Tucker, Putin & Navalny

Tucker Carlson’s interview of Vladimir Putin was an embarrassment in an otherwise stellar career. Even more so after the death of Putin opposition leader Alexei Navalny on February 16th. Alexei Navalny has tragically died at the age of 47 in a former gulag labor camp just ten miles north of the Arctic Circle. His crime or crimes? I won’t lie to you and even dignify the false charges by repeating those heinous trumped up charges in this blog. They are politically motivated. 

It seems I am on a jag of sorts and Russia is the topic. Last week, I discussed Russia and as I almost had the finishing touches completed on a post about Tucker Carlson’s interview of Vladimir Putin, the death of Alexei Navalny was announced. With just about one month left before the Russian Presidential election there are so many things going on it has my head spinning.

We have the Interview. We are marking the 2nd anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and now the death of a Putin opposition leader. None of this seems accidental. Let’s start with Tucker Carlson. For a man with a history degree, he let Vladimir Putin get far afield of historical facts without a redirect. Putin’s views on Poland, Hitler and WWII were delusional. 

It crossed my mind, as Vladimir Putin droned on and on, that Tucker did not interrupt the dictator because he was afraid he might go to jail in a place like Navalny was just in. Maybe he was afraid of being tortured and tormented as Navalny was. Did he know enough Russian history to understand that? I refuse to refer to Putin as the President in this post because I believe Russian elections don’t count for much. 

A short time before his death, Alexei Navalny said that the elections were rigged and he called on the Russian people to arrive noon at the polls on March 17th to do a protest vote. Simply take your ballot and leave with it, he said. Or, vote for anyone else but Putin, he suggested. What if every Russian wrote in Navalny on their ballot. What would happen? A simple review of Russian history teaches the possibilities

Tucker Carlson gave a brutal dictator the podium to spew lies and propaganda to a large audience. This at a time where Putin is not free to travel in the West due to the possibility of being arrested as a war criminal. No problem, Tucker will get your message out for you. Tucker Carlson fawned over Russian subways and supermarket prices without the scrutiny that would have served to unmask the dirty little secrets beneath the facade. His interview was not journalism it was propaganda at its’ best. This was not the Tucker that I once knew. Has he traded sides? If it walks like a duck, it might just be a duck.Tucker’s interview sounded like any other RT ( Russia Today TV network) report. 

To recap, Tucker Carlson gave Vladimir Putin a chance to defend his invasion of Ukraine to a huge world audience without any opposition from the usually competitive and feisty debater. He laughed at Putin’s jokes like a besotted teenager. While the dust was settling from that train wreck of an Interview, the cars were arriving at one of the remote Russian prisons in the Arctic Circle that Alexander Solzhenitsyn so palpably described, to disable the cameras and do the dirty deed of killing Navalny. 

The 1,162 year history of Russia that Putin forgot to mention was the total eclipse of freedoms’ light and the brutal repression of opposition that has without abatement continued to haunt and revisit the Russian people on a periodic basis. A long line of people have died hideously in a place devoid of light, warmth or hope. Millions of people have died the way Alexei Navalny has and that was the ugly elephant in the room with Tucker Carlson and Vladimir Putin. 

Stalin would sign death orders on the opposition every night before bed. It was like a little night cap before sleep. As Carlson interviewed Vladimir Putin, he had already ordered Navalny’s death as he has with so many others. The Putin Death count is in the thousands. I think he planned this interview for three reasons. 1. To rally the Russian people to continue their support of the war. 2. To divide the West with the ultimate goal being the withdrawal of support for Ukraine. 3. For re-election purposes.

Navalny was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok in 2020, just four years ago. There is a reason substances such as these are banned by international consensus, they induce terrible symptoms and often result in painful death or lasting physical ramifications. Navalny faced the choice of staying in the west or returning to Russia. One of the rules of exile from Russia is that your influence and contribution will be cancelled. 

Navalny wanted change to happen and had amassed the organization to be able to promote change within Russia. He could never do that from the outside. He went back knowing that Putin wanted him dead. To many people, he went like a lamb to the slaughter. A lamb sacrificed for the possibility of freedom. What will happen next? In a now famous video that Navalny filmed in 2021 when he left Germany to return to Russia, he said, “My message if I am killed is very simple, don’t give up!”

Christian Housewife reviews “I.S.S.”

It was a last minute decision to go to the movies on a Thursday night, but maybe I needed the distraction. I had my eyes glued to the computer screen far too long this week leading to a bout of what I call “computer eyes,” a condition that means you need to be forcibly removed from in front of your computer screen. Although going to the movies was probably not the best treatment for this, it was a good way to relax after a busy week.

The topic intrigued me. “I.S.S.” stands for International Space Station. It is a small budget movie with a limited release in Canada and the U.S.A. It was the last day on the big screen in my neighborhood. Wow, since when did going to the big screen cost less than streaming?  Note to self, this is a good deal!

The premise of the story couldn’t be more timely: a group of Americans and Russians aboard an International Space Station must cope with the outbreak of WWIII. The movie opens with a reminder of one of the original goals of the space station which was the belief in improving international relations at the end of the Cold War. 

Scientists cooperating for the benefit of mankind was idealistically considered an achievable goal. Scientists, were considered the epitome of rationalism and civilization, or so it was thought and some still believe. One of the Russian scientists Weronika seems to mirror this point to an incoming American scientist Kira, who is beginning her first voyage aboard the space station. 

Weronika highlights the view from space and notes there are no national boundaries from above. As the movie continues, she expresses her view of scientists having a vaunted societal role. Weronika is also in a romance with Gordon, one of the American team members of the I.S.S. This establishes her as a character more inclined towards a globalist point of view.

The Russian team also has two apparatchik characters ready to serve the motherland. In true classical Russian literary tradition, one of the men appears to have no remorse, while the other was a tortured individual. Each of the men had a little bit of “The Brothers Karamazov” characterizations within them.

As far as the American team, there is the now required gay character that Hollywood demands, and two other men who seem to have very little in common. Perhaps, this mirrors the emotional and spiritual U.S. civil war that is always part of the background noise these days. As the movie goes on, the Americans seem more self-motivated rather than motivated to do their countries bidding. I’d say the story reflects the truth that we are all sinners regardless of what nation we hail from.

But, when the story opens, the mood is one of cordiality and cooperation. The international team raises a toast to celebrate their upcoming mission together. However, cracks soon emerge due to cultural traditions and mindsets that would mock the notion of true unity.

