“See here,” Jesus continued, “I’m sending you out like sheep surrounded by wolves. So be shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.”Matthew’s Gospel 10: 16
~~~
Clarion Words heard in Anne Marie Waters’ talk at “Dangerous Words 250” Free Speech conference, October 1, 2016
“…truth is now the enemy…”
“…but free speech matters so that we may tell the truth.”
“…Islam will not provide mutual respect…”
“…war on words, language neutralized, object reality is threatened…”
PB: How do you explain that when society has problems with Islam it is mainly with the young men and not with the young women?
RD: I think the young women are not strongly Islamist on the whole. In fact, many of them are very anti-Islamic, or would be if they had the opportunity. I also believe that the main interest of Islam for young men in Western countries is the predominance that it gives them over women. I will give you the reasons why I have come to that conclusion, and I accept that they are not scientifically foolproof. There could be arguments against them.
Let’s begin with a few quick scenarios – reflections on life in 2016 into 2017:
Scenario 1:
The mayor of a major city publicly welcomes illegal immigrant “dreamers,” under the rubric of not seeming unwelcoming. The mayor wants to appear humane and magnanimous as he freely gives out the keys to our city, much like German Chancellor Angela Merkel has done (to the regret of the women molested and raped by the welcomed immigrants). In so doing the mayor and the city council has and is welcoming into our city a group of people who are not all like Rahm Emanuel’s sentimental sop would have us believe: parents and grandparents just like his or just plain students. Rather those ‘welcomed” in our city include the likes of fleeing felons, ambitious drug dealers, hiding sexual predators, indoctrinated jihadists and territorial gang members. Included, also, are those with mental health issues.
What do you think these ‘dreamers’ dream of doing? And isn’t violence, not relationship building, their modus operandi? The mayor and the city council of Chicago have naively (?) welcomed in the lawless with their penchant for violence, including violence with stolen guns. It should be noted by all that those who would break the law do not register gun ownership as law-abiding citizens do. Those who would break the law do not want to be caught. This common-sense thinking is not something one finds in the ways and means of Chicago’s mayor or city council. Instead we find that nothing has changed except an increase of violence due to the promotion of the lawlessness of illegal immigration.
I see the local news every day. The news reports detail the fact that the south and west sides of Chicago are permeated with violent types. The news reports show mothers weeping over children being shot and killed. The news reports show community marches demanding the violence be stopped. Enter the gun control meme pushed by the media’s talking heads – “Gun Violence Erupts Over the Weekend.”
Nothing, of course, is said in the media about the kinds of people found on our city’s streets. Instead, the media’s headlines distract from the illegal immigrant problem and so many other inner city social issues such as mental health and the dehumanizing effects of being on welfare long-term. Often, idle hands do tend to the devil’s work.
The hyped solution for those in positions of political power: the promotion of “gun control” laws, including a gun registry rather than an illegal immigrant registry. Again, who signs up for a “gun registry”? Only those citizens who obey the law sign up. The bad guys ‘know’ better.
“Gun control” is the mayor’s and the city council’s ‘means’ to deal (read: redirect attention from their own actions and to pacify the crying mothers) with the unintended consequences of placing a “Welcoming City” banner over our city. It is now open season in Chicago. By the way, “Welcoming City” hokum is meant to maintain Federal government subsidies for a city and state struggling to make ends meet during the mass exodus of its citizens.
When a drunk driver kills someone, does the media call it “car violence”? No. Does the registration of all drivers and cars mean that drunk driving will not occur? The pols and media pick their opportunities to control the narrative surrounding their existence in a place of power.
Scenario 2:
Are you a libertarian who demands legalized drugs and the “right” to do drugs like marijuana, cocaine and even heroin but has no thought as to how in the future you or others will pay for and obtain those drugs without using violence once addicted? Are you a citizen who is OK with a citizenry addicted to drugs and that uses society via robbery and violence to feed addictions? Do you believe that taxpayers should subsidize your drug addiction?
DRAMATIC FOOTAGE: Arab terrorist plows truck twice into group of IDF soldiers today murdering 4 & wounding 15 other before being shot dead. pic.twitter.com/uTsJZqlLvy
Presented above are three real time scenarios. If you watch the news you are aware of what is going on and what is going on is much more than what I presented above.
~~~~~
As one walking around on resurrection ground in the Kingdom of God on earth, I have wrestled with the notion of owing and using a gun for self-defense. Here are some of my thoughts. You can share your thoughts in the comment section…
Recently, I listened to a discussion about guns on a Moody Radio program called Up for Debate. The title and bylines are as follows:
Should Churches Hire Armed Guards?
Violence is increasing not only on the streets but also in the sanctuary. We only have to look to the headlines of last year’s shooting of parishioners during a Bible study in Charleston and this summer’s slaying of a priest in France during church services. The violence has some in the clergy wondering whether they should arm their security teams. This Saturday, on Up For Debate, Julie Roys will explore this issue with Rev. Mark Woods, a pastor who believes that arming churches sanctifies violence and Carl Chinn a Christian security expert who believes churches and their parishioners are safer when their security team is armed.
You can listen to the program>>>
~~~
Here are some questions that came to mind while listening to this “debate”:
Is it OK for a Christian to own a gun for sport and for protection?
Does arming a church “normalize and sanctify violence”?
Are you not trusting God for your safety with armed guards around?
Do we need a specific threat to arm ourselves or can we act preemptively?
What is the difference between local police protection provided by the state and armed and trained Christians being present?
Does the difference between local but not present police protection provided by the state and armed Christians being present matter in the moment of life and death circumstances?
Does “turn the other cheek” imply passivity or a type of non-retribution self-denial?
Is Christianity a “new ethic of non-violence”?
