Thursday, Bloody Thursday

This is on the horrific act of terror committed against the young men and women of Fort Hood in Texas. You could just as rightly call this event and thusly this blog posting “Ignoring the Obvious.”

"Et tu, Hasan?"

The shooter, U.S. Army Major Hasan, had been giving off warning signs for years leading up to his treacherous rampage. He had exhibited gender harassment and other anti-social behavior, yet he was a senior-ranking psychiatrist that the Army never disciplined or dismissed. He was merely transferred. There was fear that any other course of action would arouse outcry of religious or minority discrimination, Allah forbid!

Maj. Hasan is on record for defending the heroism of suicide bombers, describing himself as “a Muslim first, and an American second,” and advisedly warning Army superiors that “we [militant Muslims] love death more than you love life.” I suppose that Maj. Hasan would refrain from singing “America, the Beautiful”, which has the lyrics:

“O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife,

Who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life!”

When such an individual as Maj. Hasan exhibits shaky allegiance to defend the U.S. Constitution and his fellow soldiers, he should not be excused from active duty but rather released from military service altogether! I don’t care if the so-called “sensitivity training” says otherwise. Questionable loyalty was once ample grounds for dismissal or denied eligibility to serve in uniform. It was standard procedure for thousands of years! Such an example is in the Bible where the king of the Philistines wants David, a currently defected warrior of Israel (a nation that the Philistines were at war with) to lead Philistine troops into battle against the Israelites! The general staff advised the king to change his mind and refuse David’s services, which turned out to be a good call. Eventually, David returned to Israel and took with him the Philistines’ technological advantage of metallurgy – wrought iron – back with him! [See 1 Samuel 27 & 29]

No one in the mainstream media as yet has marshaled the fortitude to call this an outright and unadulterated act of terrorism, the latest massacre in a struggle that we have been fighting within our own borders since 1993 when radical Islamists first bombed the World Trade Center. The liberal intelligentsia continually refuses to see the inherent bankruptcy of the diplomatic policy that making nice to violent Muslims will eventually make them nice to us. This same vanguard of leftist thinkers also refuse to admit the mounting evidence that a white-collar professional can simultaneously have an enlightened mind and a depraved soul.

"Man is not truly one, but truly two."

Heavenly Hell

I wrote this for a Humanities class almost six years ago. It was while I was attending Diablo Valley College, so it seemed appropriate to study a book that imaginatively examined the interplay between devils and humans since Diablo is the Spanish word for “devil.” Plagiarize at your own peril – you don’t know what my final grade was on this essay, and I have re-edited it before posting here at Christos Kurios.

Heavenly Hell

Observations on C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters

The general depiction of humanity by Screwtape in The Screwtape Letters is of creatures, amphibians, composed of two natures: animal and soul. Screwtape takes the stance that since Man is not a ‘pure’ being, neither a brute nor a spirit, so he should not be considered as a viable citizen of either the bestial or metaphysical realms. The business of the correspondence is that Screwtape tutors his ward, the junior devil Wormwood, in the practice of tempting humans down into Hell. The whole process is all about the tempter tantalizing their ‘patients’ — their victims, really — with sensuality and religion, to make the patient give up everything and reward him with nothing, to cheat him out of any true pleasures, both the joys of the flesh and of the spirit.

 

Their goal is to produce patients who neither believe nor disbelieve in the existence of spiritual principalities; who believe that science should be saturated with emotion and myth — the Agnostic Alchemist or “the Materialist Magician” is their ideal transformed patient. The tempter’s most useful tools to achieve this end result, the belief in a ‘Life Force’ yet not spirits, are “the worship of sex, and some aspects of Psychoanalysis.”

The analysis of the psyche, the soul (from the ancient Greek word psukhe), and sexual desire were all one and the same to Sigmund Freud. He believed that the psyche could be studied and observed through the assertions of the individual’s libido. This was a bone fide Life Force, albeit quite lascivious, and why not? Freud’s ’science’ was highly mythologized, for in the ancient tales Psyche was the pure maiden dearly beloved by Eros, the Greek god of sexual love.

What is interesting to note is that Freud defined the psyche of the individual as a tripartite being: id, ego, and superego. His peers in the Romantic Era of Europe quickly became captivated by the hypothesis of Psychoanalysis whilst they ironically scoffed at the belief in the Judeo-Christian Almighty God who asserted Himself to be a triune Being.

from Phil Selby's site "pencilsatdawn"

European art was echoing the rising moral (soon to be mortal) peril of subjective-relativist perspective sweeping the mindset of Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The photo-camera had been given dominion of realism and few artists had dared to discover and tap the increasing potential of the camera. Instead, many artists attempted to excel in what they believed that the camera could never achieve (though it soon would before the dawn of the 20th century). They went to great lengths to depict their surroundings, humanity in particular, in negative, disturbed, and/or distorted form. It was a perspective of the human race that was almost akin to Screwtape’s feral bias of humanity!

