We the People of Johnson Co MO - Friday, April 28, 2023 🕯 Follow up Thoughts on City Council Meeting of 4/24/23

Hi Folks!

After the meeting Monday night I was in a quandary. Did we do what we needed to do? Did we follow God’s lead? Was our message clear?

So. That being said, I realized fer sher I needed to apologize to Dianielle Dulin, the city manager, because after the meeting I got snippy with her. So, I sent her an email telling her I was sorry for being rude, she has a tough job trying to please so many people, and I promise to manage my frustration better in the future.

I was glad to see in today’s paper that we DID get across a unified message that we want the drag queen show to be for people 18 years of age and older. I think this message is essential because:

• It’s short and real. It gives City Council something they can do without lgbtq, etc. people shrieking, “Hater - hater!!!” They still may shriek that, but at least we have an easy message to yell back, “Adult show!! Adult show!!” As Donald Trump has stated repeatedly, “Never underestimate the power of noise.”

• It tells our greatest concern: the children. Would I like to see all dqs banned? That depends on whether or not we’re prepared to go after Fantasy Ranch as well. To be honest, I don’t feel led there. That’s me talking; we all have to make our own decisions.

• It’s TARGETED. Watching and listening to the folks “for” dqs shows for kids the message I kept hearing was: “You HATE us; you want to destroy our freedom.” If we TARGET that we think dqs shows should NOT be for ALL AGES, but for adults only, their argument misses our Target. Our area has “okayed” hypersexualized shows for adults - let’s keep that limit.

I’ve been doing some reading in Joshua because I respect his leadership with the Jews a LOT. They had a battle to fight, and it looked bleak. Jericho was locked down tighter than the Warrensburg City Council. No crack in the city walls, nobody to negotiate with, nobody going in or coming out.

So God gave them a weird task: March around the walls of Jericho, carrying the Ark of the Covenant - the symbol of God’s power, and everybody be SILENT except for the priests blowing the ram horns.

Do this not just once, but for SIX days, every day, exactly the same…no deviations.

On the SEVENTH day, here’s the deal: get up EARLY, because you need to march around the walls of Jericho not just once, but SEVEN times, and on the seventh round BLOW THOSE HORNS, AND EVERYBODY SHOUT!!!

Theu did, and Jericho that was shut up tighter than a drum crumbled to the ground.

God didn’t say, “Hit ALL of Canaan HEAD ON and take ALL the land TODAY.” God’s command was to do something kind of mild…march around the city quietly, except for blowing the horns once at the end.

God required persistence - do all this six days in a row.

He required effort - on the seventh day march all daggum day LONG - SEVEN times around the city, in the heat of the day, blowing horns, then….even though you’re really tired, YELL!

Once the walls fell, God gave them enough energy to run, not walk, into the city and kill every man, woman and child. Afterward, God said He would give them all of Canaan. And in time, He did.

Okay, slow down…I don’t think we have the command to kill anybody, despite what the lgbtq folks are saying. I do think God is asking us to take a small bite first, not all of Canaan. For now, emphasize protecting the children.

Next be persistent, keep marching. Keep going to City Council meetings with the same ram horn message: protect the children.

If God provides victory in raising the age limit for the dqs to 18+….then the training He’s given us through this, will prepare us for whatever else He wants to pull us on- board to do.

Another thing that seems important to me is we need to know our audience.

When the Pharisees came to Jesus saying, “Should we pay taxes to Caesar?” Jesus knew His audience. If He quoted scripture to them about tithing or loving God more than anything else in the world, they would NOT have been able to hear what He was saying. Their brains would have twisted His words. They would have said Jesus was very bad indeed, as He was telling people not to pay taxes and that He was quoting scripture to prove the point.

If He said something about Jews making sure they paid their taxes, then the Jews would not have been able to hear His real message. Their brains would have heard Him say Caesar is more important than God.

Jesus knew His audience. So, He said, “Give unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and unto God that which is God’s.” That is a very mild, yet very truthful message that both the Jewish people and the Pharisees could hear, and their brains could understand.

Our target audience is a civil group. They are City Council members. They need a message they can hear. If we speak in scriptures, I don’t think their brains will be able to take that in. They’ll make a judgement that these folks are church fuddy-duddies, and block out what we’re saying. If we speak in civil terms, “Please limit dqs shows to adults, like other civil laws limit burlesque shows.” I think they can hear that message. I think their brains will be able to take that in better.

We also need to respect the City Council parameters. In the past I’ve not seen CC time their presentations from the public. Because they had so many people signed up to speak they had to change that. If we’re going to sign up to speak, we need to do our presentation at home, timing it. Then prune it down to 3 minutes to be ready. We can bring extra notes if we have longer to speak, but be prepared for 3 minutes.

I didn’t do that, so part of what I wanted to say went unsaid. For all of us, we need to fer sher do that in the future.

I felt God telling me to keep my cards close to my vest.

I found a website called Warrensburg Activists. They seem to be lgbtq++ oriented, as well as participating with area “Socialism and Liberation” groups. Ray James who spoke first at the CC posts often on the site. He wants gun control as well. But my point is, 2 days ago the site posted they had “…caught wind of an ‘anti-lgbtq group’ that was trying to stop their dqs” and they felt threatened. For their online town hall meeting they advised: “Due to the increase risk in safety and cyber violence on our community, all folks who participate will be asked to have access to both audio as well be on camera for this townhall.”

So we need to be as private as we can in regard to our meetings and strategies as well.

One gentleman I spoke to before the CC mtg who was in favor of the dqs for kids said “they” constantly monitor online information for “concerns like this.” “They” find things in “discords.” I have no idea what a discord is. Anybody out there know?

For now, I think substack is fairly private and more conservative. But who knows. Let’s use substack and text/call for dqs strategies for now. Don’t use fb, tiktok, snapchat, or our website for any of our “strategies or activities.” The website does an excellent job of showing what the dqs for ALL AGES are like, and letting people sign the petition. Just keep our strategies close to your vest.

Let me know your comments below, and I think we should get together either in peron or zoom-thing before the next CC mtg on Monday, 5/8.

Thoughts?