~~~
Due to the acted-out intent of evil doers such as gang members, drug traffickers and thieves, a constant scapegoating phrase is heard in Chicago’s media: “gun violence”. To come to a Kingdom understanding about guns and their use and especially since the populace is constantly barraged by the media’s lockstep negative annotation of guns I believe that we need to separate those two words – “guns” and the ubiquitous media modifier “violence”. I believe we also need to discuss the matter of guns outside of the political hothouse where opinion grows out of proportion to reality by constant emotive watering.
Consider the following from Morissette v. United States (1952): “The contention that an injury can amount to a crime only when inflicted by intention is no provincial or transient notion.””
The obvious: Guns are inanimate objects. Guns require intent to be used. A gun can be used as a weapon of violence when the user’s intent is to aggressively attack another with a self-serving purpose. The intent of such an aggressor is similar to another person who drives their truck into a crowd with the objective of running down people down. Intentionality aims and pulls the trigger or points the knife or the car or the…, whether for benign reasons or for malevolent reasons. The intent of a person using a knife may be to slice some bread for dinner or to deliver a death wound into someone’s gut (knife intifada). Beyond an individual’s rationale, of course, some objects do reveal their intended use – a pipe bomb, for instance. And, as you must know, the media reveal’s its own intent, its own agenda daily.
Our local media’s constant word association -“gun violence”- has, I believe, created a public fear of guns by projecting violent intent onto the object itself. Often, media reinforced fear-driven thinking is taken to the extreme. The demand to ban all guns is pushed under the rubric of ‘we’ don’t know your what your intentions are” and “we are not that kind of people”- a hubristic mélange.
~~~
Does arming a church “normalize and sanctify violence”? Maybe a better question is “Does disarming a church “normalize and sanctify violence”?” For those with evil intentions, disarming the public is an effective means to an evil end. “Gun free” signs give the public false assurances that someone with criminal intent will think twice and not enter a gun free zone. Yet, don’t crimes of passion occur without a second thought? Have we not see that terrorist acts occur with malice aforethought and without regard to a posted sign? Do not “Gun Free Zones” in effect “normalize and sanctify (to set apart) violence” as the unrestricted means for an aggressor?
Some general thoughts and questions:
This topic is not a black and white topic. Nor can this topic be confined to a short post. This topic requires knowledge and a lot of introspection about one’s intents. This topic opened up many avenues of thought for me (subject to modification) as you will read:
The spirit of fear
I hear some say that we should trust God and, in effect, do nothing to protect ourselves – God will intervene (or not, que sera sera). There is a spirit of fatalism here and not of faith, it seems to me.
If a bear or a lion or a mentally unstable person attacked, would you not defend yourself and your child? Or, do you accept the attack as God’s will and submit to it without resistance? If a deadly virus was around do you take precautions? Do you vaccinate your child? Are taking precautions a lack of trust in God? Is defending yourself from imminent danger not trusting God? Is defending yourself against evil holding a gun not trusting God? And, isn’t learning the Scripture and walking in the Spirit proactively defending yourself against heresy?
We are told that we have not been given a spirit of fear and also to put on the whole armor of god. A sword is included in the list and in Hebrews 4:12. We are to arm ourselves:
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrew 4:12
This verse reminds us that thoughts and intentions matter. The weapon, the word of God, is used to bring out what is hidden beneath the surface by using its finely-honed razor sharp cutting edge. Jesus made sure that his disciples knew that his Kingdom was not about the violent over throw of the Romans. Rather, the world would learn that truth was more powerful than violence. Consider what happened to Ananias and Sapphira in an early church setting (Acts 5:1-11). Truth happened.
~~~
“Jesus, the Prince of Peace, was a pacifist”:
Do not put Jesus into your safe space. Put yourself into his ‘unsafe’ hands. To make a false understanding of Jesus (e.g., Jesus as an anti-war hippie guru) the lynch pin of anti-gun ethic is dangerous. As was said of Aslan:
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Matthew 10:34-36
As the passage from Hebrews would later reinforce, Jesus said that he came with a sword, a divisor. Thoughts and intents would be exposed. Relationships would be severed because of him. There will be those who will reconciled to Him and to others and there will be those who will not reconcile at all. Those who do not want to be reconciled with others often use violence to obtain what could have been gained in relationship.
Jesus wants us to set his kingdom in motion with our peace-making forays before he comes to reign on earth as the Prince of Peace.
~~~
Jesus’ command to “love you neighbor as yourself” and to seek happiness in being a peacemaker means, in my estimation, seeking to be reconciled with your neighbor when there is a conflict. It also means to never seek revenge for a wrong done to you. Revenge is a common theme on cable TV and in the movies but it has no part in your Kingdom life. You turn the other cheek to say to your neighbor “the wrong you have done to me is already forgiven by me two-fold. Let us be reconciled.” Forgiveness is not passivity or pacifism. Rather, forgiveness is an aggressive part of loving your neighbor.
Many today take umbrage at the slightest perceived offense. Then they proceed to slander, malign and mock their ‘offender’. Turning the other cheek says I know who I am and what I am about. Your words can come into either ear and do not change what I am hearing from the Lord.
Being a peacemaker: aren’t we told to meet our neighbor on the way to court so as to resolve matters with your neighbor instead of by a judges’ ruling? Aren’t we told not to sue each other in court?
Not once are we telling our neighbor “It is OK to do whatever you want to us.” We are saying, “Whatever evil you do to us breaks our relationship. I am willing to forgive to mend our relationship and to show you the full extent of love.”
I can read the same scripture as you:
Meet your accuser before going to court to settle matters
Seek peace and pursue it.
Blessed are the peacemakers.
As I read these passages I see in each of the statements an equation of relationships. Two or more parties are involved. And the Christian in that relationship is the one who proactively makes amends to resolve the conflict the other has with the Christian.
