Since the Bible has no standing in our courts…

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Eastern Canadian radio host and National Post columnist John Moore is glad that a California court recently overturned the results of a 2008 referendum (passed by a majority of California voters) that made gay marriage illegal. In his published commentary in the National Post entitled “The Bible loses again,” Moore can’t help himself from gloating about this latest victory of the unbelievers over the believers. Moore writes:

Six years ago when same sex marriage was a roiling debate in Canada I hosted a segment on my radio show where I challenged listeners to offer a single non-biblical argument against gay marriage. They failed utterly. True, there are plenty of admonishments against gays, pigskin and the mixing of textiles in the Old Testament (notably none in the Gospels) but since the Bible has no standing in modern courts these arguments are moot.

And that remains the raw point for some people of faith: they can’t find a legal means of forcing Bible-based morality on the general population. Sorry. That’s the price of living in a free and secular society. And if you can’t persuade gay people that they are going to Hell then that’s your loss not theirs.” http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/08/05/john-moore-the-bible-loses-again/

Of course, Margaret Somerville, who is called one of Canada’s top ethicists, does present a good secular argument that legalizing homosexual marriage dramatically alters the understanding of what has been and nevertheless remains the cornerstone of human society: the committed, reproductively fruitful relationship between a man and a woman that engenders, nurtures, and educates a succeeding generation who will in turn repeat the pattern thus ensuring that society’s continuation. Marriage has never just been about the desires of two people.  It has been about children and the future and faithfulness to the past.

But TheWorldTomorrow.ca is not about presenting secular reasoning or arguments concerning today’s issues to its readers. Rather, it is about using the spiritual lens provided by the Judeo-Christian Scriptures to examine the attitudes, decisions, and behaviours of our present world in order to see the implications and consequences that will logically flow from such attitudes, decisions, and behaviours.

Also, for the record, the WorldTomorrow.ca will on occasion correct error from people like John Moore, who misrepresent the Bible, its teachings, and its morality. While Moore recognizes that the Old Covenant or Hebrew Bible is totally clear in its condemnation of the practice of homosexuality (Leviticus 18:22; 20:13), he doesn’t seem to think the New Covenant or Greek Bible does the same. Of course, it does. But notice, any sin—including any sexual practice not approved by Scripture whether heterosexual or homosexual—gets the same consequence.

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:8-10 New International Version).

Jesus taught that an individual wouldn’t have a good future if he or she chose to live merely by the fruits of ingratitude to God and secular materialism—(Matthew 4:4; Deuteronomy 8:3-20). And when it comes to marriage, John Moore should note that Jesus quoted from the book of humanity’s beginnings (Genesis) to show that marriage was designed from the very start to be an exclusive, committed sexual relationship between a man and a woman (Matthew 19:4-6). A homosexual relationship doesn’t meet the Designer’s specifications. And anyone who refuses to follow the Designer’s Instruction Manual on how to use his or her sexuality will have very undesirable consequences (Romans 1:18-27).

But what will be the consequences for the nations of the United States and Canada as our governments embrace homosexual marriage and many more practices directly in contravention to God’s plain teaching?  This is the 13 trillion dollar question! Talk about a national debt. The answer to this question is simple and sure, resting on the fact that Jesus Christ, the God of the Old Covenant (1 Corinthians 10:4), is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).  What He inspired the Prophet Isaiah to write so long ago equally applies to us today in 21st Century Canada and the United States. Read what is coming soon to our nations as the price for living in a reprobate society that has turned its back on God:

For our sins are piled up before God and testify against us. Yes, we know what sinners we are. We know we have rebelled and have denied the Lord. We have turned our backs on our God. We know how unfair and oppressive we have been, carefully planning our deceitful lies. Our courts oppose the righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found. Truth stumbles in the streets, and honesty has been outlawed. Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who renounces evil is attacked.

The Lord looked and was displeased to find there was no justice. He was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed. So he himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm, and his justice sustained him. He put on righteousness as his body armor and placed the helmet of salvation on his head. He clothed himself with a robe of vengeance and wrapped himself in a cloak of divine passion. He will repay his enemies for their evil deeds. His fury will fall on his foes. He will pay them back even to the ends of the earth. In the west, people will respect the name of the Lord; in the east, they will glorify him. For he will come like a raging flood tide driven by the breath of the Lord (Isaiah 59:12-19 NLT).

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How our B.C. government and others profit from B.C. Bud

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Greed is such a simple motive. It’s been said for some time now that B.C. Bud, the illegal pot-growing industry of British Columbia, produces more economic activity than either of our major traditional but declining natural resource industries,  forestry and fishing.

While our provincial government has been ostensibly waging an official “War on Drugs” to suppress the seemingly irrepressible marijuana grow-ops, on the other hand, our elected politicians and crown corporations have been–in an ad hoc fashion–quietly supporting and handsomely profiting from the illegal drug trade.

Shocked? You should be! But let me clarify. I’m not really talking about envelopes stuffed with cash slipped from hand to hand under the table. Direct bribery is, after all, so socially distasteful. Though certainly, it does happen probably more often than comes to light because since ancient times…

The wicked take secret bribes to pervert the course of justice (Proverbs 17:23 New Living Translation).

But the taking of such straight-forward bribes isn’t the point of this commentary.  Then again, maybe it is? What I’m writing about is how our B.C. government subtly assists the B.C. Bud growers and other criminals with their money laundering needs–for a healthy cut off the top, of course.

Our government-run gambling rackets and government-regulated private casinos in this province allow organized as well as disorganized criminals to launder incredible amounts of illegally generated profits through these officially blessed gambling entities in order to get out on the other side “clean” money. For example, buy $9,999 or more of casino chips with cash from the latest drug deal. Play some Black Jack, make a few safe bets, and then cash out with a casino cheque. Voilà, money laundering 101! The now “clean” money can be legitimately deposited into the criminal’s bank accounts. Then those living from the proceeds of crime can shop till they drop and, hopefully, pay lots of HST sales tax for another cut to the government from their ill-gotten gains. There’s real financial logic to this moral turpitude.

