Minute-by-minute, day-by-day, billions of souls make choices ranging from the insignificant to the seriously consequential. That ability to choose is self-evident and is the basis of law both human and sublime. That ability to discern and make choices is what modern thinkers and ancient philosophers alike call “free will.”
One could as easily say, Canadian Crucifixion, Italian or Spanish Crucifixion, or even Global Crucifixion, but we’re based in the U.S.A. Thus, “American Crucifixion” is fitting in the title topic.
There have been pandemics in America or other parts of the world before. Indeed, by all accounts, the Spanish influenza of 1918-1920 may well be far more lethal than the COVID19. Wikipedia mentions that there is evidence that the pandemic may have begun as early as 1917 in Austria. If so, then the name for than nation of origin for the H1N1 “Spanish flu” virus is erroneous.
But there are many other tragedies at work than the coronavirus, as serious as it is. On the Friday that Christians commemorate the death by Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, this nation and the world are suffering in an oddly reverberating manner.
Beyond illness and death, the anti-communist Epoch Times reported on 4.10.2020 that “The latest job numbers show that 6.6 million more Americans filed jobless claims in one week, bringing the total number to more than 16.8 million during a three-week span.” That’s just in the U.S., think of the hundreds of millions around the world that have been thrown out of work because their governments have ordered a lock down for much of their economies, even as local, state, tribal, or the federal governments have encouraged or done here in the U.S.
As yet uncounted numbers of smaller businesses have been ordered closed. Despite federal relief efforts, thousands may never re-open while larger firms are often exempted. How can such things occur in a representative society?
Attached to the notion of free will is moral responsibility. Some argue in a fashion akin to Pontius Pilate did almost two thousand years ago, “What is Truth?” (John 18:38) Meaning, how can someone know what is right or wrong? What is true or untrue?
The Creator of all that exists didn’t leave humanity – the pinnacle of life on earth – in ignorance about something so important as the truth.
Earlier this week, MHProNews shared the video below on the Ten Commandments and in the link here presented in the featured focus insights on the Jewish Passover and Christian Holy Week. That included simple evidence for the existence of God. It makes the compelling point that if a society lived those ten laws it would be the most ideal society imaginable.
If there were no lying, we would not have to worry about ‘what is the truth.’
If there were no inordinate desire to improperly take what is by right owned or the rights due to another, there would be no crime.
The Commandments aren’t socialistic. The Commandments clearly protect the notion of privately owned property.
The Commandments protect marriage and family as the most important unit of society. The Commandments elevate respect for parents.
The Commandments don’t force a particular form of government but does make plain that worship of the Creator is necessary for moral order.
God didn’t create humanity to have servants ‘groveling at his feet.’ By definition, God as an all powerful Creator has no needs. Thus, the Creator didn’t need the universe. This universe was created out of pure love.
The beauties found in creation and the untainted natural order is akin to a love letter from the Maker to we the Divine offspring who were made “in the Divine image and likeness.” (Genesis 1:26-27). But that image implies that we should freely be good, do good, even as God is perfectly good.
Faith has all too often been pushed out of the central place in societies – a stark example is communist China. Religion there is barely tolerated, and is ruthlessly controlled in the case of believers like the Muslim Uighurs or Falun Gong. While there are arguably biblical reasons to take exception to much that Warren Buffett says and does, give credit where it’s due when he said “You can’t make a good deal with a bad person.”
American businesses dealing with godless communists in China has placed much of America and billions around the world in a partial lockdown. Dealing with a corrupt regime in Beijing has been a means for multination corporations and others to escape paying a just wage in the U.S. What many have thought illogical at best for decades has now manifestly cost our nation’s people thousands of deaths and trillions of dollars in wealth in just a few weeks.
Turning a blind eye to the cruelty of the mainland Chinese government has now visibly exacted a stiff price. We don’t know to what degree Chinese or Iranian leaders are lying about their death toll, but sources say it is entirely possible say millions have already died in China. Whatever that death toll may be, there are reasons to believe that the true numbers are being covered up.
The Commandments tell us not to lust after another person, yet Hollywood celebrates it in big screens and smaller ones too. The immoral sex trade in the U.S. and around the world is epitomized in people like convicted Harvey Weinstein or the now dead prisoner Jeffrey Epstein. There would be no need for a #MeToo movement if the people understood the pure wisdom of the Creator’s Commandments, including the sanctity of marriage.
Marriage is supposed to be holy – sex is sacred and beautiful in the context of the Divine image of marriage. But when God’s plan for marriage and the proper place for sex are distorted, of course one ends up with disorderly and predatory behavior. Violating the Ten Commandments has real world consequences.
When God says thou shall not murder, that obviously is a protection of all human life. That includes the unborn that God poetically inspired the prophet to say that “you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” (Psalm 139:13-14 NIV). So, when men like Warren Buffett, Bill Gates or George support the financing of abortions – which disproportionately impacts minorities – it speaks volumes of their characters, doesn’t it? How can someone trust a deal made with a bad person – isn’t that what Warren Buffet said?
