Seeking Not To Be Taken Advantage Of

Games Criminals Play, by Bud Allen and Diana Bosta, Rae John, Sacramento, CA, 34th Printing, 2013.  228 pages.  The subtitle is "How You Can Profit By Knowing Them".


A few times in my ministry, I have been taken advantage of.  There are people who present themselves as being in need, when they are not.  It doesn't happen all that often, but it happens enough that it pushes my comfort to a point where I feel like I have to do something.  Looking around for resources, I came upon this book.


What I want is a profile of what to look for in someone who might be playing me.  Does this seem rather cynical for a pastor?  In all honesty, I was looking for some wisdom because I am beginning to get a bit cynical to people in need that I don't have a familiar friendship with.  And with my latest work reaching more into the community in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, I can't afford to be cynical.  I need to be smarter.


Well, "Games Criminals Play" isn't exactly what I was looking for.  It focuses on the games that inmates in prisons play in an attempt to compromise corrections personnel for their own gain, whether for advantage, to alleviate boredom, to advance criminal purposes, whatever.  In some ways, I am finding this book to be more helpful then one that was more designed for 'con games' by people seeking charitable giving.


The kind of corrections person, someone who truly cares and wants to change the lives of people, is a prime target for being 'soft' or malleable. I was malleable when I was taken for a ride. 


Some good concepts to take away, for example, the idea of the familiar and the unfamiliar friend.  A pastor wants to be a friend to someone in need.  But recognize that this friendship is unfamiliar and keep up a certain guard against overfamiliarity, and perhaps being taken advantage of.  It takes time for someone to become a familiar friend. 


Simply to have confirmation of people who are out for their own purposes, to manipulate, not for help, to know that is normal behavior, that other people far more trained than I fall for their games, makes me less harsh on myself for what has happened. 


More lessons on what to look for are coming in the next section of the book.  I look forward to reading that.

Jealousy, Nazarites and the Final Move of the Spirit...

So, what is my presupposition as I read on in Numbers and through the Old Testament?  It is Christological.  Christology-the science of Jesus Christ.  Where do themes of the New Testament and of Jesus flow from this, the only bible that Jesus and his disciples had?


Numbers 5 and 6 move out of the census and into some rather weird rituals for the people of Israel.  Unclean people are cast out of camp, crimes of theft demand a 120% return, there is a really weird ritual for husbands who suspect their wives of cheating-something that could make their uterus drop if they lie about it, and then the ritual of the nazirite.


This makes for an interesting comparison and contrast.  The law of jealousy runs one way.  The husband thinks the wife is cheating, can't find any evidence, not in her cellphone or email accounts, so he can accuse her in front of the priests, who then subject her to a rather degrading ritual.  And the penalty for lying-she can't conceive children.  Such was the measure of womanhood in the Old Testament (see the story of Hannah, the mother of Samuel).


I see Jesus fulfilling the first laws.  The unclean were to be put of the Camp of Israel.  What was Jesus' response: heal them and cleanse them.  The law of jealousy, Jesus did away with the division of male and female-Paul speaks of that in Galatians.


But, while the family law is so very sexist, the law concerning consecration to God, is liberating.  Women or men can take this vow, and there is no hint of permission needed by the woman from whoever the boss-male (husband or father) might be. 


That is probably the most interesting, because there are a few cases in the Scripture when this vow is undertaken.  Samson, the strong man with the long hair, is the most obvious potential example.  But at the end of Acts, before Paul is deported to Rome to appear before the emperor, it appears he was also taking a nazirite vow.  There is also a case to be made of this nazarite vow and Jesus, the Nazarene (from Nazareth, but come on, it sounds close!)


Onto Acts 9 and 10, the Holy Spirit comes in the baptism of the "ends of the earth", in this case, a Roman Centurion named Cornelius.  Again comes the question of fulfilling the law of God.  Peter, the devout Jew, goes to the Gentile when Jesus gives permission to move beyond the dietary laws of Moses.  The dietary laws marked the people of God as separate from the rest of the world.  Now, the people of God are spreading out into the rest of the world (us Gentiles).


It is an arc, the vision, the baptism of Cornelius, then Peter defending the vision before 'the circumcised believers' in Jerusalem. 


