“We fully intend to monitor all Holy Books, sermons in places of worship and
the social media accounts of the various religions and report any hatred
to Police Scotland for criminal investigation.”
a letter to the editor by Ian Stewart, Convener, Atheist Scotland)
(acadianmonitoringservices.com)
I caught the latest posting by our friend The Wee Flea.
This most recent post raises some serious questions and
some real concerns for not only Scotland but for all of Western Civilization.
As it appears we are inching ourselves ever closer to life under the watchful
eye of the Big Brother cancel culture.
“Atheists Threaten to Monitor Bibles, Sermons, and Social Media of Religious Leaders –
The New Scottish Blasphemy Bill”
David brings attention to a letter printed in the Scottish Courier.
It was written by Ian Stewart Convener, Atheist Scotland:
David, in turn, posts his response letter to the paper’s editorial section.
Dear Editor,
I am grateful to Ian Stewart, Convenor of Atheist Scotland, for his enlightening letter
in Tuesday’s Courier.
It illustrates perfectly when Humza Yousa’s new blasphemy law
(otherwise known as the Hate Crime Bill) should not be passed.
Mr. Stewart after spewing out a litany of ignorant abuse against all religions then goes
on to inform us that he and his extremist movement
“fully intend to monitor all Holy Books, sermons in places of worship and the social media accounts
of the various religions and report any hatred to Police Scotland for criminal investigation”.
There are two problems with this – firstly Mr. Stewart regards any disagreements with any of
his fundamental beliefs as self-evident ‘hate’ and we must thus be dealt with.
He is in effect saying that we should all be closed down unless we accept his authoritarian morality.
Secondly, I regard his letter as full of hate speech and therefore under the criteria of
the new law Mr. Stewart should hand himself in to the police and confess his crime.
But tolerance and logic are not what this new blasphemy bill is about.
Rather it is intended to reinforce the self-appointed thought police of the Brave New World that
the Scottish Government [is] seeking to build….
Yours etc
David Robertson (former minister of St Peters Free Church Dundee)
David ends his post with the following reflection:
Despite growing opposition Humza Yousaf continues to defend his bill –
but I suspect it will be kicked into the long grass until after the Scottish Parliament
elections and then it will come back (if the SNP are re-elected) with ‘concessions’
(which will be no concessions at all). For the record Humza Yousaf continues to refuse
to answer my question as to whether a bookseller who advertised the Koran as ‘obscene’
would be prosecuted under his new blasphemy law.
A squeeze play between leftist leaning leadership and those who hate God and Christians.
And those of us who are finding ourselves caught in the middle would be wise to stand up
and take notice!
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.
He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth,
because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character,
for he is a liar and the father of lies.
John 8:44
You remember Barney right?
Barney Fife?
From back in the early 1960s?
The hapless deputy helping to protect the imaginary town of Mayberry, NC?
Thank goodness for his even-keeled, laid back boss, Sheriff Andy Taylor.
When Barney wanted to make a point of how certain things needed to go, in what direction
his long-suffering boss should proceed…all the while emphasizing the need for
no further discussion on his part, he was famous for using the quip,
“Nip it…Nip it in the bud.”
“Ya got to nip it, Andy, nip it in the bud now!”
According to the dictionary, the expression means: suppress or destroy something at an early stage
Meaning cut it off at the source before it, whatever it might be, spreads and thus
creates a deeper tangled mess.
Such an expression could be used, say, toward gossip…stopping idol hearsay before
it becomes so distorted that folks get unnecessarily hurt or unfairly maligned.
And so now we have it…we know our troubles…
Our trouble is that we are currently living in a sea of irony…
a sea of nipping things in the bud.
I hate to say it but we are living in a culture lead by those who are nipping anything
everything, anyone, and everyone in the bud.
As in, get rid of it, get rid of them… now!
In other words, cancel it out.
I’ve never really been a big fan of comedians, I think I’ve mentioned that before.
I’ve never been one to enjoy amusement derived at the expense of others.
Now I can be self-deprecating as the day is long…but I just find
many of today’s comedians and their schticks to be either laced with foul words
and or imagery and simply tasteless, offensive and irreverent dribble.
Of course, those like Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason, Sammy Davis Jr.
Dean Martin and even Flip Wilson were of a different generation of comedians.
They could make me laugh.
They often laughed at themselves or laughed at things we could all relate to…
But I must say, that whereas he’s never been high on my list, I am finding
that I can actually readily appreciate the British comedian Ricky Gervais.
He has not shied away from going after those whose circles he has run in
or at least run around.
Recently, he let loose on the Hollywood elites when he hosted the last Golden
Globe awards. Yes he can be foul and irreverent, which is why
I don’t much care to watch him, but he has, however, been candidly truthful.
And it is his truthfulness that I can certainly appreciate.
I caught a news story yesterday about Gervais speaking out
against today’s cancel culture.
I found his observation to be most telling…
“Everyone’s got a different definition of cancel culture,” the 59-year-old explained.
“If it is choosing not to watch a comedian because you don’t like them, that’s everyone’s right.
But when people are trying to get someone fired because they don’t like their opinion
about something that’s nothing to do with their job,
that’s what I call cancel culture and that’s not cool.”
He added: “You turning off your own TV isn’t censorship.
You trying to get other people to turn off their TV because you don’t like something
they’re watching, that’s different.”
“I did a tweet a month ago about freedom of speech, quoting Winston Churchill.
Someone came back with, ‘You know he was a white supremacist?’
