A Life Policy That Takes Us to Where No Policy Is Needed -- Exodus 15:17-18

“Thou wilt bring them and plant them in the mountain of Thine inheritance, The place, O Lord, which Thou hast made for Thy dwelling, The sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have established.  The Lord shall reign forever and ever.”
 
First, I must clear up any misconception some may have that I consider a personal acceptance of Jesus Christ simply as an insurance policy.  It is much, much, more and it requires a very active involvement on our part.  While the salvation aspect is indeed totally one-sided (His) save and except our willingness to accept it, the desire of the Underwriter is that we live a life that fully honors and glorifies Him, as well as a life that is fully reliant on Him.  Our contribution to the contract is not in the guarantee of salvation, for that is a totally free gift of God’s to man.  Rather, our contribution begins after we accept that gift and is measured in terms of our service to Him through both our acts towards others and our adoration for Him.

But let us look at this policy a little closer.  Its terms just keep getting better.  God “will bring (us)” to the place of His inheritance.  In the text this is a reference to the land of Canaan.  But in the parallel of the story, for us, it is our “promised land”, an eternal life that begins the moment we accept the gift of salvation and acquire the policy.  Not only does He personally “bring us” there but the text says, He will “plant (us)” there.  There will be no more displacement.  No need to be repotted elsewhere.  No need to look for another insurer or policy.  Our roots there will be firm and eventually lead us to heaven for eternity.

Secondly, the “mountain of His inheritance” is His dwelling place as well.  As I pick up my paper each morning from the front porch, I watch loving parents drop their children off at a neighbor’s place for daycare.  They have brought them there and helped them get established, but ultimately they have to go to work and leave them in the hands of others until someone comes back to pick to them up.  God, on the other hand, takes us to our destination, establishes us, and stays with us.  For the Israelites, Canaan (the mountain) was the border of God’s sanctuary (they had to go through Canaan in this life) before they could end up in God’s sanctuary.  Similarly, life for us is our Canaan.  We have to go through this often dangerous and difficult life journey, this mountain, before we can enter into Heaven, the sanctuary of God.

And why would anyone want to go to Heaven?  I do not know about you but as I read the story of Genesis and the garden of Eden, I so very much desired to have had the pleasure of being there, seeing what God designed and created with His own hands, and totally unmarred by human hands and minds.  But alas, I cannot go to the garden of Eden, only to where people think it was and so much has changed.  But I can go to the sanctuary of God.  I can go to Heaven.  I so much want to see God’s creation of this incredible mansion for us all.  A mansion that none of us can fully comprehend from where we are today.  A mansion untainted by any sinful thought or action of man.  It is perfect.  And it is eternal for God will rule eternally and no one, or nothing, will ever be allowed to interrupt that reign again.  I want to be there.  I want to be part of it.

This week my wife and I are making final arrangements for our funerals.  As funny as it seems, these arrangements are really not for us.  When we are gone, we will not need any arrangements.  No one needs anything after they die.  Their purpose is to make life a little simpler for our children.  But as I thought about our upcoming meeting to finalize our plans (really a pre-bought funeral type of insurance), I thought of where another insurance, our policy with Jesus Christ, will ultimately take us.  I, for one, want to have this insurance that ultimately takes me to place where I no longer need it.

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[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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Benefits of a Life Policy Underwritten by God -- Exodus 15:13-16

“In Thy lovingkindness Thou hast led the people whom Thou hast redeemed; In Thy strength Thou has guided them to the Thy holy habitation.  The peoples have heard, they tremble; Anguish has gripped the inhabitants of Philistia.  Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed; The leaders of Moab, trembling grips them; All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.  Terror and dread fall upon them; By the greatness of Thine arm they are motionless as stone; Until They people pass over, O Lord.  Until the people pass over whom Thou hast purchased.”
 
Not only are we protected from our enemies’ ability to “finish us off” with the policy that comes into effect when we accept it from God Who is the Underwriter Himself, but we can take comfort in the fact that there are a number of additional or supplementary benefits this passage outlines for us.

First and foremost of these is the ‘customer care’ that comes with the policy.  The Bible says, “in (His) loving-kindness” He deals with us and leads us.  While God is just and holy, He is not a tyrant in His relationship with us.  He knows we will fail from time to time.  He is not interested in the perfection of our actions as much as He interested and deeply cares for the attitude of our hearts.  The Bible speaks of this often.