~~~
Violence – doing harm to the other with the purpose of “winning” or gain -is not the Kingdom way of living as taught by Jesus. Of, course doing violence to another also includes bearing false witness, gossip, stealing, adultery and murder with intent to deprive someone of life. Violence done to others also includes abortion, a suctioning off of human life that is now called “a right”, while the right to own a gun is denigrated as violent intent.
~~~
What if you neighbor embraces evil? We are told in Scripture to abhor evil and cling to what is good. We can never be reconciled with evil and should never try. This is a situation where the Scripture and the Holy Spirit must inform your decision to defend yourself. Maybe you move away. Maybe you surround yourself with Christian friends and prayer. Maybe you should buy a gun and learn to defend yourself. Maybe do all three. Evil knows no bounds; it knows no “Gun Free Zones”.
~~~
“Sell what you have and buy a sword”. I find it interesting that Jesus knew that Peter was armed – with a sword – when they were in the garden of Gethsemane praying. Prior to Peter whipping out his sword to defend Jesus, we don’t hear Jesus ever telling Peter to get rid of that sword. But once Peter pulls out that sword to harm another in an act of aggression (Peter’s intent was to keep Jesus safe for the Kingdom Peter so desired) then Jesus tells Peter to put away the sword because “those who live by the sword die by the sword.” This is no mystical saying.
Consider that if you use violence to get your way you can be sure that what goes around comes around. If your intent is to harm someone to ‘put things right’ then there will be no end to the violence. The other who is harmed will want to ‘put things right’ with violence. Jesus wants us to stop the cycle of violence. That is why seeking to reconcile and forgiving are imperative in his Kingdom.
~~~
I do not think for a moment that God intended us to lay down our lives for the sake of laying down our lives. That would be suicide. What is your intent? Hopefully your intent is to stay alive.
~~~
We live in a violent universe: Big Bang, Gamma Ray bursts, meteor strikes, floods, hurricanes,… How do we explain the Lord’s “Blessed are the peacemakers” to such a violent world?
~~~
Violence forces change through coercive power. Love is not coercion but an offer to redeem and to be reconciled. When violence and love meet, they do not kiss like when justice and mercy meet. So be for-armed.
~~~
What is my relationship with guns? After the age of eight-years-old I attended several different Christian camps over several years. These camps are where I first came into contact with an actual gun – a .22 gauge rifle.
At these camps I was shown how to load the rifle and how to aim and shoot at a target. And not only did we use guns, we also learned archery, horseback riding, swimming – all sorts of activities, some considered as “unsafe” by today’s hand wringers.
I now own several guns, a FOID card and a CC card. Contrary to what is often implied in the media, to obtain these licenses my background had been extensively checked by federal and state authorities. To obtain my CC license I was required by the state to take 16 hours of classes: 8 hours of Illinois CC law and 8 hours of gun training. A written and target test were taken after the eight-hour sessions.
As a Christian, I enjoy target shooting at the range. I practice for accuracy. I hope I never have to shoot anyone in self-defense. If I do I hope to be able to shoot the aggressor so as to only disable him or her. God knows the intent of my heart.
As a Christian, I believe we can be ‘unsafe’ and good at the same time, like my King.
Shooting someone in self-defense is no small thing. It is traumatic and it may end up ruining your life with all of the legal ramifications. It is best to know the law and to not think you have any right whatsoever to shoot someone in self-defense. Know the law in your state.
A great legal resource:
The Law of Self-Defense, The Indispensable Guide for the Armed Citizen by attorney Andrew F. Branca
“God has committed himself, ever since creation, to working through his creatures–in particular, through his image-bearing human beings–but they have all let Him down.”
― N.T. Wright, Simply Christian: Why Christianity makes Sense
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The waitress who brought me my order of eggs and bacon this morning at the Sweetened Sacks of Flour caught my attention as did another waitress last Saturday – their arms were covered in graphic cartoon-like black scrawl that seemed to slither up their arms toward some nether region of their bodies. My heart sank again this morning at the sight.
This young waitress – a twentyish woman with a beautiful smile and bright black eyes – had defaced herself and the Lord only knows why. Perhaps it’s the enticing effects of the reality TV culture, aka Pop culture, aka Cartoon Culture that we live in. Donald Trump was elected president in such a culture – and that makes perfect sense. “Winning” the Presidency has become a cartoon choice award.
Found on many cable channels, reality TV programming reveals people participating in all manner of human folly including the ritual of “inking”. To a great extent, The Media – the televised “news” programs, the newsfeed websites, the print and blog formatted- is also reality programming meant to arouse consumer’s attention and to provide a common denominator of baseness where one-upmanship is pulling one man’s pants down to use to pull your readers/viewers up out of the same swamp they are all in. Did we really need to be reminded of our broken humanness and subscribe to folly? But then again, watching the latest version of Sodom and Gomorrah in action may cause some to repent – but I doubt it. Just walk away and don’t look back.
Yes, my heart sank again this morning at the sight of this young woman who submitted herself to a pagan ritual. Tattooing is not adornment. That butterfly on the back of your neck is not adornment. You are telling the world that you belong to the ruler of this world and he – the Satan – has been kicked out. Anyone can be The Satan’s hands and feet, just as any Christian can be the hands and feet of the Lord.
At the health club, I see dozens of women who have “adorned” their bodies with graphic comic-like tattoos. Many have knowingly given themselves over to paganism with the “tat” being the sign that they are part of a death-Goth community which exists within a milieu of despair. They have thereby shown their allegiance to the former ruler of this world. As viewers of The Media, these who have dehumanized themselves with tattoos may have thought that God had given up on them and the world. Or, maybe they do not want anything to do with God and do not want to be a human who was created in God’s image. Paganism throughout human history has sought to destroy God’s image in our humanness. It has sought to make a god of man’s own image. Inking injects dye and idolatry into the skin.
