We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ… II CORINTHIANS 5:10
On this beautiful spring morning here in Ohio, how about considering a Spiritual Spring Tune-up , or perhaps, even a Spiritual Spring Housecleaning? You know, just for greater efficiency, clarity, focus, restoration, and absolutely NO, greater peace and harmony in your camp is not selfish!
I simply must share yet before the Utmost reading a “profoundly secular” quote from the notorious Oscar Wilde that may well ought be another motto for “Life Long Learning Christians” continually seeking the relevancy of the Gospel in our culture. “It is what you read when you don’t have to, that determines what you will be (do) when you can’t help it.” Heard on the 9 PM Sunday night Hallmark movie. Perhaps a combination of errors to inflict truth!
Paul says that we must all, preachers and other people alike, “appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” But if you will learn here and now to live under the scrutiny of Christ’s pure light, your final judgment will bring you only delight in seeing the work God has done in you. Live constantly reminding yourself of the judgment seat of Christ, and walk in the knowledge of the holiness He has given you.
Tolerating a wrong attitude toward another person causes you to follow the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are. One carnal judgment of another person only serves the purposes of hell in you. Bring it immediately into the light and confess, “Oh, Lord, I have been guilty there.” If you don’t, your heart will become hardened through and through. One of the penalties of sin is our acceptance of it. It is not only God who punishes for sin, but sin establishes itself in the sinner and takes its toll. No struggling or praying will enable you to stop doing certain things, and the penalty of sin is that you gradually get used to it, until you finally come to the place where you no longer even realize that it is sin. No power, except the power that comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit, can change or prevent the inherent consequences of sin.“If we walk in the light as He is in the light…” (I John 1:7). For many of us, walking in the light means walking according to the standard we have set up for another person. (Ouch, though so true!) The deadliest attitude of the Pharisees that we exhibit today is not hypocrisy but that which comes from unconsciously living a lie.
This reading is so profoundly simple and true. Enjoy getting rid of the cobwebs you’ve accumulated during the chaos and enjoy living in the Son Shine today and always.
The other day a lady asked me if I had ever flown a jumbo jet – one of those huge birds that holds 400 passengers in its metal gullet. I almost said, “Yes,” but had to limit my answer to, “Well, almost.”
How do you almost fly a jumbo jet?
My good friend Roy Long, a senior pilot with a larger commercial airline, is in charge of a jet pilot training program in Miami. Pilots preparing to fly the company’s mammoth airships get their initial checkout in what is a called a “simulator.” It’s an awesome-looking piece of machinery which contains a simulated jumbo-jet cockpit. Housed in a multi-million dollar training center, it stands on tall mechanical stilts which move a few feet back and forth – up and down – controlled by then, a roomful of computers.
One night Roy invited me to join him in a training session. While the regular pilots were taking a coffee break, he gestured toward the simulator.
“Strap yourself in the left seat, Bernie, and let’s make a couple takeoffs and landings.”
While I buckled up, Roy punched a few buttons on the console and somewhere a few rooms over, a metallic brain clicked and whirled in response and went right to work.
We found ourselves on the end of Runway 9-Left at Miami International. The computer left nothing to the imagination. I’d never been in such a complicated looking cockpit in my life. There was the Miami runway stretching out in front of me – glaring white in the mid-morning sun. I advanced throttle, heard the engines go from throaty rumble to mechanical scream, spooling up to max RPM. My jumbo started to roll forward as a stewardess somewhere in the back greeted the passengers. Beads of sweat formed on my brow while the runway flashed under me. The airspeed indicator crept past 140 KTS and Roy called out, “Rotate!”
I eased back the yoke. We were airborne – climbing into the hazy blue over Miami. In the weight of the controls, I could feel the huge craft behind me. Sure would hate to land this bird in the Andes, I thought to myself. We climbed to pattern altitude. My copilot nodded as I circled the great field and lined up for the landing. Roy was calling out airspeed as I worked the throttles and controls – letting down for the landing. I heard the wheels screech a protest on the runway and then felt the weight of the plane settle on the gear. My feet were on the brakes as I reversed the engines. We coasted to a shuddering halt.
“Not bad, Captain,” Roy grinned. “Not bad at all for your very first landing in the L-1011.” Running my sleeve across my brow, I was warmed by a feeling of accomplishment. No hitches or hang-ups. It felt good.
But it wasn’t real. It was all a Disneyland make-believe. We hadn’t traveled two feet. We never went higher than our stilts.
And that, I am slowly realizing, is a parable of much of our Christian experience. We build million-dollar simulators. We climb in, sing passionate hymns with an electric organ that simulates 20 different instruments. We listen to exciting stories and even make emotional commitments. There’s only one minor fraud. W never really take off. There is noise and motion – but we haven’t gone anywhere.
“Spectator Christianity” has vaccinated us against the genuine article – participation Christianity. One church advertises, “ For those who want more than a Sunday religion.” Now, that’s the way it should be.
Dr. Samuel Shoemaker asks us all, “What has Jesus Christ meant to you since 7:00 this morning? Is your Christianity ancient history, or is it current events?”
God’s invitation is to mount up with wings as eagles. Why be content with a stimulator when you can fly?
Taken verbatim from Bernie May’s book “Climbing On Course.” This book was loaned me by Glenn Shoup who had served as a young man with Wycliff in several locations around the world. Last week during Sunday school, Glenn told me a time before JAARS was at the airport, Bernie May was at an event here in Wayne county with two other pilots in a helicopter. While touring the area in the helicopter, they saw an Amish farm threshing oats so they unannounced landed beside the operation. Since it was nearly lunchtime, they shut it down early and of course, the three were invited for lunch. It was the highlight of day for both Bernie and the threshers; especially when they were ready to start threshing again, when everyone grabbed a hold of the drive belt between the tractor and the threshing machine, and while tugging on that drive belt moving as fast as possible, they were able to start the tractor’s engine. That demonstration of physics prompted Bernie when they were ready to lift off, to invite several Amish youth and teasing them into thinking they could start the helicopters engine by simply spinning its rotor blades… but they soon realized Bernie was just joking with them.
