Evil In Our Midst -- some thoughts.

 

Courtesy: Brock University photo.

Deuteronomy Chapter 17, Part 1: Only the Best for God; and Purge Evil from Our Midst 

Deuteronomy 17:1-7 – Gems and Thoughts from the Passage

This passage, the first 7 verses of Deuteronomy chapter 17, and in fact down to verse 13, is not even given a heading title by the publisher of my bible. Let’s look at the first two.

In verse 1, the Israelites were told that when it came to sacrificing animals to God, nothing but the best would do. No animals with any blemishes were permitted. Simple lesson for us – when we give to God or to others because we love God, do we give the best. Our church had a food drive these last two weeks and recommended some items we could bring in. When my wife and I went shopping, admittedly these items were not ones that we buy at this stage of our lives. But in picking each one, we didn’t go for the cheapest – we went for the best of the choices before us. In participating in this food drive for those less fortunate than ourselves, we were giving to God. And He should always get the best.

Verses 2 to 5 require the Israelites to take action upon hearing that someone has done evil “in the sight of the Lord” by “worshipping other gods”. People like that “in your midst” are to be dealt with. In those days, the requirement was that they be stoned to death. But not before the matter was thoroughly investigated and actually found to be true. In fact, two witnesses were required to find someone guilty (vs. 6). Of course, today, no one can go out and stone someone else. But the point here is that God does not want us to tolerate sin, certainly idolatry, in our midst. For us that may be our family, our church, etc. We need to ask ourselves how much we are tolerating today that God would not want us to tolerate?

This is a big issue for many Christians today and for many families. As younger generations are moving away from God, are older generations having to be more tolerant of things that would fall under these few verses? A few words of caution here.

First, make sure that what you find intolerable is indeed a sin against God and not just something you do not like, or something you would never think of doing. Second, never lose sight of the importance of loving the sinner unquestionably while you may detest the sin. Third, make sure you are being led by the Holy Spirit in your actions in these matters, and not by your emotions or preferences for personal or other reasons.

Remember the whole point of verses 2 to 7 is to “purge the evil from (our) midst”. It is not necessarily to do away with the transgressor. This is a place where one can use James Dobson’s “tough love” philosophy. “Friend, son, daughter, spouse, I love you and I always will. I don’t want to lose you, but you realize that I cannot, nor will I, condone your behavior.”

Life is so complicated these days. Increased sin has crept in to all our lives. We face it all the time. A teenager got carried away on their cellphone and forgot they had an on-line class until well into the class. They got on it and simply said, “Sorry for being late; I was having trouble with my wi-fi.” That was a blatant lie. When challenged, they responded, “My teacher wouldn’t have accepted anything less.” The fact remains they didn’t have to lie. “Sorry for being late” may well have sufficed. Any adult aware of the situation would want that “evil” (the sin of lying) purged for their midst. But today, those lies of convenience aren’t even considered as lies. Life is indeed complicated these days.

May God give us all grace and wisdom to stand up, in His way, to the evil in our midst.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Examining Jesus’ Humanly Outrageous Statements

A Man Who Told Us The Truth

Author: Will Davis, Jr.

Published by: Sangre de Christo, Austin, Texas, 2016

Will Davis, Jr., an American Pastor takes all of Christ’s seemingly outrageous statements and dissects them one by one for the skeptics. All he asks in return is that we answer his questions on what he proposes. The book is about “ultimate summits” and “wrestles with questions of truth and spiritual realities”.

Davis tackles Christ’s “I am Truth” statement and the more objectionable one which claims “I am the only way to God the Father.” He cautions us that to do justice to the investigation of Jesus’ claim, we cannot in any way dilute them. We must examine them as He stated them, using no substitutes or making any excuses as to what He meant to say.

The author shows us time and again how many of Christ’s statements, not just those about Him and His Father (God), were countercultural, counter theological and counter to everything previously taught about God.

