Pride. What an interesting word! What a divisive word.

A parent can rightly be proud when their child achieves something or gets a good report. We can perhaps be rightly proud when we have done something good, or really well, exceled at something or improved in something.

The Bible refers to pride a lot. The Apostle Paul wrote to a group of Christians in Corinth, “I am acting with great boldness towards you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy. 2 Corinthians 7:4

But that is one of very few positive uses of the word in scripture.

Jesus himself said, “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.  All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” Mark 7:22

1 John 2:16

For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.

Psalm 10:4

In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”

Psalm 31:23

The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.

Proverbs 8:13

The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.

Proverbs 21:24

“Scoffer” is the name of the arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride.

Proverbs 11:2

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.

And classically ….

Proverbs 16:18

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

So it is a strange thing to Christians that the word PRIDE should have been adopted by people as a positive word. Indeed we see the words “Loud and Proud” neither of which sound great.

Sex should be a private matter, not ‘celebrated’ on the streets.

To the religious mind, whether that be Christian, Muslim or Jew for sure and probably Hindu, Buddhist and others, the idea of making much of one’s sexuality, especially making a public spectacle (celebration) of it is, well, at worst obscene and offensive, at best sad.

As Christians a major objection is that children are being exposed to adult themes and activities way before they should be. Thus the accusations of grooming in such things as Drag Queen Storytime. Recently, more so in the States than the U K Pride Parades have become an excuse for public nudity, general debauchery and in some cases blasphemy.

It is tempting to include photographs/video. I will refrain.

But please don’t try to tell met that this is all about liberation and freedom. It simply isn’t. Don’t confuse liberty with license.

“PRIDE” has become tantamount to a religion which you must believe in or be vilified and outcast. You have to wear the lanyard, or fly the flag, or use the rainbow crossing. Even the Police have succumbed to the wokery.

Lastly where does this stop. At first it was making homosexuality legal. Then it was pressure to recognise marriage other than between a man and a woman. Then came the flood (!) Transvestitism became a sexual preference, genders multiplied from nowhere, even to wanting to identify as a baby or an animal, dissatisfaction with the body one was born in became a desire to change it by mutilation. Now we are hearing a push to legalise polygamy and paedophilia.

Now, you may say that you identify with one of those things listed but not the others, yet proponents refer to a “community”. How can that be?

For a really good look at what Paul says about homosexuality go here …..

https://www.premierchristianity.com/theology/paul-does-condemn-all-same-sex-activity/14743.article

And remember what the rainbow truly stands for. It is a reminder that mankind was destroyed by a flood because of their sin ….. Genesis Chapter 6

⁵ The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. ⁶ The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. ⁷ So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

After the flood …… Genesis Chapter 9

⁸ Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: ⁹ “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you ¹⁰ and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. ¹¹ I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

¹² And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: ¹³ I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. ¹⁶ Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

¹⁷ So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

I am not an Orthodoox and know little of the symbolism. I’ve always viewed the various crosses as quaint or simply over elaborate and religious. I certainly didn’t know the last part …………

The short bar across the top is where they nailed the sign to Christ’s Cross which read “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS” (Luke 23:38). What was intended as an accusation and a mockery became instead a triumphant symbol that all nations would come under the reign of Jesus the King

The long middle bar of course is where Jesus’ hands were nailed into

The slanted bar at the bottom is the footrest of the crucifix. All crucifixes would have had these, as no one could be suspended from a cross by nails alone. The cruel death of a crucifixion was not brought about through blood loss, but by lack of oxygen: exhausted, the man is no longer able to stand straight upon the foot-rest, the body sags, and air can no longer be drawn in

The foot rest is slanted because it is believed in His final moments before Jesus gave up His spirit, His flesh spasmed and the foot-rest was kicked out of place. There is also symbolism to this

It points up from the right side and down on the left to show that the right hand thief in his last moments repented and Christ said that he would be with Him in paradise.

In the middle between two thieves, was Your Cross found as the balance-beam of righteousness;
For while one was lead down to hell by the burden of his blaspheming,
The other was lightened of his sins unto the knowledge of things divine.

One of the current battle grounds is around the freedom of belief. Am I free to believe whatever I want or am I constrained by what others believe?

