Crime and Justice

Destroying the evidence

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Whether is it a religious authority or a civic authority the practice of destroying the evidence is well-known. The Judean puppet king, Herod, turned his ire against the followers of Christ, and had James executed.

About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. Acts 12:1

He killed James the brother of John with the sword, Acts 12:2

and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. Acts 12:3

Roman power allied to local authority

Peter was in custody, guarded by sixteen Roman soldiers. When he could not be found the day after his imprisonment, the obvious triumph of divine power, and specificaly, Messianic prerogative, was too obvious to be allowed to spread. Sixteen men knew that they it was not due to their lack of military diligence that Peter was awol. The rapid spread of the narrative of the Church as told to them by Peter and the complete ignorance of the soldiers constituted a massive commendation of Peter’s God.

And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people.

Acts 12:4

Peter’s testimony and Herod’s folly

Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter.

Acts 12:18

Peter was free and thought what he had experienced was vision, and even when the believers saw him standing before them he gestured to them to not be loud about it. Had he not done so the believers may have started loud shouts of praise. Having told the church what had happened Peter asked them to tell James and the other apostles what had happened, then he departed to another undiaclosed place.

Herod, ever aware of his public image, ordered a search for Peter, then he examined the soldiers. Remember, two soldiers had Peter between them, and the other 14 would have been stationed along the way from the cell to the prison’s outer gate(s). The answers they gave to Herod were such that he ordered them killed.

And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there.

Acts 12:19

Violence and murder are the signs of love lost. Let us not put it past the alliances of our times to try to silence the voice of gladness. The campaign to empower the state with so-called religious powers will fail to recognize the common decency of neighbourly love, and in doing so will trample on the divine standard and commit murder. This will not be a new thing. Paul is an exmple of homicidal intents towards the followers of Christ.

Criminal and sinful heroes dominate

Worms of their own creation are eating out the vital organs of life in the western democracies. All that is left of the autocracies and religious republics are whited tombs. The hollowed out jurisprudence and the corruption of law and order in the service of the rich and infleuntial are the proper allies of the skeletons of the innocent people who have fallen by the sword. Crowds cheering on obvious immorality and idolizing violent overthrow of government can never be synonymous with Christian doctrine or practice. The politcal spin and religious silence are proceeding exactly as predicted. Christian nation, like templar Judaism and levitical Christianity, are desolations. The elect know the facts; they are not sucked in by the drama which the media wants to pass off as truth.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Matt 23:27-28

Goodbye wooly-eyed patriots

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Crime rises in places where the crime-busters and their governing authorities are committing crimes in plain sight. In some jurisdictions we find the criminals boldly proclaiming their right to pervert justice, pledging publicly to “double down”, “triple down” and “quadruple down” in their infamous intentions. The failure to connect the dots is the biggest dereliction of duty in decades by the people as an important bloc in the democratic powerhouse.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12

Forget small time crooks, mentally unstable people! Crime is big business these days, often run from the executive mansions in some countries. States like Israel, today’s criminal state in the spotlight, and most of her neighbours are being exposed as wool-deployers, with their activities fostered by religious zealots and so-called patriots.

Unrestrained wickedness! Abraham averts his eyes

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The corruption and shamelessness of leaders in the Middle East are about to be placarded across the globe. Think of how many people were aware of the thefts and innocent killings in Jerusalem during the days of the Davidide Kings, when God became so incensed at the violation of the basic benchmarks of humanity – love justice, love mercy and walk humbly – that he decided to empty the land of Canaan of Abraham’s descendants; then think of how many people will be aware of what is happening today November 2023 in that same land. Of course it’s unprecedented and unique, because the powers that seem to be able to ensure the victory of either side of the conflict has a basic tenet, namely, no negotiation with terrorists, are supporting a deal with an entity practically everyone on the planet has to regard as inhumane and capable of utter depravity.

“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 6:8, NASB)

The right to be right even when convicted by the authorized entities

“Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and my men being few in number, they will gather together against me and attack me and I will be destroyed, I and my household.”” (Genesis 34:30, NASB)

I suppose there is no shame involved when the guardians of democracy and justice are negotiating with the country that openly houses the leadership of Hamas. I suppose too that Palestinian lives only have value when hostage-taking is involved. Israel-Jacob is incensed and Abraham, everybody’s pop, cannot look!

