Crimen et Heva - Christine Blasey Ford

Christine Blasey Ford and the Serpent

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

The current debacle over Brett Kavanaugh reminded me that the first sin committed in the Garden of Eden was perpetrated by the Serpent and it was the sin of slander. When I was a child, my father (a devout Pentecostal Christian) would always remind us four children that this was the most heinous crime of all. Let us look again at the beginning of that story in Genesis 3:1-5:

1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Note that the Serpent called God a liar. The Serpent slandered God. And my father hated that with an unbridled passion. Yes, my father was a hater. He hated slander because it always resulted in all the other downstream sins. We know this is true because of what succeeding verses 6 and 7 state:

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.

Note again what Sacred Scripture states: The tree was good for food (the lust of the flesh), and it was a delight to the eyes (the lust of the eyes), and that the tree could make one wise (the pride of life). This is exactly what 1st John 2:16 says:

16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.

Slander inexorably and inevitably leads to all the other sins that exist. Indeed, slander murders by destroying one's good name and reputation. Furthermore, there is not one shred of evidence against Brett Kavanaugh today just as there wasn’t against Clarence Thomas more than two decades ago. But their good names and reputations are murdered! And this slander is the exact same kind of evil with which the Serpent beguiled Eve in the Garden of Eden. The Serpent tried to murder God, and that's what happened at Calvary when our slander murdered His only begotten Son.

This is an old, old story, and I sincerely wish today that my father were around to remind everyone of the heinous evil in which we are engaging. God is NOT a disinterested spectator in the affairs of men. He will respond in mercy for the innocent, and that will mean judgment for the guilty. So let us be careful when we ask for God’s mercy because we just may get it and it won’t be what we expect or anticipate, but it will be what we need.

Uxor Putipharis - Christine Blasey Ford

Christine Blasey Ford

Potiphar's Wife

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Genesis 39:6b-23 – Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Ford – oh wait, I mean Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife

6b Now Joseph was handsome and good-looking. 7 And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph, and said, “Lie with me.” 8 But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Lo, having me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my hand; 9 he is not greater in this house than I am; nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife; how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” 10 And although she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie with her or to be with her. 11 But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, 12 she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and got out of the house. 13 And when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and had fled out of the house, 14 she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought among us a Hebrew to insult us; he came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice; 15 and when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment with me, and fled and got out of the house.” 16 Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home, 17 and she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to insult me; 18 but as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment with me, and fled out of the house.”

19 When his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, “This is the way your servant treated me,” his anger was kindled. 20 And Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison. 21 But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. 22 And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s care all the prisoners who were in the prison; and whatever was done there, he was the doer of it; 23 the keeper of the prison paid no heed to anything that was in Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.

Iudex Brett Kavanaugh et Crimen a Mulieribus Malis

Judge Brett Kavanaugh

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

I have not been blogging very much recently because the amount of things on which to comment has been overwhelming. But I think that the false accusations against Judge Kavanaugh - the slander and calumny - merit special comment. Thus, the following text is reproduced here from my commentary at a different forum.

Leviticus 19:16 says: "You shall not be an accuser (a slanderer) and with whispering among your people. You shall not stand against the blood of your neighbor. I [am] the Lord."

The Hebrew word for accuser or slanderer is שָׂטָן which is often transliterated as Satan. Think on that as you hear the unsubstantiated and unfounded accusations of Christine Ford and the others against Brett Kavanaugh. They are (in the Latin) criminatores (which could be transliterated as criminals), and they are certainly members of the party of that great accuser שָׂטָן (Satan).

Diffamation et Obtrectatio!

Amici, Americani et Compatriotae,

It is time to speak out against slander. In Latin as in English, there are different words used to express this concept. Nouns include the following:

• Blasphemia: blasphemy (against God); slander; reviling
• Calumnia: sophistry, sham; false accusation/claim/statement/pretenses/objection; quibble; charge; accusation
• Crimen: indictment/charge/accusation; blame/reproach/slander; verdict/judgment
• Denotatio: ensure; disparagement; marking, pointing out
• Detrectio: removal, withdrawal; omission (words); blood-letting; purge; slander 
• Diffamatio: defamation
• Obtrectatio: disparagement; detraction; verbal attack inspired by malice or spite
• Vilipensio: disparagement; contempt

Verbs include the following:

• Diffamo: spread news of; slander
• Lacerare: to mangle; slander, torment, harass; waste; destroy; cut
• Maledicere: to speak ill/evil of, revile, slander; abuse, curse

Slander was the FIRST sin committed in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:1-7 gives us the story:

Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.

Notice how the serpent beguiles Eve with the words of slander in Genesis 3:4-5:

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

The serpent lied to Eve about God. In fact, the serpent called God a liar. Look at what Genesis 2:16-17 says:

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”

Now the serpent tells Eve, “You will not die.” Then he attributes to God a nefarious intent – the intent to keep the eyes of Adam and Eve closed and like God – knowing good and evil! Yet Genesis 1:26 says that man was already created in God’s image, therefore he was already like God:

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”

Slander or calumny is a violation of the Commandment which says, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16 and Deuteronomy 5:20). And St. Paul is clear about such people:

“I appeal to you, brethren, to take note of those who create dissensions and difficulties, in opposition to the doctrine which you have been taught; avoid them.” Romans 16: 17

“If any one teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching which accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit, he knows nothing; he has a morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, base suspicions, and wrangling among men who are depraved in mind and bereft of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.” 1st Timothy 6: 3-5

My experience is that those who spread vilification and calumny sooner or later suffer a backlash greater than what they have given to others, for “…whatsoever a man sows, that also shall he reap” (Galatians 6:7). Indeed, Hosea 8:7a states:

“For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.”

Slanders are the offspring of their father the devil who is called Satan, and the name Satan in Hebrew mean Accuser. Unless they repent, such people must be ejected from the Body of Christ. They too are an infestation and infection which, if left to grow, will become a life-threatening cancerous tumor of death and destruction.