Made in the Image of the Three-in-One God

If we today fell into the trap of believing the Christianity espoused by the media and politics of modern day America, we would be believing in a Gnostic Christianity. This Christianity has a divorce between the world of our beliefs and the world in which we live in. In it, it does not matter what you believe, because what you believe does not affect your actions. However, this is not the case with what the Bible sees faith as.

Famously, God says through James that faith without works is dead. It means nothing. And this has been the case since back in the Old Testament as well. In the book of Leviticus, God tells the people in chapter 25 “‘You shall not rule over him [poor countrymen] with severity, but are to revere your God.’” (v. 43) Here there is a direct link between how one treats their neighbor and their relationship with God. God had brought the people out of Egypt and had saved them from slavery there. Therefore they were to remember this in their treatment of their fellow countrymen and foreigners. They were not to treat anyone as they had been treated. The source of this was to be in their reverence of God who had brought them out of Egypt. It is here that we see the interlacing in God’s eyes of our faith and our treatment of other people, in our actions. We love and revere God and treat people based on this knowledge. The opposite will also be the case.

This Gnostic Christianity is a horrible farce. Our beliefs affect our actions, perhaps more deeply than they can ever realize. Our beliefs about God, false and true, also deeply affect our actions. There is no divide within a person between spiritual and physical. The person of the Bible is a whole being. God is a unity, a three-in-one person, and being made in his image, though we have emotions, and a spirit, and a body, we are one being. We ought not to divide ourselves, but to act as one person, believing and acting as one, and not dividing the two.

Becoming what we are

A few weeks back one of the pastors at the church I go to was talking about how in the Christian life there is this wonderful expectation of becoming what we are. Lewis called this (I paraphrase) divine make believe. It is like this:

As a kid you may have played house with your brothers and sisters, or perhaps your friends. In this you pretend to be a grown up. Here a key issue is brought up, the issue of pretending. When one pretends to be a grown up, I do not mean that they make up wholly what it means to be a grown up. Essentially they imitate what they have seen other grownups down. Thus their pretend is a kind of imitation. By pretending to be a grownup they condition themselves to eventually “grow up.” This is why the end of the story Peter Pan (Disney’s version is different in tone) is sad. Peter does not want to grow up and so he ends up never being able to love. The choice to stay always young stunts his growth.

The Christian, in order to grow, is thus always pretending (as already defined as a form of imitation) to be a follower of Christ. There is this wonderful expectation of becoming what we are. We are already followers of Christ, and yet we yearn to be more so. Therefore we look at the example of Christ, and those who have followed him and imitate them. Paul told his readership to imitate him as he imitated Jesus.

We must therefore never say “I will never be ___, pure, innocent, able to witness, confident, acceptable, a real follower.” We may not act that way right now, but that is what we are. There is this wonderful expectation of becoming what we are. We need to remember that we have been rescued out of a sinful world and still live in that world, though the real world that we now live in is the kingdom of the Father. The Newsboys have a song called “Stay strong” that put this idea of perseverance well. “Stay Strong, You are not lost. Come on and fix your eyes ahead. There’s a new dawn to light our day, our day. You’ve gotta stay strong. You and I run, for the prize that lies ahead. We’ve come too far to lose our way, our way.” Admittedly, this song perhaps addresses tougher times more, and being confident in the path ahead when the times are rough, but it is useful none the less.

One last thing should be addressed. Action is required. This can take numerous forms and will really be dependent on circumstance, but I wish here to make certain that no one will think that this transformation will happen if nothing is done. This pretend, this divine make believe, this imitate must happen and be done by the person. Peter Pan did not grow up because he did not want to. Just because a person grows old does not mean that they have grown up. Even so will it be in the Christian life. One must look to Christ and imitate him or they will never become like Christ this side of eternity. As a defeatist, I feel it necessary to throw in the objection that some will bring up, “It is impossible to become like Christ at all.”

