Death Penalty

The topic of the death penalty has recently popped up in news headlines around the world. In the United States, there is the case of Brian Kohberger. He stands accused of killing four college students in their off campus beds. The horrific loss of life and brutality has shocked the community and the nation. This case has many people calling for the death penalty. The crime took place in the state of Idaho where the death penalty is legal and could be administered by a firing squad. 

In the United States, individual States of the Union have the legal authority to decide if they want a death penalty. In general, the liberal states are against it, while more conservative states are for it. Take the place that I was born, New York State for example. The death penalty was legal there for most of its’ history but, then it was overturned. In the modern era, the issue was resurrected from time to time by Governors or courts who were passionate about the topic. As of today, the death penalty is no longer used in the state. Therefore, any criminals convicted of a crime will instead face life imprisonment. 

In India, many have taken to the streets in protest of the brutal gang rape of two minority Kuki Christian women from the State of Manipur. Four men have been arrested and President Modi of India insists, “No guilty will be spared.” Protesters are calling for the death penalty. What of the executions scheduled for this week in Singapore? Ah Singapore, my Singapore! Shout out to my readers in Singapore either that or greetings A.I. Overlord! 

Since early Spring, my blog statistics have shown that I am getting a lot of traffic from Singapore. At first, I thought it could be artificial intelligence learning from my blog. That would be cool because maybe then, the A.I. could be taught some Christian values. 

“Confessions of a Westchester Christian Housewife” has readership all over the world. There is the United States of course, Canada, Germany, Portugal and the Netherlands. I get regular readers from France, Belgium, Ukraine, Russia, India and Japan. I get occasional readers from other countries too. But, Singapore readership has went through the roof lately and I asked myself why? As I thought about it, it made complete sense. I think that I share many values with Singaporeans. Now, that I think of it, I am surprised it hasn’t happened sooner.

Now, I am trying to read various news stories about Singapore and learn more. One of the recent headlines concerned a man, and a woman both due to receive the death penalty for drug possession. The country and the world seem to be asking questions about what should be done in their cases. Protesters have erupted specifically to stay the execution of the first woman in 20 years to be executed. 

Amnesty International, has asked Singapore to stop executions and claim it does not deter crime. The United Nations Human Rights Council has also requested that Singapore stop executions.They point out that many nations in the world are pursuing sentencing reforms. You must always take advice from whence it comes, and what I have learn about both these groups alarms me. I have never met an Amnesty International member who is not against religious faith communities or who doesn’t believe in anarchy. That could just be my New York acquaintances?! Then, there is the United Nations, what can I say about them, except they seem to be taking over national sovereignty. If that doesn’t scare you, I don’t know what will.

But, what does the Bible say about capital punishment? As I perused my bible today, through my blurry left eye. Note: As I write this blog post, I am waiting for a doctor’s call to assist me in the matter. Even though my vision is a little cloudy, it is quite clear that the Bible says a lot on the topic of capital punishment. In fact, if my eye was not blurry I might have to conclude that this could be a three part series. I could start writing about the first murder in the Bible, that of Cain killing his brother Abel. It seemed that Cain had a mark on him for his crime, but God said he was not to be killed. There are instances where murder (Exodus 21:12), adultery (Leviticus 20:10) and kidnapping (Exodus 21:16) are all punishable by death in the Bible. But, then we also see instances where God afforded mercy. Such as in the case of to King David even though he was a murderer and an adulterer (2 Samuel 11:15, 14-17, 2 Samuel 12:13). 

God Almighty is truth and his Bible is truth for us to live by. Therefore, to say the death penalty is bad is not true since it is abundantly clear the Bible has prescribed its’ use. To quote that old-fashioned wedding vow, “what God has joined together, let no man put asunder.” It is God who calls sin evil and according to him, it is to be punished by death. In mankind’s vanity and stupidly, they think they can solve the problem of sin without God. They think they can heal deep societal problems without God. 

It is not working out well. Needle exchanges, drug offenders being loosed upon their communities with light sentencing guidelines is wreaking havoc on the liberal nations. Light sentences for murder and rape results in offenders being released and hurting and destroying more people’s lives when they re-offend. The Bible is very clear. All wrongdoing should be punishable by death, spiritual death (Romans 6:23). The solution is choosing the Savior Jesus to take your place and to follow him in your life.

It is also a nations’ responsibility and right to determine their use of capital punishment, including applying mercy in their decisions at times. However, no earthly justice can be as perfect as godly justice. In that, God will always have the final say. 

Summer Reading-Part 2

When murder hit Westchester County, New York in 1998, it took many by surprise. In the land of never ending possibilities, and where one write’s their own ticket for success, this was so unexpected. Where “control, control, control your own destiny” is a mantra, the question of how it could be that a man, born and breed in the perfectly marinated liberal culture of New York could ever do what Cain did to Abel.

