How Congregator.net Got It's Name, Part 1
by Bobby Garner
April 25, 2004

"The greatest vanity!" said the congregator, "Everything is vanity."

And besides the fact that the congregator had become wise, he also taught the people knowledge continually, and he pondered and made a thorough search, that he might arrange many proverbs in order. The congregator sought to find the delightful words and the writing of correct words of truth.

The words of the wise ones are like oxgoads, and just like nails driven in are those indulging in collections [of sentences]; they have been given from one shepherd. As regards anything besides these, my son, take a warning: To the making of many books there is no end, and much devotion [to them] is wearisome to the flesh. — Solomon, Ecclesiastes 12: 8-12, New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures

The true God did not invent religion. If he had wanted us to have a religion, he most assuredly would have given us one. After all, he gave us the Ten Commandments written in stone by his own hand. The Ten Commandments, however did not establish a religion as many would have us believe. Rather, it was THE LAW in particular, and the highest principles by which to live, generally. They are universal principles which existed from the beginning and, like gravity may only be disputed at our own peril. The fact that they are widely disputed is the primary reason for the present ongoing global crises which now threaten mankind's very ability to exist on this planet, and further it is the reason why the wicked, evil minded political and religious leaders, their minions and dupes will have their existence cut off just as Proverbs 2: 22 says; "But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it."

Religion is an invention of man just as surely as are his governments. You have heard it said that "if God did not exist, he would have to be created". I submit that the same thinking is the real source of religion and government, but it is a false conclusion based on a false premise that we actually need either one. The people who were presented with the Ten Commandments were unworthy of being God's chosen people, as was eventually proven beyond a shadow of a doubt when they caused the death of God's chosen one. (By "chosen" I mean the one who's right it is to rule over the Earth. — Ezekiel 21: 27, Psalm 2, Daniel 2: 44, 7: 27,) Those people, even as Moses was bringing the Stone tablets down from the mountain, built a golden calf to worship, thereby attempting to establish the formalism and ritual of a religion.

The attempt to equate God to religion has been, and continues to be used by enemies of the True God to shame and discredit him in the eyes of the world by laying every foul and evil deed committed in the name of religion and government at his feet. The true God however, laughs in derision at such ones, because he knows their days are short in number. Actually all the blame for all the evil, and everything that is wrong in the world, belongs to the chief adversary of the One True God, who is Satan the Devil, the serpent that deceived Eve, and is presently misleading the entire world. (Revelation 12: 9). That one was a manslayer from the beginning and he did not stand fast in the truth. (John 8: 44) All that is done in the name of God, is not of God. Those who on purpose choose to be ignorant of that fact, or disregard it when it is pointed out to them, are in fact children of Satan, and as such have no authority whatsoever to speak of, or for the One True God, the Creator of all things, and the source of all life.

Congregator is the noun of the word congregate It is found in some translations of the Bible book of Ecclesiastes, as the writer King Solomon used it in reference to himself. I would not be so presumptuous to imply that anything like the wisdom of Solomon will be found here. Rather, it is in that tradition applying his wise council at this very troubled time, that I am committed. Not to toot my own horn, but to point out in clear unmistakable terms the way of truth, knowledge and life which is available to all who are willing to apply the council embodied most notably, in the second chapter of Proverbs.

There we are informed;

My son, if you will receive My Words, and treasure up My commandments with you, so that you attend to wisdom, you shall extend your heart to understanding. For if you cry for discernment, lifting up your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver, and search for her as hidden treasures, then you shall understand the fear of Jehovah and find knowledge of God. For Jehovah gives wisdom; out of His mouth are knowledge and understanding. He lays up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to the ones who walk in integrity, to guard the paths of judgment, and He protects the way of His saints. Then you shall understand righteousness and judgment and honesty, yea, every good path. When wisdom enters into your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion shall keep you, understanding shall watch over you; — Proverbs 2: 1-11

Jesus, being familiar with this bit of wisdom, concurred as he illustrated in parables.

Again, the kingdom of Heaven is compared to treasure being hidden in the field, which finding, a man hid; and for the joy of it, he goes and sells all things, as many as he has, and buys that field.
Again, the kingdom of Heaven is compared to a man, a merchant seeking excellent pearls; who finding one very precious pearl, going away has sold all things, as many as he had, and bought it.
— Matthew 13: 44-46

We may conclude that "knowledge of God", and the Kingdom are synonymous, and that to gain either requires hard work, sacrifice, and possibly other hardships. Solomon relates his experience in similar terms;

I have seen all the works which are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and striving after wind! What is crooked cannot be made straight; and that lacking cannot be numbered. I spoke with my heart, saying, Lo, I have become great and have increased wisdom over all that have been over Jerusalem before me. Yea, my heart has seen much wisdom and knowledge. And I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness, and folly. I know that this also, it is striving after wind. For in much wisdom is much grief; and he who increases knowledge increases pain. — Ecclesiastes 1: 14-18

Not to be discouraged by such a dirge, we must read a little further to understand how he really feels about it.

