As the Third Christian Millennium dawns, the Caribbean is at kairos: the nexus of opportunity and risk. In light of the Christocentric fulness theme of Ephesians 4:9 - 24, perspectives and counsel will be offered to support reformation, transformation and blessing towards a truly sustainable future under God.
Hurricane
Danny has begun its long-anticipated weakening. Maximum sustained winds
were estimated at 100 mph as of 5 a.m. EDT Saturday.
Danny was located about 740 miles east of the Leeward Islands in the eastern Atlantic Ocean.
Danny will track west-northwest, reaching the Leeward Islands Monday, then Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands Tuesday.
A weakened Danny should bring welcome rainfall to drought-stricken Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Danny
peaked as a category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds up to 115
mph Friday afternoon, becoming the first major hurricane of the 2015
Atlantic hurricane season.
WU goes on to explain and to caution:
Wind shear vs Hurricane Danny as it approaches the EC
Danny has started to move into an environment with more wind shear, or
change in wind speed with height either in speed and/or direction, and
this has caused the hurricane to be downgraded from Category 3 to
Category 2 intensity . . . . Small circulations such as Danny are prone to sudden changes in intensity, which can be difficult to forecast.
(MORE: Track Danny with our Interactive Storm Tracker)
The
large-scale atmosphere Danny is moving into, as well as its potential
track over land areas of the Caribbean, will induce further weakening
the next several days.
Danny will encounter an ample reservoir of dry air extending westward into the Caribbean Sea.
Dry
air hampers tropical cyclones by encouraging the development of
stronger thunderstorm downdrafts, which then either squelch nearby
thunderstorms from forming or push them away.
This dry air is also stable, meaning it suppresses upward vertical columns of air needed to maintain or form new thunderstorms.
Danny
is also moving into what has been so far this season a figurative
Caribbean "wall of wind shear". According to tropical meteorologist Phil
Klotzbach, wind shear over the Caribbean Sea had been at record levels
from mid-July through mid-August.
Wind
shear can blow convection away from the center from a tropical cyclone.
If strong enough, it can rip apart existing tropical cyclones.
In short, we would be well-advised to follow developments and to bear in mind the particular unpredictability of small tropical cyclones. However, before closing, I want to note that Daniel is a very significant name: God is [my] judge. And Jesus once warned leaders of Israel that while they were good at judging the signs of the skies, they were failing to properly judge the spiritual signs of their times. DV, I will follow up on that side in a little while, a hurricane named Daniel is speaking to us, even as we all have a strange blend of hope and concern as it approaches: hope for rain to relieve a terrible drought that is seeing coconut trees dry up and die here, something I have never seen before. Concern, as hurricane winds can be astonishingly destructive. We have not only signs in our skies but signs of our times to address. Let us pray for showers of blessing with not too much wind. END
Recently, I have been thinking about how hard it is to make change happen in organisations, governments and communities, and especially on how we tend to lock in business as usual (BAU) until it is almost too late -- "almost," if we are lucky:
I think two Greek terms that frequently pop up in the New Testament are relevant {Let's u/d w links to Bible Hub, Aug 23}, kairos --> opportunity or season, etc.; andkrisis --> break-/decision- point of judgement (for good or ill) . . . as in, in a trial, etc. (There are echoes of pistis, too --> faith, as confident trust rooted in [soundly arrived at . . . ] conviction taken as a warranty from credible source that guides confident action and hope for success due to the trustworthiness of the source of the warranty. [Cf. our implicit trust in a high quality dictionary.] Also, metanoia is relevant --> a morally freighted transformational change of mind, heart, purpose from evil and/or folly towards the right, just, wise and true.) Given how circumstances are never static, our environment is always changing, leading to opportunities and threats. These may or may not match well with our strengths and weaknesses . . . and yes, I am using the SWOT concept here. The thing is, that as the above diagram shows, opportunities tend to come as windows that open and may shut, so business as usual may become increasingly out of touch with reality, leading to an adverse trend and perhaps exploding into a crisis as things break and maybe go over the cliff. By definition, in a crisis, one has lost control and there is danger of the cliff edge collapsing under us -- of, a disaster. There is never a guarantee that we can back away from a cliff- edge in time:
So that gives warning-signs extreme importance. And, it means we should prize the sensitivity and/or strategic insight that allow one to read and respond in good time to the signs of the times -- as opposed to locking out, dismissing or even killing our prophets through the very bad habit of shooting at the messenger who brings bad news. Or, whose report threatens our comfort-zone or power-base. Four scriptures speak to me on this:
1 Chron 12: 32 Of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, 200 chiefs, and all their kinsmen under their command. Matt 16: 1 . . . the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.2 He answered them,[a]“When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’3 And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.4 An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So he left them and departed. Acts 17: 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,[c]25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,28 for“‘In him we live and move and have our being’ . . . Rev 3:14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.
