Deus Misereatur

Force Decisions: A Citizen’s Guide: Understanding How Police Determine Appropriate Use of Force Rory Miller YMAA Publication Center, Inc. PO Box 480 Wolfeboro, NH 03894 www.ymaa.com ISBN: 978-1-59439-243-6; $18.95; April 2012 5 stars out of 5: Forcefully Forthright In the face of so much print and electronic media coverage on actions of police officers, it appears that law enforcers are always overstepping the line. The almost automatic assumption is that cops abuse power at almost every step. They’re assumed guilty until proven innocent, and the supposition is that they will not be proven innocent because they pulled a trigger, tasered someone, shed blood, or broke bone. In fact, in the court system a police officer’s testimony is no longer accepted as having more weight of truthfulness than the person being tried. As an aside, my own personal principle, that an officer’s testimony is to be accepted as true unless proven false, has gotten me kicked out of nu...

Seriously Dangerous Religion: What the Old Testament Really Says and Why It Matters by Iain Provan My rating: 5 of 5 stars Seriously Dangerous Religion: What the Old Testament Really Says and Why It Matters Iain Provan Baylor University Press One Bear Place 97363 Waco, TX 76798-7363 http://www.baylorpress.com/ ISBN: 9781481300230; $49.95; August 2014 5 Stars of 5 Stars Hazarding Holy History The Old Testament receives a lot of flak. It looks grisly, violent, vicious and unforgiving to many. Then adding to the bad press it already gets, the new Atheists and others have taken great pleasure in painting it with even darker and starker colors. On top of all this, Christians themselves either avoid the Old Testament at all costs, or shove it up the stairs into the attic where with the embarrassing family secrets it remains blanketed under dim light and chocking dust. Unsatisfied with this treatment, Iain Provan, the Marshall Sheppard Professor of Biblical Studies at Regent Coll...

[Follow the link to the audio file ] Revival and Reformation Pt 20 2 Chronicles 31 Some Reviving and Reforming Consequences Lord God, merciful and gracious, who in Christ sought us when we were not seeking you; but sought us so that we would seek you: by the actions of your Holy Spirit, take our stiff and often unyielding hearts, and kneed the message of this passage into them, that we may rise and become those who earnestly seek you and deeply know you. For Christ’s sake, amen . What happens when real revival and genuine reformation erupt? Sometimes there are far reaching consequences! As an example, when John Wesley and his fellows began preaching the Gospel to coal miners, the highbrow and low, the down and outers and the well-to-doers, the low class and others on the margins of society, then the revolutionary and societal chaos that was percolating under the surface of the social systems of his day, and about to explode onto England, were diffused, and for a season Englan...

(First review: 27 August 2014, 4 Stars. Updated review: 7 May 2020, 5 Stars. MWP) For someone to wed Psychology and Christian spirituality may sound, for many, doubtful and dubious, especially after the decades-long frictions between the two. But the 240 page paperback titled “Dangerous Passions, Deadly Sins: Learning from the Psychology of Ancient Monks” has entered the ring to help referee the match. To do this Dennis Okholm, a Benedictine oblate, assistant pastor at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Costa Mesa, California, professor of theology at Azusa Pacific University and adjunct professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, takes the reader back and forth from present-day psychology to three ancient monastic leaders: Evagrius of Pontus, John Cassian, and Gregory the Great. Okholm specifically takes up the diagnoses and prognoses of the seven principle vices (8): gluttony, lust, greed, anger, envy, sloth and vainglory. “Dangerous Passions, Deadly Sins” begins by making the case that t...

What then shall we say? If you, O God, are for us, who can be against us? You did not spare your own Son but gave him up for us all, how is it possible that you will not also with Christ graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against your elect? It is you who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at your right hand, O God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Nothing, and no one will! For in all these things we are more than conquerors through you who loved us (Romans 8.31-37). Thank you our God, our Lord, our Father! You, O God, upheld your Church and defended her with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm against the violence of tyranny and the wiliness of malice. Your protection extends over all, and your name is great to the ends of the earth. Continue to show yourself the good God of your people, convert their enemies or restrain their malicious counse...

[I presented this at the Capitol Bible Study on 27 August 2014] The Right Kind of “Waiting” Game Isaiah 30.18 “Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him” (Isaiah 30.18) I read this verse recently to our men who gathered for weekly prayer and talked about it as a backdrop to our time of praying. One of our elders asked me some questions and we began, through email, to talk over this verse in greater detail. From that discussion came this little study. There is a context to this verse that I’ll bring out as we go along, but it seems to me that this particular verse is a hinge verse – like the hinges that keep your door attached to the doorjamb, and make it all work. As odd as this is going to appear at first, let’s begin in the middle of the verse and work our way up and out, and then end by comparing the first statement with the last. ...

[Listen Along: click here ] Revival and Reformation Pt 19 2 Chronicles 30 Father, warm in love, deep with saving faithfulness; your word has been summarized and read. Now by your Spirit work it into our hearts that we may become supple and pliant in your hands that Jesus our Savior would more beautifully radiate through us. Amen. Background - Chapter 21 thru 28 1.  Personal and Local Reformation: 2 Chronicles 29. 2.  Corporate Reformation. 2 Chronicles 30 A.  The Reforming Initiative (1-5) [1] Going broadly – thinking beyond just their own 4 walls (so to speak).  [2] The point at which they seek to bring in others for this reformation was the Passover: the Old Testament Feast of God’s Redemption…Christ and His Supper!!! B.  The Reforming Invitation (6-9): Speaking in a way that sounds much like the prophet, Hezekiah invites them to: 1. v.6 – Return to Yhvh …that he may turn again to the remnant of you.” Here’s one side of the pr...