In order to answer this objection, I will move around it. Of course it is impossible to be perfect, but isn’t this objection completely beside the point and a tool of the devil. To me this brings up the question of one’s goal and motivation. Don’t we always want to become like the people we love and look up to? We play house and act like grow ups because we want to be like those people, like the people and parents that we love. Isn’t it beside the point to ask whether it is possible or not? Isn’t it more to the point to ask whether you love Christ and want to be like him?

Wonder

Everything in this world is wonder filled. It is only by familiarity that the wonder disappears. We see something so often that it no longer intrigues us and causes to stop and catch our breath, or makes it so that we cannot speak.

One of the few things that cause me to do this is the night sky. It also brings forth from within me a hunger and a joy that I cannot describe. The best description I have is from the Chronicles of Narnia, a fierce joy. I can stare at the moon and stars for hours as they chart their way across the sky and not grow weary. The night sky observed stirs up so many emotions within me.

God created the stars and moon and sun and sky too, but the pinnacle of creation was reserved for man, both male and female, whom he made in his own image. In the true image of God he created them. I look at the night sky, but I do not look at people the same way. Do we look at people and regard them with wonder because we are looking at the very image of God? Do we show each and every person the respect they deserve as one who is made in the image of God? Or are they just the one blocking you from merging to take your exit?

Are we moved by creation, but not by the Creator?

Biography, or Gospel?

I was thinking the other day while sitting in church about the Gospels. What are we reading or hearing when we go to them? There is nothing like their style in our modern literature that I can think of. There was a certain type of biography back then that they resemble called “bios,” (which is Greek for “life”). It is a type of biography that focuses on the highlights of a person’s life without going into all of the details. The reasoning is that the people hearing the “bios” only wanted to hear the things for which this person was worth listening for about. Therefore many things from a person’s life would not be included, like boring material. You might be dropped into the person’s life halfway through their life. This style is not like our current style of biography, where everything from birth to death is accounted for in chronological order (chronology was not critical for a “bios”).

All of this brings me to the titles that these Gospels have always had. The Gospel according to Matthew. The Gospel according to Mark. The Gospel according to Luke. The Gospel according to John. This begs the question as to the focus of the books. Is it Jesus, or is it the Gospel? (You might argue that to speak of one is to speak of the other.) I suspect that the focus is the Gospel, based on other books in the New Testament as well. As an example, the Book to the Hebrews presents some of the highest Christology of the New Testament because the people to whom it was written were in a great crisis. There was the threat that they would turn back to Judaism, and the only solution to that problem was a higher view of Christ.

This brings me to the approach that we (which as a Wall Street Journal writer says is a first person pronoun in journalism) have when we come to the Gospels. I too often come to the Gospels merely looking for information, a fact boast, as I would if I ever went to read a biography (which I don’t, because they are boring). The Gospels were not written merely to inform, but to change lives. They brought the Gospel, the Good News from God of salvation from sins through Jesus Christ.

All this is to say that we do things for a purpose, whether for good or for evil. We might as well come to the Gospels with the right purpose and mind set. We ought not to go to the Gospels to merely inform ourselves, but to submit ourselves to the good word, to be changed by the Word from God.

Israeli Elections

This is another article that a friend of mine, Robby, and I wrote for our school’s paper. Israel is having elections for their Prime Minister and Knesset. I am interested in seeing how these turn out.

Enjoy.

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On Feb. 10, a new prime minister and Knesset (the ruling parliament) will be elected in Israel. This election may be more determinative for peace in the region than the U.S. presidential election. With projected instability in the region, Israeli news source Haaretz declared that President Obama would be a wartime president.