15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.
17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.
19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” [ESV]
I believe that in our day, the influential or powerful voices in many organisations, churches, communities, governments and nations have become so self-satisfied, so caught up in getting or being wealthy and comfortable, so polarised against others, so wise in our own eyes that we have lost sight of the signs of our times that would otherwise lead us to realise that we need to change. And, I must -- with fear and trembling -- say this more: I fear that we are in danger of being caught up in the spirit of Laodicea, locking out our Lord and being deaf to his knock and his voice. More broadly, we need to add to our analysis tool-boxes the strategic management concepts of a business as usual track, a window of opportunity (a kairos), warning-signs, and the possibility that we are approaching a crumbling cliff edge that can make delay fatal.
So, we need to think in terms of strategic change to a more robust, more sound, more sustainable alternative, based on a SWOT analysis and strategy alignment exercise:
Especially, as we contemplate the circumstances our region, communities, governments, organisations and our churches (also the wider civilisation) now face.
Before I close off, as a thought-sparker, let me pose the 3-4-5 good governance & risk/hazard management challenge to decision-makers and leaders:
And, DV in coming days and weeks, I intend to address what I think is facing us in more details.
As ever, the Mordecai challenge confronts: why not now, why not here, why not us?END
Some points in history become moments of truth, a day of kairos -- too often unrecognised at the time -- where we must either walk towards light or darkness.
So, the juxtaposition at this moment between the media headlined outcry over the illegal shooting of Cedric the lion vs the attempts to discredit and dismiss the citizen journalism expose of Planned Parenthood's ongoing sale of body parts of unborn children slaughtered in their taxpayer-funded clinics exposes the endarkened, conscience-benumbed heart of our civilisation at this time.
Well did Isaiah cry out:
Isa 5:18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin as with cart ropes, 19 who say: “Let him be quick, let him speed his work that we may see it; let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near, and let it come, that we may know it!”
20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight! 22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink, 23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!
24 Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom go up like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Well did Jesus warn:
Matt 6:22 “The eye is the lamp of the body.
So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light,23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24 “No
one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the
other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You
cannot serve God and money.
Well did Paul Counsel:
Eph 4:17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.
18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!—21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus,22 to put off your old self,[f] which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,27 and give no opportunity to the devil.28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.29 Let
no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good
for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. [All, ESV]
(Somehow, we seem to have forgotten that a significant number -- thousands -- of Concentration camp inmates were used as subjects for medical experiments by Mengele and others, actually providing major medical science advances . . . I recall discussing this with medical students in my hall of residence in my undergrad days. The profession of medicine found itself in the dilemma of having to use tainted knowledge and spent decades replicating the results through ethically clean research. The baby body parts for sale issue seems to be shockingly similar. And, I find it significant about the agenda of the elites that dominate news, views and opinion media in our civilisation, that seemingly almost no one dares make the obvious connexion in public in the face of the major media cameras and microphones. After all, that would only get you dismissed as a wild-eyed crank. Let us ask about one of the things that came out after WW II: what did all the good Germans living next to the Prison Camps think when they saw the trains heading to the camps and saw and smelled the smoke plumes from their crematoria?
There is a world-famous picture of a woman at a tour of shame at a just liberated camp where the people of a nearby city, Weimar -- yes, the very city the failed Weimar post WW I Liberal German Republic overthrown by the Nazis was named after -- were forced to see for themselves what had been going on at Buchenwald, through a tour of shame:
Do we dare say: enablers of evil?)
Broadening this, it seems to me that a lot of the headlined, drumbeat issues and sidelined issues we see today follow a pattern of distraction from inconvenient facts, issues, cases and evidence multiplied by drumming in the message of a favoured agenda.
Charles Hill speaks (article): His conclusion is striking: "[the US has] handed over our leading role in the Middle East [to Iran]." The unwisdom of such in light of Iran's global track record since 1979, is patent. Caroline Glick, Editor of The Jerusalem Post, is equally sobering:
the damage caused to the nonproliferation system by
American weakness toward Pakistan and North Korea is small potatoes in
comparison to the destruction that Tuesday’s deal with Iran has wrought.
That deal doesn’t merely show that the US is unwilling to exact a price
from states that illicitly develop nuclear weapons. The US and its
allies just concluded a deal that requires them to facilitate Iran’s
nuclear efforts.
Not only will the US and its allies remove the sanctions imposed on Iran
over the past decade and so start the flow of some $150 billion to the
ayatollahs’ treasury. They will help Iran develop advanced centrifuges.
