If I don't get my way I shall loot and burn!


Violent protests erupt after ex-transit officer convicted in train station killing

Published July 08, 2010
Associated Press



AP

July 8: Looters are seen making off with merchandise outside of a Foot Locker store in Oakland, Calif., following the verdict in a racially charged train station shooting case.
OAKLAND, Calif.

Violent protests erupted in Oakland with stores damaged and dozens arrested after a Los Angeles jury convicted a white former transit officer of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man.

Prosecutors had wanted Johannes Mehserle convicted of murdering Oscar Grant. So Thursday's lesser verdict raised concerns of a repeat of the rioting that followed the shooting on New Year's Day in 2009 on an Oakland train platform. The trial was moved to Los Angeles following the riots.

The verdict also prompted an announcement by Justice Department officials that they would look into whether the case warrants federal prosecution.

Police in riot gear Thursday had maintained a watchful eye over a crowd of protesters as emotions ran high with about 500 people marching in the street. Members of a crowd near City Hall moaned and cursed when they heard the verdict.

Sporadic violence later broke out and police said they made 83 arrests throughout the night for violations that included failure to disperse, vandalism and assaulting a police officer.

At least a dozen businesses were damaged, including a looted Foot Locker store and a ransacked jewelry store, police said. Protesters also smashed the windows of a bank, set fires in several trash bins, and detonated a small incendiary device near a police station that caused no damage.

"This city is not the wild, wild west," said Oakland Police Chief Anthony Batts. "This city will not tolerate this sort of activity."

Though police did not release a damage estimate, the protesting appeared to be much less severe than the rioting that hit Oakland after Grant was shot.

Even though the protests wound down late Thursday, Batts expected the number of arrests to double overnight.

During the trial, prosecutors said the 28-year-old Mehserle became angry at the 22-year-old Grant for resisting arrest. He was shot in the back while he lay face-down. Mehserle claims he mistakenly drew his gun instead of his Taser.

The jury had a choice between second-degree murder and lesser charges of voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. The jury found that Mehserle didn't mean to kill Grant, but that his behavior was still so negligent that it was criminal. Involuntary manslaughter convictions carry a sentence of two to four years.

During the trial, Wanda Johnson sat most days in the second row of a Los Angeles courtroom less than 30 feet from the man who killed her son. She hoped and prayed the justice system wouldn't fail her.

After the jury's finding, Johnson denounced the verdict and let loose emotions that had been mostly bottled up during the three-week trial.

"My son was murdered! He was murdered! He was murdered," she said outside the courthouse.

Shortly after the verdict, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would conduct an independent review to determine whether the case warrants federal prosecution. The review will be conducted by the department's Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco and the FBI, said spokesman Alejandro Miyar, who declined further comment.

Federal officials planned to begin their review at the conclusion of the state's case against Mehserle, who still faces sentencing.

As Mehserle was placed in handcuffs and taken away, he turned to his family and mouthed, "I love you guys."

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued a statement urging Californians to remain calm and not resort to violence. Schwarzenegger said he had informed Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums the state was well prepared to assist in maintaining order.

The finding on use of a gun allegation could be used to add as much as 10 years to a prison sentence. The next hearing was set for Aug. 6.

The jury included eight women and four men. None listed their race as black. Seven said they were white, three were Latino, and one was Asian-Pacific. One declined to state their race. They left the courthouse under tight security.

"As we have come to notice, and we as a family has been slapped in the face by a system that has denied us a right to true justice," said Cephus Johnson, Grant's uncle. "We truly do not blame the jury, but we blame the system."

At least five bystanders videotaped the incident in what was among the most racially polarizing cases in California since four Los Angeles officers were acquitted in 1992 in the beating of Rodney King.

The trial was moved from Alameda County to Los Angeles because of racial tension and extensive media coverage.

The case was a rare instance in which a police officer stood trial for an on-duty killing and that was captured on video from so many different angles.

Legal experts said the verdict shows the jury sympathized with Mehserle's version of events.

