Anarchy Then and Now

The Stranger that Sojourneth Among You

As the mixed multitude of "asylum" seekers from the Near and Middle East continue to pour into Europe essentially unabated. The Dar al-Harb (Arabic: "house or abode of war") dispersed among them continue to press teary eyed women and children to the perimeters of the perpetual photo opt. Forgotten are existential realities: religious, political, and cultural, that "inclusivity" must not mitigate, existential realities that were anticipated before the foundation of the world pertaining to "the stranger that sojourneth among you." The "principles" still apply today:

"The stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself" (cf. Leviticus 19:34). HOWEVER:

"One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you" (Exodus 12:49).

"Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this law" (Deuteronomy 31:12).

"No uncircumcised person shall eat thereof [the Passover]" (cf. Exodus 12:48).

Only Aaron and his sons, could "wait on their priest's office" (cf. Numbers 3:10).

"Thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother" (cf. Deuteronomy 17:15).

And there is the inevitable consequence:

"The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail" (Deuteronomy 28:43-44).

In Just About One Second

Frontispiece to the 1761 edition of The Book of Martyrs

"And they would stand up, and he said, 'Good, because you're a Christian, you're going to see God in just about one second,' "

So it should come as no surprise what self-professed "Christian" Dr. Ben Carson would have done if he had been at the Umpqua Community College massacre, where a lone gunman serially shot students and teachers after first determining that each one was a Christian.

If Carson is a believer, wouldn't his natural inclination be to affirm the testimony and martyrdom of his brethren who died that day rather than maligning them. Carson has forever lost the opportunity to say: "I would have seen God in just about one second."

Are You a Christian?

Jerusalem 2000