Post 134--A Rose by Any Other Name

Remember the cold I suffered last week? Well, it ain’t over yet. It still has me down and out, something that has hardly ever happened to me. I get one about once a year; it comes and goes quickly and I’m my old self again. Not this time. But I don’t want you to think I’m slacking off. So, another postponement of the third prostitution post and, instead, an easy one that will not take a lot of stamina on my part.

I utilize two prepared documents laying on my desk and I will use some of each. They both report on various situations of persecution. When we think of persecution, we often think of Muslim persecution of Christians and others. Well, that will be one side today. The other side, however, may well surprise you…but let me keep you in suspense for a few more moments.  Just remember Shakespeare’s adage above.  Persecution may come in very different forms and from very different quarters, but it’s still persecution. So, though today’s info will not take much stamina from my reduced stock, it does weigh heavily in me and carrying such burdens takes another form of stamina.

First, a few items of Christians under Muslim persecution—a few from what could take up innumerable tomes, believe  me. These are reported by BarnabasAid, a UK ministry to persecuted Christians all over the world.

Aasia Bibi languishes on death row in Pakistan for years on basis of totally false accusations of blasphemy, a tool used frequently by Pakistani Muslims to take revenge for personal reasons.  Check out her name on the Internet!  In that same country, “Christian girls and women are kidnapped by Muslim men, raped, forcibly converted to Islam and forcibly married to Muslims. Of course that happens in many Muslim countries. Another Pakistani situation is that of bonded Christian laborers in brick kilns. They cannot escape the grueling work for substandard pay. Their cruel bosses trick and exploit them, keeping them in permanent debt. Some Christian children are even held as slaves.

21 brave Christian migrant workers in Libya refused to deny Christ. They will killed by ISIS militants. If I were more computer savvy, I would reproduce a picture of all of them on their knees in orange outfits with masked militants standing behind them, poised to kill them momentarily. 

Ugandan pastor, Umar Mulinde, is a convert from Islam. Muslims three acid in his face. He was terribly burned and lost one eye, but he continues to evangelize and preach boldly.

Nissar Hussain and his wife, from Bradford in the UK, are condemned as apostates. They and their children are persecuted for following Christ. Their home was burned to the ground. Their car was attacked. Nissar was beaten up and hospitalized. Falsely accused to the police, he was detained in a cell for many hours. The same thing happened to his wife. Rejected by church, law enforcement, and society, they continue to follow Christ. They can no longer live in Bradford. Yes, in the UK—and this is by no means the only incident in that country.

And now a totally different scene that at first sight you might not dub “persecution,” but remember that adage…. This time the persecutor is no one less than the US government, and not about religion this time, but about science they don’t like. The following is a long quote:

Picture being an an award-winning scientist -- you've just published your latest findings. And then your government tries to stop you speaking about your research. And when you refuse, you're suspended -- then fired. That's exactly what happened to Jonathan after he discovered a link between bee die-offs and bee-killing pesticides. Now he’s attempting to continue his research in the private sector, and the USDA is STILL harassing him by blacklisting him from USDA-funded research grants and pressuring other scientists to not collaborate with him. It’s time for the USDA to end their attacks on scientific freedom. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is notoriously friendly with giant corporate agribusinesses, and lobbyists for big pesticide companies like Monsanto and Bayer don’t want government researchers looking into the impact of bee-killing pesticides. But rarely have we seen such a blatant and ongoing assault on scientific freedom, even at the USDA. SumOfUs members have donated tens of thousands of dollars to help our friends at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) defend Dr. Lundgren. With our help, Dr. Lundgren has fought back by filing a whistleblower complaint, a scientific integrity complaint, and a federal lawsuit. Dr. Lundgren’s case has gotten enormous press coverage, and he was personally honored with the Joe A. Calloway Award for Civic Courage—a prestigious award for public-interest activism. But the USDA continues to harass Dr. Lundgren, and as long as that continues, it’s sending a chilling effect to researchers everywhere. That’s why we must continue to fight for his right to conduct research freely, without lobbyist interference or government censorship. A rose by any other name….

