Friday, June 28, 2019

Abortion

Prior to the 1960s, most young people lived with their families and were always chaperoned when single boys and girls were together. This reduced the likelihood of unwanted pregnancies, but the system was not perfect. Some girls were pressured into getting married, or giving the baby up for adoption, and few chose to have an abortion.

Towards the end of the 1950s, dramatic social change occurred.

  • The restraints of so-called traditional morality were thrown off. Young people were free to meet together unsupervised.

  • Boys could afford to buy and run cars, so it was easy for a young couple to get away on their own.

  • Many young people moved away from home and began living together in flats.

  • Advanced methods of contraception, such as the pill, were cheaper and easy to obtain.

  • Music, television and film portrayed and encouraged casual sex.

These social changes created unprecedented sexual freedom.

A sexual revolution followed. It gave young men and women much greater freedom to engage in sexual activities.

Most young people welcomed the change. However, if things went wrong, it was the girls who were left holding the baby, sometimes literally. It is well-documented that single mothers have lower living standards than other young women, and their children suffer, too.

The sexual revolution was a two-sided revolution. Men gained the sexual benefits, with very few costs. Women gained freedom too, but if things went wrong, they had to carry the can.

To deal with these problems, abortion laws were relaxed, and abortion became the standard way to deal with the problem.

However, this was putting an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. It dealt with the unwanted problems, but it did not deal with the real problem, which was the new social freedom and the casual sexual practices that went with it.

Now in American, there is huge pressure to tighten the abortion laws again, but again that does not deal with the underlying problem caused by the social and sexual revolution. It is an attempt at using law to deal with a social and moral problem.

Some of the greatest pressure to change the law comes from Christians. They say that they live under grace, not under the law. They agree that laws cannot change human hearts. Yet here again, they are demanding changes in the law to solve a social problem, which they know the law cannot do. History shows that salvation by law does not work, especially when the culture is still going the other way (Casual sex is still the norm on popular television shows and films and Christians watch them without realising what they are absorbing).

Rather than using law, which is a very blunt instrument, they should be wondering why society changed so much at a time when the church was supposedly strong. They should be thinking about different ways of living in society that would keep young people, and particularly young woman safe. That would require radical change in the way we live. I suspect that most men are not willing to pay that price. It is easier to change the law and keep the benefits of the sexual revolution.

Abortion has become a hot-button issue for Christians, but they do not seem to care so much about divorce, which has become rampant in the church, even amongst pastors. The prevalence of divorce in the church shows that that sexual revolution is deeply entrenched amongst Christians, despite their horror at abortion. Divorce and abortion are both symptoms of the sexual revolution. Both are covered by the Ten Commandments, but Christian attitudes to the two issues are very different, which is a bit hypocritical. It seems to be easier to point to the sins of the world.

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Economic Sanctions (3) Number of the Beast

People get obsessed with the number of the Beast in Revelation. The number was just a technique by which political power accomplish the outcome that John visualised. We should be focusing on the outcome, and the identity of the political power that imposes it, not on the technique, which would depend on the legal and financial institutions at the time.

The United States is currently the most powerful nation and the strongest economy that the world has ever seen. It controls the financial and banking systems that are used by all the nations of the world. In addition to exercising military power in many nations, it uses its place at the centre of the world financial system to control other nations. Presidents have begun preventing people and nations from using the SWIFT system for interbank transactions, which prevents them from trading.

Nations that do not submit to the American Beast are not allowed to trade. Sanctions are imposed on nations that will not submit to the dictates of the United States to prevent them from trading. Nothing like this has been done before. The irony is that the nation that claims to be the champion of free-market economics is blocking people from buying and selling. This suggests that the Mark of the Beast is already being put in place.

These sanctions are directed at nations, but they are imposed on people and businesses. The list of people and businesses that are banned is thousands of pages long. Some of the bans have been in place for nearly fifty years. Businesses in other nations are also prevented from trading with them too. The United States uses control of the financial system to prevent people and companies from other nations trading with the nations on the list of baddies. This change is spreading the net of sanctions much wider.

The Church provided moral support for this behaviour by declaring that the sanctioned nations are evil. Many churches advocate the full use of economic power to implement American power in the world, but their selection of targets is highly selective. The Beast decides which nations can buy and sell.