And I wrote back, ‘Not in that tweet he isn’t.’
It’s like if someone did something once that’s wrong, everything they did was wrong,” he said.
“You are allowed to have things in common with bad people as long it’s not the bad things.
I’m a vegetarian and I love dogs, like Hitler.
But the only thing I have in common with Hitler are the good bits!”
So it seems our culture has lost the notion of the good bits
while they mindlessly race to nipping both you and me in the bud!
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths,
but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion,
that it may give grace to those who hear.
Ephesians 4:29
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.'”
Jeremiah 6:16
(painting of the prophet Jeremiah by Rembrandt 1630)
A few months back, our long lost and very busy friend Wally offered a piece from
Bogard Press regarding prophets…in particular, that of false prophets…
by Mark Clements
Wednesday, October 2
False Prophets Have Always Been Present
2 Peter 2:1-3
“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be
false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies,
even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves
swift destruction,” 2 Peter 2:1.
Counterfeit spiritual authorities have been in existence since the time
of Adam and Eve. One of the hallmarks of God’s creation is man’s tendency to reject
the sovereign rule of its Creator. From the Fall of Lucifer to the Fall of Adam
and the consequent depravity found in every human since, it has always been
easy to find examples of people who mislead others into theological error.
In an effort to warn his readers, Peter reminded his readers that false teachers
have been among God’s people from the beginning.
What could they expect from counterfeit spiritual authorities?
Peter wrote that false teachers would begin by introducing heresy that denies the
lordship of Jesus Christ, they would show evidence of fleshly living,
including sensuality, blasphemy and greed.
They would seek also to exploit God’s people for their own gain.
We can be sure such heretics persist among God’s people today.
Satan would love nothing more than to convince would-be believers into thinking
that they are following Jesus when they are really following him.
These false teachers offer a counterfeit to Christianity and fool many people.
Remember, these false teachers are condemned by God and will reap destruction.
We must not only remain vigilant in adherence to God’s truth,
but also we have a duty to protect those who would be exploited by the greed
and sensuality of those caught up in man-made religion.
We will be able to recognize false religion by studying the beautiful truth of
God’s Word and hiding it deep in our hearts.
JUST A THOUGHT
Not everyone who calls himself Christian follows Christ
I too have written a few posts over the years regarding prophets…with some of those
posts being more of a lamentation as to where have those voices gone…or better yet,
where are those voices today?
Where are those who speak loudly and boldly of God’s word?
That voice of the one crying out in the wilderness…
“Repent and seek ye the way of the Lord…”
Where are those voices of Godly and spiritual authority…
Voices speaking in tune with the will of the Great I AM??
I think that they are still here living amongst us…
it might be that the false voices are simply crying out even louder.
For sadly today, we seem to have a din of voices that are crying out but are
crying out far from anything Godly…
as in they, and even their lesser minions, are readily claiming the authority of
some new world order…an order that is far from the Omnipotent Creator of all.
One of the latest voices swirling around in the mire of our crazy culture is that
of a young lady from Sweden named Greta Thunberg.
A 16-year-old young woman and environmental activist.
Greta is just a kid but is a very fast-rising rock star who is a globally vocal
spokesperson for all things climate change.
Now I don’t doubt climate change for a minute nor of man’s impact on the demise
of our environment, etc. but I also don’t buy the planet’s demise is to occur in the next
11 years or so–as claimed by many members of the climate change bandwagon.
The notion of prudence comes to mind when such Henny penny the sky is falling
claims are made…just saying.
I’ve not followed much of the news of Greta.
But I’ve been unable to help but notice that her face is plastered all over
the place.
Every time I turn on the computer or see some headline, this young woman is there.
Even Time Magazine has made her their person of the year— or is that month, or week or day
as they seem to be naming folks faster than I feel years pass…but that’s probably
just me and my age.
She seems like a bit of a radical child and an often angry young woman who
is appearing to be somewhat of an opportunist or perhaps sadly, a pawn…
Yet none the less, she is being highly touted by many as the new climate prophetess.
Does she have parents, a family?
Does she go to school?
I never seem to hear of them or see much about a home life.
But perhaps, like I say, I’ve not followed her enough to know.
The latest picture I caught was of her sitting in a German train station surrounded
by a slew of bags and sleeping bags, looking like a kid backpacking across Europe,
but in actuality, she was extolling and grousing over her ill-treatment by the
train authorities.
However, it appears that her grousing and poor lonely image was misleading
as she and her party had actually traveled first class and were all treated very kindly
by the German train personnel…so say the train folks.
Greta later backtracked about the grousing…
Hummm…
She has addressed world leaders while being highly disrespectful regarding the US President…
but hey, that’s not unusual as everyone seems disrespectful of the US President.
But in a recent interview without her usual angst-ridden and oddly
conjectured scientific script, she could not answer, nor did she appear to understand,
reporters questions put before her.
I’ve even caught an odd story that seems to have gone quite viral—
that being the notion of Greta being a time traveler.
Now I had no idea that there were such things as time travelers,
other than maybe Star Trek and getting beamed up…
but it seems to be a real thing with lots of folks on board.
So when lots of folks are on board, things are real right?
Or so that’s what this culture of ours seems to believe—just
look at places like twitter…they’ll tell you.
So here is a picture of a group of kids in the Yukon in 1898 looking for gold…
How in the heck someone thought to go looking for some old picture because
it appears Greta was in the picture is beyond my soul but look they did
look and they did find it.