For years B.C. gambling was a neat, profitable, and quiet arrangement benefiting government, criminals—and even many NGOs! The B.C. government in a cunning sleight of hand bought off criticism for years with generous grants to charities and non-profits that were derived directly from B.C. gambling revenues. By throwing around a portion of their take they were able to effect a P.R. miracle transforming parasitical gambling exactions worthy of the Sheriff of Nottingham into socially acceptable “gaming” that partially benefits the community. The only losers were those victimized and exploited by B.C.’s criminals as well as the collateral community damage inflicted on the gambling-addicted who can’t stop themselves from betting their family’s rent and grocery money.

But this week, however, brought a bit of trouble to this profitable quiet conspiracy of the ethically challenged. The Canadian Fed’s Finanacial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre (FINTRAC), which requires casinos and financial institutions to report cash transactions over $10,000, fined the B.C. Lottery corporation (a provincially owned crown corporation) $670,000 for failing to comply with federal laws aimed at stopping criminal and terrorism-related money laundering. FINTRAC found that the B.C. gambling racket had made 1,020 infractions of the law, and repeatedly failed to introduce a program to reduce the risk of money laundering.

To minimize the fallout from such negative publicity, the affected B.C. gambling entity’s talking head claimed it was just an “administrative fine” due to computer errors that caused late filing, etc.  However, FINTRAC said the fines were levied for a “persistent, chronic failure to comply with the law.” This failure to follow the law has lasted for years according to FINTRAC.

The Prophet Jeremiah looking forward to our days and the low spiritual state of our time described the lack of morals and honesty at all levels of our society. Jeremiah also predicted the outcome of such a corrupt society. Consider the prophet’s words. Do they describe us?

13-15″Everyone’s after the dishonest dollar, little people and big people alike. Prophets and priests and everyone in between twist words and doctor truth.
 My people are broken—shattered!—and they put on Band-Aids,
saying, ‘It’s not so bad. You’ll be just fine.’ But things are not ‘just fine’! Do you suppose they are embarrassed over this outrage?
No, they have no shame. They don’t even know how to blush. There’s no hope for them. They’ve hit bottom and there’s no getting up.
 As far as I’m concerned, they’re finished.” God has spoken (Jeremiah 6:13-15, The Message translation).

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Forgive us our debts lest we stagnate, default, inflate, or worse

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The Lord’s Prayer has been a classic piece of must-read spiritual economics for almost 2,000 years. Who would have guessed that its teachings would be more relevant to our 21st Century than Jesus of Nazareth’s time during the heyday of the debauched, luxury-loving 1st Century A.D. Roman Empire.  Do you remember how the “Our Father” prayer goes?

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors (Matthew 6:9-12 King James Version).

Since World War II the Western world’s governments, corporations, and individuals have accessed a seeming inexhaustible mountain of credit (supplied by the Chinese and oil-rich Arabs), which has allowed us to dig ourselves into what now seems to be bottomless pit of debt. Men may be born free, theoretically, in the Western world but our national and personal debts may surely enslave both us and our children and our children’s children.

The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender (Proverbs 22:7 English Standard Version).

In 1945 consumer credit debt in the United States amounted to a little less than $5.4 billion. As of July 2008, this household debt had mushroomed more than 481 times to $2.6 trillion.  This personal debt of Americans represents about 100% of the U.S.A.’s total Gross Domestic Product for a year! The last time Americans racked up such a high percentage of household debt in comparison to their country’s GDP was in 1929. As we know, that debt did not foreshadow better things to come in the 1930s.

Of course, consumer debt is just part of the American “what’s owing” picture. Some economic analysts figure the combined total public and private debt and unfunded but legally mandated pension and health-care obligations in the U.S.A. now add up to roughly $100 trillion!

Where will the U.S.A. find enough creditors to cover these present and future debts? The origin of the English word “credit” comes from the Latin “credere,” which means “to believe.” Historically, most creditors must believe that a debtor will repay him before the loan is made.  Does the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve really believe that his nation will be able to repay its borrowed trillions? Or has it become the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time?

Anywise, the United States has a lot of company when it comes to owing multiply times one’s national GD–much of the European Union including the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, and even Switzerland are in the same mess. Iceland owes 12x their GDP, while Ireland carries a 7x load. Canada has a relatively lighter debt of about 2.5x GDP. But we shouldn’t be smug. If many of our trading partners enact austerity measures, as the recent G20 meeting announced, Canada will be affected negatively, too.

Again, the Western world is in serious trouble. Economists know the deficit financing model popularly used by most Western governments, corporations, banks, and private individuals has unraveled on a massive scale. What the future holds, according to these economists, may be an unpalatable mix of stagnation, default, and massive inflation.

The best of possible outcomes according to economists would be if the in-hock Western democratic nations worked off their debts through a combination of budget austerity and economic growth. But economic growth is unlikely due to ageing populations and smaller future workforces. As for democratic governments enacting sufficiently drastic austerity measures to make a difference, most voters will never voluntarily vote for their own economic pain.

Nevertheless, a debtor becomes a slave to the creditors. Some economists speculate that what is needed by the profligate Western democracies is a surrender of some measure of national sovereignty to a new global authority led by a “free-market dictator” similar to Chile’s Augusto Pinochet. Just as Pinochet forced Chileans to accept the constraints of the global economy (privatization, reducing wages and social services) and to repay their debts (principal and interest) to their creditors, so this “free-market dictator” would make the Western debtor nations accept “neo-liberal” reforms similar to those imposed by Pinochet. Don’t expect peace and harmony as part of such a scenario.

Perhaps it is time for us, hypocrites though we may be in things pertaining to God, to turn to the Bible for a real workable solution that would preserve our liberties instead of embracing those false, secular messiahs who would reduce us to a 21st Century version of slavery.

Jesus’ teaching about forgiving debts is soundly based in the Hebrew Scriptures.  (He was a Hebrew after all!) Check this out:

1 “At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release of debts. 2 And this is the form of the release: Every creditor who has lent anything to his neighbor shall release it; he shall not require it of his neighbor or his brother, because it is called the LORD’s release (Deuteronomy 15 New King James Version).

