Near the outset of recorded human history - according to Holy Writ - the following conversation, immediately after the first murder was committed, was heard:
"And the LORD said unto Cain, "Where is Abel thy brother?" And he [Abel] said, "I know not: Am I (emphasis mine) my brother's keeper?" And [H]e[God] said, "What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto [M]e from the ground."
Fast forward to the very end of all things, where, in the Apocalypse, the last book of the New Testament, otherwise known as the Book of Revelation, we read these words of strong appeal: "And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost [T]hou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?"
Blood, symbolic of the life of its possessor, has ever been a potent metaphor in the Scriptures - though in its plain-as-day, literal meaning it is arguably equally so. Indeed, human life is so sacred, such an inviolable thing, that following 'Noah's Flood' humankind was instructed as follows: "...flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your [life]blood will I require...at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made [H]e man."
Indeed, so wonderful a condescension was the incarnation and self-sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon Calvary's cross, that the human race saw its redemption accomplished and ultimate salvation assured through the Deity, in the form of the Second Person of the Godhead, willingly consenting to have His blood shed on behalf of it.
Picture that: the Creator willingly offering Himself as a Victim to His creation, accepting death by murder to assure that creature's eternal life...
An awful portrait of a so-called 'God of Love' as some deem such an image? Not at all: rather a portrait of a Personified Love so broad and deep and vast that it was willing to forgo living eternally with its Fellow Godhead (Father and Holy Spirit) if only the object of its love might be saved eternally in God's eternal kingdom. Because nothing less could possibly atone for the sin which that creation had committed. A Love which voluntarily emptied Itself of all its privileges and suffered on behalf of and in that creation's stead - even if it were to cost that Divine One His Own Eternal Life! As the hymn writer has so well put, 'Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all!'
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Bastille Day (2014) Overnight Afterthoughts...
But perhaps the real (war 'and other miscellaneous matters') criminals are not these aforementioned, including said global 'actors' claiming special *papal/religious dispensation, if not outright diplomatic immunity, for their past crimes and disreputable conduct.
*And may I suggest here that not all the (current) pontiff's 'tears', pleadings, and corporately-invoked self-flagellations - however welcome and appropriate and justifiable and even downright commendable - and/or all said Church's amends and penance, whether merely milked for public consumption or actually motivated by heartfelt repentance and true sorrow and contrition for sin, will ever make things right ever again. (Much like Pope John Paul the First's much-publicized 'apology' for the Roman Catholic Church's Dark Ages' abominations (such as the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the St Bartholemew Massacre et al), all historically well-documented if nowadays conveniently omitted from social studies and history textbooks.) I'm referring of course to the legions in their ranks whose lives and hopes have been effectively destroyed and dashed by the glossing over and covering up of heinous evil...the ignoring, sidestepping and wilful ignorance of years, decades, yea - were the real truth made known - doubtless literally centuries, even perhaps (one-and-a-half to two) millennia, of such crimes against humanity.
But onto the real substance of this posting:
No, methinks, vis-a-vis the ofttimes and usually justifiably criticized and moreover roundly condemned recent ex-President of the U S of A, whose much-vaunted 'War on Terror' effectively only 'upped the ante', metaphorically placing into the hands, and, more's to the point, thoughts and minds of each and every last would-be jihadist, terrorist and supposed 'freedom fighter' - this world supposedly has ever known - sufficient excuse, reason, justification and rationale (yea, all of these 'with knobs on'), for 'taking out' as much 'collateral damage' upon Bush Junior's (and Vice-President Dick Cheney's) own, supposedly condoning, nation and society - 'till kingdom come', and well beyond... .
Anyway, in relation to said ex-President Bush - the second - just as if not indeed even more reprehensibly, though seldom suggested except by the likes of the much-maligned investigative reporter/journalist John Pilger, is or rather was the record in office of George W Bush's father, the first George Bush presidency America was subjected to (from 1988 through 1992). Perhaps like me, into your own cranium, is seared for all time the first ever, live, 24-hour TV war, Desert Storm, against Iraq, or, more precisely, challenging the then Iraqi incursion into and attempted annexation of Kuwait. Well, be that as it very well may, it just so happens to set a rather appropriate setting for why I, like Pilger, view Bush Senior's conduct as so deplorable, or even criminal.