Second is the constant knowledge that as policyholders we have been “redeemed”. There’s no expiry term to the policy.  There is no need to renew it periodically.  It is eternal.

Third, we see that it is God’s “strength” that leads us to His “holy habitation”.  He draws us to Him now.  And, as we will see in the next passage we study, He ultimately takes us to be with Him for eternity.

Fourth, people know that we are covered by the policy and they “tremble”.  Sometimes, it is as minor a comment as “Oh, you’re religious so I better watch my swearing,” but other times, it is a reaction like that of the Egyptians who recognized that God was with the Israelites and that He is Lord.  Sometimes it is a matter of people trembling in their lives and seeing us have ‘hope’ rather than ‘fear’ as we face our challenges.  And hopefully, they will seek out our secret and we will be able to share it with them.

When men depend on themselves for their own salvation, ultimately “terror and dread fall upon them”.  Perhaps we can argue that this is what is happening in the Middle East today as America and the West retreat from their previous level of engagement.  The result is the resurgence of tribal warfare everywhere in an effort to gain control and security.  (My guess is that it will get much worse in the years ahead on that basis.)  But it will not suffice or succeed for God’s “great arm” renders all efforts futile and as capable of action as a “motionless stone”.  All the wars will amount to nothing over time.  One only has to look at the military campaigns of the Romans and the Greeks, the French and English, and the Russians, not to mention Germany and Japan.  How great are they now?  How much have they kept?  And the same is true of all the calamities of war in the continent of Africa.  There is nothing humanly that can be done to fix the state the world is in.

How long will this go on?  How long will God keep these human efforts under His foot?  This passage tells us by the song the Israelites are singing that the powers of the enemies were held in check until God’s people safely “passed over” the Red Sea.  I believe the parallel here for us is that God will keep our enemies at bay until we pass through this life and are safe and sound in the arms of Jesus.

Fifth, and most importantly, this is a “paid up” policy; there are no premiums.  In fact, the person being covered does not have to pay a cent.  The policy is a “free gift” by the Underwriter.   He has paid for it.  He has “purchased” the right to insure us with the blood and life of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  There is no “life” policy like it.

Yet, millions upon millions of people who know about it reject it outright.  Fearing it is “too good to be true”, they miss out on a life of security and joy and peace, not to mention eternity with God.  Instead, they dread and fear each moment of terror they experience in life.  They hit emotional, physical, spiritual, financial, and social “walls” and there is no “insurance agent” there with them or on the scene to pick up the pieces and heal and comfort.  There is no one or anything that can provide one’s life with a fresh purpose for living.  I do not know about you, but I personally have hit major walls in my life.  Were it not for God my Insurer, I do not know where I would be today.

Each of us has a choice.  We can either take the policy allowing it to cover us or we can say, “No thanks.  I’ll do it my way.”  In fact, America, Canada, the West, and the world, has a choice.  But that choice can only be arrived at for them as individual citizens like you and me make the right choice, and then live our lives for the God Who has us covered.  It is my prayer that your name is on that Policy.

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[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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Decision Points and how it impacted my view of George W. Bush

I have always gravitated to a positive view of George W. Bush (U.S. Pres. No. 43) primarily because he was a Republican.  My acceptance of his claim to be a believer in the saving grace of Jesus Christ also helped.  But it was not until I read his book, Decision Points, Crown Publishers, New York, 2010 that I realized I liked him because of who he was as a person.

In my view, he is probably the most misunderstood President of the U.S. in modern times.  It is only through reading his book, that one can get an appreciation of the man the media and liberals figuratively crucified and continue to do so.

You can criticize a person at the time of his/her actions because all you’ve got is what you see.  But once you have the benefit of his/her own explanations as to why he/she did what he/she did, you owe it to yourself and to your audience to take the time to read about them.  If you can still be as critical after that, then go ahead.

As a big ‘current’ critic of Barack Obama (U.S. Pres. No. 44), I look forward to reading his account of his time in the White House.  Maybe, just maybe, I may find therein something for which I can say, “I respect him for that.”  There was no such shortage of that on behalf of George W. Bush.

