In the long-haul walls built by fear don’t work. The Great Wall of China in spite of being one of the Seven Wonders of the World never did do its job. The walls of Jericho offered no real protection. The wall Nehemiah rebuilt around Jerusalem boosted morale but did nothing to stop the tug of war carried out the great world powers in that territory. The Maginot line of defense didn’t stop Hitler for even a moment, he simply Blitzkrieged around it. The Berlin wall and the border fence separating East from West Germany failed to quench East Germans’ thirst for freedom, so they tore it down at the first real opportunity. Walls build by fear don’t work and it doesn’t matter whether or not they are made of concrete, or words of fear and hate, or usually both.I am surprised how many Christians are answering the siren call for more walls, be it more prison walls, border fences, or rhetoric that keeps repeating the refrain of “let’s keep them out so we can be safe within.” But how much Concertina wire do we want, how high and thick do the walls need to be, and at what point do we end up imprisoned ourselves, both actually and in our mentality?Christmas is just weeks away. Maybe we need to remember that God himself took on flesh to break down walls. Wall-building is the very antithesis of the reality of Christmas. God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to liberate, to tear down walls that separate, to not be ruled by fear but by faith rooted in love, to help us escape from the inescapable walls our sins create, and to help us across the wall no one can leap over, death. Jesus came to reconcile and has entrusted us with the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). As stewards of the Good News he has called us to concern ourselves not with how many we can keep out, but about how many we can bring in through the door of the cross.Do we as Christians have to be afraid that our Heavenly Father is no longer capable of feeding us, the immigrants (both legal and illegal), and the refugees (for whose plight we are partially responsible) knocking at our door? Have we forgotten that, “God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others” 2 Corinthians 9:8 (NLT); that, “This same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus” Philippians 4:19 (NLT); and that, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me” Matthew 25:40 (HCSB)?Before we give credence to the rhetoric of the those who constantly cry for more walls, before we attach ourselves to the political bandwagon of anyone who thinks wall building is a good idea, and before we repeat carefully crafted arguments for wall building rooted in patriotism or any other human rationale I am asking you to thoroughly examine the scriptures and let the word of God (the Bible, and specifically the New Testament) inform your opinions, your conversations, and your actions. “For he himself (Christ) is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household” Ephesians 2:14-19 (NIV, parenthesis mine).To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans
With Liberty and Justice for All
If you fail under pressure, your strength is too small. Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to die; save them as they stagger to their death. Don’t excuse yourself by saying, “Look, we didn’t know.” For God understands all hearts, and he sees you. He who guards your soul knows you knew. He will repay all people as their actions deserve. Proverbs 24:10-12 (NLT)70 years ago, on January 27, Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration and extermination camp was liberated. 1.1 million people were murdered there, not because they had been convicted of some crime deserving death but because they did not fit Nazi ideology, and most of them because they were Jews. In order to pull of mass murder on that scale the Nazi leadership had brainwash, intimidate , and silence most all of Germany. Think about it, how else do you slaughter millions of human beings without any large scale opposition? How do you keep it out of the media? How do you manage to keep an entire country from crying out against it? It really is an old play book, cooked up in hell a long time ago.You have to have great slogans, “ARBEIT MACHT FREI” (work liberates) hung at the entrance of concentration camps. A little hard work never has harmed anybody, has it? “For God and country.” “Allahu Akbar” (God is the greatest). “A woman’s right to choose.” What fool would challenge God and patriotism? Who can deny that God is the greatest? Who doesn’t endorse the freedom to choose? Great slogans ease the conscience; mollify the urge to think for yourself. You want people to love the slogans regardless of the truth.You have to intimidate, sow fear to point that people are glad that what happens to others does not happen to them. You have to exploit what every kid learns on the school playground – to be afraid of being laughed at, being ostracized, to be called names, to be bullied, of being hurt. Terror works, fear is powerful. You have to be willing to belittle, shout down, embarrass, defame, lie, betray, hurt, and kill in the name of the cause. Sowing fear can’t worry about being clean, getting dirty, embracing violence, a “few” dispensable lives.You have to be good at stripping real people of their humanity. You want people to think that Jews are categorically bad, the infidels are bad, an unwanted unplanned baby is bad, as are liberals, conservatives, environmentalists, homosexuals and all of the LBGTQ crowd, fundamentalists, Christians, Muslims, atheists