Under the divine economy massive amounts of debts and global elites parasitically living off interest payments would never have the chance to develop. Our present situation of massive debts and massive interest payments merely serves to widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots.

But the God of the Bible’s economic plan went much further than merely cancelling out debts every seven years. In Leviticus 25:8 the Scriptures outline a 50-year re-adjustment called the Jubilee. In the divine economy all land belongs to God. He divides it up by household giving a portion of the nation to every family. Families make their livelihood from this land and only pay taxes on their productive increase. There was no such thing as a fixed property tax like today. Taxes were paid only on productive increase. Since the land belonged to God, it could never be permanently sold, though it could be leased to any non-family member for up to 49 years.  But every 50 years was a Jubilee on which all land and buildings on that land freely reverted to the family who held the original inheritance. And this property would revert to the original stakeholders without mortgage, debt, or other encumbering lien.

Give me that old time religion and it would completely alter our present system of intergenerational economic inequalities and oppression, What freedom! What liberty! What equity! What economic stability and fairness! And we think we’re “progressive” and the ancient Hebrews primitive?

If we want to avoid what looks like a miserable economic and political future of austerity and authoritarianism maybe we should take Jesus up and ask God to forgive our spiritual debts while we wipe out all the financial debts and mortgages owed to anyone and everyone in this world. We would do this in a massive celebration in the spirit of the ancient Hebrews 7th year of debt release. Then, maybe, we can re-divide up our nations to all the people who actually live in the land. These are two policy changes that would change the entire world for the better instantly.

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The tie that binds us: a question of leadership

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Canada is one of the most successful nations in the world. Why is this so?

When it comes to landmass Russia is about 1.7 times larger than Canada and has a population that is more than 4.1 times larger than Canada’s. Only 4.57% of Canada’s land is arable or suited for growing food.  In comparison 7.17% of mother Russia is fertile land. So Russia has an enormous advantage over Canada in both food-productive arable land, population size, and a massive landmass that is rich in exploitable mineral and hydrocarbon resources. Also, about 50.4% of Russia is covered by forests in comparison to Canada’s 26.5%.  So it would seem that Russia has a tremendous advantage over Canada and should be significantly richer.

Yet when it comes to comparing per capita income, Canada comes in 11th in the world with $29,740 while Russia only weakly registers as 82nd in the world with a relatively meager $8,920. Russian per capita income is just 30% of a Canadian! Such an economic disparity also shows up, logically, in export and GDP stats. Canada exports about $431 billion worth of stuff per year while Russia ships abroad only $335 billion.  Canada’s Gross Domestic Product weighs in at $1.25 trillion yearly while Russia’s GDP amounts to only $986 billion. The Canadian GDP is about 26% greater than Russia’s (stats courtesy of http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia).

Why such a surprising discrepancy? Among all the nations of this world, in the human development index (life expectancy, literacy, and standard of living), Canada is ranked as 5th among 178 nations while Russia lags behind in 62nd place. In the economic freedom index (rule of law and property rights) Canada is 18th amongst 156 countries surveyed whilst Russia is a pathetic 137th.  Obviously, in such a comparison to Russia, Canada is punching far above its basic national statistical weight! Why?

Why are we doing so much better than the Russians? It comes down to a question of leadership. Consider the past to understand the present, and perhaps to even see into the future.

The Russians brutally murdered their Monarch and their royal family in the early part of the 20th Century and embraced atheism as a national doctrine and Marxist-Leninism as their guide in economics. The result was a long series of brutal, paranoid dictators who oppressed the Russian people in order to control them and spent an incredible amount of their resources on a massive military infrastructure.

Canada, on the other hand, cherished its Monarchy and royal family. Canada also embraced for its theology, for the most part, Judeo-Christian religions with values that flowed from the Bible’s abiding respect for the rule of law and private property rights and a whole list of personal freedoms.

The effect of these different paths followed by Canada and Russia were consequences with very different outcomes.

Canada’s success and its foundational political institutions and documents are deeply indebted to the royal family for the solid cornerstone upon which the Canadian national enterprise has been built. The British/Canadian/Australian/New Zealand, etc. royal family has been one of the most successful political franchises the world has ever seen! Again, it has been a question of leadership.

Queen Elizabeth II, the present Queen of Canada and Canadian forces commander-in-chief, has been home with her people this week celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Navy, and our national birthday–Canada Day—on July 1st. Over 100,000 people enthusiastically greeted the Queen in Ottawa for this celebration.

Most Canadians of English-speaking descent are content with our present system of constitutional monarchy. However, most of the French-speaking are not so enthusiastic nor are those English-speakers infected by republicanism. For them the grass is always greener on the other side. But then we, Canadians, know that whining about the monarchy is as Canadian as complaining about the weather, eating pancakes with maple syrup or griping about having to learn to speak in school that “other” official Canadian language be it French or English.

The plain fact of history is, whether we like it or not, that Canada is what it is today–highly successful–in great part due to the role played in our national life by our monarchy.

The Scriptures have something to say about the important role of leadership in a nation’s well-being:

2When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people mourn (Proverbs 29:2, 21st Century King James Version).

And…

4 The king establishes the land by justice, but he who receives bribes overthrows it (Proverbs 29:4, NKJV).

Again…

14 A king who judges the poor with fairness—his throne will be established forever.

In Canada, our very human Monarchy has been the tie that has bound us to each other and to others scattered around the world, setting an example for good, mostly. It has been the tie that has sustained us through thick and thin and we should show respect to our Queen and those who govern in her name. As the Apostle Paul admonished Christians:

1LET EVERY person be loyally subject to the governing (civil) authorities. For there is no authority except from God [by His permission, His sanction], and those that exist do so by God’s appointment…. 7Render to all men their dues. [Pay] taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, and honor to whom honor is due. (Romans 13:1 and 7, Amplified Version).

So on the Canada day weekend, let us remember to show respect  and honor to those whose mostly good examples have allowed us to enjoy living in such a wonderful country.

