On Galatians and opposition

We had an interesting Bible discussion at church tonight with the focus on Galatians chapter 2.  During the reading I had a picture of events and an application to today which I wanted to share.  The context is the foundation of Christianity in a region and by people raised Jewish with those traditions and culture.  With that context, one simply realizes that Jesus was a Jew and those of that persuasion had an interest in keeping their traditions alive.

Verses 1-5: “Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas.  I took Titus along also.  I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles.  But I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain.  Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.  This matter arose because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves.  We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.”

Just a couple of items of note.  Circumcision was the Jewish tradition of consideration here.  It was the old law being used as a wedge issue by false brothers for the purpose of “mak[ing] us slaves.”  There is the crux of the matter when a simple pure system is overtaken by infiltrators.  The purpose is never to make life better for the group.  It is to make slaves.  What is the purpose of Pres 0?  We are to be slaves – well, not initially.  It will take a bit more time to get the slave mindset firmly implanted in the country, but that is the ultimate goal.  As reference, pick any communist country and ask what level the population occupies.  Slave is an appropriate description.

Also noted in this spot is the appropriate response to this recognition.  “We did not give in to them for a moment…”  Here is where the “other guy’s problem” takes center stage.  They came for him and it wasn’t me… The moment “they came” is the moment a response needs to be given.  This country is so far down the road, I have no fluffy feelings about this ability to respond any more.  I remember the massive Tea Party rallies and the ultimate result of obammacare being shoved down our throats anyway.  The lesson of this is that it will take even more of a response to change direction of this government.

Later I noted in verses 11-14 “When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong.  Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles, but when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.   The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.  When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew.  How is it then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?”

Lesson: when one is wrong – tell him, and not only him, tell the group that was following the example.  Here we have the disadvantage of the MSP which amplifies this tactic from the opposing viewpoint.  If the tactic works for them and is described in the Bible to be used on those who are doing wrong, let’s turn up the volume on this a bit.  I have already written one of my senators on the travesty McRino assisted in foisting.  Let’s just say, I’m in Texas.  I haven’t forgotten Waco.

 

Testing

This afternoon, spouseinbox and I were in the local megagrocery store. Apparently most of the town had the same idea creating quite a sensation of dodging carts, sneaking around end caps and searching in vain for signs of the desired items. By the way, there are no driver’s licenses for carts, not that I want to give some bureaucrat an idea, but there are also no requirements of ability to control the cart. That may be a blog for another day. Back to the thought at hand. In the middle of dodging and searching, a church member passed and noted that this is where the church service in the morning is tested.

 

Hello Again

We are back from a long weekend in jail. Voluntary time, that is.
We, that is spouseinbox and myself, joined a Kairos team in a jail to minister to the inmates. This was quite involved and participants came from a hundred miles away from each direction. There was an outside team and an inside team. The outside team dealt with the logistics of making meals for everyone, preparing all the materials to be shipped into the jail, and moving the appropriate items at the appropriate time. The inside team had to work directly with the inmates presenting love and the Gospel to them. It was nondenominational and well designed to meet the needs of both the inmates and the helpers – with the exception of sleep. The days started at 0500 and ended near 2330 all inclusive of activities and meetings to prepare for the following day. The final day, all team members were in the jail for the closing ceremony where everyone involved and previously attended were present. I’m going to guess about 10% of the prison population was there. It was quite an impressive site, and further impressive was the inmates who were very honest about where they were and their present and anticipated circumstances. I’m not sure what I anticipated in total, as there were so many mixed feelings about a first time in jail, but was feeling quite blessed by the experience.

 

Last few moments before the trip

We have been preparing to do a jail ministry this weekend. This entails travel to another city, taking off anything of value, participating in the services that will go from about 0700 to 1800 for the next 4 days. All this is to minister to the inmates and invite them to Christianity. The message is that God loves them and wants to be with them from now through eternity. The societal impact of this ministry is to reduce recidivism, and increase the number of individuals giving positively to the society.
There are also muslims trying to get converts in prison. I was thinking the contrast. They are interested in individuals who have a violent past or hence someone with experience in attacking others. The societal effect is an increase in the number of individuals posed to inflict violence on anyone not of their ideology.
Quite a contrast, don’t you think?