The Commandment “Thou shall not bear false witness” (Exodus 20:16) is more than a prohibition against lying. It’s a cautionary message from the Divine Creator that trickery and deception are wrong.
Despite the Divine prohibition, we nevertheless see deceptive behavior in our industry and so many other professions, including politics.
God created a moral universe where each of us, if we look in the mirror, has at various times failed. The core of Christian thought is that we have all “sinned and fall short of the Glory of God.” (Romans 3:23 NIV). Christians believe that because humanity can’t pay the price for personal sin, Jesus – the embodiment of God in human flesh – paid the price of our personal sins for us. That’s why the most horrible torturous death of Jesus on this day is paradoxically called “Good Friday.” There is a beautiful story of Jesus’ mercy toward the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4). Jesus told her she had lived with five different husbands and was living with a man who was not her husband. Jesus was merciful to a woman of a different people and faith. That mercy caused her to bring others to Jesus, who also came to believe.
Good Friday is the most glorious paradox, from a horrific death that ends not in the grave but in resurrection. In ancient Judaism, there were two well-known groups – the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The later didn’t believe in resurrection, but the Pharisees did.
Because we have all at times personally sinned, we can’t blithely be haughty about the sins of others. We all need a measure or humility and mercy with others.
That mercy doesn’t ignore personal sin, because those Commandments are supposed to be The Law for all of humanity.
God allows us to experience the consequences of casually tolerating sin. Murder, fraud, theft, lust, greed, envy, jealousy, deception – all of this has a social cost and a personal cost.
This current crisis will pass. But when it does, each of us would be wise to say that returning to “business as usual” should not be the goal.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – or more simply, the Gates Foundation which has Buffett on its board and who has funded to the foundation to the tune of billions of dollars – has its financial fingerprints on the World Health Organization (WHO).
The Gates Foundation has its donor fingerprints on the Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) model being used to estimate the infection and death tolls from COVID19 that are proving to be inaccurate. Should we be surprised? How can someone trust thieves, murders and con artists in private jets that earned their wealth by manipulating antitrust and other laws?
Buffett and Gates are not the only billionaire sinners in America, but they happen to play prominently in our profession, even if many don’t realize it.
Scientific and Historical Evidence?
Millions know about the Shroud of Turin, but too many don’t. Good Friday is an opportune time to recall what the shroud is, the supposed burial cloth of Jesus. Consider what scientists have learned about the Shroud of Turin.
When one compares what the charges were against Nazis during the Nuremburg War Trials post World War II, many of the “crimes against humanity” are still being practiced and advanced today. They are often done by those who posture being angels of light when they are advancing murderous schemes that often involve monopolistic and oligarchical activities.
The message today isn’t that we should hate people such as Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, George Soros, Michael Bloomberg, or people like them. They, like we, need prayer and redemption.
Nor is the message that they should be loathed for having money. Earning money honorably is fine. Rather, what merits scrutiny is how that money was earned in what are arguably market manipulations that disadvantaged smaller – and often far more ethical – businesses.
The oligarchs and plutocrats of our era should be held to the same legal and moral standards as a common thief, con artist, or robber. Their money, political connections and influence in media or beyond should not get them special treatment.
Failure to grasp the sublime wisdom of the commandments muddies the water that makes plain that certain people ought not to be ‘respected’ when one looks carefully at what they’ve done to earn their money. Some of the uber-rich may have earned their money by some legal methods, but arguably also by involving illicit, manipulative or illegal methods too. Nor should the super-rich be admired for giving money to charities, when those so-called ‘charitable’ activities often fund activities that are contrary to the Divine will.
Communists and some capitalists have hypocritically joined forces in the modern era. Once what the anti-communist Epoch Times calls the CCP Virus or Chinese Communist Party Virus passes, there should be an accounting. The discernment process has already begun.
Today, the sins that led to this pandemic are laying bear the flawed thinking of decades of behavior. But it is very much in keeping with millennia of human history. God loves the sinner, but hates the sin. Sin is the enemy. To discern sin, one needs a moral compass.
Today is called “Good Friday” because the ancient promise of a redeemer is commemorated on this date. It is an opportune time to ponder what is right and what is wrong.
In the book of Numbers (22:28) it says, “Then the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey…” If God can use a donkey to speak some truth, then perhaps to the degree that we lean here on the eternal or the true wisdom of others, there is also hope for what is said by this writer.
May the blessings of this day and the upcoming Easter celebration of the Resurrection be with all. “We Provide, You Decide.” © (Affordable housing, manufactured homes, reports, fact-checks, analysis, and commentary. Third-party images or content are provided under fair use guidelines for media.) (See Related Reports, further below. Text/image boxes often are hot-linked to other reports that can be access by clicking on them.)
By L.A. “Tony” Kovach – for MHLivingNews.com.
Tony earned a journalism scholarship and earned numerous awards in history and in manufactured housing. For example, he earned the prestigious Lottinville Award in history from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied history and business management. He’s a managing member and co-founder of LifeStyle Factory Homes, LLC, the parent company to MHProNews, and MHLivingNews.com. This article reflects the LLC’s and/or the writer’s position, and may or may not reflect the views of sponsors or supporters.
Connect on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach
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