Paganism is dehumanization. Paganism converts a person’s thinking so that they only live out their lives at a skin-deep level. Ultimately, paganism’s goal to make their supplicants into the image of The Satan. Before that point, one will look a lot like Gollum.
Paganism’s devotees find all sorts of religious ways to be rid of the indelible image of God. Some paganist’s devotion may be pantheistic in nature (diluting God in a solution of everything, thereby watering down any notion of a personal God) and some devotion may be populist in nature (watching TV), though the two are closely connected at the hip (pun intended).
Paganism’s alter ego is “enlightened Epicureanism. Both “religions” preach the same lie: “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Both “religions” cultivate fools.
A fool will say in his heart “there is no god…and if there was I don’t want him anyway or to reflect his image. I will tattoo myself and shed any claim God may have on me”. In the end, when this fellow stands before God, he will say “I spent my entire life divesting myself of you. Get me out of here now!” And so, God will give him the desire of his heart.
Those of us who desire to be in the Kingdom of God, who desire the same true humanity as our Lord put on…we do not need to be in abeyance – the position of being without, or waiting for, an owner or claimant. God laid claim on us when we were sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever” (BCP, 380).
~~~
The DIY short list of how to become less human and deface the image of God (i.e., how to dehumanize yourself and others):
Murdering
Aborting
Euthanizing
Committing Adultery
Fornicating
Viewing pornography
Practicing homosexuality
Involving yourself with bestiality
Lying
Stealing
Being unjust
Gossiping
Being sentimental
Worshipping the creature and not the creator
Dishonoring your mother and father
Watching and paying for fantasy-ridden movies and cable shows which glorify the above
Watching cartoonish “animated” movies a la Disney, DreamWorks
Taking drugs
Crucifying someone
~~~~
“When human beings give their heartfelt allegiance to and worship that which is not God, they progressively cease to reflect the image of God. One of the primary laws of human life is that you become like what you worship; what’s more, you reflect what you worship not only to the object itself but also outward to the world around. Those who worship money increasingly define themselves in terms of it and increasingly treat other people as creditors, debtors, partners, or customers rather than as human beings. Those who worship sex define themselves in terms of it (their preferences, their practices, their past histories) and increasingly treat other people as actual or potential sex objects. Those who worship power define themselves in terms of it and treat other people as either collaborators, competitors, or pawns. These and many other forms of idolatry combine in a thousand ways, all of them damaging to the image-bearing quality of the people concerned and of those whose lives they touch.”
― N.T. Wright, Surprised By Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
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Do you want a POV from a well-read prison psychiatrist who’s also an atheist?
“The correspondent asked me: what was wrong with tattooing, if that was how people wanted to adorn themselves?
I asked him whether he would have himself tattooed—whether he would be happy if his teenaged children had themselves tattooed—and if not, why not? After all, if he would not like it, he must have some inner objection to tattooing.
True, he said, but tattooing was not illegal. And since even I, who deprecated it, did not think that it should be illegal, there was nothing further to say about it. If tattooing was legal, it was thus of no social, moral, or cultural significance.
I tried to point out some of the cultural meanings of the vogue for tattooing. First, it was aesthetically worse than worthless. Tattoos were always kitsch, implying not only the absence of taste but the presence of dishonest emotion.
Second, the vogue represented a desperate (and rather sad) attempt on a mass scale to achieve individuality and character by means of mere adornment, which implied both intellectual vacuity and unhealthy self-absorption.
And third, it represented mass downward cultural and social aspiration, since everyone understood that tattooing had a traditional association with low social class and, above all, with aggression and criminality. It was, in effect, a visible symbol of the greatest, though totally ersatz, virtue of our time: an inclusive unwillingness to make judgments of morality or value.”
Patria o muerte! [Homeland or death] Che Guevara, December 11, 1964, 19th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York.
“Executions?” Guevara told the UN General Assembly in 1964. “We execute! And we will continue executing as long as it is necessary.”
“Guevara was a man whose interest in justice is best summed up in his own words, as quoted by Fontova: “To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary. These procedures are an archaic bourgeois detail. This is a revolution. And a revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate.” –The bitter truth about Che Guevara
Che Guevara: “Judicial evidence is an archaic bourgeois detail. We execute from revolutionary conviction.”
Fidel Castro: “Legal proof is impossible to obtain against war criminals so we sentence them based on moral conviction.”
Castro's legacy after 57 years. You can see that a civilization was there once, as in Machu Picchu or Angkor Wat. Marxism laid waste to it. pic.twitter.com/QBYeqpHGbU
“The terrible damage that Castro has done will long outlive him and his regime. Untold billions of capital will be needed to restore Havana; legal problems about ownership and rights of residence will be costly, bitter, and interminable; and the need to balance commercial, social, and aesthetic considerations in the reconstruction of Cuba will require the highest regulatory wisdom. In the meantime, Havana stands as a dreadful warning to the world—if one were any longer needed—against the dangers of monomaniacs who believe themselves to be in possession of a theory that explains everything, including the future.”
“So don’t worry away with your ‘What’ll we eat?’ and “What’ll we drink?’ and ‘What’ll we wear?’ Those are all the things the Gentiles fuss about, and your heavenly father knows you need them all. Instead, make your top priority God’s kingdom and his way of life, and all these things will be given to you as well. So don’t worry about tomorrow…” – Jesus as recorded in Matthew’s gospel 6: 31-34
“Yes, the gospels affirm Jesus’s divine identity. Yes, they affirm his death on the cross as the climax of God’s age-old plan of salvation. But the purpose of God coming incognito in and as Jesus and the purpose of this Jesus dying on the cross was – so the gospels are telling us – in order to establish God’s kingdom, his justice, on earth as in heaven.” – from N.T. Wright’s “How God Became King”
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
Fire goes before him,
and consumes his adversaries on every side.
