Month: April 2025

My name is plant

eejoseph,

What is one word that describes you?

For most of my life I have thought that my names have shaped my life, but more recently I have realized how much I have in common with members of my family, schoolmates, workmates, girlfriends, teachers and mentors.

Plant

I have to admit that I have been aware of my status as an acorn, even a mustard seed, for a long time, and the consideration has also accompanied me equally as long that the potential of seeds is tree. As for the usual end of human life, the earth itself beckons as the place where I will be planted, regardless of oak tree or mustard tree.

Do not make us scoff

eejoseph

It is enough that God is laughing at the pitiful attempts of rulers and their allies to unseat the reliable order that he established in Zion.  Protestants and Roman Catholics just united to bring an end to the quest for mercy, justice and humility.  There is little chance of the great American experiment succeeding.  We do not want to laugh, but it would be a good thing if commentators terminated their alarms about the demise of the church and Christianity.

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. (Psalms 2:1-4)

The people of God are not in crisis

Even though most Christians today seem to be always complaining about their aches and pains and their feet problems in society, it is absolutely clear that the church is triumphing and not in any crisis. The gates of hell are not prevailing.  Just because a few outspoken ignoramuses are on TV spouting all kinds of doctrines and making themselves look like the Holy Grail there is no reformation taking place, and the church is wrinkle free and unspotted.  If not Yeshua of Nazareth is a liar.  The liars are the racist and xenophobic modern religious movements that have arisen in the United States and Europe.  They contort themselves into various entities so they can impress people with their innovations mixed with ancient practices.

The warriors of American greatness are blind

There are numerous signs that western civilization is terminally ill.  The worst conditions are only now being recognized by the masses.  The state of politics does not prescribe the destiny of believers.  Whether you are Christian Jewish or Muslim you will find that governments will never honestly dictate how people construct their lives as responsible citizens.  The last thing they want is for people to think independently. I can’t imagine what the rod of iron will do to the high and mighty but it is clearly our greatest need.  Hopefully, it is a rod that offers a remake and benefits.

and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father; (Revelation of John 2:27)

Maybe shaking and tentative

eejoseph,

If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why?

I would love to be that young girl in the story in the Second Book of Kings, servant of a Syrian general, who tells her employer that he might get rid of his terminal disease by seeking the help of an Israelite prophet. 

This girl grabs my attention as the world spirals downward into successive fragmentations of our increasingly interwoven communities.  Many of us may never see the light of a healing or have the joy of relief from suffering as long as we keep listening to our ethnic, religious, and political pride.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%205:1-3&version=NIV;KJV

Alarm bells ringing over Poilievre

eejoseph,

If you saw Canada’s political leaders line up to be cleared to read the record of foreign interference in Canadian politics and one resolutely refusing to step up to be read in you would have a question, maybe even a theory, considering that a certain political party was named in the web of foreign interference in the report by Canada’s security agency.

Question of the day

Can you be cleared to see state secrets?

Building on straw and stubble

eejoseph, , ,

The erection of buildings occupies a primary place in God’s revelation in both the Old and  New Testaments.  Personal responsibility and diligence get roped into the construction ventures.  The followers of the Lord Yeshua the Anointed can never skirt around their function as builders, as surely as Adam could not avoid gardening.  Witness the Lord’s parable of the house built on sand or rock (Matthew 7:24-27) and Paul’s exhortation to focus on edification (1 Corinthians 14:26).  Rest assured that building is just one of many hubs of Messianic realities. It is a pretty careless practice to pick a topic and offer lessons about practice without a Messianic foundation. Praise, worship and service can only deteriorate into cute sound bytes without the unmovable centre of the cross.

For you are giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not edified. (1 Corinthians 14:17)

Glossolalia’s premium devalued

People can say a lot, be convinced of their veracity, but help no one.

Let everything be tethered to building up

We may find ourselves surrounded by buildings, some entirely new forms, and others look like attempted  renovations, and upgrades.  There is however no escaping the fact that in the Christian realm there is no new form and no new buildings. All of our construction work must build on the foundation.

What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. (1 Corinthians 14:26)

The apostolic foundation is fourfold

The essentials of church realities are evident in the devotion of early believers.  The absence of certain elements calls into question the conversion of the people in the membership.  Even with a discovery of a majority who have departed the faith the church is not a victim of satanic assault.  Her foundation on the Rock has enduring results.

They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42)

  • Prayer
  • Common meals
  • Fellowship
  • Doctrine

At its core Christian process is not like the Levitical economy with its dominating sacrifices (things slaughtered), offerings (gifts) and burnt offerings.  These find no parallel in the New Covenant process. The church is not a temple like the Solomonic temple, which even Solomon himselself acknowledged was incapable of containing the divine majesty.