"It is legally as low as they could go without acquitting him," University of California, Berkeley, law school professor Erin Murphy said. Prosecutors had a "huge hurdle" to overcome in convincing a jury that an officer with a spotless record meant to kill, even with video of the killing, she said.

Mehserle testified that he struggled with Grant and saw him digging in his pocket as officers responded to reports of a fight at a train station. Fearing Grant may have a weapon, Mehserle said he decided to shock Grant with his Taser but pulled his .40-caliber handgun instead.

Alameda County Deputy District Attorney David Stein said in his closing argument that Mehserle let his emotions get the better of him and intended to shoot Grant with the handgun without justification.

Defense attorney Michael Rains contended the shooting was a tragic accident. Mehserle had no motive to shoot Grant, even though he was resisting arrest, the lawyer argued.
Allow me to point out a few items here please;
The man shot here was indeed resisting arrest and was found to be digging in his pocket on video. Personally, I would have done it differently but then I was not in that situation.

My prayers are with Wanda Johnson and her family.

However, please read carefully here; we shall see more of this! There shall be much more and much worse!

The division is growing and widespread violence will hurt this country!

One only needs to do a search of white hate groups and see that their membership is growing.

Likewise the influence of Islam is spreading hate and division everywhere in this nation.

Shamir Shabazz, a prominant leader in the New Black Panthers said, "I hate white people, all of them, every last iota of a cracka I hate im. You want freedom, you gonna have to kill some crackers, you gonna have to kill some of their babies!"

These are the people who intimidated voters and their case was dismissed by the Department of Justice! So, I might ask, why do we have that department if there is no justice?

Last question: are you prepared?

Immigration: An even handed look? You decide!

Take a close look please at the lady with the sign. Look at her carefully. She lives in another state and she's advocating a boycott of Arizona for that state's effort to protect it's border and it's citizens. Has this lady considered the fact that there are may Hispanic citizens of the state of Arizona that voted for and supported the Arizona law? Is she considering the fact that there are Hispanic citizens of Arizona who's property along the border has been trashed like the one in the photo? Is she considering the fact that the federal government is advising American citizens NOT to travel in two border counties in Arizona simply because there is too much Mexican drug cartel crime there? Is she considering the fact that Phoenix Arizona is the kidnap capitol of the U.S. because of illegal immigration? Is she considering the fact that many of those kidnapped are Hispanic? Are LULAC, MALDEF and La Raza considering these same facts?

The answer to all of these questions is a resounding "No!" This lady and these organizations have reduced this issue to it's lowest common denominator*; hate and division!

Look carefully at the Muslim immigrants protesting in the United Kingdom! These people live in England, work in England and have the benefits of English citizens. And this is how they repay their hosts!

Look carefully at the signs! British soldiers are accused of being Nazis! Nazis! Anyone recall the blitz? Anyone recall how the people of England suffered under a Nazi onslaught? And now to be accused of being Nazis by people who are guests in their country!

How many American soldiers were killed in the war against Hitler and the Nazis and the Arizona law has been characterized by a photo of Nazi troops asking for "papers!"

Let me please make this clear! The present immigration issue has nothing to do with race to the vast majority of Americans. It has to do with national soverignty and safety within our own borders!

The bible says that racism is a sin and I believe that! The sister of Moses was punished terribly for racism because she rose up against her brother because he married a Nubian(black) woman! She was struck with leprosy!

The idea of the hooded cowards, the skinhead cowards and the extreme right in this country who are indeed racists, that those of a different skin color are somehow second class citizens is sick!

That would mean that my adopted Hispanic mother who lives right here in Victoria is somehow a second class citizen and I don't buy that garbage!

The idea that all Hiapanic/Americans support the influx of illegal immigrants and the crime they bring into their neighborhoods, is just as much garbage!

We've had illegal immigrants serve in our military and die in service to this country and their mother's cannot even visit their graves without a visa! This is garbage too!

This country, and I've repeated this many times, has more Hispanic holders of the congressional medal of honor than any other race!

