Sylvester found himself in a situation often faced by the clients of Christian Legal Clinics of Philadelphia. Though he had done nothing wrong, Sylvester was being sued and did not know what to do. Without legal help, he could have lost his family’s home. The video above tells the full story.
Though I am not affiliated with Christian Legal Clinics of Philadelphia (and derive no benefit from donations), I was one of the group of Christian attorneys who founded the predecessor organization.
Thousands of hours of legal assistance have been provided to clients free of charge, in the years that have passed. Attorneys volunteer their time in destitute areas of Philadelphia for the love of God and love of neighbor.
But Christian Legal Clinics of Philadelphia does more than just provide legal assistance. Host organizations like the Salvation Army address the food, clothing, and shelter needs of clients. All staff share the Gospel.
By giving to Christian Legal Clinics of Philadelphia you can make a real difference in the lives of the poor. Please, consider donating at https://www.clcphila.org/get-involved/donation/.
Whether or not you are able to give, keep the men and women of this ministry in your prayers. It remains dear to my heart.
May God bless you.
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
https://avoicereclaimed.com
US Constitution, National Archives and Records Administration (NAID 1667751) (PD as work product of federal govt.)
Edward Gibbon authored a monumental work titled The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Coincidentally, Gibbon’s work was published around the time the United States was founded.
Like the United States, Rome was initially a republic – a state in which ultimate power is held by the people through their elected representatives, with a president rather than a monarch at its head.
Though we often use the terms interchangeably, a republic is distinguished from a democracy by the limits placed on government by law. In a republic, a constitution “protects certain inalienable rights that cannot be taken away by the government, even if it has been elected by a majority of voters. In a ‘pure democracy’, the majority is not restrained in this way and can impose its will on the minority [1].”
The Rule of Law
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”
-James Madison, Federalist Paper No. 51 (1788)
From the beginning, the United States was conceived as a nation of laws. The rule of law is firmly established in our Constitution and Bill of Rights [2]. The arbitrary exercise of power by an executive is, in other words, subordinate to well-defined laws. All people and institutions are subject to and held accountable by laws that are (or should be) fairly applied and enforced [3].
Democracy in Jeopardy
Democracy, itself, is jeopardized when the rule of law is undermined.
This can happen in many ways, most especially when checks on executive power are weakened or eliminated; when an executive attempts to politicize or otherwise undermine institutions like law enforcement, designed to function independently; when disinformation is disseminated to diminish public confidence in such institutions; and when elections are corrupted [4][5].
The United States has reached this critical juncture [6]. Read more…
Hungry child (1900), Author Bain News Service, Source Library of Congress (Catalog https://lccn.loc.gov/2014713460) (PD-old-70-1923)
“Now Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, ‘Where is Abel your brother?’ He said, ‘I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?’ And He said, ‘What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground’ ” (Gen. 4: 8-10).
Many Christians have come to view political conservatism as synonymous with morality. By contrast, they view political liberalism as synonymous with unnecessary largesse, leading to (or rewarding) immoral behavior [1]. This is, at best, an over-simplification; at worst, a serious error.
Self-Righteousness
The single mother sins by having sex outside marriage. Never mind that many Christians do the same. No regard is taken of what may be her tender age, her destitute circumstances, her lack of education and employable skills, or the many factors influencing her – for instance, the desperate desire for love.
She then has the effrontery to raise the resulting child herself. Never mind that her partner may be long gone by that point. Never mind that Christians oppose abortion. The child should bear the stigma of this sin for life. His mother has chosen to bring him into a hopeless situation. It is up to her to deal with the consequences, however dire they may be for him.
Is that really what we think? Do these conclusions not smack of self-righteousness?
Or does our imagination run to even darker imagery? Is this mother, in our minds, a strumpet, who thinks of nothing but momentary carnal pleasure? Do we imagine that she is content to remain in her grim circumstances, relying on god-fearing taxpayers to pay for her mistakes?