There is an interesting section in the book that deals with how often the reader’s experience with his/her own father (or lack thereof) plays out with respect to their perception of God, as a Father. He pulls no punches here.  Well worth reading the book just for that. Tied to that discourse is Davis’ take on how Jesus Himself may have gotten His own impression about His Father.

Other topics Jesus spoke about and thus ones the author addresses are His views with respect to evil and the devil, love, and heaven. Davis’ logic is most thought-provoking at times, such as when he wonders what’s left with respect to evil and its source, if Jesus were wrong about the devil? Who’s left to blame, he asks? And suggests that it may be “us”. Related to this area, Davis also connects Jesus’ being right or wrong to how well evolutionary theory handles the implications. He writes, “Evolution bets the farm on the material world being all there is.” And then he takes it much further.

Jesus talked a lot about “love” and the author tells us that Christ’s love was intended to be – lopsided. It cannot be ‘expected’ to be returned. He writes, “It is unconditional, unmerited, unearned and unmeasured love. It is unjustified love.” Davis says that’s what Jesus was talking about and that’s what He gave to His disciples and wanted them to give to others. That’s how they’re to be known as His.

Turning his attention to ‘heaven’, Davis gives some compelling arguments that not only are we incomplete without it, but that heaven itself is incomplete without us. His reasoning will surprise you but it does make sense. Here’s a clue. Ask yourself why Jesus wept over His dead friend Lazarus when He knew He was about to raise him from the dead just minutes later? And the answer Davis provides to that question has a significant impact on the very moment of our own deaths.

Interestingly, Davis says Jesus never claimed to be a religious leader nor intend to establish a religion. In fact, he shows us how Jesus hated religion. But Davis goes one step beyond what one normally hears from pastors; he actually deals at great length with the issue of “what about the millions that have died or are dying having never heard about Jesus?” You’ll need to read the book for his answer.  Suffice it to say that while I was surprised by it, I can also buy into it.

The book needs to be read, enjoyed, and appreciated from the perspective of someone searching for the Truth. Believers need to read it and then buy copies to give those they care about sharing the Truth with. Highly recommended.

* Ken B. Godevenos, President, Accord Resolutions Services Inc., Toronto, Ontario, September 24, 2016. www.accordconsulting.com

*  Get the book here: http://astore.amazon.com/accorconsu-20

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A Time to Help Your Enemy -- Exodus 23:4-5

Exodus 23:4-5: “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey wandering away, you shall surely return it to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you shall refrain from leaving it to him, you shall surely release it with him.”

For most of us, unless we travel to a second or third world country, the chances of seeing an ox or a donkey are very slim.  For us, these verses have to be considered in two ways: First, what was God saying to His people in the dessert after they had fled from Egypt and second, what are we to do with these verses today?  I cannot help but feel that God’s direction is congruent to both the Israelites and us.

Here is the bottom line: Yes, an individual or a group may be your enemy. But if you come across something of theirs that is where it should not be because they left it behind, or lost it, or had it stolen from them, or however else it got there – you are to return it to them.

If I am negotiating a collective agreement with a union on behalf of a company client and someone on the union team leaves their personal notes or strategy behind, I believed it is my responsibility to return it to them without looking at the content. I remember once that I was sending a strategic email on negotiations to my client, but had accidently included the union in the distribution. Fortunately, when the union administrative secretary received the email, she knew it was not meant for them, and called me. It turned out she was a wonderful Christian lady from our church who knew me. She assured me the email was not sent on to the union negotiators. She did the right thing.

God expects us to take corrective action. He says, if you come across some property belonging to your enemy that is not where it should be, “go out of your way and return it to him”.  How many of us would do just that?  How many of us would more likely rejoice in knowing that our enemy is getting his just desserts?  “He deserves this,” many of us would say.  There is much that we may feel our enemies deserve. But God is saying, “Look, this is not about your enemy. This is about you doing the right thing. I will take care of your situation with your enemy, but you need to do the right thing.” Many of us have had to do just that in our lives when it comes to dealing with our enemies. Trusting God to take care of our situation, our position, and our need – but in the process being careful to do the right things.