Criminal and immoral

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When does malignant behaviour reach heinous and utterly abominable levels? It has to be beyond lying, stealing, homicide, covetousness, sabbath profanation, dishonouring parents, marital infidelity, idolatry, perjury, swearing falsely, and worshipping the created world.  In addition to these Yahwistic definitions there is the history of counting how many strikes cook a person’s goose making the discovery of heinous and abominable somewhat convoluted.   A completely frank businessman might reckon that seven times is sufficient to put distance between a perpetrator and judicial grace, however, there are too many examples of the book thrown at a single indictment and there are centuries of individual and systematic transgressions going unpunished. It would seem that we are permanently precariously perched on the precipice of tyranny disguised as patriotism and religious integrity. Based on our observations of religious and secular governments we can safely conclude that criminality will never be equal to morality.

Punishment and correction

New standards are nowhere in sight. The powerbrokers are all still killing people to end the reign of evil. It is just as evil to deny people rights to services and even their identity. No punishment has yet been found for the slave traders and colonialists. The difference between White Europeans exploiting Africans for 400 years and Black Caribbean leaders failing to secure prosperity for all island people over the last 189 years explains why. They might think we do not notice that their political parties are always focused on workers or labourers, as if the value of work supercedes the value of humans. For the criminal and immoral there is neither punishment nor correction is in sight, because no cohesive vision inspires the people these days.

Saint Mike of McPence

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How many pence there are in the wallet of political character making up the profile of the former Vice-president Pence is hard to tell. If the only response evoked by St Mike’s president’s criminal tweets and vulgarity is anger at the coup attempt on January 6th 2021 a shilling is too much.  If a VP did not serve to keep his commander-in-chief from offending the people he swore to serve his stash is meager indeed.

A shameful fawning sycophant

VPs are more than yes men, and St. Mike did not even try to find a way to erase the stain of “Mexicans are rapists”, “Muslims are unfit immigrants”, “Nazis are very fine people”, and “Black people have nothing to lose”. Christian faith may figure in St. Mike’s speeches but it can have no more divine credentials than the goals and messages of white nationalists. God did not help the insurrectionists in the civil war and he slammed the door on the attempt to crown a criminal TV personality as American saviour on January 6th.

St. Mike is the smilefree and anger-free face of American Christofacism. No synthetic entity of this kind will ever pass muster. If people keep thinking that there is an essential nexus between politics of any brand and the faith of Jesus Christ then there will be no difference between America and totalitarian regimes like the peoples Republic of China or the Islamic republics or cross-eyed Democratic states like Israel and Hungary.

The insurrectionist and their crimes

If you want to know how many pennies there are to St. Mike you should hear him say that Congress has no right to his testimony. He speaks of the coequality of the executive and the legislative bodies in the United States government but fails to recall that the Congress can impeach the president and can call any person in the United States to give testimony when crimes have been committed. We must wonder if Saint Mike forgets that his life was in danger in plain sight and with audio on January 6th. St Mike is hanging himself, clinging to the scam that 45 was good for America except for his coup attempt. The GOP is felled tree. Turn the page, all ye Pences and Farthings.

Counterpoint sleazy spin

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That trucker convoy was a criminal event you cannot spin it to be just an expression of pride and political dissent. We elect people to Parliament to represent us, and locking down a city with noise and violence and unlawful behavior cannot be spun into righteousness. The book is rightfully being thrown at conservative types who evidently want to turn Canada into the little sister of the damnable GOP-leaning United States.

Drinking up the battle sauce in Texas

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When David, king of Israel, led astray by his regal pride and human desires killed a man after sleeping with the man’s wife, the Lord took notice and imposed a penalty.  It seems to me that people think that atrocities like Israeli theft of East Jerusalem property or homicides with guns in the United States of America will have no consequences. An eighteen year old shooting up children in their classroom in Texas is another example of evil individuals trying to stop the education of the next generation.  The next generation, despite being targeted for assassination, will  be more than patriotic and insular robots and the leadership that thinks it can stack the courts with tainted judges will wax worse and worse. Who can forget Mitch McConnell’s version of impartial justice or Devin Nunes’ trips to the White House during he impeachment of the 45th president?  The homicidal outbursts in human history are the direct outcome of both of lawful and lawless obsession.   In Texas they proudly drink the sauce of armed insurrection when a crooked businessman calls, and they guzzle inaction when the lives of innocent educators and their students scream, for almost an hour, for service and protection.

A drunken stupor affects large swathes of humanity, and it is not an exclusively American phenomenon.  

What a pathetic besotted mob!

