A few weeks ago I had a dream in which I was brought face to face with Evil. I knew when I awoke the reason God gave me the dream was that I might have a revelation of the reality of Evil in our world.
Then just prior to the FREEDOM! retreat (which we finish by singing “Born into a Battle”) the dream played out in a most enlightening experience of The Dark Side….as I came face to face with the Evil I had encountered in the dream….. disguised as “Minnesota Nice”.
I attended a three day trial at Ramsey County ‘Criminal’ Court. I knew Bill, the defendant, a very able lawyer, and was well acquainted with the background of the case. Bill’s journey of discovery in the legal profession over many years had awakened him to governmental injustice at both the Federal and State level. You can read the Affidavit he submitted here.
https://www.butlerlibertylaw.com/blog-1
I recalled the imposing statue I had walked past on my way into Ramsey County Court called Vision of Peace (pictured above). A recent documentary “Little Crow and the Dakota War.” gives a revealing account of how the Governor whose name this county bears, took part in the thievery of this land from the Dakota people.
Incidentally, nearly all the 400 treaties made with the Indian’s were broken. The skulduggery was that the treaties made were between men……the Indians were then deemed – sub-human, making it OK to steal their land!
Stealing this image of the Indian to represent the Ramsey County’s justice system under the title “Vision of Peace” appeared to me therefore, flauntingly hypocritical.
As the trial played out I was reminded of the ‘Evil Thief’ who hung alongside Jesus and shamlessly reviled the ‘Suffering Servant’. It seemed that Evil thief was still trying desparatley to hold on to control of the operation here.
From the moment when jury selection started it was clear that under the guise of fairness and impartiality the underlying motivation of the questions asked of the potential jurors was the protection of ‘the system.’ Then when the Judge began dictating what evidence would be allowed and that only her interpretation of the law was valid, I realized that this pantomine was not at all about justice for my sincere friend but about the self interest of the ‘establishment’
The image came to me of a keyhole. The judge was saying to the jury I want you to make your judgment on the basis of what you see and only what you see through the keyhole through which I will tell you to look.
I noticed as the skewed jury of mostly impressionable young women repeatedly paraded in and out of their room how glum the intimidated company all appeared. They were repeatedly warned not to have any conversion about the case with anyone else. Under the respectable guise of “confidentiality” the jurors room became a prison of secrecy with a ‘fear guard’ posted at the doors. In their expressions I could read annoyance that their lives had been put on hold while they were expected to do their duty as citizens. But beyond annoyance I saw anxiety and apprehension in their faces.
The judge struck me like a ‘mother hen’ preening over her brood. The most insecure souls would smile and nod and laugh along with her ‘in house’ humor. It’s safer to just play the game.
Then as each witness was sworn in I was surprised when they were asked by the judge to swear by a deity I was not familiar with, called SO – “SO help me….” That was it…”SO help me.” When I checked on Wikipedia I discovered “SO” is an abbreviation for a tv series called, “Sons of Anarchy”
Ha! How true! When we turn our backs on the Creator who is The Lawgiver and Judge……and fail to acknowledge and honor our Heavenly Father – Sons of Anarchy is exactly what we become.
Minnesota ‘Nice’ is all about deceptive appearances. The seeming good humor in the Courtroom to me was sickeningly ominous in the light of the broader issues that I knew were being dealt with or rather NOT being dealt with, as the jurors were carefully ‘kept in the dark’ by block after block from the judge/prosecution tag team at the defense lawyer’s attempts to uncover the deeper truth…..’truth’ which Jesus said, would ‘set men free.’
Predictably and in short order the verdict was arrived at:
“Guilty”
Thankfully we knew this human court, like one two thousand years ago, did not have the last word.
A few days ago we gathered to appeal the case to the Divine Court.
Interestingly that day I received an email from a friend I had not seen in 23 years. He was asking me for the words and music for my song “When All the Sons of Heaven” This song is based on the picture of the Divine Council/Court painted at the beginning of the book of Job.
Interesting too that Exhibit 23 in the trial was an article my friend had written early on his journey of discovery, called “The Libertarian from Nazareth.” It was discovering how this Jesus was for the common man, that eventually awakened in Bill a personal faith in Christ.
Psalm 23 says “He leads in paths of righteousness for His name sake.”
Bill has come to peace knowing that on his painful journey to this earthly court, he has been and continues to be lovingly lead by The Good Shepherd.
Paul writes in Romans 1:18, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.”
We await with expectation to see the just ruling from the Judge of heaven and earth being rolled out in due course and the answer come to the prayer Jesus taught us as his followers to pray, “……..and deliver us from Evil; for thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, for ever and ever; Amen!”