Then, one of the characters catches a glimpse from space of the earth and what she thinks is a volcanic eruption. When the color of the earth from above turns into flames, it is then that the team realizes that the world is at war. Specifically, Russia and the United States are at war and the I.S.S. now has strategic importance. Before they lose all communications with earth, (that will happen when the weapons of modern warfare are poised and ready to shut off the electronic grid), each country tells their people to take the spaceship over by whatever means necessary. 

Everything begins to fall apart immediately and each person has to decide quickly what they believe and who’s on their side. There are surprising twists and turns and changing loyalties. Are the three Russian crew members all one big happy family, are the Americans? The answer is no. The close quarters and the conditions of zero gravity make you wonder how the hardships of their physical state and the vulnerability of being on a space station would factor into the story line. All of that is part of the taut storyline.One thing that I can say is that any notion, that I had as a child of wanting to be an astronaut, were quickly ended when the movie depicted how truly difficult those conditions are. 

The situational ethics of this movie, reminds me of my college philosophy class and brings up many of those old questions. This alone makes the film well worth watching if you can get it. Some of the questions that come to mind are how this story would play out if one of the Russians and one of the Americans were Christians? What if I, an American, and you, fill in your nationality, were both Christians and aboard a space station when WWIII broke out? How would the shared bond that we have as believers factor in?  As Christians, we understand the difference between right and wrong, through God’s grace and a study of the Bible. We know that we must follow God and that there are rules for godly living. Can we just go along when someone tells us to do something “by whatever means necessary?” We all know the answer to that is “no.”

Then the question of whether I could actually imagine the world in a large scale war came to mind. It is shocking to think that it was not difficult to imagine that at all. In fact, the world seems dangerously close to some sort of disaster. It could be with China and Taiwan. China and the Philippians are mixing it up over International waters and Philippine territory. The disaster could be between North Korea and almost anyone. Seriously, that guy is unstable and is liable to fire his missiles and start a war with anyone.  Russia and the Ukraine. As I began writing this the NATO Alliance had just scrambled some F-16 fighters over to Poland because Putin got a little closer to bringing Europe into this. 

Then there is the Middle East. What can I say? Iran is out of control and the whole world seems to be going along with that. Not that I expected anything else. First, the Obama and then the Biden Administration did everything possible to destabilize the region. They shifted the balance of power dramatically towards the Iranian regime and hence its’ proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthi’s. China and Russia are with Iran too. “Show me your friends and I’ll show you, yourself.”

Practically the whole world is against Israel. Isn’t that crazy. It’s just a little piece of land and it is a small tribe of people. Why, why, why do they seem to be so worthy of all this hatred and violence? If you answered the Bible predicted it, you are correct. Or, if you answered because they are God’s chosen people, you are correct. If you answered Satan has a vested interest in getting rid of them, then you are correct. God Almighty calls the Jews the “apple of his eye.” God describes Israel as his land and he instructs not to divide his land (even if the current man in the U.S. Presidential office says otherwise)

Joe Biden recently used a profanity to describe the current President of Israel. However, in my mind, I wondered if his recent spate of bad language, he also called President Trump a similar name, has more to do with his advancing neurologic impairment than anything else. 

So going back to the movie, imagining a situation where there is a worldwide conflagration is not all that hard to do. What will people choose to do if the whole world seems to have gone mad? In the astronauts race for survival, I imagined my own race for survival. The desire to get out of even a desperate situation alive is instinctual. But, what will we all do to survive? What have we done? That is our ethics and it shows where we are in relationship to God.

This movie does not make anyone a hero. And in the end, the characters become less Russian, and less American as they are humbled and broken by the situation they are in. It becomes more about the humanity that we share and the sinners that we are. It seems symbolic that in the end, one Russian and one American leave the failing ship together. They are fast heading back to earth and to the unknown fate that must lie ahead. 

P.S. True unity with one another comes through our faith in God through his son Jesus. With that comes an understanding of right from wrong, which leads to the basis of what our relationship with one another should be.

NEXT WEEK: Carlson’s interview with Vladimir Putin

Christian Housewife reviews “THE BLIND”

Do a little survey some morning when you have the luxury of perusing the news. Look through your local newspaper source and count the number of bad relationship stories that make the news. Then, add to that the number of your friends and family members who have had a divorce or bad breakup. Next, divide that all by the number of sermons on marriage that you have heard at church or during a Bible study.

Bad relationships can bring financial and emotional damage. Unfortunately, there appears to be an uptick in the number of murder-suicides showcasing just how far a bad relationship can go. Yet, if your math is anything like mine, not enough is done to combat these trends at our churches. However, a recent movie does much to bring some issues to the surface. 

I have asked myself over the years, why the discussion of marriage problems and Christian solutions are not more central to the life of the believer. Oh, it’s not like I have not attended some wonderful Biblical teachings on the topic or even picked up excellent books by prominent Christian authors on the topic. But, at times I have been underwhelmed by the Church’s response. 

I believe there are various reasons for this. Firstly, it is because the Holy Spirit filled believer has everything they need to solve these problems. Between that gentle voice speaking and the wisdom in the Bible, a believer is equipped to go full-speed ahead and attack any marital problems. 

Secondly, people are naturally reticent or even ashamed when their picture perfect life, as seen on Facebook, does not match some emerging truth. This leads to isolation and even the belief that you are the only one facing a particular issue. Nothing could be further from the truth. Wise King Solomon was right when he said, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun”- Ecclesiastes 1:9. There is nothing that you or I are going through that someone else hasn’t experienced. 

Whatever the reason, people, church-going or not, are hurting. God instituted marriage and blessed family life and we as believers must fight for our marriages and families. I could not imagine anyone fighting harder than Kay in the movie, THE BLIND. When this movie came out, I was not inclined to watch it because I was not a fan of the “Duck Dynasty” reality show family that the movie depicts. 

I can honestly say that I was not a fan of the reality TV series simply due to the fact that I am not interested in hunting, although I have nothing against it. Furthermore, the reality series showcased a Christian family which I am inclined to watch. So, when the movie “The Blind,” first premiered and teased revelations about marriage and family problems, I think I had a little more of my interest piqued than before. The movie did not disappoint.

The story goes back in time and tells the story of Phil and Kay Robertson’s childhood and their eventual marriage. Phil’s background included coping with many trials and tribulations including poverty, a mentally ill and sometimes hospitalized mother, and a father who had an away job. Yet, God greatly gifted Phil in many areas. He was able to play football opening a pathway for his higher education to be paid for. He had a natural talent for being an entrepreneur and a young lady who was devoted to him.

