I like Gamaliel. He was an elder of the Jews, a Pharisee, quite zealous for Judaism, and he trained a certain Saul of Tarsus — to be an activist, to incarcerate Christians. But here he urges caution. His argument is that the messiahs are like waves, but if this is the Messiah it is Tsunami one cannot stand against.
And with the spirit you get the first examples of holy disobedience. Wisdom mitigated the sword in this time of tyrants, but for a season: almost every apostle died by the sword or on a cross. (Tradition says Thomas did not, but founded the Church in India).
27When they had brought them, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them, 28saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.” 29But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority. 30The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. 31God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”
33When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. 34But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up and ordered the men to be put outside for a short time. 35Then he said to them, “Fellow Israelites, consider carefully what you propose to do to these men. 36For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him; but he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and disappeared. 37After him Judas the Galilean rose up at the time of the census and got people to follow him; he also perished, and all who followed him were scattered. 38So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; 39but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them — in that case you may even be found fighting against God!”
They were convinced by him, 40and when they had called in the apostles, they had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41As they left the council, they rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name. 42And every day in the temple and at home they did not cease to teach and proclaim Jesus as the Messiah.
We live in a time when to protest for what is right is simply unacceptable. France, in this case, is the canary in the mineshaft. The Elite are encouraging imported feminists (Femen) to insult the church and punishing those who protest. Most Frenchmen and women are conservative, catholic and concerned: Hollande (like Gillard, Obama, and most Labour politicians in NZ) trust almost completely in their qualifications, their membership of the political class, and consider the conservative voice to be that which is backward.
Fools. A country is not the territory, but the people in the territory. If you do not preserve the traditions of that nation, it loses vision and will perish. And if you do not produce another generation, it will perish. Vanessa is being particularly trenchant at present and notes.
It was a fascinating weekend for me, full of fascinating tweets.
I got a kick out of watching China, Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, Iceland, Ecuador, and essentially the rest of the world laughing their heads off at America’s impotence in stopping the travel of Snowden. It was like a global game of Where’s Waldo?, and I just hope that he lives long enough to enjoy this little taste of victory.
I was relieved to hear that the French haven’t yet given up the good fight against androgyny, and that the Eastern Europeans are shocking the West by giving the homo pride movement a giant, Slavic middle finger. The Slavs are already dying out and they don’t really appreciate a bunch of Western homos and their NWO leaders showing up to give them the final push, thank you very little.
Better to be wise, and disobey the memes of the elite. Better to ignore their rules.
Better to vote them out of power, while we can still vote.
Better to thank them not at all.