They even committed themselves to protecting Iran’s nuclear facilities from attack and sabotage.
Under the deal, in five years, Iran will have unlimited access to the
international conventional arms market. In eight years, Iran will be
able to purchase and develop whatever missile systems it desires.
And in 10 years, most of the limitations on its nuclear program will be removed.
Because the deal permits Iran to develop advanced centrifuges, when the
agreement ends in 10 years, Iran will be positioned to develop nuclear
weapons immediately.
In other words, if Iran abides by the agreement, or isn’t punished for
cheating on it, in 10 years, the greatest state sponsor of terrorism in
the world will be rich, in possession of a modernized military, a
ballistic missile arsenal capable of carrying nuclear warheads to any
spot on earth, and the nuclear warheads themselves.
Facing this new nuclear reality, the states of the region, including
Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and perhaps the emirates, will
likely begin to develop nuclear arsenals. ISIS will likely use the
remnants of the Iraqi and Syrian programs to build its own nuclear
program . . . .
After all, now that the US has capitulated to Iran,
its avowed foe and the greatest state sponsor of terrorism, who will
take future American calls for sanctions against nuclear proliferators
seriously? Who will be deterred by American threats that “all options
are on the table” when the US has agreed to protect Iran’s nuclear
installations and develop advanced centrifuges for the same ayatollahs
who daily chant, “Death to America”? For Israel, the destruction of the
West’s nonproliferation regime means that from here on out, we will be
living in a region buzzing with nuclear activity. Until Tuesday, Israel
relied on the West to deter most of its neighbors from developing
nuclear weapons. And when the West failed, Israel dealt with the
situation by sending in the air force. Now, on the one hand Israel has
no West to rely on for sanctions or deterrence, and on the other hand,
it has limited or no military options of its own against many of the
actors that will now seek to develop nuclear arsenals . . . . Years from now, perhaps historians will point out the
irony that Obama, who loudly proclaims his goal of making the world
free of nuclear weapons, has ushered in an era of mass nuclear
proliferation and chaos.
Israel can ill afford the luxury of pondering irony.
One day the nuclear Furies Obama has unleashed may find their way to New York City.
But their path to America runs through Israel. We need to ready ourselves to destroy them before they cross our border. [read it all]
Patently, the international system of stability is coming apart through a gross failure of leadership, as Charles Hill noted. This particularly holds for nuclear non-proliferation and other weapons of mass destruction. And the spread of such arms to irresponsible or unstable states should give any sober-minded person serious pause.
Given the precedent of the collapse of the League of Nations in the 1930's in the face of rising aggressive states, that should give us sobering pause. Especially as the logic of other Western states is likely to be that if the US lacks the will, they can do little but follow the strategic surrender of initiative to Iran. Russia and China, likely, see themselves as profiting from a Western geo-strategic withdrawal. The predictable consequence is war, including much amplified terrorism. The difference is, this time, nukes are plainly in play in the same unstable Middle East that is the main oil supplier to the world. The world is sowing nuclear dragon's teeth. END
The world is a much more dangerous place today than it was yesterday.
The leading international powers have bet our collective future on a deal with the foremost sponsor of international terrorism. They've gambled that in ten years' time, Iran's terrorist regime will change while removing any incentive for it to do so. In fact, the deal gives Iran every incentive not to change. In the coming decade, the deal will reward Iran, the terrorist regime in Tehran, with hundreds of billions of dollars. This cash bonanza will fuel Iran's terrorism worldwide, its aggression in the region and its efforts to destroy Israel, which are ongoing . . . .
Amazingly, this bad deal does not require
Iran to cease its aggressive behavior in any way. And just last Friday,
that aggression was on display for all to see.
While the
negotiators were closing the deal in Vienna, Iran's supposedly moderate
President chose to go to a rally in Tehran and at this rally, a frenzied
mob burned American and Israeli flags and chanted 'Death to America,
Death to Israel . . .
Why are we so blind, why are we so forgetful of hard-bought lessons of history regarding aggressive dictators?
I can only conclude that in many influential circles our civilisation has become suicidally self-deluded -- something that growing attitudes to sex, family, morality and principle tend to reinforce. END
Sometimes, regardless of whether you are interested in a cultural civil war flash-point, that flash-point is interested in you. Especially, when one is being willfully branded with the false accusation of the moral equivalent to racism.
It is in that context that a response by Atty Shirley Richards in the Jamaica Gleaner (tellingly, published in the notoriously low circulation Saturday issue) came to my attention, e.g.:
Same-sex 'marriage' requires changing the male-female prerequisite, which goes to the very core of marriage. In the first case, an unreasonable limitation - which in the Loving case [of banning inter-racial marriage] was racist in nature - is placed on the man and woman who can enter the institution of marriage, but in this case, the very nature of marriage itself is being changed.
