regarding G.K. Chesterton quotes …

Continuing on from the previous post “Can True Peace come at the point of the sword?” …

From pages 89-90/second section:The Past And Prophecy/Chapter:6 Loose Ends: The Peace to End All Peace/

The Lessons of History
Things just aren’t always as they seem. That is the dilemma of living in a fallen world. G. K. Chesterton brilliantly captured the essence of this dilemma when he wrote:

The real trouble with this world of ours is not that it is an unreasonable world, nor even that it is a reasonable one. The commonest kind of trouble is that it is nearly reasonable, but not quite. Life is not an illogicality; yet it is a trap for logicians. It looks just a little more mathematical and regular than it is; its wildness lies in wait . . . It is this silent swerving from accuracy by an inch that is the uncanny element in everthing. It seems a sort of secret treason in the univers. An apple or an orange is round enough to get itself called round, and yet is not round after all. The earth itself is shaped like an orange in order to lure some simple astronomer into calling it a globe. A blade of grass is called a blade after the blade of the sword, because it comes to a point; but it doesn’t. Everywhere in things there is this element of the quiet and incalculable.

Mirroring the world’s fallenness, the uncanny element in the efforts of the West to achieve peace in the Middle East is its silent swerving from accuracy by an inch. Its exactitude is obvious, but its inexactitude is hidden; its wildness lies in wait. It is almost operatic in its unreality, creating a peace to end all peace.

Things just aren’t always as they seem.

Even so, God has called us to peace (see 1 Corinthians 7:15). He has called us to be peacemakers (see Matthew 5:9). If we genuinely desire a true peace, a lasting peace, and a just peace, then we have only one course to follow–the course of righteousness. Therefor, “let us pursue the things that make for peace” (Romans 14:19).

So with this I can say, what seems reasonable (Republicanism) is not exactly that. It has a wildness that lies in wait.

Not only that, it’s not even seen by those that call themselves “conservatives”. Those that write things as the above G.G. quote who quotes G.K.C. don’t see it even though they should.

Skipping to the next section (the above is the last part of that section, so it’s not really skipping, just turning natural pages over) he begins the section called The Future and Faith, and the first chapter in it is Back to Babel.

GHWBush is the president in office at the writing of this book and the way he’s described in the book, well, why is it that the son of that president is lauded so … he’s worse! IMO.

Here’s the GHWBUSH wording

…Not at all unlike one of Plato’s philosopher kings, George Herbert Walker Bush has developed a very unique vision of the world as a result of the very unique experiences life has afforded him. It is a vision of peace, justice, harmony, and unity. It is a vision of reason, cooperation, compassion, and prosperity. It is a vision of nothing less than a New World Order.

And now, as president of the United States–arguably the most powerful and influential man on the face of the earth–he would implement that vision and usher in a bright and fortuitous New Age. Speaking before a joint session of Congress, he said:

The crisis in the Persian Gulf, as grave as it is, also offers a rare opportunity to move toward an historic period of cooperation. Out of these troubled times a New World Order can emerge.

President Bush is not the first gifted, powerful, and munificent ruler to be driven by the vision of a New World Order or a New Age. In fact, that vision is as ancient as man himself.

…
The Empire Impulse

I won’t go on. He then supposedly quotes G.K. Chesterton again, but I can’t find the bibliographies info to verify it. I have looked in texts online and only find ONE site that has the quote, and unfortunately it says it comes from G.K. Chesterton’s “Orthodoxy” , and searching in “Orthodoxy” for many of the words in the quote they just are not there. I tried other texts then, nothing.

So this is the bibliography info for that quote: “Quoted in Michael H. Larour, The Inklings and their Influences (LONDON: SFG&L Presentations, 1986), 9.

It’s a good quote, but dratted if I can find it. Dratted if I find it at all in any piece either, no, only on a site that has lots of quotes and puts it under the topic “New Age” and has the George WH Bush quote (as is found above) right below the G. K. Chesterton quote. Too suspect, IMO. I won’t perpetuate this connection if I cannot verify that it’s a real quote. It doesn’t seem to be.

But G. Grant goes on to talk about Empire Builders. Why?!! He now seems to support our current Super Empire Builder.

Yakkety Yakkety it goes on and on that New World Order and The Tower of Babel are the same old thing run through the ringer for a fresh wash, that’s all. There are more quotes by others and more Grant-talk. But it boils down to: Who today is there to support? Bush and his Empire? His Military machine churns out supposed-democracy, but it’s not that, if it’s supposed to be it’s a far cry from that, and if it’s not supposed to even be that, well then, what is it supposed to be?

