It is fairly clear to anyone who can access multiple sources of information that there are many things wrong with the world at present. The economy everywhere is struggling. We have inflation in food prices (or devaluation of most currencies). There have been a series of bubbles — in housing, in education, and in the stock market. The debt market is fragile, and there is av very high chance that some countries (at least Greece, and maybe the PIGS) will default. Locally, we have pressure about the loss of infrastructure, such as heavy engineering at the Hillside railway workshops, to China (with whom we have a free trade agreement). There are moves to nationalism and the return to protectionism and “fortress New Zealand”: however these are mild compared with the same pressures in the US and EU, where imports are being actively discouraged. As usual, when this happens, the third world loses trade and goods stockpile in the West.
At the same time, there has been an active move into an anti-Christian discourse among those in power and their nice slaves in the mainstream media. In New Zealand, if’s fairly clear that the state owned television system works as a propaganda arm for Labour — the opposition, and actively resists the government. I recent novel, describing the alleged return of Christ, has the idea that God’s taken a nap for the last 500 years & when he wakes up he finds the Christians have expanded — and since God hates Christians he sends Jesus back again. As a stoner.
At the same time, Islam is on the march — converting and breeding in the West, and conquering in Southern Sudan, using Terrorism in Indonesia, and tying up the armies of the West in Afghanistan. (I have to credit Bush and Cheney with this” they knew their Machiavelli. They have fought the wars of terror on the enemies territory).
Yesterday I saw a faithful man protesting the terminations of pregnancy where I work. I saw two street preachers. And in the evening I went to work drinks, and realisied that my concerns about honour and fidelity are seen as quaint and old fashioned. The slut-positive feminist meme is alive and well: it is now infecting the elite after destroying Maori and working class families.
It does not look good. It is time for us to stand and be faithful. God has the authority here: our job is to witness it.
I Samuel 17
41The Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. 42When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. 43The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field.” 45But David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46This very day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’s and he will give you into our hand.”
Mark 4.
21They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. 22They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” 25But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26And the unclean spirit, throwing him into convulsions and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching — with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”
via Daily Lectionary Readings — Devotions and Readings — Mission and Ministry — GAMC.
It is very easy to say “Do not fear”. However, fear can be overwhelming. About six months ago, I was tried to walk across a bridge in Vancouver. However, when I had a hundred foot drop underneath me, I became afraid and I rapidly returned to ground level and explored another part of the city. The fear destroyed my determination.
Fear is used by the state to keep us under control, and in part this si appropriate, because the main role of the King is to keep the peace — from enemies without and within. However, there used to be limits. What happened inside the home was not the realm of the state but of Families. Our homes are now invaded: in the states literally (where in NZ we would send an unarmed constable, the US sends a SWAT team) and by the coercive use of the socail welfare system.
I beleive this. like all parts of the secular state, are ephemeral. The current state will change: the historical record notes that periods of radicalism (thank you, not, you children of Woodstock) are followed by a reaction and a move to more sustainable (and therefore conservative) ways of living.
So we need not fear. It is our duty to stand, to preserve what is good in our culture, and to pray. We need to pray for repentance in the Church and renewal of our nations. For in the end, God is the one in authority,