We all know the issue surrounding the christian bakers who refused to produce an openly gay affirming cake. In the end their right not to produce something that offended them trumped the offense taken by the prospective customers, who were, when all said and done, trying to make a point .

So here’s another. Does a venue have the right to refuse prospective performers?

https://news.sky.com/story/the-kings-singers-saddened-after-college-in-florida-cancels-show-over-lifestyle-which-violates-scripture-12811513?dicbo=v2-o3eri1c

I’m writing this in May 2022

Before I say anything else I must emphasise that I see America as a highly divided society where, although in theory anyone can make something of their lives if they put effort into their education, etc. etc., in practice where you are born, your family situation and your racial heritage, whether caucasian, latino, first nation, asian or black plays a huge part in determining your life’s prospects.

The ripples of BLM are still with us and recent developments have only served to underscore my original thinking that the death of George Floyd was used to stir up racial hatred and violence. The riots and violence that ensued were quite disproportionate to the evnt that they puported to be demonstrating against. It was very much a blue touch paper moment.

However I strongly believe that the ensuing trial was predestined to find the officer guilty of murder, rather than accidental death, manslaughter, death by misadventure, or anyting else. He was in effect scape-goated for the societal sins of America.

This arrest was odd in that the officer’s used minimum violence as the full bodycam footage shows. But the knee on the neck undeniably inevitably caused his death. Throughout the officers are very calm and controlled. Even when they were sure he was dead. No shock. No surprise. It is very strange.

George has committed a crime. When approached by the officers he is, from the get go, clearly under the influence of something. His distressed attitude is bizarre. Also from the very start he resists arrest. Resists and resists and resists. The officers are heard trying to reason with him and treat him kindly and respectfully.

When first approached he is sitting in his own very small car. When they try to put him in the patrol car he complains that he is claustrophobic. He is highly agitated, won’t simply sit down. It is at this point that he starts to complain that he can’t breathe. Now is that an anxiety attack, the effect of the cocktail of drugs in his system, or something else?

He climbs right through the patrol car and out into the road. The officers try to get him back in the car for the second time and in the end give up and get him face down onto the ground. Again he starts “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe“. No knee, no real restraint. He already has a breathing problem.

He starts calling “Mumma“, then says,”my stomach hurts, my neck hurts”. After a couple of minutes he quietens down. It is at this point that out of camera shot one assumes that the officer has his knee on George’s throat. Bystanders are haranging the officers and at least once suggest that George can’t breathe, has stopped resisting arrest, one is heard to say get him up.

It is almost with incredulity that I read this

https://news.sky.com/story/mps-vote-to-continue-at-home-abortion-care-introduced-in-lockdown-12578383

Abortion

When is it wrong to kill a baby?

If you are anything like me you will be struggling with the bizarre contradiction of two headline pieces of news from March 30th 2022.

Apparently it’s O K to kill a baby, but not to let one die

On the same day an NHS hospital is denounced for having let 200 odd babies die perinataly, whilst Parliament agrees to let mums kill unwanted babies by post. I’m sorry but I simply cannot get my head around the logic of that. Have we simply come to a point where human life no longer has intrinsic value, only value if you’re “wanted“.

Here’s the one “Shrewsbury maternity deaths scandal will spark change – Javid” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-60933936

Meanwhile “MPs vote to keep at-home abortion service” – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-60930774

NOTE “Accidently killing a baby is a “SCANDAL”. Intentionally killing one is a “Woman’s Right to Choose”.

How long will God sit by?

Leviticus 20:1-3 Punishments for Sin

20 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Say to the Israelites: ‘Any Israelite or any foreigner residing in Israel who sacrifices any of his children to Molek is to be put to death. The members of the community are to stone him. ³ I myself will set my face against him and will cut him off from his people; for by sacrificing his children to Molek, he has defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name.

P.S. For anyone who doesn’t read the Bible “children” here refers mainly to babies as it was babies who were being thrown alive into furnaces as sacrifices to a pagan god.

Once again I find myself having to preface a post by saying that I am not convinced in any direction these days. The media is so selective in what it presents; agendas are everywhere; bias is everywhere. We have perhaps sadly seen RT news taken down in the west when it would at least have shown us what Russians are being told. We seem to fixated on having Good Guys and Bad Guys. Zelensky good: Putin Bad. Biden Good: Trump Bad. The West Good: Everyone else Bad! You get the point. So as ever here’s some food for thought, not a settled opinion.

