Greetings from Tyler,
There is very sad news to all of us in the Western world, Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Queen Elizabeth since 1947, died. He was born of royalty, and we’ll undoubtedly be treated to numerous re-tellings of his life and times in the days ahead. It is reported that he was responsible for the foundation of countless charities, and that his titles pass automatically to Prince Charles. The Yahoo report couldn’t get through the first sentence of its story without wondering how coronavirus restrictions will affect funeral attendance.
Assuming one can go to England, they’re forced to quarantine for ten days, and the funeral traditionally is held within eight days. What about Harry? Do we care? Yahoo thinks so. The story of Prince Phillip’s death ends up being more about the coronavirus regulations and whether Harry can even manage to be at his grandfather’s funeral. When you think about succession, you can’t help but hope the Queen outlasts us all. Otherwise we’ll be subjected to the mindless ramblings of someone who swallowed nearly every woke philosophy, and we’ve got enough grief as it is.
We took a welcome hiatus from world events and U. S. news last week for obvious reasons. The “news,” or what passes for it has become utterly unpalatable, particularly when we don’t need the distraction and don’t want the predictable reaction whether disgust or anger or both.
The New York Times threw us a bone this week, saying that religious liberty is secure with the current makeup of the Supreme Court. The paper is interested in the breakdown of how justices appointed by liberal or conservative presidents ruled on various cases. If you had to guess, you definitely wouldn’t be far off. One justice says the First Amendment of the Constitution has been “weaponized” to intervene in economic and regulatory policy. Obama appointed her.
Some of the issues appearing before the highest court have to do with the ordered shutdown of worship services. As we’ve seen, governors with authoritarian tendencies act with the force at their control, and maybe a year or two later they find out they didn’t have the authority to overrule the Constitution. But they’ve put countless businesses, including churches, out of business by then.
Whatever happened to freedom of assembly, never mind freedom of speech? Are they telling us that Fauci’s ever-changing opinions outweigh Constitutional rights? Yep, that’s exactly what they’re telling us via most media outlets.
In Canada, it’s worse. There was a story this week about a church in Alberta that “violated covid regulations.” So the authorities shut the church down and closed the approaching streets while they double layered the building and the parking lot with chain-link fences. That ought to show those parishioners who’s boss!
Sorry to keep bringing this up, but nothing makes sense anymore (and the media seems to like it that way.) Is it any wonder? Little children are taught to believe in things that don’t exist, and it is treated like a crime if someone were to shatter their expectations at too young an age. Santa Clause and the Easter bunny are sacrosanct, and are purported to be the best of childhood memories. But none of it is true. No wonder people don’t trust churches or preachers. They encourage parents to teach their kids a bunch of fairy tales and really, fervently believe them! No wonder so many grow up to reject most that they’ve been taught, especially religious values. Why wouldn’t young adults conclude that none of the other religious teachings are much better than the fantasies they learned as a child? Sooner or later they’re going to find out, and they do.
If you’ve ever seen much of Garner Ted Armstrong, you realize he thought our beliefs ought to make logical sense. One of the things that always made me smile is when he asked his TV audience, “Is your religion any good to you if it makes any sense?” When you look at nature, or at the universe, you see that everything makes scientific, mathematical and logical sense. Everything operates according to Laws that ensure that things work accordingly. As the Proverb says, “Only a fool says in his heart there is no God.” Mainstream society wants to cut the bonds between us and God. Woke philosophy operates as if on a higher plane, well outside what God has decreed.
What’s with these companies and corporations announcing their “stand” on any number of political issues? It’s way past time we stopped giving them any aid or comfort. Maybe they should be told off and shamed. But everybody is frightened of losing access to their services. Oh well, maybe they shouldn’t be in the business of providing services if they hate everything most of us stand for.
Mark
PS: I should tell you that we had a great group of visitors here last weekend. Not only were they treated to explanations and historical facts about the days of Unleavened Bread, but we (and quite a few children) had a great karaoke party after sundown Saturday night. Thanks very much to all who were here and helped make one of the most enjoyable and memorable occasions our building has ever seen. Word from Mr. Robert Nunnery and Mr. Kelly Pierson is that they had great results at the meetings in Dalton as well. It’s nice to put this world and its problems in their place once in a while.