they are all bad. And it is okay to dislike bad, to hate bad. Getting rid of bad is not that bad of a thing, in fact it might even be good. The less bad people there are the better; you have to be completely out of touch to disagree with that. Bad also doesn’t deserve the same rights as good, does it? Bad and bad people are really more of an issue to be dealt with, personalizing only complicates things. It is much easier to deal with an issue like the issue of slavery, the issue of the Jews, the issue of abortion, the issue of the Middle East Conflict, the issue of Aids, of Ebola, hunger, injustice. Issues are far easier to deal with, they don’t stare you in the eye, issues don’t have beating hearts.On January 22, 1973 the US Supreme Court legalized abortion, since then 55,000,000 (55 million!) human beings have lost their lives through abortion in the United States alone. They have fallen victim to pills, solutions, suction machines, dismemberment, and the like. Where is the outrage, the disgust, the shame? There has not been one, not a single aborted child that was less than 100% human. There has not been one aborted child guilty or even accused of a crime. The reason they have been so easily and mercilessly killed is that they have been stripped of their humanity (How conditioned have we become to zygote, embryo, fetus as meaning something less than human). They have been called “mistakes,” “inconveniences,” “bad timing,” “accidents,” everything but what they really are – persons, human beings, living images of God. They have been deemed dispensable, we are better off without them than with them. They have been stripped of the most basic human rights and legal protection under the smoke screen of a woman’s right to choose. They have been made into issue to debate rather than people to love.O that there would be “liberty and justice for all.”To God be all glory, Pastor Hans
Blessed Are Those Who Mourn - Michael Brown, James Foley, Dr. Amevo Adedavoh
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Matthew 5:4 (NIV)Michael Brown is dead, shot by a police officer. James Foley is dead, beheaded by a jihadist. Dr. Ameyo Adedavoh died after she contracted Ebola when she had to physically restrain an infected patient, American-Liberian Patrick Sawyer, who wanted to leave the hospital. We only know about them because they made the news but along with them scores have died whose names we will never know, precious only to those who loved and knew them or maybe to no one at all.There is no shortage of opinions on the death of Michael Brown, on James Foley, on the Ebola epidemic. There is no shortage of outrage, anger, propaganda, political agendas, and rhetoric. There is no shortage of onlookers, head-shakers, and “what is the world coming to”-ers. There is no shortage of anger, hatred, and violence. What is missing are the mourners, those who weep, those whose hearts are moved, those who feel the brokenness, the senseless, the loss.If I am not careful my observation about the lack of mourning is just my clever tack to have a novel non-involved opinion. Am I mourning? Is the death of Michael Brown causing me to mourn? Am I grieved that there is still a big gap between the treatment of people with different colors of skin? Do I weep over the fact that our police chiefs see a need to assemble military like forces to keep the peace? Do I open my heart to feel the loss of countless Muslims who, like James Foley, have suffered through senseless violence, war, corruption, sectarianism, and religion run amuck? Does my heart hurt so much I dream of better for black teenagers, radical Islamists, and disease stricken, impoverished Africans? Am I willing to plead their cases on my knees before God? Am I willing to get out my check book? Am I willing to turn my back on meaningless talk and opinionating and instead mourn openly, publicly?“Blessed are those who mourn.” There is no blessedness in anger, in violence, in injustice, in poverty, in oppression. There is no blessedness in apathy, on-looking, commentating, disengaging.“Blessed are those who mourn.” We don’t mourn over things we do not care about, we don’t feel their loss. The Prophet Jonah was rebuked by God because didn’t care if 120,000 little kids along with their families got wiped out, but cried and grieved over the loss of his air conditioner (Jonah 4).“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Mourners know how to help. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NIV). The Greek word for comfort paints the picture of coming alongside, the very word Jesus used to describe the Spirit of God (John 14:16-17). No wonder calls us blessed when we are willing to mourn, we act like him when we do.To God be all glory, Pastor Hans
Be an Othniel