Then we switch gears back to Paul.  In chapter 8, Saul's persecution scattered the members of Jesus' following.  In the scattering, many Hellenist Jews were brought into the fold, centered in Antioch, north and out on the coast.  Barnabas was dispatched by the church in Jerusalem to check things out, and he brought with him the newbee to the ministry, the one who caused the followers of Jesus to scatter in the first place, Paul. 


The Reza Aslan view is of Paul rising in rank and the church in Jerusalem attempting to keep him down.  I am looking for that root in the Acts and in Paul's letters.  From here, we begin Paul's ministry, so now we can really begin to look for those troubles.

Israel's Fighting Men and the Martyrdom of Stephen

This was partnered with the first review of the book "Warrior Grunt", but on reflection today, the posts have been divided.  This is the first active review of the Bible reading that I do as part of my own discipline.  It is blogged on as part of a personal discipline for at least the next 30 days of ongoing review and reflection of what I read.


At the beginning of the book of Numbers in the Scriptures, a survey of the Israelite fighting men, age 20 and over, count over 600,000 as they begin their march on the Promised Land.  Wonder how they prepared for war?    Now I have always had questions about Hebrew numerology.  The really big numbers, like these, I tend to reduce it by a factor of ten.  60,000, not 600,000, GASP, Shall I Be Burned At The Stake For Questioning The Irrelevancy...er...Inerrancy of Scripture?


Ok.


Read the martyrdom of Stephen in Acts over on the other side.  I am taking the reading of Acts and of Paul's letters from the point of view of Reza Aslan in Zealot, that Paul pressed for a Hellenist/Gentile church over the Jewish development of a Messianic community around Jesus' family. 


So, in this story, Saul watches with approval as Stephen is killed.  It begins the contrast that will ultimately lead to his conversion experience.  Saul, a Pharisee, was arresting Jesus followers among the Jews (not yet are they called Christians) and Stephen was one of the Deacons, a Hellenist Jew included in the church as it begins to reach the Jewish community dispersed across the Roman Empire. 


So, if we are going to take the story as a lifting of Saul/Paul at the expense of the Jerusalem church, I believe we are looking at the lead up to his conversion, laying out just how much Saul/Paul is to be converted from.

Warrior Grunt, Part 2

Finished the book last night.  I like what is presented.  First, there is the narrative of what someone needs to do to succeed as a warrior.  There is basic information to be mastered, tips on physical prowess and training, and the need of mental toughness.  The remainder of the book then lays out practical ways and means to achieve the mental toughness.


I have found centering to be of particular value to me personally.  The volume is lean, about 80 pages, but the material is a summation of some of the best that I have seen in the area of Warrior Prep, whether for the military, martial arts, or law enforcement.


I would recommend it for the hands of any young man or woman contemplating a commitment of military service.  The authors are right that it would translate easily into law enforcement academy prep as well.


For me, as a pastor, the idea of mental toughness, the need of mental toughness to be a healer in a world of sin is paramount.  We each carry a burden, bear the cross of our own situations.  God lays those burdens upon us so that we MUST depend upon Him.  This book, and the website, www.mindsighting.com, catalogue for us the skills and resources that God has built into humanity to live the life given to us to our best.

Jesus and the Tribe of Levi and Paul's conversion

Continued on in the reading of Numbers.  After the census of the entire tribe, comes the census of the tribe of Levi, the priestly tribe.  It is a very interesting description to be made of that tribe.  They are the replacement of the first born of the tribes of Israel.  The law of Moses calls for the dedication of the first born to God.  Levi is the tribe dedicated who now takes the place of every other firstborn son, human and bovine, except that the numbers didn't quite match up, so there was a cash bonus to redeem the firstborn that the Levites couldn't cover...




Does that sound really complicated?  Well, here is the punch line.  The Egyptian firstborn killed in the final plague, well, let me quote the Big "when I killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I consecrated for my own all the firstborn in Israel...they shall be mine.  I am the Lord."  There is another firstborn who was killed to the consecration of the rest of us.  Am I reading the death of Jesus on the cross back into an obscure passage from the Torah or does the bible rotate around Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Man?

You decide.


Over in Acts, we've moved beyond the death of Stephen. Saul scatters the church, Simon the Magician (from whom the term 'simony', a medieval church sin, is derived) was converted, the Ethiopian eunuch was converted, the Holy Spirit spread to Samaria, the third sphere of influence (From Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, to the ends of the Earth), and Saul is converted.