Bernie May served thirty years as a missionary pilot for Wycliff/JAARS (Jungle Aviation and Radio Service) and past president of Wycliffe USA.
FYI, over the years, Glenn Shoup, already 83 years young, has blessed his Kidron Mennonite congregation during their Children’s Moments as well as numerous other churches, fellowships, and of late, Amish schools, reunions and their business events and dinners with his magical encounters highlighting front and center the Gospel message of salvation, thoroughly enjoyed by young and old alike.
The following is verbatim from the book’s Introduction by Bernie on Pg. 5.
Sometime ago a BOAC jet came apart in a thunderstorm shortly after takeoff out of New Delhi, India. All the crew and the passengers were killed in the crash. The last words spoken by the captain before entering the fatal storm were, “We’re climbing on course.” When I heard about it, I thought, What a great last position report – climbing on course.
“Position reports” are vital – for both pilots and pilgrims. They indicate where we are at any given time. Whether I have learned more about flying from my moments with God – or more about God from my experiences in the air – I don’t know. But I do know that as I have tracked the skies of this world – putting my confidence in instruments which have guided me through dark and rainy nights, or listening to a distant controller steering me to a final approach – God has taught me about faith, discipline and eternal values.
Frequently I have been what is called a “critical attitude.” That means the aircraft is in danger of crashing because of its position in the air – nose high, one wing low, power off. That’s me: nose high in pride, doctrinally off balance, and spiritually powerless. It’s a bad position report. But you know, more and more, as His Spirit takes the controls, I’m climbing back on course.
I share my experiences with you, hoping that you, too, will want to know Him better, and to learn with me what it means to “mount up with wings as eagles.”
I keep being inspired by today’s prophetic voices such as thisone and Jamie Winship, and a few others, calling out to us in our wilderness of declining enrollments, attendance counts, etc. about this CM renewal being re-birthed again during this plandemic, much as was organized against the tyranny of the British during the Revolutionary War Days. Winship goes on to say that this CM will eventually influence the majority as did Jesus’ 12 Disciples in 300 plus years to the re-organization of the Roman Empire… and how that was actually the seeds for the original “institutional church” that then blossomed into the Dark Ages and beyond… And, here we are again today, with yet another form of the original “institutional church?”
And you say history isn’t interesting? Especially today now with scientists admitting the galaxies are actually expanding? ( See Eric Metaxas book Chapter One of “Is Atheism Dead?”) And we thought our parents and grandparents saw it all? They didn’t witness a smidgen compared to what is in store for us! The only challenge for most of us is that we’ll have to get out of our comfort zones now and begin to pay attention to all the information and all the revealing signs happening around us. Or you will simply miss out. Perhaps rather like the five wise and the five foolish virgins. The door will be closed and the words “Do I know you?” will be heard. Major ouch! So close but yet so far!
Beware of spiritually sloppy perspectives! Perhaps you can begin by checking out this Clapham resource.
The following was a blog post by Mike Metzger, Pres. of the Clapham Institute.
The British historian Arnold Toynbee believed civilizations could be renewed because they have a spiritual dimension. It’s manifest in the “creative minority.” What’s that?
Historians have long differed on whether civilizations can be restored. Oswald Spengler, a German historian, said no. They are born, grow, and then age, decline and die. No exceptions. Toynbee disagreed. Civilizations have a spiritual dimension, visible in the creative minority. It can renew a society.
In 2004, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI) said Europe’s renewal depended on the creative minority. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks noted this in his 2013 Erasmus Lecture, saying America’s renewal depends on the creative minority. He cited the sons of Judah as history’s first creative minority, which raises a question in my mind.
Why only a minority?
The answer lies in the nature of paradigm shifts. Thomas Kuhn coined paradigm shift in his book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. He described how the scientific world shifted from Ptolemy’s geocentric (earth-centered) model of the universe to Copernicus’ heliocentric (sun-centered) formulation. It wasn’t easy, for a scientific community is rightly based on a set of received beliefs. Kuhn wrote that these beliefs exert a “deep hold” on the mind, forming an “assumption that the scientific community knows what the world is like.” Scientists take great pains to defend that assumption, often suppressing novel views “because they are necessarily subversive.”
Copernicus’ De Revolutionibus was subversive. But it wasn’t novel. Aristarchus of Samos had proposed a heliocentric model centuries before. But it hadn’t caught on because Europe was drawn to Hellenistic thinkers like Aristotle and his earth-centered model. Copernicus’s system upended Aristotelian physics and Ptolemy’s system. If Copernicus was correct, Ptolemaic scientists were wrong. Their jobs were at risk.
I know it sounds base, but this is why most folks resist disruption. It can cost you your job. Only a few are willing to run that risk. We see this in the Copernican Revolution. De Revolutionibus first appeared in 1543. But it was the works of Kepler and Galileo (1609–10) 70 years later that produced a paradigm shift. Before then, probably no more than a dozen converted to the Copernican model. They were the creative minority.
Uber is a recent example of a paradigm shift. It’s upending the taxi business. London’s Black Cab drivers are resisting, defending their turf. We’re talking livelihoods here.