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Mohammed, Murder, and Multi-Cultural Mayhem

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On June 16th delegates from Islamic countries like Pakistan, Iran, and Egypt pressed the UN’s Human Rights Council to order the UN’s Freedom-of-Religion investigator to adopt new guidelines to shield Islam from any comments being made in Western media that Muslims might deem derogatory.

These Muslim nations want stepped up UN investigations, UN labeling, and UN sanctions against what they call the Western media’s “Islamophobia.” They believe their right to avoid having their religious sensibilities offended by negative commentary or sardonic cartoons about Islam’s bloody weirdness should trump our Western free speech rights and liberties. In effect, the Mohammedans want to muzzle the Western media so that it self-censors like Middle Eastern media outlets.

So it seems that in the near future, coming to your favourite media outlets, Islamophobia will become the new homophobia for the politically correct set.

Ironically, on the same news day, June 16th, the frontpage news of my local newspaper was all about Canadian justice Bruce Durno sentencing Pakistani immigrant Muhammad Parvez and his son Waqas to life in prison with no chance for parole for 18 years. For Canada, that’s a really tough beaver fever of a sentence. Most garden-variety Canadian ax-murderers just get a couple of years in the slammer before being paroled for their good behaviour (sic).

So what was Muhammad’s and Waqas’s heinous crime? Murdering with their bare hands Aqsa Parvez, the 16-year-old daughter of Muhammad and younger sister of Waqas.

And what did this teenager do to deserve such brutal punishment by her father and older brother? She wanted a part-time job at a local Mississauga business. Horrors!  And she preferred wearing Western-style clothes to a Middle Eastern burka-sack. Scandalous! And, to add to these horrendous crimes, she even wanted to go to the movies. Can you believe the brazen nerve of that rebellious teen! So being the good Muslims that they are, Muhammad and Waqas swore on the Koran to kill Aqsa and so strangled her at the first possible opportunity.

At his sentencing, Justice Durno called Muhammad and Waqas “twisted, chilling, repugnant, and abhorrent.” I suppose in the near future the justice will have to temper his remarks to avoid being labeled “Islamophobic.”

The sad fact of life is that in Muslim countries Islamic menfolk think nothing of swearing on their Korans before murdering their womenfolk if they even so much as hear a rumor or have a suspicion of a supposed infidelity or instance of pre-marital sex. This is called “honour killing.” And a father or brother who murders a wife or a sister for such a reason usually faces no penalty in Muslim countries. So you can imagine how surprised Muhammad and Waqas are at getting 18 years in prison.

What I have a hard time understanding is why we Canadians opened the door for such Mohammedan barbarians in the first place? It’s not as though we don’t have enough of our own home-grown low-lifes in the first place. So why import more?

The answer, of course, lies in that wrenching shift in cultural orientation that Canada chose to make in the last quarter of the 20th Century when we proclaimed ourselves a multi-cultural country instead of a Christian nation. If we, instead, had insisted that any who wished to immigrate to Canada agree with and adopt Christian values to live by instead of Mohammedan values, then Aqsa Parvez would still be alive today as well as all the other women and girls who’ve been murdered in “honour killings” in Canada, Britain, and elsewhere in the Western world. For their only “crime” was in wanting to step beyond Islam’s strangling grasp in order to experience some of the freedoms and liberties we take for granted in our formerly Christian lands. Such freedoms are foundational to the Christian scriptures.

Christianity, of course, doesn’t encourage adultery or pre-marital sex either. Far from it! But practicing, active Christians understand that human beings make mistakes¾even serious, hurtful sexual mistakes. But a core Christian belief is that it is possible for a sinner to repent, change, and become a better person. This possibility of personal spiritual growth means it is our duty to extend forgiveness and mercy and to kindly assist in efforts aimed at restoration.

Consider this classic example of this Christian value:

Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, 2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. 3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.

4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”

6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. 7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” 8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. 10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

11 “No, Lord,” she said.

And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more” (John 8:1-11 NLT).

Unfortunately, Mohammed didn’t agree with Jesus 1,400 years ago and the followers of that illiterate Arab tribal leader still don’t agree with Jesus’ teachings. So it is not surprising that the Muslim Koran is very different from the Christian Bible when it comes to values like love and forgiveness.

After all, Jesus paid in our stead the penalty for our sins through his own shed blood. But Mohammed like most polygamous, tribal leaders of his day, shed the blood of thousands who stood in his path to power in Arabia.

I wonder how long our Canadian elite, drunk on their multi-cultural delusions will continue to maintain that all religious beliefs are the same. They are not. The personal example and teachings of Jesus and Mohammed are very, very, very different. Aqsa Pervez could have told them that. But for now her voice has been strangled by Muhammad. Still, her innocent blood calls out! Are you listening?

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Are you naked and short?

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Are you naked and short? Well, let me first clarify that I’m not talking about whether you are clothes- or height-challenged.  Rather, I’m talking about one of the current hot topics on the world financial scene that will be on the agenda at the upcoming G20 Summit in Toronto.

Most Canadians, if they know anything at all about the coming Toronto G20 meeting,  have only heard that we, the taxpayers, are going to have to pay a $1Billion event tab to safely throw this political/financial workshop and photo-op for the media and the leader’s of the world’s top 20 economies.

The main thing to focus your attention on is not the outrageous cost or the colourful, noisy antics of the anarchist protestors, but on the serious global issues that these leaders are trying to tackle. The real question is, “Will they develop a new effective, collaborative strategy to prevent our slide back into another round of financial recession, or perhaps even global financial meltdown?” The world’s financial system is on the ropes these days, to use a boxing analogy, due to unprecedented high levels of national debt and the  instability this creates in financial markets. We are on the verge of drastic and dramatic actions that will profoundly alter the world’s status quo.

On one side of the ring are the world’s leaders, their central bankers and financial ministers. On the other side are the world’s financial market speculators/gamblers. The speculator/gamblers have really been hitting some of these leaders hard.

The speculator’s blows are really hurting. In fact they’ve been making headlines in the financial world’s media: weakening values of currencies like the Euro and reducing confidence in the sovereign debt bond values of countries like Greece, Spain, Italy, Belgium and more. All this results in escalating borrowing costs and emergency bailouts, forcing the leaders to slash away at their national budgets in order to reduce the surge of red ink that is cutting deep and enraging many of their citizens. There is, literally, blood on the floor as a result of this bare-knuckle financial fight!