When we're talking about illegal immigration, let's talk about the immigrant and his legal status without regard to the color of his skin!

There! Have I properly irritated both sides of this issue?

Good! That was my intention!

Tell ya what; I wonder what the lady with the sign would say if she looked out her back door and found this mess?

I'm betting that if she went down to borderland Arizona and held up her sign in front of some of the Hispanic/Latinos who own land there and have suffered from illegals crossing and destroying their property, she'd probably get run out of town!

Funny thing! You don't see a lot of La Raza, MALDEF and LULAC activists walking over property like this and admonishing the property owners! No, you just don't see a lot of that!

It's insulting to believe these organizations speak for all Hispanics!

Lastly, if you have seen my name and automatically figured me for a white racist, you have just racially profiled me!

Abortion is both murder and racism!

According to the National Abortion Rights League website;

"Last month, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted 16-10 to approve an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. The amendment, introduced by Senator Roland Burris, will repeal the current ban which prevents servicewomen from obtaining an abortion on a military base, even if they use their own money. Although the Burris amendment will allow women to use private funds to pay for abortion care in military hospitals, it does not change the policy prohibiting federal funding for abortions.This ban is not only unjust, but puts women’s lives at risk. By restricting access to abortions, the government deters women from exercising their right to choose. Vania Leveille, who is a member of the ACLU Legislative Counsel, notes that:'There are hundreds of thousands of women serving in our military who put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms yet they are prevented from exercising their own reproductive freedom. Servicewomen stationed overseas are disproportionately affected by this ban. Allowing American servicewomen to use their own private funds to obtain abortion care at U.S. military facilities is fundamental and should never have been questioned in the first place.'"

Abortion mills in our military hospitals! And NARAL seems to think this has to do with women's health! And the health of that human being that is "disarticulated" and thrown in the dumpster? What about that child's health?

Planned Parenthood, founded by a racist bigot and dedicated to removing the "human weeds"(all blacks and Hispanics), is racism at it's best and our president, his replacement in the senate, Roland Burris and the majority of the black and Hispanic caucuses in congress support that racism!

Planned Parenthood continues to target black and Hispanic minority neighborhoods with some of the largest abortuaries in the nation in an attempt to butcher as many minority "human weeds" as possible!

Those who continue to vote for these lawmakers support that racism!

Massacre?

Did anyone catch Helen Thomas accusing Israel of a massacre abord the terrorist aid ship?
Hmmm! If you really wanna massacre people you really don't attack with paintball guns!
At some point I hope Christian Americans wake up and understand that we, individually, must stand with Israel!
I say "individually, because America-the United States WILL abandon Israel! It is already written in stone so get used to it!
I find it interesting that the insane, paranoid, meglamaniac Kim Jong Il and his legions of sociopaths sank a South Korean ship last month and the world cringed at the thought of making North Korea accountable for this murder but you let Israel defend itself with paintball guns and BAM the whole world stands in condemnation!
Do you want the blessing of almighty God all over you, your health, your family and finances? Go to Google or Bing! Input "LIBI" or "IFCJ."
Write them both a check!
Then send a check to support Israel to your local Temple Congregation just to let them know who you are and that you love both them and Israel!
The Lord God made covenant with Abraham that he would bless those who blessed his seed and those who cursed his seed he would curse!
I have supported Israel for more than 15 years and I have never been hungry or homeless! I have been healed of diseases!

Fly your flag and defend it!

While our young men and women fight and die under the American flag, from Oregon to Minnesota to Ohio, people are vandalizing that flag!

We live in the age of "Hate America First" and it's coming, generally speaking, from our public and higher education systems!

I took and oath to fight for that flag! I took an oath to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution and I'm sad to say that I've done a better job of that than most in congress and the white house today!

Immigration activism; read it and weep for America!

This blog post is a brief examination of just a small portion of the activism we see in America today! Activism designed to destroy the fabric of what should be a united nation. Activism that is just as racist and just as destructive as the activism of groups like the Arian Nation and KKK(of which two of my ancestors belonged).