As success would come to him he seemed to always find a way to sabotage it. That happens to a lot of us doesn’t it? Sabotaging ourselves I mean. Why is that? Don’t we feel worthy of that promotion or that relationship? Or is it the old taking things for granted thing? I don’t know but, Phil seemed to do this a number of times in his life. 

Many of his problems may have stemmed from the exposure to the mental illness of his mother and the habits of coping that he picked up. He eventually fell and started to drink. It was not long before things between him and his wife Kay began to deteriorate. By then, he had a young family who suffered too. 

When Kay and Phil separated she got serious about growing in her faith in the Lord and began to attend church with her boys. The church helped Kay and the children find a place to stay and even reached out to Phil Robertson a number of times with the message of God’s love and redemption. 

There are so many reasons to watch this film. For one thing, I believe that more problems than we think stem from either mental health problems or alcoholism. For another thing, most movies don’t tell the story of the transformative power of God in many people’s lives. I have seen many marriages brought back to life when they were seemingly dead, including my own, by the power of God. 

Spiritual Resolution

As the New Year begins, and the old year fades away, there is the wonderful possibility of spiritual growth for each of us. I could talk about a variety of good resolutions that we could make as we begin this New Year but, none would be more important than a Spiritual Resolution to know Jesus or to know him better. All the desires that you may have for turning over a new leaf begin with Jesus. Knowing him will give you the best answers to your questions. There are other answers out there but the eternal and truthful answers all come from Jesus.

Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart-Psalm 37:4.

All civilizations have instinctively thought of their New Year’s celebration as a time to wipe away the old and to look forward to the new. Traditional cultures all have customs which show this. But, besides New Year’s we have various times in our life when we want a fresh start. Who among us hasn't thought or longed for a new beginning? It could be after an epic failure in our academic studies, career or when a relationship ends. It might be then that you or I have wondered when or how to change our life. 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new- 2 Corinthians 5:17.

We have to examine our conscience, physically walk into a church, attend a bible study, and meet with a Pastor. Then, the decision to follow Jesus can be fully understood and your journey begins. I want this to be a time of new beginnings and finding out God’s plan for your life is paramount. We are special because we are made in the image and likeness of God. He gives us meaning, not what we look like, what we wear or what we do. How’s that for identity politics?

Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God-Psalm 146:5.

Christmas Wishes 2023

It has been hard for me to focus on the joys of Christmas this year with all that’s going on. The world situation is insane. The Russians are fighting the Ukrainians. Israel is fighting against practically everyone. Then there is the economy. Last year’s stock market roller coaster had me extremely nauseous. The Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell claims that inflation is over but, I wonder? Hey, did you see those pictures of the Icelandic volcanic eruption? The school shooting in Czechia? Then there is my personal life. Some things have come up.

Wow, I need to get a grip. Even my menu for Christmas needs a grip. I am all over the place. There’s the mincemeat pie, dried fruit is soaking in rum for Weihnachten Stöllen and, my duck confit is finally ready. Does all this even go together? I am getting slightly nauseous again, except this time it isn’t the U.S. economy. I guess I will have to bill this as an international Christmas celebration. 

Then, something happened. I learned that my Pastor received a letter from a man who asked him to reconsider celebrating Christmas at our Church. He went on to detail all the reasons that he considers it to be a pagan holiday. Suddenly, all those feelings that I periodically get came flashing back. The vague feeling that I am doing something wrong. 

We all know that Christmas has taken on some bad meaning. “Santa Con” and drag queen Christmas shows come to mind. Then there are people spending money they don’t have. What about the dread people currently feel as they deal with the Pro-Hamas protests around the world? These protests are purposely disrupting Christmas and Hanukkah celebrations all over the world. Austria, Germany and Spain have had threats from Tajik Islamic groups.The police must send bomb detecting dogs into Cologne Cathedral before and after each service. People will have to be searched as they enter the Cathedral too. That is one big Frohe Weihnachten message from the Muslim world to us. Iran is threatening to stop shipping into the Mediterranean Sea. There are forces at work trying to destroy Western Civilization with its bedrock of Christianity. 

Then there is the biblical story of Jesus’ birth and how it relates to the way that we celebrate Christmas today. Is Jesus’ birthday on December 25th or is that some convenient way to have replaced the pagan festival of Saturnalia? But, did we replace it? What about the orthodox day of Christmas in January? 

In addition, there are symbols that have come to mean Christmas which now seem to be supplanting the Savior’s birth! Have we just gone from pagan, to Christian, and now back to pagan? Was this man who wrote my Pastor a letter earnestly concerned that everything has gone too far and there is good reason to reconsider our festivities?

Okay, so my tree went from worship practices in the groves, to sanctification by Martin Luther, and this year we had a run on pink Christmas trees in honor of the Barbie movie. What are we celebrating this year? Is it Barbie, our vacation, our friends and family, the presents or traditional foods? Have we made a place for the child in the manger, Jesus, in our holiday? That is what I wondered when I spoke to Jamika* at the supermarket checkout the other day. I said “Merry Christmas,” and she said, “I’m just not feeling it this year.”

She went on to tell me how everyone she knows is struggling financially. So, I asked her if that was the “meaning of Christmas?” After she looked behind me to see if anyone was waiting, she thought for a moment and said, “ its’s about friends and family.” After a few more minutes, she came up with,” but if you don’t have any money for food and presents, what kind of Christmas is it really?”

“What about Jesus and a potluck?”  “Or, when it really gets bad, what if we just had Jesus?” She had no response for me after I said that. Deep in thought she continued to silently pack my groceries and I packed them into my cart. I introduced myself and wished her a Merry Christmas, ere I rode out of sight. Oops, there I go interjecting a poem about St. Nick into my celebration of Christmas. (For those of you who don’t recognize it, I just partially referenced the famous poem, “Twas the night before Christmas” by Clement Moore). See how many things come into our head when attempting to celebrate the birth of Jesus?

My Christmas Stöllens are finally coming out of the oven. My kitchen smells so good. I had plenty of time to think of Jesus on this Christmas Eve as I have spent most of my day in the kitchen. The Stöllens have to be kneaded and rise three times. The various courses all take time to prepare. Stir this, take a break, knead that, take a brake, wash plenty of dishes, read the Bible and write my thoughts on Christmas Eve. 

I decided that because the Stöllen already has dried fruit in it, no sense making mincemeat tarts since that might be a little too much fruit on the stomach. Instead, I will make the tarts for New Year’s Eve. In their place, I will serve a gingerbread cake. The duck confit will be a lovely Christmas Eve meal after our Church service. Turkey and various vegetables will be great for the main Christmas Day meal.