When the sons of Israel cried to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for the sons of Israel to deliver them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel. When he went out to war, the LORD gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand, so that he prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. Then the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died. Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD. So the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD. And he gathered to himself the sons of Ammon and Amalek; and he went and defeated Israel, and they possessed the city of the palm trees. The sons of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. Judges 3:9-14 (NASB, emphasis mine)Do you contribute to conflict, chaos, clamor, confusion, and acrimony? Do you help stir things up or settle things down? Do your words and actions cause nerves to be raw or calm? Can people around you rest or do you set them on edge? Are you an influence of peace or of drama? Is the “land” (your family, your relationships, your work place, class room, home, business, neighborhood, etc.) at rest or disturbed because of you?They never could hold onto it for too long. The ancient Israelites gained their freedom, had God’s promises and presence, and had a chance to have an awesome life, but they never were at rest, at peace, undisturbed and quiet for too long. Invariably they left and ignored the things that make for peace and rest. Then when it was gone, when things were miserable, they cried out to God like in the example you read above and God in his mercy and goodness granted them deliverance, freedom, and rest. Under Othniel (whose name means “God is powerful”) it was forty years. And then they chucked it again. Why did they? And why do we?Something died with Othniel, something did not take root in the two generations that benefited most from Othniel’s contribution to their freedom, their quality of life, their spiritual foundation. They saw no value in honoring God in everyday life, in accepting spiritual restraints, in practicing Biblical ethics. They did not consider these essential; they made no connection between fidelity to God and peace and blessing. They forgot that peace and rest don’t just happen but are the result of trusting in God, embracing goodness, practicing justice, and forsaking evil and wickedness. They didn’t believe that “there is no peace for the wicked” (Isaiah 57:21).So, are you part of the answer or part of the dark that causes others to cry out for deliverance and rest? Are you willing to let God use you as a deliverer, a restorer, as one who causes peace and rest to bless the “land” throughout your life? And what do you need to address and change so God can use you like an Othniel?"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.Matthew 5:9 (NASB)To God be all glory, love you, Pastor Hans
No Gospel for Gophers
Gophers and ground squirrels committing acts of subterranean terror, wood peckers in senseless destruction drilling holes into my house or by my office, ants trying to take over our home like Russia annexing Crimea, and termites like the NSA in cloaked secrecy chewing away on what is precious to me – my animosity, my loathing, my outcry over these is no secret.These critters are relentless, the damages attributable to them are significant, and their consciences don’t seem to be all that bothered. I wonder if there is a rodent hell, a wood pecker purgatory, an eternal lake of fire for termites and ants? If not, there should be. This kind of destruction, havoc, senselessness, disrespect, and lack of caring should not go unaccounted for. There should be some kind of justice, shouldn’t there?But what is our excuse? We are the creature with the most advanced brain, we are capable of figuring things out peacefully, we are able to empathize more deeply than any living thing. It is possible for us to make good choices that go beyond basic instinct, beyond emotion, beyond rage, beyond hatred, beyond what is just good for us. And yet no creature God has made is more destructive than us, than mankind. We are politically destructive, ecologically destructive, economically destructive, emotionally destructive, personally destructive, and even spiritually destructive. Yet somehow we are prone to cry foul at the very notion that God would hold us accountable, that he would judge us for our evil, our failure to do good, are unwillingness to live for the highest ends of loving God and loving our neighbor.Another observance of Easter, the recognition and celebration of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, conquering sin and death and rising from the dead, is approaching. I wish there was a gospel for gophers and the like. However, there is a Gospel for you and for me, for people. Unlike me, who has trouble eliminating a few gophers and ants, God could have exterminated us all, and no one could have faulted him because our collective and personal history indicts us. He could have responded with pure and justified hatred towards all of mankind. Somehow he didn’t and instead of withdrawing personally and emotionally He drew closer, and engaged himself deeper. He chose to love, to offer hope, to provide atonement and forgiveness, to conquer what we cannot - our sin and the reality of death.I have no desire to become a gopher, to dwell among ground squirrels, to be part of a termite colony. As you well know, I have no love for any of them. But God in Christ chose to dwell among us, that’s incredible. On the one hand it brings incredible hope to our moral, existential, and spiritual dilemma; on the other hand it robs us of our last excuse of having no other option than to be who we are.“Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good.But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.” Romans 5:7-10 (NLT)To God be all glory, love you, Pastor Hans
Respect for human life