I have noted, over many years of my own activism, that the average Hispanic/Latino citizen of these United States does, in no way, exemplify the sentiments and hatred of those quoted below.

As for the sentiments I express; not only am I aware of the richness of the Hispanic/Latino culture and what that culture has blessed this nation with, I am aware that some of those crossing the southern border are my own close blood relatives.

Therefore, any accusation that I am somehow prejudiced or bigoted in my examination of this issue is patently false and an example of racial profiling. Nor would this examination violate the user policy of any NORMAL newspaper.

My intermittent comments will be in bold italics:

Professor Jose Angel Gutierrez, University of Texas ; "We have an aging white America . They are not making babies. They are dying. The explosion is in our population . . . I love it.” Audio available at snopes.com

“Our devil has pale skin and blue eyes.”
Source: The Professors -- The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America, by David Horowitz, 2006, page 205.
Hardcopy: Copy of page 205 from Horowitz's book.
Contributor: AIM.

“We see no human being as ‘illegal.’ Those who have arrived to the U.S. with heritage indigenous to the Americas, and specifically those crossing the southern border, are migrants on their own continent.”
Source: The Professors -- The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America, by David Horowitz, 2006, page 204.
Hardcopy: Copy of page 204 from Horowitz's book.
Contributor: AIM.*

As Mr. Horowitz is Jewish I trust no one will hurl the words “bigot” or “prejudiced” at him. “Our devil has pale skin and blue eyes.” I find this both naïve and amusing since the further you travel into Mexico and indeed the purer the actual Spanish blood, the more you find “pale skin and blue eves!” This is a prime example of the racial profiling that is NOT making headlines! Please examine the credentials this “professor” has been gifted with at the expense of every Texas and American taxpayer; even those with “pale skin and blue eyes;”

From Tejano Voices, University of Texas at Arlington
About Professor Gutiérrez
"Dr. José Angel Gutiérrez is a 1962 graduate of Crystal City High School in Crystal City, Texas. He has also earned degrees from Texas A & M University at Kingsville (B.A. 1966), St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas (M.A. 1968), the University of Texas at Austin (Ph.D. 1976) and the University of Houston, Bates College of Law, Houston, Texas (J.D. 1988). He has done other postdoctoral work at Stanford University, Colegio de México, University of Washington, and Centro de Estudios Económicos y Sociales del Tercer Mundo in Mexico City, Mexico.
His book publications include El Político: The Mexican American Elected Official (El Paso: Mictla Publications, 1972); A Gringo Manual on How to Handle Mexicans (Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico: Imprenta Velasco Burkhardt, 1974); A War of Words (co-authored) (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1985); The Making of a Chicano Militant: Lessons from Cristal (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1998); My Struggle for the Land: Autobiography of Reies López Tijerina (translated and condensed, (Houston: Arte Publico Press, forthcoming); and, a revised and expanded edition of A Gringo Manual on How to Handle Mexicans (Houston: Arte Publico Press, forthcoming). He also has written several articles and chapters over the years, the most recent being "Chicano Music: The Politics and Evolution to 1950," for an anthology edited by Lawrence Clayton for Texas A & M University Press, forthcoming; "Binacionalismo en el siglo XXI: Chicanos y mexicanos en los Estados Unidos," Fondo Editorial Huaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico, forthcoming; "Experiences of Chicana County Judges in Texas Politics: In Their Own Words," Frontiers: A Journal of Women's Studies, 20:1, Spring 1999; and, "Los dos Mexicos," Extensiones: Revista Interdisciplinaria de la Universidad Intercontinental, Mexico D.F., Mexico 4:1 y 2. 1997.
He currently is at work on three manuscripts: A Chicano Manual on How to Handle Gringos; Chicano Leadership: Local Elected Officials in Texas, 1950-2000, which is based on 157 oral history interviews he conducted between 1996 and 2000; and, Tracking King Tiger: The Federal and State Government Surveillance of Reies López Tijerina and the Land Recovery Movement.
During the mid-1960s through the Chicano Movement and to the present time, Dr. Gutiérrez was lead organizer, founder and co-founder of several organizations such as the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO), Mexican American Unity Council (MAUC), Ciudadanos Unidos, Obreros Unidos Independientes, La Raza Unida Party, Winter Garden Project, Becas Para Aztlán, Oregon Council for Hispanic Advancement, Northwest Voter Registration and Education Project, and Grupo de Apoyo para Immigrantes Latin Americanos (GAILA). He has been the subject of many articles and film documentaries, the most recent being the PBS three-part video series, CHICANO! The Mexican American Struggle for Civil Rights, and is mentioned in many Chicano history and political science books for his activism.
Dr. Gutiérrez has received many honors including being named as one of the "100 Outstanding Latino Texans of the 20th Century" by Latino Monthly, January 2000, and "Distinguished Texas Hispanic by Texas Hispanic Magazine, October 1996. He received the Distinguished Faculty Award from the Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education in June 1995, and the National Council of La Raza's Chicano Hero Award in 1994.
He founded the Center for Mexican American Studies (CMAS) at the University of Texas at Arlington in 1994 and served as its Director until December 1996, at which time he became the Special Advisor to the President of the university until December 1998.
Dr. Gutiérrez has been elected and appointed to public office since 1970. He has served as an elected Trustee and President of the Crystal City Independent School District (1970-1973), Urban Renewal Commissioner for Crystal City, Texas (1970-1972), County Judge for Zavala County, Texas (1974-1978, re-elected 1978-1981), Commissioner for the Oregon Commission on International Trade (1983-1985), Administrative Law Judge for the City of Dallas (1900-1992), and member of the Ethics Commission for the City of Dallas 1999-2000).