As the cooking fell into place and everything was nearly ready, I relaxed at the kitchen table and put on one of the London Philharmonic’s recordings of Handel’s Messiah. The words of Isaiah prophesized the birth of the savior of the world. He describes many of the details that were fulfilled in the  birth and in the story of Jesus. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace”-Isaiah 9:6.

We all need all of the above and the salvation that Jesus has brought so much that I wondered why we should not celebrate that every day of the year or anytime that we feel moved to do so! Although, we undoubtably have added everything but the kitchen sink to the celebrations surrounding Christmas, there remains that all important nugget of the truth. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”-John 3-16. 

As you enjoy all that God has blessed you with this holiday season, make sure that you take time to talk about and reflect upon the one who was given to us on that miraculous day when the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. He is Jesus Christ. Make him a part of your celebration. We can not let any one, or any group take away our relationship with the Lord. That is a battle that every believer is called to fight. The Bible tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of our Lord. We must reflect upon that and remember it well during this Christmas season and always. 

It is my tradition at the end of every year, to look at my blog statistics to see what countries have read my blog in the past twelve months. Next, I try to wish my readers a Merry Christmas in their own language. This year there was a surprise in my blog statistics. It was the first time, since my blog started, that I got more readers from another country than my own, which is the USA. The country with the most readership was Singapore! Next, was the United States and then Hong Kong. The list is done from top to bottom, most readers to less. Check out this list to see who else is reading.

Singapore- Selamat Hari Natal

United States-Merry Christmas

Hong Kong-聖誕快樂, Sing Daan Faai Lok

Canada-Merry Christmas

Vietnam-Chúc Mùng Giáng

Germany-Frohe Weihnachten

Czechia- Veselé Vánoce

Finland-Lloista Joulua

United Kingdom-Happy Christmas

Netherlands-Vrolijk Kerstfeest

Russia-С Рождеством! 

South Korea- 즐거운 성탄절

Australia-Merry Chrissie

Indonesia- Selamat Natal

Poland-Wesołych Świąt Bożego Narodzenia

United Arab Emirates- عيدميلادمجيد, Milad Mubarak

France-Joyeux Noël

Ireland-Nollaig Shona

Panama-Feliz Navidad

Sweden-God Jul

* the name has been changed. 

The Demonstration

The Demonstration came to my town this weekend. It does not seem like a coincidence. It is always better to kill two birds with one stone. If that is true, then they nailed it because, the pro-Palestinian demonstration was timed to coincide with the third day of Hanukkah and a downtown Cookies, Crafting & Shopping event. The Saturday people, and the Sunday people, BAM! Business disruption? Classic marxist tactic. Families frightened? Traditions will change. One bullet and look what you get!

As local merchants planned a holiday event, controversy arose. Isn’t that the new norm? In my experience, yes. Somewhere in the middle of my busy week, I saw a small article of interest pop up on a local news source. During the Christmas season, I try to stay informed of local activities, road closures and weather outlooks.

But, lo, and behold, what is this? A local Islamic Center will hold a march right down Main St. Wait, isn’t Santa coming to town? Isn’t there a make-a-Christmas ornament children’s event? What about the special shopping deals, the chance to win a raffle, is that still going on too? Although the Islamic Center claimed it would be a peaceful rally, I had my doubts.

What did people think about this? What would they do in response to this news? I began to inquire. I first checked local police websites and facebook postings to see what was being said, nothing. Next, I checked the local small business group facebook page. Surely, they would make a public statement about it. They did not, but instead I found something deeply disturbing. 

The small business group, has been organizing Christmas events every year in order to bring Christmas shopping back to local stores and away from Amazon, Walmart and the other big box stores. They are always promoting local products and creating events to engage the public, and bring them back to the proverbial Main Street, U.S.A.

They feature slogans that often advise people to Shop Local and Support Local Business. In fact, they have put in a lot of effort to create and coordinate a wide array of activities for this weekend event. Each member of the local business group also individually promoted this event through their own social media accounts thereby multiplying the buzz. It was all very uplifting and cheerful but, now what?

What disturbed and surprised me was the fact that the small business group acted like nothing was happening. They just doubled down in their sales pitch and added more, very photogenic pictures of Mr. & Mrs. Claus advising families to come on down and meet the Santas. Oh, they did post an advisory that the main shopping street would be closed off for several blocks. They advised customers to park on a side street. They even posited how lucky we all are to have such a walkable town. Problem: they neglected to say why the street would be closed.

Never mind that if you were busy and did not manage to learn that a protest march was heading straight down Main Street you might get caught in the maelstrom. I am supposed to want to support local businesses but, where was there support for me? What could they be thinking? How could they just announce a last minute Main Street road closure and not explain what happened? 

How could you stay on good relations with your shoppers and not use your social media influence to get the word out and explain that a situation had arisen? Adding, although shops would still be holding their event that customers needed to know that an Islamic group had just received a permit to march straight down the street where all the stores are located. This would give people the information needed to be able to make an informed decision on whether to attend the festivities. That would have showed respect and concern for your customers. 

I wondered if some of the merchants were so addicted to positivity, no negative thoughts were allowed. Perhaps, they had some trouble coping with the reality. I wondered if some business owners wanted their Christmas business so badly that they might withhold some details hoping that people might stay and shop even (with the commotion and fearful circumstances) since they were there already. Were some businesses supporting this event, or were they afraid of standing up for what is right? 

Whatever it is, I know this Saturday was an opportunity for leadership that most everyone missed. The Mayor, and council missed an opportunity to correctly balance the needs of their business district, the safety of families and the rights of free speech.Why not have the rally by the government building, or in some very public park location? Why not allow the festivities that were planned to proceed unencumbered? Why not have the police dispatched to patrol? There wasn’t one police officer present to give a message pointing to the rule of law. What about the small business group hiring private security if they wanted the business so badly? 

No, the Muslims ruled the street today in my little town. They chanted lies about what was happening in the Hamas/Israeli War. They yelled intifada and people buried their head in the sand. I went down to report from the front lines of this religious and cultural war front for this week’s blog post. I had a number of interesting conversations and experiences. I can confirm that business was practically non-existent. Business owners would lose money because of this event. Covid has put many small shops out of business and now this. 