Though now - very recently - feted as 'a bit of a (real) lad' for his sky-diving antics ("down thar in Texas with all ma clan", George Junior et al), and indeed internationally (admittedly, including by Yours Truly), as President, for presiding over the justly-celebrated demise/breakup/disintegration and destruction of the former Soviet Union, alongside its string of satellite states, which perhaps like myself you recall 'falling' like dominoes with exponentially-increasing velocity: from Poland's years, to the next nation's months, to the following one's weeks, to the next one's days, to another's mere hours (well, you get the picture).
Anyhow, laying aside the fact, however unpleasant to some and loath they may be to admit it, that the epoch-changing revolution commonly known as 'the fall of the iron curtain' can much more justly be sheeted home to Bush Senior's predecessor ***Ronald Reagan, methinks said President Bush himself has a very serious charge or two to answer, yes, were it possible, at the International Court of Justice, though one day assuredly at the Universal Bar of Divine Justice and Judgment.
***Who, as American President in strategic alignment with Pope Francis' and Pope Benedict's own acclaimed (and decried) predecessor John Paul ****the Second - as well as, of course, the then Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev - didn't only preside over but played a decisive role in said epoch-making and altering events.
****Wonder what ever became of Pope John Paul the First? Hey, silly me, there's an entire book devoted to the subject, isn't there, In God's Name by David Yallop, I believe.
The charge being? Just this: not only the then President's elaborate and all too technically dextrous attempt to extricate himself from the fallout of the first Iraq War (which I will shortly detail), but, just as significantly - and awfully for all concerned - his complicity in, nay apparent authorization of, dreadful war crimes therein. To wit, the massacre of some 200,000 surrendering troops of then Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Despite a specific, indeed virtually unanimous(ly carried), United Nations' mandate and thus apparent near-global sanction even, for the American attack upon Hussein's army in Kuwait - to free the Kuwaitis anyhow - Bush later constructed an all too convenient and ingenious argument, cited in Time Magazine, to attempt to excuse the subsequent immediate U.S. force withdrawal, or more particularly their failure to 'take out', i.e. assassinate, the brutal, bloodthirsty Iraqi dictator himself. It being against international law and all that sort of thing to specifically kill the leader of a nation. Hey, perhaps Bush Senior was thinking of his own back? Though evidently it was (and is) quite kosher to dispose of hundreds of thousands of its' people, even when they no longer posed any kind of threat (either internationally or regionally) whatsoever. And thus to - if only by default, but don't you tell me Bush Senior wouldn't have been only too well aware of the potential, even probable consequences of so doing - effectively be complicit in Saddam Hussein's subsequent butchering of the Kurdish population of Iraq, using internationally-outlawed chemical weapons to do so. Yes sirree, the late Saddam Hussein did indeed once not only possess but fully and mercilessly utilize said 'weapons of mass destruction'; that he verily did do.
And so effectively making himself - by his cowardice at a time of great moment when all the world stood behind him as it were - more than somewhat responsible for all the atrocities that followed for Iraqi citizens throughout the decade-plus remainder of the departed tyrant's reign of terror. (The death total of Iraqis exterminated by his regime apparently numbering over one million by all accounts.)
So may all the world's present-day remaining war criminals please come forward - no, not to be honoured and awarded for your callous and coldly calculated inhumanities, but to plead your case before a world of war-weary peoples and citizenry. I dare you to - though somehow I suspect I'm wasting my breath. Perhaps if 'y'all' did so now - voluntarily, before push comes to shove - the eternal verdict later might perhaps stand you in rather better stead. But since true repentance ever involves a whole lot more than fancy footwork, public relations spin, media-condoned 'porkies' and poll-driven hype, methinks we'll all be waiting awhile yet... . Still, I've no doubt whatsoever Who'll eventually have the very last word. And I'm so sorry to have to be the one to break to you the news that after His oh-so-just deliberations and ultimate everlasting Judgment, there will not be any further appeals possible. Probation will be over - for both time and eternity.