Another example is our shift into a post-Christian age. It’s similar to the Babylonian exile, with churches becoming outsiders in Western society. The root of the problem is Western churches relying on Hellenistic ideas like Aristotelian rationalism. Think right, act right. That gave us the Enlightenment. It exerts a deep hold on the minds of church leaders who often taking great pains to defend their views. They resist what might prove subversive, such as neuroscience upending the Enlightenment take on human nature.
I witness this in meeting with seminary leaders. When they learn how findings from neuroscience upend their Enlightenment educational model, they routinely tell me “We can’t change. We’d lose our financial patrons.” Ministry leaders tell me they’d lose their foundation funding. Pastors tell me they’d lose some of their congregation. Can’t go there. I might find myself out of work.
The good news is that Toynbee was right. All civilizations have a spiritual dimension. When a nation faces a problem that threatens its continued existence, a small group of leaders comes up with an innovative solution. If the Babylonian exile is a precedent for our post-Christian age (I think it is), a few Christians—modern-day sons of Judah—will step up as the creative minority. They will place themselves at the service of their neighbors, seeking their flourishing. They are the hope for the Western church.
What is the Clapham Institute?
Clapham Institute’s mission is resourcing Christians for the next 50 years.
We’re developing resources for your kids. And their kids. And their kids.
Our resources include blogs, podcasts, books, and short videos. We also offer tailor-made planning, consulting, mentoring, and advisory services. We offer these online or in-person.
But why 50 years? Simple. The resources developed by the American version of evangelical Christianity over the last 50 years are ineffective. They’re based on the American interpretation of the Enlightenment.
This interpretation is over. It was popular from 1800 to 1815. After that, behavioral studies began undermining its assumptions. By 1900, the American interpretation of the Enlightenment was over.
The American version of evangelical Christianity hasn’t paid attention to that. It began in the early 1800s, feeding off the American interpretation of the Enlightenment. But the American version of evangelical Christianity is anti-intellectual, so while it was popular after 1815, it didn’t see what was coming.
It didn’t see how the American version of evangelicalism, based in this Enlightenment, is undermining itself. It doesn’t see that it’s coming to an end.
Clapham Institute does.
We see it in the rise of religious nones, the fastest-growing percentage of the US population. Nones imagine Christianity as “beenthere done that.” The American version of evangelical Christianity offers few if any effective resources for impacting this population.
We see it in the rise of exiles. They’re Christians who have given up on the American version of evangelical Christianity. Exiles live their faith outside the evangelical church.
Clapham Institute’s resources are effective because they’re based on assumptions predating the American version of the Enlightenment. In the conservative Christian tradition, we last see these assumptions operating in the Clapham Sect that helped abolish the English Slave Trade.
That’s why Clapham Institute is named after the Clapham Sect.
Who is Mike Metzger?
With over 40 years of ministry experience, Dr. Michael Metzger is a recognized leader in translating the gospel for a post-Christian age. He did this as a campus minister, church planter, pastor and, since 2002, as the Founder and President of Clapham Institute, based in Annapolis, Maryland.
In this role, Metzger developed accessible images and language for post-Christian cultures, especially religious “nones” and exiles. He’s served as a cultural analyst and mentor to emerging church leaders.
Prior to founding Clapham Institute, Metzger served on Cru staff, growing the ministry at Louisiana State University from a handful of students to over 300. In 1987, he founded Bay Area Community Church in Annapolis, Maryland. In the first five years, the church grew to over 500 congregants from an initial group of 18. According to a University of Maryland study, approximately 60 percent of the growth was due to people converting to Christ, many of them post-Christian.
In 1995, Metzger stepped away from the pastorate and began facilitating business and professional ‘open forum’ discussions throughout the Baltimore/Washington DC area. In 1997, he joined The Trinity Forum, developing Osprey Point Leadership Center, a 15-acre waterfront property on Maryland’s Eastern Shore that served as a gathering place for leaders. Metzger also consulted for several ministries in the United States and Western Europe, helping them re-frame their faith, as well as consulting for some of the world’s top companies since founding Clapham Institute in 2002.
Metzger earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Western Michigan University (history), a Masters of Theology degree from Dallas Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois. He married Kathy Tipton in 1981. They have three adult children and nine – yes nine – grandchildren who are well-loved.
I am suffering from a late evening compulsion to remind all of us of one of the most famous of Aesop’s fables, that being “The Goose and the Golden Egg”.
“There was once a Countryman who possessed the most wonderful Goose you can imagine, for every day when he visited the nest, the Goose had laid a beautiful, glittering, golden egg. The Countryman took the eggs to market and soon began to get rich. But it was not long before he grew impatient with the Goose because she gave him only a single golden egg a day. He was not getting rich fast enough.
Then one day, after he had finished counting his money, the idea came to him that he could get all the golden eggs at once by killing the goose and cutting it open. But when the deed was done, not a single golden egg did he find, and his precious goose was dead.”
And I can just hear some of you already saying, “I know exactly where Merlin is going to take this, Please NOT AGAIN! I just can’t stomach anymore of this America missing its mark paranoia!” As I said above , I am “compelled” and I make no apologies as I see and speak everyday with many clueless. The world’s humanity is on the ropes and down for the count. Or perhaps better visualized on the stormy high seas of life in a rowboat without oars, sails, or even an engine. Being without Christ’s awareness and His indwelling Spirit, we have no clue of our physical, mental, emotional, and especially, our spiritual vulnerabilities, even here in the spiritual breadbasket of Wayne County OH.
So, for America, what represents the golden goose in Aesop’s famous fable? Perhaps our nation’s “golden goose” could be likened to her citizens, created in the image of God, as is everyone on the planet, and because of the faith and wisdom of our nation’s forefathers, our citizens live with the freedom to create, work hard, and prosper. America’s liberty grants us both the privilege and responsibility to meet needs and challenges while pursuing our own dreams while assisting others in their meaningful pursuits.