 

The electoral situation in Israel is tenuous. When Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resigned on corruption charges, Tzipi Livni was nominated to fill the role. In Israel the president is a figurehead – it is the prime minister who has real control. The PM is not directly elected by the people. He/she is nominated by the ruling party of the Knesset, or ruling coalition if no party has a majority. The Knesset is elected by proportion. If 35 percent of the people vote for the Likud party, then 35 percent of the 120 seats in the Knesset go to the Likud party. The party with the most representation in the Knesset nominates the PM. If a coalition cannot be formed, the president calls for new elections.

When Livni was elected on Sept. 17 to fill the spot that Olmert was to vacate, she had 42 days to form a coalition. Failing in this, she asked President Shimon Peres to call for elections. General elections for the new Knesset and PM are scheduled for Feb. 10, 2009.

 

Power could very well switch hands when the elections take place. The three main parties in Israel are Labor, a dovish party; Likud, a center-right party; and Kadima, which was founded by Ariel Sharon when he broke away from Likud. Kadima has a commanding lead in the Knesset right now over all other parties, but this is likely to change. With Kadima and Likud even in news polls, the likely PM will either be Tzipi Livni from Kadima or former PM Benjamin Netanyahu from Likud. At stake in this election is peace in the Middle East.

 

The greatest concerns in this regard are peace between Israel and Palestine and Israel and Iran. Livni and Netanyahu have different approaches here. Livni is in charge of the Palestinian peace process and is willing to make compromises to achieve peace. Netanyahu is unwilling to make these compromises like  giving back land and splitting Jerusalem. Neither believes that Israel should have high-level negotiations with Iranian President Ahmadinejad. However, Netanyahu takes President Ahmadinejad more soberly. He does not believe negotiations are possible with a man who has called for the extermination of the Jews. Netanyahu also approves preemptive strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities. Such strikes are nothing new to Israel.

 

In 1981, Israel successfully accomplished Operation Opera, the destruction of Iraq’s nuclear facility. However, the distance to Iran would likely render any attack by Israel impossible without U.S. support. The distance to targets, air defenses, fortifications, probable lack of solid intelligence, and the inability to have aircraft return would render it a suicide mission with little chance of destroying all primary targets. Support from the U.S. also seems unlikely because of how the Arab world would react to the U.S. involvement with Israel.

 

Israel is on a time table of when they can act, between now and the likely timeframe of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons (perhaps in 2009-10). Israel must act before then. Peace has always been the critical issue. However, does the path to peace lie through negotiation and compromise, or will it be achieved through military might? How much compromise is too much? These are the questions Israel brings to their election and to which Americans also must pay attention to and answer.

Is the Bear Back? or CCCPutin

A friend and I at school are really interesting in foreign events, especially what Russia and her allies have been doing recently.  So we wrote a piece for our school’s newspaper (it has not been printed yet). We, unfortunately, had to leave a lot of information out because of a maximum word count. The article is 600 words long and really needs to be about four times that length. But here it is for your enjoyment. (I may attach links to the information at some point in the future, when I get the time, so look for that. After all, I do want to asure you that the information I am looking at is credible.

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Is the Bear Back? or CCCPutin

 

Jonathan P. Wheeler & Robert J. Turtzer

 

The most significant change in Russo-World relations happened this summer when Russia violated Georgian’s sovereign territory. The world is a different place than it was before the conflict. The reaction of world leaders shows that much.

 

Europe is greatly concerned by Russia’s violation of Georgian borders. The Russo-Georgian conflict motivated Poland to sign a ballistic missile defense treaty with the United States. They had delayed for eighteen months, but when Russia invaded Georgia they quickly signed the treaty, with additional clauses including mutual defense. Poland wanted direct US intervention for fear that NATO’s reaction would be too slow. They wanted help to come while they were still alive.

 

Russia has caused European leaders to reconsider their dealings with Russia. The EU called an emergency meeting of its 27 leaders to reevaluate where they stand with Russia. Separately, Germany has declared that they do not want to be dependent on Russia for oil and have instead turned to Iran. The biggest reconsideration, however, is happening in the Ukrainian government right now. The ruling, pro-Western ‘Orange’ coalition, established in 2004, has dissolved due to internal disputes over whether they should ally with Russia.