And then God says there will be times when we have to go beyond the little effort of returning a lost oxen or donkey, or cat or dog, which is not too difficult or onerous. We may actually notice that something belonging to our enemy is in trouble, not just lost.  His animal or pet may be caught in a fire or trapped or injured.  His automobile may have skid off the road on a patch of ice or suffered a flat tire (and yes, even with our enemy or one of his family members driving it). God is basically saying, “Get out of your house; get out of your own carriage, and help your enemy deal with his animal or his car.” Can you do that? That’s what God is telling us to do.

You see, by doing that, you are not condoning what your enemy has done (he may even have been drunk while driving) or what he thinks or what he says about you or God or anything else. You are simply doing what you are called to do.

I love the last phrase of this passage “you shall surely release it with him.” You are to do it with him. God says you can work with your enemy to do what is right for you to do.  Who knows, maybe because you have worked with him, he will see you in a different light or maybe he will see the God you worship and serve in a different light. That does not mean you have to give in to his wrongdoing or beliefs, or to condone his actions. It simply means you have to do for your enemy what God expects you to do for all human beings.

Can God’s instructions get any more difficult? Blessed is the person who can work with that philosophy of “working with one’s enemy”.  There will be times when your enemy is hungry – feed him.  There will be times when your enemy is thirsty – give him drink. If you are a doctor, you may even be called upon to save his life. All of that is not about your enemy and his or her wrongdoing; it is about your right doing before God.  That is what the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Romans in chapter 12, verses 20 and 21 calls us to do.  We are to overcome the evil of someone else’s actions with the good of our actions – because of our relationship with God.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Joseph The Potential Judge, Responds - Genesis 50:18-21

Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.”  But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place?  And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.  So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.”  So he confronted them and spoke kindly to them.

You will remember in the passage before this one, the Bible says the brothers “sent a message” to Joseph concerning their newly resurfaced fear.  We do not know whether that was through a chosen brother to represent them all, or through someone else.  But here it is clear that all the brothers came to see Joseph, either at his request, or on their own, at some point after he had received the original message.

And when they went, they went humbly.  They bowed down before Joseph and simply acknowledged that they were in his hands and were there as his servants to do as he wished.  I see a picture here that somehow resembles our relationship to God and His Son.  Man has sinned against God and fears for his own wellbeing.  He recognizes his errant ways and realizes his need for a Savior.  He approaches the Almighty with all humility and agrees to serve Him.  And like Joseph, God accepts us as members of His family.  The parallelism is striking.

This short passage of Scripture also contains one of the most quoted lines of the Old Testament – “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.”  Put another way, God used sinful man (the brothers) to pursue evil ends (the elimination of Joseph) to achieve His desired ends (Joseph ending up leader in Egypt) for the purpose of saving the lives of many (the Israelites in Egypt).  Something that struck me odd here is the use of the phrase “God meant it”.  In my current thinking I would have found it much more conducive to my theological exposure if the text had said “but God allowed it”.  Some of us have always found it hard to accept the idea that God orchestrates “bad things to happen to good people”.  But perhaps this verse is suggesting otherwise.  If so, I am okay with this.  After all, God is God and He can do whatever He wants to.  I believe that is the most crucial admission that any man or woman or child can make whether one is a Christian or not.   The non-Christian may not like it.  The Christian will soon find that it is the only way he or she can accept what is going on in the world today.

Joseph is telling his brothers that because it was God that not only was involved in, but also was the One Who was in control of, the situation, they should not be afraid.  His job is to forgive them and to provide for them and their families like a loving older brother or father.  And the Bible says the brothers were faced with those facts and were spoken to kindly.

As I thought about this at the time of writing, I wondered how I could apply the lesson of this passage to my own life.  What was I particularly concerned about, even to the point of fear?  Well, to be totally honest with you – it is the march of radical non-tolerant Islam across the face of earth.  I see it coming like a twister tornado at full speed and I am distraught, to say the least, as to why not only our western politicians but also our own Christian leaders are doing nothing about it.  And if not that, why nothing significant is being done about the treatment of Christians in countries where Muslims already make up 51% or more of the population?