The reference to the Loving case prompts a comparison between the civil-rights struggles of African-Americans and the homosexual debate. However, there are differences between the two. One such difference is that race is immutable, while being homosexual is not immutable. [cf here] Ask Donnie McClurkin, Dennis Jernigan and others who have left the homosexual lifestyle. As others have said, "Being gay is not the new black." . . . .
In another incident, Fox News reported in 2014 that "the city of Houston has issued subpoenas demanding a group of pastors turn over any sermons dealing with homosexuality, gender identity or Annise Parker, the city's first openly lesbian mayor. Those ministers who fail to comply could be held in contempt of court." (LINK provided. Note, this is a case of blatant censorship.)
Describing same-sex 'family life' as "a life which harms no one else" is like ignoring an elephant in plain sight. How does one explain the fact that this "life which harms no one else" is reordering society in its image? What about harm to the individuals themselves? Shouldn't the society be concerned about undeniable medical statistics on the consequences of high-risk sexual behaviour for the participants?
It should be clear to all that the homosexual lifestyle is not a harmless one, neither to the individual nor to society. Furthermore, it is not a lifestyle that is prepared to stay in the bedroom but, instead, insists on forcing itself into the centre of the public square
In this context it is not insignificant that Mrs Richards' support for marriage in accord with the naturally evident Creation Order was re-labelled by the Gleaner's Editor as advocacy of "opposite-sex marriage." By their Orwellian new-speak shall ye know them.
I should add a comment I had to make overnight at UD when the issue was again raised:
. . . the notion that complex human behaviours above things like
reflexes and breathing are genetically or otherwise programmed beyond
choice is quite problematic, especially when implications for
responsible rational freedom are brought to bear. I suggest a comparison of the 12-step addiction recovery methods and movements is helpful (noting that vulnerability to alcohol may have a genetic component), as would be this text. We
should be very wary indeed of any scheme, notion, ideology or movement —
whether or not it is dressed in a lab coat — that would undermine human
responsibility and the point and hope that conscience-guided reason
linked to supported moral discipline and recovery methods sustained
across several years can lead us to walk in a better way. There are
many, many, many cases of successful transformation of people in bondage
to all sorts of addictions, dependencies, and destructive lifestyles. A
truth that seems to be very politically incorrect and widely suppressed
today. Let me just say finally for now that 60+ years ago Alcoholics
Anonymous was mocked and derided by the experts and media, especially
when a co-founder backslid. But now, its approach, on long significant
success, has become a widely respected and adopted model. Teen Challenge
is similar. Though of course if you don’t want to have to fight for
your life to get off the barbed hook, don’t bite on the seemingly tasty
fly floating by.
Further to all this, noted Christian Apologist Ravi Zacharias, answering a question, provides food for thought:
We would do well to ponder where our civilisation is headed:
Then, we need to ponder also, what we should do. END
Brent Bozell points out an "obvious" onward homosexualist strategy in America (with implications far beyond the USA):
We've already seen the first signs of businesses punished for failing
to participate in gay marriage ceremonies, with six-figure fines and
barrels of negative publicity. [--> not to mention mobs baying to punish the "heretics" from political correctness.]
The obvious next step is forcing
churches to participate in gay marriages, and if they refuse, it will be
time to revoke their tax exemptions. [--> which effectively de-lists as a church and opens up further more ruthless measures] Shortly after the latest court
decision, Time posted an online commentary advocating the end of all tax
benefits for religious organizations. Naturally, it will follow that
churches and religious groups will also be forced to employ people who
in no way share their religious beliefs.
Justice Anthony Kennedy
claimed in his majority opinion that "The First Amendment ensures that
religious organizations and persons are given proper protection as they
seek to teach the principles that are so fulfilling and so central to
their lives and faiths." But if the Democrats win the White House again,
it's obvious they will appoint more liberal justices that share their
obvious devotion to steamrolling "religious freedom" -- which they now
routinely put in scare quotes.
For decades the media have tilted
dramatically in favor of gay lobbies. They have won. What next? No one
expects the media elites to tap any brakes as America heads over the
cliff.
Out here in the Caribbean, we have already seen emissaries sent out to try to "deconstruct" the "texts of terror" in the Scriptures, in Barbados and Antigua -- hosted by the US Embassy. That should be a warning and wake-up call on what is in store. Especially, when I saw a microphone snatched away from someone asking a reasonable question, refusal by "New Testament Scholars" to address Rom 1 and 1 Cor 6:9 - 11, walkout and abrupt termination when reasonable questions were asked. The easy days are over. END
