When Governments step in to “regulate” or “help” certain industries in the interests of consumers, the effects are always bad for consumers. You can see from the graph below which services are regulated by the U.S. Government.
Stephen McAlpine: Happy St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre Day Everybody
Happy St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre Day Everybody
Is this not brilliant? It is Daniel in the Lion’s Den, painted in 1872 by British artist, Briton Riviere. Not the most British name is it? Riviere was descended from the French Huguenots, the Protestants slaughtered by the French regime, a massacre that started on this very evening, 23rd August, way back in 1572 and which peaked over the following weeks.
It’s become known as the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, and the spark that set it ablaze was fierce political rivalry in the French court, stirred up by Catherine de Medicis, who loathed the Huguenot influence over her son.
The sheer, but impotent, rage on the faces of the lions in the face of the humble servant Daniel, thrown to his death for showing nothing but an allegiance to his God above all else, mirrors the terrible rage of the French court during that bloody time doesn’t it?
St Bartholomew had another name of course, Nathaniel, the Israelite and disciples of Jesus in whom Jesus memorably states “there is no guile” (John1:47).
His guilelessness did not stop him being martyred however. History reports that Bartholomew/Nathaniel had the skin stripped from his body, much as a lion might do to a human.
That lack of guile links Daniel with Bartholomew, and of course links both men with the true Israelite who trusted God above all else in the face of his jealous enemies – the Lord Jesus.
Daniel was hated by his enemies not for his royal court guile, but for his guilelessness and his excellent spirit before King Darius, who sought to promote him because of it.
Any charge against Daniel would have to be conjured up. And it was clear to his enemies that nothing would stick unless it was to do with the worship of his God.
So too with the Lord Jesus. Pilate knew it was for jealousy that the religious leaders of the Jews had handed him over. Not that his more excellent spirit would save him from the jaws of the lion on the cross. Just like Daniel he had to go.
But just like Daniel – only in an even more spectacular way -, God brought Jesus up of that stone-covered mausoleum, not simply to be showered with honour and glory by a relieved King Darius, but to be given the glorious rule of the universe by His Father.
So here we are in our own time of exile. The culture rages against the people of God as it has always done. And it’s tempting to respond in any way except in the one way Daniel did.
When the jealous officials tricked Darius into signing a decree that only the king should be petitioned for a period of thirty days, we are told that:
10 When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.
Notice that last clause: “as he had done previously”. The culture has turned hard against him. The lions are looming. But he does not panic. He does not start to pray like he’s never prayed before. He does not give up on thankfulness and descend into grumbling about how the culture has turned against him, and used fair means or foul to sideline him. He does what he had always done in his time of exile: puts his hope in the covenant God of Israel.
He turned his face towards the place of his future hope – the new Jerusalem that would be coming – and thanked God. This was no moan about how good the old Jerusalem was, and how it would be good to get back to those days. No! It was a prayer of certain hope that God would bring in a new Jerusalem even if he never lived to see it.
Christian, even the new Jerusalem ushered in by God after the return from exile was merely a shadow of the true new Jerusalem that is coming down from heaven, and from whence is our hope. And we may not live to see it. We may live during an increasing time of cultural hatred towards the gospel that is both licensed and litigious.
Yet in the midst of all of that we don’t need to moan and complain about how the culture has turned against us and how the old Jerusalem worked so well. We can get on with a guileless, excellent-spirited servant-hearted life in our exile, even if the culture conspires all sorts of ways to make us look like the baddies.
Even if the only charge that can be levelled against us concerns our relationship with our God.
Especially if the only charge that can levelled against us concerns our relationship with our God.
The lions may roar, the culture may desire to pick over our bones and mock our eclipse. But we will open the windows of our hearts towards the new Jerusalem and give our God the praise and honour due to His name.
Reflection on Jeremiah 2:1-13
Passage: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+2.1-13
What did I do
That you reject me so?
I loved you and rescued you
I gave you a land and identity.
You, my people, spurned me
My love is nothing to you
I gave you living water
But you preferred leaky tanks.
Legalised Pot Makes the Poor Poorer
From My Christian Daily:
Pot for the poor! That could be the new slogan of marijuana-legalization advocates. In 1996, California became the first state to legalize the use of medical marijuana. There are now 25 states that permit the use of marijuana, including four as well as the District of Columbia that permit it for purely recreational use. Colorado and Washington were the first to pass those laws in 2012. At least five states have measures on the ballot this fall that would legalize recreational use. And that number is only likely to rise with an all-time high (no pun intended) of 58 percent of Americans (according to a Gallup poll last year) favoring legalization.
The effects of these new laws have been immediate. One study, which collected data from 2011-12 and 2012-13 showed a 22 percent increase in monthly use in Colorado. The percentage of people there who used daily or almost daily also went up. So have marijuana-related driving fatalities. And so have incidents of children being hospitalized for accidentally ingesting edible marijuana products.
But legalization and our growing cultural acceptance of marijuana have disproportionately affected one group in particular: the lower class.
A recent study by Steven Davenport of RAND and Jonathan Caulkins of Carnegie Mellon notes that “despite the popular stereotype of marijuana users as well-off and well-educated . . . they lag behind national averages” on both income and schooling.