If I take my own advice, I have to realize that God is indeed involved.  In fact, He is in control.  Maybe I think this world movement is meant for my evil but maybe God intends it to be for not only my good, but as a means to bring out about the salvation of many, both Muslims and others.  What I have to do is “therefore, not be afraid” and know that God will provide for “me and my little ones”.  I must admit that is a very hard place to get to, at least for me.

You probably have your own fear or two.  Together we must find within us the means by which we get to that place.  For the Christian, that means is the indwelling of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Secondly, we must realize His presence within us provides us the means by which we can remain there.

[Are you looking for a speaker at your church, your club, school, or organization? Ken is available to preach, teach, challenge, and/or motivate. Please contact us.]

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The Marketing of Evil - Part VII -- The Media

David Kupelian has written an excellent book on "The Marketing of Evil". I'm working my way through it slowly and sharing some of his thoughts. But you won't get the full impact of his writing until you read the whole book. Here's another installment of my synopsis of the book, this time on the matter of the media.

Kupelian gives us some examples as to how mainstream media goes totally against the public. For example, take Ronald Reagan. The people loved him, the media hated him (and he gives quote after quote to back this up). But when he died, the media couldn't stop gushing all over him calling him the "Great Communicator" and quoting his now famous line, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."

Kupleian than takes his readers to the movie, "The Matrix" and uses it as a parallel to the various "matrices" we all get caught in, with special emphasis on the "evolution matrix". The Matrix is all about contradictions. He also gives example after example of contradictions in the life vs. the platform of John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate against George Bush. He exposes how the media hid things from the public.

Kupelian writes, "...the more God diminishes in our lives, the more government has to rise to take His place. As William Penn said, 'Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants.'"

Kupelian continues, ". . .when people have a real moment-to-moment relationship -- with 'fear and trembling,' as the Good Book says -- with the Living God, they do not look to government to solve all of their problems."

Then he moves to more of the political scene where he describes the role of playing Israel as the "aggressor Goliath" going to pick on the young and unarmed "Arab David". With great detail he exposes the irrationality and insanity of such a thought. Well worth the chapter alone.

But let's move on to the established church, the Catholic Church in this case and see how that ties in with the Boy Scouts of America. Kupelian shows how the media can distort reality. The clergy sex scandal was referred to as a story about "Pedophile Priests". That's convenient says Kupelian but not true. The actual scandal was about "sexual seductions of teenage boys by predatory homosexual men". He gives data from lawyers indicating that 85 per cent of the victims were teenage boys. The media was flaming irate at the fact the church was protecting these "pedophile priests" (but would not refer to them as homosexuals mind you). Yet, they also went ballistic over the so-called "discriminatory" policy of the Boys Scouts of America because they would not allow declared homosexuals to become leaders. So much so, that they managed to mobilize dozens of organizations and corporations, fifty United Way agencies, some local governments and school districts, to withdraw Scout funding or to declare the organization as prejudiced and bigoted. What a hypocrisy.

Kupelian asks the question, "What's behind all this and why does it happen?" You'll need to read the chapter, but let me give you some of his thoughts. Read the following carefully and see if this was not / is not true in your life: "With the promise of reward and/or the threat of punishment -- through intimidation, false love, cruelty, seduction, and endless other ways people appeal to the various hidden weaknesses in all of us -- our lives are shaped and molded by outside influences. In a sense, I'm describing the very machinery of life within the matrix that all of us -- even the most decent and noble -- get caught up in to one degree or another."

He appeals to us to become informed and become "free" of the matrix we have been caught in. Read this book for yourself and for your family.

I approach Kupelian's next chapter called "Blood Confessions: How Lying Marketers Sold America on Unrestricted Abortion" with great angst. See you soon. Your thoughts and comments are always appreciated, either right here on the blog or on FB.