Our Creator and heavenly Father loves to see His children blessed and freely able to bless others. History reveals that when people no longer recognize God in the first place as the wise, overseeing Father, they forfeit their freedom through foolish idolatry, selfish indulgences, irresponsibility, and insensitivity to God and others. When we fail to love God and our neighbors, we will lose our freedom and watch our productivity diminish. The inability to produce wealth and prosperity not only robs us of our own blessing but also prevents us from being in a position to bless others.
The noose that kills the goose is excessive control by any power other than God and the effective oversight given by free and responsible people. In America, this noose is the overreaching and excessive control of an ever-expanding, all-consuming federal government and its bureaucracies, along with freedom damaging regulations. Supported by the godless idea that the government can care for themselves and others, the noose is rapidly tightening and choking out the life and freedom that were handed to us by those who understood freedom, responsibility, and true prosperity. The excess and greed on the part of those who prosper, as well as the envy and covetousness of those who lack, are used to justify the federal noose being tightened, ultimately killing the goose that enabled us to be the prosperous and benevolent nation in history.Never doubt the father of lies is determined to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10).
We must remember that the same success and prosperity that consumes some people, leading them to be totally selfish, also enables those who have been blessed and prosper to assist the poor and needy. Those who work hard and succeed help fuel the economy by investing, creating business and opportunity, and producing the benefits derived from their consumerism. A person must have a measure of wealth and a level of prosperity to be able to purchase something they need or desire.
Never doubt that out-of-control people will lose their freedom to an out-of-control, all-consuming power. Truly free people will keep the Ten Commandments, including the first, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” (Exodus 20:3) and the last, “You shall not covet” (v. 17). Put God first, work hard, and be productive, while encouraging everyone to assist others. We need to be committed and consecrated to God, followed by compassion and care for others. When this happens we will watch America’s golden goose soar like an eagle and gratefully behold the manifest blessings of our God and Father. This will happen when we decide to put God and others before ourselves instead of foolishly assaulting the goose of opportunity.
May I share a simple Bible lesson? The prodigal son received from his father his rightful inheritance and then proceeded to mismanage (mostly squander) until he found himself in great want. The loving father waited eagerly for the son to come to his senses and return home, making things right. The prodigal returned home as a repentant son with a changed heart and the attitude of humble, willing servant (Luke 15:11-32). Problem solved!
In no way did the wise father give that foolish son more money to waste after he ran out. No way! Our out of control government demands that we continue to give it more to mismanage without first coming to their senses and finding every possible way to reduce government spending. If you want to rapidly assist the tightening of the noose that will kill the goose, just give irresponsible leaders more of the American people’s means to waste with mismanagement. Don’t attempt to justify this wrongdoing by saying the money will be taken from someone else (like the rich, our children, and those yet to be born), and that will justify the foolishness. It will not! It is easy to overlook stealing when the money is not yours.
In summary, a free market is a golden goose. It is a blessing of God. We must not destroy it in our attempt to solve injustices. Doing so will not raise anyone up or build back the broken any better. Such nonsense will only tear everyone and everything down as has been proven throughout history, and especially so, the past 150 years.
Again, the question that begs to be asked is “When is our silence-in-the-land actually becoming complicity?” Perhaps we are to ignore the rhetoric; and rather, seek truth telling dialogue with the “creative minority so as to impact the influence of the majority” as Jamie Winship instructs us in his You Tube “Turning Chaos into Opportunity in Every Area of Your Life.” (1:05:34) This clip actually accomplishes its title. Change your perspective and your life. merlin
This is the third such “INSP I RED” rolling text message video clips I have recently witnessed. All were very thought provoking for our circumstances today, one by a businessman, the other by a Jewish MD and intellectual. I present this clip as everything I offer: Strictly FYI, or For Your Reflection Today, Tomorrow, & Beyond….(FYRTT&B). This will likely never appear on CNN for obvious reasons. And you know from previous blogs that I tend to view Fact-Checkers as a marvelous idea simply gone awry in this era of censorship, perhaps even deteriorating to the level of becoming an idol for sloppy biblical truth seekers.
However, in the event you do have or know of a similar more neutral or even opposing viewpoint document, or clip as brief and as succinctly presented as Archbishop Vigano of the Catholic Church below, please do share it with me.
This clip features AB Vigano speaking encouragement to the Canadians, though now aging from his prior battles, yet yesterday was quite articulate, supposedly now in protective hiding and understandably so, who served as the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States from 19 October 2011 to 12 April 2016. He previously served as Secretary-General of the Governorate of Vatican City State from 16 July 2009 to 3 September 2011. He is best known for having publicized two major Vatican scandals. These were the Vatican leaks scandal of 2012, in which he revealed financial corruption in the Vatican, and a 2018 letter in which he accused Pope Francis and other church leaders of covering up sexual abuse allegations against former cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Viganò was ordained a priest in 1968 and spent most of his career working in a diplomatic capacity for the Holy See. As a priest, he served on a number of diplomatic missions before being consecrated a bishop by Pope John Paul II in 1992. (Wikipedia) Click on the link below.
Submitted by my coffee roaster friend Wendell S for our ever dwindling nostalgia crowd…
My grandmother always drank her coffee like this! I always thought it was because it was too hot. Do any of you remember the older generations drinking from their saucers? Then today I came across this poem that made me wonder perhaps there was symbolism to this coffee ritual…
Drinking from My Saucer ……
by John Paul Moore
I’ve never made a fortune and it’s probably too late now.
But I don’t worry about that much, I’m happy anyhow.
And as I go along life’s way, I’m reaping better than I sowed.
I’m drinking from my saucer, ‘Cause my cup has overflowed.