And thus folks have decided that Greta is indeed in that 150-year-old picture
and is one who has traveled from there and then to here and now in order to warn us…
to warn of us of what is happening to our climate.
Is a time traveler like a shapeshifter?
And what exactly does the child of a Gold Rush settler in 1898 in the middle of
the Yukon understand about climate change?
Yet it appears that there are folks out there who consider Greta to be such a prophet,
or is that prophetess?
They believe she has been sent to warn us.
Sent by whom, they’re not saying, but she’s been sent none the less…
or is that, she’s traveled here to warn us.
Hummmm…
I often think stories like this come down to one thing…that of truth vs Truth.
The little t vs the big T.
Man vs his Creator.
Awareness is one thing.
Raising awareness is indeed important.
Doing our part for the world around us is crucial…
but…
when we turn activists into prophets, or even superhuman time travelers,
well, we raise the human to a level that is beyond human…
we begin taking human word as being otherworldly, promoting them to demigod status.
We want them to be a voice from on high telling us of our errors or our needs.
We think they have all the facts.
We become mesmerized, hanging on their words and supposed wisdom—
which is most often more observation and conjecture than gospel.
We yearn for that all-knowing, all-seeing “wizard” who, when all is said and done,
is just a mere mortal man, woman, or in this case, child,
hiding behind a curtain shrouded in smoke, pulling on a bunch of knobs and levers.
Yet we seem to yearn for something, for someone who great and grand…
who is in authority, who is without doubt—we yearn for God—-
but in our zealous yearning, we’ve turned small false voices into small little gods.
Little voices and little gods who, like shooting stars, quickly burn out and fade
from memory until the next bright light passes our yearning path.
So perhaps it would behoove this off the rail culture of ours to consider where
to put our yearning…our faith and trust.
Maybe its time for a good testing of these modern-day prophets and prophetesses.
Some much-needed introspection as to why we seem to keep throwing such
individuals up on the altars of our worship.
Why do we feel they deserve our “worship”–our attention, our noteriety…
So it would be best that we simply remain watchful while being wary—
the prophets have spoken and time is of the essence.
Blow the trumpet in Zion,
And sound an alarm in My holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble;
For the day of the LORD is coming,
For it is at hand:
A day of darkness and gloominess,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains.
A people come, great and strong,
The like of whom has never been;
Nor will there ever be any such after them,
Even for many successive generations.
Joel 2:1-2
“There are only two ways to live your life.
One is as though nothing is a miracle.
The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
Albert Einstein
(DNA test kit from 23 and Me)
To spit or not to spit, that is the question…
Or actually, it was my question.
I initially had a different post I wanted to offer today, but I caught a story on the news the
other evening that preempted my plan.
About a week or so ago I wrote a couple of posts referencing the Governor of Virginia,
Ralph Northam’s notion that legislation should be created allowing third-term abortions.
I won’t rehash all of that with you but if you’re interested, you can find those links here:
And yet the irony in this is that the Governor’s potential questionable “racist” past has now
all but smothered his comments and views on third term abortion.
An observation that leaves me more than troubled with our culture’s priorities.
And whereas the Governor has since backed off from his initial wording used during
that fateful interview…it matters not…because more and more states are showing a keen
interest in such an “allowance.”
So lets back up a tad…
I am adopted.
Many of you already know this little fact.
I’ve written about it and shared tales about such since the inception of this little
blog of mine…
so this post is not so much about that…and yet partially…it actually is.
About two weeks back, a fellow blogger shared with me the fact that she had been adopted
as a baby.
She is a wife and mother as well as a wise Christian warrior here in blogville.
I shared with her the fact that I was adopted as well.
She continued her tale…
She shared the fact that she had found her birth mother.
It was somewhat by happenstance.
Her young sons were showing a deep interest in wanting to learn their family’s genealogy…
but my friend knew that her “tree” was rather incomplete.
She didn’t know her “true” heritage…
Her tree, like mine, was dormant.
So she really had nothing she could concretely share with her boys.
Let alone the importance of knowing their family’s true medical history.
And so my friend explained that she bought one of those DNA kits that are so popular
right now.
She decided it was high time to learn about her “real” roots.
Once receiving her results, alerts began coming her way.
The alerts were from folks “out there” who had some sort of genetic connection with her…
as in being related.
Alerts that one may opt to connect with or not.
My friend was now piecing her puzzle together slowly one piece at a time.
And one of those alerts, it turned out, was a person who my friend had the gut feeling
was actually her birth mom.
Through correspondence, her birth mother shared that she had always prayed for her
unknown daughter…praying that she would be raised up as a Christian…
of which she was.
A prayer answered and eventually Divinely revealed.
I told my friend that I’d email soon as I wanted to talk further about all of this…
I was curious because of my own questions.
But life, that being my current life, being what it is, we’ve not had the opportunity
to talk further.
But since our conversation, thoughts nagged and tugged at my brain.
I had never once considered my adopted parents anything other than my parents.
And yet, I’ve always had those nagging holes in my life’s story.
There has always been a feeling of disconnect with my “family”
Their heritage is truthfully not my heritage.
Their roots are not my original roots.
Their health history is by no means my health history.
Yet as long as my Dad was alive, I vowed I’d never search.
I feared, given our dysfunctional family mess with my brother who had
also been adopted, it would break my dad’s heart thinking he might lose me after having
lost my brother due to his angst, dysfunction, and inability to deal with his adoption…
all of which lead to family violence, my mother’s death, and his eventual suicide.