I saw a plucky business try to compete with the very loud bullhorns with their own loudspeaker playing Handel’s Messiah and other Christmas music. Yes, it was probably dangerous for one’s hearing that day but, they were having a war game of sorts. I saw another business owner of middle eastern descent run from his store to hear the commotion. He was not in the know and so was unaware of the events that were to take place. He lamented, that he was “from the Middle East and had left there to get away from all this and that now it was here!” 

There was some leadership from a group of businesses who asked a lawyer to send a letter to the Mayor and other officials. In it, they asked the Mayor to change the permit route and informing those officials that they would sue the city if any damage was done. I also learned that this same lawyer is trying to get a motion to formally stand with Israel approved by our County. I hope that happens.

Of course, this event is not happening in a vacuum. We have all heard of the worldwide protests that have erupted. We have seen other small towns engulfed in this debate, as well as schools and universities. Where will it end? The Bible tells us the world will turn against Israel. We who are called according to God’s purposes need to continue to pray for Israel, and then do whatever we can in our own little sphere of influence to stand up for her. 

I know now, that I must support the motion for our County to stand with Israel. I already sent an email to the lawyer in charge of that proposal. I sent an email to the Mayor respectfully stating my thoughts about how things could have been done better. 

I left a message at the local conservative synagogue to tell them that I stand with Israel. By the way, when I went to their website I learned that they had a prayer service recently under very tight security. They had to check people for weapons. How awful. 

I am also committed to educating those around me about the facts. One young adult watching the demonstration stated his support for the marchers. When a local merchant asked him, “what about what Hamas did on October 7th? His innocent and dumb reply, felled me,”what’s Hamas?” He was serious. People are supporting things that they know nothing about, and that is an opportunity for all of us to help explain the real facts. We can no longer ignore these issues and put it on the back burner. Educate yourself, because The Demonstration is coming to a town near you!

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places-Ephesians 6:12.

A Lie for the Truth

Can we exchange a lie for the truth? Yes, we can and it happens all the time. Mom: Did you steal the cookies on that tray? Child: No mom,(pointing) he did it! Husband: Did you go shopping again? You know we’re on a budget. Wife: Noooooo! Teacher: Did you cheat on that exam? Student: Noooooo! Prosecutor: Did you have sex with Monica Lewinsky? President Clinton: I did not have sex with that woman! 

Proverbs 12:22-Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.

It helps if we convince ourselves something is true. If we work really hard to justify the lies that we tell, then there is no reason to feel bad or to change our life. However, lying will begin to effect our well-being “IF” we have a conscience. And, that’s a big “IF” these days. Lying can create a host of unhealthy consequences. These consequences range from physical to emotional and ultimately will result in spiritual decline. 

Psalm 86:11-Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.

Then, why do we lie? We lie to get something. It could be something that we are not supposed to have, like alcohol if we are too young. We could lie on our reśumé to get a job. We could lie to get into a relationship with the object of our desire. It started in the Garden of Eden when Satan cast shade on who God is and what he had said. They fell for it. When Moses brought the Ten Commandments down from Mount Sinai, one of the big ten no-no’s was telling a lie. The telling of untruths would not have made the hot ten list if it was not one of the major weaknesses that humanity is prone to. 

Sin has seen and unseen consequences.You may get a job if you lie on your reśumé but, you may spend years worrying that one day that the lie could end your career. What about lying to get into a relationship? Or getting caught with liquor when you are underage? We all know that somewhere down the line there could be ramifications to our life or reputation if we are caught. More than that, our lives, families, churches and nations are broken because of the lies that we tell.

John 8:32-And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

We also lie to avoid consequences. A recent case came to me concerning a certain college student who attempted to bribe her professor in Russia. She was a third year student, what was she thinking? Why didn’t she just accept the grade that was due her? Was this the grade that would get her thrown out of the Mathematics* department? Was this the grade that would reveal the truth that she was not keeping up with coursework or worse, that she needed to pursue another career path? Is she avoiding the truth and the consequences of that truth in her attempt to influence her professor’s assessment of her? Is it possible that she is living a lie?

2 Timothy 2:15-Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has not need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

The nations of the world seem to be caught up in lies a lot these days. What can we believe? At this moment in history, we have more tools at our disposal to make lies appear real than we ever have had. Our capabilities to doctor a photograph just on our phone is huge. Isn’t it amazing how everything from your school photos to your family vacation look that much better by using a simple edit feature or app on your phone. Whole careers have been made doing that. However, with the computer generated images and artificial intelligence, there has been an exponential growth in the ability to manufacture facts. 

Ephesians 6:14-Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness.  

This should make us all question if what we are seeing on social media or news coverage is real. What about bots? Loren* from Westchester County, New York called me the other day and as we were speaking, she sent me several screen shots of the latest political battles she had waged on social media. She stated her opinion and suddenly the time stamp showed me that people quite quickly supported or debated her instantaneously.

Is it the passionate social media soldiers, or was that bots? I don’t know but, I wonder sometimes if a computer program is influencing the process. The arsenal of the lie is also in the algorithm manipulation. Much is made of its’ ability to affect things such as elections and public information. If so, it could be the latest propaganda tool for dictators and freedom haters to use. 

This week I followed the saga of Sam Altman, the wunderkind of artificial intelligence (A.I.) as he seemingly faced challenges in his role at OpenAI. He was fired, he was rehired. Letters were sent by board members to defend and denounce him. Some board members heralded the dangers to humanity that A.I. posed. Others did not agree. Phew, what a whirlwind, and I was following this while trying to cook my green bean, mushroom, garlic, leek side dish, and making a spice rub for the Thanksgiving turkey! 

The secret goings on in the Q * general learning artificial intelligence project seemed at the center of it all.This project may be a deal changer. At least that’s what Ilya Sutskever said. Sutskever was born in what is now Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. At the age of 5, his family immigrated to Israel. He grew up in Jerusalem, and went to University there before completing his education in Canada.

The trajectory of his career brought him to OpenAI where he was leading the so-called, Superalignment project this year. He was their Chief Science Officer and, also on the board which oversees OpenAI. The conflict, which was possibly concerning the safety of AI, has seen Sutskever stepping down from the board and voicing regrets over the firing of Sam Altman. This is all conjecture on my part by being a corporate housewife from Westchester has taught me a few things about board room politics.

Sutskever’ s biggest advocacy is AI safety and much has been written about that. If you are asking yourself what this all has to do with my blog post today, let me explain. This technology is of great concern. We are about to open Pandora’s box. In 2017, Vladimir Putin famously said, whoever leads the world in artificial intelligence in 2030 will rule the world. What did he know? The clocks ticking and 2030 is only 7 years away. 