Democratic Empire, or some other sort of Empire?

It matters not which it is, it is all the same in the end, anti-God, setting itself up as “god” and oppressing the earth with centralized government(s) but not for the good of the people, for the good of itself and the continuance of itself at the expense of the people. No centralized government is good. Only one goverment is good, and that is God overall, not centralized as men do, but Top Level as Creator, giver of life, it’s the right of God to be there, not man over men.

This little delve into G. Grant’s “The Blood of the Moon” has taken me on a search for G. K. Chesterton writings. In the past I’ve read quotes here and there. Now I’m reading the real stuff, the context. It’s good.

He was a Christian Catholic. I can’t say much for his Catholicity, but I can say that MOST of his stuff is good. I haven’t delved deep enough but will, and will widely comment on it all here.

I say this from a Reformed Presbyterian perspective, mind y’all!

Not only all of the above is going through my head, but also Isaiah, from the Bible, is our church’s Sunday evening study, and has been for a long while already. This entire topic is intertwined with Isaiah in particular.

Here’s a link too: G.K. Chesterton: the Colossal Genius, a page with links to many e-texts, and a bibliography, quotes, and more.

Here is an excerpt from George Grant’s 1991 book “The Blood Of The Moon”.

From pages 88-90/second section:The Past And Prophecy/Chapter:6 Loose Ends: The Peace to End All Peace/

True Peace

The prophen Isaiah brough a message to those who lived in the Middle East thousands of years ago. Amazingly, that message is as relevant today as when he first uttered it:

Let there be peace–peace to him who is far off and to him who is nearby. I will bring healing to the land of the righteous. But as for the wicked, they are like the tossing sea. It cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up refuse and mud. Therefore, there is no peace for the wicked. (Isaiah 57:19-21)

With remarkable economy and startling clarity, that message traverses both space and time to bring into focus the complex dilemma of bringing peace to our strife-riven world.

Throughout his life, Isaiah had dedicated himself to proclaiming God’s eternal purposes for mankind. He was a diligent bearer of the glad tidings of peace. After all, God had established a covenant of peace with His people (see Isaiah 54:10). It was an irrevocable and everlasting covenant (see Isaiah 61:8). Thus, they had the promise of peace with the nations around them and with God Himself (see Isaiah 26:12; 27:5). They would have “peace like a river” (Isaia 66:12) and “peace like the waves of the sea” (Isaiah 48:18). It would be a perfect peace wrought by the Prince of Peace (see Isaiah 26:3; 9:6).

This remarkabel promise of peace was indeed good news and glad tidings. But Isaiah made it abundantly apparent that the promise could be redeemed only by the righteous. “Peace on earth and good will toward men” is available only to those “on whom God’s favor rests” (Luke 2:14). No peace, much less this promised utopian peace, will ever be attained for use of sheer force or agression. No peace will ever be attained by mere appeasement for compromise. No peace will ever be attained by clever hegotiation or wily manipulation. Nothing could be clearer: “There is no peace for the wicked” (Isaiah 48:22). There never has bee and there never will be.

Here, here! Good words!

Oh, but the question then is: Who in today’s world is “wicked” and who is “righteous”?

At the point of the sword the American Military is forcing so-called democracy (peace, everyone knows, is tied absolutely to democracy). Must be that these are not the righteous ones, based on the above quotes.

God can use Might to free the oppressed. Surely, He is God. But that in NO WAY means the MIGHTY are also the Righteous ones.

God can use Might to rid the world of some Wicked people, does this mean the MIGHTY are automatically the Righteous ones? No, it doesn’t. Wicked can be moved by God to undo the wicked someplace else.

So it comes down to the fact of things today: America is spreading so-called democracy at the point of the sword. They claim God on their side. They are spreading their man-made empire.

This is not Righteousness.

So go ahead, wreak your havoc on the World, America. You are no different than the other wicked countries.

Your technological prowess, hair above your ears, holier-than-thou-ness doesn’t fool God.

I say this, an heir (my heritage is from) of the original 13 colonies. I was born in the 60′s, and have lived through campaign after campaign, political/military, they are one and the same. I believe in Limited Government, and seeking to beat swords into plowshares.

Here is an excerpt from George Grant’s 1991 book “The Blood Of The Moon”.

