The beast introduces a plain demand, not a disguised regime of new legal tender, mandatory vaccines or world government. Guess who has been rejecting United Nations resolutions, hides behind the veto power, and has had martial law against Black people disguised as law and order and dares to call it a package of Judeo-Christian principles?
Just imagine! The police want to investigate the police. How many times have we said no to that unfortunate practice? Enough. Now that the world – really more people than ever before – can see that the police, their commanders, their unions, and the elected officials that say that the safety of the nations depend on the police and military. That is certainly not a Christian or Jewish view. Let us not forget that a city’s defence is the protection of lives and the right to life. The video evidence over the last few decades is clear. The long history of the intimidation of Black people and the widespread lynching by White mobs, often with the assistance of “lawmen” is also incontrovertible. Neither the White House, the department of justice, nor the police agencies can be the agent of change. The current head of the DOJ is a man dedicated to covering up the misdeeds of the president. Those parties have no sudden conversion. There are other opinions and conclusions arising out of the current awareness of the effect of police brutality and the lack of consequence for bad behaviour. The opinion or conviction that is going to be shredded on sight is the one that says a thriving society needs laws. We say “Show us the nation that has built – not merely talked about – a refuge for the poor and oppressed while amassing great resources and influence”.
It makes little sense to believe that a nation is going to allow its young people to plug in the coordinates for the nation’s trip into its most recognizable destiny. We understand that America (or any other nation) does nor have a constitution that merely describes where the nation is. Invariably, a constitution sets out a road map towards ideals. That is a huge problem for the MAGA mantra. When was she great?
All of the known barriers erected by lawmakers, all the partners contracted to deny people their human rights, the huge industry of crime and punishment, can only be reversed by striking the laws that enable these inhumane practices to destroy life and hope. Do not believe the prophets of positivity. Of course the church will thrive. We are always improving what we do by what we discover in Scripture. Makeovers are the hardest things for humans. Get this dig from Jeremiah.
Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.
Jer. 13:23
It is baby food – like milk and honey – that reconditions the adult mind to distinguish good from evil. Peter urges believers in Christ to be eager to partake of the nourishing milk (1 Peter 2:2) that the word of contains. We have to say “contains” because some of our consumption includes hard or adult food (Hebrews 5:12).
He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.
Isa. 7:15
A makeover scares the proud, those dug in to their traditions, and especially those who love to think of themselves as the head. The new dimensions of Yahweh’s plans were not going to get into bed with the levitical system or with the prophets. Messiah does not need a temple to deliver his grace to the world. The temple served to highlight wickedness in high places and to signal the end of the system that it served. “Ready, set” to many in John’s audience meant one revival or other of some Mosaic or patriarchal practice. They knew that the prophetic age had come crashing down when John said “Time’s up!” Those who knew what the Scriptures said about David’s throne or the priesthood and what they had observed for three years consistently was a far cry from temple practices. What kind of evidence can convince us today that a new civic order is on the horizon? In the face of ongoing brutality, magnified deception, and wickedness in the relevant high places
Some observers of civic society believe that a marriage of some sort is to be expected between God’s church and the state. The day the people say “no more” to government treating the church as an arm of its policies is a day of awakening just as when John the Baptist appeared. When the church wishes we did not speak the truth about injustice and deceit she will show herself in bed with corrupt ideologies and worldviews, and she will show herself in the dark and be left behind.
Government in our days have infiltrated the church with wholly unsanctified people and we let it happen not recognizing the hand of the adversary. The American experiment is about to be exposed as a massive lie. That great constitution is worth nothing. It is a suicidal nightmare of a dance between people and authority, between free speech and words of life. That great document has been used to silence, disenfranchise, pervert justice and kill. People are saying “enough”.
The modern church conforms without acknowledging it to the devil’s dictates when she agrees to every government dictate. “The opinions expressed in the following program are…” is evidence of the corporate world view of our faith as questionable. That’s where we are today: trying desperately to imitate Israel’s institutions and practices. It is no secret that thousands of our leaders across the globe could not tell you anything in its four dimensions.
Ephesians 3:18
may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
All the saints experience it – a complete grasp – but the torture chamber wants them to spend the rest of their lives chasing down foolish dreams and someone’s idea of success. “More than conqueror” does not meet their standards. When Christ says “Be perfect” are we like the stars in their courses or like the horse that needs a bit?
Some leaders can identify what they see. The circus is expected to vanish. If the gospel only transforms people for life in the coming glory we are just persons in a limited sense. What will the clowns do when the popular evangelical circus is seen for what it is? Will they keep grovelling in the foothills where Caesar and Christ inevitably meet? See this new refreshing message from the pulpit (below).
We are watching you, Canadian bigots and law and order proponents. Church and state are often heard trumpeting the effectiveness and undisputed superiority of law. We are watching and waiting for you to start killing your gluttonous kids, stone your neighbours for working on Saturday, ban peoples movements because of their diet and ritual or physical fitness.
My eyes have seen racism and “knees on necks” in churches, unions, police services, up front. Even organizations dedicated to caring for people at risk are swimming in the ocean of fear and disrespect. All Canadians can relate to a certain level of tolerance: witness Quebecois referenda on separation and recent western provinces threatening the rest of us with going their own way.