 

How did it come to this? Russia violated and occupied Georgia’s sovereign territory, but the escalation of tensions did not stop there. The US, already having ties with Georgia, but unwilling to give Russia casus belli, decided to show support by sending relief aid to Georgia with elements of the US 6^th fleet, including the fleet’s flagship, the USS Mount Whitney. Prime Minister Putin’s vowed “response” to this was to land strategic (nuclear capable) bombers in Venezuela and schedule naval maneuvers with them for this winter. Escalating tensions further, Venezuelan President Chavez has, in an unrelated incident, expelled the US ambassador to Venezuela as well as recalled his own until a new US President is chosen. To top everything off, Russia has recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, has stationed soldiers there, and has signed a military cooperation treaty with them. As Medvedev said, Russia is not afraid of another Cold War.

 

If Russia has no fear of pitting itself against the West, what could they do? The Cold War is over; are they even a threat now? The answer is that they could be. The West is worried that Russia will use its economy as a weapon. In January of 2006 and 2007, Russia, in disputes with Belarus, Georgia, and Ukraine, cut off oil to them in the dead of winter. Russia has also opposed sanctions against Iran, has signed multi-billion dollar military agreements with them, and is helping Iran build their nuclear facility in Bushehr. Finally, Russia, which has increased its military budget for next year by 25 percent, could initiate another Georgia incident in its “sphere of influence,” most likely Ukraine or Moldova. This is one reason why Ukraine is likely to elect leaders who will ally with Russia.

 

If you have not heard of these important events, that is understandable. The information could not have come at a worse time. At least four major events are distracting us from seeing what Russia has done. Events such as the 2008 Olympics, Hurricane Ike, economic woes, and the ultimate information black hole of them all, election season 2008.

 

So is the world headed to a new, different kind of Cold War? It depends on who we elect as President and how the EU, UN, and NATO decide to respond. The next few months will be key. But if I were you, I would buy a parka because it is likely to get cold this winter.

More Information & Don’t Panic

For those looking for more information on Joel Rosenberg and the Ezekiel 38 and 39 prophecies, check out youtube, “joel rosenberg glenn beck.” Also, check out his website www.joelrosenberg.com.

The video is a five-parter and is worth watching the whole thing. Video two has the best information on the Iranian President.

Also, if you are looking at the previously post, I would like to counsel you with the advice from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe: Don’t Panic. While I certainly believe there is enough information to make a chap all sweaty, that was not the point of me writting thing post. However, I believe that people should be aware of the times in which they live and the fact that many of the things going on in the wordl today look very much like Ezekiel 38 and 39 or could snowball into that very quickly.

But you might say, very time has looked like those times. or all times since Jesus are the last days. True, I will give you that, but sometimes are a little closer to the prophecy than others, and Joel Rosenberg explains that in his interview with Glenn Beck. From the research I did on Rosenberg, he is not a sensationalist. He wrote novels about Ezekiel 38 and 39 because he figured that people would not take him seriously, but then current events started looking like what he had written.

All that being said, don’t panic, but keep a weather eye.

Russia Invades Georgia: The End of the World as We Know it

After September 11, 2001, I heard report of a man who had been living out in the woods at the time of the attack. This man came out of the woods and found the world, to his complete surprise, had utterly changed.

 

My sister was out in the Adirondack Mountains camping before the beginning of school for the past two or so weeks. This post is for you, because in my belief one of the most important events since the fall of the Soviet Union, besides 9/11, happened within the past two weeks. Russia invaded Georgia.

 

Perhaps you are thinking to yourself, “Really? Come on. What happened in Georgia was a tragedy, but it’s not that important.” Let me lay out my case starting from the beginning, for the sake of my sister who just got back to “civilization.”