To fight back, leaders like Germany’s, Angela Merkel, and France’s, Nicolas Sarkozy, are seeking to neutralize the favourite punch of the speculator/gamblers: the naked short selling of certain stocks and bonds and the naked credit default swaps on sovereign bonds.

Naked what? Naked short selling of stocks and bonds is when investors sell securities they never owned nor even arranged formally to borrow! Naked shorting of credit default swaps is when traders buy swaps linked to bonds they don’t own!

In the old days market traders had to actually deliver the literal paper stock/bond certificates of the financial instruments they were trading.  These certificates were kept in enormous vaults located at the major stock/bond trading cities and were counted and shuffled around. But with the rise of high-resolution copiers, counterfeiting became a major problem so the system shifted to digital record keeping.

But the problem is the digital record keeping has been very sloppy and lax. Some of these securities being traded don’t even exist. And naked short-selling is simply selling what you don’t own and haven’t borrowed. This is fraud pure and simple.

In the old days the cautionary limerick for financial brokers and traders went something like this: HE WHO SELLS WHAT IZN’T HIZEN, PAYZ THE PRICE OR GOES TO PRIZON.

But rather than sending them to prison, we’ve been highly esteeming the financial market’s wealthy speculators/gamblers who naked short sell because they’ve been giving their clients high returns.  And these clients, of course, are the rich and powerful of this world, whether individuals, or corporations, or institutions like pension funds.

While the speculator/gamblers have been profitably playing this Alice in Wonderland game for some time now, it would appear that at the G20 meeting the European Union’s heavyweights, Germany and France, will push the United States, Britain, and Canada – the champions of unfettered markets – to move from their current positions in order to control what and how investors can buy and sell. They may also be pushing for a single world currency in order to take away from the speculators their ability to play the present world currencies against each other.

The world is entering uncharted waters of change due to this financial crisis that is not being resolved with the traditional solutions open to an individual nation or a small group of individual nations. Is it time to pay attention to the mysterious, and perhaps, controversial Book of Revelation to ponder where this might lead us? Consider the implications of Revelation 13:16-17:

16Also he compels all [alike], both small and great, both the rich and the poor, both free and slave, to be marked with an inscription [stamped] on their right hands or on their foreheads,

17So that no one will have power to buy or sell unless he bears the stamp (mark, inscription), [that is] the name of the beast or the number of his name (Amplified version).

Any attempt to regulate human greed on a global scale, which is how our financial markets work these days, necessitates the creation of a compulsory global system that all will require all players to participate in and obey.  Now, if God were in charge of such a system, then I could know that it would not be oppressive; it would be just and fair:

17Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty–emancipation from bondage, freedom (2 Corinthians 3 Amplified).

Unfortunately, I doubt the decisions made to deal with the problems in our financial system that will be made during this coming G20 and  subsequent meetings will exemplify liberty and freedom. The decisions will undoubtedly mean more regulation and more control over us rather than less. So, here is a reminder for all of us to exercise endurance and faith in the days to come whatever the news that issues from the G20 meeting in Toronto.

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Our present life: an illusion of stability?

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There are a number of financial newsletters put out by goldbugs with a survivalist bent that are busy prophesying to cyberspace about the eminent default of our financial systems and the resulting collapse of Western civilization and our present consumer/globalist life as we know it.

I don’t doubt that the incredible debt load of the United States is threatening the U.S. dollar’s continuing status as the world’s reserve currency—time is truly running out for the no-longer almighty dollar.

But it is now equally obvious that the Euro is not going to be the sweet alternative that could replace the faltering greenback.  This is because the European Union’s underlying financial contradictions have become all too apparent to many currency speculators who are selling the Euro short on the market and driving its value down. They talk about the Euro being doomed.

After all, how can you have anything but a soap opera or a fairy tale of a currency when you have one central bank with its single currency acting as the exasperated, over-stretched supranational husband trying to manage a polygamous EU marriage involving 27 sovereign wives who each has deeply ingrained habits. Each of these fractious wife-states has peculiarities when it comes to running her own household’s national budget. While Sensible Hilda and Prudent Gertrude may only spend what a no-nonsense budgetary discipline allows, Impulsive Athena and Romantic Maria will beg and borrow to shop on credit till they drop from insolvency! The only solution for the EU is a scary centralizing consolidation of Brussels’ political and economic power on the one hand, and the loss of national sovereignty of the individual EU member states on the other hand.

None of the above bodes particularly well for our future financial stability not to mention our political status quo here in Canada. After all, we play but a short, walk-on, secondary role on this world’s stage. We are not a major power. But, since most of us are neither central bankers nor political heavyweights with either macro-economic or governmental clout, we go about our relatively comfortable, day-by-day routines, assuming or hoping that today’s normalcy is stable and continuing for as far as we care to see into the future. But we are probably kidding ourselves.

On a personal and family level our daily lives are most certainly nothing more than illusions of stability.

This past week reminded me of this sobering truth. One of the pillars of our local church and the mother of one of my friends had a stroke. Then one of my 40-something friends told me that his doctor had given him some very disturbing medical test results.

A few days later while driving to my local shopping centre for an errand I had to stop on a busy two-lane road while the car ahead of me made a left turn. Suddenly I heard behind me the sound of screaming brakes as that heavy-footed driver behind me tried to avoid—unsuccessfully—from crashing into me.  In spite of a sore neck and jumpy nerves, I celebrated being alive one more day and enjoyed a little ice cream.

The following day, last Friday, my brother called me to say my 80ish step-dad was discovered by police 60 miles from his home driving on a bike path, not knowing where he was. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in an advanced stage. He’s now in a nursing home while his wife, my mother, who is  now legally blind due to macular degeneration , is now going to have to change her whole life’s routine as it is no longer possible for her to stay in her home by herself.  Everything in a status quo goes along until… one day, everything changes and can never be the same again.