We are not blind either to the denials by republics that say their constitution has God’s fingerprint. We are laughing along with our God, because as long as there is malicious discrimination against gender, skin, hair, clothing, foreigners, women and children we are denying our breakfast and showing how shallow our pond is.
Does MP Andrew Scheer, who keeps pushing for the RCMP to investigate everything, not understand what can happen when police show up?
Responses to the wounded
Luke 10:31-32
31. And by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32. Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
With the best set of statutes and judgments in hand the levitical system morphed into an insentitive and oppressive economy. We know they were not committed to the forgiveness of sin nor in the primary functions of the tabernacle/temple, namely God’s residence among his people and his communication with them.
And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a robbers’ den.”
Matthew 23:2
The western governments have put every resource into maintaining a facade of responsibility and thoughtfulness, but only the bewitched believe it.
The empires we have lived under are patterned after – to some extent – the Mosaic legacy. Britain and the United States are poor examples of Christian virtues. Just try finding a cruciform body of law anywhere on the planet.
Matthew 23:38
Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!
It may seem strange that the church resembles a tent as residence or meeting place, but she is the house of God (all of us who have trusted God for salvation). She is not sanctuary: neither miqdash nor mishkan. The way we conduct the heavenly Father’s business is in way too many instances a circus of entertainment and mind manipulation. “Jesus loves me” is not defence of the faith. The activities under the big tent will continue to be can-do searches and loveless banks until we learn to defend the faith-once-delivered.
I’m sure you have heard a message from a Christian leader peppered with hallelijah and glossolalia. You are also familiar with men and women in the pulpit whooping and hollering, jumping up and down, and saying nothing that touches the grand mission of the Saviour nor our missions as stewards of the salvation mystery.
God’s choices, like his ways, buck the human trend. When given the authority to choose humans created the misery of the current age.
I began my due diligence by asking questions in the last church where I had a membership. My questions were simple. Usually they took the form “Where does the Bible say what you just read [or said]?” By the time I got to college to study pastoral ministry I was sure that even a church with impressive credentials can be anything but truth’s pillar and ground. I learned to read and listen. Reading the Bible in its original languages has no substitute. I do not mean being able to say the words. I mean understanding the writers’ intention. I only struggle to connect what I read with life as it is today. I do not guess or depend on commentaries, by anyone. The Holy Spirit is not involved in making connections without Messianic hooks.
1 Timothy 3:15b
… know how you ought to conduct yourself in God’s house, which is the church of the living God, truth’s pillar and ground.
Behave yourself in the light of the incontrovertible
Decisions about right and wrong are regularly entrusted to people with a bias against faith. Around the time of Christ’s birth there was no shortage of lipservice to law and tradition. While a few individuals knew that the administration of the Levitocal system could not possibly be God’s idea of righteous judgment the majority was waiting in vain for God to execute justice.
Micah 6:8
He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?
If there was no heart capable of receiving the will of God as it appeared in the terms of the Sinai covenant the situation in New Testament times was no better. The people knew that theft and violence permeated the temple operations, whether that is in the area of financing the sacrifices or in interpreting the Scriptures. if you really believe that Yeshua was dealing with people who misunderstood what the law said then we can believe too that he should have closed shop – not doing the Father’s business – on the Sabbath.
1 Chronicles 18:14
So David reigned over all Israel, and executed judgment and justice among all his people.
They loved the law but had no peace. They loved being called “seed of Abraham” but rejected him as the standard-bearer for the human race. The wise became foolish: they kicked Abraham to the curb by not emulating his trust in God, and they traded Moses for a golden calf, and for all the centuries down to the coming of the Christ, no one complied with the covenant.
Zephaniah 3:3
Her princes within her are roaring lions, Her judges are wolves at evening; They leave nothing for the morning.
This Zephaniah message could be a description of the Pharisees and elders of New Testament times. The greed and inhumanity is still there.
The reason God equips believers with a sound mind – this is not acquired wisdom or theological savvy – is to ensure that reliable decisions are always within reach. One does not have to read or hear Scripture to recognize injustice.
Zephaniah’s description of the leadership continues with terms that show how much had changed little had improved when our Lord evaluated
Zephaniah 3:4
Her prophets are reckless, treacherous men; Her priests have profaned the sanctuary. They have done violence to the law.
The will of God is written in two places: the Scriptures and the human heart. Contrary to popular opinion God does not put things into our hearts that cannot be tested by the Scriptures. Sorry my friend! It is not the law. That is for bad actors and kids. We have Christ within to move our minds to do God’s will and Scriptures to confirm that we are safe. Justice did not wait to open the graves of the ancients the moment Christ died. Why are we waiting to tell Herod or any other ravening wolf that we have his number. It is likely that Yeshua gave Herod nothing more than eye contact. Christians – leaders or not – hanging out with despots and bigoted scoundrels are waiting in vain. They need to wake up. Social justice matters.
Luke 23:9
Then he questioned with him in many words; but he answered him nothing.
Solidarity around inhumanity, a lying explanation and the denial of assistance to a man injured by “peace officers” is pure depravity.
Life is Fun, But Not a Joke 