Recently, the United States has begun a trade war with some of its allies. It is imposing heavy tariffs on China, Canada and the European Union with the aim of preventing certain types of buying and selling. It is also imposing controls on the transfer of intellectual property.

John said that the people of the world would be deceived. The United States claims to be a leader of the free world and claims to be a staunch advocate of free trade, yet it is acting to limit the free flow of trade. This is probably what John saw in his vision?

I hope the American Christians will wake up and stop their nation from going to a place that they do not want to go.

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Economic Sanctions (2) Economic Power

The Beast of Revelation manifests in various ways. One manifestation is an Economic Empire, in which the beast controls all buying and selling. The nations are unable to buy or sell without the permission of the beast (Rev 13:17).

Controlling buy and selling ▶ Powerful government controlling the world economy.

The Mark of the beast symbolises political management of the economy. Traditional empires imposed massive taxes and collected them harshly, but they did not attempt to control other aspects of economic activity. They let businesses do what they liked, but made sure they captured a big share of the profits. They did not care if businesses were dishonest, because they could demand a bigger share of any corrupt gains.

In contrast, this beast seeks to control every aspect of economic life. It sets prices and sets rules that businesses must comply with. Over the last century, we have seen a vast increase in interference in the economy by human governments.

Economic and Financial Control
When studying the Mark of the Beast, Christians focus on the technique used (the mark) rather than the outcome. The outcome is clear. People and nations are unable to buy and sell without the permission of the democrat beast (liberal hegemon). John described this outcome clearly. This is the important message of the vision. He saw a great political power waging war and controlling the world using economic weapons.

The technique by which control is accomplished is less important, because it is determined by the legal situation at the time when it will be fulfilled. John did not know how societies would change over time, so he did not understand the techniques by which this vision could be achieved in the future. So, he described it in terms of words and images that he understands.

Marking people with an image/stamp was the way that empires and slaveowners controlled people in John’s time. So that is the way that John described the techniques used by the empire to impose control.

Focussing on the technique is a mistake, because the Beast will use whatever tools that are available at the time when the vision is being fulfilled. A modern empire can use tariffs, import controls, quality standards and documentation requirements to limit trade. The United States can also use the SWIFT system that banks use for international transfers to control trade. These are a practical implementation of the Mark of the Beast.

The number is an important clue, because it suggests that the vision will be fulfilled in a time when people, businesses and nations are represented by numbers, or more importantly digits in a computer program. The beast has a number. Every other person has a number. This is the situation in the modern world. When buying and selling in trade, people and business are represented by a number issued by their bank or credit card company. John saw a situation where a powerful political power used the numbers issued in replace of names to prevent people and business from buying and selling.

The democratic beast takes economic control a step further and determines which nations can buy and sell. The government of the United States is able to do this using the SWIFT system. No previous empire has had that power.

Monday, June 24, 2019

Economic Sanctions (1) Black Horse

When Jesus opened the third seal in John’s vision, a horseman rode out on a black horse.

When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a yoke in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine” (Rev 6:5-7).
The colour black indicates the character of this ruler. He is intent on doing evil and inflicting harm on people.

Most English translations say that the rider on the black horse carried a pair of scales. This is misleading. The Greek word is “zugon”. It comes from a root that means “joining”. It can refer to “scales”, but it can also mean “yoke”. When Jesus called us to take his yoke upon him, the gospels use the same word “zugon” (Matt 11:29). 1 Tim 6:1 used the word to describe a yoke of slavery. In Acts 15:10, Paul challenges that Christian leaders not to put a yoke on the neck of new disciples that they cannot bear.

Translating the word “zugon” as “yoke” gives a different insight into the rider on the black horse. He held a yoke in “his hand”. That hand is a symbol of political power. The rider on the black horse uses political power to impose an economic yoke on peoples and nations. This powerful ruler uses trade sanction, trade regulations and tariffs to control other nations.

The results of these sanctions are made very clear. The Greek measure, translated here as a quart, was a "choinix". It was the daily ration for a soldier in active service. The coin mentioned is a denarius, which was the equivalent of a day's wages. John says that the shortage of food will be so severe that a daily ration of wheat will cost a day's wages. Barley was a little cheaper as it was considered to be of poorer quality. The situation will be so severe that ordinary people will need all that they can earn to buy food.