No, our Creator's verdict will stand for time and eternity, and the outcome for all who fall foul of that decision will evidently be not too pretty. Hey folk, I didn't write the script. The Lamb of God slain from the very foundation of this world did, but some day - very, very soon in fact - He's returning to this old world, in great glory...no longer meek and mild, but the All-Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, ready to execute Vengeance upon all who've acted unjustly, yes, however 'religious' they may have once claimed to be...
*And may I suggest here that not all the (current) pontiff's 'tears', pleadings, and corporately-invoked self-flagellations - however welcome and appropriate and justifiable and even downright commendable - and/or all said Church's amends and penance, whether merely milked for public consumption or actually motivated by heartfelt repentance and true sorrow and contrition for sin, will ever make things right ever again. (Much like Pope John Paul the First's much-publicized 'apology' for the Roman Catholic Church's Dark Ages' abominations (such as the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the St Bartholemew Massacre et al), all historically well-documented if nowadays conveniently omitted from social studies and history textbooks.) I'm referring of course to the legions in their ranks whose lives and hopes have been effectively destroyed and dashed by the glossing over and covering up of heinous evil...the ignoring, sidestepping and wilful ignorance of years, decades, yea - were the real truth made known - doubtless literally centuries, even perhaps (one-and-a-half to two) millennia, of such crimes against humanity.
But onto the real substance of this posting:
No, methinks, vis-a-vis the ofttimes and usually justifiably criticized and moreover roundly condemned recent ex-President of the U S of A, whose much-vaunted 'War on Terror' effectively only 'upped the ante', metaphorically placing into the hands, and, more's to the point, thoughts and minds of each and every last would-be jihadist, terrorist and supposed 'freedom fighter' - this world supposedly has ever known - sufficient excuse, reason, justification and rationale (yea, all of these 'with knobs on'), for 'taking out' as much 'collateral damage' upon Bush Junior's (and Vice-President Dick Cheney's) own, supposedly condoning, nation and society - 'till kingdom come', and well beyond... .
Anyway, in relation to said ex-President Bush - the second - just as if not indeed even more reprehensibly, though seldom suggested except by the likes of the much-maligned investigative reporter/journalist John Pilger, is or rather was the record in office of George W Bush's father, the first George Bush presidency America was subjected to (from 1988 through 1992). Perhaps like me, into your own cranium, is seared for all time the first ever, live, 24-hour TV war, Desert Storm, against Iraq, or, more precisely, challenging the then Iraqi incursion into and attempted annexation of Kuwait. Well, be that as it very well may, it just so happens to set a rather appropriate setting for why I, like Pilger, view Bush Senior's conduct as so deplorable, or even criminal.
Though now - very recently - feted as 'a bit of a (real) lad' for his sky-diving antics ("down thar in Texas with all ma clan", George Junior et al), and indeed internationally (admittedly, including by Yours Truly), as President, for presiding over the justly-celebrated demise/breakup/disintegration and destruction of the former Soviet Union, alongside its string of satellite states, which perhaps like myself you recall 'falling' like dominoes with exponentially-increasing velocity: from Poland's years, to the next nation's months, to the following one's weeks, to the next one's days, to another's mere hours (well, you get the picture).
Anyhow, laying aside the fact, however unpleasant to some and loath they may be to admit it, that the epoch-changing revolution commonly known as 'the fall of the iron curtain' can much more justly be sheeted home to Bush Senior's predecessor ***Ronald Reagan, methinks said President Bush himself has a very serious charge or two to answer, yes, were it possible, at the International Court of Justice, though one day assuredly at the Universal Bar of Divine Justice and Judgment.
***Who, as American President in strategic alignment with Pope Francis' and Pope Benedict's own acclaimed (and decried) predecessor John Paul ****the Second - as well as, of course, the then Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev - didn't only preside over but played a decisive role in said epoch-making and altering events.