-- Ken Godevenos, Management Consultant to Corporations including Not-for-Profits.

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The Marketing of Evil - Part VI -- Sabotaging Our Schools

We have been providing summaries of David Kupelian's book, "The Marketing of Evil" (2005). This post addresses his chapter on "How Radicals Have Hijacked America's Education System".
The author makes it clear he is not writing to argue for prayer or Bible reading in schools. Instead, he purposes to show how the "government's school system has been cultivated to indoctrinate, to mold, to socialize children, and even to prepare them for the work force, but not to bring forth from within them the noble character and understanding of truth that lie buried within each child."

He quotes clinical psychologist James Dobson as warning, "Do you understand that children are (like) the stem cells for the culture? The environment that you put them in is what they grow up to be. And if you can control what they hear, if you could control what they're told, if you have access to their minds . . . you can make them into just about whatever you want them to be."

Here are some other highlights of the chapter:

* Since the 1999 Columbine school massacre, school boards have gone insane with their 'no tolerance' policies to the point of being ridiculous. He cites many examples.

* He warns us of the "my kid's school is not like that" syndrome.

* Kupelian explains thoroughly the move away from the alphabetic phonic way teaching children how to read an have replaced it with the look-say or whole-word approach, resulting in millions of poor readers. A most interesting section of the book. Parents need to read this. I thank God for my wife and daughters who are taking time to teach my grand-children how to read phonetically. The nine and seven year olds are now avid readers and the younger ones love books and will soon be reading very well.

* The education system has taken a new worldview approach to some critical issues. For example, sex outside marriage is okay as long as you don't get pregnant or a sexually transmitted disease (and even getting pregnant is not too bad, since you can get an abortion); and being 'gay' is normal -- if you think otherwise you are simply a bigot and one full of hate. What nonsense. But that's the teaching of the overall educational system today.

* Many think that a "public" school is a good thing. But they do not realize that the word "public" is really a nice way of saying, "government". Now some things that the government provides are not bad, especially if they're 'free'. But Kupelian asks, "at what cost?" Love this one line, "Free food is great too, but not if it's been poisoned."

* He points out how the educators are not necessarily intentionally trying to hurt children. Rather, they approach education from a totally different worldview -- one where God is non-existent and humans are mere animals.

* Finally, he does discuss 'homeschooling' as one viable alternative.

Another excellent chapter in this book. I wish the readers of this blog could somehow get the whole picture that David is painting all at once. It is truly a book of great impact on one's life. Strongly recommended.

In our next installment in this series we turn our attention to the media 'matrix' and how the press creates a world of illusion we think is real.

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The Marketing of Evil -- Synopsis, Part V - Obsessed with Sex

David Kupelian's book "The Marketing of Evil" is a must read if one is to understand how the world has crept into our lives. This is part V in a series in which I have tried to give you some highlights of the book. I don't get any commission for pushing it. I just want people to be aware of what we face every day of our lives. Here's the next installment:

Kupelian pulls no punches. He describes clearly how the advertising world bombards us today with images and suggestions that were totally unacceptable and down-right rude and obscene just a few decades ago. After discussing the competitive techniques and early evening time-slot advertising of erectile dysfunction products, he ends the section with this line, (you can guess what the product is), "Click,TV off. And all across the nation, from sea to shining sea, children look up at their parents and ask, 'Daddy, what's 'an erection' that lasts longer than four hours'?"

Kupelian describes how the pornography industry has taken the world by storm and blazed the way for "hooking up" or casual, recreational sex among middle- and high-school kids, for homosexuality activity, for the striking down of anti-sodomy law in a American state, for the growing sex slave trade in North America, and for child/sexual abuse -- including the American Psychological Association's proclamation in 1999 that claimed child sexual abuse could be harmless and beneficial. Yes, you read it right. You need to read the details about this.

He points out the movie "Birth" with Nicole Kidman, that basically seductively gets us to accept an older woman's sex with a ten year old as oh, so natural.