The wealthy will not be affected. Luxury items like oil and wine are not to be damaged. They are not essentials but will be more readily available. The real shortage will be for basic food items.

Economic sanctions are immoral. No person or nation has the right to prevent other people or nations from buying and selling. The person who owns something does not have to sell it if they choose not to, regardless of the price that is offered. But if they choose to sell to someone, they are free to sell. No political power has authority to prevent them from selling. All economic sanctions are immoral. It is ironic that the nations, which claim to believe in free trade, are the most active in enforcing economic sanctions against others.

Economic sanctions are a nasty and ineffective way to bring political change. They inflict pain on ordinary people, while the political leaders they are directed against, usually find ways to get around them. Some even become rich through trading in the black market. The ugliness of sanctions as a political weapon is reflected in the colour of the black horse. They are a form of blackmail.

Christians in the nations that impose them most often like to pretend that economic sanctions are more humane than military weapons, but that is hypocritical. Military weapons theoretically strike military targets, whereas economic sanctions kill innocent people. They deliberately try to starve children. Being malnourished gives children a terrible start in life. I amazed that Christians support governments that impose economic sanctions to achieve political goals.

Zechariah tells us that the black horses move towards the north. The economic attacks of this ruler will begin against the weaker nations of the earth, but it will eventually attack the wealthy nations of the north.

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Appearance of Angels

I believe that we cannot really understand what angels look like when they are operating in the spiritual realms. Our eyes and minds can only cope with a three-dimensional world. The spiritual realms are multi-dimensional, so we can’t even conceive what they look like.

When God lets humans see angels, he reveals them in a way that we can understand, and often the way that we expect them to be, so that we recognise them. Elijah’s servant saw riders on horses (2 Kings 6:17) That does not mean that angels ride horses. Rather God showed him the angels that way so that he would understand their power in battle. Isaiah saw them with three pairs of wings (Is 6:1). John in Revelation saw creatures that looked like a lion, an ox, a flying eagle. One had the face of a man (Rev 4:7-8). We see what God enables us to see, rather than what they are really like in the spiritual world.

When they operate on earth angels seem to take human appearance (Gen 18:2-8). They were able to walk, stand, eat food and eat, which suggests that they had legs, hands and mouths. Many of the biblical records of angelic visits to earth suggest that they appeared like humans. They were sometimes distinguished by bright clothing (John 20:12).

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Terrible Beast

If the Terrible Beast described in Daniel and the book of Revelation were to emerge in this season, you would expect to see the following.

  • A nation that claims to be a force for good, while doing much evil. Most of its people would be deceived by this claim.

  • A nation that is the strongest military power that has ever existed. It would love using military power.

  • It would use military power to trample down nations that oppose it.

  • A nation that would claim to be a force for peace, but have been at war for most of its history.

  • A nation with the strongest and richest economy that the world has ever seen.

  • It will use economic power to control other nations.

  • It would pretend to support free enterprise, but would use its economic power to prevent companies and peoples who will not submit to its power from buying and selling.

  • This nation would be an amalgam of independent states kept together by military force after a civil war.

  • A nation that tracks its legal and political lineage back to Greece and the Rome.

As this nation enjoys bullying weaker nations, so you would expect a bully to gain control over it.

Monday, June 17, 2019

Donald Trump in Daniel

If the Times of the Gentiles are to come to an end during our time (I am not certain that they will) then Daniel 11 needs to be fulfilled in our time too.

I take a “understand, wait and see” approach to Daniel’s prophecy. I try to understand what Daniel was saying in terms of our context, and then wait and see.

Christians should be familiar with these texts, so that they will realise if they are being fulfilled. You will not “see”, if you do not understand.

Last week, I was updating my study of Daniel 11 (see What Is Going On). I was surprised to come across Donald Trump in Daniel’s vision. I am not completely certain, but the parallels are disturbing. Have a look at what I found here.

I may be reading to much into Daniel 11 when I thought I saw Daniel Trump, but even if I am wrong, it confirms one thing, which is really scary. When the detestable ruler eventually comes out on the world stage, he will be supported by many evangelical Christians. Some liberal Christians will oppose him, but plenty of prophetic Christians will honour him. They have supported a man like this once, so there is no reason why they will not do it again.