 

When the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991, 15 separate sections broke away and formed their own countries, and among these was Georgia, on Russia’s south side. Around about this time (either in 1990 or the early 1990’s), two sections of Georgia tried to break away from Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Abkhazia did so with some success and became a fairly autonomous region, but South Ossetia did not. North Ossetia is in Russian territory and South Ossetian’s, including people in Abkhazia, have Russian passports. So there are some significant ties to Russia in those regions. Georgia wanted South Ossetia back and so attacked the place, but Russia placed their own peacekeepers in South Ossetia to stop the violence. Russia, which wanted the place even back then, armed the people who wanted to break away in South Ossetia with weapons and it has been a tense situation ever since.

 

Fast forward to August 2008. In the days coming up to August 7^th, tensions had been rising. Pot shots had been traded, including the downing of a robot controlled Georgian spy plane over Abkhazia. Some militants in South Ossetia launched some missiles into Georgian territory and Georgia finally said “enough” and invaded South Ossetia to drive them out and take back South Ossetia. Russia responded immediately.

 

Russia’s response was so fast and so strong that some people concluded, and I agree with them, that Russia had planned for a while to invade Georgia. Russian forces stormed through South Ossetia and into Georgian territory and proceeded to kill civilians and displace upwards of 140,000 people in a country of 40 million people. Russian troops took key cities such as the port city of Poti and the town of Gori, which is situated in the middle of Georgia on the only major east to west high way in the country, effectively controlling movement throughout the country. They eventually, as of this writing, came to within 30 miles of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.

 

However, these as just the bare facts, it gets worse. That this was a preplanned mission became apparent when it was revealed a few days ago by Ralph Peters, writer for the New York Post, that a significant number of the troops that invaded Georgia were actually Chechnyan mercenaries. Russia has had problems with the Chechnyans for several years. These particular soldiers are actually part of a mob group. Peters described this group as “Muslim gangsters.” Hence the brutality of their attack and perhaps why Russian troops have not left yet (they’re not Russian troops).

 

Currently Russia has said that its troops will begin withdrawing on Friday august 22, but they have said that before and I have yet to see evidence of that. I am still hearing reports of Russian soldiers digging in.

 

Just these facts are bad enough, but the undercurrent of information from these events, which people began picking up on a few days after the beginning, is far worse.

 

Alright, I am a linear thinker, but right here I have to introduce a few elements, point them at a central target, and then we can go forward. Sort of like a Death Star focusing its lasers and then blowing away the peaceful nation of Israel, I mean Alderaan. (Well if that isn’t a deliberate Freudian slip, I don’t know what is.) (Star Wars missile defense; brings new light to that idea)

 

About a week before the events in Georgia, I finished a series by New York Times bestselling author Joel Rosenberg. The series, which begins with the book “The Last Jihad,” is about the fulfillment of the prophecies in Ezekiel 38 and 39 and about Israel and the war of Gog and Magog. The premise behind Rosenberg’s books is what if these prophecies are fulfilled in my lifetime. What would they look like, how would they feel. And he started getting things right.

 

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Joel was writing the second to last chapter of “The Last Jihad,” which opens with a terrorist flying a kamikaze attack on an American city. (What a weird coincidence) This leads to a war against Saddam Hussein over weapons of mass destruction and terrorism. (Weird) His second book “The Last Days” opens with the death of Yasser Arafat (who died 13 months later) and an attack on a UN peace convoy which all leads to opposition trying to take over the West Bank and Gaza (all of which happened). In his third book, “The Ezekiel Option,” events then lead into Russia and Iran forming an unprecedented military alliance along with Libya and Turkey and a few other countries to attack Israel. (The date this book was published Russia signed a multibillion dollar arms deal with Libya. Russia also has a billion dollar arms deal with Iran and is looking at Syria.)