I don’t have a lot of riches, and sometimes the going’s tough.
But I’ve got loved ones around me, and that makes me rich enough.
I thank God for his blessings, and the mercies He’s bestowed.
I’m drinking from my saucer, ’Cause my cup has overflowed.
I remember times when things went wrong, my faith wore somewhat thin.
But all at once the dark clouds broke, and the sun peeped through again.
So God, help me not to gripe about the tough rows that I’ve hoed.
I’m drinking from my saucer, ‘Cause my cup has overflowed.
When God gives me strength and courage, when the way grows steep and rough.
I’ll not ask for other blessings, I’m already blessed enough.
And may I never be too busy, to help others bear their loads.
Then I’ll keep drinking from my saucer, ‘Cause my cup has overflowed.
FYI, or Your Reflection Today (YRT, and tomorrow, and the next day, etc
by Graham Shearer 02/16/22
Governments across the globe have taken extreme measures over the past two years to combat COVID-19. The rationale is always the same: This is an emergency. But do governments understand the implications of this claim? A perpetual state of crisis cannot be a stable basis for civil government. Politicians who continually appeal to this justification may soon find they have unleashed forces beyond their control.
It is hard to live in a state of emergency for two years or more, especially when it affects everything from the air in front of your face to your ability to travel. Throughout the pandemic, many have repeated Milton Friedman’s quip that “there is nothing so permanent as a temporary government program.” They were warning that the “exceptional circumstances” justifying emergency measures might prove enduring. Unfortunately, this warning has become our reality. Governments that were quick to impose restrictions have been reticent to rescind them, and many measures may not be rescinded at all. Leaders have learned that they can mandate masks, confine citizens to their homes, and limit public life to those who have had a certain medical procedure. Once leaders taste such powers, it is tempting to cling to them.
And even where some restrictions are loosening, governments are not relinquishing the right to impose such restrictions. This month, Scotland is set to renew the Coronavirus Act, which granted the Scottish government emergency powers earlier in the pandemic. If this happens, by the time the powers expire, the government will have had emergency powers for two and half years. Never mind that in 2020, the rate of age-adjusted all-cause mortality in Scotland was lower than in 2009. In Scotland, as in many other countries, vaccine passports, mask mandates, school closures, and lock downs appear to have become part of the magistrates’ governing repertoire—ready to be implemented again the moment the opportunity arises.
In an interview for Le Monde in March 2020, Italian political philosopher Giorgio Agamben said, “The epidemic has made clear that the state of exception to which our governments have actually accustomed us for quite some time, has become the normal condition. . . . A society that exists in a perennial state of emergency cannot be free.” Agamben had written previously about the concept of “the state of exception” in reference to the “war on terror” and the way that the threat of terrorism served to justify the suspension of civil liberties for a certain group of people. For Agamben, the novel coronavirus was simply a fresh occasion for a similar approach. Leaders used the threat of impending death and catastrophe to give the government extraordinary powers in order to defeat the enemy.
Nearly two years after Agamben spoke to Le Monde, we remain in this state of exception. It is easy to be pessimistic about the future. However, in the foreword to Where Are We Now?(2021), a collection of pandemic reflections, Agamben strikes a different note.
What accounts for the strength of the current transformation is also . . . its weakness. . . . For decades now, institutional powers have been suffering a gradual loss of legitimacy. These powers could mitigate this loss only through the constant evocation of states of emergency. . . . For how long . . . can the present state of exception be prolonged?
Agamben’s question is a good one. A state of emergency is unstable by definition.
The current protests against vaccine mandates in Canada reveal that government authority and legitimacy are more fragile than we ordinarily suppose. For in emergencies, it is not only governments who respond. The Canadians who are protesting vaccine restrictions also appeal to extraordinary circumstances to justify their actions. After Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau complained that the protesters “are trying to blockade our economy, our democracy, and our fellow citizens’ daily lives,” the Babylon Bee published an apt headline: “Trudeau Demands Protesters Stop Shutting Down City So That He Can Shut Down City.” Governments who claim that circumstances require extraordinary measures may find that their citizens also take extraordinary measures.
Governments cannot have it both ways: Ordinary times carry with them ordinary constitutional constraints on government action and ordinary obligations to obey and comply. If governments appeal to a permanent state of exception to elude the former, it will find that more and more people consider themselves free of the latter.
That is why, for the sake of constitutional order and legitimacy, government claims for extraordinary powers must cease. Now that the deadliest phase of the pandemic has passed, the real emergency, at this point, is the permanent appeal to emergency. The urgent need is for governments to abandon urgency and return to the slow, steady business of governance. Good jurisprudence and government depend on a return to precedented times. As it is, too many governments are paying the mortgage on their extraordinary powers with the capital of their legitimacy. If they persist for much longer, some may begin to find that both have been spent.
Graham Shearer is a doctoral student at Union Theological College in Belfast and a fellow of the Chalmers Institute.
Real Faith Stories #72 Jamie Winship – “I may never see my family again”
Following are my random notes minus the stories from this You Tube clip above introducing Jamie Winship with the minutes such as (5:32) inserted for quicker referencing. My spiritual mentor introduced me to him over two years ago and similarly to Carole Ward just recently, Jamie has opened for me spiritually new doors, perspectives, insights, opportunities, & responsibilities. Enjoy a life changing video. merlin
I desired to be a policeman since 8th grade, met a recovery nurse at 17 after surgery introduced me to Christ, wanted to be a policeman like she was a nurse. 1.) as a WDC policeman, was never to talk religion, NEVER, not even a review process for the infraction; 2.) no where to go to find out how to share your faith, areas we’re not even trained in,
Carried a notebook, Acts my model : in time I learned Lord, 1.) what do you want me to know; and 2.) what do you want me to do? When, in a dead end, situation without precedent I learned, 1.) God still speaks & 2.) his word still cuts.. we (church) don’t believe this anymore…The more we pursue the Lord, the further he’ll take us… he’ll keep (5:32)raising our level of observing his presence in our midst , plus then, he walks us through our fear out to the other side of it, actually we do not become braver, we become less fearful, we become fearless, not this macho, but very calm,
Then the Lord takes us to the next level, because we’re afraid of everything all the time, most of our decisions as humans are all self-protection and self-promotion, Christians as well, we make decisions based on fear, risk assessment, counting the cost, ….. What do you want me to know, what do you want me to do?