Saturday, June 15, 2019

Holy Spirit and Angels (5) Authority

The spiritual powers of evil get their authority to act from the people. The people with the greatest authority in nations can give them the greatest authority. That is why they work through political leaders and human governments. If a human government has given them permission to be there, the prayers of the saints cannot force them out.

The prophets and intercessors give the Holy Spirit and the angels authority to work. If they are a minority and they are rejected and persecuted by the people of the nation, they have very little earthly authority. This means that the Holy Spirit and the angels only have limited authority to work. This is why, at times, evil is able to dominate a nation.

Before the spiritual change can occur on earth, there has to be a switch in authority. The political leaders who are giving authority to the spiritual powers of evil have to give up and lose their place. The people of the nation have to respect the prophets and intercessors and give them authority. This shift in authority on earth will allow a shift in the balance of power in the spiritual realms. The spiritual powers of evil lose authority and the Holy Spirit and the angels gain authority.

The key is to understand that authority flows from earth to the spiritual realms. The battle in the spiritual realms is not a power game. The Holy Spirit always has more power. There are always twice as many angels as there are evils spirits. The battle in the spiritual realms is an authority battle. The outcomes in the spiritual realms are the consequence of the authority situation on earth.

Christians assume that powers in the spiritual realm determine what happens on earth and so they pray against them. Their premise is true, but misleading. The outcome of the spiritual struggle is determined by the authority situation on earth. The people with the greatest authority on earth determine the outcome of the spiritual struggle in the heavenlies.

Political leaders have the greatest authority in the modern world, because almost everyone submits to their government. That empowers the spiritual powers that control and manipulate them, because by agreeing with them, they give them authority. They currently have more authority than Christian prophets and intercessors. This stalemate will be broken when human faith in their governments and their coercive and military power collapse. The result will be a power shift in the spiritual realm that releases the Holy Spirit and the angels to do great things on earth.

See Collapse of Human Government.

Friday, June 14, 2019

Holy Spirit and Angels (4) Spiritual Powers of Evil

The spiritual powers of evil work in a totally different way. Groups of spirits are controlled by government-spirits (attached to a nation) or by a ruler spirit (attached to a sin, like destruction, death). They use anger, power, force and fear to bully and manipulate the spirits they control. In turn, they are controlled by cosmos dominators, which control even larger groups of spirits that are fighting with each other.

Evil spirits and grouping of evil spirits are always shifting loyalties. The hierarchies are massive and oppressive, but they are also fluid, as disputes occur and loyalties and fears shift. There are constraint intrigues and wars at all levels in the hierarchies. The only thing that unites them is hatred of Jesus and his people, but they often get distracted by hatred and fear of each other.

The dominant emotions are anger, fear, jealousy and hatred. They manifest works of the flesh in Gal 5:19-21. Every bad attitude warned against in the NT exits amongst them.

The spiritual powers of evil have a communication problem. Spirits at the bottom level only know what to do as a message comes down the hierarchy, so they just do their own thing. The spirits at the top of the hierarchies are limited to place and time, so they are not all-knowing and omnipresent like the Holy Spirit, which means their communication and organisation is totally different. They have to use hierarchies of control. However, they cannot always see what their armies are doing, so their commands are often wrong. Their commands are often distorted by the time they pass down the hierarchy. It is easy for clever deceiving angels from God to slip in wrong commands. Communication is difficult, and lines of communications are often broken as loyalties shift.

The contrast between the operation of angels and the works of the spiritual powers of evil is stark. If more Christians understood the difference, they would realise how feeble their enemy really is.

Thursday, June 13, 2019

Holy Spirit and the Angels (3)

The Holy Spirit and the angels operate in perfect unity. The Holy Spirit speaks to the angels and they gladly do what he asks them to do.

There is no hierarchy or control amongst the angels of God, as it is not needed.

Archangels are not ruler-angels. They are angels that specialise in dealing with ruler/government spirits, like Michael dealt with the Prince of Persia (Jude 1:9 and Dan 10:13). A hierarchy is not needed because the Holy Spirit is not constrained by space and time, so he can speak to any angel any place any time. He can always get an angel to do what he wants done. He knows where they are and what they are all doing.

Angels work together in teams as the Holy Spirit guides them along the same path. He puts them in teams with complementary skills and tells them how to work together.