A failed artist with a feral bias against humanity.

Screwtape’s letters are all about advising Wormwood in the art of shrewdly interjecting any philosophy that will bring the patient into the territory of the Enemy, to restrain and inhibit any true enlightenment from entering the thoughts of the tempter’s victim, and to make the patient’s sense of logic all topsy-turvy. This tactic is paralleled in its entirety in Adolf Hitler’s book, Mein Kampf, which no doubt played a major role in the catalyst that prompted C.S. Lewis to write The Screwtape Letters. The future fuerer, Herr Hitler, wrote, “It is possible by means of shrewd and unremitting propaganda, to make people believe that heaven is hell — and hell, heaven.” As the correspondence of Screwtape first went into print in London, Hitler was fast demonstrating to the world how heavenly hell could be.

“No Respect Do I Get”

Has it ever occurred to anyone else that Yoda is too short to be allowed to ride on Star Tours at Disneyland?

Whoa, you mean that wasn't a toddler with a weird mask left standing outside?

Our family went to “The Big D” to celebrate my birthday. We wanted to take full advantage of the “Free on your birthday” special after I had mentioned the deal to my parents.

Late in the afternoon as my sister and I were walking out the exit queue through the Star Trader shop, my eyes fell upon this priceless design. Deep down inside, I’ve been a fan of the films set in “a galaxy far, far away.” (But I would never, EVER, wear the Jedi “bathrobe” cloak, not even for Halloween!)

Maybe us fans of the Star Wars franchise are a little slow, since it has only taken 23 years of Star Tours’ presence at Disneyland for someone to notice the obvious: Yoda would be out of luck if he booked a flight across the galaxy here. He would be left outside, sandwiched between the expectant mothers and the grandparents with heart murmurs.

Well, long story short, I finally have a Disneyland/Star Wars T-shirt worthy of owning.

Jesus is Better than Santa

St. Nickolas kneels before his Lord, the Christ.

This text was forwarded to me by my parents from some dear family friends. I thought that it should be posted here as a meditation for Christmas.

Santa lives at the North Pole.

JESUS is everywhere.

Santa rides in a sleigh

JESUS rides on the wind and walks on the water.

Santa comes but once a year

JESUS is an ever present help.

Santa fills your stockings with goodies

JESUS supplies all your needs.

Santa comes down your chimney uninvited

JESUS stands at your door and knocks.. and then enters your heart.

You have to stand in line to see Santa

JESUS is as close as the mention of His name.

Santa lets you sit on his lap

JESUS lets you rest in His arms.

Santa doesn’t know your name, all he can say is “Hi little boy or girl, What’s your name?”

JESUS knew our name before we did. Not only does He know our name, He knows our address too. He knows our history and future and He even knows how many hairs are on our heads.

Santa has a belly like a bowl full of jelly

JESUS has a heart full of love.

All Santa can offer is HO HO HO

JESUS offers health, help and hope.

Santa says “You better not cry”

JESUS says “Cast all your cares on me for I care for you.

Santa’s little helpers make toys

JESUS makes new life, mends wounded hearts, repairs broken homes and builds mansions.

Santa may make you chuckle but

JESUS gives you joy that is your strength.

While Santa puts gifts under your tree

JESUS became our gift and died on the tree.

It’s obvious there is really no comparison.

We need to remember WHO Christmas is all about.

We need to put Christ back in Christmas.

Jesus is still the reason for the season.

May the Lord Bless and Watch over you and your loved ones this Christmas 2008

And may He prosper and bless the work of your hands in the New Year.

God bless you all !

O God, Forgive Me For Worshipping My Country

“Human nature leads us to want to believe that our nation is naturally blessed by God. Even the Japanese believed that when they bombed Pearl Harbor. The Romans believed that they were specially blessed by God and they eventually cut out the middle-man and deified their emperor! Most great civilizations believe that they must have been blessed by God; that is nothing new.”
– Dr. Gregg Frazer

I was smitten without warning by a train of thought this past May. The date was May 1st, the 57th annual observance of the United States’ National Day of Prayer. Banners and posters were on display all over the property of the Christian school where I taught this past year. Emblazoned on all of these displays was the bon mot, written in large letters: “Prayer! America’s strength & shield.” The stars and stripes of Old Glory filled the entire background, while a man in the foreground knelt in prayer before a shield and sword.

