Month: February 2022

Can a river not wet your feet?

eejoseph

For more than a few years now I have been wondering why the favourite verse for many Christians is John 3:16 when the majority know what the verse says, ignore its context, really do not care what the writer intended, and are more in love with themselves than with God others.  You cannot reason your way out of the plain truth that loving like God does has little to do with keeping the rules.  What rules is God subject to and where would that put absolute and perfect freedom?  In my very pleasant work of searching the Scriptures it was a joy to see that “so” in John 3:16 has nothing to do with the amount of love God has.    Even the revered Billy Graham fell for it, even though he remain totally sold on the Lord Christ as the only Saviour.  The UK’s two great universities, Oxford and Cambridge, settled for it, publishing in the 1960s a New Testament translation called the New English Bible, with John 3:16 saying “God loved the world so much…”.   The very point of Messiah’s mission is to declare that God loves sinners.  If God can love a little then we can all jump into a river and not get wet.

Certified knowledge and experience

I am not surprised that godliness is a childish perspective of being obedient (Galatians 3:21-23, 4:1-3). It takes an abundance of convincing for me to believe that people who think they have captured what love really looks like in a policy of law and righteousness, misogyny and xenophobia, injustice, prophetic bondage, and sheer ignorance.  People running around with their own explanations of God’s character (while having no certainty of salvation or God’s gifts) will say God loves them and hates the disobedient or infidel. Fortunately for believers the revelation pipeline does not include a ton of human speculation about God’s intentions. There are only four lanes on the highway to understanding God’s interventions.

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it (signified it having sent it) by His angel to His bond-servant John,”

Revelation of John 1:1, NASB

Follow the trail of Messianic revelation in John’s prophecy.

  • God gave the picture to Messiah Yeshua
  • Yeshua gave it to his angel (most appropriately, the Holy Spirit)
  • Certification and transmission follow
  • Through the angel (the messenger) gave to John

There are no ‘sides’ to the question of God’s love.  Reorienting our “loves” to mirror God’s does not call for us to die for the sins of the world, but it most certainly means that our love for people cannot be anything less. If we let anyone take the place of God in the transmission of his doctrine (how to live with other people) then it is certain that we have missed the transmission of his message (the good news).  The rumour that the centre of spiritual life and human accountability is something other than caring about others does not come from a flowing river, but from a stagnant pond where the water has lost its wetting ability.

Nazis and Terrorists Look for friends Canadian Streets

eejoseph

We are not intolerant for saying no to insurrection and holding cities and a nation hostage.  Sober people all over the world know the difference between a protest and a malicious mob.  It is good thing the Queen’s loyal opposition have shown us their preference when it comes to holding the line against chaos, and, in parliament, their readiness to listen. Taking parliamentary opposition to illegal and disruptive levels is about as low as military discipline can go, and profoundly disappointing for a citizenry that understands the price Canadians have paid resisting authoritarianism.

Using their children as shields?

The truth and our courage prevents Christians from seditious sentiment, and it is a rogue bishop who entertains poor rich heroes like the 45th US president, and I can hardly wait to hear the intellectual refuse spewing from their social media groups.

Surely there are better options for dialogue and solving problems.

A very big deal

eejoseph, ,

Why Christ is an unprecedented and inimitable big deal eludes even Christians.  Those who we think are Christian leaders – standard bearing and accountable – lare mostly something else, and quite unlike the apostles, not to mention the Nazarene himself.  The Christian buck, fortunately, stops with Christ. The race to the bottom features mere miracle talk, lots of books and comments, and it is not Christ who gets the highest praise.  Moses needed kings and priests to succeed him and make his message a success. By comparison Allah needs a human operative to make his message a success, while John the Baptist was pretty sure that God would make offspring out of stones if John’s contemporaries kept up their resistance to God’s instructions and promises. We believe that God’s appearance to Abram (Genesis 12:1, 17:2, 18:1) are not fiction. If we want to be permanently juveniles, always waiting to be told what to do, we can simply stay in line behind Moses or even our national and local governments. People telling us what to think and do is just fine if you want an entry level spiritual relationship and experience. The number of Christians who believe that righteousness and morality are both simply doing as we are told keeps growing. That there is no such thing as a successful religious nation is proven by God’s choices for world-ruling empires, as if he knew that these same powers would kick up dust long after they lost their influence. The successors of the Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman rulers are evidence that the mighty fall, and our human view, even the views of prophets, generals and mighty men hit the dirt.   That makes Christ the inimitable and absolute monarch of leaders.