Gods angels are peaceful and happy in doing their work. They constantly praise God and have fun working together with each other.

There is harmony of purpose and peace between them. They manifest the fruit of the spirit (Gal 5:22).

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Holy Spirit and the Angels (2) Angels

Angels respond to the prayers and prophecies of the saints. They act when given authority by a person with authority on earth. Frank Peretti’s Piercing the Darkness is wrong when it gives the impression at the end of the book that more Christians shouting louder gives angels more power. One person with authority in a situation is sufficient to release angels to do the will of God. (The problem is that in many situations, there is no Christian with sufficient authority).

Whereas the Holy Spirit is spirit and needs a person to work through on earth, angels are spirits with the ability to do things in the physical world. In this context:

  • Angels can prevent evil spirits of various kinds from acting (Dan 10:13).

  • They can provide for protection for servants of Jesus (Dan 12:1).

  • Some evil spirits can prevent angels from operating, if they have greater rank, ie many evil spirits are working for them (Dan 10:12).

  • Angels can carry messages to God’s people.

  • They can strengthen God’s people in their struggle (Matt 4:11). I presume by physically strengthening and chasing away harassing evil spirits.

  • Angels can provide food and other physical needs for Gods people (1 Kings (19:6).

  • Angels can deceive the enemies of God, people and evil spirits (1 Kings 22:22). The angels that gather the nations for battle are deceiving angels. They deceive the spiritual powers that control the nations. They also deceive the leaders of the nations.

  • During a physical war, angels can disrupt the enemies of God’s people (2 Kings 6:17).

    • Blind them, so they go to the wrong place (2 Kings 6:18).
    • Stir up wild animals and dangerous insects (Deut 7:20)
    • Send down hailstones and other forms of bad weather (Jos 10:11).
    • Direct their weapons accurately (1 Sam 17:49).
    • Do things to makes soldiers fear and flee (Jud 7:13).
    • Cause soldiers to fight against each other (Jud 7;22; 2 Chron 20:23)).
    • Confuse military leaders to think the defenders are stronger than they are (2 Sam 5:24)/
    • Angels can set up ambushes (2 Chron 20:22)
    • Send sickness and plague amongst the enemy army (Is 37:36)
    • Cause rebellion against political leaders (2 Chron 32:21).
    • Angels can strike down enemy soldiers (2 Sam 5:24)

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Holy Spirit and the Angels (1)

A reader asked the following question.

How do the Holy Spirit and the angels operate on earth?
I will provide an answer in the next few posts.

Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit works in people, who are have chosen to follow Jesus. He empowers them through the gifts, giving them knowledge about what is going to happen and wisdom to know what to do. He heals sick people and forces evil spirits to leave the people that they pray for.

He works more effectively in a body than in individuals acting alone.

The Holy Spirit also speaks to angels and tells them what to do. He articulates God’s will for them.

The Holy Spirit can put ideas into the hearts of kings (Ezra 7:27). If they are persuaded by the thought, they will act on God’s will, even though they do not know him.

Monday, June 10, 2019

D-Day

An article by Eric Margolis provides an excellent corrective to the standard Hollywood narrative, from which most people learn their history these days.

Note: Russia lost to Germany’s Nazis, 13,950,000, or exactly 12.7% of its population. Another part of the Soviet Union, Belarus, lost 2.29 million, or exactly 25.3% of its population to Hitler. Another part of the USSR, Ukraine, lost 6.85 million, or 16.3%. The entire Soviet Union lost 26.6 million, exactly 13.7% of its population to Hitler.

The US lost only 419,400, or 0.32% of its population.

Saturday, June 08, 2019

Social Conservatives

Damon Linker on the dilemma of the Religious Right.

When social conservatives thought they were the moral majority, it made sense for them to dream of exercising real political power. When they recognized that they were a minority, it made sense for them to resign themselves to adopting a defensive posture and preparing to live out their days in a country as dissenters from the reigning liberal consensus.

What makes no sense is for social conservatives to think they can be both weak and strong at the same time — a minority that wields the power of a majority.

What's clear is that the available options are limited. If the religious right isn't prepared to accept its minority status and settle for availing itself of the religious-liberty protections afforded by the liberal state as an adequate fallback position in the culture war, it will end up tempted to abandon democracy.