His lightnings light up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his righteousness;
and all the peoples behold his glory.
All worshippers of images are put to shame,
those who make their boast in worthless idols;
all gods bow down before him. Zion hears and is glad,
and the towns of Judah rejoice,
because of your judgements, O God.
For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.
The Lord loves those who hate evil;
he guards the lives of his faithful;
he rescues them from the hand of the wicked.
Light dawns for the righteous,
and joy for the upright in heart.
Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,
and give thanks to his holy name!
~~~~~
The Day The Revolution began…
“The modern world has displaced the Christian narrative; it isn’t just that most of our contemporaries profess not to believe in God or Jesus, but that they have in their heads a world narrative in which world history arrived at its redemptive moment in the eighteenth century with the rise of science and technology and banishing of God to a distant realm, to be visited by the pious few like a kind family calling on an elderly relative every Sunday. The western churches have regularly colluded with this absurd diminishment of the Bible and the gospel. But the cross, told as the climax of all four gospels and particularly John’s on which I have focused this evening, leaves us no choice. ‘Now is the judgement of this world; now is the ruler of the world cast out; and if I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all people to myself.’ This is what it means that the Messiah died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures.”
The early Christian creeds – the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene creed – donot speak of the most important elements of why Christ came to earth. It’s as if the creeds were written for man’s purposes and not for God’s purposes.
The kingdom life of Jesus, between his birth and crucifixion, is missing from the creeds. And, as recorded in the gospels, Jesus came to inaugurate his kingdom on earth as in heaven and not to impart the four spiritual laws and get off earth as soon as possible.
So, then, this is the gospel:
That now at the name of Jesus
every knee within heaven shall bow-
On earth, too, and under the earth;
And every tongue shall confess
That Jesus, Messiah, is Lord,
To the glory of God, the father.
The Lord is King, Let the Earth Rejoice This Thanksgiving!
2016 Proverbs (Observations, generally speaking.):
Astronomers search the universe for cosmic origins.
Physicists seek to understand the behavior of systems at atomic length scales and smaller using quantum mechanics.
Geneticists, in search of disease prevention and cures, scan the genetic code for the secret of life.
Archeologists search fossil and radiometric dating records for what has gone on before.
Anthropologists search for “missing links” and the ways and means of the past.
Nurses sonogram pregnant bellies for signs of life.
Philosophers search for why there is something rather than nothing.
Nihilists search for meaning in nothing and come up empty-handed and nauseous.
Wise men searched the night sky for kingdom beginnings.
Mathematicians seek solutions in our design-inherent universe.
Social scientists seek to nudge a human’s free will toward a “proper” response.
Capitalists seek value.
Socialists seek other people’s money.
Traders seek to buy low and sell high.
Long term stock and bond holders look for a return on their investment at some point in the future.
Investors seek the highest returns while shouldering prudent risk.
Psychologists, asking “how do you feel about that”, seek to redefine consequences away from morality.
Psychiatrists seek out the next tranquilizer to medicate “the problem.”.
Political scientists seek to define the perfect social order with or without property rights.
Attorneys seek favorable jurors and favorable verdicts.
Politicians seek power.
Progressives seek unicorns with your tax dollars.
The Ruling Class seeks to rule by fiat, making us serfs.
The ignorant seek to be reaffirmed in their ignorance.
Media conglomerates seek to capture our attention and our budget.
Homosexuals seek pride in their love of the creature rather than their Creator.
The transgendered seek to be ‘normalized’.
The lazy, self-absorbed and intolerant, but “diverse,” want something for nothing and call their demand “a right.”
Conservatives seek to preserve longstanding meaning, community and high culture.
Millennials, in this Age of Feelings, seek protectionism in safe spaces.
Blue-collar workers, who have not learned new skills, seek trade protectionism.
College students seek affirmation rather than the meaning of life.
Athletes seek trophies and endorsements.
The Good Shepherd searches for the Lost Sheep.
The son of man came to seek and to save the lost.
A woman searches for a lost coin, finds it, and rejoices.
Joseph and Mary searched for the boy Jesus and find him at the Temple, where God dwelt with men.
Christians seek and find faith as small as a mustard seed.
The House of Islam seeks to bring the whole world under submission to a supreme caliphate by any jihad necessary.
Buddhists seek enlightenment within themselves by numbing their consciousness with mantras.
TV preachers and faith-healers seek to wrench filthy lucre from wrenched bodies and souls.
The addicted seek a “fix” and so share a needle with others.
The contented seek to share life’s bounty with others.
High culture seeks to deepen our common religious/ethical community bonds.
Fiction writers seek to tweak our imaginations with universal questions posed by imaginary beings.
Architects seek to place function before form, denouncing the sublime in the process.
Art, high culture art, seeks to give the viewer laudable content in laudable form, evoking old and new sympathies.
Modern art seeks to give the viewer content in shock form, in order to deny meaning its value.
Climatologists seek anthropocentric fault in weather changes and “find” data to say it’s your fault.
“Enlightened” Epicureans seek godless pleasure and find a “way which seems right”.
Abortionists search the womb for “tissue” to suck out beginnings.
Euthanasians search for a vein to end beginnings.
Atheists, with a God-given consciousness, seek for nothing and find it and then credit themselves.
Fortune tellers search horoscopes, crystal balls and tarot cards for the almighty dollar.
Agnostics and Deists seek for a way around God.