“G. I. Joe” might just become a prophetic statement. Pray NOT!
Joe Biden hints at American soldiers going into the Ukraine and even responding like with like if Putin uses chemical weapons.
Hints of assasinating Putin and bringing regime change in Russia!
Careless, off the cuff words? Yes.

American policy? Hopefully not.

A dangerous President at a very dangerous time in history.

He has tried to retract what he said, but that only underlines how confused and out of control he is.

Is Volodymyr Zelensky all that we have been told or are we being conned by the Western Media?

Good Guy? Bad Guy? Comedian? Serious Politician? Corrupt businessman?

BTW Ukrainians are very similar to Russians culturally. They are way different to the much heralded modern liberal Western mindset.

In fact the Liberal Left have a real problem with the Ukraine. For years Ukrainians have been described as corrupt, Right-Wing, even fascist, resisting immigration, even denying LGBTQi and gender identity demands. Now they need to be seen as innocent victims with western values. Is that #Catch22 or what?!

Candace Owens’ Perfect Response After NYT Reporter Accuses Her of Working for Putin

I have to post this link as an intriguing look at what may be going on in Putin’s head.

A very different perspective for sure.

One surely has to believe that there is more going on here than meets the eye.

“We see many of the Euro-Atlantic countries are actually rejecting their roots, including the Christian values that constitute the basis of Western civilisation. They are denying moral principles and all traditional identities: national, cultural, religious and even sexual. Putin regards his spiritual destiny as the rebuilding of Christendom, based in Moscow.”

Putin’s Spiritual Destiny

I quote “Admirers and appeasers of Putin — who can be found across the political spectrum — often repeat a well-worn cliché that he plays chess while his foes play chequers. He captured Crimea, crushed Chechen rebels, weakened Ukraine and grabbed effective control of Belarus, while detaching a chunk of Georgia and breakaway republics in the Donbas. He intervened in Syria to shore up his fellow dictator Bashar Assad. He supposedly interfered in the US election and has since made sinister moves in African states. “Putin has run rings around whoever was in the Oval Office, getting away with invasions, hacking, human rights abuses, assassinations, shooting down passenger airliners,” complained one US columnist last month.”

Godless and gutless

“Putin is no Christian bastion, but neither is the West“

Is Putin’s grand plan failing?

Well that one was a surprise wasn’t it! Mis-speaking seems to be the in thing these days.

But seriously Whoopie, or should I say Caryn Elaine Johnson, really should have stopped to think. Here she is, a black woman who has “appropriated” a Jewish surname appearing to say that Nazis weren’t racist. Oh boy what a can of worms. But wait a moment.

When she suggested that if she were standing on the sidewalk with a Jew and the Klu Klux Klan marched down the street, she would be the one running, not the Jew, because he’s white, was she revealing something? She clearly knows “Jews” but most likely thinks of them mainly as white Americans.

What she has revealed is that there is a serious difference in people’s thinking between racial prejudice and colour prejudice. I hadn’t really spotted that before. The darker you are, the more prejudice is likely from white people. So it’s colour. A white South African is indeed an African, but we wouldn’t refer to them as “Euro-Africans”, like “Afro-Americans”, nor do we refer to to people of African heritage living in Europe as “Afro-Europeans” (do we?). Words are powerful and interesting and confusing at times.

What Caryn missed so obviously is that it is the Jewish RACE that Hitler wanted to eliminate.

It is the Jewish RACE that Hitler wanted to exterminate. That is racism in the raw. GENOCIDE. It is confused by the fact that Jews and Judaism* get conflated, just like Arabs and Islam or indeed Europeans/Americans and Christianity. When people speak negatively against Islam they are usually dubbed “Racist“, which of course they aren’t. That is the wrong word. But “Religionist” sounds ridiculous.

So perhaps its time to go back to using the term “Colour” instead of “Racial” Prejudice.

*Many Jews are atheists, not believers in Judaism, so they are Jewish, but not Jewish!

Then the issue of nationality as opposed to race. There are Arab Israelis as well as other racial groups, so you can have Christian Israelis and Moslem Israelis.