From pages 73-74/second section:The Past And Prophecy/Chapter:5 Ji’had: The Unending War of Conquest/

The Lessons of History

During the days of mobilization for World War I, when it looked for a time that American troops would be deployed in the Middle East against the fierce Ottomans, a young Presbyterian pastor, James Alexander Bryan, eloquently expressed the key message of the ages:

Let all be done in bathed prayer–our working and our playing, our eating and our sleeping, our dreaming and our doing. Let all be done bathed in prayer. But most particularly, when we know that our boys, our sons, and our brothers, and our husbands, must face those denizens of terror from the desert realms of the Levant, should we bathe our very inner being, our breathing, and our thinking in prayer. Dost thou not know that the hosts of Cain and the minions of Babel, the legions of Saracen and the hordes of Arabia are set from eternity against the covenant people Pray therefore. Night and day, pray. Moment by moment, pray. Pray for mercy. O dear souls, pray. 12

Pray, because the passion for Ji’had will not go away simply because we deploy troops in impressive and deadly array. Pray, because the desire for Dhimmi will continue to divide East and West despite our carefully constructed international coalitions and strategic alliances. Pray, because it’s never over ’til it’s over.

So if he admits that in this old book (old by modern accounts and political wanderings) does it mean he today Supports the so-called war? Or doesn’t? Or stands upon that middle line? I don’t know. All I know is that the few times I’ve been to his blogs I get the idea he’s different that when I knew him better. But then I really didn’t know him well, and probably misread his activist stances, and his fiery sermons in Ft. Lauderdale. I must admit, he supported Bush in the election. That makes dirty hands in my estimation. I am sorry if this offends anyone, but it is the truth, so be not offended, just ashamed that you too voted for Empire Builder Numero Uno.
—–

If prayer is needed so that Ji’had will go away, why send in troops at all? How does it help? Further on in the book are other things I will post later, that are relevant, I think.

Ji’had will never go away, NEVER, not until God strikes that whole Islamic system down.

They call on God as their God, but say Mohammad is the only true prophet … THIS IS A SLAP in the face, the very Face of the True Living God, Yahweh.

Killing them doesn’t make them go away. It only magically produces more Ji’had-ists than there were before any were done away with.

I understand their passion. I understand it totally. I don’t agree with it though. Leave us alone, we’ll leave you alone. That sort of thing doesn’t work.

Their passion is sort of that Necromonger passion. [See Chronicles of Riddick for that definition.]

So I seek to live in peace. I call for no troops over there. I don’t have a say in that though. Leave those ‘countries’ be. Protect these shores by staying home and protecting here, not trying to “spread democracy” [wink, wink]. They don’t really want it. Why should they? What we have here is bad, why spread it? Yikes. Well, that’s not the real reason any how. We do know that. It’s no secret.

On this book’s rear cover there is this comment:

George Grant’s insights need to be studied by U.S. policymakers.
His book is being pased around in key circles in Washington.
Howard Phillips
former Director, U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity

Maybe they need to pass this book around again. There IS a different administration in “power” since this book was first printed.

But then again, it’s been a long time since I’ve read it. I paged through it today and found key interesting things, as above. More damning things for the Mighty Democracy-at-the-Point-of-a-Sword Spreaders. I must though start at the beginning, and read to the end, boring, but needed. It’s been too long, I can’t not read from cover to cover. I have to get a full overview of the meaning in the book, THEN all the excerpts will be better served out with my sauce.

Will terror ever be vanquished? Yes, when God decides enough is enough. When God sends Christ to return (it will surely then be defitely over) in Glory and Triumph and all will be judged and His Chosen redeemed. This ain’t no rapture baby, it’s the truth of the Bible, and that’s when Ji’had will cease, if not before. Time will be no more. Eternity is timeless. The beauty of that I know, since time is elastic for me (INTP, right brain, visual-spatial, etc.)

Monday, January 31 2005
Genocide… It’s worth a little disrespect
Bret McAtee @ 10:15 pm

The first thing you have to envision is a mid size gymnasium in a Christian School. At one end of the Basketball court, about 20 feet high, tacked or stapled to a white stucco background, is a normally sized Christian flag. One really has to squint in order to see it since the white Christian flag blends into obscurity against the white stucco background. At the other end of the Basketball court is a huge American flag that looks like it is trying to make it into the Guinness book of World records as the most tacky American flag ever put in a gymnasium. Technically, it is not a flag, but something that looks like it was made out of a giant Lincoln Logs kit, replete with a do it yourself red, white, and blue spray painting manual. I kid you not … you could put 6 Christian flags inside the parameters of this American “Flag.” A blind man doesn’t have to squint to see this thing.

