‘Current Affairs’ Category

What a contradictory culture we live in. Militant about protecting young children from possible sexual abuse and physical harm (there is such a case going on right now in southern Ontario)—and rightly so—but also adamant about the right to slay unborn children—and yes, they are children too—in the womb. It is blatant hypocrisy.

Does not such government-condoned slaughter of utterly helpless babes here in Canada undermine any right we have to feel moral superiority to the Nazi regime in their treatment of the Jews or the slaveholders of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries? For all our purported concern for the helpless and disenfranchised, is it not sheer hypocrisy when we will not extend that concern to the enwombed?

I must confess to having enormous admiration for that most controversial of figures, Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), about whom two or three new books have appeared this year. The reason for my admiration will become plain in part from the following extract from A Declaration of the Army of England upon their March into Scotland To all that are Saints, and partakers of the faith of God’s Elect, in Scotland, which was issued July 19, 1650. In it Cromwell made this excellent statement:

“Is all religion wrapped up in that or any one form? Doth that name, or thing, give the difference between those that are the members of Christ and those that are not? We think not so. We say, faith working by love is the true character of a Christian; and, God is our witness, in whomsoever we see any thing of Christ to be, there we reckon our duty to love, waiting for a more plentiful effusion of the Spirit of God to make all those Christians, who, by the malice of the world, are diversified, and by their own carnal-mindedness, do diversify themselves by several names of reproach, to be of one heart and one mind, worshipping God with one consent.”

With elections facing both Canada and the United States, some bitter words are being uttered by adherents of the different political persuasions. And even Christians have allowed what Cromwell here calls “the malice of the world” to influence them in harsh remarks about political opponents. I suppose this is a danger to which young men are prone and some of the comments I have read that have deeply disturbed me by their attitude have been written by younger brothers. But folly and malice are no respecters of age!

There are Christians today who make the heart of the gospel a political position or an economic perspective. Surely Christians may differ on such issues. As Cromwell rightly says: “Is all religion wrapped up in that or any one form?” He was talking about making ecclesial issues the heart of the gospel. In our day, some, and some who should know better, are making this political policy or that economic strategy essential to gospel truth.

The gospel touches on political and economic realities for sure—not one square inch of this universe is not owned by King Jesus, and we look forward to a glorious theocracy one day in the new heavens and the new earth in which there will be true liberty—but till then, we must learn as Christians to disagree in love on such secondary issues. Yes, have convictions; but love all who love the Lord Jesus.

If we cannot love our brothers and sisters who disagree with us in this and must hit them verbally with invective and name-calling, how on earth will we ever love those that reject the gospel and take very contrary positions to ours on matters far more weighty?

Darrin Brooker, a very close friend, alerted me to the fact that it has been suggested that Dr. Henry Morgentaler be awarded the Order of Canada. I was personally deeply distressed by this, for this man has made it his life’s goal to promote abortion throughout this fair nation—which is nothing less than the slaughter of countless innocents—and we are considering honouring this man with one of our nation’s highest honours!

I love our country and have been greatly exercised by the way what is wrong has been promoted as a good and what is good has been treated as a merely cultural artefact and outmoded. Goodness never goes out of style; and what is wicked does not change its hue because of a different cultural scene.

There is a poll that The Globe and Mail is conducting regarding this—please take the time to register your opinion:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/v5/content/poll/static/nationalPoll.html.

Understanding Islam is imperative. Such knowledge is vital for stability in the Middle East and, with the spread of jihadist terrorism, it is now essential for the larger sphere of global peace. More importantly, such knowledge is vital for the great task that the Church has in our generation, namely, the planting of gospel churches among Muslim peoples. And as with other spheres of human insight and understanding, such knowledge must come from first-hand contact. Far too much so-called knowledge in the West about the Muslim world is sketchy at best and utterly untrustworthy at worst. Western Evangelical Christianity, confident that it is not influenced by the secular press, has become an unwitting perpetrator of far too many myths about the Muslims.

Westerners, even Evangelicals, tend to adore the present and future, and look with disdain on the past. But such an attitude is fatal in any work seeking to be fruitful among Muslims, where the contours of the past are constantly being recalled. And so to understand Islam we must remember the past, and especially our past encounters with Islam.

