Some mornings things happen that make one somewhat happy in a mocking kind of way. Some mornings the evil and stupidity in the world is obvious, and some times things are obviously going to be punished.

Some times things come into the light, and those in power spend their time hiding them. Now, at times this is a moral panic, as in Westminster at present, but when most people see the consequences of the policies that are hidden, they mutter “Not in my name” and vote elsewhere.

Besides, the Kingdom of God does not follow any earthly methods. Instead we are told those who have much will gain more, and those who have little will lose it. Which is a fairly accurate description of how society works. If you flout the rules, eventually you are pushed out of society and beyond the margins, beyond the pale.

Beyond where the sojourner and refugee are, for they have been invited into a society.

The Parable of the Talents

“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

(Matthew 25:14-30 ESV)

Now, in part this is driven by local politics. The left in NZ is imploding, and given policies like this one would expect it to happen.

Labour Maori affairs spokeswoman Nanaia Mahuta and education spokesman Chris Hipkins indicated Labour had an “aspirational” target for Maori to be taught in all schools after the Maori Party’s Te Tai Tokerau candidate, Te Hira Paenga, claimed Labour had endorsed his party’s policy for compulsory te reo in schools.

“We are glad to see Labour at last getting the message that our reo is something that we all, as New Zealanders, should embrace,” Mr Paenga said.

Ms Mahuta initially suggested Mr Paenga had the wrong end of the stick, saying Labour would only promote its own policy which was “the recognition that te reo should be a working language for all New Zealanders”.

However, Ms Mahuta was far more direct in a debate held in Gisborne earlier this month when she said: “We’ve made a clear commitment that te reo Maori will be compulsory in our schools.”

The irony is that I suggested that a son take Maori introduction at university this term: it is a subject where it is easy to get high marks. He’s more practical, and said that statistics is far more useful, so instead of learning Maori he is programming in R.

It has reached the point where local MPs, who are of the old Labour and support the local working people, are voting against the party whips on regional issues because such things are needed.

There is a pattern emerging here of local provincial Labour MPs disagreeing with Labour on regional development. O’Connor and Tirikatene both voted against Labour on West Coast logging, and now Davis is saying his party is wrong on the Puhoi to Wellsford Highway. He even calls it a lifeline that everyone in Northland supports.

What this points to is a party totally out of touch with regional New Zealand. Urban liberals in Auckland who hate logging and roading, set the policy for the regions.

And the polls show a tired conservative (National) party, which has its own problems and divisions, likely to win as close to a sweep as you can get with proportional representation.

There is a role for rulers. It is to reward the good, and punish the wrongdoer. We are warned not to be the latter. And when society moves to a point where evil is legislated as good, then it will pull back. One cannot continue down the path to destruction for ever: what cannot continue, will stop.

New Zealand got clobbered by the global financial crisis and then by a massive earthquake. We are now growing again. And this is down to having a set of rulers, who are not that righteous but allow reality to give them feedback. These people used to be in the centre left and centre right. But at present they seem to absented themselves from the left: it’s worth noting that Kelvin Davis in Northland will not be in parliament unless he wins his seat as he is not on the party list. But plenty of time serving unionists, preferably women or gay, are.

If you cut yourself off from life, you die: and within the church if we cut ourselves off from the spirit of God and let the fashions of this age take over, we will be one with the Labour Party, heading towards the status of a historical footnote.

Let us praise God that the Holy Spirit guides people towards true faith, and reforms our churches. For when we try to do so, as the Anglicans have and are doing, it rends us apart.

The left, in this time, are akin to the living dead. The right elites are little better. Do not be them, and do not be like them