(6:50) Question: Give me example: We had an abduction of a 3rd grader in early 80’s when a kid vanished, 2 hrs late on the trail, I told the father “we’re going to find him” not an accepted protocol. Drive away from scene 3 blocks pulled over & stopped. Thinking “What do I need to know & what shall I do?” Can You locate a kid? You are a God of mercy. What’s your probable cause for pulling this car over? Nope- not gonna work! Where did you get the idea to stop that car? I felt the presence of evil! A training officer said “trust your gut, trust your gut,” that’s how cops talk about it. Why would I just sit there and feel bad after the moment of opportunity passed? Definition of obedience in OT is to hear (listen) and respond. Hear O Israel, the Lord is one Lord! “It is not here is a list of rules,” that’s crazy, rather “hear & respond.” Basically, I’d asked the question and God responded, other times I sat on it, not perfect, Too often we get stuck in the listening mode, always receiving & getting fed, so when it’s time to exercise our muscles of faith, we end up just sitting there paralyzed…too busy looking at other persons and how God spoke to 13:00 them, rather than to us.. God doesn’t want us to compare ourselves to others, he speaks to us uniquely, it is all about worship and abiding, I can’t tell you what to know, but I can tell you how to know, the goal is not what to know, but rather how to know….
14:00 Jesus was not about formulas, but how do we know what to do! How did Jesus know to talk to the Samaritan woman? Why did you even go to her? How did He know what to say? “I say what the Father is saying, I see what the Father is doing… It is not how to do evangelism, the Four Laws, how did you even know to go (14:30) to her? I say what the Father is saying, I do what the father is doing, otherwise you’re just imitating whoever.. For example, a person is motivated/prompted to say something by the Lord, but when you hear it, the Spirit of God awakened or prompted your mind so that you heard instead what you needed to hear for the task at hand, …. (15:06) Where does a formula play in there? Not to be locked in to a formula which is false, actually it is the mystery of relationship, based on truth-telling…..
15:50 Question: How did you transition from being a police officer to your foreign assignments in Islamic countries? A walk with Christ is always a progression, and an ascension, every human has a biology of transcension, of looking up and out, all creation is this way, never gets to remain stagnant, stationary, made to move and grow, changing, and be transformed by the “renewing of our minds, then you’ll know the more excellent way”.. as I was practicing this as a policemen, I was progressing into higher levels of interactions, relationships, and getting promoted by being creative with Him, if you’re not creative, something is not right…
(16.49) Phone call from a magistrate to meet a gov official who asked me “how do you do what you do? Had files of every case I’d worked… how are you closing these cases, like this one for example? I don’t think you’ll like my strategy, we don’t care, we do like your results! “It involves my capacity of tapping into hearing God speak, and doing what God says in these different cases” and the guy said “yeah, I don’t like that.” “By their fruit they will know you… we can spend all day explaining to the world why we believe what we believe, and all that, but just do it, we just need to do it, let the world see it, like my nurse when I was 17 in recovery, she never explained anything to me, she just did it, she was it, her “being” informed her “doing” and that connected with me, for years…
(18:40) Question: Can you do this in a Muslim country? 1979. Are Muslims different than other humans? What I’m doing works with humans. Just because you think Muslims are different than you, that is already your mistake.. already your strategies are failing…. Agent spins a real time scenario, JW listening as he always does, “I have the mind of Christ, I have the Spirit of the Living God inside of me, so I’m listening inside the Trinity to the situation, not just me, and I’m using all my past police experiences and what God has taught me, … and so I explained what we’d do… and he says “you’re hired.” Offered package on the spot, that’s how desperate the world is for new ways of thinking about things! Instead of conforming to patterns of the world over and over again. And so that was the beginning of me thinking of employment overseas….
20:22 This is God inviting me into the next level of who I am, identity on a higher scale, with greater risk and opportunity… I will not sign a contract with you because that contract alone with you will destroy anything that would work, it cannot be attached to foreign policy… so I will take the challenge but no contractual relationship. I cannot serve two masters…. It took me three years to prepare the strategy ( Moses of OT gets strategy credit) and the bad guys hired me and put me in their university…. and my wife and I did this work all over the globe for 26 years.. Mission explained. (23:00) Model was “Attack & Extract” during which time I lost my capacity to just listen to God and have Him tell me what to do… I had progressed into an academic framework in my mind, I left my “heart” and went into my “head.” (Amazing analysis and we all fight this battle… Question though is how often until we learn??) Conflict emerged. Got sloppy. Spur of the moment reaction I broke the law of the country. Notified I would be given a 10 yr prison sentence. Fear emerged and consumed me and the 6 member, Once our positive imaginations becomes fear projecting – Self-protection and self-promotion producing an all-consuming anxiety, all on me to figure it out, (30:00) trial account, why am I deconstructing all this stuff, Jesus didn’t do that.. God, I feel this is all my mistake, God’s presence confirmed my suspicions… I broke their laws, insulting their god, I on the spot in my trial asked for God’s forgiveness… He did! Returned to “What do you want me to know, What do you want me to do?” Welcome back Son from the religion of Christianity, into abiding in Christ?