Sutskever would like to put significant money towards assuring that we stay one step ahead of A.I. The possibility of the deep fake is upon us. The deep fake refers to convincing evidence which exchanges A Lie for the Truth with the help of computer technology. Imagine an interview with a head of state so convincing that you don’t know that it is a computer generated performance. 

How do we navigate a world when we are not sure if a lie is being substituted for the truth? We have to start by staying firmly grounded in the truth of the Bible. We all need to have a network of people that we trust to tell us the truth. It could be a mom, a friend, a pastor etc. Critical thinking and wisdom is important now. Don’t believe everything that you see or hear. Take time to examine the facts. Pray to God for discernment on important issues in your life. 

John 16:13-When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 

* There are three stars this week. One is to change the college major, second is a name change and the third is the actual name of the A.I. general learning project. It is called Q*, and pronounced Q Star.

The Massacre

And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye not be troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdoms against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows-Matthew 24:6-8.

Massacre- an indiscriminate and brutal slaughter of people. 

What is a massacre? The above definition from a typical online dictionary warrants further investigation. Let’s start with the two descriptive terms, indiscriminate and brutal. Indiscriminate-done randomly or without judgment. Brutal-savage and unsparing. Indiscriminate suggests savagery without concern for innocent bystanders, such as children or civilians of any type. Brutal seems to indicate cruelty and excess. 

What’s not to understand right? Except our world has lost the sense and meaning of just what a massacre really is. Instead, choosing to turn a blind eye to a massacre if the victims are your enemy. This alone indicates a loss of civilization and a return to past historical stories of brutality that we thought were no longer relevant to the modern era. Fat chance if you think that humanity is any better now than it was in the past. It is called sin, and from age to age, it still remains and it rears its’ ugly head.

What about the murder of the innocents? Here I am referring to the biblical account of King Herod killing young babies and toddlers. That happened thousands of years ago, can you even image that? Having to give that order, being a soldier fulfilling that order, and the family coping with that horrific loss.

Such things can not only be imagined, they recently occurred. Orders were given. Children were killed. Sin. Next, women both old and young were brutally raped. Sin. The rapes were so brutal that pelvises were broken. Sin. Children and parents burned alive. Sin. Beheadings, genital mutilations, limbs strewn about. Sin, sin, and more sin. In one fell swoop the soldiers came in to brutalize civilians.These people love killing their enemies. They did not come to fight man to man, but instead took pride in killing the defenseless children in a new murder of the innocents. King Herod move over! 

I am of course talking about The Massacre that occurred on October 7th in Israel. Now, the world rises against the nation of Israel. I am not surprised of course and I am sure that you are not either if you have read the Bible to any extent. The Bible tells the story of a people chosen by God for a destiny. That destiny puts the Jewish people in the crosshairs of evil. If you choose Jesus, the evil one will try to attack you too. For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones-Psalm 83:2-3.

Fill in the blank with any group that you can think of in the above story and imagine the world’s reaction to the story if for instance, African Americans were at a concert and some soldiers came in with weapons and killed them. What would Anderson Cooper or Sky News say about that? Think of the headlines if only it was another group.

Imagine the LGBTQ+ community being killed while attending a concert or gay San Francisco citizens being attacked while in their homes by armed military coming in to murder them because they are gay? The outrage would be all the main stream media could report. Remember the gay nightclub slayings in Florida? That illustrates my point.

But, when it’s’ a Jew, protests will break out condemning the Jewish victims instead of those responsible for this atrocity and its’ consequences. What did the perpetrators expect would happen when they unleashed brutality not seen since ISIS or the NAZI’s? We defended against ISIS and the NAZI’s and pledged to wipe them out didn’t we? That’s what you do when you see evil, of course you have to know what evil is first. Many are losing their moral compass in such matters. My moral compass begins in my Bible.

When I first texted my Pastor on October 7th, I was horrified that Hamas had just executed a pre-planned civilian massacre. He told me that the next thing that would happen would be that one by one, the nations of the world would turn their back’s on the State of Israel. He saw prophetic significance in all that had happened. In short order, I saw that he was correct. Not only that but, this whole event has also unleashed the most heinous and vile attacks collectively, and individually, against the Jewish people around the world. It makes pre-Holocaust attitudes and events come into focus. 

There were 100,000 pro-Palestinian protestors at one event in London. Muslims stopped traffic on the Brooklyn bridge and hoisted a flag atop of that bridge. You know what that means right? You don’t? Well, they have just claimed Brooklyn as their territory. Muslim leaders said as much from Times Square at a large gathering. One featured speaker proclaimed that they should not stop until Islam was practiced in every home in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island.

College campuses have been in the forefront of the anti-Jewish movement too. The ugly heads of these academic snakes uncoiled to unleash their poisonous venoms, spouting the most hateful words, that I could imagine. Professors, and student equally stupid and without a clue. There were death threats, the denial of free speech, and Jews locked in libraries. Higher education? I think not, and I know why. “The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord.”  Without God, there is knowledge but, no wisdom, so you end up with a bunch of Doctor Frankenstein’s. 

Then there is the graffiti in Montauk, Long Island, at the famous 2nd Ave Deli in New York City, walls in divers place sets such as Arizona, or the 14th arrondisment in Paris. Istanbul signs announcing  that there is no entry to Jews. All over the world the hunt is on, like for example at the Dagestan Airport. Airplanes had to be diverted because thousands of young Muslim men stormed the airport crying “Allah is great”, and “where are the Jews? We will get them where they hide.” 

None of this is surprising. The Palestinian Authority issued a statement which called for the extermination of the Jews. This statement was read at many Muslim mosques and it quoted Mohammed, “ The hour (Judgment Day) will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims kill them, and until the Jew hides behind the stones and trees, and then the stones and trees will say: “O Muslim, O servant of Allah, there is a Jew hiding (behind me), come and kill him.”  

The nations who have large Muslim populations including those in the European Union and the United States may be at a critical juncture where soon it might not be possible to support Israel because of the huge amount of Muslims that they have allowed to settle in their countries. The Muslim communities have not assimilated and will never do so. They are now poised and focused on bringing their beliefs into the forefront of their new countries and making sure those policies are carried out by their new host countries. 

This means that the protests that you see in your country, the social media campaigns targeting the Jewish people will eventually succeed and erode any support that your country may have previously given to the state of Israel. Worse, the support will be pivoting towards those enemies of the Jewish people who clamor for the state of Israel’s destruction. The final solution again, and again, and again. They have said, come, and let us cut them off from being a nation;that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. For they have consulted together with one consent; they are confederate against thee-Psalm 83:4-5.