Our present life in this world is inherently instable whether we’re talking about the big picture or just our mortal selves. And no matter how much we cling to the status quo with our fingernails dug in, one day it will all be ripped from you and me.

Surprisingly, the Judeo-Christian scriptures have something to say about what makes life more stable. On a big picture scale the book of Proverbs says:

When there is moral rot within a nation, its government topples easily. But wise and knowledgeable leaders bring stability (Prov. 28:2 NLT trans.)

The prophet Isaiah talked of a time when everything begins to fall apart and become unstable. He made a suggestion of where we can look to preserve our balance and peace of mind in a time of sudden instability:

Look! Listen! 
Tough men weep openly. Peacemaking diplomats are in bitter tears. The roads are empty— not a soul out on the streets. The peace treaty is broken, its conditions violated, its signers reviled. The very ground under our feet mourns….

God is supremely esteemed. His center holds. Zion brims over with all that is just and right. God keeps your days stable and secure—salvation, wisdom, and knowledge in surplus, and best of all, Zion’s treasure, Fear-of-God.

God, treat us kindly. You’re our only hope. First thing in the morning, be there for us! When things go bad, help us out! (Isaiah 33:7-8, 5-6, 2-4 The Message translation)

The bottom line for this Old Covenant prophet was that the only source of stability in a time of instability was to look to the God of the Bible. Not surprisingly, the New Covenant apostles taught much the same thing.

While focusing more on the individual who is faced with mortality, the New Covenant solution to instability is still to focus our priorities God-ward. We are encouraged to incorporate into our daily routine the spiritual wisdom and knowledge that really matters when it comes to how we live our lives.

We may be merely physical beings, depreciating assets, but there still is the possibility that we can convert instability into stability, temporary into permanent, and move away from what is transitory into what is lasting. Consider the inherent stability and permanence proclaimed by the apostle Peter that belongs to Christians who have wholeheartedly embraced the spiritual life:

23You have been regenerated (born again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from one that is immortal by the ever living and lasting Word of God.

24For all flesh (mankind) is like grass, and all its glory (honor) like [the] flower of grass. The grass withers and the flower drops off,

25But the Word of the Lord (divine instruction, the Gospel) endures forever. And this Word is the good news which was preached to you (1 Peter 1:23-25 Amplified version).

You have the opportunity to move from an illusion of stability to the reality of stability and permanence. Are you acting on it? Or do you believe that everything will just continue on just as it is presently without end?

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When stepping on someone’s toes results in murder

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On a pleasant late July evening in Victoria, B.C. two years ago, 16-year-old Mark Arrieta pulled out a handgun at the strident urging of his 22-year-old “friend,” Somphanvanh Chanthabouala, and shot at point-blank range three other young people, seriously injuring two while killing 20-year-old University of Victoria student Philbert Truong.  The shooting was the result of Chanthabouala feeling “disrespected” earlier in the evening at the Red Jacket nightclub by one of Philbert Truong’s friends, Thuan Le. A witness later said that Le’s disrespect was inadvertent, but literal. He stepped on Chanthabouala’s toes that evening at the crowded nightclub.

Quickly arrested after the shootings, Arrieta and Chanthabouala passed their time in the police station’s interrogation room by composing, singing, and dancing (in handcuffs?) a rap song that glorified another recent shooting in the news—that of a Victoria policeman.   Later, the judge presiding at the trials of Arrieta and Chanthabouala watched the CCTV footage of the accused performing their rap song that night and was struck by Arrieta’s and Chanthabouala’s nonchalant attitude towards violence that exhibited a “disturbing callousness.”

Most criminals hide their inner thoughts and feelings from the authorities. But Arrieta exposed his inner state by writing a bit of doggerel that was discovered during a routine search of his cell. He composed it while awaiting trial:

I ain’t got a heart bitch, I got an ice box…Packing for that action bitch u better know I got mine, Any type of situation, I ain’t got no hesitation, Imma real g [I’m a real gangsta] don’t compare me to an imitation.

A callous disregard for another human being’s life doesn’t happen all at once. After all, we aren’t born with a full slate of anger and hate. It takes time to build up a nonchalant attitude towards violence. In grade 4 Mark Arrieta was suspended for starting a small fire. The grade 5 teacher described in her reports that the 10-year-old version of Mark Arrieta whom she taught was disruptive, angry, and disrespectful. Before moving to Victoria from Toronto the troubled youth was involved in an estimated 20 to 30 fights. In grade 8 Arrieta was suspended for hitting a teacher and for bringing a knife to school.

Going from bad to worse in grade 9, Mark Arrieta rarely came to school and reportedly smoked pot every day. Arrieta’s last suspension from school in April 2008 was due to the now well-established pattern of fighting with other students and threatening a teacher. This last suspension from school came only five months before Mark Arrieta murdered Philbert Truong.

Like a missile veering off course, destruction was the inevitable outcome of this angry trajectory. Sadly, both Arrieta’s parents and the school system proved unable to effect a course change.

While awaiting trial, Mark Arrieta told the detention centre’s chaplain that his principle motivation in life had been to escape what he described as the “poverty” of his youth. He resented the fact that his hardworking immigrant parents couldn’t afford to buy him the luxuries he wanted. When other elementary students had something he wanted he became jealous of the material possessions belonging to others. He wanted money to buy the objects he desired.  After his last suspension, Arrieta moved out of his parents’ home, and into the alluring embrace of a “dial-a-dope” drug ring led by Chanthabouala.  Dealing drugs provide Mark Arrieta with lots of money and a like-minded social circle that shared his twisted materialistic values and his nonchalant attitude toward violence.

A long time ago the Apostle Paul warned future readers about what happens when a society turns it’s back on the God of the Bible and His teachings.

For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered, lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate [greedy] desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive (blasphemous, scoffing), disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane.

[They will be] without natural [human] affection (callous and inhuman), relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement); [they will be] slanderers (false accusers, troublemakers), intemperate and loose in morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good (2 Timothy 3:2-4 Amplified Bible).