Hello! Goodbye!

A lot of hot air is circulating about religion, religious rights, and especially how religion can fulfill the needs of civic government.  God allowed four non-religious governments to dominate the world, so where ever you dug up your religion from, please keep it out of my nation’s government.  Comparison is fascinating study, especially for theology students.  There was, a few years ago,  a rumour that a new and logical religious perspective was possible, provisionally named Chrislam.  That perspective and the rumour about a new ecumenical deal died because there is no global pattern for religious government.   An evaluation of the judicially-challenged powerbrokers of the twenty-first  century can only conclude that truth and its seekers have been replaced by phony monarchs, poor rich heroes, cruel vigilantes and crumbly opposition cutthroats.   The righteous nation dies in the womb.  In the rise of the somewhat popular religions we have the evidence that religion in government has never ended well for the governed, especially for women, children, foreigners and migrants.  Multi-faith statements and prayers are a feel-good but perforated bag that tends to turn grace and goodness into misleading and debauched gateways to more rebellion and endless revolution.  We live, work, and play with people of every description but we are not obliged to embrace their beliefs. 

More than a prophet

Prophets are talkers, often uninformed, unenlightened, prone to sink to the popular contemporary threads in opposition to decency.  Sometimes prophets are asked to play out their message, or to make their private lives a feature of the message they are commissioned to bring.  They are spokespersons.  They do not have to heal, repair, punish or comfort anyone.  It is sufficient that the nabi’ (Hebrew for prophet) says what God tells him.  Sooner or later prophets get laughed out of town by the home crowd.

Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household.”

Mark 6:4, NASB

Prophet going where no-one dares

Yeshua described the messenger who announced his arrival as “more than a prophet”.  This messenger is also evaluated as the greatest man to be born, and the messenger and his monarch showed absolutely no interest in the contemporary government aligning with the movements of kingdom of God.  The two are necessarily incompatible. Caesar and God are not equal “buddies” in governing the world.  There is a thin line between being a disciple and being an adversary (a satanas, a person who opposes or resists); and that line reveals the difference between what we can see – even after heaven smiles on us – and what is spiritual and eternal.  The person who is authorized to speak for God might as well buck the trend, trash the tradition because the tradition and the trend hand learned how to not bend towards the guarantors of their success: the children.

21) From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. 22) Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” 23) But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

Matthew 16:21-23, NASB

We are a stunted society because kids and parents mutually scorn each other’s choices sufficiently to part ways

Mediation perfection towards peace

If you have wondered or worried why, after two world wars, after countless tribal and territorial conflicts, the deadly competition and bloodletting continues, you might try finding a nation or people demonstrating a meaningful commitment to the brotherhood of all humans.  The American people are not alone,  struggling to explain the distance they have covered towards a peaceful and prosperous society.  Try finding a governor, mayor, local elder who is willing to affirm the value of common human principles  ahead of his people’s self-interest.  Millions of people will never see a conflict-free decade, never choose their local or national leader, never go out on the street without the fear of being assaulted by someone who thinks you do not belong.  “Money can’t buy you love” goes the song, and more than a few believe that money was going to buy the nations peace.  The peace is largely denied in places where it is explicitly promised.   We do not know whether the UN will be able to monitor and indict, for example,  the predation and bigory, the genocidal social policies  that are shaping realities of our time, both in living colour and the virtual.  A peace won by killing one’s neighbours is a poor foundation for a sustainable society.