On October 7th, Hamas did not chose to attack their Israeli equivalent but instead to slaughter its’ citizens as they conducted their daily lives. The fully equipped soldiers swooped down upon and raped, tortured and murdered approximately fourteen hundred men, women and children in cold-blood. Gaza declared war upon Israel on that day. Now, the Yemeni Houthi’s have declared war on Israel. The Algerians voted to declare war on Israel. Hezbollah has pretty much done the same thing. All of the Muslims in the world are banging the war drums. South American countries one by one are condemning Israel. Russia invited Hamas and Hezbollah to tea. Whose side are you on? We all must take a side. There are only two sides, good or evil.

Good is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and God’s directives are in the Old and New Testament. The Bible is clear that we must stand with Israel. If our nations will not do that, then we as individuals should. 

The Bible predicts, the whole world will one day take a stand against Israel. We are getting a glimpse of that future prophecy now. Indeed, we are seeing the world line up exactly the way the Bible says that it will. Prophecy is proving one hundred per cent accurate. Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries, all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths-Lamentations 1:7

The Trouble with Ron

We as believers, have a lot of balls that we juggle in the air. We are honoring our commitment to God through worship, study of the Bible and prayer. We live our lives everyday with all of those things in mind. We cook, we clean, we take our cars to be serviced, we raise our families, enjoy friends and are involved in our communities. 

At the core of all we do we try to “Love God with all our heart” and “love our neighbor as our self.” But what if the neighbor that we are supposed to love is struggling with some mental health issues? I have covered this topic before and in these times which favor insanity and disorder, we will again. 

This week over at the homestead, mental health issues were again in the mix when some issues emerged, very close to home. It began with an innocent coffee that I had planned some time ago with a neighbor. You know the old saying, “kitchen guests are best”? Amelie* had planned to come over for a visit when my kitchen remodel was complete. She wanted to see my new, improved, and gently remodeled kitchen. 

It was a Friday and Amelie had the day off. She had planned to come over after she dropped her children off at school. I assumed she would probably have breakfast with her children before they left for school but, just in case she didn’t have time, I made an overnight caramel french toast. It is fall, so I had to have some pumpkin seeds and stewed pears on the side.

I was having a lot of fun that morning, talking about decorating and kitchen remodels, but what emerged next over coffee was jarring. In the normal course of any early morning conversation there will emerge a time when people exchange their plans for the rest of the day. When that moment came, it all spilled out. The rest of the day would be spent negotiating with her daughters’ school administrators as they decide what to do about Devon.* Devon had threatened to shoot up the school starting with her daughter Reese.* I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. 

Devon is an 11 year old boy. His background is what you might imagine. He was asked to leave his last school. For what reason I do not know, but I have some ideas about it! The problems of childhood violence have now become endemic. The school suspended Devon for one week for making these threats. A week just passed so now Amelie had to go to meet with her child’s principle to make sure that her daughter would be safe after the suspension was up. She wondered what the school would do. Would they just give Devon a firm warning not to repeat his actions, or would they dismiss him from school completely? Amelie and her ex-husband did not wish to press charges, they just wanted to make sure that Devon got the help that he needed and to ensure that their daughter would be safe.

Amelie informed me that she was praying for Devon and for his family. What a godly woman and with everything going on, she still remembered to ask me to lift him up in prayers too. She was certainly  walking the Christian walk when it really meant something. The problem is that the school is minimizing the event. The principles initial comments were that, “Devon was just being Devon.” Safety of her daughter had not been taken seriously. It struck me as patently unfair to think that if this could not be worked out that her children would have to leave the school. Why? They did not do anything wrong. They threatened no one. They are respectful and they are great students. Sometimes, it seems that the people doing the right things get no breaks.

The second thought provoking event happened at my church’s Sunday service. A young man named Ron* seemed to stir things up quite a bit when he came for a visit. From what I can see, he is searching for answers to the many questions in his head. Questions about good and evil, about aliens and burning swords. These questions torment him and interfere with his sleep and ability to live a normal life. Sounds rather schizophrenic to me. How should a church handle a schizophrenic person attending church events? Should we all rush to hug them? Should we sort of shun them and hope they will go away? Should we just treat them like anyone else who walks in the door? What about the question of salvation for a person who is thus impaired? Is Ron mentally ill or is he demonically possessed? These are all good questions and Ron’s continued visits to our church brought those questions into the forefront. 

I was out doing errands when I got a very blunt text message from a person of authority at my church who asked if my husband and I were available later in the day to discuss issues concerning Ron. Was this just a casual visit where a brother in Christ needed a sounding board for his thoughts on the situation? My husband and I made it a point to speak to Ron whenever he came out to church. For the most part, Ron had just sat in the back of the church and listened, that is unless there was a Bible study after church. If he came to the Bible study, he would ask many questions of a most challenging nature. Questions the Pastor had never been asked before, questions that might be more indicative of a mental challenge rather than a spiritual challenge.

At any rate, I liked Ron and enjoyed answering his questions and then gently trying to guide him in the right direction. I hoped and prayed that there would be an opportunity to speak about his mental health issues and ascertain if he was in proper treatment. That time would come and Ron began to confide in me about the challenges that he faced. He told me that “burning spots were appearing all over his flesh.”

You can take the Christian Housewife out of Westchester but you can’t take the Westchester attitude out so quickly. Without missing a beat, I told Ron that there “were no burn marks on his arms.” I asked him to look to confirm what I was saying. “This is an hallucination, are you talking to anyone about that?” At that moment, I did not know how he would react but, to my relief, he reacted well and began to tell me his story. Apparently he has struggled with hallucinations his whole life. I am happy to say that he is under a doctors care too. He chose not to reveal what specific condition he is struggling with but, I understand how hard that might be to talk about.

Did Elliot* notice me having a tête-a-tête with Ron and want to know what it was about? Has he been sent by the church council to grill me on the topic? Hardly, but that made me laugh a little bit. I had to hurry home to get together some tea and crumpets before Elliot came over for a visit. I can not deny that I was on tenterhooks.

When Elliot arrived, we all  had refreshments and some small talk before he got to the matter at hand, Ron. He had a burden on his heart concerning Ron’s presence at our church. He seemed concerned with how Ron’s questions might be a distraction to others. He felt distracted himself. Elliot also surprised me by saying that Ron’s questions were self-centered.  

I did not agree. I thought that the label of self-centered was possibly wrong and maybe a call for help was more probable. So, I pivoted the discussion towards the topic of mental illness, and what our approach should be to its’ presence in our midst. It surprised me that he seemed to lack any empathy for Ron. He may have had empathy but, I couldn’t see it. 