Have you ever been told something you didn’t want to hear but you needed to? Those are the conversation we don’t really want to be part of. So if you don’t want to hear something we all need to hear, if you don’t want to engage into a conversation that really needs to happen, don’t read on.Last week, in the wake of Detroit’s homicide numbers for 2012, Mayor Dave Bing said, “We’ve just lost respect for each other; we’ve lost respect for life.” The number he was lamenting was 411 up from 377 the previous year. What a sad statistic, Mayor Bing had every reason to lament it. However, it pales in light of the fact that in 2012 approximately 1,200,000 (1.2 Million) pre-born little boys and girls had their lives snuffed out through abortion. Indeed we have lost respect for human life.It is even sadder because we can no longer claim ignorance. One no longer can argue about when human life begins, modern science can now identify human being from its first cell on. Following conception are merely stages in the life of a human being both in and outside the womb. It is even sadder because these killings are legal through all nine months of pregnancy, even right before a child slips through the birth canal. It is even sadder because we build an entire money making industry around the taking, the destruction of little human beings. And it is sadder still that we don’t want to hear about it, we don’t want to be exposed to the ugly truth that since the Roe vs. Wade decision rendered by the highest court of the land, which has a responsibility to uphold justice and liberty for all, well over 50, 000,000 (fifty million) pre-born babies have died. We have acquiesced to stripping an entire group, the pre-born, of the rights each American holds dear: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. We do not want to hear of morality (although the taking of innocent life is an immoral act). We do not want to hear of responsibility past a condom regarding sexual behavior. We don’t want to think about having to take responsibility for acts of unbridled (and unprotected) acts of passion and lust.Mayor Bing is right, “We have lost respect for life,” and I wonder if he included all those little boys and girls who lost their lives via an abortion pill or the hands of an abortionist in the city of Detroit. We cannot devalue human life anywhere along its entire life span and hope to maintain respect for human life. We cannot engage in a conversation about respect for human life while stripping an entire class of all its fundamental rights. We cannot maintain respect for human life if we do not want to talk about responsibility regarding our capacity to create life. We cannot hold on to respect for human life if do not reckon with the reality that we will answer to our Creator, God Almighty, for all of our decisions and acts.Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness are indeed a great endowment and great values as long as we choose them for all.To God be all glory, Pastor Hans
01-29-12, "with liberty and justice for all" - sanctitiy of human life
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."Every day people across this nation proudly recite these words, including our leaders. The phrase “under God” has received a lot of attention in the recent past, but it doesn’t matter all that much since as a nation we don’t believe the words anyway – especially “with liberty and justice for all.”Unless we decide to mean what we say today, tomorrow, this year, next year, and the years after that we will continue to teach the words to kindergarteners but we will also train them not to mean them, to accept the hypocrisy, if not defend it. Actually they are the lucky ones, they were allowed to live long enough to learn the pledge. They were not stripped of their liberty, they were not denied their humanity, they were included when it comes to “liberty and justice for all.” Before they were born their mothers chose to let them live, to recognize them for what they are, humans, people, persons, even though our laws say otherwise. Laws which Pledge-reciting officials wrote and enacted and Pledge-reciting judges upheld, against all truth and scientific evidence to the contrary.If there really is “justice for all,” how do we justify taking the lives of growing babies, simply because they are still in their mothers’ wombs? How do we justify denying the most basic human right, the right to live, to an entire group of human beings? How do we justify deeming some stages of human existence as not deserving liberty and justice? How do we justify that a mother’s right of making choices about her life includes being able to take the life of another human being because it is unplanned, unwanted, inconvenient, the wrong gender, less than perfect, or will face less than ideal circumstances?There was a time when African American men, women, and children weren’t deserving of liberty and justice simply because they were called slaves. There was a time when Native American men, women, and children weren’t deserving of liberty and justice simply because they were called savages, and because they were inconvenient politically, economically, and personally. All the reasoning and rhetoric employed then was as flawed and dishonest as the reasoning and rhetoric employed against granting the pre-born the fundamental right to personhood, life, liberty, and justice.As “One nation under God” we should care what God thinks on matters as important and fundamental as these, He (God) created them male and female, and he blessed them and called them “human.” Genesis 5:2 (NLT, parenthesis mine). We should choose to do no less for all people.To God be all glory, love you, Pastor HansP.S. There are God and Life-honoring alternatives to abortion. The first step is to choose not to have one and instead be someone who believes in liberty and justice for that new person. If you can’t find help feel free to contact me, thegermanshepherd@juno.com, 209 852-2029.