This learned and highly educated individual has received, of the Texas and American taxpayer. the best of the best educational opportunities at the best institutions the tax dollar can build and provide and in return he has spit in the faces of those very same taxpayers!

The very idea that this individual represents the feelings and opinions of the average American Hispanic is insulting! The idea that those Hispanics who hold more Congressional Medals of Honor than any other race are represented by the likes of this individual are patently outrageous!

The idea that those Texicans of Hispanic descent who died at the Alamo DEFENDING IT’S WALLS, are represented by this individual is an outrage!

Gloria Molina;
"Tonight Latinos across this country are coming together and they are shouting one thing - we are united. And we are united because we want to demand the kind of political respect that we should have. We demand to be counted. And what we know as well is that the big giant that they keep talking about is awakening. And he's pretty angry about what's going on. Ya basta! (enough). This community is no longer going to stand for it.
Because tonight we are organizing across this country in a single mission, in a plan. We're going to organize like we've never organized before. We are going to go into our neighborhoods, we are going to register voters, we are going to talk to all of those young people who need to become registered voters and go out to vote and we are politicizing every single one of those new citizens that are becoming citizens of this country.
And what we are saying is by November we will have one million additional Latino voters in this country, and we are going to march, we are going to march right to the ballot box because we are tired of being taken advantage of for far too long and the only thing that many of these people are going to respect is our vote.
And our vote is going to be important. But I gotta tell you that a lot of people are saying, 'I'm going to go out there and vote because I want to PAY THEM BACK!'
And this November we are going to remember those that stood with us and we are also going to remember those that have stood against us on the issues of immigration, on the issues of education, on the issues of health care, on the issues of the minimum wage.
So let's all remember that we're united across the country, in Chicago, in New York, in San Antonio, in Sacramento, in all of this country we are coming together to remind everyone, su voto es su voz. Muchismas gracias.
Audio available at snopes.com

I would question here what the very pretty Ms. Molina wants to “pay them back” for? Her education paid for by the taxpayer? Is it the intention of Ms. Molina to turn the streets of Los Angeles into the same slums we see in Mexico City or Maztlan? If so she has a good start!