First, he gets a warrant to go hunt followers of the Way (not yet Christians) over in Damascus, to bring them back to Jerusalem in chains.  There, he is struck blind and sees Jesus (I love the blind seeing thing), is converted, scares the local followers because he was THE bogeyman to the followers of Christ, almost gets killed once, then is shipped back to the heart of the church in Jerusalem.


Chapter 9 concludes with Peter healing a paralytic and raising a woman from the dead, performing miracles very much in the image of Jesus.


So, three conversions, a magician who wants the tricks and signs, a foreigner seeking to understand the Word, and a persecutor turned most fervent servant of Christ.  It kind of feels like Luke has woven together a few narratives into a chronological tale for the book of Acts.

Basic Training

So, this blog is going to become a month long reflection on whatever I happen to be reading at the moment.  We'll see what happens.  Find a book part and a bible part, and maybe a connection between the two.


Warrior Grunt: Start, "Warrior Psychology & Mental Toughness for Excelling in Basic Training" by Michael J. Asken and Robert E. Obrecht.  80 pgs.


Major title for a slim work on what can be done to prepare for the military.  Seem like a very strange book for a pastor to read?  Perhaps, but wait.


I am about half way through, and I think this book will do what it claims on the cover "What you need to know-What you need to do". 


It is not so much on physical toughness but mental toughness.  Tips for how to prepare, for what to expect, strategies to cope in a tough situation, for mustering and reducing adrenalin, for focus.


What I can say is that through my other studies as a law enforcement chaplain, as a pastor, as one who seeks to prepare as a warrior and a healer, is that the information is good.


I read this for me and my work.  Personal toughness as a Christian living in a sinful world is not to be underrated.  Seeking to lead others in the Christian life led me to seek out whatever strategies might work.  And short of living out the joys of basic training, or-in my work-the police academy, I seek to find the best materials written for the preparation of warriors. 

"The American Indian", I hate that.

It is midday, got my son home sick, taking a break in front of the television.  I like to watch “Encore Westerns”.  “Laredo” is on, the episode “Oh Careless Love”, about the Texas Rangers winning the old West.  If I keep watching, I can see Paladin, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and Marshal Matt Dillon each take their turns in winning the old West.

God, I know why First Nations hate the whites.  I am an American, but Canadian originally (not that there is a tremendous difference), and I do not borrow from my heritage lightly.  First Nations has become the ‘term de jour’ in Canada for what are generally known as “American Indians”.  It is my nod to 'political correctness'.

Watching Laredo where a couple of the Rangers are treating with the ‘Indians’. 

The ‘redskins’ talk in the typical way of Hollywood, in grunting mono-syllables “I no say yes yet”, broken phrases, long black, braided hair; the chief has a fat daughter… “she carries a lot of weight with the old man” (her father), said one of the Rangers.  (and she giggles like she has a mental deficiency)

They eat with their fingers, eat stewed coyotes, talk of many wives, prefer the brute culture.  Then it looks like they cut to an old Hollywood western for scenes of  “braves on the warpath”.

“Here stick, you beat me, I make good wife” said Little Bird, the chief’s daughter.

It’s like watching “Blazing Saddles” but without the satire.  You watch the extras on the Blazing Saddles DVD and there are powerful interviews with the white actors expressing their regrets over the continuous use of the word “nigger”.  No, I am not going to say ‘the “n” word’ because “nigger” is too ugly to pretty up.  And yes, I am a white man using that word.  They said it for a pointed purpose.

There is absolutely nothing satirical or apologetic or the least bit responsive that a terrible wrong is being committed to film.

SIDEBAR: A couple weeks ago, there was a brief news report of an AIM protest march of the Washington Redskins.  The NFL reaction, as reported, summed up as “get over it.”

The plot of the show hinges on a Ranger marrying the Chief’s daughter, making the young chiefs who want war look bad.  Of course, once the cavalry arrives, the Ranger will get pulled out and the white man will reneg on yet another agreement.

So, we make fun of sweat lodges, shaman practices, ritual dances, do whatever we can to make the Indians look backward and primitive.

And the thing of it is, as a I watch to critique, I find the episode to be entertaining.  It’s funny to make fun of ‘lesser’ people.  White man outnumbered but will outsmart the Indian.  Makes for entertaining television.

It is so wrong.  A history of a great nation laid over another history so dark.  “Laredo” was on the air from ’65 to ’67.  We have 400 years of history between immigrant and the first nations to correct.