For instance, people who have a household income of less than $20,000 a year comprise 19 percent of the population but make up 28 percent of marijuana users. And even though those who earn more than $75,000 make up 33 percent of the population, 25 percent of them are marijuana users. Having more education also seems to make it less likely that you are a user. College graduates make up 27 percent of the population but only 19 percent of marijuana users.
The middle and upper classes have been the ones out there pushing for decriminalization and legalization measures, and they have also tried to demolish the cultural taboo against smoking pot. But they themselves have chosen not to partake very much. Which is not surprising. Middle-class men and women who have jobs and families know that this is not a habit they want to take up with any regularity because it will interfere with their ability to do their jobs and take care of their families.
But the poor, who already have a hard time holding down jobs and taking care of their families, are more frequently using a drug that makes it harder for them to focus, to remember things and to behave responsibly.
The new study, which looked at use rates between 1992 and 2013, also found that the intensity of use had increased in this time. The proportion of users who smoke daily or near daily has increased from 1 in 9 to 1 in 3. As Davenport tells me, “This dispels the idea that the typical user is someone on weekends who has a casual habit.”
Sally Satel, a psychiatrist and lecturer at Yale, says “it is ironic that the people lobbying for liberalized marijuana access do not appear to be the group that is consuming the bulk of it.” Instead, it’s “daily and near-daily users, who are less educated, less affluent and less in control of their use.”
Article link: http://nypost.com/2016/08/20/legalized-pot-is-making-americas-lower-class-poorer-and-less-responsible/
Today’s Sermon
Today’s Sermon
Reflection on Hebrews 11:29-12:2
Passage: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+11.29-32
Scripture
Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.
Observation
It was faith that enabled Israel to pass through the Red Sea while the Egyptians perished. All the men and women of the Old Testament conquered by faith. Faith allowed some to receive their dead back alive. The same faith sustained others who were badly mistreated.
But all of these people, although they had faith, did not receive the promise of God in Christ.
Application
Despite the emphasis on obeying the Law in the Old Testament, it was faith that led all of the great people in Israel’s history. Faith is the unshakable trust that God is with us whether we are conquering kingdoms or are being sawn in two.
There are some people who want to return to the Old Testament Law. They say that we are “grafted in” and must therefore live as the Hebrews did. But this chapter says that those old-time believers are actually made perfect in us. We have a better promise, a higher revelation, and so the older promise is no longer needed.
Prayer
Thank you Lord for the faith of those who trusted you before Jesus. Help me to trust you in all things every day. Amen.
Reflection on Psalm 80:1-19
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+80
O Lord my God
I am your vineyard
You planted me
You saved me
But now you’ve abandoned
This vineyard you planted.
Why O Lord?
Come and rescue me
Redeem and set me free
I will bear the fruit you seek.
Reflection on Isaiah 5:1-7
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah+5.1-7
O my vineyard
I planted you
And made you great
Your choice vines I planted
But they produced lemons
Sour little grapes
My vineyard beloved
Will you now bear fruit?
Don’t let me abandon you
Bring forth the grapes
The fruit of good deeds
Hearts surrendered in love
When Governments Try To Help
The most frightening sentence in any language is “I’m from the Government and I’m going to help you.” Lose your wallet in Germany and you could find yourself in immigration detention for two weeks until someone notices you don’t look like a refugee (and that would be labelled racist in many places).
From the ABC:
Chinese tourist mistaken for asylum seeker in Germany after losing wallet
A Chinese tourist got tangled up in the red tape of Germany’s migrant influx by mistake and was stuck in a refugee home for nearly two weeks, the Red Cross says.
Officials thought the backpacker, who spoke neither German nor English, “needed help” after landing in Stuttgart Airport in south-west Germany on July 4, Christoph Schluetermann of the German Red Cross said.
The 31-year-old man, who had lost his wallet, was taken to a reception centre in the nearby town of Heidelberg.
There, he unwittingly filled out an asylum request form, following the local authorities’ instructions, Mr Schluetermann said.
On July 6, he was transferred to a reception centre in the western city of Dortmund, where his passport was taken from him.
He was then moved to another shelter in Duelmen near the Dutch border.
“Machinery kicked into gear from which he couldn’t immediately escape,” Mr Schluetermann told news agency DPA.
Public broadcaster WDR said the man complied with standard procedure for refugees, including allowing his fingerprints to be taken, undergoing a medical examination and accepting pocket money.
Chinese restaurant called on for help
But staff eventually noticed that the man was unusually well-dressed for an asylum seeker and when the likelihood of a mistake dawned on them, sought help at a local Chinese restaurant.
The owners suggested Mr Schluetermann try using a Mandarin smartphone translation app and it soon became clear that the man did not want asylum but to continue his European tour.
“I want to go walking in a foreign country,” one of the translated messages said, WDR reported.
Twelve days into his stay in Germany, the man was able to set off for France and Italy.
Germany let in nearly 1.1 million migrants and refugees last year, posing an enormous challenge for its overstretched bureaucracy.
“It isn’t how I imagined Europe,” WDR cited the tourist as saying.