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[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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Why I Am Not Giving In to Popular Opinion on Mandela

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I promised myself that the least I can do these days is not to give in to popular opinion any longer.  And this month, doing so would mean riding the tide that is sweeping the globe on the matter of praise for Nelson Mandela’s accomplishments.

Let me state right off the top that Nelson Mandela was indeed a great South African statesman.  He suffered and persevered for an honorable goal, and he succeeded where many would have failed.  As a result immeasurable suffering by millions was prevented and he brought about a hope for a better life for millions more.  Amazingly, he did all this through his principles of forgiveness and reconciliation – something that all of us should pursue in ourselves and also respect and be thankful for it, in others.  I give the man his full due -- respect and credit from those perspectives.

However, I must also ask, as many have actually asked and done that we take some time to look into Nelson Mandela’s positions that at least, for Christians, may be a little harder to swallow in a man that would demand so much of our praise.

To start with I refer to his own position on violence and I suggest you read Andrew Bolt’s article in the Herald Sun News of Melbourne, Australia at http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/the-dark-side-of-nelson-mandela/story-fni0ffxg-1226778174719 .  Mandela was no Christ, no Gandhi, not even a Martin Luther King, says Bolt and explains why.

A balanced review entitled The 2 Sides of Nelson Mandela is provided by Dana Evan Kaplan in the Jewish Daily Forward at http://forward.com/articles/179606/the--sides-of-nelson-mandela/?p=all .

And of course, there is the issue of Nelson Mandela’s views and positions on Marxism, abortion, pornography, homosexuality and legalizing prostitution.  WND gives us more on that at http://www.wnd.com/2013/12/nelson-mandela-was-a-radical-marxist/ .

Now I know that whenever someone famous dies, there are always those ready to stand up and tell us what awful people they were.  They did it with Mother Teresa, Princess Diana, and so many others.  Well, the truth is that no one is perfect.  In addition, there may be a lot of hearsay in their claims.  And that may be true of the content of some or all of the links above.  (Do use some 'grains of salt' when reading, but be careful not to dismiss it all out of hand.)  The point is few will ever know the whole truth about anyone else, let alone Mandela, and chances are, you and I are not among them.  But we do know this: we know that most men and women don’t suddenly lose their ‘dark side’ when they become leaders.

In the case of Nelson Mandela, we would do well to celebrate his accomplishments that were for the good of mankind.  But let us not idolize him or make him a saint.  For, as the good Book says, “And He (Jesus) said to him, ‘Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”  [Matthew 19:17]  The ‘One’ Jesus referred to was God His Father.

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So there you have it.  Render unto Mandela the credit that is due him, but render unto God the things that are His.  May the man rest in peace.

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[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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Enemies’ Best Intentions Amount to Nothing When Fighting God’s Will -- Exodus 15:9-12

“The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; My desire shall be gratified against them; I will draw out my sword, my hand shall destroy them.’  Thou didst blow with Thy wind, the sea covered them; They sank like lead in the mighty waters.  Who is like Thee among the gods, O Lord?  Who is like Thee, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders?  Thou didst stretch out Thy right hand, The earth swallowed them.”
 
Do you ever wonder why you buy an insurance policy?  If the truth were known, the bottom line is that you buy insurance because bad things happen.  Drunk or incapable drivers hit your car; evil people break into your house; mean people want to see you fail and sue you; disease takes away your ability to earn a living; etc.  As I read this passage of Scripture I felt I was reading a copy of the ultimate insurance policy I could have.

The first portion outlines clearly the perils that are being insured against.  Our enemies be they human, or other forces of evil, are out to pursue us.  Their full intent is to overtake us.  They want to attack us when we’re down like spoils and divide us in order to conquer us.  They find great desire in imagining how gratified they will be when they succeed in getting us to the point where they can draw out their sword and destroy us.

The next section outlines the power of the Insurer to act in such cases is.  He can utilize nature to blow the enemy around and to engulf him or it.  He can sink the enemy like lead sinks in water, as portrayed by the actual account of what He did for the Israelites who were pursued by the Egyptians who wanted their destruction.