After all, this guy was brilliant. He had the love of a talented and devoted woman, not to mention a $600,000 advance on a book deal he had made, plus a 2.1 million dollar movie deal. Leonardo DiCaprio could not star in the movie due to a schedule conflict, it was then decided that Brad Pitt would step in with Ron Howard directing the story of Michael Laudor’s life. What could have went wrong?

That question is answered in Jonathan Rosen’s book, “The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions.” In his book, he does a deep dive into the murder of Caroline Costello and answers that question with all the communist leaning references that you could imagine an elite N.Y. man capable of. The writer honed his liberal views from those bastions of such thought, Yale and Berkeley, and tells his story from that point of view. He is a skilled writer and storyteller whether I agree with everything that he says or not. 

However, at least I know what I am getting as I read Mr. Rosen’s book. He makes no secret of his beliefs and neither do I. I just wish that he didn’t have to hit me over the head with his overbearing liberalness with the constant barrage that he did. Still, I have always wanted to know more about what happened to beautiful and intelligent Caroline Costello in 1998. Did I say “deep dive”? I mean an exhaustive, if not exhausting. dig into the inner sanctums of the elite liberal royal life that he and his friend, Michael led. I wish that he stuck to the story a tad more, but to be fair I can go off on any number of tangents myself, can’t I?

When anything bad happens in Westchester County, mum’s the word. Secrets are hidden lest any tiny gems of reality should emerge and get in the way of the westchester county perfect life bubble. People don’t deal well with the truth in Westchester. They don’t want to hear that their husband is not really a good lawyer or that their son is not cut out for medical school. Your kid’s not a bully, the teacher is not stimulating him enough and he is bored, or else the other kid started it. That other kid started it last year too.

When I first moved to Westchester County, there was so much that I did not know about the place that I was moving to. I wanted to raise my children in the fear and admonition of the Lord, as I knew that to be then. I was also looking for the perfect place to raise my children. I was hoping for a kind and nurturing community. I was looking for an intellectually rich environment. The schools had a reputation for excellence in Westchester, the village I chose was charming, and the county is strategically located right next to Manhattan, what could go wrong? If only I knew then the dangers to Christians living in that County I would have moved elsewhere, maybe to Texas or Singapore.

What could go wrong? Well, with Michael Laudor, mental illness could descend upon his brain and mock all of his hard work and dreams for the future. In my experience, mental Illness is poorly dealt with in Westchester County. Many families I know with mentally ill members have felt shunned and alone there. A lot of mentally ill people stick out like a sore thumb in Westchester. Many, end up going to New York City where they blend into the big city drama already present. 

When murder hit the small community of Westchester the news coverage did not tell you much. Whatever source you turned to essentially said the same thing. It seemed like journalism was already dead in 1998. I had the sense that only the pretty news made the headlines or the news that aggrandizes the liberal values of the community are promoted. News like this murder was heavily sanitized before it reached the public. The censorship of today was already beginning then. Like in any dictatorship the only worthy news is through “word-of-mouth” because the news media is no longer a source of the truth. 

There was a time in the past where the news media in Westchester had police and fire news accurately depicted. This news coverage allowed me to identify those arrested for pedophilia and drunk driving. That proved helpful in one of two cases in my life. One was when a man slated to drive on an upcoming class trip was identified as a drunk driver. I got to witness first hand the deep levels of denial and delusion that overtake such individuals when I confronted him about it. He immediately made excuses for his actions and had not one once of guilt or shame when I saw him two weeks later at high noon purchasing two six packs of beer from a local deli. Needless to say, I saw to it that another parent filled in for him.

One day, as if by decree, the local newspaper stopped publishing names and addresses and severely cut back on what crime stories were covered. There was talk of stigmatizing people charged with crimes. The public’s safety was now second best. This condition existed when Caroline Costello was killed by her fiancée in the small village of Hastings on Hudson in 1998. The killer, Michael Laudor, a childhood genius of some sort, graduated in three years from Yale University, summa cum laude. His life before and up to this point had been inhabited by influential liberal and illustrious people nurturing him along. 

Even when that terrible disease of schizophrenia hit him he reinvented himself. He fought back to complete law school. He had some serious problems manifest during his college years but through it all, his friends, family and the university tried to do everything possible to help him through it. The problem is that in life, we have to attain our own degree, we have to live with certain circumstances and despite what people do, there are realities that we all must regrettably accept. 

Major cities in the United States are not dealing with mental health realities correctly. How are they handling it?  Unrealistically. Right now, the mentally ill are allowed to run rampant and create all kinds of havoc. Everything from terrorizing people to stabbing and murder are happening in the name of not stigmatizing the mentally ill. This is not civilization but some misguided and misplaced altruism.