 

All of that is disturbing in its similarity to world events and the fact that he was guessing right on several events, but the similarities are not over. In Rosenberg’s non-fiction book “Epicenter: Why the current rumblings in the Middle East will change your future” (which was published in 2006), one of the major things that he says to look for in the news is a title that says “A Czar Rises in Russia, Raising Fears of a New Cold War.” When I read this, I began to laugh because I did not know how to react because this was dead on with what people were saying in the news. Incidentally, the Person of the Year for Time magazine was Vladimir Putin and on the cover it read “Vladimir Putin: Tsar of the New Russia.”

Also, the Times Online, in an article titled “Fear of new Mid East ‘Cold War’ as Syria strengthens military alliance with Russia,” reads: “Syria raised the prospect yesterday of having Russian missiles on its soil, sparking fears of a new Cold War in the Middle East.” (August 21, 2008 )

 

But wait there’s more! I haven’t even gotten to talking about the kind of people that we are dealing with here, namely in Russia and Iran.

 

Russia: Medvedev may be the President, but he is in no way the ruler of Russia, that role still belongs to ex-KGB chief and President, I mean, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Putin has not lost much power, he is just in the shadows more, out of the spotlight that is involved with being President, which I am sure suits the ex-KGB chief very well. This means that he has more freedom to act because his puppet, which is what Medvedev is, will take the flack and not him.

 

Putin’s popularity in Russia borders on that of a rock star. There was actually some talk about redoing their constitution so that he could serve longer as President (they have a two term limit like here in the US). But he said no. And instead began to transfer some of the power of the President over to the office of the Prime Minister, which is what he is now. He wants to see the glory of Russia restored. He does not like bowing to US demands and letting us have our way. And the citizens of Russia are in agreement with him. From what I know of Russian history, Russians do not mind a strong leader so long as he brings them glory and respect, and Putin has done that. He took Russia from a low position to a high one, which was why Time chose him as Person of the Year in 2007.

 

Putin knows that he has three weapons with which to control the world, energy, food, and military strength. Russia’s defeat of Georgia showed that Putin is capable of using military strength effectively. Energy is one of the more disturbing ones. In 2006 Russia was not happy with Ukraine and so Russia cut off its oil pipelines to Ukraine…in the winter. They did this the next year to Belarus. Russia has to ability to control a good part of Europe through the control of oil, which is perhaps why no more than talk has been done concerning Georgia. If Europe actually tried to stop Russia, Russia could cut off oil to them (never mind the fact that there is an oil pipeline that passes through Georgia that Russia just showed it could easily threaten).

 

What Russia just did to Georgia has other former Soviet states worried sick, such as Ukraine and Poland. Poland is so scared that they finally signed a ballistic missile defense treaty with the United States that Poland had been putting off for the last 18 months. In this treaty is mutual defense language. Russia is not happy with this and said that they are likely to deal with this situation, without diplomacy…

 

There is also a new disturbing development: Russia has cut ties with NATO. This may be the most telling of a ‘Cold War’ mentality.

 

Such fears of control by Russia have lead countries to look for resources elsewhere. Germany is such a country. Germany wants to cut its energy dependence to Russia by instead turning to…wait for it…Iran. I am not sure that this makes the situation better.

 

Iran: You know those terrorists that are in the news that want to kill Christians and Jews and Judeo-Christian society as we knew it? Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the President of Iran, is one of those guys. This man honesty believes, I mean he honesty believes that it is his god given mission to annihilate the Great Satan: the United States, the Little Satan: Israel, and Judeo-Christian civilization. He believes in his eschatology (end times theology) in a way that people in the West just to do understand in their secular mindset, and that makes him even more dangerous.

 

Ahmadinejad is what is known as a “Twelver,” meaning he believes in the twelfth coming of the Imam, the Mahdi. In his theology (which the average person in Iran does not believe) the twelfth Imam comes after the Great Satan begins slaughtering Muslims wholesale. He believes that it is his mission to create the chaos necessary for this Imam to come. If he were to use the language of an Evangelical Christian, he would speak thus: “let’s create the tribulation so that Jesus can come after the seven years of destruction are over.” He is also spending his country into oblivion, giving away the surplus of his country as if there is no tomorrow.  This being said, the West will not be able to persuade him to give up his pursuit of nuclear technology.

