Month: November 2023

From honourable defence to despicable infanticide

eejoseph

Like a hungry lion recognizing a juvenile antelope the Israeli Prime Minister declared war when 50-plus years of occupation exposed the failure of Israel’s Defence Force and the government’s settler policy. It is a wonder, is it not, that Hamas was allowed to exist in the occupied territory. Israel has been known to be ready to strike Iran. Why not Hamas?

War settles nothing

The headlines tell an unintended truth. The Gulf War was “Showdown in the Gulf” and we were left wondering “Where are the closely matched fast guns?”. Flattening Gaza is not a war. Since the declaration there is no firefight, no pitched battle, no artillery duel, repeated air strikes and no counterstrike. There was short-lived rocket fire from Hamas shortly after the declaration of war. Israel cannot say it did not know that its planned operation in Gaza would violate international law and morality.

Mourning as Goliath flexes, and the world was wakes

eejoseph
October 24, 2023

Just over two weeks ago a horrific homicidal plot played out in Israel.  The pretzel factory went into full swing in Canada and the United States, and people who hate the Jewish people are out in the open pretending to be on the side of the Palestinian people.  People who cared about nothing but White European colonialism are pretending to weep with the Jewish people.  Canada and the United States, with their own atrocities unresolved are insisting that citizens twist themselves into pretzels to condemn terrorist Hamas and justify Israel’s right to defend itself. Fifty-six years of oppressing the Palestinian people is enough evidence to elicit a balanced statement of support.  Make no mistake.  Israel has been turning into a fascist state with the major powers looking the other way and with the United Nations resolutions stymied by veto. I mourn with the people of Israel over their loss at the hands of brutal homicidal maniacs, and I condemn the Jewish state that has blamed the victims of its terrorism and occupation for fighting back.

A lamentation is heard

Governments expect people to weep on cue for Jewish lives, pledge support to a state that rejoices in brutal oppression, but I do not need a government to tell me what I see on the ground in Israel, in the West Bank or in East Jerusalem. The theft of land and the bloodshed of innocent people continues, and needs to be addressed. I have been weeping for a long time, long before Sabra and Shatila. 

People who can proudly and repeatedly hide their crimes behind a United Nations veto are far from noble.

Dr. E.E. Joseph

I expect nothing more than hypocritical years and prayers for Jerusalem’s peace from Christians who have built their faith on an emotional trip to the holy land.  They never hear the lament of Palestinian mothers.  I am not surprised that Canadian cities have put their police forces on heightened vigilance. There are no doubt many people in the world who think that there are very fine people on both sides of the fence when Jew-haters and Jew-lovers are under the spotlight. There are no fine terrorists, no fine brutal and hateful occupiers of other people’s lands.

Life is too short

eejoseph

Do we treat people kindly because we have little time or because God treats us kindly

“Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:32, NASB) A video came to my message app not long ago with a story about an elderly lady explaining her calm demeanor to a younger woman (see the video below). The elder said she did not respond to the younger hitting her with her many bags as she took a seat beside her on public transit because LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO SPEND SEEKING REDRESS or displaying bad attitudes.  Christian do not have a forgiving spirit because they reason that life is too short. 

Christians forgive because of their experience of divine forgiveness. The video tends to cause people to forget the supernatural nature of forgiveness and just chalk it up to wisdom.

I thought this question about the famous or infamous would stump me, but the man Jimmy Cliff stands apart for famous impresario.

eejoseph,

Who is the most famous or infamous person you have ever met?

Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican sage and songster, took the time to walk from his hotel to my village, where he chatted with a small group of young men. He may have had a day off from his shows in the capital. I remember thinking “What a gentle looking soul he is”. I know I was struck with awe to the extent that I don’t remember what I asked him, but he was all positive encouragement for aspiring musicians and young people in general. I was definitely budding with my own guitar strumming and songwriting, and he was showing me the path. I swore “On my life”! Look up the song “On my life”.

Undoing the Balfour error

eejoseph
1545 Monday November 23

A moment for moral clarity had better undo the mistake of Lord Balfour and the abuse of the United Nations Security Resolutions.