Even on a purely materialistic level of understanding we know that you are, indeed, what you eat. A nation that readily promotes and eats fast-food becomes swollen, fat, obese—in a word, physically unhealthy. This is simple, observable, provable cause and effect. So, why is it that we can’t see that when it comes to feeding the mind “garbage in does indeed equal garbage out”?

Our society overflows with images promoting endless mountains of “stuff” to sell us. It “entertains” us with images of every sort of violent act on our illuminated screens. Why our society even entices us to waste countless hours of our very short lives in this violence-rich entertainment milieux via interactive computer/virtual reality games. Billions and billions of dollars are being made in this greedy exploitation of the gospel of selfishness, materialism, and violence.  The whole world (mostly) has embraced these destructive values. Why should we be surprised when a young convert to selfishness, materialism, and violence goes overboard in youthful exuberance and acts out the images in his head?

Chapter 23 of the book of Proverbs has a lot to say about the case of Mark Arrieta. If the people and institutions that had influence on this young man’s life had considered and acted to furnish this young man’s mind with the wisdom presented there, then Mark Arrieta’s life would have turned out differently. For, paraphrasing Proverbs 23:7, as a young man thinks in his heart so he will be.

What we think about and celebrate is of critical importance in determining who we are and what will be our future. Simply put, a good future will come to those who think about good things. But a bad future will come to those who think about bad things. The moral logic of the universe is clear. As the Apostle Paul concluded:

8-9Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies (Philippians 4:8-9, Message translation).

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Arrest the Pope? Pardon Homolka? Iranian Cleric’s Boobquake?

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From the sublime to the ridiculous—that’s the news this week. But there is a common link. Can you see it?

Two well-promoted British atheists, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens announced that they are paying lawyers to draw up a legal argument to persuade a British magistrate to issue an arrest warrant for Pope Benedict XVI, accusing him of complicity in covering up the sexual abuse of children. Is it imaginable that the Pope could actually land in the docket before a British judge over his role in trying to keep quiet decades worth of allegations about Catholic priests’ sexual assault or molestation of children?

As an institution, the Roman Catholic Church has always tried to wash its dirty laundry solely within the opaque walls of the Vatican. In this their non-transparent behaviour is no different at all from, say… multi-national oil corporations, investment bankers, or pesticide/pharmaceutical manufacturers who face their own egregious moral lapses or ethical failures from time to time. But, the Catholic Church is quite different from these secular mega-companies in at least one crucial legal point. The pope is the only absolute monarch left in Europe who has his own sovereign mini-state known as the State of the Vatican City. The pope, of course is also the head of the Holy See, the Roman church’s global-girdling administrative hierarchy. The bottom-line is that Pope Benedict XVI is the absolute boss of the most unusual, long-running church/state combo entity that the world has ever witnessed.

The power that the popes in Rome have exercised over the centuries ought to give Dawkins and Hitchens a little pause! In medieval times popes could easily humble the most powerful European kings and emperors. In more modern days Joseph Stalin once dismissed the power of the Vatican with the comment, “How many divisions does the Pope command?” However, Stalin’s successors might disagree with old Joe considering the Catholic Church’s powerful role in engineering the collapse of the Soviet Union’s domination of eastern Europe. Historically speaking, crossing a pope took a lot of guts—Henry VIII’s sort of guts—because it was extremely dangerous to do so. I doubt Benedict XVI thinks of himself as accountable in any way to lowly secular British courts or Church of England ecclesiastical courts!

Still, there are hardy journalists siding with the unrepentant, hell-for-leather team of Dawkins and Hitchens who maintain that if crimes have been committed, then there must be an accounting—even if it means arresting the Pope. I never thought I’d be offering this dynamic duo of atheism an encouraging word, but good luck, boys!

Moving on…. It would appear that Karla Homolka, an honest-to-God blood-sucking Canadian vampire, has a good chance of being pardoned for her crimes this summer by the National Parole Board. As you remember, Homolka negotiated a sweet deal that got her charged only with manslaughter by the government in exchange for her testimony against her ex-husband Paul Bernardo about the early 1990s rape-murders in St. Catharines, Ontario, of the teenagers Kristen French, Leslie Mahaffy and even Homolka’s own sister, Tammy. Videotapes found after the “Deal with the Devil” was struck revealed Homolka to be a willing and active participant in the rape-murders. The names of Homolka and Bernardo are forever linked in the public’s mind with depravity of the worst sort. Their crimes are the stuff of screaming, bed-soaking nightmares. An old-fashioned word to accurately describe Homolka and Bernado is wicked.

However, our legal system of pardons for past crimes will be available for Karla Homolka to wipe clean her record from all police databases. For many Canadians linking the word “pardon” with Homolka is obscene, a travesty of justice. The Conservative government is vowing to introduce legislation this fall to tighten the system in regards to sex offenders. Unfortunately, Homolka should be able to get her pardon before the legislation is enacted. Is our legal system just anymore? Criminals of the worst sort are literally getting away with murder.

Meanwhile in Iran, Islamic cleric Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi made the news on April 16th for this comment:

Many women who do not dress modestly… lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which [consequently] increases earthquakes.

The Islamic cleric’s comments spawned a reaction from outraged feminists, some 43,000, who signed up on Facebook to hold a “boobquake” day to see if an earthquake will really follow their scheduled showing off of their cleavage. Will God create an earthquake to punish us if 43,000 woman decide to strut their low-cut stuff for a day?

All three stories that appeared in the news this week have a common thread. The thread is justice—perhaps our frustration about the lack of justice in our society. We don’t seem to understand what justice is anymore and its function in our society. Read what the prophet Isaiah wrote some 2,700 years ago. He might as well have been writing about our day:

8 They don’t know where to find peace
or what it means to be just and good.
They have mapped out crooked roads,
and no one who follows them knows a moment’s peace.

9 So there is no justice among us,
and we know nothing about right living.
We look for light but find only darkness.
We look for bright skies but walk in gloom.
10 We grope like the blind along a wall,
feeling our way like people without eyes.
Even at brightest noontime,
we stumble as though it were dark.
Among the living,
we are like the dead. (Isaiah 59 New Living Translation)

But the purpose of this column is not to express frustration, but hope. You see, the great hope of those who believe in the Hebrew and Greek scriptures is that there is a world tomorrow that will right what is wrong. To bring justice to this earth is going to take a real miracle. But the prophet Isaiah foresaw that there is a person unlike any other who is coming who will establish justice. This person is known as the Messiah.

