.

That's not where the bookends, God restored to Job double of everything he lost, and again this was surprising, is this supposed to be some reward, or God saying congratulations Job, you passed the test. No! The whole book just made the point, that Job losing everything was not by punishment, and so now getting it back is not a reward, so why does he get it back? Well apparently, God in His wisdom decided to give Job a gift, we don't know why, but what we do know is, Job is now the kind of person no matter what comes his way good or bad he can trust God's wisdom, and that's the book of Job.

[Scott Kaiser]

So, the friends of Job interact with each other back and forth on some very dense Hebrew poetry. His friends keep speculating on why God sent such suffering, so they begin to make a list of all the hypothetical sins that Job may have committed, but after each accusation Job defends his innocence.

Doesn't that sound like, well, haven't I trolled enough?

[Scott Kaiser]

Your journey doesn't start off with wisdom.

Ain't that the truth? I've already met a few dumbasses.