Tag: politics

what’s happening ???

September 8, 2025

Good afternoon,

( Thank you for your prayers. I think yesterday went well )

There will be great earthquakes,            

                    famines           

                         and pestilences                       

                      in various places,                                          

          and fearful events                                                       

  and great signs from heaven.                                                                                                            Luke 21:11


I do not know what this verse means for us. It was for the early church waiting for Jesus’ return, but he has not left for the first time yet in the Gospel. Confusing. 

I am worried about what is taking place in the United States. You might have noticed in some of my recent blogs. Am I thinking about  the children’s story Chicken Little ? Am I yelling that ” the sky is falling ” too much? Are the two terms of President Trump just part of the regular election cycle that happens ? I do not think so. The present government is carrying out a plan called Project 2025. I have not read it all, but many of the executive orders signed by Mr, Trump are part of what is described in the plan. It is about authoritarianism .


When Mr. Trump threatens to declare the whole country an ‘ emergency ‘, and then declare emergency powers and finally call for martial law, all bets are off. He has ended the US Agency for International Development putting millions of people all over the world at risk for disease, malnutrition and death. Why ? He has occupied Los Angeles and Washington D.C. with the military, and is now threatening other cities. I worry about what effects this will have on Canada and the rest of the world. He has named the Department of Defence, the Department of War. There is something new everyday. 


I am worried about the violence. I worry about the most vulnerable. I hope the ‘ sky is not falling ‘, but there are dangerous signs and activities. The Mennonite church in the United States is preparing for things to get worse, especially for the immigrants. Many people voted for Mr. Trump thinking his stated policies would never affect them, but now they are being affected negatively. He still has enormous support in the country.


Lord have mercy and love on us all. AMEN
Fred

black and white shadows

crush humanity’s freedom

am I complicit ?

MPL 2025

It is a dangerous time

June 12, 2023

Good afternoon,

 “ Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.  But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.  So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. ” Matthew 24: 42-44

A narcissist and dictator in the White House.

Wildfires in Canada are out of control.

A genocide in Gaza, Ukraine, Russia, Pakistan and India and nuclear war. Artificial Intelligence is about to take control of the economy.I am not saying it is the end of our world. People have predicted wrongly many times throughout the centuries. Mennonites have been good at getting it wrong. There have always been bad things happening in the world. There have been dictators before. There have been too many genocides in our histories. But, what do we need to be watching for in these times that we are living in ? How do we stay away from conspiracies, and continue to proclaim a hope in spite of things going awry ?  What is God saying to us, as the people of God ? And we should not try to predict that Christ will come when certain things happen. We do not know anything about the future. What does it mean to live faithfully in the midst of crises ?


I am worried about Saturday. Mr. Trump is having a birthday military parade in Washington. There are all these protests all over the country. The President has said he is not going to institute the Insurrection Act. This would give Trump almost unlimited military and political power. I think it is a dangerous time, and now Israel attacks Iran. And it becomes personal. Hannah was to fly from London to home in Amman, but Jordanian airspace is closed because all the bombs and drones fly over Jordan. She might have to fly through Qatar to get home. I will let you know, when I know.
Lord have mercy on the universe. AMEN.

Fred

black and white shadows

crush humanity’s freedom

am I complicit ?MPL 2025

The same social Merry-go-Round

June 5, 2025

Good afternoon,

I am reading a book called The Road To Wigan Pier  by Geroge Orwell. He is famous for the two books of fiction, 1984 and Animal Farm.  But this is one of nonfiction. Orwell was a political commentator and a socialist , writing mostly between the world wars. The Road to Wigan Pier is a book about high unemployment in England in the 1930’s . There were many programs for the poor and, and it was similar to today , We have all kinds of social programs to try to keep the poor just enough to be alive. Orwell points out how he was was prejudiced  against what he calls the ” lower upper middle class “. They were just limping along, and his family has a bit more money/resources . Then WWII began and many people were employed, and poverty went down. That is another whole soapbox.


We have Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program here in Ontario. No one is going to get rich being on social assistance. It is not a waste of money. The government has built in many other supports for the poor and unemployed, but we have more homeless and housing is at a premium, and not affordable. Food banks are used more than ever. The rich get richer, and the poor and middle class just get by, eking out a life here in Canada, the best place in the whole world ( according to some.). What can and should we do ?


The Old Testament prophets, like Jeremiah, Ezekial and Isaiah rail against inequality but it seems to be always with us. Why can’t we build into the economic systems more sharing possibilities ? We are smart and compassionate. And now we have AI, Artificial Intelligence .We all want a fair and equal society or do we, really ? We are not all the same, and some of us are very skilled, and some of us will need help all of our lives. After thousands of years, we still have not got it right for everyone to flourish.


Praying for a fair, peaceful and equitable life in Gaza.

Fred

black and white shadows

crush humanity’s freedom

Am I complicit ?

MPL

What happened?

March 3, 2025

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said yesterday,

 ” that America’s “rapidly changing” foreign policy “largely coincides with our vision.”

I mentioned in a sermon a few weeks ago that I received the message that we were supposed to hate the Russians in the 1960s and 1970s. I grew up in the vicinity of two large power plants , one in Canada and one in the US, and there was fear that if bombs were going to drop we might be the targets. My mom and dad came out of Russia/Ukraine in the 1920’s and had endured suffering as little children. My dad held on to that kind of hate for the Russians, I think, for his entire life. One of my kids has said that I am always in fear of the Soviets coming to get us. He might be right.

Now, I read that the Russians are in line with the US. What happened ?  Now I might have to live in fear of the United States, and Russia. I try to not live with a ‘them and us’ mentality, but it is ingrained in me from 1968, and the Czech revolution. It was put down by the Soviets. Love is supposed to cast out all fear. I am learning, and working at it, but it does not come easy. Fear moves through trauma and through generations. I think I received some of it from my mom and dad. 

The church is not helpful. The evangelical church in the US is lining up beside the present government. The largest church in Russia is the Orthodox, and they are praying for the President of Russia to defeat Ukraine. Paul the apostle talks about the ‘ principalities and powers ‘:

                                                     For our struggle is not against flesh and blood,

                                                          but against the rulers, against the authorities, 

                                                         against the powers of this dark world 

                                                         and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 

Ephesians 6:12

This struggle can be part of our Lent journey . We can change our prayer life, by focusing on the world and its struggles. Be silent before God, and see what the Spirit says to you and us. What is our vision to wage peaceful action against the powers of this world ?

When The Spirit Walks in the Room  from Bruce Cockburn ( 2023 )

It can appear at any hour
When it comes, it comes in power
You may not walk, you may not see
But you’ll become what you can be

You’re a thread upon the loom
When the spirit walks in the room
We’re but threads upon the loom
When the spirit walks in the room

AMEN.

Fred

black and white shadows

crush humanity’s freedom

am I complicit ?                     MPL 2025