I don’t think that it is an accident that Michael never worked as a lawyer. He seemed to be fudging quite a lot, or faking it until he could make it as they say. People with love in their hearts helped him and maybe even gave him a pass on certain things. Trouble is, that is not thriving. Jesus spent quite a lot of time touching the lives of those afflicted with any number of ailments during his earthly ministry. He still does, but healing does not always include having all of our wishes fulfilled. Sometimes, there is a new direction that we have to go in and we have to accept that. Michael Laudor now lives in a mental health facility with a barbed wire fence. He did not beat the illness, it beat him. Part of our fallen human state includes the harsh reality of locking people up for their own and other people’s safety.

My belief as a Christian is that we need to have mental health facilities that keep the patients, the staff and the community at large safe from the effects of what mental disease sometimes does. Many psychiatric patients are not dangerous but, we can not ignore the fact that delusions can and do cloud their decision-making faculties at times. We must be on guard for those signs and act to protect those who would be victimized by such ideations. 

Should homes for mentally challenged people be places of care, learning and entertainment? Should family, church and community be encouraged to participate in the life of the mentally ill at these facilities? Yes, we should try to create humane treatment centers and give care which will afford the best quality of life that is possible. There should be transparency and accountability too. We need to respect human life from birth to death upholding the dignity that God afforded each person in his creation. This is not always easy and is an act of service at times. 

As I continue trying to finish the books on my summer reading list I am struck with the blessing of being able to think about this crazy and beautiful life that we all live and that I have the Bible and Holy Spirit helping me to understand it all. My heart goes out to people struggling with schizophrenia like a family that I knew in Westchester County with two schizophrenic daughters. One would stop by my home from time to time dirty, disheveled with poor fitting clothes on. I would find something in my wardrobe to fit her. Make her a meal and talk her into calling her social worker and getting back on her medicine. 

My neighbors and family were not always happy about me doing this and asked me why I would give time to this “crazy woman.” Honestly, they were afraid of her. This crazy woman is a sister in Christ who endeavored always to try to follow Jesus amid the confusion that engulfed her mind. Also, she struggled with reality frequently. I thought it was important to gently point her back unto the right course for many reasons. The most important being she did not have any believers in her family or in her group home. Was I ever scared of her? A few times but, when she was at her best, we discussed books. nature and Jesus. She was able to do so with some clarity. I think she might have been like Michael Laudor had I known her before her diagnosis, brilliant and on a trajectory for success. Quick note: she contacted me by letter after not stopping by for a long while. She moved into a new assisted care home a few towns away from where we had both lived and through a back and forth letter writing exchange, she seemed more stabilized in her condition then I had seen her in a long time. I believe that in her heavenly form she will once again be made whole mentally. I like forward to when that times comes. Until then, Lord have mercy.

Summer Reading-Part 1

“Summer Reading” is special to me. That habit harkens back to the childhood joy felt, especially in the summer months when reading. When the school season was over and vacation began, it was then that I could embark upon my own adventures in reading. No teachers directing my every reading move. I could be on the South China Sea one second, and the next moment be in the laboratory of Marie Curie. I imagined myself living in biblical times. I was a dreamer alright and reading took me everywhere that I wanted to go. 

Even though it has been a while since those good old school days, I still get excited every year when it comes to deciding what books to pick up during the summer. I usually go overboard and choose a bevy of books and topics to delve into. This year is no different. With all the very confusing news coming out about the Russian-Ukrainian War, I decided on two books that could give me some insight into that situation. One is David Browder’s book, “Freezing Order.” The other is a recent Pushkin Literary Award winning book entitled, “Overreach” by Owen Matthews. 

Both books offer huge prospective on the history behind the current events unfolding between Russia and Ukraine. Little did I know that a third book that I was recently gifted with, would also have bearing upon the study of this war, i.e. “Laptop From Hell” by Miranda Devine. 

Another book that I have almost completed, is about a murder that occurred in Westchester County, New York. It has the long title of, “The Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions by Jonathan Rosen. More about that later.

If that is not enough, I am also tackling “Dombey and Son” by Charles Dickens. This is yet another book that has themes that touch upon another summer reading choice that I have made. Specifically, “Dombey and Son” has analysis of the parent-child relationship. It helped me to gain further insight into the relationships of Hunter, Beau and their father Joe Biden as outlined in Miranda Devine’s book. 

Many rumors of corruption and influence peddling have swirled about the Biden family for years. These scandals largely factor into current world events, such as the Russian-Ukranian War and should be examined. The security of the United States has been compromised by the Biden family and world wide calamity has ensued. 

So there you have it, my five summer reading choices. These I will ponder, agree and disagree with, and philosophize about. I will probably struggle with concepts and meaning but, in the end, as with any book I hope to gain some knowledge about events and the world around me. I feel some scriptural clarification coming soon..