And the search continues…
~~~
“At its best our age is an age of searchers and discoverers, and at its worst, an age that has domesticated despair and learned to live with it happily.” –Flannery O’Connor
The wise fear the Lord and shun evil, but a fool is hotheaded and yet feels secure. -Proverbs 14:16
As a fiscal and social and small government conservative who was once a Republican and never a Democrat I consider myself, a voting citizen, to be a Christian Libertarian. As such, I desire freedom for myself and for others to make educated tradeoffs rather than to be coerced by top down government provisos telling me what I must do with my wealth, my health, etc. Self-government is my way of life within in the constraint of the rule of law and within my own Christian-Holy Spirit directed- convictions. The truth is, I am free in Christ no matter who is in power. And, my vote is a prayer:
“…May your kingdom come,
May your will be done
As in heaven, so on earth…”
As a Conservative, I consider our Constitution and the rule of law to be foundational to a well-functioning society. Agreed upon laws derived out of the desire for the common good – decency, justice, order, etc. -should be imposed upon our society. Yet, I do not support laws (and proposed laws and regulations) which are onerous and that are used to subjugate me to the will, of say, Progressives who advocate for what they consider true and just within their relativist and irrational worldview. Case in point: I am being told by President Obama, his science advisor John Holdren and Attorney General Loretta Lynch that manmade climate change is true and it will destroy the planet and therefore I must believe it is true because they are in a position of power and I must submit to their demands on my intellect and wealth, etc. or be denounced as a “denier” by the state with punishment to be determined.
Now, when I hear about Millennials wanting “Democratic Socialism” I am shocked at their lack of knowledge about history and of socialism’s dehumanizing swath of destruction through the last century. I am also shocked that anyone would give up their freedom for hand-to-mouth dependence economics. It’s as if your participation in laziness deserves a trophy.
Currently there are two candidates who are morally and ethically unfit for the office of President. One of the candidates could easily be impeached once in office for seditious acts and crimes against this country. The other candidate is so obnoxious and bigoted and jejune that he makes a mockery of American values. Both candidates are self-serving and power-seeking. Hillary Clinton is a member of the Ruling Class and Trump is a wannabe member of the Ruling Class. (Ruling Class defined >here.)
After eight years of the worst presidency in the history of the United States and its administration’s destructive “Fundamental Transformation” of America, feckless and divisive Obama has left the U.S. worse off racially, economically, politically, and on and on, then when he entered office. Consider just one of the transmissible malignancies spread by Obama’s Frankenstein monster, “Fundamental Transformation”: the national debt has doubled. What did you get for that huge increase in your children’s and grandchildren’s debt burden? Someone got the money that half the nation worked so hard for. Little wonder that voters are angry – there has been no return on their “investment”, only look-down-their nose snark from Barack Obama and Elizabeth Warren: “you didn’t build that.”
It must be said: we need someone in the office of president who will not demean, deface or destroy America with their pettiness, their lawlessness and their desire for power.
My party is gone. My candidate is gone. I voted for Ted Cruz in the primaries. This Tuesday I will write in Evan McMullin for President and Mindy Finn for Vice President. There is much to commend both Evan and Mindy. Evan knows foreign policy inside out. He is unabashedly a conservative. Please read the link to see their qualifications. Evan and Mindy can be written in on the ballot in most states.
As mentioned above, I am free in Christ no matter what because…the gospel – “Jesus is Lord” – means that whatever happens will be subject to his lordship. I have my vocation to get on with…
“All authority in heaven and earth, “Jesus said, “has been given to me! So, you must go and make all nations into disciples. Baptize them in the name of the father, and of the son, and of the holy spirit. Teach them to observe everything I have commanded you. And look: I am with you, every single day, to the end of the age.” – Matthew’s gospel 28 v. 18-20
~~~
One “BIGLY” Reason I Am Voting for @EvanMcMullin
Democrats/Progressives are virtue signalers bar none. They will pull the lever for the Democratic ticket signaling their big-hearted desire to change the world for better. They, of course, have no problem making someone else pay the price -another’s money, liberty and even religious rights – for their self-righteous blush on election day.
We learned this week that a truck driver, one who was so deeply affected by devastating climate change, drove a semi-trailer into a large crowd gathered in Nice France thereby demonstrating for all the world to see the efficacy of and need for climate alarmism. And while the truck driver was a humanity-challenged Muslim, it was the unstable climate in Nice France that had him so detached from reality.
The gods of egalitarianism will rejoice though. There were equal outcomes for the eighty-four slaughtered by the climate change driven fanatic, a fanatic who, we are told by our “betters,” does not represent the religion that posits “Death to Infidels” as one of its core tenets. CO2 is the real killer here and it is an egalitarian killer!
Our “betters” have touted Scripture and “settled science” and scenarios of doom. They tell us that the greatest threat to mankind is climate change. After this past week, I guess they were right all along. What happened in Nice fits their CO2 narrative:
If only we could gain control of our out-of-control climate. Then mankind wouldn’t be so unruly!
And here I thought climate forecasting is unreliable. Why just this morning the Weather Channel told me that there would be no rain in my area until later tonight. And lo and behold I look out my window and I see rain pouring down. It is still raining as I write this. But, my “betters” must know something I don’t. My eyes can deceive me. And my thoughts can be even worse than what my eyes perceive! Under the effects of climate instability – OMG! – any type of thinking could lead to terrorism!
“…God’s way of sadness is designed to produce a repentance which leads to salvation.” The Apostle Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth, 7:10
One day after the Fourth of July, America’s day of Independence from arbitrary laws and rules we learn that FBI Director James Comey, after laying out the extensive criminals acts of one Hillary Clinton involving “classified emails”, decided to NOT recommend prosecution for such acts. Director Comey stated that no “reasonable prosecutor” would bring such a case because there was no bad intent on Hillary Clinton’s part (only reams of black and white evidence!)
Then we learned of a police (self-defense?) shooting in Louisiana and Minnesota. Those who do not watch “The First 48” remain clueless or in denial about black violence and criminality. Some will even pander to #BlackLivesMatter activists, i.e., Minnesota’s Governor Mark Dayton, who can also read minds and intents like FBI Director James Comey.