The Holy Bible and cross of Jesus Christ were nowhere to be found on any of the items raising awareness for the day and a neutral verse from the Psalms christened the printed advertisements with precious little Scripture. A disturbing thing to notice is that the terse verse, Psalm 28:7, has been taken out of context and stripped down to the point where what is left now reads in a rather egocentric perspective:

The LORD is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts, and I am helped

Perhaps the first best thing I should do is show how the verse fits into the context of Psalm 28, so here it is:

Psalm 28

1 To you, O LORD, I call;
my rock, be not deaf to me,
lest, if you be silent to me,
I become like those who go down to the pit.
2 Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy,
when I cry to you for help,
when I lift up my hands
toward your most holy sanctuary.
3 Do not drag me off with the wicked,
with the workers of evil,
who speak peace with their neighbors
while evil is in their hearts.
4 Give to them according to their work
and according to the evil of their deeds;
give to them according to the work of their hands;
render them their due reward.
5 Because they do not regard the works of the LORD
or the work of his hands,
he will tear them down and build them up no more.
6 Blessed be the LORD!
for he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.
7 The LORD is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;
my heart exults,
and with my song I give thanks to him.
8 The LORD is the strength of his people;
he is the saving refuge of his anointed.
9 Oh, save your people and bless your heritage!
Be their shepherd and carry them forever.

The psalm is a song of supplication written by King David. It is a prayer requesting God to smite the wicked but preserve the righteous. David requests that God keep him from being fooled by the falsely peaceful words of wicked men (v. 3). He pleads to the Lord to protect him from the holy wrath that God has promised to send upon the wicked. Finally, David gives thanks that God keeps His promises and the song of praise ends with the reminder that God is the Strong Shepherd that His people are always in need of (vv. 8-9).

In its non-truncated form, Psalm 28:7 is a praise that prayer is both requesting and thanking of God:

The LORD is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;
my heart exults,
and with my song I give thanks to him.

But in the abbreviated form, only the requesting remains. Thankfulness has fallen by the wayside:

The LORD is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts, and I am helped

The problem in ceasing to remember to be thankful is that ingratitude finds a prime opportunity to flourish! Forsaking gratitude while clinging to our demands quickly turns Christians into the brats of heaven.

Then there is the whole “not-so-subliminal” overuse of stars and stripes.

Isaiah’s vision reinterpreted–
I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. And its colors were red, white and blue.

That is how Isaiah’s sixth chapter must read in the Bible that all of the artists refer to. I have yet to find it printed in any trustworthy translation of the Scripture.

And all of this made me wonder:

Must prayer be adorned with patriotism in order to make it worthwhile?

By the way, would you still persevere in prayer if I told you the famous painting above, The Prayer at Valley Forge, by Arnold Friberg, was based on a falsehood? You can read more about it here.

You can also listen to Dr. Gregg Frazer’s presentation on the topic by clicking on the podcast link below:

The Religious Faith of America’s Founders — (iTunes required)

The Theology of Safeway

Today is the only date on the calendar that can phonetically double as an imperative command: “March forth!” Yet in this post you’ll find no fire-eater’s rallying cry to “Go forth and conquer!” The purpose of what is written today is to look at the habits of our hum-drum everyday life, because just like the tagline for Spider-Man 3, “The greatest battle lies within.”

Consider for a moment a core topic of everyday theology – what we do with our pocketbooks. Stand outside your habits for awhile (I know this may not be easy). The most-often-addressed subject in Jesus’ teachings on earthly matters was money (Matt. 13:44-46; Matt. 24:45-51; Luke 7:41-43; Luke 12:16-21; Luke 15:8-10; Luke 18:10-14).

I came across this excerpt from a book that my pastor mentioned in his sermon this past Sunday (March 2nd, 2008). It seemed that this piece of “everyday theology” was worthy of posting here at Christos Kurios. It could all be summed up in a question I’m learning to ask of myself more frequently: “Where does your mind wander while you stand in the waiting line?”

There is a parallel of this train of thought, ironically enough, in the song “In the Waiting Line” by the band Zero 7:

Wait in line
‘Till your time
Ticking clock
Everyone stop

Everyone’s saying different things to me
Different things to me
Everyone’s saying different things to me
Different things to me

Woooohh
Do you believe
In what you see
There doesn’t seem to be anybody else who agrees with me

Do you believe
In what you see
Motionless wheel
Nothing is real
Wasting my time
In the waiting line
Do you believe in
What you see

Nine to five
Living lies
Everyday
Stealing time
Everyone’s taking everything they can
Everything they can
Everyone’s taking everything they can
Everything they can

Woooohh
Do you believe
In what you feel
It doesn’t seem to be anybody else who agrees with me

Do you believe
In what you see
Motionless wheel
Nothing is real
Wasting my time
In the waiting line
Do you believe
In what you see

Ah and I’ll shout and I’ll scream
But I’d rather not be seen
And I’ll hide away for another day

Do you believe
In what you see
Motionless wheel
Nothing is real
Wasting my time
In the waiting line
Do you believe
In what you see

Everyone’s saying different things to me
Different things to me
Different things to me
Different things to me
Different things to me
Everyone’s taking everything they can
Everything they can

It is always essential to pause and evaluate what it is that our heart treasures the highest. Because whatever we hold dear, fair or foul, our hearts follow swiftly after it.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:21

Happy Leap Day 2008

or
You Can Resist All Tortures.