****Wonder what ever became of Pope John Paul the First? Hey, silly me, there's an entire book devoted to the subject, isn't there, In God's Name by David Yallop, I believe.
The charge being? Just this: not only the then President's elaborate and all too technically dextrous attempt to extricate himself from the fallout of the first Iraq War (which I will shortly detail), but, just as significantly - and awfully for all concerned - his complicity in, nay apparent authorization of, dreadful war crimes therein. To wit, the massacre of some 200,000 surrendering troops of then Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Despite a specific, indeed virtually unanimous(ly carried), United Nations' mandate and thus apparent near-global sanction even, for the American attack upon Hussein's army in Kuwait - to free the Kuwaitis anyhow - Bush later constructed an all too convenient and ingenious argument, cited in Time Magazine, to attempt to excuse the subsequent immediate U.S. force withdrawal, or more particularly their failure to 'take out', i.e. assassinate, the brutal, bloodthirsty Iraqi dictator himself. It being against international law and all that sort of thing to specifically kill the leader of a nation. Hey, perhaps Bush Senior was thinking of his own back? Though evidently it was (and is) quite kosher to dispose of hundreds of thousands of its' people, even when they no longer posed any kind of threat (either internationally or regionally) whatsoever. And thus to - if only by default, but don't you tell me Bush Senior wouldn't have been only too well aware of the potential, even probable consequences of so doing - effectively be complicit in Saddam Hussein's subsequent butchering of the Kurdish population of Iraq, using internationally-outlawed chemical weapons to do so. Yes sirree, the late Saddam Hussein did indeed once not only possess but fully and mercilessly utilize said 'weapons of mass destruction'; that he verily did do.
And so effectively making himself - by his cowardice at a time of great moment when all the world stood behind him as it were - more than somewhat responsible for all the atrocities that followed for Iraqi citizens throughout the decade-plus remainder of the departed tyrant's reign of terror. (The death total of Iraqis exterminated by his regime apparently numbering over one million by all accounts.)
So may all the world's present-day remaining war criminals please come forward - no, not to be honoured and awarded for your callous and coldly calculated inhumanities, but to plead your case before a world of war-weary peoples and citizenry. I dare you to - though somehow I suspect I'm wasting my breath. Perhaps if 'y'all' did so now - voluntarily, before push comes to shove - the eternal verdict later might perhaps stand you in rather better stead. But since true repentance ever involves a whole lot more than fancy footwork, public relations spin, media-condoned 'porkies' and poll-driven hype, methinks we'll all be waiting awhile yet... . Still, I've no doubt whatsoever Who'll eventually have the very last word. And I'm so sorry to have to be the one to break to you the news that after His oh-so-just deliberations and ultimate everlasting Judgment, there will not be any further appeals possible. Probation will be over - for both time and eternity.
No, our Creator's verdict will stand for time and eternity, and the outcome for all who fall foul of that decision will evidently be not too pretty. Hey folk, I didn't write the script. The Lamb of God slain from the very foundation of this world did, but some day - very, very soon in fact - He's returning to this old world, in great glory...no longer meek and mild, but the All-Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, ready to execute Vengeance upon all who've acted unjustly, yes, however 'religious' they may have once claimed to be...
Monday, July 14, 2014
In Memory of Our (Aotearoa-New Zealand's) Rainbow Warrior Patriots, Cut Down in their Prime 28/29 Years Ago Today - by French State-Sponsored Terrorism Issuing - Undoubtedly - From the Very Highest Echelons of Power
May I take the liberty - and for that matter likewise employ in my 'defence' those other twin pillars of French society, equality and fraternity - of, *this Bastille Day (down here in the Antipodes, anyhow), 2014, marking the day by noting the anniversary of two pivotal events in our history (i.e. the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior in New Zealand waters - in 1985 or 1986, I believe; and the decisive and epoch-changing general election of the Fourth Labour Government of David Lange and Roger Douglas et al in 1984). And so of saying as follows:
The present-day witch-hunt of ex-President Nicholas Sarkozy, as has occurred evidently with various of his conservative predecessors (Jacques Chirac among others), as well as Monsieur Strauss-Kahn I believe (from the other side of the political divide), is a great if oh-so-effective smokescreen - deliberately intended or otherwise - from the deeds, increasingly discreditable evidently, of the present occupant of the Elysee Palace. But far more significantly, and troubling, of a former colleague of his, a 14-year, two- term-serving President known as Francois Mitterand to one and all, both in France and elsewhere. For that Monsieur Mitterand committed state-sponsored terrorism and indeed murder in the name of the French Republic seems almost beyond controversy these days.