 

There’s another thing about Iran. There is this strait of water in the world where 40% of the world’s oil passes through…and it sits right off the coast of Iran in the Strait of Hormuz. It would be so easy for them to close off that strait.

 

Even without the biblical angle, the world is in a serious situation. Russia is reasserting itself as a global player seeking power. Iran is dangerous (and Israel might just well attack Iran before they get nuclear capabilities; they have done it before). The West is oblivious to the fact that there are men will evil intentions in their hearts, and they are powerless to stop it all.

 

I keep watching the news and talk shows in the hopes of hearing new news about Georgia and Russia and Iran, but I am getting very little. These people on their talk shows seem oblivious to anything outside of the Presidential race. Interestingly enough, this is what happens in Joel Rosenberg’s fifth book “Dead Heat.” The United States in so focused on the dead heat race that they don’t see the attack coming. These talking heads keep saying that the most important thing in this race is the economy (which is in bad shape, by the way), but I must disagree. The most important issue in this race is foreign policy and leadership. What are we going to do with Russia and the Middle East? The economy is a problem, but these two can be far worse.

 

I cannot vote for someone who does not understand those two situations, Russia and the Middle East.

 

Before the economy goes even more south, make sure that you buy a parka, because it feels a little colder today than it did two weeks ago.

Russia Defeats Georgia

Well, the Olympics are a little over a week old and it seems as though it is time to recap the significant events that have occurred. While the most captivating story of the Olympics has been Michael Phelps’ successful quest for 8 gold medals at this Olympic Games, the most important story comes out of Georgia.

 

Opening up the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Russia, sensing a lack of team unity, jumped to an early lead in their rout of Georgia in the Small Nation Beat-down Event. There had been rumors floating around that South Ossetia had actually wanted to defect to the Russia team instead of playing for Georgia. South Ossetia, after all, had been a part of the Soviet Union team until 1991 when Georgia hired them. It had not been a smooth transition, with the Russian Federation trying to placate South Ossetia. Georgia, while not liking the lack of effort that Ossetia was giving, certainly did not want them joining up with the Russian team.

 

The Russian team quickly stormed past South Ossetia and into Georgian territory taking the strategic city of Gori. Control of this vital city proved to be the turning point in the game. The only major east to west high way runs through this city, which is situated in the middle of the Georgian team.

 

“I was really glad we were able to get that strategic point,” said a winded Russian soldier. “It was still a little up in the air before we took that point as to what the outcome was going to be. I knew beforehand this was going to allow us to have South Ossetia for the next Olympic Games, but now we may be able to have the whole of Georgia, or to at least have them sign as a free agent for the next Games, maybe a dual citizenship.”

 

While this soldier thought it was close in the beginning, it was actually never close. The Russians had already depleted the Georgian squad before the Games and with an already superior force anyway, the match was determined at the word “go.”

 

Speaking on condition of anonymity, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said, “We knew we had it in us to do this well, we just had to go out and do it. We knew we were great but now the rest of the world knows it as well and will have to respect us again.”

 

Indeed, the world will have to take account of Russia in the future as the Red Army continues to gain power and prestige. Due to the result of the first game between Georgia and Russia, Russia may have moved back into the top three of the CTPOUS (Countries that Piss Off the United States) markings, behind Iran and North Korea. And in fact they look to stay there until the final match of the season, a multi-team match against Israel, where they are the prohibitive favorites.

 

Most teams don’t even think that match will get played, due to the fact that one side or the other is usually disqualified before the teams can meet. But if they do meet soon, Russia, with its Middle Eastern teammates, will be heavily favored to win.