For in much wisdom is much grief; and he who increases knowledge increases pain. ...but the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to those who have it. — Ecclesiastes 1:18, 7:12

In confirmation of Solomon's accurate assessment, Jesus said "And this is everlasting life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent." John 17: 3

The search for this life giving knowledge of God, is not something that can be engaged in as a group, but is rather, an individual matter that each one must undertake. Therefore, no religion is necessary nor desired. In fact associating with any organized religion regardless of the fact that they may deny being a religion, in truth prevents you from conducting this search in a meaningful way.

This is true because a search of any kind implies that the thing sought for will be accepted when found, "as is, where is", no questions asked. Religion, whether organized or not will not allow you this freedom. In the name of "protecting" you, leaders of any religion or organization will disassociate you in the event that a new found truth conflicts with the rules of the group.

As I have said before, language is the greatest enemy of truth. That is so because people have a disposition to want to believe that deep down inside, all men are basically good. Whether that is true or not we will leave for another time, but in the present context, the propensity to believe allows us to maintain our comfort zone by choosing to believe only those things which we are already predisposed to believe. In other words, we tend to judge the truth of a matter on the grounds of whether or not it allows us to hang onto our most cherished beliefs, or perhaps it allows us to let go of one we weren't so fond of anyway. In any case our pre-existing beliefs are the defacto basis for judging all new information. That presents some interesting problems, but it also has some good points once we are fully aware of the processes involved.

One of my favorite quotes was found on a calendar many years ago which featured "Murphy's Law". To paraphrase from memory, it said: "A man once stumbled upon the truth, but getting up and looking around, dusted himself off and went on as if nothing happened." Truth has that characteristic of being particularly offensive under certain conditions. Jesus said: "I am the way, the truth and the life." Some are extremely offended by that, and use one of the many standing lies as an opportunity to shrug it off as of no account. That's a personal decision that everyone sooner or later has to make. But it comes as no surprise, for the scriptures portray him and those things he represents, as a "rock mass", and a "stone for stumbling", so many stumble over that truth and proceed on with their lives as though nothing happened. But that is all well and good, because they are thereby expressing themselves in a way that may not easily be denied. Besides, it is not for us to judge one another.

Because we are disposed to give the benefit of doubt and just believe if at all possible, we are easy pushovers for purveyors of figurative language, and persuasive rhetoric. In fact we demand to be persuaded before we will accept anything new. If an argument is not persuasive, it is easily rejected. Therefore, every liar knows that he must be persuasive. The problem arises when we consider that those to whom we assign the greatest credibility, must use the same persuasive techniques when presenting their arguments. For more on this point, see "Belief By Persuasion".

The forgoing presents a paradox for someone who has made a great discovery of truth and wishes to inform others about it. Anything new has the unique quality of being different from that body of beliefs commonly held. So, when the criteria of the audience for believing or not is based on the pre-existing beliefs, odds are your new discovery will be rejected, unless you have been very persuasive in presenting your arguments. But, if you are very persuasive, how does your audience detect any difference between your argument and those of the best liars. For example, if you present a persuasive argument that what we really need is accurate knowledge, how do you distinguish yourself from those who present with equal persuasion that all you really have to do is just believe?

The best liars are those who speak persuasively using a lot of factual information, which in and of itself is difficult or perhaps impossible to disprove or argue with. That's true because the really good liars rarely lie with their words, at least that is their intent. Rather, the lie is contained in the thoughts engendered in the mind of his audience. Duplicity (saying one thing but meaning another) is one of the liar's best tools. One of the ways this is implemented is by the redefinition of key words. Another is sentence structure where multiple meaning could be attached. Persuasion and belief are almost always derived from the understanding of the words or language of the argument. For the successful liar, this will always be something different from what he actually said. If the lie is ever questioned, these techniques allow for an explanation that it was a simple misunderstanding which is the fault of the hearer.

Since the responsibility rests with the hearer, let the liars lie, because they have a large audience of "believers" who demand to be persuaded, but those who wish to speak the truth, should simply just say it clearly, and as concisely as possible. Let those offended take offense because they are looking for something to believe, and care nothing for the precious gems of true knowledge. They are the detractors that Jesus warned about when he said, "Don't cast your pearls before swine".

The name Congregator is consistent with the mission of this website which is to gather up and present the information which allows the astute reader to discover for himself the gems of true knowledge. One of the primary ways of accomplishing this is to identify the liar's methods which allows one to cut through all the spin, and come to a reliable understanding of the truth. But the responsibility is with you the reader.

Part Two