And then in the last section of the passage, we see what we may call the testimonials of others who have experienced the benefits of such an insurance policy.  In brief, they say the Insurer is One Who cannot be matched in perfection.  There is none among the other insurers like this One.  And the reason is that “He is majestic in holiness”, and He works incredible wonders.  God’s glory is such that angels adore it writes Matthew Henry.  His holiness is evidenced in the fact that He destroyed Pharaoh, He hates sin, and He exercises great anger against unrepentant sinners.  He delivers His children from their enemies and has a plan for mankind.

There is another phrase in this song or what I am calling ‘our insurance policy’ that is a little more difficult to explain easily.  The text says, “He is fearful in praises”.  This refers to our role or the terms of the policy that we need to agree to.  We are to fear Him in our praises.  His power, majesty and holiness are to be the very substance of our praise.  And Henry suggests that while to the Christian (the policyholder) this can be done in joy, those very same characteristics are feared and dreaded by our and God’s enemies.  Our job, he says, is to “praise Him with a humble holy awe, and serve the Lord with fear.”  Our spiritual joy and triumph must be balanced with a sacred or devout, healthy, fear.

Finally, in the last portion of the passage (our policy), we read of the finality of God’s insurance for His children.  He stretches out His right hand and causes the earth to swallow our enemies.  The actual words of the song in this passage that the Israelites are singing are not meant to convey their deep appreciation of only the past, that is, their triumph over the Egyptians. They are also meant to be a continuous memory to future generations of what God is capable of doing and will do.  The text does not say, “Who was like Thee among the gods, O Lord?  Who was like Thee, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders?”  No, it says, Who IS.  And our God is not dead, He still IS.

I would have preferred to end these thoughts on this passage on that positive note.  However, I must admit that when I first read it as part of this devotional study, what came to mind as something many of us could well state is this:  “But I have done everything right and still God did not spare or rescue me.  I cannot sing this song.”  Or, “I have purchased the policy, but am unable to live life joyfully, fearing God may not apply all its terms for me.”

Ah, there’s the rub.  In fact, there are two rubs.

The first is this: We must remember that an insurance policy does not prevent the enemy from trying to destroy us; he or it will indeed try to.  The policy prevents the enemy from actually destroying us utterly.  It allows us to recover form the damages suffered and to become victorious again in our lives.  God did not say the children of Israel would be spared from slavery in Egypt or even hardship in the wilderness on route to the Promised Land.  He promised safe and ultimate passage.  If that is not good enough for you and me, then we have a misunderstanding of what “life with God” is all about.

The second rub is this: If we have accepted the policy but still fear life and the future, then we need to get to know the Insurer better.  We need to stop relying on our ourselves to ensure our ability to make it through the deep waters, but rather to trust the loving Father who waits in the waters to save us when life requires us to jump in.  Whatever it is we need to pass through, Jesus Christ God’s Son has been there.

Perhaps our fear has to do with whether or not we will have the ability to cope physically, emotionally, or mentally, with the deep waters, even if we know that ultimately God will rescue us.  That is a legitimate fear, but there is nothing we can do about it except to realize that God has promised He will indeed give us the strength to get through it when the time comes (I Corinthians 10:13).  So, take heart, know you are covered and live victoriously both about your past attacks by the Enemy and in the knowledge that he will be defeated again should he dare to attack you anew in the future.

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[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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How God Deals With Our Enemies and How He Deals With His -- Exodus 15:4-8

--> “Pharaoh’s chariots and his army He has cast into the sea; And the choicest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea.  The deeps cover them; They went down into the depths like a stone.  They right hand, O Lord, is majestic in power, Thy right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.  And in the greatness of Thine excellence Thou dost overthrow those who rise up against Thee; Thou dost send forth Thy burning anger, and it consumes them as chaff.  And at the blast of Thy nostrils the waters were piled up, The flowing waters stood up like a heap; The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea.”
 
Continuing in song, the Children of Israel give us glimpse of God’s capability in dealing with our enemies.  Not only were Pharaoh’s chariots and his army cast into the sea, but the text also says, “the choicest of his officers” were drowned.  Our enemies can put forth their very best – in personnel or efforts or technology – God can still defeat them all and always. (This theme resurfaces many years later in the account of David and Goliath – the very best the Philistines had to offer in their challenge to Israel.)  The Bible goes on to say here in Exodus that the choicest of warriors went “down like a stone” that would never again come to the surface.  When God is the One who truly destroys our enemies, they never resurface.