 

But Israeli bookie Ezekiel does not believe that this will be the case.

 

“Yahweh has told me that he is betting on Israel to win it all on a miracle at the end of the game. He says he will be rooting for them and already has a play ready for use.”

 

Yahweh has often delivered Israel from close games, often with dramatic and unlooked for results. During the Egyptian Olympics a long time ago, Yahweh delivered miracle after miracle for the Israeli’s until he finally destroyed the Egyptian team at the Red Sea.

 

“We knew that he was going to save us,” said Co-captain Aaron, “but we had no idea that he would pour so much water on them that not even Michael Phelps would have been able to survive.”

 

An avid reader of Ezekiel’s work, apocalyptic novelist and author of the novel “The Last Days” Joel Rosenberg agrees with Ezekiel that Israel will win in the end.

 

“The play that Yahweh has reserved for this game is a special one, and he hasn’t even hidden what it will be.”

 

Describing the play as something like a Hail-Mary, but without the hailing of Mary, Rosenberg says that there will be a new Red Sea, but this time of the blood of the Red Army and her allies.

 

If this does happen to be the case, though it appears more and more unlikely, it will be an upset for the ages.

“If you’re not getting shot at, you’re not doing you’re job.”

“You’re Gotham’s City’s DA. If you’re not getting shot at, you’re not doing your job.” – Rachel Dawes from The Dark Knight

 

In my recent readings of the Bible I have been coming across numerous verses about (insert Yoda voice) “suffering.” Now as the ever comfortable American, I say, “huh?” At times, reading the Bible seems very strange because it talks about things that are completely absent from my life, like suffering. Often times I find I cannot relate at all to the biblical authors because, if I didn’t know that they were not masochists, I would say they were masochists. They loved suffering, not the suffering itself, but what it produced, such as proof of faith (1 Peter 1:7). And then there is 1 Peter 2:13-25, where we are to submit to the government and to our earthly masters, even under suffering for doing what is right. Here is the passage so that you may drink it in in all its glory:

 

1 Peter 2:13-15

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. For such is the will of God that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men, and do not use you freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.

            Servants, be submissive to your masters will all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no treats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

 

And then there is 1 Peter 3:13-18,

            Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

 

As well as 1 Peter 4:12-19,

            Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name. For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner? Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.

 

To all of this, as a comfortable American, I say, “Huh? I don’t get it.” I am beginning to wonder if I am doing my job right, both outside of the church and inside of it. Does the absence of conflict mean that I am doing my job wrong? Today in church we were talking about how the absence of at least some conflict in a marriage is a bad sign because it means that the two people have not probed deep enough into each other’s lives. No two people are totally and completely alike and if you probed deep enough and care enough about something, you will eventually strike oil. Then this black stuff will just spew out everywhere and create an enormous mess. But if the two people take the time to clean up the place and get things ordered and refine the mess that comes out, they should turn a profit.

 

“You’re Gotham City’s DA. If you’re not getting shot at, you’re not doing your job.”

 

Does the absence of conflict in a church body mean that things are going swell, or does it mean that the people have just not probed deep enough into each other’s lives, have not brought fully to bear subjects that different people care deeply about. I am not talking about church split stuff, but people are not clones of each other. We are different and if we really do care about something, there should at least be a small measure of conflict, of sword clashing off sword so as to sharpen both.

 

“You’re Gotham City’s DA. If you’re not getting shot at, you’re not doing your job.”

 

If we really are following the teachings of Christ and the World, the sinful world in need of redemption, is opposed to Christ, shouldn’t there be more conflict, even in America? It may look different than in, say, a third world country, but shouldn’t there be some conflict? If you have thought that I am saying go start a fight, you have missed the preceding verses. Suffer for doing what is right, not what is wrong. Preach the word with love, not menace. But that being said…

 

“You’re Gotham City’s DA. If you’re not getting shot at, you’re not doing your job.”