Enough with the speeches

The British prime minister will have a lot to say but his speech will be judged against the high moral ground and courage which has been severely lacking on the international scene. We have had enough speechifying!

Lovers of fables stumbling out of their ditches

eejoseph

The book of Hebrews is a straightforward accounting of the meaning of the appearance of the Son of God in the context of the Jewish experience.  The term Hebrew is first applied to Abraham (Genesis 14:13) so there is no question who are the fathers (ancestors) and prophets referred to in the first two verses of the book.  Although the writer systematically dismantles all of the traditional and thoughtful Israelite refuges, showing them to be inferior to the revelation of God’s Son, there is still to this day an attempt to use fables to justify the retention of the prophetic and patriarchal traditions.  If people are willing to ignore the evidence in chapter 11, where we have two verses that summarize all of the faithful people twice, in verses 13 and 39, then people are willingly ignorant, and deserve to be seen as visionaries scrambling out of the ditches.

The rest and security in which we stand

It is by design that the first myth blown to bits is the seventh day sabbath.  The writer does not use a one-liner to demolish the fantasy of rest and holy time as he does with”we have Christ for high priest”, or God said to or of the Son “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom.” (Hebrews 1:8, NASB)

There were no people who entered into the promises of God

There are rapture stories, translation stories, and assumption legends, all aimed at undermining the primary agenda of the Son of God.  Peter was aware of cleverly designed fables that might compete for a seat of authority in the minds of the people. God bypassed the voices of prophets and patriarchs in order to corroborate the Lord Yeshua as the foundation of grace, mercy and peace.

17) For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”– 18) and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.”

2 Peter 1:17-18, NASB

The assumption of Moses is one such elaborate fable, one picked up by followers of the Way, and folded in a vignette reported by Jude about a dispute between Michael and the Devil over the body of Moses.  The book of Hebrews however, being the ace of myth poppers, tells a different story.  No one is going ahead of the rest of the people into glory.

The translation myth: the die and go to heaven agenda

The first man the Bible describes as aynennu is a fairly youthful male, Enoch.  His very simple epitaph says that:  He walked with God and WAS NOT. The text does not say he “was not found“.  No search is recorded of Enoch’s experience, as in the case of Elijah, of whom we read, “But when they urged him until he was ashamed, he said, “Send.” They sent therefore fifty men; and they searched three days but did not find him.” (2 Kings 2:17, NASB)

Next was Joseph, who, though not dead, was actually reported to be dead (Genesis 37:31-35) and Jacob considered his favourite son to be dead.

Their father Jacob said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more (aynennu), and Simeon is no more (aynennu), and you would take Benjamin; all these things are against me.”

Genesis 42:36, NASB

All into glory at the same time

No one is moving ahead of the crowd to have a special place in the grand entrance into the city that has foundations, such as the one Abraham sought.

39) And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40) because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.

Hebrews 11:39-40, NASB

In addition, to this clear agenda, the scripture clearly says all of the heroes of faith died.  Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah are the ones who died in faith without receiving the promised inheritance.

“All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” (Hebrews 11:13, NASB)

“Dying and going to heaven” is alive and well in strange places.

Then he goes on to list a host of other people who also acted faithfully, that is, they pleased God, without entering into glory.  Why then should we risk believing that several people have entered into glory before the end of the age?  It is to establish a fable as true.  The story of Moses’ Resurrection or Assumption is entirely fictitious.  It, along with other cleverly designed fables, makes its contribution to peer pressure aimed at showing Yeshua of Nazareth to be less than “…Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6, NASB). 

I don’t

eejoseph,

How do you manage screen time for yourself?

Screen time is out of control.  More and more I find myself parking the screen in order to get in touch with the kind of information that is usually not found on a screen.  The screen has its own agenda these days, which looks like my agenda, and that creates an unhealthy tension. Screens are not my first choice for education or entertainment, but screens are front and centre with no relief in sight. Screen time comes and goes like night and day.

Screen to greet and screen to meet,
But I'll be damned if it ever replaces the beat of guitar music.