(I’ve written many a post regarding my troubled childhood in our
very dysfunctional family so now is not the time for all of that)
So along with the holes to my past, questions have always loomed large regarding
my health and that of my son’s and now that of my grandchildren…
I do know that my birth mother hid her pregnancy, moving to a city far removed
from family and friends.
She sought no prenatal care despite being a nurse.
She delivered her baby (me), a bit prematurely, and shortly following the delivery,
walked out of the hospital.
Later, the young adopted me struggled academically throughout school.
Those who read my posts often note my typos and mild dyslexia with certain words.
I was never diagnosed but I always knew something just wasn’t right.
Yet I persevered, I worked hard and yet I never felt any sort of peace of success
or accomplishment.
I imagine my son’s lifelong struggles with ADD, a Learning Disability, as well as Dyslexia,
are rooted somewhere in my own unknown genetic make-up.
He was diagnosed in both Kindergarten and 1st grade—early enough for us to seek help—
allowing him to work toward success.
He worked, struggled and persevered— doing more with his life now by age 30 than
many of his teachers ever imagined he would or could.
There have been medical struggles as well for both of us.
Discoveries that have come mostly by happenstance.
My thyroid disorder—Hashimoto’s Disease…which was discovered by routine bloodwork.
Migraines since I was 12.
IBS, as well, since I was 12, that was pegged as simply a “nervous” stomach.
Despite my realizing it, I even struggled with infertility.
We had our son 5 years into our marriage yet we never had another child…
it was something that just never happened.
Due to health issues, I had to have a hysterectomy at age 35—
doctors told me then that they didn’t know how we had actually ever conceived our son
let alone the likelihood that we never would have been able to conceive again.
It was after another routine blood test that I was recently diagnosed as a
hemochromatosis carrier—
a carrier of Hemochromatosis Metabolic Disorder who has bouts with Reynaud’s Syndrome.
Something passed on to my son and possibly
my grandchildren.
All of which points to some sort of autoimmune issues as the list of discoveries
continues to grow.
Knowledge is a powerful tool—especially when dealing with one’s medical history.
A tool I want for my son and his children…a tool I’ve never had.
So as my husband and I both worry about what we don’t know…
what we don’t know that could affect our son and his health and now the health of his
children, our grandchildren…I therefore finally made my decision.
Rather than reaching out to the Georgia Adoption Reunion Registry,
paying a fee for some sort of search with a potential meeting, or perhaps worse,
a denial of any sort of meeting…should anyone still be living…
I opted for a more broad source of information…albeit actually a bit detached…
A benign pie chart of heritage and a litany of genetic health information.
I ordered the tests from both 23 and Me as well as Ancestry.
I spit in the collection tubes, sealed everything up and shipped them off.
And so now we wait.
In the meantime, upon learning of my offering up a little spit, aka DNA,
my son was actually more reserved rather than excited.
“Mother you have just put the family’s DNA out there for every Governmental
agency to access…”
However, my word to him has been… stay on the up and up and it’s all good.
And I suspect once we learn our true course of both past and future…
he’ll be a bit more curious.
But what does my adoption issues have to do with my worries over third term abortions
and of those who are thinking that such actions would be a good choice to offer…
It is the very fact that I was not aborted.
It also runs counter to my Christian faith.
Despite my biological mother’s obvious angst and crushing strain that she was
to then live with…
she still opted to give me life…despite this heavy burden carried alone.
She afforded me the gift of life…the gift of loving and being loved…
The eventual gift of my precious granddaughter and soon-to-be grandson.
Relationships and connections that may never have been…
And for that, I am grateful.
So the other evening while I was doing the dishes I heard Fox New Host Martha McCallum
talking about the latest state who was showing interest over third term abortions.
I put down the dishes, turned off the water at the sink, grabbed a dishtowel while
drying my hands as I raced into the den to hear her story.
She was interviewing a young man named Daniel Ritchie.
Ritchie was born without arms and has become an outspoken opponent to the
idea of abortion, especially third-term abortions.
His was a birth of extreme alarm.
He was delivered without arms and without actual vital signs.
It appeared he would not probably survive and since there was such deformity,
the doctors began explaining to his parents that to just let him “go” would be best.
But his parents, to the surprise of doctors, did not think such a decision was wise nor right and
thus encouraged the doctors to do their best to revive their son—of which they did.
Man might think he knows what is best based on clinical observations and deductions…
however, none of us can tell the future with any real certainty.
Our hypotheses of life can be, more or less, whittled down to nothing more than a 50 50 crapshoot.
Ritchie shared with Martha his challenges growing up learning to do everything with
his feet rather than what others were doing with their hands and arms.
But Daniel told Martha that it was at age 15, that pivotal age in adolescents,
that the real turning point in his life arrived…he accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.
The choice to live with bitterness over a life of challenge, difficulty, stares, and rejection
or the choice to choose something bigger and greater than self…to seek a life even greater
then what he currently knew.
Daniel came to understand that God had a plan…
a bigger plan than he could have ever imagined.
A plan that would never have been had his parents opted to follow the doctor’s
suggestion in that delivery room that fateful day…
the medical suggestion to allow their newly born son,
a son without arms, to die.
Remember—God affords man choice…
A choice to allow a baby to live or a baby to die…
Despite our smug arrogance, man’s earthly vision is limited—
what we see as a burden, hardship or hindrance often has far-reaching and
unseen reverberations—
reverberations that have the potential to change the lives of those we have yet to meet.