Post 110—May 5: A Tale of Four Celebrations

As so frequently happens, I am unexpectedly again interrupting the flow of thought from Post 109—unexpectedly for me, at least. I’ll try to continue that train of thought in the next entry.  Do I need to apologize? Well, at least, this way you can never quite tell what the next post will bring you. It’s called keeping you in suspense!                                                  

Mexican's Cinco de Mayo

I have occasionally reproduced in this blog some items from the Denison Forum. Today, I will not reproduce much from them, but I will summarize a bit of their entry for today, May 5, 2016. They encourage us today to celebrate two important events, the first of which is called Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican holiday that commemorates the Mexican army's 1862 defeat of France at the Battle of Puebla. This victory, where a rag-tag force of 2,000 overcame 6,000 well-trained French troops, bolstered the Mexican people in their resistance against the French. Six years later, French forces withdrew. Cinco de Mayo remains a symbol of the Mexican people's struggle against imperialistic forces. Since we have many Mexicans in Canada and in view of our important trade agreement NAFTA with them, I considered it a neighbourly thing to draw your attention to this worthwhile celebration of independence.  We can be doubly grateful in view of the fact that Canada did not have to fight its way to independence from Mother UK. Our transfer of power came amicably, though I am not sure our Quebecois compatriots would interpret that transfer in quite the same way.

Jewish Holocaust Memorial 

And then there is the Holocaust Memorial Day known as Yuom HaShoah. In Jerusalem, all places of entertainment, bars, restaurants, cinema, and theater must be closed by law. At 10:00 A.M. a siren will be heard for one minute." When that siren sounds today, traffic on the roads will stop. The entire nation will cease all activities as its people remember what happened and pledge that it must never happen again. I refer you to the Denison Forum itself to follow up on their suggestions for our proper response. It is well worth reading.

Dutch Liberation Day

But then there is a third celebration: the liberation of my home country, The Netherlands, from Nazi occupation in 1945 that we began celebrating on May 5.This event involved Canadians more than Americans and so it is more of a Canadian celebration than American, though they too were involved. The Dutch in Canada, among whom I am one, always organize events to mark this Vrijheids Dag—Freedom Day. We all continue to be exceedingly grateful to the role of Canada in that liberation. As a seven-year old at the time, I well remember the Canadian tanks rumbling through our village, throwing chocolate bars and other goodies to the public lined up along the road. As well I remember the 2-week celebration of evening dancing in the village. Two weeks is a long time in the life of a seven-year old. I had come to the conclusion that all of life is one grand party!  You will find that story in our memoirs, Every Square Inch, vol. 1, chapter 2 (www.SocialTheology.com/boeriana.htm).

Ascension Day

But the most important celebration is a universal one in contrast to the previous three. Christians especially should recognize this day as Ascension Day! See in the Bible—Luke 24:50-51; Acts 1:9-11.  Ascension refers to the ascension of the risen Christ to heaven in the presence of and, yes, in the very eyes of His disciples, soon to become apostles. I realize I’m always referring you to the books I have published, most of them both hard copy and online. This celebration is also captured by a book written by my main role model, Abraham Kuyper, that I translated under the title The Ascent of the Son—The Descent of the Spirit, the latter section referring to Pentecost. It is found on the Kuyperiana page of the above website SocialTheology.com.  

Let me treat you to my translation of Kuyper’s Introduction and then leave the rest for you to read on the website:

On Pentecost, the Church of God steps onto the world stage as the Catholic World Church. Originally, the Church was universal or catholic—the meaning is the same. It was so during early days of life in Eden and in the days of Noah , even during the time that Terah, the father of Father Abraham, wandered in the area Ur of the Chaldeans and Haran, that is the modern land of Iraq.

However, since the call of Abraham, the universal Church was narrowed down to one people and nation and, eventually, enclosed within the national borders of Israel. From this point on, the church was no longer universal or catholic but became a volkskerk, a national church in the strictest sense of the word. She retained that status until the day of Pentecost, when she laid down the trappings of a national church and once again morphed back into the original universal Church, catholic in its higher Scriptural import.

This development flowed out of Christ’s Ascension into Heaven. From the Ascension on, the Head of the Church no longer has His seat in the earthly Jerusalem on Mount Zion, but in the Jerusalem that is above, from where He rules His Church for all peoples and nations alike. The Apostle Paul especially has abundant praise over this mystery in his touching epistles to the Churches of Ephesus and Rome. Thus the Ascension and Pentecost belong together in one single unity. He ascended into Heaven in order to pour out the Holy Spirit. It is because of that unity that this bundle offers you meditations on both of these aspects of salvation history together. These meditations first take you into the heavenly Jerusalem, into the Tabernacle made by God without human participation. From that point, they descend with you back to the Church on earth, but now together with the Comforter, that is the Holy Spirit.

Abraham Kuyper May 1, 1888