1 Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot—
yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 He will delight in obeying the Lord.
He will not judge by appearance
nor make a decision based on hearsay.
4 He will give justice to the poor
and make fair decisions for the exploited.
The earth will shake at the force of his word,
and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked.
5 He will wear righteousness like a belt
and truth like an undergarment. (Isaiah 11 New Living Translation)

So, when you read the news, today, remember that there is coming a big change. A good change. This will be a time when entrenched bureaucracies will not be able to get away with covering up systematic sexual abuse no matter how powerful they are. It will be a time when the vile and base will no longer be able to pull the wool over the eyes of those entrusted with administering justice.  It will also be a time when our daily behaviour, including what we wear, say, and do will reflect the way of peace, good, and light. Isn’t that really good news for a change?

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Should the Pope repent for his priests’ pedophilia?

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Responding to a swelling tide of outrage at the rapes and other sexual abuses perpetrated by many thousands of his pedophile priests, Pope Benedict XVI said at a Vatican mass on April 15, 2010:

Now, under attack from the world which talks to us of our sins, we can see that being able to do penance is a grace and we see how necessary it is to do penance and thus recognize what is wrong in our lives.

Evidently the pope found it too distasteful to explicitly detail the nature of those sins or to admit his own personal decades-long role in enforcing his church’s official Crimen Sollicitationis policy. The Crimen Sollicitationis policy instructed the Catholic hierarchy about how to deal with pedophile priests in Canada, the United States, Ireland, Germany, Italy—where ever in the world the Catholic Church operates. The policy’s main thrust was an effort to protect the Catholic Church’s reputation by covering up and protecting pedophile priests by moving them to new areas whenever a sexual abuse scandal erupted.  Keeping victims quiet was also part of that policy.  This was accomplished by using a variety of means including excommunication threats and hush money.  You can get more information about this by watching a remarkably well-produced BBC documentary called Sex Crimes and the Vatican. Please note, however, that this documentary will both enlighten and disgust you at the same time: http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/passionateeyeshowcase/

Proverbs 28:13 says:

He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy (NKJV).

It is interesting to note that the Pope called Catholics to do penance rather than calling on them to repentance. “Penance” means according to dictionary.com: 1) punishment undergone in token of penitence for sin; 2) penitential discipline imposed by church authority; 3) a sacrament, as in the Roman Catholic Church, consisting in a confession of sin, made with sorrow and with the intention of amendment, followed by the forgiveness of the sin.

But, according to Harper’s Bible Dictionary “repentance” is a word “covering several biblical ideas that range from regret to changing one’s mind or behavior so as to bring about a moral or ethical conversion.” I think the pope and the rest of the Catholic hierarchy could use a dose of real, heart-felt repentance and ethical conversion rather than merely saying a few dozen extra “Hail Marys” or wearing an itchy hair-shirt or doing without red meat for a month.

Is the Catholic Church’s insistence on making its priests take vows of celibacy at the root of their pedophila plague? More than a few people think so. The Catholic Encyclopedia’s online article on “Celebacy of the Clergy” (at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03481a.htm ) seeks to defend their doctrine. Yet even there they have to admit:

We do not find in the New Testament any indication of celibacy being made compulsory either upon the Apostles or those whom they ordained…

What I find amazing in reading their article is that while they know the original Church of God NEVER required celibacy of ANY or ALL of their bishops/elders and deacons, they—the Roman Catholic Church—think they can use human reason to create allegories or inferences that give them the authority to do the opposite of unambiguously clear Scripture! The Pope feels free to add doctrines and teachings that are, in many respects, burdens—big burdens—to those who follow him.

Matthew 23:4 They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden. 5 “Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels.

Of course, when Jesus gave the above description, he was referring to the scribes and Pharisees who were the principal leaders interpreting the Old Covenant Scriptures for the Jewish community in Judea. Jesus regularly took them to task for adding all sorts of do’s and don’ts to the written Word of God. Some of them grew to hate Jesus because he was calling them to repentance and to return to the simplicity of the divine intent expressed by the Holy Scriptures.

We know, historically, that the scribes and Pharisees developed and codified their “Oral Law,” which was a complex set of scriptural interpretations, rules, and regulations, that were eventually called the Talmud. This Oral Law or Talmud was intended to be a fence around the written Word of God in order to lead the people of God to more perfectly obey God from the Pharisaical point of view. The Roman Catholic Church has done a similar thing with their Canon Law by adding, for example, a vow of chastity that was never presented as obligatory by the Bible. Isn’t this vow like most of the Catholic Canon Law an unbearable religious “burden” loaded onto the straining backs of both people and priests? Why even the Catholic Encyclopedia’s article admits that the obligatory vow of chastity required for ordination is a “burden”—“You ought anxiously to consider again and again what sort of a burden this is which you are taking upon you.”

It is also interesting to note in context of Matthew 23:5 that the Catholic hierarchy like the ancient Pharisees love their showy religious garb and grand religious processions. Hasn’t the hide-bound, starch-skirted Catholic hierarchy just morphed into the modern gentile equivalent of Jesus’ former unrepentant, myopic, pharisaical opponents?

1 Timothy 4:2-5 NLT 2 These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead. 3 They will say it is wrong to be married… 4 Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks. 5 For we know it is made acceptable by the word of God and prayer.

When God created the first man, He said it was not good for the man to be alone (cf. Genesis 2:18). So, God created the woman and the marriage covenant also in the Beginning.  And the LORD God also said that this was very good. Indeed, He blessed their sexuality and reproduction (cf. Genesis 1:28)!

Any person who wants to approach the throne of the living God must be repentant instead of proud, covering up his sins. And, such a person must be prepared to live by every word that comes from the mouth of God instead of substituting human reason for Holy Scripture. This is an essential point for any person or organization that truly wants to be Christian in fact and not just in name.

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