So where are the dream-weavers, the deal makers, the philosophers, all the wiz-kids, the wheelers and dealers of academia and commerce?   If they had what it takes to help humanity arrest the terrors of kings, generals, mighty men,  tanks and  high-flying missiles they would have used it.  Imagine though the standing ovation for the leader on the word scene who offers a plausible priority roadmap for feeding the hungry, calming the seas of strife!  Even if his plan is not really  viable that person will be called a “god”.  That is where today’s “more than a prophet” personality is going to come from.  A fabulous personality like this is bound to be a genuine mediator, expected to relate to both sides involved in any process by actually belonging to both sides.  That guy will be a quickly recognized fraud , because it is laughable that people imagine that the boss of all the prophets need a prophet, priest or king to make his benefits flow.  Our personal demonstration of accountability to the community where we live is not atonement.   It is a small drop in the ocean of salvation for all.

Prophets are not superhuman

Let me conclude with an overview of the religious movements that have risen since the Galilean and his disciples operated as heaven’s witnesses in the early first century. Against the backdrop of Moses and John the Baptist there is no human authority and when Moses himself sought God’s mind on the rights of women to inherit and hold property and gets told that they absolutely do, we know that sects (no negative significance intended) that have risen without a superhuman figure are wisps of smoke in the air. Whether they are in Asia, the Middle East, Europe or North America, they all take their cues from a prophetic figure, sometimes a learned figure. Even when the recognized figure is clearly uncharismatic or unread people follow with one eye closed. Prophets are not a replacement for God’s voice. Let us be convinced that the God who spoke to Abraham spoke to David; the God who spoke to Martin Luther speaks to all Christians, and wants to speak with us. Furthermore, the prophets of old were notably not experienced in the things they predicted or modeled, so this generation needs to hear directly from God, bypassing human opinions and dreams at the critical junctures. Calling people to follow and revere a prophet is profoundly misguided. People need a bigger deal deal than a prophet or a thousand volume of commentary on what God wants.

7) Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 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?”

Micah 6:7-8, NASB

Let them listen to bigotry

eejoseph

Conservatives ought to apologize to Canadians for wanting a vicious and vile mob to dictate the nation’s future. I am not surprised that the loyal opposition failed to declare that we want nothing from Fascist, Nazis, and peddlers of disinformation. Absolutely nothing! Canada is a great land and state, despite the open shame of the founding father, the silence and treachery of successive generations of religious and law-enforcement authorities, but freedom of speech is not absolute, and Canadians may want to make jokes about women, ethnic groups, religious communities, but separatist sentiment, nazi-cuddling and insurrection-proneness are neither amusing nor Canadian. In the world of political prudence and judicial accountability there is no angry benevolent bigotry.

Send in the good citizens to trash the capital

I cannot think of a blueprint for civic society that involves prioritizing the interests of one group, and especially the homeborn, the rich and influential (that includes corporations, which are the next surprising deep dive in people-recognition). The lessons of history just do not seem to be of any interest to the next generation. “Me, me, me” will kill us. A capital city has a sacredness that should be common knowledge. At least the national monuments in Ottawa are clear enough. If you do not understand what has been important to Canadians perennially is honesty and service. Those two guarded treasures mark this flashpoint in continental history. The opposites, deception and domination, have been the pursuit of ancient and modern heads of state or government, prophets, cities, warriors and mercenaries. History’s flow allows a dustbin. A prime example is the fate of Capernaum. I should not need to elaborate about the related landmark careers of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, Great Britain and the United States.

“And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will be brought down to Hades!”

Luke 10:15, NASB

Whether Capernaum persists as a city in northern Israel or not is not the point. Capernaum is one of many locations on the plant that had the privilege of being the hometown of an extraordinary person, and did its best to disown him. Having heaven’s gaze or ranking above others (exalted to heaven) are not guarantees of stability. Some pretty awful things are happening in Capernaum today. In God’s justice scheme up can become down just as easily as down becomes up. This is why we should stop pretending that there are any political ideologies that are natural partners with the kingdom of God. So sorry, my intellectually astute fellow believers: the kingdom of the Lord Christ is not of this world. I suppose that even the documentation of the experiences Abraham, Moses, David, John, Peter, Melchisedec, Pharaoh, Saul, and Herod, are insufficient to dissuade the creation and deification of a less than cosmopolitan society. Honest love and service are to be recognized by all, but keeping an eye on the ball is equally important if anyone wants to be free from the tabloid environment and its downward slide. But guess who is ready to die, even for a great cause or a great guy? Nobody and all his kin. People are way more valuable.