Hear and read Daniel’s amazing story.
Meet his wife and children…and hear his testimony to God’s amazing Glory.
The choice to spit or not to spit pales in compariosn to the choice to live or not live…
When we sin, we think we are geniuses;
when we confess, we know we are idiots.
Adreinne Von Speyr
from Lumina and New Lumina
(the Mayor attempts to drive herself donning her latest French driving barret /
Julie Cook / 2018)
As I’ve eluded these last past couple of days, I have a great deal I want to share…
For there has been so much gleaned during the past 18 days…
so many observations, so many revelations… but…as life would have it…
my desire for extensive sharing will have to wait just a bit longer.
I’ve been called into active duty…
The Mayor is requiring that her chief aide come to the Atlanta office for a few days
as her mom and dad’s work schedules this week will override the
daycare’s morning hours.
So the chief aide is having to pinch hit.
With that said, the offerings over the bulk of this coming week may be shorter
and sweeter rather than meatier and savory.
Therefore the offerings of thought and observations will have to suffice with a few thoughtful nuggets…little tasty morsels offered in order to tie us over until
time permits for further and more filling expansions…
“Your work—whether it is a chore around the house, a homework assignment,
a sports practice, or a job with an office and a paycheck—isn’t just a means to an economic end.
Nor is it something you need to ‘get over with’ in time for the weekend.
It is an essential part of your sanctification, a share in the divine brotherhood of Christ,
and a means of discovering your true self.
So the next time you are inclined to grumble about how much work you have to do,
try to remember that even this is an honor because it has been redeemed by Jesus.
If it was good enough for Him, it should be good enough for you.”
Fr. Augustine Wetta, OSB
from Humility Rules
And in the end
The love you take
Is equal to the love
You make
lyrics from In The End
The Beatles
(statue of the sacred heart of Jesus, Kylemore Abbey / Connemara, County Galway, Ireland/
Julie Cook / 2015)
Surely it’s time for a new story, a new thought, a new distraction in this land
of the distractable??!!
Yet Wedding Gate 2018 just keeps on keeping on.
And so I find myself needing to share one more observation and one more offering
offered by those wiser than myself…
Now I totally understand that most folks are more than ready to move on and away from
the chatter over this past weekend’s big wedding…as well as away from the chatter that
continues to reverberate over the guest speaker at said wedding.
Chatter that is causing a new rift within the Chrisitan community.
The 2 billion folks, yes you read the number correctly…of which is according to the networks,
who tuned in and watched said wedding, for the majority, seem to be totally enamored
with the sermon offered by the guest speaker Episcopal Bishop Michael Curry.
The bishop has been catapulted to the forefront and is now the darling poster child for
all things progressive and cultural.
And I suppose that should be only fitting as he is the leading voice behind the
promotion of Gay marriage within the Episcopal Chruch.
And now many folks, most folks it sadly seems, don’t understand why there is any sort
of controversy, brouhaha or criticism over Bishop Curry’s speech because who in their right
mind can or would criticize the concept of love?
Because that’s what the speech was about right?
Love?
And isn’t a wedding the perfect place to talk about love?
So whereas I’m indeed ready to move on as well, I’m opting to linger ever so slightly because,
as you see, the speaker and the cleric presiding over the wedding, the Archbishop of Canturbury,
just happen to each be cogs in the wheel of a Christian denomination in which I grew up.
The Anglican Communion and The Episcopal Chruch is where I was raised and where I came to
know Jesus as both Lord and Savior.
Times, however, have greatly changed since those early days of my youth.
And I would not be doing justice to those Anglicans and Episcoplains out there who
continue in the orthodox tradition of faith, just as I do, clinging to the knowledge
that God’s word is just that…God’s word.
I would not be doing justice to those who continue to cleave to that Word of God’s own
spoken Truth.
It would not be justice to those who choose not to condone the rewriting of scripture and
now the promotion of that rewritten scripture…
A new scripture that is being touted as the new age Chrisitan mantra…
that being simply put, Love is love.
And that notion of love is all one needs.
And if that’s love is between a man and woman, great.
If that’s love between two men, great.
If that’s love between two women, great.
If that’s simply a love of self, great.
Because love covers a multitude of sins we’ve always been told.
And so what if the Bible said love between one man and one woman???
We’ll just rewrite that to make things more applicable and current.
So what if the Bible says to beware of a love of self…
don’t we want to love ourselves??
And so as Bishop Curry was proclaiming love for love’s sake, he proceeded called up those
immortal words of John Lennon.
Maybe because he was in England, maybe because Lennon’s words seem more timely than not.
Imagine.
Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today… Aha-ah…
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…
You…
Throw love in that mix and love becomes the newest culture god.
Yet what everyone seems to be missing is that this love, this romantic, erotic
love that Bishop Curry spoke of is a far cry from God’s love.
Bishop Curry speaks of a narcissistic and egocentric love.
A love that is not grounded in the Blood of the Lamb despite throwing out the name of Jesus
for good measure.
This is not the love of utter sacrifice.
But who these days wants to hear of sacrifice?
And so our dear rogue cleric Bishop Gavin Ashenden offers a wonderful observation of his own
over what basically boils down to a tale of heresy 101.
Bishop Ashenden cautions that we need to be able to use the repentance test when listening
to a speech such as Bishop Curry’s.
Is there talk of the need of repentance?