“But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built!

2 Chronicles 6:18

The consensus in the New Testament is also in, both for the processes and the place or location.  The levitical economy is done.

After saying above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have not desired, nor have You taken pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the Law), (Hebrews 10:8)

The holy city, the holy tent or house are irrelevant.

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. John 4:21 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. John 4:22 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. John 4:23 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:24

A new framework

Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. (Hebrews 13:15)

Praise, worship and service can only deteriorate into cute sound bytes without the unmovable centre of the cross.

How can Christian praise not be set apart from the defunct traditions and processess of Levitical interest? Sacrifice no longer has cakes, drink offering or the flesh or blood of animals. We must set our praise apart based on the the clause “fruit of our lips”.  Christ is the “Him” in verse 15 of Hebrew 13. He saturates the sacrifice of praise that goes up to God, and who can deny that Christ is also the “Him” who receives thanks along with the God the Father? If peace (Hebrews 13:20 ) was a thing that money or any other corruptible could buy the rich would live and the poor would die.
This praise is our confessing –  homologountôn – at the very least  the wonders of redeeming grace.  Praise, worship, and service are often conflated in a simplistic way, but each stands on its own and is acceptable to God.  I would rather say few words about either of these interactions with God than make unsubstantiated claims.

One cannot praise God without saying something great about him, and one does not serve God without doing something that affects others.  Worship is the only one of the trio that does not need words.

Worship in the Psalms is always the verb BOW DOWN, שָׁחָה, shachah. This word in the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament with which the vast majority of both Jews and Gentiles were familiar) and the New Testament is proskune’ô, προσκυνεω, and it means BOW DOWN, (literally “kiss toward”). So let us not try bend a biblical word like worship to match our popular idea of song, poem, or dance in praise and thanks to God. To prostrate himself to Yahweh, literally and figuratively in offering his son, was what Abraham planned to do when he left his servant and took Isaac to the designated place on Moriah.

18) Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. 19) For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness”; (1 Corinthians 3:18-19)

To avoid building on flammable straw and stubble building up others in the faith should have (a) the requisite certainty of self-care, (b) the gravitas of the full counsel of the written word (even if a vision from the Lord is involved), and (c) the resolute intention to elevate or magnify God’s Son.

The old relationship is over

eejoseph, , ,

The Canadian PM has sobered up the United States’ first felonious president to the tune of punishing tariffs and burning the bridge with an eye on forging new alliances and markets.

Mark Carney: The old relationship we had with the United States based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperations is over.

Who needs a friend that pays more attention to chaos agents on his shoulder than to vetted reliable briefings from proven public servants?

The border between Canada and the United States has not been under scrutiny as it is in 2025.  Why?  The US government claims that border porosity is responsible for illegal drugs pouring into the United States.  The truth is that thousands of illegal guns have been pouring into Canada for decades, and both governments seem unwilling to push away from the popularity of firearms used for legal and highly regulated purposes.

   New deal on the Ontario-Michigan crossing.
No exchange of felons.

Let us hope that felons will continue to be barred from crossing the border.

Howling like a wolf and barking up the wrong tree

eejoseph,

WASHINGTON (AP) — Harvard University has become the latest target in the Trump administration’s approach to fight campus antisemitism, with the announcement of a new “comprehensive review” that could jeopardize billions of dollars for the Ivy League college.

A federal antisemitism task force is reviewing more than $255 million in contracts between Harvard and the federal government to make sure the school is following civil rights laws, the administration announced Monday. The government also will examine $8.7 billion in grant commitments to Harvard and its affiliates.

April 1st, 2025

The felonious occupant of the White House, oblivious to the centrality of religious education to early American independence and  stability, takes aim at Harvard.  He does not know that the Pilgrims established the environment in which neither Jesus nor Moses were the dictators of society’s norms at Harvard.  It is also clear that the hordes of evangelicals, who are pretending to support the state of Israel, do not give a rat’s backside about EVERYONE’S right to exist,  much less the right to participate in the quest for improved prosperity, more mature unions and guarantees of security.

All who think that American power will bring the globe to harmony and peace are dining on delicious tidbits from a table of wasted dreams and rejected nutrients.  Since the felon of Mar a Lago confesses that he likes illiterate and rich people a deadlier combination cannot help but lead to more greatness like a civil war, Jim Crow, rampant disease and a failed State.

Good luck dismantling the scaffolding while the tower is under construction.  Huff and puff, ye moguls of law, moronic excellence and greed.  Little Piggy’s house will stand.  He’s always stood for mercy, justice and humility.