And then the song turns to pointing out some attributes of God Himself as the warrior.  He has a ‘right’ hand that is majestically powerful.  Perhaps the adjective was selected to impress upon us the fact that no one or no thing has more power, as “majesty” implies the highest in the land.  And with this power, God not only destroys the enemy, but He ‘shatters’ him.  In our English language, we have the range of marring something, or ruining it (from its original state), or destroying it (making it very difficult to repair as when after an accident, a vehicle is rendered to be ‘totaled’ or ‘a complete write off’), and then there’s “shattering” something or making it totally impossible to ever put back together again.  That is what God does with our enemies.

Now knowing how God deals with the enemies of His children is enough to make any sane person not want to go against them.  Something perhaps those who today have no use for the Jewish nation of Israel or for Christians, and who want to eliminate all of us, should well keep in mind.  But even worse than that is how God deals with those who actually are arrogant enough to rise up directly against Him, and to scorn Him personally.  Towards them, the text says, God applies the full force of the “greatness of His excellence” – the ultimate knockout-punch if you like.  The song tells us God emits His “burning anger” towards them and they are “consumed like chaff”.  I looked ‘chaff’ up in the dictionary to get a better idea of its meaning as a noun.  Chaff can mean the husks of corn or other seed separated by winnowing or threshing; or chopped hay and straw used as fodder; or worthless things; or trash.  What came to mind is that they all burn well.  The tie-in of this image of how God deals with His own enemies may well be a prelude of what the rest of Scripture depicts as the fate of all who ultimately reject Him as Lord and Savior.

Finally, God uses His power to suspend at His will the very laws of nature He ordained and controla in order to defeat our enemies.  In the case of the children of Israel, God breathes a blast and causes the waters that are normally subject to gravity, to pile up like a heap on either side of the passageway He opened for His children to cross the Red Sea on.  The “deeps” that otherwise were there due to the depth of the water were no longer visible, for they were “congealed” or solidified (transformed if you like) into a solid upon which Moses led his congregation over.

That is our God.  That is how He deals with your enemies and mine.  And that is how He deals with His own personal enemies.  But you say, “Fine, but God is not dealing with my enemies, He’s letting them make mincemeat out of me right now.”  I am glad you added the “right now” at the end.  And I am sure that the children of Israel felt exactly that way for 400 years (that’s longer than your whole lifetime and mine) while they served as slaves to the Egyptians.  You see God’s timing is not our timing.  You and I wear watches and follow clocks and calendars to give time some sort of order and make it easier for us to communicate.  But God who actually created ‘time’ is not at all ‘bound’ by it.  If we can somehow accept that, then we’ll be better able to realize that what matters is not “biding our time” but rather learning to “bide His time”.

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[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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Our View of God After Salvation -- Exodus 15:1-3

--> Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and said, “I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea.  The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will extol Him.  The Lord is a warrior; The Lord is His name.”
 
Moses and the children of Israel have just been saved decisively from their enemies.  It is natural for them to want to sing a song “to the Lord”.  The words of the text give us the reasons for their jubilation.  First and foremost is that in their mind, God is “highly exalted”.   He is made lofty in their sight because He has defeated their enemies.  In so doing, not only does He become their salvation, but also their strength and their very song or expression.

For each of the singers, He has become a “personal God” and each will praise Him personally as did each of their fathers.  They know Him by name – He is the Lord, a warrior who leads them in battles He cannot lose.

As I think about how the Israelites felt at this time, I cannot help but consider my own feelings these last few days.  While driving home from visiting our eldest daughter’s family for American Thanksgiving, I received a call from a friend who wondered if our 8-year old grandson back home was okay.  Bill had heard on the radio there was a hit-and-run accident on our street, just a block away.  Our hearts sank.  (It turned out that it was a 12-year old that our eldest granddaughter knew and at the point of writing, though he would need several operations, it was believed he would pull through.)  The next day we attended a memorial service for our little grandson Ronin who we had buried just six months ago after he lived for only six hours.  And there are always the challenges of working with ministry personnel.  Plus family issues we all deal with – some we just have to accept as fact for there is nothing we can do about them.  And finally -- something that causes a lot of frustration for baby boomers these days -- I spent over two hours on the phone trying to fix something on my computer, only to have to take it in for a major overhaul.  Many others reading this had it much worse.   So how then do I, do we, say melodically, “I will sing to the Lord!”