I live in Chicago surrounded by a liberal Democrat elite who believe that the intentions of the criminal element, the black criminal element are good, just misdirected. “If only we had more jobs and more education and less of the white “man’s” justice, is the cri de Progressivism coming out of the coalition of unicorns and rainbows spread across the “Welcoming” Welfare city of Chicago.”
As I reflected and grieved over the events of this past week – the breakdown of the rule of law and the anarchy and lawlessness becoming acute in America, several words came to me over and over: “fundamental transformation”, repentance and fasting.
We are reaping, on the streets and in the homes of out of work America, the almost eight years of the “fundamental transformation of America,” the agenda sown by our Muslim President Barack Obama, a disciple of “Rev.” Jeremiah Wright, and by Obama’s rubber stamp justice department led by AG Eric Holder and AG Loretta Lynch. Under these locusts, blind justice has come to mean look the other way unless, of course, you are singled out as a “bitter clinger” of your Bible, guns and science. Then your intentions are considered no good. Enough about the Iman Obama and his Progressive caliphate.
If you have studied Scripture and the historical Gospel account of Jesus Christ and the beginnings of his Kingdom on earth, then you have come across the word “repentance.” It is throughout the New Testament. It is an imperative directed at the will of an individual. “You” must decide which way to go.
Of course, there is a way that seems right to a man and to a protestor and to a populace of men. But…
“Go in by the narrow gate. The gate that leads to destruction, you see, is nice and wide, and the road going there has plenty of room. Lot of people go that way. But the gate leads to life is narrow, and the road going there is a tight squeeze. Not many people will find their way through.” Jesus, Sermon on the Mount.
Recalling my study of Koine Greek from my days studying at Moody Bible institute, the word “repentance” is the Greek work μετάνοια (transliteration: metanoia) defined as “repentance, a change of mind, change in the inner man.”
One could easily recall the word “repentance” being used in the book of Acts by the apostles when evangelizing. Yet consider that Jesus taught a fundamental change of mind. In the Sermon of the Mount Jesus started several teachings with “You heard that it was said to the ancient people…but I tell you…
…that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgement…”
…everyone who gazes at a woman in order to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
…don’t use violence to resist evil! Instead, when someone hits you on the right cheek, turn the other one towards him.”
…love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! That way you will be children of your father in heaven.”
Here Jesus is speaking of the change required in one’s thinking to be a part of His Kingdom. Status quo “tit for tat” thinking was out.
Lastly, the word “fasting” permeated my thoughts this past week. And, yes, it is a personal call for me to fast.
Briefly, fasting is me throttling me getting my way. I suppose it could be considered a self-inflicted “sadness” that leads to more repentance in my life.
Fasting is a change of the inner me which leads to a metanoia I won’t regret. The nation should try it.
And, BTW: only God can read the thoughts and intentions of hearts and minds. This thought alone should lead one to fasting.
The “Hate your white neighbor, love your black heart” religion:
“Jeremiah Wright declares that the God he worships is the same as Allah, the God of the Muslims. At the same time, Wright is preaching that the God of the “slaver” and “oppressor” (read white society collectively) is a “different” God. That is, implying that white America and the white race collectively worship Satan, which is a tenet of Black Liberation Theology.
It is a theology which confronts white society as the racist Antichrist, communicating to the oppressor that nothing will be spared in the fight for freedom.”, quoted from “Black Theology and Black Power” by James H. Cone (1969), page 135.
Black Liberation Theology teaches the genocidal Black Nationalist cult concept that white society, America and the traditional Christian church are all part of the Antichrist system and the black man is the “manifestation of God on earth.” The uniqueness of the divinity of Jesus is denied. Jesus is a prototype that any man can potentially achieve. A revolutionary black messiah or messiahs will led the destruction of the Antichrist and his tool, the American constitutional republican system, in their scenario of the imminent end times and create a Utopia on earth, the biblical millennial kingdom on earth, which will be a physical kingdom, not a spiritual kingdom. This could be seen as the same, then, as the Muslim Caliphate, the earthly kingdom that the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda seek to establish.” (emphasis added)
“We have entered, as I see it, a spiritual limbo. Our educational institutions are no longer the bearers of high culture, and public life has been deliberately moronised. But here and there, sheltered from the noise and glare of the media, the old spiritual forces are at work” Roger Scruton
*****
“When a common culture declines, the ethical life can be sustained and renewed only by a work of the imagination.”-Roger Scruton
*****
“Jesus prayed, “This is eternal life, that they may know You . . .” (John 17:3). The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering. If we will take this view, life will become one great romance— a glorious opportunity of seeing wonderful things all the time. God is disciplining us to get us into this central place of power.” Oswald Chambers
*****
“No power on earth or in hell can conquer the Spirit of God in a human spirit, it is an inner unconquerableness.” Oswald Chambers
*****
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.” The Shadow of an Agony,Oswald Chambers
*****
“If we wish to erect new structures, we must have a definite knowledge of the old foundations.” John Calvin Coolidge
*****
Atheism is a post-Christian phenomenon.
*****
If social justice looks like your hand in someone else’s pocket then you are stealing.
*****
“In Sweden, giving to charity, absurdly, came to be considered a lack of solidarity, since it undermined the need for the welfare state.” – Roland Martinsson
*****
“…to love democracy well, it is necessary to love it moderately.” Alexis de Tocqueville
*****
Capitalism seeks to help others through a servce or product it provides. Free Market Capitalism is the most moral and fair economic system available to man. Capitalism augments personal growth, responsibility and ownership. Charity flourishes under capitalism. Charity dies under subjective “fair share” government confiscatory policies. Socialism redistributes ambivalence and greed.