33:10 Does anyone want to speak to speak on his behalf?
38:00 “Listen, I’m doing this for you. When you open your mouth to these pupils, you are insulting them, and their feelings. And I know what you’re trying to say, but you better find another way of saying it..… That is the word of the Lord right to me. Your job is not to go around the world and insult people, and use shame and guilt to convert persons from one religious system to another, you love those people, and you self-empty for them, and you sacrifice for them, and you love them unconditionally, that’s what Jesus does for people. I never forgot that lesson. And the Lord let me walk through all that just to wake me up. What is my goal here? To prove I’m right and they are wrong or is it to be other-focused, self -emptying, sacrificial, loving unconditionally?….. This transforms people, It’s what that recovery nurse did for me while suffering thru my ridicule 5 days. Not built on power and control, built on love..
That’s all for now.
Go forth now and live amazed, continually asking “God, what do you want me to know about this task at hand?” And that being answered, “just what do you want me to do about it?” >>>>>merlin
I find this article worthy of sharing as I specifically have not observed this issue reviewed in my usual sources nor do I imagine you have either. I may draw the ire of a few of you but that’s OK. We all need to be challenged continually, or what’s the point? “I believe by enduring the intricacies and challenges during the process of either learning or achievement, on the journey to our destination, is exactly what makes the destination ultimately rewarding and valuable to us, preparing us then, for yet, another summit.” (merlin 020222)
A good friend of mine, Isaiah, today brought the fact to my attention that our pastor never makes a reference to either political party – he just stays with the Scriptures… likely inferring I should do the same, just after I sent him a podcast that I requested he only listen to specific minutes, 36-50. I know Isaiah well enough to know that he may likely short circuit if he listened to the earlier minutes … which he did, and from the very beginning … and he did quit listening. No problem, I understand it perfectly. I once was there too and still struggle at times. Perhaps it was simply information overload. Isaiah said the podcast speaker mentioned “stolen elections, “blue cities,” and other such toxic statements that simply further polarize our country. He was also sadden that I would promote this type of rhetoric but that he still loves me as a brother. And I know, that he really, really does. He is one of my strongest supporters and I do send him my stuff at times to review it before I publish it. Actually, I try not to promote anything except to lift up Jesus (see John 12:32 from Feb 1 Utmost) so I do very cautiously share my ideas much as the Apostle Paul shared about eating meats or dietary practices to avoid offense.
So I know assuredly Isaiah and I are not always on the same page. So what? That’s life. Get over it. I believe as a faith facilitator I’ve been empowered by the Holy Spirit to usually rise above such relationship stress or glitches. First it is a choice, and secondly, and this is so much harder, is to so love the truth of the situation so much that you intimately realize it is not at all about you, but rather, all about them. That wasn’t cool in my generation, and regardless of the word for it today, it still isn’t. Actually, it’s impossible without divine help.
My off the cuff crude response to Isaiah went as follows: “Say, I listen to a wide variety of stuff. I ignore the rhetoric on both sides and go for the gold. From 36 minutes to the end, that podcast had a perspective of merit I find refreshing and needed today as together we strive for solutions. I knew the earlier minutes would short circuit you so I tried to expose you only to the meat. No offense taken. I have thick skin. Sometimes mining for Truth requires we throw a lot of scrap out the back door!”
Next, I addressed his comment about our pastor. “Doesn’t he have to promote or present only the idealized interpretation of scripture in his position as pastor? Otherwise the congregation in today’s climate may well be in near total chaos. I see no wiggle room for him currently.”
But then I go on to ask Isaiah, “But do you think I’m bound similarly as a member in the same congregation? What about the other members? Is there no other thinking allowed outside your “personally perceived truth box?”(PPTB). I say, for the church, and in this case, for me and my friend, this is where the rubber meets the road, in that we each may interpret and yet respect many of the “outside the box hot buttons” vastly differently from the stance of our brothers and sisters…. and just what do I usually do about it? Too often in my past I may have ostracized, polarized, ridiculed, etc., or if I were a more subdued Menno, I would just be silent; sit, soak, sulk, sour, and “seethe,” before I split to elsewhere.
Is it remotely even possible we claiming to be anabaptists do not practice what we preach? At times I actually believe we are some of the most paranoid easily threatened and divisive Christians out there. I should know for I was one of them for most of my life. But because my wife Loretta extended to me such unbelievable forgiveness, grace and mercy for 40 plus years, accompanied by some very unique life circumstances, world events, and a community of intimate believers that loved me when I was not really very lovable, all account for me even being here, and the fact that He is, still very much refining me.
I realized I was so very much missing the core and heart of Carole Ward’s message to the American church as she presented it in her interview in my 1/15/22 blog. At some future time we will delve much deeper into the cures for the challenges we all face daily.
All this is merely the introduction to possibly “drawing your ire” with the “manliness” article, which regardless of your position on that continuum, is a worthy read by John Daniel Davidson as presented in the Federalist.
I particularly found George Washington’s apparent plagiarism (perhaps mere editing) of these maxims originating in the late sixteenth century in France and were popularly circulated in America during Washington’s time. It is reported he began this document he titled “110 Rules For Civility” when he was only 14 years old. All 110 are listed and they are a hoot. Some compare their merits to the famous quote near the end of the 4th volume of Douglas Southall Freeman’s epic four volume biography of Robert E Lee, when he answered in response to an infant’s mother asking him to bless her child, he simply said, “Teach him he must deny himself.” Powerful words! A worthy identity garnered even if you never read the article!