Richard Alatorre, Los Angeles City Council. "They're afraid we're going to take over the governmental institutions and other institutions. They're right. We will take them over . . . We are here to stay."

Alatorre, was fined twice for conflict of interest violations and was convicted on federal tax evasion charges for failing to pay over $42,000 in income taxes.
Audio of his comments and documentation of the various charges are available at snopes.com

"We're here to stay." Is the intention of Mr. Alatorre to imply that white Americans want to deport all Hispanics? Personally, I'm glad Hispanic/Americans are "here to stay" since I love both the language and the cultural richness of the race! I would question whether the activists, Professor Gutierrez, Ms. Molina and Mr. Alatorre would like to spend a year living in MS-13 gang territory in Los Angeles and THEN preach this same bigoted, racist garbage?

I also find it interesting that none of these people actually live on the border and suffer the violation of their private property that border residents of all races do.

I also find it interesting that the Arizona immigration law, that the Obama administration admits they didn’t even read before claiming racism, was passed with 70% approval of that state’s voters. Now that number is not even possible without a significant number of Hispanic voters.

Am I a “hater” as I was labeled in the local paper (The Victoria Advocate)? Yes! I’m a hater! I hate racial prejudice! I can’t stand being in the same room with a bigot, no matter the color of his or her skin! I hate “hate” simply because Jesus hated hate!

What and whom do I love? I love Jesus first! I love my family! I love my Hispanic family members! I love my heritage, even my Native American Mandan heritage! I love being of service to others! Of any and all skin color! I love my church family the black ones, the brown ones and the white ones! I love my pastor, a Chagga tribesman from the slopes of Mount Kilamanjaro, Tanzania, East Africa! I love his family and serve them on a regular basis! I love Ys’rael and all Jews! I serve Ys’rael and all Jews!

I also love my country! I have served my country in it’s military alongside my black and Hispanic brothers and sisters. I love the sovereignty and independence this nation was founded on and I love the opportunity that sovereignty has provided to people of all races, skin color and religions! I love my neighbor, of whatever skin color, as myself!

What these people practice and preach are the politics of division, strife, hate and offense against the very nation from which they have benefited. They preach offense and seperatism in a nation that needs healing and unification! Not the unification of the seperate races but the unification of all races with respect and even honor to the richness those different cultures bring to the whole!

Travel to Houston on the Katy Freeway(I-10) and turn north on Eldridge Parkway! Running parallel to that Interstate just about ten blocks north is Longpoint Avenue. It's an older part of Houston where the big retailer have moved out. In those spots is a menagere of cultures; Thai, Vietnamese, Mexican, Chinese, Korean, Arabic and African/American. You can get any kind of food cooked right in front of you! It's a wonderful place to visit and buy anything from resale items to gold jewelry! Talk about richness! Talk about tolerance! Talk about diversity! It's all there! A wonderland of smells, colors, sights, and sounds of the culture of the world! All together, in harmony, in one place! That, is what America is all about! Not the hatred preached by those quoted here! This is the America I love! Not the ingratitude and division preached with vile hatred spewed by those quoted above!

Oh, and one last thing I can’t stand; I can’t stand a stinking ingrate! Hmmm! But I’ve said that before haven’t I?

What is being poured out on mankind and by whom?

Do we live in a world of hate or ever-spreading love? Do we live in a world of abundance or want and famine? Do we live in a world of morals and ethics or worsening corruption?

I believe we can find the answer in Acts Chapter 2. We live in a world of both!

Shall we walk slowly through the first Christian day of Pentecost?

My commentary will be in bold font.


Acts 2
1And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

Hmmm! Right here in the first verse we see the key to this first Christian Pentecost, "...they were all with one accord...!" How many churches do you see all on one accord today? People whine and moan about no miracles, no healings and no power of God in their congregations and we see strife and division in their midst. Is there any wonder why the power of God, the workings and gifts of the Holy Spirit and peace are not present?