The institutions and traditions of Israel and Judah have not been adopted by any civilization, so neither Jerusalem, the original beneficiary, nor any of the capitals claiming inspiration from Sinai or Golgotha have seen even a truncated era of proven viability.  The fearful (and abominable, see Revelation 21:18) Caucasian crew that sees immigrants as a threat cannot be expected to be rational or neighborly.  If a repeated mantra could convince the public that MAGA fans were to be trusted the quasi-governor of Texas just brought the house down.

Get the narrative straight or let the police tell it

The performance behind the microphone in Uvalde was Governor Abbot’s trademark bluster and bravado but it could not hide the outrage of police holding back the parents while an eighteen  year old slaughtered their children in their classroom.  People sworn to go towards gunfire in a jurisdiction where eighteen year olds can acquire a weapon designed for war who choose to wait while ten year olds are murdered need to be sworn out.

The time is way past up

Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon.  Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.  (2 Samuel 12:9-10, NASB)

Perpetual violence in David’s household

The sword shall never depart from your house

There is a fantasy parading as fidelity to noble ideals is spreading all over the world.  It sneaks around in places of worship and in legislatures desperately trying to wed the underlying evils of politics to a spiritual accountability. 

Bribed to do nothing about mass murder

The revolution will not be replayed and guns have not prevented the spread of fascism, nazism, or lying ignorant people posing as experts and leaders. 

Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to strike down an innocent person. And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

Deuteronomy 27:25, NASB

But your eyes and your heart are intent only upon your own dishonest gain, and on shedding innocent blood and on practicing oppression and extortion.

Jeremiah 22:17, NASB

Nothing to see here

Freedom denied and slavery forgotten have unsheathed a sword on the United States that will never depart and the  proof that one idolized amendment to a constitution will make an entire nation a bleeding mecca.

War – homicide – death

It is questionable that homicide – The American War of Independence –   cut the ties between brutal England and her North American colonies.  The military and peace officer services of the United States have not failed to keep alive atrocious attitudes, policies and practices. Texan official leadership publicly wants to be the Keeper of the Keys of the Right of Violent Insurrection, which only means that the rule of law is bovine fecal matter to such people.   By their repeated kicking their responsibility for all the people and especially children down the road the people’s representatives – Democrat, Republican and Independent – are mired in genocidal icecream. They think that guns will save them when their day of decision comes.  The civil war and the world trade center inferno have taught them nothing.  So political hacks can say there’s nothing to see here. Whoop de do! Another bad guy committing a crime while they have done nothing to make sure that that crime can be reduced.

Resources to reduce murders are not in place but access to  weapons of mass destruction is a rite of passage in Christian America.   Politics and faith are strange bedfellows no matter what cliches believers use to prostitute themselves to the state.  They really do not know what JESUS thinks of the enablers of the massacres of innocent children and non-Caucasian people. They ought to know what he has to say to the National Rifle Association and the political charlatans it bankrolls.  Time’s up, pals.

Make no mistake

eejoseph

Some people count to three and still screw up. Others do not count at all. They plant a knee on your neck and calmly watch you die. Raw and unvarnished bondage and violence has their distinct looks. What messenger of God pulls out the wrong covenant to talk about eternal life? None. If the subject is pardon for sin and friendship with God there is no accident that people are talking about Christ and the Cross. When a police officer yells “Taser! Taser! Taser!”, pulls out her service weapon and kills a man it is what it looks like. Make no mistake.

Photo by KoolShooters on Pexels.com

We grieve with the family in Brooklyn Center. We do not accept “accident” as an explanation for choosing the wrong tool. We know that lethal force has a certain look and feel. Lethal force sits on the right hip and the respect for life sits on the left hip. Having trigger-happy neighbours is one thing but police officers who chose to use force on Black people at the drop of a hat need to be purged from law enforcement. Let it begin with the pastors who also have been yelling “Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!” and filling the air with the stink of human futility.

When our words get jumbled or we seem tongue-tied there is no shame, but when we say “egg” and pick up a venomous snake there is justice locked out and good sense buried deep in . Who drinks vinegar instead of water? How many white people have a gun in their face when they are pulled over by law enforcement? It is not an accident that a law enforcement officer takes a life, says “Holy ****. I shot him” and gets due process. Justice for Daunte Wright must be swift and unequivocal and cleaning up the services of dishonest departments begin in earnest.

Like that 20-year peace officer there is a host of spiritual guides, teachers, preachers and motivational speakers who need to get their act together. People can see through the spaghetti throws and the soft-pedalling of Jesus’ victory, deceptive theories about God and justice, and golden rule philosophies. That is no accident. That is damnable malpractice. People who are mindful and properly motivated and prepared make no mistake.