This day only comes but once every four years. What better way to observe it than to draw attention to a book that celebrates two subjects that are close to my heart: History and Christianity.

Its title is This Day in Christian History: 366 Compelling Events in the History of the Church. When it comes to books that have an intentional outline of “read through in a year,” I have somewhat of a pet peeve when the schedule fails to take February 29 into account. It is a day that occurs 25 times every century, so why ignore it?

That’s why at some level in my heart I leap for joy (please pardon the pun) whenever such a book’s daily entries tally up to 366. This Day in Christian History is one of those texts that has taken all of the flukes of the calendar into consideration.

So, without further ado, Christos Kurios presents as an excerpt the main article for February 29 from This Day in Christian History:

Rumania’s “Prisoner Number One”

On this day in 1948, a beautiful Sunday morning, Pastor Richard Wurmbrand of Rumania set out on foot for church. He never arrived. For eight-and-a-half years his wife and son did not know where he was or even if he was alive or dead. “Ex-prisoners” assured Wurmbrand’s wife, Sabina, that they had witnessed her husband’s funeral in a Communist prison. Sabina was heartbroken, and yet she doubted the word of those men, suspecting that they might be agents of the government.

Wurmbrand’s disappearance was expected. Anyone who acted contrary to the Communist regime that held Rumania in its fist could expect imprisonment or death. One might say he had asked for it, but he didn’t do so without a good reason. At a “Congress of Cults” held by the Communist government, religious leaders stepped forward to swear loyalty to the new regime. Sabina asked Wurmbrand to “wipe the shame from the face of Jesus.” Wurmbrand replied that if he stepped forward, she would no longer have a husband. “I don’t need a coward for a husband,” she answered. And so Wurmbrand stepped forward and told the 4,000 delegates that their duty as Christians was to glorify God and Christ alone.

He returned home to lead an underground church and promote the gospel among Rumania’s Russian invaders. He smuggled Bibles, disguised as Communist propaganda, into Russia. And then he disappeared.

What had actually happened? As Wurmbrand walked to church, a van full of secret police stopped in front of him. Four men jumped out and hustled him inside. He was taken to their headquarters and later locked in a solitary cell, where he was designated “Prisoner Number One.” His year of imprisonment consisted of a ceaseless round of torture and brainwashing. For seventeen hours a day, repetitious phrases were dinned into his ears: “Communism is good.” “Christianity is stupid!” “Give up. Give up!” Over the years, his body was repeatedly cut and burned. His jailers also broke many of his bones, including four of his vertebrae. When asked later about what he had endured, he replied, “I prefer not to speak about those [tortures] through which I have passed. When I do, I cannot sleep at night. It is too painful.” Miraculously, despite all of the hardships he endured, he survived. Other martyrs did not.

Eight-and-a-half years later, in 1956, Wurmbrand was released. During that time, Sabina had been brutalized in prison for three years, and their nine-year-old son, Mihai, was treated as an orphan. Upon their release, the Wurmbrands immediately recommenced underground work. Wurmbrand was taken again to prison and was not released until 1964. In 1965, Western churches ransomed Wurmbrand from Rumania for $10,000.

Wurmbrand and his wife immediately spoke out for those still suffering in Communist hands. Wurmbrand was asked to testify before the United States Senate. He displayed the eighteen holes cut in his body. Afterward, he was invited to speak before hundreds of groups. By 1967, “Prisoner Number One” had incorporated a mission organization known as the Voice of the Martyrs, an organization dedicated to assisting those who suffer for Christ throughout the world.

He and his wife were able to survive their ordeal through the power of love. Wurmbrand wrote:

If the heart is cleansed by the love of Jesus Christ and if the heart loves Him, you can resist all tortures. What would a loving bride not do for a loving bridegroom? What would a loving mother not do for her child? If you love Christ as Mary did, who had Christ as a baby in her arms, if you love Jesus as a bride loves her bridegroom, then you can resist such tortures. God will judge us not according to how much we have endured, but how much we could love. I am a witness for the Christians in Communist prisons that they could love. They could love God and men.

Now I ask you, if such a profound true story is observed on the “Leap Day” entry, just imagine what historical treasures have been researched and written for the 365 other “everyday” entries.

You can access the Voice of the Martyrs main webpage here.