Next comes the music. I think they used a phonograph with a vinyl record. At least the recording of the Star Spangled Banner sounded like something that was pressed when Kate Smith was still trim and in her prime. Around me stood a couple hundred earnest God fearing Christians singing at the top of their sanctified voices, and there was my son and I, definitively not standing, trying to ignore the fact that we weren’t being ignored.

I’m sorry. I just don’t get it. Really, it is not like that I haven’t tried to get it. Here we are as a nation killing 4000 unborn babies a day and Evangelical Christians want to get all choked up while singing the National Anthem? Here we are trying to make Iraq safe enough so they too can start safely killing babies in their freshly minted Democracy and people want to cast a quick glance at the seated forms of my son and I and whisper … “Psst, Hey Martha, check out that cranky Reformed Pastor. He and his son aren’t standing again for the National Anthem.” Well, excuse me if I get in the way of your warm patriotic fuzzies. There they were pounding out at the top of their lungs … “The land of the free and the home of the Brave,” and nobody could see the irony and hypocrisy in that?

Look, we have no more business honoring this flag and the country for which it stand or singing its Anthem than German Christians had saluting the Nazi Flag and shouting ‘Sieg Heil’ as it passed by. To those who believe that we should snap to attention every time the flag gets unfurled I want to have a couple questions answered. At what point in a holocaust does one decide things have gotten so out of control that one can no longer be a proud American? How many bodies must be offered up to Molech until lines about ‘land of the free and home of the brave’ begin to curdle in your vocal chords?

Yes, yes … I know … I have been told a thousand times. Thinking that way isn’t nice and actually making those views known to people hurts their feelings. “Besides Pastor”, (so the routine goes) “what kind of witness are you if you sit down while the National Anthem is being played or while the colors are being posted?”

More Irony.

We stopped putting our flag out some years ago. I used to love to put it out. I guess it was in 2001 that it all hit the fan for us. It was a growing thought for various reasons the few years before that, which only exploded into absolute dislike of the symbolism when 9-11 happened.

So all the things that Bret mentioned in the above article I can understand and totally agree with as well.

I held a dear affection for the flag, but not for the Empire Strikes Back flag, the older flag, when it had less stars, when “secession” was considered a fine plank to be in any states “constitution”. When the country called These United States was a union of separate states united for reasons that most cannot even fathom today. I somehow had Old Glory shining in my eyes and that clouded my vision of the flag of my lifetime.

My vision was restored and I saw the ugly flag, and hide it in our hall closet now. I want to throw it away, but since I taught myself proper flag ettiquette so many years ago, I am loathe to destroy it, though I deeply want to.

I need no flag, but an older flag (reproduction of one) I WOULD fly, if I had one. I’m picky and refuse to consider a NYLON flag though, so I have no flag, with reproductions in fine fabrics being quite pricey. It’s just a flag. It would be a rebel symbol without being considered “racist” by most But symbols are not to be worshipped, it would only be a symbol of holding to retro-1800 views of sort. It wouldn’t be a fad, as so many are flying one since 9-11. It wouldn’t be a patriotic-nationalistic-pride thing flying a flag. It would be me standing tall and not being ashamed to say what I think.

But I can do that WITHOUT a flag. A do so gladly.

The military is one thing, bad enough. But abortion, it’s the killing of the innocent. The life that God gives is plucked from womens wombs by men and women who call themselves “doctors”. What is the first oath they take? Hmmmm. Maybe they just don’t do that anymore, or they just consider themselves above it.

This country has so much blood on it’s hands, so-called wars, and abortion, the killing of our young, the unborn, and the young men and women in the military.

Men and women are responsible for the murders of the unborn. Not just doctors, not just women, but regular men and women together conspire, and some are pregnant, some provided the seed, some are doctors. They all consent to kill together, sometimes with or without the consent of any of the mentioned parties. It’s just SO ACCEPTED today. It’s horrific.

You folks that grew up in this country after Roe vs. Wade was put into play may or may not understand the severity of it. It’s always been this way, you may think. No, in my lifetime it happened, I was small but have known about it, the before and after. So many things have culminated in my lifetime. The last century has been feather in Lincoln’s cap.