2And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

A sign from heaven! How many times in each of our own lives have we seriously needed and prayed for a sign from heaven? How many time would that sign have been all we needed to pick ourselves up and march boldly forward in the face of overwhelming odds? Yet, how many Christians seek that sign and turn right around and gossip about the folks in the next pew? Is that being in "one accord?"


3And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

"...and it sat upon each of them!" A sign from God-power directly from the Lord God Jehovah sitting on "each of them!" Notice here it doesn't say, "...each of them, except brother Joe Bob over there in the last pew!" It's very evident to those who UNDERSTAND AND DISCERN THE LANGUAGE of what they read that when a Body of Christ is truly in ONE ACCORD the power of the Holy Spirit will be there and manifest itself with POWER AND SIGNS FROM GOD!


4And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

"And they were filled with the Holy Ghost," When the power of almighty Jehovah God fills you it is a demonstrable, evident and emotional experience! You FEEL that power through the presence of the Holy Ghost(Spirit). However, be warned, just a purely emotional experience can be mistaken and that's why we are admonished to "test the spirit." How do you test the spirit? Always test the spirit with the Word of God! Does this emotional experience comfort, exhort and edify? If it doesn't then tell that spirit to "get thee behind me in Jesus' name!" Even demons have emotions. They feared Jesus when they were cast out of the demoniac of Gedera. "...and began to speak with other tongues...!" I'm not going to get into the subject of speaking in tongues here but suffice it to say that in this particular instance Gallileans, considered particularly backwards and uneducated, were speaking in numerous dialects and languages of the known world at the time. Something absolutely un-orthodox and unbelievable to the educated of Jerusalem at the time.
"...as the Spirit gave them utterance" Is there any doubt that if God wanted he could enable his children to speak utter jibberish so someone, somewhere could understand it?

5And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.

The way I understand the LANGUAGE of this passage these "devout men" were all Jews who were from all of the nations of the known world. "Devout" would seem to indicate educated. Now "educated" at that time, to my understanding would mean, highly educated and learned in the Torah, the Books of the Law, the major and minor prophets and the Books of Poetry. I understand that these men would have had most of the Torah memorized. This could not happen without many years of painstaking study. There would have been no way to fool these men with a simple performance!


6Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.

Numerous different languages and numerous different dialects of Hebrew, all spoken by a group of men considered uneducated and backwards.

7And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?

This questions does not just ask the questions about Gallilaeans but the fact that they were indeed Gallilaeans! They were not considered educated people.


8And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?

Now do we begin to understand the power of the Holy Spirit? Who was it who confounded the languages in the plain of Shinar? Did the Lord God not invent language? Is it beyond his power then to make every man understand what these uneducated, backwards Gallilaeans were saying? It must have scared them. Possibly they feared their positions. They very well could have been insulted that these unlearned, backwards men were gifted with such power THEY KNEW WAS FROM GOD! See the parallel here? Jesus came from humility and demonstrated great power and here we have the same thing!

9Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,

10Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,

11Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.

Such power! A demonstration of the power of God in these Gallilaeans!


12And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?

13Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.

Amazement, doubt, mocking and an accusation of drunkenness. The exact same reaction to the coming, the works and the life of Jesus!


14But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:

15For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.

16But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;

Ah oh! Here it come! More fulfillment of prophesy! This must have been the last thing these learned men wanted to hear! After all, they had seen Jesus die, they had seen the curtain in the Holy of Holies torn, they experienced the earthquake, they had seen the dead walk up out of their graves(very little of this is spoken of or preached about), they had experienced the sun growing dark in the middle of the day and they knew the Romans had guarded the tomb and had to have known his body wasn't just moved! And now here was yet another miracle! Do you again see another parallel? These learned and "devout men of Jerusalem" were descendents of those who witnessed the plagues upon Egypt and all of God's miracles in the desert and here they were doing the same things their ancestors had done! They did not believe! One would think they could look back into their own history and simply believe! Now lest we point fingers, how much is this like our own lives today? We have a recorded hoistory of the power of God and we have seen his work in the Body of Christ and even in our own lives and still we doubt, still we fall, still we blunder and still we sin!