Which is one major reason why New Zealand's own inimitable leader of the day, the now deceased David Lange, was such an ultimate disappointment. Though initially vocal about said event (Rainbow Warrior bombing), out of - perfectly understandable, but nevertheless - fear of the possible consequences, he let his criticisms be rather muted, and failed to pursue Mitterand and his Socialist Government all the way to the International Court of Justice/Criminal Court and press appropriate charges: i.e. against interference by a foreign power in the domestic affairs of God's Own, which interference moreover resulted in the tragic killing of a freelance photographer whose only crime was to be associated with the RW.
But don't expect Monsieur Mitterand to anytime soon, let alone ever be pursued by the French, much less the international, wheels of justice. Admittedly they turn rather slowly, but, more to the point, those who'd be indicted, were things to really operate as they should, would doubtless include among their number a number of previous American presidents and Roman pontiffs, and, as we all know, in this world and in this life such will doubtless escape justice. (Though citizen arrests have been attempted upon both the previous Pope and the then-serving ex-British Prime Minister - whether as war criminals or just plain 'ole international outlaws - while the world awaits 'with bated breath' the moment when Blair's buddy 'Dubya' may also receive such just desserts. But I'm advised to inform you you oughtn't lose any needed shuteye holding out.)
*Crediting National Radio's guest panellist John Bishop, upon their prestigious weekday Panel today, of reminding me of the fact.
The present-day witch-hunt of ex-President Nicholas Sarkozy, as has occurred evidently with various of his conservative predecessors (Jacques Chirac among others), as well as Monsieur Strauss-Kahn I believe (from the other side of the political divide), is a great if oh-so-effective smokescreen - deliberately intended or otherwise - from the deeds, increasingly discreditable evidently, of the present occupant of the Elysee Palace. But far more significantly, and troubling, of a former colleague of his, a 14-year, two- term-serving President known as Francois Mitterand to one and all, both in France and elsewhere. For that Monsieur Mitterand committed state-sponsored terrorism and indeed murder in the name of the French Republic seems almost beyond controversy these days.
Which is one major reason why New Zealand's own inimitable leader of the day, the now deceased David Lange, was such an ultimate disappointment. Though initially vocal about said event (Rainbow Warrior bombing), out of - perfectly understandable, but nevertheless - fear of the possible consequences, he let his criticisms be rather muted, and failed to pursue Mitterand and his Socialist Government all the way to the International Court of Justice/Criminal Court and press appropriate charges: i.e. against interference by a foreign power in the domestic affairs of God's Own, which interference moreover resulted in the tragic killing of a freelance photographer whose only crime was to be associated with the RW.
But don't expect Monsieur Mitterand to anytime soon, let alone ever be pursued by the French, much less the international, wheels of justice. Admittedly they turn rather slowly, but, more to the point, those who'd be indicted, were things to really operate as they should, would doubtless include among their number a number of previous American presidents and Roman pontiffs, and, as we all know, in this world and in this life such will doubtless escape justice. (Though citizen arrests have been attempted upon both the previous Pope and the then-serving ex-British Prime Minister - whether as war criminals or just plain 'ole international outlaws - while the world awaits 'with bated breath' the moment when Blair's buddy 'Dubya' may also receive such just desserts. But I'm advised to inform you you oughtn't lose any needed shuteye holding out.)
*Crediting National Radio's guest panellist John Bishop, upon their prestigious weekday Panel today, of reminding me of the fact.
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