Suddenly, a “staycation” is not so confining after all. This summer I can finally get a remodel done in my kitchen. It seems wonderful of course but, with all the work involved in refurbishing my kitchen, a beach holiday is out of the question. International travel? Not now.

Before my contractors could touch my kitchen I had to pack up all the stuff that was loaded in there and move it elsewhere. This has taken weeks to accomplish and it will take weeks more to get my kitchen back in working order.  I would guess that my kitchen is the most densely packed room in my house. There are big items and small items. I have a crêpe maker, a raclette maker and two or three fondue makers. That’s just my Swiss/French stuff.  My philosophy, biblical in nature, always reminds me not to have more than I need and to only buy that which I will use. “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”-Matthew 6:19-21. So, it is not like I have overstuffed my cupboards and draws but, there is a lot of organizational work to be done for sure.

Work began this week on my kitchen. Bang-bang, whoosh-whoosh go the machines but, besides my usual duties at home, I can always escape the work zone through my “Summer Reading.” Let’s explore these books a little further. It is interesting reading a variety of books all from different perspectives. The above authors are about as different as different gets. 

What can Charles Dickens a nineteenth century British author have to say about familial relationships of today? Say, for example Joe, Hunter and Beau Biden? If you don’t let yourself think about Ivy League Schools and their censorship of such materials then it gets interesting. “Dombey and Son,” explores a wealthy man’s relationship with his two children. One is the child, Paul, that he places all his hopes and dreams upon. Then there is his other child, Florence. His exchanges and treatment of Florence causes feminists to cry evil male Patriarch! However, Dickens, ever the keen social observer, always saw deeply into all that was going on around him. 

There are so many factors in parenting which can add up to the appearance, if not the actual favoritism or one child over another. So many reasons for this, come to mind. There is always the parent-child fit to keep in mind. For example, is it easier to love and be proud of the athletically inclined child if I myself am a sports enthusiast? Or, what of parent burnout when a particular child is born? How does that affect the treatment of the child? As a Christian I know that we can not be perfect parents. We strive with God’s help to do what is right and try to help our children to do the same. For all of our moral failures we must make a decision to go to God in earnest repentance.

Miranda Devine’s book about the abandoned laptop of Hunter Biden contains emails between him (Hunter) and his father (Joe) showcasing a very dysfunctional relationship. Hunter felt used and abused financially by his father.  And, Joe Biden appears to have had plans for his children. His son Beau, would be the golden child. He was to have a stellar political career with a trajectory to the White House. Hunter, was to do all the dirty work so, that Joe and Beau would not be implicated. 

Charles Dickens main character Mr. Dombey has a similar path in mind for his son Paul. Paul embodied all of Mr. Dombey’ s hopes and dreams for his posterity. Paul was to be groomed to join his father in his business, hence the book title “Dombey and Son.” What of Florence’s role, what of Hunter’s role? They were to be taken care of for sure, but not emotionally. 

“Freezing Order” takes us back to the beginnings of the post Soviet era with the story of Bill Browder and his battle with Vladimir Putin. As the Soviet Union crumbled into the pages of history, the industries which were once state owned got parceled out to political allies and thus were born the current Russian oligarchs. 

Men like Bill Browder, with knowledge and connections to Russia, as well as financial expertise rush in to make money in this new market. He started the hedge fund Hermitage Fund. His detailed descriptions of corruption in the Putin regime, and the communist legacy of brutality weigh heavily upon my mind as I try to make sense of the current war. The sanction game that the West has been playing with Putin may have had its’ beginnings in the international legislation that Bill Browder helped enact to financially punish Russia for its’ role in the death of his Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. 

No analysis of the current Russian-Ukrainian War would be complete without a look at the coming end-times line up of allies and how the current crises lines up. For instance, Iran, China and Turkey have rushed in to support Vladimir Putin’s war efforts against Ukraine. “Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel.” -Ezekiel 39:1-2. 

The current realignment of worldwide alliances lines up perfectly with end-time prophesy.  Gog is associated with Russia, Meschech and Tubal appear to be associated with Russia, Ukraine, and Turkey. Meshech and Tubal were grandsons of Noah, see Genesis 10:1-2. The region of Meschech going by ancient descriptions and names refers to areas north of the Black Sea. This is geography that we are now very familiar with since the war began between Russia and Ukraine. Meschech refers to Russia, Ukraine and probably Georgia. Is it any wonder that worldwide action is happening there? Tubal by the same metric of ancient description would be associated with what is now Turkey. Other prophesy points to Persia, or current day Iran being in the coalition against God too.

The Bible’s predictions are 100 % correct  because it is the Word of God. I would stay tuned for Bible prophesy to be fulfilled if I were you. Proverb 3:25–26- Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken. 

Next week: Summer Reading-Part 2.