After an unseasonal first week of August, we have snow today. School is canceled, but university is not: this has led to one son being happy and the other one cold. Winter has returned: we had a respite but it is not yet the season of spring: the blossoms on the trees are deceptive.
And in this world the time of persecution continues.
So be it. We are not responsible for the consequences of our life and our words. We are responsible for living it.
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.” So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.
When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,
“‘Why did the Gentiles rage,
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers were gathered together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed’—for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
(Acts 4:13-31 ESV)
Winter is coming, and we can see the new Barbarians waving the banner of Islam. One should judge by the actions of a group, not their words, and under their supposed piety is a wonnowing, a harrowing, a murderous intent that Von Wallenstein’s bastards in the 100 years war could not match.
The Yazidis are just the latest minority group the Islamic State has targeted in its brutal campaign of religious persecution and killings. While many recent Iraqi conflicts have been framed as clashes between Sunnis and Shiites, this one is different. The Islamic State has declared war against anyone different, anyone unwilling to convert to the its ascetic brand of Islam. It’s worse, Iraqi religious leaders say, than Genghis Khan. Overnight, the BBC and others reported that thousands of Christians were fleeing the minority’s biggest town in Iraq, Qaragosh, after militants captured it.Most analysts agree there’s not a religious or ethnic minority in northern Iraq — Shabaks, Turkmens, Yazidis, Christians — that isn’t in danger. “How in the 21st century could people be forced from their houses just because they are Christian, or Shiite, or Sunni or Yazidi?” Louis Raphael Sako, the head of Iraq’s largest church, recently told Reuters. “Christian families have been expelled from their houses and their valuables were stolen…. This has never happened in Christian or Islamic history. Even Genghis Khan … didn’t do this.”
While the mainstream media complain about Gaza there is a genocide going on. It reminds me of the Armenians slaughtered by Atatturk, or the nastier parts of the Shoah.
What is going bon between Hamas and Israel is a war. One Israel is winning: they have declared a ceasefire on their terms and the tunnels will be destroyed. What is going on in Iraq and Syria is far worse. Obama claims to lead the Western World. If this is true, then he better get his apologies to Neville Chamberlain sorted out.
In the meantime, we need to do our duty. Preach the gospel. Into the teeth of that snarling bunch of wimps and petunias that make up the liberal West, and into the Armed teeth of the Wahabites.