Self-Sufficiency v. Child Hunger
Politicians calling themselves “conservative” frequently complain about the cost of safety net programs, arguing that assistance in any form weakens character. But the safety net comprised of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps (SNAP), and public housing is not an unfair and unnecessary burden on taxpayers. For the vast majority of recipients, it is a lifeline [2].
It may be true that we are raising an entitlement generation. We should teach our children self-sufficiency and the value of work. First, however, we must make sure they have enough to eat. Read more…
Roswell Daily Record 7/9/47, one basis for Area 51 Conspiracy Theories (PD)
The internet is buzzing with conspiracy theories that dispute the validity of mass shootings and attribute dark motives to hidden cabals [1]. The so called “deep state” is said to have hired “crisis actors”” to convince gullible citizens to give up their weapons, in a misguided effort to prevent more deaths from gun violence. So the theories go.
There is a certain comfort in these explanations of events that – to many of us – feel incomprehensible, as well as threatening. The heated and divisive political atmosphere prevailing gives such explanations added power.
We should consider carefully, however, before we place our trust in conspiracy theories.
For one thing, the brain is wired in such a way as to make conspiracy theories attractive – whether they are accurate or not. For another, Christians are warned not to trust in things with a spiritual dimension merely because they are “urged with vehemence, zeal, or plausibility” [2A]. We are instead to apply “the appropriate tests from reason and the word of God…” [2B].
Wiring Errors
Conspiracy theories have appeal because of the way the human brain is engineered.
Pattern – The brain is designed to seek out and detect patterns. This can deceive us into seeing patterns where none exist. Most of us, for example, can see the face of the “man in the moon” if we stare hard enough. That is not, however, proof of his existence.
Intentionality – The brain seeks rational explanations. This can deceive us into believing hidden motivations underlie random events. We prefer any explanation to none at all.
Proportionality – When events are particularly shocking, we are inclined to believe the explanation for them must be proportional. It is, in other words, difficult for us to believe Pres. John F. Kennedy was assassinated by a single gunman.
Errors in Judgment
Biblical discernment is the ability to decide between truth and falsehood, right and wrong [3]. It is the responsibility of Christians to be discerning about the things of God:
“Test all [spiritual] things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thess. 5: 21-22).
We are instructed that two or three prophets should speak, and others weigh carefully what is said (1 Cor. 14: 29). In fact, the ability to distinguish between good and evil spirits is a gift of the Holy Spirit not all possess to equal degree (1 Cor. 12: 10).
“[However] Christianity does not require people to disregard their reason, or to be credulous. It does not expect them to believe anything because others say it is so. It does not make it a duty to receive as undoubted truth all that synods and councils have decreed; or all that is advanced by the ministers of religion.”
-Barnes’ Notes on the Bible [2C]
The Word of God provides us guidance in every area of life. God grants us “all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him” (2 Peter 1: 3). Unfortunately, Christians often engage in unbiblical thinking. Unfamiliar with the Word of God, they are swayed by worldly influences.
Dressing change, Author kcxd, Source https://www.flickr.com/photos/26786061@N00/6434955639/, (CC BY-SA 2.0 Generic)
Schools today regularly hold drills on when to lock doors, and hide in classrooms. However, in the time required to secure a classroom against a shooter, a child can bleed to death.
An initiative known as “Stop the Bleed” offers teachers in all 50 states training on how to stop bleeding, in the event of another school shooting [1]. Some 125,000 teachers, counselors, and administrators have taken this medical training nationwide.
It is a remarkable commentary on our times that classrooms are now stocking tourniquets, gauze, and bandages, while school staples like chalk are in short supply.
At some level, violence has become acceptable. Since we can conceive of no other remedy to stem it, teachers are actually being urged to arm [2]. Read more…
Old books, Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library, Antwerp, Author missmarettaphotography (CC BY-SA 4.0 International)
“We don’t need no education.
We don’t need no thought control…
Teachers leave them kids alone.
Hey! Teachers! Leave them kids alone!
All in all it’s just another brick in the wall…”-“Another Brick in the Wall” by Pink Floyd
There is a disturbing trend in America to applaud ignorance, as if the pursuit of higher education were somehow unmanly…even unAmerican [1].
