The last several chapters of the book of Acts, record the apostle Paul’s coming into conflict with the existing religious, legal and political power structures. It serves as an illustration for true Jesus people that we should expect the same persecution our master experienced as we follow Him “outside the camp” of the ‘worldly’ establishment, “bearing His reproach.” (Heb. 13:13)
A close friend recently said to me, “The essential elements of the ‘kingdom of God’ are:
- Always forgive (release) everyone, everything.
- Be kind to everyone, especially the poor
- Never do anything motivated by the love of money.”
In the kingdom of this ‘world’ however it is quite the opposite. Here the norm is
- Keep people obligated to you and control them
- Show no kindness, especially to the poor
- It’s all about the money
When we returned from North Carolina there were two pieces of mail awaiting us.
The first was a letter from the City of Robbinsdale.
It said if we did not evict Shiela, a Native American mother and her 2 daughters, Hopa and Amber Sky, from our spacious home within one week we would be liable to daily “citations” (of $100 each) and ‘further legal action including but not limited to a lawsuit in court against you.” The deadline was today.
Shiela, came to us as a ‘stranger and widow’ but has become our dear sister in the Lord. She has been freed from a life of addiction to become an addiction counsellor and model mother to her beleaguered people. We have been privileged to witness this beautiful transformation over the last three years in our home.
The second piece of mail was from our daughter Abby in Belfast.
It was the local newspaper – The Belfast Tele’. She sent it because in this edition there was a full center spread story about my brother, Dr. John Kyle, who has just retired from medical practice, but wants to continue to serve his patients and beyond in what is one of the poorer and more troubled constituencies in Belfast as a member of the Belfast City Council.
You can see his picture in the top left corner (Sorry John I disfigured your handsome face by my opening the envelope too roughly : – )
I can attest from 65 years of genuine friendship, that my brother John ticks all the boxes in the ‘kingdom of God’ category above. He gets my vote!
In the center of the photographed front page is the envelope the paper was mailed in. We all smiled at Abby’s simply addressing it to…
Dad
……..as if everyone should know who that is.
It was of course also an inspiration from our heavenly Dad letting us know that in this correspondence delivered on precisely the right day (the heavenly mail service is never late!) was a message from Him! It was His confirmation of the course of action we had chosen in response to the City’s demand that had arrived that same day.
A few months ago I had been granted a meeting with the Robbinsdale City Mayor and our Local Counsellor. I delivered to them a legal memorandum pointing out how the City according to the Code, was in prosecuting us, in breech of it’s own Code. You can read the memorandum at the bottom of the blog if you would like.
They disregarded this and instead I was told if I signed a form and paid the City more money, and paid to have the property surveyed, and agreed to further restrictions, such as no longer walking down the side of our house on our property to enter by our back door, and no longer parking on the public roads outside our home, they would then issue us ‘a permit’ that would allow us to continue to extend hospitality to our honored guests in our own home!
This did not seem right to me. (“Ludicrous” is the word most people have used when I recount the story.)
I was subsequently reminded of Acts 24:26 where we read how Felix the governor continued to meet with Paul (who he knew was carrying money that had been collected from the churches to help support the brothers and sisters in Jerusalem) because “He hoped that money would be given to him by Paul.”
Paul however chose to do ‘the right thing’ rather than the expedient thing that would have made life easier for him personally. He declined to give Felix the money he had stewardship of, and so continued to suffer in prison for his convictions as a Jesus follower and citizen of the kingdom of God.
The headline in the newspaper then struck me:
“Soldier who killed our father will answer to God.”
It refers to that infamous incident in (London)Derry, “Sunday Bloody Sunday” (Yes, the inspiration for the U2 song!) and the prospective prosecution of a soldier who shot dead one of the protestors.
The issue in this case as in ours is, the abusive exercise of power by a governing authority.
In scripture, leaders who fail to fulfill their God given responsibility to care for the weak and vulnerable, are the object of God’s strongest censure. (Jer.23)
God’s law says, to not wrong a ‘stranger’ or mistreat the ‘widow or fatherless’……if you do mistreat them and they cry out to me I will surely hear their cry” (Ex. 22:20-23).
As you see, this family who lost their father have chosen not to pursue their grievance through this world’s legal system, but to appeal to a higher court.
“Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen.18:25)
We have chosen to do the same.
P.S. I will continue this story on next week’s blog, “Love Finds A Way”