 

Good afternoon

I am back after quite a week of work, puzzle making, reading, and singing. The computer decided to provide a new blue background instead of the picture that had adorned it for the past year. This put the computer into the unplugged mode and after several scans, a purchase of antivirus (new one for this year) rescans, downloads, and hope, I am finally back.
There were three thoughts churning in the back of my dendrites concerning a book I brought up at church on Wednesday. It is called “People of the Lie” written by Scott Peck and is quite a read. I don’t recommend this one for light readers. The subject is rough, and his approach intriguing. The section I have in mind involved his description of researching demon possession. As a scientist, he approached the subject with a skewed impression that it was just another mental disorder. Upon attending 2 exorcisms, he changed his mind and then went on to evaluate the characteristics presented. I will bring a few out here, and for the adventurous, the chapter starts on pg 182 and continues through 211. I will cite and work with information from about page 204.
“The spirit that I witnessed at each exorcism was clearly, utterly,and totally dedicated to opposing human life and growth. It tole both patients to kill themselves…There was absolutely nothing creative or constructive about it; it was purely destructive.”
pg 206: “The other is that Satan has no power except in a human body…Tn face, the only power that Satan has is through human belief in its lies. Both patients became possessed because they bought its false seductive promise of “friendship.” Possession was maintained because they believed its threats that they would die without it.”
pg 207: “”I know no more accurate epithet for Satan than the Father of Lies. throughout both exorcisms it lied continually. Even when it revealed itself, it did so with half-truths. It was reveled to be the Antichrist when it said, “We don’t hate Jesus, we just test him.” But the reality is that it does hate Jesus.
The list of lies it spoke was endless-somethimes almost a boring litany…humans must defend themselves in order to survive and cannot rely on anything other than themselves in their defense; everything is explainable in terms of negative and positive energy (which balance out to be zero), and there is no mystery in the world; love is a thought and has no objective reality; science is whatever one chooses to call science; death is the absolute end to life-there is no more; all humans are motivated primarily by money, and if this appears not to be the case, it is only because they are hypocrites; to compete for money, therefore, it the only intelligent way to live.”…”Its principal weapon is fear.”…”I defined mental health as “an ongoing process of dedication to reality at all costs.” Satan is utterly dedicated to opposing that process. In face, the best definition I have for Satan is that it is a real spirit of unreality.”
pg 208: “Satan wants to destroy us. It is important that we understand this.”…”Its pride overcomes its intelligence, so that the demon of deceit is also a showoff. If it had been thoroughly clever, it would have left the two patients long before their exorcisms. But it could not allow itself to lose. It wanted only to win, so in both cases it hung in there until the bitter end-with the result that I and others today now know its reality.”
“…it has no real understanding of the phenomenon of love. It recognizes love as a reality to be fought and even to be imitated, but utterly lacking it itself, it does not understand love in the least. Its reality appears to Satan only like the reality of a bad joke. the notion of sacrifice is totally foreign to it. When human beings at an exorcism are speaking in the language of love, it does not comprehend what they are saying. and when they are behaving with love, Satan is completely ignorant of the ground rules.”
“Interestingly, particularly in view of the purpose of this book, Satan also does not understand science.”
pg 209: “Deceiver of itself as of other, Satan cannot understand why any beings would not want to deceive themselves.”
pg 210: “There is, however, some evidence to suggest that there is less freedom in the world of demons than in the world of human beings-that, by virtue of their cowardice and terror and belief in their own lies, lesser demons act in such strict obedience to their superiors that they tend to lack individuality as we ordinarily think of it.”

There is quite a bit more description and I have just tried to select some quotes to set up a comparison.