It will be tempted, in other words, to throw its weight behind any political figure or movement, no matter how dubious its democratic legitimacy, that promises to do away with the liberalism it increasingly views as its mortal enemy.

The solution to this dilemma is the Government of God.

Friday, June 07, 2019

Worse than What

When Jesus sent out his apostles he told them to go to town in Israel and stay there.

As you enter the home, give it your greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet (Matt 10:12-14).
Jesus wanted them to go to places where the Holy Spirit was working. If the response was hostile, they should leave.
Then Jesus said something that is hard to digest.
Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town (Matt 10:15).
Sodom and Gomorrah are considered to be the worst of the worst. These towns were a hotbed of sexual immorality. Most Christians believe that it will be terrible for those towns on the day of judgment. Yet Jesus is saying that it will be worse for the towns that reject the apostles than it will be for Sodom and Gomorrah. How can that be?

The “hell” people believe that the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah will be tormented in hell for all eternity, so Jesus’ comment is hard to fit. The torment of the towns rejecting the apostles cannot be longer than eternity. The only other possibility is that the fire could be hotter for them, but that does not make sense.

The real meaning of Jesus’ words is that the last judgment will be more complicated than we can handle. Those who have trusted in Jesus will receive a different reward, depending on what they have done on earth. The same applies to those who do not receive Jesus. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah sinned badly, but they did not have the Holy Spirit working in their midst. They had not heard the gospel. They were enslaved by the spiritual powers of evil, so it is not clear how responsible they were for their actions.

I don’t know what their fate will be, but it will better than that of the towns of Israel who heard the gospel and rejected it. The scriptures do not tell us how this will work, so we should not pretend that we do.

We would like the final judgment to be black and white, but Jesus is saying that it will be incredibly messy. Fortunately, we do not have to make decisions about the fate of people who have not given their lives to Jesus. God has given that responsibility to Jesus. And just as Jesus confused his listeners in the first century, many of his decisions will shock us, too.

Tuesday, June 04, 2019

Future and Past

Gilad Atzmon has an explanation of political behaviour.

The Left’s vision of temporality is a linear structure of historical progress that proceeds from ‘a past’ to ‘a future.’ Left ideology is structured around an ever progressing time line. The Left always promises to make things better in the future, to fight austerity, to care for the many not the few, to bring about equality and tolerance, etc. None of this is happening at present. This leaves the Left as a promise that is supposed to fulfill itself in an imaginary ‘tomorrow.’

But this is not how the Right’s political argument is structured. In fact the Right and Fascist argument is far more sophisticated from a metaphysical perspective. In my recent book, Being in Time, I contend that the Right ideologist understands that for the working class, utopia is ‘nostalgia.’ Trump won his voters’ trust by promising to make America great again. He vowed to plant the past in the future, reversing the time line. He promised to march America backward. Nigel Farage is using the same tactic, appealing to the same sentiments. He promises to make Britain a kingdom again not just a corner island in a dysfunctional globalist setting, a.k.a the EU. Farage is riding on the longing for a better past.

Within the context of Left thinking, past, present and future are chronological, set to follow each other in consecutive order. Within Right wing philosophy, time’s tenses change positions irregularly. Trump and Farage put the ‘past’ in the future. They promise to march us back. They appeal to the masses because the human spirit, in its search for unity, transcends linear chronology. The Right wing ideologist capitalises on the human search for essence, for a logos and for transparency. In this regard, humans are historical creatures. They are capable of seeing the future in the past and vice versa.

Many Christians are caught in the same trap, wanting to go back to an imagined golden age.

Jesus came to the earth, and the sent the Holy Spirit to bring the Kingdom of God. The best of the Kingdom lies in the future, and we have the Holy Spirit as a guarantee. We must prepare in the present, for the full blessing of the Kingdom when the Holy Spirit delivers it in fullness.

Monday, June 03, 2019

A Non-apology Apology

A non-apology apology is a statement in the form of an apology that does not express remorse. It is common in both politics and public relations.

Saying "I'm sorry you feel that way" to someone who has been offended or hurt by a statement is a non-apology apology. It does not admit there was anything wrong with the remarks made, and may imply the person took offence for hypersensitive or irrational reasons.

Harriet Lerner writes that a good apology has six important elements.