I have on numerous occasions made reference to the French writer Albert Camus. Some of you old hippy types might remember him best for books like The Myth of Sisyphus, The Plague, etc. But I have always revered him for his book focusing on the rebel and rebellion suitably called The Rebel. Since it seems that none have read the manuscript nor are likely to, and since it relates to many issues we encountered coming to this church, and being in this church, I have decided to share some of the more relevant content.

In the 70's, many anti-cult books emerged trying to explain the phenomenon of people joining little known of fringe religious groups. Among these was a book called Snapping. This book tried to explain the phenomenon of people seemingly suddenly joining some cult or other. Together with early efforts by people like Ted Patrick and the more recent "exit counselors" of which some here are particularly familiar with, we were stigmatized into insignificance because not only were our beliefs suspect but the very process of our joining was dismissed. What Camus does for us, in this respect, is to explain rebellion as a positive force, a reclaiming of rights lost in history, in benefit for all humanity. Rather than portraying all rebellion as satanic, as we have often ourselves done, and without our recognizing its roots in our own joining of this church, Camus looks at the phenomenon differently. For him, the true rebel is "A man who says no, but whose refusal does not imply a renunciation."

Qualities associated with the rebel include "the feeling that, somewhere and somehow, one is right.

What will be immediately apparent and thus make us a little uncomfortable will be the recognition that in certain respects our rebellion against the status quo, which in part allowed us to separate with the majorities around us, are also shared by those we might call enemies. The homosexual community comes to mind in this respect. But this shouldn't unnerve us in this inquiry. That our enemy may share experiences that are on the surface good is natural. Gay people cannot be dismissed as monsters with nothing in common with the rest of us. Just as we were not monsters before we became members of this church.

Aside from the interesting aspects of his paradigm that help us understand our own path into this church and the righteousness our efforts actually brought into play is a more significant point we need to be concerned with. Many have been the lamentations as to the whys for members leaving and the failures to gain more members and greater support.

Much criticism has been laid at leaders, certain hostile interpretations of DP that led to mismanagement of members and their efforts as well as to the failures of people in Cain type positions to break through where all in history have failed.

What I feel is important for those who want to not only envision themselves as Abels but to be successful as Abels is to better understand from where righteous rebellion can be born and some of the characteristics of righteous rebels. I am stepping off here from a place where DP stops in some respects. It is dangerous waters we tread.

But, I think it is important to understand God's rebel, and the course he must follow to remain God's rebel. In part, to better understand how God can bless a good Cain by later elevating him into a Abel position to have a chance at restoring that position also.

Second, if we really want to be a good God & providential type Abels, we need to recognize what we must avoid so as not to justify the emergence of a rebel and rebellion. The most important reason why is that the temptation to go away from God are great for the rebel. Rebellion is a Luciferian temptation. But it can also serve God. The problem for the person who seeks to rebel for the sake of mankind and heaven is that rebellion is fraught with dire perils, the greatest of which leads to murder, of man and God.

Thus, for those who want to truly be good Abels, and thus act as the greatest facilitator to Cain's being successful, understanding the importance of love and the dangers we pose to Cain if we are not loving are revealed as we understand the righteous rebel and the dilemmas he faces as he emerges from his silence and first contemplates action. And as Camus carefully points out, "Rebellion is born out of the spectacle of irrationality, confronted with an unjust and incomprehensible condition. But its blind impulse is to demand order in the midst of chaos, and unity in the very heart of the ephemeral. It protests, it demands, it insists that the outrage be brought to an end, and that what has up to now been built upon shifting sands should henceforth be founded on rock. Its preoccupation is to transform. But to transform is to act, and to act will be, tomorrow, to kill, and it still does not know whether murder is legitimate…It must consent to examine itself in order to learn how to act."

As Uni's, we are called upon to insure that Cain does not murder. And fear of that has led to a kind of slavery in our movement of those thought to be Cain. The better that Abel understands the good qualities of Cain, as in how Cain can emerge from slavery and later, if successful, be trusted with Abel type responsibilities, the better Abel can avoid the mistakes of Abels who failed in history. And thus be truly successful Abels in their own right.

To briefly state the issues relevant, Camus recognizes the danger in rebellion. But he posits what the sons of Cain must do to be really God centered. We are talking about the Cain who finds himself in slavery; to man, to Satan, to a boss, to a spouse. We are talking about those who are forced to live under oppression. There are many places where I think I should elaborate or extrapolate with his material, but for the sake of your patience and to encourage you to read the material I have gathered all the way through so as to taste it undiluted, I will only offer material directly quoted. It will need to be posted in several sections. I hope it is of some interest to you. For the slave, or child of slaves, for the abused, for the victims of history and ideological murder, Camus truly sees their plight, and their course.

Lastly, understanding the roots of membership in their joining, we also can more clearly see the value of discipline if the rebel shows such predisposition to not being disciplined. But in understanding his roots and the conditions under which he might be attracted to the church, and what he has had to accept for himself so as not to murder, we also can heartistically lead him into cooperation rather than coercing and compromising him. This will build a better foundation of trust from which to further educate him, rather than getting into paradigms of subjugation and subtle uses of spiritual force to bring him to unity. This kind of approach would soften the transition of hearing lectures one minute and then finding oneself a soldier the next. And thus rather on the one hand doing some kind of love bombing in the beginning and then having them wake up in some battlefield, they will see their joining and subsequent efforts as a natural extension reflecting the best aspects of their rebellion as the positive force that lead into a perfect transition of supporting TP's and as such, there will be no real contrast between life before and life after joining. At least in regards the real issues that made rebellion against the status quo so significant. 

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