The hidden “Islamic jihad” and dimensions of Bosnian war had been ignored prior to the conflict, during the civil war in the early 1990s, and afterwards. This misrepresentation of reality meant that the so-called democratic powers, the media and many leading academics served the ambitions of Al-Qaeda and other Islamic power that sent thousands of Islamists from all over the world to Bosnia…
The truth could not have been further. Western commentators and academics are clearly glossing over the reality, because the Ottoman Empire was not based on enlightenment. On the contrary, the Islamization of Bosnia was paid by the blood of Christians and their enslavement, and forced conversions of young Christian boys to Islam via the barbaric devshirme system…Christians of Bosnia faced pogroms, institutional discrimination, and a brutal system. If Christian men happened to fall in love with Muslim women, they faced the death penalty because it is forbidden in Islam; however, countless numbers of Christian women were kidnapped by Muslims, just like in modern-day Egypt and Pakistan, and the legal authorities deemed this permissible…Non-Muslims suffered the fate of being dhimmis and converts to Islam used their power in order to maintain a system which supported every indignity that you could imagine. It was a policy based on the “superior Muslims” against the “enslaved Christians” and if the Christians did not accept dhimmitude, paying heavy taxes via jizya, and allowing young Christian boys to be converted to Islam and taken away to Istanbul, then the Islamic sword awaited them. (from here.)
Also consider the Product Description:
http://www.amazon.com/Truth-About-Islam-Women/dp/0736925031
“In October 2008, the relatives of a woman stoned to death by militia members in the town on suspicion of adultery argued that she was only 13-years-old. According to her parents, the girl was raped by three men and had been reporting the incident when she was instead arrested and charged.” (from here, read the rest-it’s troubling.)

Let’s see, they talk about islam as a peaceful religion with respect for women and others. Reality is that it is extremely violent, loves death:
“The last bullet point on that page reads simply: “We love death more then [sic] you love life!” (from here)
9) The ethical system applies only to Muslims. Allah encourages rape, pillage, extortion and enslavement of non-Muslims. Morality does not extend beyond the global gang (ummah). Muslim ethics are the ethics of the Mafia.

10) Allah’s followers are motivated by hatred, greed and lust. There is no love, mercy or compassion. Allah is vindictive, unpredictable, capricious and devious – “Allah leads astray whom he pleases”.
17) Treaties and agreements with Kaffirs are made to be broken (Hudna). The word of a Muslim to a Kafir counts for nothing in the eyes of Allah. Allah is The Father Of Lies.
(from here)
My question at this point is: how different is islam from demonic possession?
(addendum) I thought this morning to add a link to the deceptive nature of allah and here it is.
“But they (the Jews) were deceptive, and Allah was deceptive, for Allah is the best of deceivers “

 

Effects of Multiculturalism

I was talking with spouseinbox this morning and mentioned the change I experienced from early elementary school to junior high. This was in reaction to an end paragraph from Hanson’s article here. “And as sectarianism spreads abroad, we at home still pursue the failed salad bowl and caricature the once-successful American melting pot.” I remember being in first grade and hearing about the melting pot which is America where people from all over the world come her bringing in their experiences and thoughts which when combined with ours, creates a better whole as the best from all will excel. This was abandoned to silence for a few years and then by junior high, I started hearing about how each culture was excellent in its own right and we needed to respect the value of each as they are all equal in value. I took on this thought in an English class in college where I argued on one essay that if all cultures were identical, then we need to leave alone the daughter sacrifices to voodoo in Haiti and make the British apologize to the Indians for stopping widow murders in India. In his book “Race and Culture” Thomas Sowell argues the obvious point that all cultures are not equal. Here is a short summation on the same. So to accept the premise of equality, one has to ignore obvious facts and allow for a myth. The secondary effect is allowing acceptance of previously unacceptable behavior because “of their culture”.
How many older individuals out there heard of homosexuals, bisexuals, etc before the 70′s? Granted, this is probably an inflammatory reference, but that makes the point well since prior to that time, these kinds of behaviors were not considered “normal” and now, they can’t be questioned. Islam, the purveyor of barbarism and religious coated totalitarianism is now mainstream in Michigan and supported by our State department. Our tax money is going to support an ideology that seeks to destroy the foundations of our nation and establish shariah law here. This is the effect of removing the melting pot and trying to ignore reality by declaring all cultures equal. We are not the equivalent to a culture stoning a 13 year old who had the misfortune of being raped and was punished according to shariah for having sex by being buried, and then stoned to death. If you are one who believes this is the equivalent of our American culture, please do us a favor. Buy a one way ticket to the shariah paradise of your choice, (Saudia Arabia, Iraq, etc) and leave the rest of us alone. If you think that the Mexican culture is the best, well, do the same. Get down to Mexico and enjoy the culture. We’re America. Mexico is South. If you hit water, head a little bit West and keep going. Thank you.