America and the whole world may benefit from German ingenuity but who wants an affair with the architect of the Third Reich? Who wants to even pretend that a marriage with the manufacture and use of weapons of mass destruction is a good thing? I do not know. I do know that people who have spent centuries in the dark, wallowing in superstitions and origin theories, blindness and imitations of wild and ravenous beasts, are the least likely to help humanity cope with life under the sun. Indeed, people are vigorously demanding a platform for things that have been kept carefully in the closet and secret assemblies. Whatever you chose to listen to, be aware that without a sure anchor for your own thoughts, attitudes and desires, you are likely to adopt the rubbish as the best thing since sliced bread. The opposite of brotherly love and justice are literally being pushed, in the guise of freedom, by the algorithms of the brokers of corporate and personal information into our faces every second we open our ears and eyes. Be very careful with that idea that everybody deserves to be heard. A lot of time will be wasted listening to everyone because there are no upgrades to the ideologies of our recent or distant past. So, let the bigots listen to bigotry. I prefer to stand with Ottawa’s residents and their elected leaders. We just want to live, and it is a good thing that conmen and unstable leaders do not triumph.

God told us, now Amnesty

eejoseph, , ,

Virulent racism and xenophobia in Israel are perennial nightmares, even when the victims are part of the family of Abraham (father of the Hebrew people), namely the family of Lot (Abraham’s nephew), and the family of Esau (twin brother to the man whose name the people and the land have inherited). Palestine is a fact, and everyone who lives there is Palestinian no matter what other name anyone acquires. People do not morph into another species because of where they live. Now that Amnesty International has published its findings of how non-Jewish Palestinians have fared in a nation whose law is globally recognized as central to morality.

Palestine is God’s chosen real estate

This comes down as a respected African American public figure speaks in ignorance about the attempted genocide of Jewish people, exposing the undercurrent in many communities. The facts are simply not circulating as extensively or vigorously as the misinformation. I have seen reference to the Palestinians as nobodies, people who merely call themselves by that name without a lock on any ancient people of the land. That only puts into clearer light the sentiment that foreigners can never be fully integrated into the Israelite (or Israeli) community. As long as Moses remains the sole authority in matters of history and identity that will be the case. Did not the rise of the Way (Christianity) successfully challenge the view that God has different strokes for non-Jews than he has for Jews? The prophets agree, and David in particular sings loudly, that the Holy City is a place for all humans, with pointed reference to Egypt, Babylon, Philistia, Tyre, and Ethiopia. Do we have to mention Ireland, Papua New Guinea, the American continent and the Caribbean island?

The wilful misbehaviour of the State of Israel is unmistakable when we see how the leaders of Jewish communities in North America sever their links with xenophobic foundations. Equality in modern societies may be often unrealized but it is a noble goal. Only the most depraved will keep up the narrative about superiority and resort to violence to maintain it. Women and children are not second class citizens, and citizenship can only be withheld for very specific class of criteria, to which ethnicity and nativity do not belong.

I am reading Amnesty’s report of Israeli apartheid and crimes against humanity because there is no nation that can place itself beyond scrutiny by appealing to a failed tradition. It is a big read. I would be pleasantly surprised if it changes my mind about our friends in Israel, Jew and Palestinian, or at least gives me reason to hope that goodness does triumph. We – Christian believers – the vast majority of evangelicals excluded – believe that justice running down like water is perhaps the most noble goal for rulers in all nations. Israel can deny all she wants, but the facts about walls, theft of land and destruction of homes, crushing curfews, covering up crimes in East Jerusalem, and assassinations will make her a laughingstock. The last laugh will be the Heavenly Father’s, and he insists that his king, established in Zion, deserves a kiss.

1) Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? 2) The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, 3) “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!” 4) He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. 5) Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying, 6) “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” 7) “I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 8) ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.” (Psalms 2:1-8, NASB)