Pole position and winning lane

eejoseph

There is a compelling incentive for Christians to be more than hopeful.  “We know how the drama reaches its crescendo” is the usual response to situations that seem to threaten our existence. We are the last to people to be concerned about losing our lives. To say we are “more than conquerors” is another understatement of the facts, not to mention a poor translation of a single word from the Greek text of Paul’s letter to the Romans (8:37).  Why do I say that? Conquering stands opposite losing, and one cannot conquer anything without losing.  Christian winning, the so-called victorious life, has more to do with a gift than with any conquest. We have no need to wrest anything from anyone. So how does a person experience conquest and not recognize loss? When Paul wrote “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer” his intention was to make our encounters with adversity all the more functional as evidences of love.  I like to think of a victorious life as less atoning forensics, poking around the sin trails, and more astounding fruitfulness.

Dying gods and falling humans

I said, “You are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High.  Nevertheless you die like men and fall like any one of the princes.”

Psalms 82:6-7

You keep making me look like a liar because I have boasted in the royal court at Camelot that you are conquerors.  Have you forgotten what makes all of the things arrayed against you negligible and pitiful?

Judges are known to bribe and suborn witnesses.  Sometimes chauffeurs have no cars.  Soldiers take breaks from fighting, killing and saving lives. What might you say if you saw a kayaker sitting on a park benck with oars in his hand? What do you suppose God says when he sees followers of his Son not loving the people around them? What do we suppose God does when we miss any of the golden marks he has so graphically put down in word and deed for us to emulate?

“We are more than conquerors” is not only poor translation, it is misleading, because people expect superconquerors to have exceedingly victorious experiences. It is so easy to blame the one Christ loved for experiencing sword, famine, poverty, and persecution. Their faith, we say, is inadequate faith or is being tested. They have no properly fasted. The simple truth is that we all exceedingly conquer because Christ loved us.

We hyperconquer

Greek hyper – υπέρ – is like Latin/English super, and means above. Hypernikômen – υπερνικωνεν – does not mean that we win every contest, every battle, or that we are always on top of every situation.  If that were true, no Christian would be sick, no believer would ever be disappointed or die.  No decree or declaration can end humanity’s dance with nature and the best of our nurture.  No end to dying is in sight, and no stopping of the lying comes to light.

We prevail without having to say we have beaten sword, famine, poverty, and persecution

When all is said and done believers have no equipment to ensure success that does not include faith.  Despite all the wishing, decreeing and declaring, faith is primarily hoping for something to become real.  All the miracles and wonders do not change the fact that we hope for things we do not have.  Faith facilitates our grasp of what God has promised.  There is the rub: what did God promise you?   Even if God fixed all our problems we all still need to be changed in order to ascend the podium and receive the medal (1 Corinthians 15:51-53). Praying for and accepting the things God wants us to experience and possess does not come easily.

Two things define faith: “…ἐλπιζομένων…”, hoping (Hebrews 11:1) and “…ἔλεγχος…” conviction (Hebrews 11:1)

The experience of the pole position and the winning lane will depend on our growth.  Many believers treat the gift of God as merely a ticket for going to heaven.  The critical inquiry for people making converts runs like this, “Where would you spend eternity if you died tonight?” It should not surprise us that hope is also a saving agent. Along with faith and love, hope is the third enduring virtue.  To think that we do not need hope is Pollyanna  theology because of three unchanging facts. 

One: hope is a spiritual fruit, and can only be accessed by those who have the Spirit of God.  Two: hope is not separable from Christ himself. Three: hope attaches believers to the glory before the world began (eternity past) and the glory to come, of which our life in the Spirit now is a foretaste.  So let us not keep conflating Christ the hope of the lost with Christ the hope of glory. Let us find encouragement from the fact that hope is the resident portion of the glory to which we are heading.  The Holy Spirit and the Sacred Texts are the essence (one essence) of the believer’s hope.

Absent the presumed options, perseverance

We are unwilling subjects of hope.  “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope (20) that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” (Romans 8:20-21, NASB)

For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Romans 15:4

Yeshua did not lose anything to give salvation to the world. He laid down his life, as planned. His victory guarantees that we can be always conquering exceedingly.