He then goes to explain how we moved from the Ozzie and Harriet days to where we are. Enter, stage left, Alfred Kinsey and his 'research'. I put the word in quotations because there is great controversy on the validity of the research. (Even today as one young woman claims her father was paid to sexually abuse her for Kinsey's research.) He exposes who Kinsey really was as a person using the words of his own biographers who were pro-Kinsey. There is no shame. He explains the horrors involved and yet the great cover-up. Wonderfully done -- in fact, his explanation on page 140 and 141 is akin to some cover-ups that go on in the church or religious organizations. That part is scary.

Finally, in this chapter he describes how Judaism went against the obsession with sex in its early years and now the whole liberal movement is simply out to change that again -- and they are succeeding. He explains the Satanists approach to sex and ends the chapter on an excellent treatise on the difference between love and sex and how they can integrate beautifully as God had intended.

And remember this is only one of ten chapters in the book. Make a point of picking up a copy at your bookstore or online today. You owe it to yourself, your family, and your children's children.

Next, Part VI of the synopsis on the chapter: Sabotaging Our Schools. Please feel free to comment on this blog.

-- Ken Godevenos, Church and Management Consultant.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

The Marketing of Evil -- Synopsis, Part IV - Multicultural Madness and Family Meltdown

Interspersed with our studies in Genesis, I have been writing a synopsis on the book by David Kupelian, entitled The Marketing of Evil.

Today's review cover chapter 4, Multicultural Madness and chapter 5, Family Meltdown.

Kupelian tells us that multiculturalism has created a moral inversion which proclaims that all cultures are equal. And from there, this extends to all religions are equal. [To me, that's like saying all tires are equal, and therefore all automobiles that drive them or cause them to rotate are equal. Nonsense.) The spillover than moves to the premise that because all cultures are equal, then all sexuality is equal.

From there he shows us how we've gone from the sublime to the ridiculous, by simply believing that all life is equal -- that is, "a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy". Kupelian shows us why PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) do not fight for pro-life. Their reasoning is pathetic and well worth the price of the book.

Kupelian writes: "By equating man with a soulless animal, they (PETA and friends) have effectively negated -- in their minds -- the existence of any divine authority or juge over their lives. And thus they feel liberated from the 'ptriarchial' law-giving Ueo-Christian God they're rebelling against." Multiculturalism (in its fullest sense -- not just what we hear about with respect to immigration) is actually a hatred of and rebellion against Judeo-Christian values when we use it as a basis for equating all sexuality, all life, etc.

Kupelian asks, "What are we to conclude when the head of one of the world's premiere news organizations (Stephen Jukes of Reuters) is so paralyzed by multicultural orthodoxy that he is unable to call the worse terrorist attack in American history, 'a terrorist attack'?

He goes on to say, ""Americans," warned former Reagan staffer and columnist Paul Craig Roberts about the radical Islamic threat to this nation, "might be so politically correct and racially sensitive as to be unable to deal with the problem (of terrorism) at all."

Bottom line: (Kupelian writes) if the marketer can elicit in you a feeling -- the right feeling -- he has won. Game over.

Moving to his chapter on "Family Meltdown" Kupelian makes an interesting observation of how easy and inexpensive it is to get a divorce these days in America as compared to firing an employee.

Kupelian traces the start of the decline of the family back to Vladimir Lenin who, to facilitate the communist revolution, ended up facilitating the break up of the family by instituting de facto no-fault divorce. That's how he could maintain complete control of the people. Then to that was added the communist support for sexual immorality during marriage, approval of abortions, and forcing women out of the home into the workforce. All contributed to the demise of the Russian family.

Finally, the author shares that when a man and a woman have so much going against them (even Christians, and he lists many items), their likelihood of success in marriage is very small. He suggests that the only thing that can possibly keep them together is their mutual love and pursuit of "Truth".

I've recommended this book, even though I have not finished it to others. They have finished it and they tell me the best is yet to come. Get a copy and find out what we're up against and why and what you can do about it.

-- Ken Godevenos, Toronto.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.