Generations relied on the sweat of their brow to advance the American dream. There is no shame in that fact. It was always, however, the goal that their children should have more opportunities than they did.
With the complicity of our politicians, that concept is being lost.
Tax cuts are never unpopular with the electorate. In fact, the Tea Party demanded them, as a protest against uncontrolled government spending and perceived waste. On a state level, however, tax cuts have had a dramatic and detrimental impact on the quality of education in this country [2].
A reduction in state revenue has resulted in increased class size, deteriorating infrastructure, and decreased resources (with teachers often providing badly needed classroom supplies at personal expense) [3][4]. Reduced tax revenue is the root cause behind teacher salaries stagnant at 1990s levels in many states [5]. Read more…
Broken wall, Commondale Moor, UK, Author Mike Garratt, Source geograph.org.uk (CC BY-SA 2.0 Generic)
“The words of Nehemiah…
It came to pass… that…one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews…who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, ‘The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.’
So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
And I said: ‘I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God… for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You…We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.’ Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant…” (Nehemiah 1: 1-11).
The cupbearer to King Artaxerxes I of Persia, Nehemiah was made governor of the province of Judah following the Babylonian Captivity, and successfully rebuilt the protective wall surrounding Jerusalem.
Nehemiah assisted the priest and scribe, Ezra, in making the law of Moses again known to the people which resulted in a spiritual revival.
How many Christians today are fasting and praying for the welfare of this nation? At a time that political corruption is rampant, environmental disasters threaten, and nuclear war could easily devastate the planet, surely we should all be on our knees. Read more…
“Daniel’s Vision of the Four Beasts” by Matthaus Merian (1630), Source http://www.johannesoffenbarung.ch/die_himmel/drach_antichrist.php (PD-Art, Old-100)
In Against the Flow – The Inspiration of Daniel in an Age of Relativism author, John Lennox analyzes the biblical Book of Daniel in depth. In the latter part of the book, he addresses the four visions of Daniel which deal with end time prophecy.
Lennox compares these four visions to a series of photographs of the same image taken using different wavelengths of light. Each vision reinforces the others while, also, providing unique information. Combined they give us a clear picture of what the future holds in store for Christians and the world.
The Four Beasts
As many Christians know, Daniel first had a vision of four wild beasts emerging from a troubled sea.
These had the appearance of a lion with the wings of an eagle, a bear raised up on one side with three ribs between its teeth, a leopard with four heads and four wings, and an unnamed beast with ten horns and iron teeth.
The beasts represent a series of empires arising from the roiling sea of nations: Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek, and Roman. The empires increase sequentially in ferocity.
John Lennox explains that the symbolism is comparable to that in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (the statue of a man with a head of gold, arms and chest of silver, stomach and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet a mixture of iron and clay).
Lennox links it, also, to Revelation, specifically the beast with ten heads, and seven horns described by John. As Lennox explains to us, the fourth beast is not some abstract idea of power, but an actual human being in the person of the Antichrist.
Essential for an understanding of this dense symbolism is Paul’s discussion of the Great Apostacy and the Second Coming of Christ in 2 Thessalonians:
“Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ…that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God…For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (2 Thess. 2: 1, 3-4, 7-10).
Paul describes in plain language what Daniel and Revelation describe in symbolic terms: the final form world power (and human rebellion against God) will take, and the utter destruction of such power/rebellion by Christ.
The Ram and Goat
In Daniel’s second vision, he saw a rampaging ram. The ram was invincible until gored by a goat with a single horn. At the height of the goat’s strength, its horn broke and was replaced by four others. Out of one of these horns grew a small horn which increased rapidly to enormous size. This horn desecrated the sanctuary, but was ultimately brought to justice by a heavenly court.
The ram is the Medo-Persian empire, and the goat the Greek. The large horn of the goat represents Alexander the Great who was succeeded by four generals. Read more…
“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego” by Simeon Solomon (1863) (PD-Art, Old-100)
Acclaimed Oxford University Professor, John Lennox, has written another book with significance for Christians confronting the modern world. Against the Flow – The Inspiration of Daniel in an Age of Relativism is an analysis of the biblical Book of Daniel. Lennox finds striking parallels between the Prophet Daniel’s time and our own.