17And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:


"All flesh?" Or just some flesh? Or just those who tithe and support the church? Or just the preachers? Or just the deacons? Or just those self-righteous, self-appointed movers and shakers? Personally, I think all means all! And the rest of this verse depends on what? Being in "one accord!"

18And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:

Dependent on what? Being in "one accord!" Is the Body of Christ today in one accord? Denomination! That little line that divided a fraction is a denominator. A divider between the two numbers? The very word "denomination" means division. This is not a spirit of accord! Is there any wonder that the Christian church/the Body of Christ today has so little power?

19And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:

"Fire and vapor of smoke!" In the recent thunderstorm the power of almighty God was displayed in the lightning but the Victoria Advocate's headline for that story and photo was about Zeus visiting Victoria!

20The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come:

Prophesy had been fulfilled right before their eyes and Peter was reminding them of it. That had to sting!

21And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

And so it is today that "...whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved!" And so it is today that Christians are doubted, mocked and scorned, just as these first Christians were!


22Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:


"...as ye yourselves also know!" Look in the mirror before you point your finger at these "devout men!" Look at how many times per day you doubt! How many times per day you just don't think God can or will do whatever it is you've been praying for! These men KNEW! They SAW! They EXPERIENCED! And yet they douted, mocked and scorned!


23Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

24Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

25For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:

26Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:

27Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

28Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.

29Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.

30Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;

31He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

32This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.

33Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.

34For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,

35Until I make thy foes thy footstool.

36Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

Line by line out of the prophesies of Joel and David it is demonstrated to the "devout men" of Jerusalem that Jesus was their Machiach(Messiah/the Christ/Anointed One) and that they had not only rejected him but tried to kill him!


37Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

38Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

39For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the LORD our God shall call.

40And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.

41Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

"Then they that gladly received his word..." Oops! Read closely! Did it say "all?" "Then all were baptized...?" No! That's not what it says. It says, "...they that gladly received his word were baptized:" Not ALL of those "devout men" received Peter's word. This is evident in the fact that later in the chapter we read that Peter was jailed for preaching Jesus as the Christ. Look in the mirror? How do you receive the Word of God? Do you test the spirit and see if it is indeed the Word of God?


42And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

43And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.

44And all that believed were together, and had all things common;

45And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

Now add fear(read that respect and humility, not fearfulness) to "one accord" and we begin to not only SEE the power of almighty God but experience it in our lives!

46And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,

And here we go again, "continuing daily in one accord!" How many of us go to church and receive the Word of God and go back out into the world and live like the world?
"...did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart!" Here we go with the "one accord" thing again! The church of Jesus Christ is the Body of Christ! We are to have one heart, one mind, one Spirit and always looking to improve that relationship! How many of us look first to differences?


47Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

"Praising God and having favour with all people...!" Do you want favor? Favor with man, favor with your employer, favor even with people who don't like you? Promote accord in both your church and your personal life and you will begin to see uncommon favor out in the world! If you wish to add members to your church daily then promote such accord that the people out in the world will see what you have and want it! How many people look the the Body of Christ today and see nothing but division, bickering, strife and self-righteousness? Who in their right mind is going to want that? Hmmm! And promoting "one accord" doesn't mean beating others over the head until they see things your way! I think it means the biggest tither, the most devout and faithful man in the churc, the head deacon, the praise and worship leader taking out the trash or washing dishes after a fellowship and leaving before anyone can praise him for it!

We need to understand that we see hate in this world today because Jesus said we'd see it! We see the hatred of the Jews because Jesus said we'd see it! God said in the last days he would pour out his Spirit upon all flesh! Is not Satan the imitator of God? Doe he not try and create the fake to deceive the weak-minded of the Body of christ and the wicked in the world? What makes us think that if God said in the last days he would pour out his Spirit upon all flesh that Satan would not do the same with every spirit and demon he commands?

Therefore, what is being poured out on mankind and by whom? It is our responsibility as Christians to discern the spirits and live in "one accord!"
King James Version (KJV)