Or of the fact that God’s judgment is real and that the consequence of not repenting,
with that being hell, is also very real.
Did we hear any of that?
No, we didn’t hear about that.
We didn’t hear about when the fires of romantic and erotic love fade leaving people standing around
just looking at one another, somewhat bored and wondering what’s next.
Did we hear about the dire need of ours to be saved?
Saved by the blood of Jesus Christ?
No, we didn’t hear about that either.
We didn’t hear about the devil being real and that he battles for each of our souls.
We didn’t hear about the cross and the cost on that cross.
No we didn’t hear about that.
Rather we heard about love, sex, attraction, open arms, acceptance and more love.
Because isn’t love all we need??
And so I leave you with the latest clip from Anglican Unscripted, as well as two posts
written by our friend the Wee Flea, Pastor David Robertson.
Both of these men heard, or perhaps didn’t hear is more appropriate those same things I didn’t hear.
And I for one am glad that each man is voicing concern over what was missing and why this sudden
hysteria over Bishop Curry is a very dangerous thought for all of us, Chrisitans as well as non believers.
For it is indeed heresy 101
The good news of Jesus Christ…that is what we need in the end
“Let me stress the importance of this another way.
The cameras lingered a lot on the Clooneys, Oprah and the Beckhams.
What struck me was the haunted, sad and lonely look on Victoria Beckham’s face.
I have no idea what was going on – but I know this.
Whatever the problem, the cure is the good news of Jesus Christ.
It’s such a shame that she did not hear it.”
David Robertson
“It is also a warning. It is a warning that, if nobody reads the writing on the wall,
man will be reduced to the state of the beast, whom he is shaming by his manners.”
Mahatma Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments With Truth
(as seen on the blog Writing’s From The Raven’s Desk)
Yesterday I offered a post more or less from an observational standpoint.
I had read an email post by the Presbyterian Free Chruch Scottish Pastor David Robertson
on his take on the Episcopal Chruch of Australia versus the Scottish Episcopal Chruch.
An email posting that oddly was MIA from his blog.
Obviously, it’s an odd Juxtaposition but he’s on sabbatical in Australia and has spoken to
and with a good many Episcopal groups while traveling about.
He’s learning a thing or two about a splintering church.
It is becoming apparent that the writing is clearly on the wall.
Other’s have seen it.
Bishop Gavin Ashenden for one.
David has also seen the writing on the wall for the SEC back home in Dundee.
I saw the writing on the wall years ago here in the US.
Yet it was two comments I received yesterday from two different friends and sisters in
Christ that really brought all of this into focus.
It can be a most dismal story when one is sounding the clarion call…
That whole ‘woe to you’ clanging coming from the mouths of the likes of the Jeremiahs and Johns
amongst us…
The world is not receptive.
Nobody seems to like hearing, nor being reminded of, the seemingly negative and killjoy
mantra to “repent, the end is near” nonsense.
And yet is that not what we are actually seeing and hearing from those lone
voices out there?
Voices that the majority shun but voices we so desperately need to hear?
Voices like David’s and Gavin’s…
Men who are now being threatened, set apart and scorned…?
Both Kathy and Shara brought this point home with steely percision.
Firstly Kathy (atimetoshare.me) said:
Homosexuality, same-sex marriage, gender alteration,
believing only certain parts of the Bible are true,
looking at the ten commandments as the ten suggestions, chastity,
waiting until marriage to have sex, sex outside of marriage,
the sanctity of life on both ends of the spectrum, altering the Bible to fit the times,
not looking at sin as a problem – all parts of what’s going on in the church today.
We have taken tolerance to a whole new level and it has infiltrated our churches as
well as our lives.
The devil must be jumping for joy.
His insidious nature has weaseled its way into every aspect of society,
gnawing away at it bit by bit until it becomes unrecognizable.
I pray that the end is coming soon.
Fascinating and sad…was reading yesterday that people say
Christianity is shrinking, but it’s actually being more clearly defined.
Interesting post friend!
And it has been that very fact that…the fact that we aren’t necessarily seeing
some sort of death knell for Christianity…
though denominations are beginning to morph into the unrecognizable as they depart
and fall from God’s word…
but rather we are seeing Christianity being polished and honed
a Christianity that is simply being refined and more sharply keenly defined…
The furnace is heating up as God works on the faithful, refining and preparing us for what
is to come…
“The glory of a good person is the evidence of a good conscience.
Have a good conscience and you will always be happy.
A good conscience can bear a great deal and still remain serene in the midst of adversity,
while a bad conscience is fearful and easily ruffled.
Only be glad when you have done well.
Evil persons are never really happy, nor do they feel peace within them;
for ‘there is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord’ (Isa. 48:22).
Even though the wicked may protest that peace is theirs and that no evil shall harm them,
do not believe them. For God’s wrath will suddenly overtake them,
and all they have done will be brought to nothing and their plans destroyed.”
Thomas á Kempis,
The Imitation of Christ p.76
It is Christmas every time you let God love others through you.
Mother Teresa
(image courtesy the web)
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields,
keeping watch over their flock by night.
Then an angel of the Lord stood before them,
and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—-
I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people:
to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,
who is the Messiah,the Lord.
This will be a sign for you:
you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host,
praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds
said to one another,
“Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place,
which the Lord has made known to us.”
So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph,
and the child lying in the manger.
When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child;
and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.
But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.
The shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen,
as it had been told them.
Luke 2:8-20
Imagine yourself a rather lonely shepherd sitting watch throughout a long dark night.
