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, ,

April 2, 2025

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.

Over one year ago, the world heard PM Carney chart a new path.  Let us not forget how his political opponents were sidling up to their US partners to find deals. Today, January 22, 2026, we can say the Canada USA business relationship is certainly yesterday.  We can also be sure that felonious greatness has one hour.  The intelligence quotient of MAGA appointees to the 2025 cabinet amounts to a few academic degrees, no government or management experience, little respect for the law, and intense interest in personal gain for the rich and influential.  That combination of persons and gifts cannot last long.

Winning the electoral college is thought to be evidence of genius, but losing money in a casino and having to close it not once but twice is not evidence of business savvy.  POTUS should be an expert at something good.

Great and acclaimed business acumen never recommended anyone for top gun, and one leader had it the whole world would be copying it.  Rogues will tell one another they’re just wonderful. And even the blind will see things gigantic and powerful. One hour for the greatest of all time! Timber! Fell fell fell.

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.

My first hour is pure inspiration

eejoseph,

What are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like?

The ritual can happen in bed, or in the kitchen, or any room.  It can happen with written material, with digital media, or quietness with my thoughts.  I have been known to ruin the start of the day by listening to my heart beating and falling asleep for another hour or more.  I love and am perfectly satisfied with beginning any day with gratitude for my loved ones and the whole planet.

I am determined to renounce robotic days.  I prefer to do what impresses me.  I do not like trying to impress myself by the things I do. A ‘good boy’ to myself is the least of my priorities.

I love to let a song, a kiss, the sound of finches or robins, a Bible verse or passage speak to me.  Very often I am subconsciously tagging something simple, a word, a musical phrase, a rhyme, the beating of my heart, anything that might help to shape my day.

One and only fate

eejoseph,

Which aspects do you think makes a person unique?

Right now, inside the smooth programming of commercial and cultural ventures, there are intense and criminal plots to digitize millions of human beings. It is my understanding that human beings are unique from head to toe, and I have warmed up completely to the idea that imitating our heroes is a waste of time.  There is only one John the Baptist.  There will never be another Sojourner Truth. The colour of our eyes is not copied onto any other human being.  I believe in extreme uniqueness.

The discovery of finger prints did nothing to dampen racist conspiracies and religious bigotry.  The billions of dollars spent on looking for another Earth might have been put to giving boys and girls all over the planet a chance to put their unique treasures on display and to good practical use.

It is a shameful outrage for the manipulators  of public thought, health and wealth to try to make people gather up and mindlessly mimic the stars and personalities of our times.  The dignity and majesty of unique personhood are often the first elements to be stripped away when people begin to assert their legacy and dreams.  Every combination of human traits and attributes is unique.  Oh my! What will the quantum equations be?  Can the computers handle the complexity?