There are some very good blogs out there, especially Christian ones. Whoever said Christians don’t think (the charge is as old as Marcus Aurelius and older), should think again about such an uninformed statement. Search the web and find some of these thoughtful Christian bloggers.

Some of the greatest minds in the history of humanity—Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, Pascal, Edwards—have been Christians and spent their lives thinking through the implications of Christianity for all of life.

.My father’s people are Kurds, my father being born in Kirkuk. And thus the stuff that has been going on in the Middle East for the past three decades has been of great interest to me.

Here are two excellent articles on Kurdistan by Michael Totten: The Kurds Go Their Own Way and this perspective on the Kurdish portion of Iraq. May God hasten the day when there is a utterly free Kurdistan, and my father’s people have their own homeland back.

HT: Tim Challies

“Islamoschmoozing”: now, that’s a word! What it means in terms of a dictionary entry is obvious. For an essay on the potential threat of this to the fabric of Canadian society, see this article by Mark Steyn. Good reasoning without being hyper.

HT: Ian Clary.

The amount of material on The Da Vinci Code is reaching, I suspect, staggering proportions. It is a full-time job to keep up with all of it! Here is a good review, though, by Crawford Gribben: “Cracking the code.”

In the recent arrest of 12 men and 5 youths planning terrorist activities here in Canada (see this CTV report here), Luc Portelance of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) commented: “It is important to note that this operation in no way reflects negatively on any specific community or ethno-cultural group in Canada. Terrorism is a dangerous ideology and a global phenomenon. As yesterday’s arrests confirm, Canada is not immune from this ideology.”

This is interesting, for in the list of names released on the report, all of them are clearly Muslim. I am convinced that it would be a despicable act of utter folly and downright racism to argue that this means all people of Muslim descent in this country are potential terrorists. After all, my own birth-name was Azad Michael Anthony Hakim and my forebears were Kurdish Muslims from Kirkuk, Iraq. I endured enough racist slurs as a young boy growing up in England and Canada in the 1960s to know the error and personal pain of such racial stereotyping.

On the other hand, this surely does mean that threats to our country’s safety are more likely to come from this community than from among immigrants from Brazil, say, or Thailand. And it would be equal folly for we who love Canada to think that she would be immune from the struggle that has engulfed other Western nations like Britain, Australia, Spain, and the U.S.A. I suspect we have thought that because the hatred of many in this world has been directed against America, we will get off scot-free, since we are clear that we are not Americans, but Canadians. But the distinctions that we love to make between ourselves and our friends to the south is completely lost in the eyes of many who are filled with loathing for all things Western. As our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, emphasized: “We are a target because of who we are, how we live, our society, our diversity and our values—values such as freedom, democracy and the rule of law—the values that make Canada great.” (By the way, what a joy to have such a man as our Prime Minister!)

In these dangerous times, though, we who have a commitment to Christ have another responsibility above and beyond love of country: love of Christ and concern that his Kingdom embrace men and women of every clime and tongue. This is a Kingdom that is not of this world and cannot be brought in by the clash of arms or weapons of human destruction. It is by gospel proclamation, words of witness, deeds of love and Christian community—and above all the grace of the Holy Spirit’s converting power—that this Kingdom moves forward. And we must never forget that among the people for whom our Lord Jesus died are those who today call upon Allah. And there is coming a great day when they will cast this idol to the winds, the bats and the moles, and be converted and worship the Lord Christ.

God, hasten the day!

HT: Paul W. Martin.

How far can a nation turn away from the light that it has known is well illustrated by this recent news item from Reuters about the attempt to form a party in Holland that advocates a “cut in the legal age for sexual relations to 12 from 16 and the legalization of child pornography and sex with animals” (“Pedophiles to launch political party”). This is horrific and it has understandably caused outrage in Holland. But unless there is a transcendent ethic that enables one to critique such perverse thinking, it will eventually carry the day.

And though many in our culture would be equally outraged, this may well be the future for our nation as well, unless God intervenes in revival. I am deeply saddened by this news item, since I have so many dear Dutch brethren in Christ. But the bell of death is tolling not simply for Holland, but also for Canada.

HT: Darrin Brooker: Sliding Down the Slippery Slope.