Your livelihood is your herd of sheep.
It’s how you make money.
It’s how you care for your family.
It’s how you feed your family.
As your sheep’s existence depends upon you and your existence depends
upon your sheep.
During the passover,
you sell your sheep, the young lambs, to those who want to offer sacrifices for
their faith.
Your sheep are important to you as they are important to the faithful.
You lead the sheep to fertile fields for feeding, you sheer them when its time,
you keep count of the ewes, rams and lambs and you watch out for any predators.
Sheep need tending to—they are considered to be defenseless animals as well as
not very bright or smart.
They eat, sit, stand, sleep…. and they run.
They run if they sense trouble—that’s about the extent of their defenses.
They do not take a stand.
They will not fight to the death.
And they don’t always run far or totally out of harm’s way.
They will scatter, not knowing how to find their way back to the herd.
A lone sheep is a defenseless sheep.
Their adversary is more stealthy, faster and more determined and knows how
to disperse a herd.
So sheep need a shepherd.
They need an overseer.
And thus the shepherd keeps watch, both day and night.
Yet it is in the night that the shepherd must be more keen to watch because
predators prefer to do their hunting in the dark of night.
There are only a few out this night, watching.
Most likely it is you and a few relatives, as this has been how your family has made a living since you grandfather’s father and his father before him made their way.
Maybe tonight it’s just you and your brother-n-law, or maybe it’s an uncle and a cousin
who have joined you during this dark lonely night.
Each of you pull the woolen blankets tighter around your shoulders because the air is
more chilly then usual.
The herd seems a bit agitated.
Do they smell a predator?
Have they heard something edging its way closer?
The moon is not full yet the night sky is oddly bright.
You scan the sprawling and now eerily lit field, looking for any sort of movement.
Looking upward into the inky night sky, you notice a single star casting an
unusual intense direct light.
Are your eyes playing tricks or is the night slowly becoming more like day?
Looking toward to where the light is cast, you can actually make out the far-off
silhouette of Bethlehem—because the star seems to be directly over and actually illuminating the sleepy little quiet town.
You call your kinsmen to come close.
What do they make of the oddly lit sky.
What do they know of Bethlehem.
This town which bore the King David.
And just when you are pondering the oddity of this particular bright star, you are
suddenly aware that you are no longer alone.
It’s no longer just you, your relatives and the sheep on this lonely chilly night.
There is a multitude of beings you have never seen before.
Before you have time to even focus on what you are witnessing, they speak.
“Fear not” they say….
as you suddenly realize you actually have no fear.
They speak with authority and they explain the reason for the star.
They explain good news.
They explain a birth.
They explain salvation.
and not some sort of generic salvation, but….
your salvation.
In that your salvation has just been born and is to be tangibly found—
lying directly underneath the light from the very star that you had
noticed shining over the far distanced town of Bethlehem…..
Oddly you don’t feel the need to decipher or discern…you don’t feel confused or
disoriented.
You are neither overwhelmed or dismayed—rather you are fully alert and
in the minute…the only thing you feel is now a sense of urgency to go to
see this newly born “Salvation”….
As it is now to this star that you know you must now go….
And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.
Daniel 12:3
“The Righteous Among the Nations, honored by Yad Vashem,
are non-Jews who took great risks to save Jews during the Holocaust.
Rescue took many forms and the Righteous came from different nations,
religions and walks of life.
What they had in common was that they protected their Jewish neighbors
at a time when hostility and indifference prevailed.”
Yad Vashem-The World Holocaust Remembrance Center
(96 year old Tibor Biranaski / The Buffalo News / one so honored as Righteous among the Nations )
This time of year there seems to be an overt abundance of stuff and fluff
blanketing our lives.
For we are a people now consumed with all things holiday—
and with what all that entails.
Whether we participate in the madness or not…it doesn’t matter…
because everyone is affected to some level or other and in some capacity or another…
Be it traffic, crowds, travel delays, deadlines, timelines,
weather mishaps, shopping, cooking…there is simply a heightened sense of urgency
racing throughout this month of December.
So when a tiny shining ray of light pierces the chaos, we stop dead in our tracks,
staring as we take notice of this out of place phenomena.
I caught the latest offering by our favorite Wee Flea…his latest mixed bag
of stories highlighting a variety of events and observations–some good, some bad…
with one small story catching my eye.
Saving the Jews –
Tibir Biranaski, was a 22-year-old trainee priest in Budapest who stopped over
3,000 Jews being deported to Auschwitz in 1944.
This lovely video from Channel 4 News shows the 96 year old testifying
to why he did it.
“The Jews were persecuted. I’m a Christian and God created man for freedom.
Everything that is against freedom is devilish”
I clicked the link taking me to a Channel 4 News Facebook video clip featuring a breif
tale of Mr. Biranaski. (link included in the Wee Flea link)
I dug further.
I found a newspaper story about Mr Biranaski’s tale. (link also provided below)
As this is the season of gift giving, we are indeed now given a small gift.
A most timely gift.
A most needed gift.
A single reminder and example of one human being offering himself selflessly
for his fellow human beings.
A story we don’t see or hear much about as such stories are drowned out by the
never-ending din of cultural madness.
A young Catholic priest in training, with great risk to self, worked to keep
3000 Jews from certain death.
How sobering it was stopping long enough to watch the video clip.
How perspective changing to read the Buffalo News story about this now
96 year old man…a former seminarian, husband, father, grandfather, and “savior” to
3000 jews.