Of course, as a man who had responsibility for the congregation he had to think about some broader issues, such as safety. At a little less than six feet and five inches tall, Ron was a tall man of strong build. An imposing and menacing figure. Should he choose to be violent this man could inflict a lot of damage. I can not lie and say that the thought had not crossed my mind especially on one Sunday when Ron chose to sit behind me and commenced to breathe heavily. Elliot brought up scripture verses regarding what a demonic possession was like. I wan’t sure if Ron met the criteria for that. If that was the case, who in our congregation could handle any issues of possession?

Could the Pastor and elders speak to him privately to further clarify just what The Trouble with Ron was and come up with a code of contact for Ron so that he could have some boundaries? Perhaps, clearing the air could create a better rapport all around. What about a safety protocol for the congregation, a safety officer? These are just some of the suggestions that I made. 

Perhaps, The Trouble with Ron, is the same as the trouble with Devon. Within a week, I learned that Devon would be expelled from the school which he attended. These are the consequence for the serious threats that he had uttered towards one girl and towards a school. We all feel helpless at times to cope with the mentally ill who walk amongst us. We wish we could make everything better for them. We want to make a place for them in our hearts and communities but, the disease of mental illness doesn’t make that easy. We must keep on trying but often we can not contain nor fix the problem. 

I do know that I will continue to pray for Ron and Devon. I will try to help them in any way that I am able to. I firmly believe that Jesus can reach down through the haze of distortions and misinformation that sometimes clouds our minds, and offer healing and salvation, and for that I do pray! 

* The names are changed. 

Pets Overdone?

Warning: If you are a dog, or cat lady, this post might challenge you. I am not responsible for people going berserk after they have read this post. Please read this post in a responsible way.

People have no patience one way or the other when it comes to defining the pet/owner relationship. There is very little agreement between the warring factions of beliefs. For some people, even defining the relationship as one of ownership would bring a huge debate preferring instead to define their calico cats as grandchildren or their chocolate Labrador as their best friend. Wake up call, it may be a very clever comment to call them your grandkids but there is no way those things sprang from your children’s loins! Also, although Chocolate Labs are oh so cute and cuddly, when is the last time that you shared a deep conversation about the meaning of life, it helped you change a tire, or even bought you the most thoughtful birthday present that you could imagine?

Yet, people are into their pets like never before. Take Cammie* for example. Her two sons were grown up. One son had already left home and another was getting ready to go to college. What was she to do? Work on her marriage, which was desperately in need of repair? Do some volunteer work at her growing church? Some more travel and leisure plans perhaps? No, none of the above. Cammie went out and bought a tea cup Maltese puppy. She set up a puppy nursery, which had a changing table, diapers, and a wardrobe with outfits for every day of the week. 

When she had originally broached the topic of getting a dog with her husband Sonny*, he was against the idea. Now that the kids had left home he wanted to enjoy a little more freedom. For him, that absolutely would not include having a dog. Sonny ran a very successful limousine service in Westchester County New York. He took the small driving service that his father started and made it into a luxury limousine service for business executives expensing their ride to the airport. Between teenagers, marital disagreements and the demands of running the business Sonny was under a lot of stress. Plus, since coming to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior, he was making many changes in his life.

Petra* is a divorced mother of one who just got fired from her pharmacist position. She had grown up in a middle class Jewish household in New York. She loved the New York Yankees and had a penchant for Italian-American men. Somewhere in her story, before I met her, she came to know Yeshua Jesus as Messiah, she got divorced from her Italian husband and started a serious relationship with Kato* her dog. 

If there is such a thing as transference, then Petra had transferred all her hopes and dreams for relationships with her daughter, husband and friends to her little pooch. I so desperately wanted to reach her with what I thought was both our needs for a burgeoning friendship. She and I went to the same university, although we did not know each other then. We both were in the same church group so this friendship could grow, or so I thought.

Petra was in a sub-culture of people, outside of our church who anthropomorphized their animals. Some of the ladies at church liked her cute stories about Kato and did not really see how deeply she was enmeshed with her dog. Some of them may have thought it was all innocent but, with her unemployment, cutting herself off from people who could help her, it was anything but!

Margaret,* born and raised in Westchester County, New York was smart and confident. She graduated from New York’s prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology and quickly made a name for herself in the competitive fashion industry. She was a loving daughter, a skilled worker and beautiful. The one thing that seem incongruent with her polished image was the baby voice that she effected whenever talking to her pets. “Ohh, wooshy, wooshy, woo, can mama give your hair a comb, ohh pretty please.” Why did this drive me absolutely insane? 

All these ladies, had at varying times let me know that, “dogs are more loyal than people.” “Dogs only kill to eat, they are better than humans,” “my dog loves me no matter how I look” and “dog is God spelled backward.” What makes me incredibly sad is that they have pushed away relationships that were available under normal circumstances. Each of these ladies has reached some sort of stalemate in their relationship(s) and they don’t have the courage or skill to push past that. In other words, they have given up. 

I love animals, but sometimes is seems like a lot of people that I know are looking for love in all the wrong places,i.e. with their animals. It is not ever Christian to transfer our affections for human beings with another animal species. We love the creation that God has designed and enjoy it, but right from the beginning of the Bible it describes a relationship of dominion over the creatures such as dogs, cats and fish that are around us. We observe, preserve and utilize the natural environment. And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth- Genesis1:26.

The reason for this dominion would be the specialness of what God has done in human beings. We are higher in reasoning skills, and made in the image and likeness of God. He loved us and his whole creation and pronounced that it is all good. And God saw every thing that he had made, and behold, it was very good-Genesis1:31a. He cares for his creatures and made a food chain to feed them and us. The young lion roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God-Psalm 104:21. But, he has pronounced that we have dominion over the animals. That is a responsibility. If we were to run our world like God Almighty would like us to, it would be in a thoughtful way. A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast-Proverbs 12:10a.

However, after all the creation was made, and Adam was the only human, God said that it was not good for man to be alone and that he would give him a SUITABLE companion. Catch that word? Adam had all of God’s creation that he could frolic with, the birds of the air, the fish of the water, and the terrestrial creatures, and they were not called suitable by God for that deep need that we humans have to be known, understood and loved by others of our kind. Our world is in sore need of relationship repair. First, make things right with God and then allow his wisdom to help your human relationships be all they can be. 

 

* the names have been changed but the stories are true.