Note Senator Josh Hawley and David Azerrad of Hillsdale College, both have links in this article. For some of you, that is well beyond your comfort zone and an easy out for you. I certainly understand. Blessings to all of you in your pursuit of worthy truths to guide your pathways into your unknowns>>>>>merlin
from his Lyceum Address on Jan 27, 1838, 184 years ago.
Against the backdrop of a controversial killing of a black man in St. Louis and seething rage across the United States, a young lawyer stood before a small group of men and delivered a speech that would make him famous.
“If destruction be our lot,” he proclaimed, “we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”
The young man was Abraham Lincoln in the year 1838. The black man was Francis McIntosh, a freedman who had been chained to a tree and burned to death by a white mob. The Civil War wouldn’t officially begin for over two decades, but the twenty-eight-year-old Lincoln already recognized one of the warning signs of an unraveling society: disregard for the rule of law.
Lincoln continued,
I hope I am over wary; but if I’m not, there is, even now something of ill-omen amongst us. I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgements of Courts, and the worse than savage mobs, for the executive ministers of justice. This disposition is awfully fearful in any community; and that it exists now in ours , though grating to our feelings to admit, it would be a violation of truth, and an insult to our intelligence, to deny. Accounts of outrages, committed by mobs, form the every-day news of the times.
Lincoln was not “over-wary.” His concerns would be played out repeatedly until the entire nation exploded into bloody war. Unfortunately, we are again witnessing “something of an ill-omen amongst us” as mobs periodically assemble in various communities across the country, emerging in acts of violence, theft, and swelling unrest.
We are experiencing the attempted destruction of life and liberty in our own heartland from coast to coast. It is all-out rebellion against the rule of law. For years we have seen blatant disregard of laws, from our borders to our very halls of governance. The root of it all is setting aside God’s Word, His Law, and disregarding His counsel. At this moment there are evil men who intend to set our nation on fire, burning up forever the greatest national expression of freedom’s beauty ever witnessed by mortal man. America, with all of its ills, failures, and need for correction from time to time, is still the greatest example of a nation established on the rule of law as revealed in sacred Scriptures.
Right now in our country, some foolishly zealous people are encouraging a revolt against the rule of law and accusing those who risk their lives seeking to protect our citizens as though they were targets to be attacked, discredited, and destroyed. Many are simply ignorant of the facts, but others are intentional provocateurs, manipulating the media and the crowd for their own selfish gain. Still others are agents of evil, stirring up passions to provoke violence, as exemplified by death chants against police officers. This is worse than nonsense. It is terrorism at home!
Again, Lincoln recognized this destructive spirit:
When men take it in their heads today, to hang gamblers, or burn murderers, they should recollect, that, in the confusion usually attending such transactions, they will be as likely to hang or burn someone who is neither a gambler nor a murderer as one who is; and that, acting upon the example they set, the mob of tomorrow, may, and probably will, hang or burn some of them by the very same mistake. And not only so; the innocent, those who have ever set their faces against violations of law in every shape, alike with the guilty, fall victims to the ravages of mob law; and thus it goes on, step by step, till all the walls erected for the defense of the persons and property of individuals, are trodden down, and disregarded. But all this even, is not the full extent of the evil. By such examples, by instances of the perpetrators of such acts going unpunished, the lawless in spirit, are encouraged to become lawless in practice; and having been used to no restraint, but dread of punishment, they thus become, absolutely unrestrained. Having ever regarded Government as their deadliest bane, they make a jubilee of the suspension of its operations, and pray for nothing so much, as its total annihilation.
After the tragedy in Ferguson, Missouri, President Obama seemed as if he were seeking to undermine the Supreme Court, Congress, and even our justice system. His remarks condemning police officers who were proven to have acted justly and his quick association with supposed victims who, when the facts came forth, were proven to be in the wrong, play a significant part in the lawless spirit pervading our land today. The president may have been playing to the populace, but he was undermining the very constitution he was entrusted to protect. Politicians toeing this line will win friends among the mobs but alienate an even greater number of honest citizens, as Lincoln noted:
Good men, men who love tranquility, who desire to abide by the laws, and enjoy their benefits, who would gladly spill their blood in the defense of their country; seeing their property destroyed; their families insulted, and their lives endangered; their persons injured; and seeing nothing in prospect that forebodes a change for the better; become tired of, and disgusted with, a Government that offers them no protection; and are not much averse to a change in which they imagine they have nothing to lose. Thus, then, by the operation of this mobocractic spirit, which all must admit, is now abroad in the land, the strongest bulwark of any Government, and particularly of those constituted like ours, may effectually be broken down and destroyed.
Lincoln took on, as we must, the enemy within. By our own disregard of the Word, wisdom, and counsel of God, we have allowed the enemy of life and freedom to set in motion a tsunami of moral and economic collapse destroying personal responsibility and true freedom. Good people – godly people – must stand up and speak the truth. Pure passion can be misguided and dangerous. We need, as Lincoln pointed out, “general intelligence, sound morality, and in particular, a reverence for the constitution and the laws.”
This practice of playing to the mobs must end. That means voters must repudiate any politician, regardless of party, who demonstrates this tendency. Instead, we must learn to come together in peace, calm, and unwavering strength to face the enemy for all who long for and love freedom, or we will watch it vanish from this once great nation and the entire world.
Our nation was founded on biblical principles. To these we must hold. These truths are our only hope, for as Lincoln concluded, “Upon these let the proud fabric of freedom rest, as the rock of its basis; and as truly as has been said of the only greater institution, ‘the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’”
Taken from James Robison’s 2016 book “The Stream: Refreshing Hearts & Minds Renewing Freedom’s Blessings.” All of Lincoln’s quotes come from his Lyceum Address Jan 27, 1938. Available at www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/lyceum.htm. See Lynching of Francis McIntosh Wikipedia for more details.