And yet his story, those countless stories, now grow only fainter and father away
with each and every passing day as the members of that “greatest” generation…
be they Americans or not, are leaving us at an ever increasing rate.
The irony that such a story surfaces now as thoughts are turning towards a
tiny Jewish family wandering their way toward Bethlehem, is not lost on me or
on my sense of wonder.
“The Islamic State’s genocide of Christians in the Middle East is well
documented. Yet this modern atrocity is often judged less newsworthy than the
jihadists’ destruction of the region’s cultural heritage. What are the roots
and human realities of this unfolding tragedy in the birthplace of three
great religions?”
back cover offering of the book The Last Christians by Fr Andreas Knapp
(one of our trees in last week’s snow / Julie Cook / 2017)
Speaking of books arriving via the post….
another bookmailer showed up in my mailbox yesterday…
Dare I say that this most recent book will take us in a vastly different
direction than the children’s book seen in yesterday’s post If My Moon Was Your Sun by Andreas Steinhofel….
Not to say that there won’t be both poignancy, sorrow and loss…
but such will be on a scale that will touch all of us rather than some of us….
This recent book does not look to be an easy read.
Not that there should be great burdensome amount of academic depth but rather simply
the hard tale of human loss and suffering on an epic and historic proportion….
and yet mostly on an overlooked and even ignored level.
Of which is actually most perplexing given the significance of the situation.
The book is entitled The Last Christians by Andreas Knapp
“For a long time Christians in the Middle East have been condemned to silence.
For centuries they have been discriminated against by a predominantly Muslim
society and, as a minority, they have been forced to quietly accept
injustice and lead an inconspicuous life in the shadows.
Even I, a preist and theologian, was for a long time unaware of the moving story
of Christians in Syria and Iraq.
Two years ago, I met some Christians from the Middle East who now live in my
neighborhood of Grunau, in Leipzig, Germany. Having listened to their stories,
I was so moved I had to write them down.
They may not be entirely politically correct, but they are correct in
the sense that they are authentic.”
Fr Andrea Knapp
It is noted from the publisher that “remarkably, though these last Christians hold
no hope of ever returning to their homes, they also harbor no thirst for revenge.
Could it be that they–along with the Christians of the West, whose interest will
determine their fate–hold the key to breaking the cycle of violence in the region?
Their’s is a story that I have actually written about before…
around the same time Fr Knapp, the German priest,
came to see with his own eyes, then came to write down his interactions
and observations…
but yet this is a story that is still exceedingly timely and necessary to hear.
My origianal post is from March of 2015 and is more informative
than what is offered here today…as it includes a 60 Minutes segment in which
Lara Logan had also gone to visit the region in order to see and hear
first hand the plight of this particular group of ancient Christians.
The post offers images and insight into the barbarism used by ISIS to systematically annihilate this last vestige of the original Christians who have existed in this
region since both the death and resurrection of Christ.
Regarding the book…I have not yet had a chance to delve into it…
but from what I have gleaned from the tantalizing tidbits…
this will be not only a very important tale to Christians but also a hugely important
story for historians, Jews as well as Muslims…as it actually determines the course
of humanity.
And perhaps ironically today, as I was thinking about these first Christians who are
lined up to be the last of their kind, I caught a very brief, like all of 2 minute,
video clip of an interview of sorts given by the Reformed Presbyterian Minister David Robertson—
a clip where he is responding to the question of ‘How does the existence of Evil undermine the atheistic worldview?
Pastor Robertson notes that in the mind of an atheist, the existence of Evil
is a clear sign that there is no God.
As they will rationalize that if there was a God,
He would in turn be all powerful and therefore He could and would prevent all Evil….
So since there is Evil, there is obviously no God.
Yet on the flip side of all of that is how then does the atheist define Evil
with no moral absolutes?
If there are no rules, no judgements, no afterlife, no God, no way of resolving
or dealing with Evil, how does the atheist actually deal with the concept of
evil in any sort of defining way.
The answer… He cannot.
So the non believer has a conundrum…with the mindset of ‘well, since there is no
God and Evil isn’t Evil, we might as well just live it up….
This as humankind wrestles with what to do about the historic and epic genocides…atrocities which have taken place throughout all of time.
And so you are now asking as to why I would write about such during this time of
Advent—a time of all things full of Expectancy, Anticipation and Christmas…
a time that is to be of softness, love and dare we say, hope…
Why should we worry ourselves over the ugliness of reality as those are problems
not on our particular or given radar—things that are happening over there some
place and out of sight.
Why write about the annihilation of Aramaic Christians, atheists and their fight for disbelief and the very concept of Evil….
‘Please not here, not now, not at Christmas…’ we are each heard to lament.
Well it actually is because it is Advent and the Christmas season that we should be
and need to be most mindful of such….
As those of us who confess to be Believers must not find ourselves falling
into the hole of secularism and the Societal notion of Christmas…
of which we have done.
This secular celebration of all things Christmas that is currently in all
its full glory and regalia is lulling us into a time of contented ignorant bliss.
And just as I reminded us in Tuesday’s Meat and Potatoes post….
this time of year is particularly very loud and very noisy…for a reason…
Do you not think that there is one who delights in the pure distraction
from what is to be our Truth?
Advent….
yes…
be ready,
be watching,
be waiting…
for there are epic things taking place all the while as we busy ourself with
the minutia of the moment while missing the importance of the day…
How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!
You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.
Isaiah 14:12-15
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