 

Another link on the subject.

This one has a few points which can be appreciated. Though I note that the truth behind the initial comedy is chilling. The only church to be destroyed in the attack has yet to be allowed to rebuild or move to a new site.

 

political vs religious islam

read it here.
I personally don’t see the difference. As previously stated, I believe islam to be a political system with a whitewash of religion. Mohammad found a way to make himself politically powerful and advance himself in the tribal system of that age. The philosophy of islam hasn’t changed and still uses the same methods today. Immigrate, lie, grow the numbers until a sufficient force is present, then revolt. Look at Michigan for a view of the latter stages of this process. There is no desire to assimilate to our culture, therefore let’s have them go back to the litter box from which they came.

 

From the Comments

from here.

http://investigatingobama.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-to-create-crisis-and-steal-nation.html

 

Founder’s opinion

I had wondered about the founder’s opinion of muslims and had no real appreciation of any comments they had made until I ran across this post. Apparently, John Quincy Adams did have something to say as well as Winston Churchill (quote in the comments). They were interestingly descriptive, but another poster on this same post had an opinion closer to my own. If one looks at the design of mohammad’s society, it has occurred that the design was one of dictatorship with him on top and a dedicated following. What better way to maintain a following than make oneself the object of religious fervor. Therefore, my description of islam is a political system with a whitewash of religion. The political system that has evolved is not quite the dictatorship mohammad enjoyed during his lifetime, but closer to the communists where there is a ruling elite and the remainder of the population vying for their handout. That design is so in tune with the progressives, I find it not strange that our left has nothing to say about the abuses that are so evident. The reason nothing is said is because they are birds of a feather. One uses the political system to achieve their means, the other a “religious” system. The end goal is the same for both: a society that is tiered with them ruling.
Lou Dobbs made a point on his radio show yesterday that caught my attention. He stated that the desire of the imam for this city location and none other was to make a political point. In larger explained form: (From here)

But also, and more importantly, the Burlington Coat Factory building is in a larger sense part of Ground Zero. The landing gear from one of the jetliners hijacked on September 11, 2001 flew into the building that the Islamic supremacists want to tear down to construct their mosque. That makes this building part of the 9/11 attack site, and will make the mosque — in the eyes of the Islamic world — exactly what the Dome of the Rock is: a mosque of victory built right on the site of the Muslim defeat of the Infidels. The Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, built on the site of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, are declarations of the superiority of Islam over Judaism, and its victory over Judaism. The mosque at the Burlington Coat Factory site, built on the site — not near it, but on it, because of that landing gear — of the Islamic jihad attack on September 11, 2001, will be seen as a declaration of the superiority of Islam over the United States, and its victory over the American economic machine.

Why this attracted my notice was he stated this was politics, not religion and that has been my impression of mohammadism. This has little to do with a cultural center for us and everything to do with declaring to the world that we have been conquered. I wish that point was made in the MSP, but won’t hold my breath because it never will happen.