*****
“We are to regard existence as a raid or great adventure; it is to be judged, therefore, not by what calamities it encounters, but by what flag it follows and what high town it assaults. The most dangerous thing in the world is to be alive; one is always in danger of one’s life. But anyone who shrinks from that is a traitor to the great scheme and experiment of being.” G.K. Chesterton
*****
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent.
It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction. Albert Einstein
*****
“You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you odd.” Flannery O’Connor
*****
“There is but one good; that is God. Everything else is good when it looks to Him and bad when it turns from Him.” C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
*****
“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).
*****
God’s grace is not about the allowance for sin. God’s grace is about the conversation God allows regarding sin.
*****
From the book of Proverbs: We are not to favor the rich or the poor. We are to pursue justice.
*****
“Always keep in contact with those books and those people that enlarge your horizon and make it possible for you to stretch yourself mentally.” Oswald Chambers
*****
One goldfish says to another, “If there is no God who keeps changing the water?”
*****
“The truth is always there in the morning.”
From Cat On A Hot Tin Roof script – playwright Tennessee Williams
*****
God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.
*****
“America’s greatness has been the greatness of a free people who shared certain moral commitments. Freedom without moral commitment is aimless and promptly self-destructive.” John W. Gardner
**
“Men of integrity, by their very existence, rekindle the belief that as a people we can live above the level of moral squalor. We need that belief; a cynical community is a corrupt community.” John W. Gardner
*****
“In the world it is called Tolerance, but in hell it is called Despair, the sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die.” Dorothy L. Sayers
*****
“Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere.”
G. K. Chesterton
*****
“The battle line between good and evil runs through the heart of every man.” Alexander Solzhenitsyn
*****
This is what the LORD says:
“Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.
But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
-The prophet Jeremiah, 6:16
*****
“…our common task is not so much discovering a truth hiding among contrary viewpoints as it is coming to possess a selfhood that no longer evades and eludes the truth with which it is importunately confronted.” James McClendon, Ethics: Systematic Theology, Vol. 1
*****
Cindy Wity 
Whole Lotta Searchin’ Goin’ On
November 25, 2016 Leave a comment
2016 Proverbs (Observations, generally speaking.):
Astronomers search the universe for cosmic origins.
Physicists seek to understand the behavior of systems at atomic length scales and smaller using quantum mechanics.
Geneticists, in search of disease prevention and cures, scan the genetic code for the secret of life.
Archeologists search fossil and radiometric dating records for what has gone on before.
Anthropologists search for “missing links” and the ways and means of the past.
Nurses sonogram pregnant bellies for signs of life.
Philosophers search for why there is something rather than nothing.
Nihilists search for meaning in nothing and come up empty-handed and nauseous.
Wise men searched the night sky for kingdom beginnings.
Mathematicians seek solutions in our design-inherent universe.
Social scientists seek to nudge a human’s free will toward a “proper” response.
Capitalists seek value.
Socialists seek other people’s money.
Traders seek to buy low and sell high.
Long term stock and bond holders look for a return on their investment at some point in the future.
Investors seek the highest returns while shouldering prudent risk.
Psychologists, asking “how do you feel about that”, seek to redefine consequences away from morality.
Psychiatrists seek out the next tranquilizer to medicate “the problem.”.
Political scientists seek to define the perfect social order with or without property rights.
Attorneys seek favorable jurors and favorable verdicts.
Politicians seek power.
Progressives seek unicorns with your tax dollars.
The Ruling Class seeks to rule by fiat, making us serfs.
The ignorant seek to be reaffirmed in their ignorance.
Media conglomerates seek to capture our attention and our budget.
Homosexuals seek pride in their love of the creature rather than their Creator.
The transgendered seek to be ‘normalized’.
The lazy, self-absorbed and intolerant, but “diverse,” want something for nothing and call their demand “a right.”
Conservatives seek to preserve longstanding meaning, community and high culture.
Millennials, in this Age of Feelings, seek protectionism in safe spaces.
Blue-collar workers, who have not learned new skills, seek trade protectionism.
College students seek affirmation rather than the meaning of life.
Athletes seek trophies and endorsements.
The Good Shepherd searches for the Lost Sheep.
The son of man came to seek and to save the lost.
A woman searches for a lost coin, finds it, and rejoices.
Joseph and Mary searched for the boy Jesus and find him at the Temple, where God dwelt with men.
Christians seek and find faith as small as a mustard seed.
The House of Islam seeks to bring the whole world under submission to a supreme caliphate by any jihad necessary.
Buddhists seek enlightenment within themselves by numbing their consciousness with mantras.
TV preachers and faith-healers seek to wrench filthy lucre from wrenched bodies and souls.
The addicted seek a “fix” and so share a needle with others.
The contented seek to share life’s bounty with others.
High culture seeks to deepen our common religious/ethical community bonds.
Fiction writers seek to tweak our imaginations with universal questions posed by imaginary beings.
Architects seek to place function before form, denouncing the sublime in the process.
Art, high culture art, seeks to give the viewer laudable content in laudable form, evoking old and new sympathies.
Modern art seeks to give the viewer content in shock form, in order to deny meaning its value.
Climatologists seek anthropocentric fault in weather changes and “find” data to say it’s your fault.
“Enlightened” Epicureans seek godless pleasure and find a “way which seems right”.
Abortionists search the womb for “tissue” to suck out beginnings.
Euthanasians search for a vein to end beginnings.
Atheists, with a God-given consciousness, seek for nothing and find it and then credit themselves.
Fortune tellers search horoscopes, crystal balls and tarot cards for the almighty dollar.
Agnostics and Deists seek for a way around God.
And the search continues…
~~~
“At its best our age is an age of searchers and discoverers, and at its worst, an age that has domesticated despair and learned to live with it happily.” –Flannery O’Connor
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Filed under Culture, Current Events 2016 Tagged with 2106 commentary, culture, truth-seeking