Lennox examines the Book of Daniel systematically, addressing the faithfulness of Daniel, Hananiah (Shadrach), Mishael (Meshach), and Azariah (Abednego), young boys forcibly transported from their homeland during the Babylonian Captivity; Nebuchadnezzar’s dream; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace; the madness of Nebuchadnezzar; Belshazzar’s feast; Daniel in the lion’s den; and Daniel’s own prophetic visions [1].
In the process, Lennox discusses a variety of other topics including the flawed nature of man, the Kingdom of God, the perils of various forms of government, and the deification of man.
The Flawed Nature of Mankind
“History teaches a consistent lesson: there is something obviously wrong with human nature…’A great and prolonged police strike, the existence of a revolutionary situation…and the exhilaration of conquest in an enemy country are likely to show up the seamy side of human nature amongst people who, cushioned and guided by the influences of normal social life, have hitherto presented a respectable figure to the world’ ” (pp. 125-126).
-Against the Flow by John Lennox
The author begins from the premise that mankind is flawed, as Christian theology teaches and history amply demonstrates.
“…[U]nrecognized flaws in human nature such as pride, cupidity, and self-centeredness can produce a dangerous self-righteousness that convinces people they are one hundred per cent right, and others similarly wrong…Christendom itself has been guilty at times of such self-righteousness, [as] when it tortured and burned heretics in a supposed effort to ‘save’ their souls. But that attitude has also characterized…political movements, such as Nazism and Marxism, with their vast toll on human life” (pp.126-127).
-Against the Flow by John Lennox
John Lennox does not exempt Christians from this assessment of the flawed nature of mankind. In fact, he warns Christians not to become self-righteous.
“There is a deep flaw in human nature, but humans still perversely insist on placing their faith in it…[T]he only satisfactory answer to man’s flaw is God’s supernatural power…” (pp. 128, 132).
-Against the Flow by John Lennox
John Lennox drives home the point that human beings persist in their error, that pride leads them to judge God by human standards.
The author explores how the failure to believe in God actually corrupts reason, as reflected – among other things – by degenerate imagery in art and entertainment. Read more…
Edward R. Murrow (1947), Source CBS Radio (PD as published in US 1923-1977 without copyright notice)
“American traditions and the American ethic require us to be truthful, but the most important reason is that truth is the best propaganda and lies are the worst. To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; to be credible we must be truthful. It is as simple as that.”
-Journalist, Edward R. Murrow, testifying before a Congressional Committee (May 1963)
The renowned journalist, Edward R. Murrow, said that about his profession a half century ago. But it no longer seems to apply. The line between fact and opinion, truth and falsehood, in journalism and government has been blurred to such an extent that we can no longer distinguish one from the other.
The consequences for our democracy will be dire.
News Bias
Americans may prefer to believe what sounds appealing and confirms their worldview. Liberals can choose news with a liberal bias; conservatives can choose news with a conservative slant. Truth, we are told, is relative. Image, we are told, is everything.
But reality has a nasty way of making its presence known.
And facts matter. We determine public policy based upon them…at least, we once did. Now it appears that lobbyists determine how we allocate billions of taxpayer dollars – facts be damned!
Historical Truth
“Today, and every day from now on, we will be with you from America to talk about the war… The news may be good or bad for us – We will always tell you the truth.”
-Pledge by Voice of America, official international broadcaster of the US Federal Government
Did the Holocaust actually take place? Edward R. Murrow confirmed from Buchenwald concentration camp that it did. Radio broadcasts by the Voice of America sustained the French Resistance during WWII, and those behind the Iron Curtain in the decades afterward.
But historical truth is another thing we are losing.
Dictatorships and the Credibility of the Press
We may argue over what facts mean, what they signify. But we ought to be able to agree on what they are. Read more…
A Lawyer's Prayers 