Well, for starters, I look at this passage of Scripture and decide whether or not it applies to me as well.  Is God still my Lord?  Is He still worthy of high exaltation?  Am I still alive because He has dealt decisively with my enemies?  Is He still my one and only true strength?  Is He my everlasting salvation?  Is He still a warrior who goes to battle for me?

I responded with six resounding ‘yesses’.  As a result I can still “sing to and of” Him.  I can “praise” and “extol” Him whose name is Lord.   What about you these days?

When God saves us, He does not remove us from the day-to-day challenges of life.  He simply embraces us with Himself.  But that was all that the children of Israel needed as they spent the next forty years in the wilderness.  It is all we need to make it through our earthly trek.  Keep on ‘going on’.  The reasons for singing have not changed.

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[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.]

Thanks for dropping by. Sign up to receive free updates. We bring you relevant information from all sorts of sources. Subscribe for free to this blog or follow us by clicking on the appropriate link in the right side bar. And please share this blog with your friends. Ken Godevenos, Church and Management Consultant, Accord Consulting.  And while you’re here, why not check out some more of our recent blogs shown in the right hand column.  Ken.

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

Did Canada's Supreme Court Have a Momentary Justice Lapse?

--> I read with interest about the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent decision that ruled in favour of a union’s right to videotape workers crossing a picket line.  This was a case that originated in the province of Alberta that has legislation entitled “Personal Information Protection Act”.  Management relied on that legislation to block the union involved from taking pictures.  The arguments of the Supreme Court who ruled in favour of the union went something like this:

The court has long recognized that the right to strike is a fundamental right in Canada, all else being equal.  And that “freedom of expression” is a right that goes hand in hand with labour disputes.  All this of course had to be weighed against the “privacy rights” of individuals.  However, the Supreme Court decided that Alberta’s law was wrong in providing one a greater control over one’s personal information and associated rights over those of other interests – in this case, the freedom of expression of unions in a labour dispute.

While the indirect implications of this decision for management may also be positive when it comes to how they might be allowed to collect data dealing with labour disputes (think video recordings on site, etc.), I think there are some problems with it at least from my ‘non-legal’ perspective.  And here’s why:

First, the union clearly was taking these pictures to vindictively publish them online.  And the Court decision seems to support that.  Whether it does so directly or indirectly, does not matter.  I suppose what remains now is for one of those strikebreakers (a legal behaviour) to sue the union for posting such a picture without their express consent.  And then we’re back to the Court system and maybe even the Supreme Court.

Second, the decision seems to imply that anyone out in public doing anything legal (or illegal for that matter I suppose) can be filmed by anyone else and then that image can be published for public viewing online.  You may remember all the issues with red-light cameras at intersections.  Or how about images taken by bullies of those they are bullying going online?  Or how about the legality of taking pictures of police officers while conducting their duties honourably or dishonourably?  Or how about police cameras on the squad car dashboards or on their lapels?  And why should there be no cameras allowed in the House of Commons or the Senate so that the pubic can take pictures? Or in live theatre or concert performances?  And the list goes on.

Third, what bothers me is that this decision that may be balanced on the perspectives the Honourable judges chose to consider, seems to have forgotten the very purpose of why this particular union may have been taking the pictures.  Clearly, when you threaten to publish them online, you are in essence using intimidation.  The Supreme Court in its wisdom seems to have said, “intimidation by unions is okay in Canada”.

Listen, I do not blame the unions for taking this to court.  A decision was required in this area.  And they won it fair and square.  My beef is not with them, but rather the logic behind.  It seems the overall good of society is no longer stakeholder in court decisions.  Instead they prefer to protect the interests of lobby groups, no matter who they are.

And thus we conclude:  So much for unions setting a good example in this regard.  Now bullies can try to follow.  So too can “I hate my-ex” jilted posters.  And so much for the right to work and earn an a living to feed your family when the union business agents decide to make you walk the payment and warm your hands over a fire in a barrel while they keep earning their big salaries, eating well, and enjoying television beside their warm fireplaces.  Sorry, Your Honours, I think you screwed up.

You can read more on this here: http://millerthomson.com/en/publications/communiques-and-updates/labour-and-employment-communique/november-2013 

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