It's Wednesday, April 27 2022. I'm Joshua Claycamp. And this is the Observer, a reflection upon the news from a biblical perspective, in order to help Christians understand how we need to think and feel about current events.

Today on the observer, we're going to be looking at two stories. We're going to be looking more closely at the Liberals announcement the day before of an inquiry into Troodos invocation of the Emergency Powers Act, we're going to be questioning the morality of it, we're going to be looking at the composition of the committee that Trudeau has proposed be structured. We're also going to be looking today at a really interesting story this out of the United States, in which it was revealed that there is a Satanic Temple that is suing an elementary school because that Satanic Temple was rejected from hosting and running an after school club at the school, specifically to further and to advance the teachings and the beliefs of the Satanic Temple. We're going to be looking at both of these issues today.

But before we dive in, I thought we would start by posing the question of morality. There once was a time in which we understood our country to be a country built upon moral morals that there was a certain fabric within our culture and within our society that understood what was right, and what was wrong. The reason why I raised this issue today is because so much of our thinking, when it comes to news events, and to particular happenings and particular circumstances in the country at large. All of this is reduced down, unfortunately, to a question of what is right or wrong, given the circumstances. And this is to understand morality as being a relativize. That is, what might be right, in a particular set of circumstances might be understood as not being binding in another set of circumstances. This is what we mean when we say that morals are becoming a relative, and that we're beginning to adhere to a relative moral understanding of our world.

When we talk about morals, we're talking about behaviors, actions and attitudes that relate to right behavior, correct behavior, or good behavior. Now, within Christianity, we understood morals to be related to the study of ethics. And when we consider the question of Christian ethics, essentially what we're talking about is a study of God's word that answers the question, what does the whole Bible teach us about which acts, attitudes and personal character traits receive God's approval, and the corollary is, which attitudes which decisions and behaviors do not meet with God's approval. The reason why this is an important study is because as Christians, we want to live lives that reflect God's character.

All morality is based upon God. God is described as being good. When the Bible talks about God's moral character. It talks about God as being good. For example, in Psalm 119, the Psalmist says, You are good and you do good. Teach me your statutes. Or we could look at Deuteronomy 32, in which God here called the rock is described this way, the rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways our justice, he is a God of faithfulness, and he is without iniquity, just and upright is he? Or we can look at the end of the Bible say Revelation Chapter 15. just and true are your ways Oh, King of the nations who will not fear Oh, Lord, and glorify your name, For you alone are holy, all nations will come and worship you. And so as we reflect on these different passages, we understand that to be moral, is to strive to be a person who is good to strive to be a person who does good. And as we're looking at Psalm 119. The only way we can be moral is if we first look to the one who is absolutely perfect in all his ways. As Deuteronomy says, all His ways are justice. That is, he is fair and he treats everyone, everyone around him. Everyone in the entire world equal as equally fair, he is equal in his treatment of all people he doesn't. He isn't impartial to one group of individuals over another. He doesn't give one type of individual preferential treatment that he does that he withholds from a different individual. To be moral than is to be a person that is good, that does what is right. And to be a person that seeks to act in a manner that is just unfair towards all of course, the only way we can view this as if we are loving and that we have a genuine love for all the world around us. Now, the only way we can do this, of course is if we look to the one who is love, we look to the Lord.

As we reflect upon current events within Canadian society. I fear that we're losing sight of what it means to be moral, and what it means to be ethical, especially when it comes to the issue of what is right and wrong in politics. Nowadays, political issues drive so much of the national conversation, and there is a sad tearing apart of neighbors and family members over certain questions. Most recently, this was brought to the surface by pandemic restrictions. And as certain individuals were prohibited from working and earning a livelihood, other individuals continue to receive paychecks, for example, politicians who enacted many of these lockdowns and various COVID-19 restrictions, they were able to do so while continuing to collect a paycheck off of the backs of taxpayers. And many individuals looking at this even individuals who supported the lockdowns could be capable of saying on a very basic level with very basic moral reasoning, that to lock down society, while continuing to take a paycheck from that society which you have locked down is unjust, it is not fair. And because it is not fair, because there is no justice in it, we can conclude from scripture, that it does not conform with God's character. And because it does not conform with God's character, it is immoral and it is wrong. We could even go further and say that it is evil.

Indeed, as we're looking at the lock downs of the last two years, politicians largely felt no pain as a result of not being able to work, they felt no pain lower as a result of not being able to gather. Indeed, many politicians were caught gathering and continuing to go to restaurants and continuing to enjoy certain benefits and privileges which were denied to the population as a whole. In response to this there was a convoy that was organized, it was known as the freedom convoy. And in then, in February of this year, that freedom convoy made up of 1000s of truckers and large semi trucks. They went into Ottawa, they circled the nation's capitol, and they camped out they settled down, they put down roots, and they said that they would stay until politicians and notably Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself would talk with them. Their desire in this protest and in this convoy was to send the signal that there was something inherently unjust in what was taking place.

And now as a result of that, convoy, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is being investigated. Of course, it isn't a legitimate investigation. It is an investigation which he himself has crafted in his bid to remove the convoy and the protesters from Ottawa, to restore what he considered order in the midst of what he regarded as chaos. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergency Powers Act. And of course, in the invoking of this legislation, he gave to himself, unbelievable power, to seize property, to lock down bank accounts, to arrest private citizens to send individuals to jail, all without due process. And all of this was afforded to him in the interests of a national security crisis. This is what the Emergency Powers Act is intended to address. And as a result of the legislation governing the invocation of the Emergency Powers Act, the law requires that an inquiry and a study into how it happened, why it happened, and whether or not it was right that this inquiry be invoked within 60 days.

Now, the commission that was that is called to investigate. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the liberal cabinet was sent out yesterday or beg your pardon two days ago. And even now as liberals on Parliament Hill are responding to various inquiries surrounding this commission. We are being told that there are competing interests which need to be carefully weighed. The two competing interests which are needing to be carefully weighed our number one transparency, and number two, protecting national security. As we look at this, when you understand that this is a sham response. A senior liberal Minister says in response to questioning on Parliament Hill yesterday that there were two competing interests that need to be balanced carefully when it comes to sharing information about its use, and its invoking of the emergencies Act. The first being transparency, and the second being the protection of national security government House leader Mark Holland was responding yesterday morning to questions about what information the liberals would be willing to provide to the judge tapped to lead the inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the declaration of the emergency. The government says that Ontario Appeal Court justice Paul Reuleau will have broad access to classified documents. But it has not said whether that will include access to secret documents which are held by Troodos cabinet.

This has sparked outrage questions and frustration from various civil liberties organizations and opposition parties who worry that the inquiry will not be given access to key documents about closed door discussions and the decisions of ministers. The Liberal government, of course, declared the emergency under the Act on February 14, and it was required to call an inquiry and a commission to study it within 60 days. And of course they did. Now the issue here is we're looking at all of this is that critics suggest that there's a fatal flaw in the in the invocation of the Emergency Powers Act. Within this law, it requires that government call a commission to study why how, and for what reason this act was invoked. The inquiry is governed under the inquiries act, and under the inquiries Act, the cabinet of the dominant party is allowed to select the commissioner of the inquiry. Even if the investigation the inquiry that is being held, is into the actions of that ruling party. And so critics are suggesting that this is foul from the very getgo because essentially Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gets to choose the individual who is going to investigate him that is clearly a conflict of interest.

Duff Conacher, co founder of democracy watch, calls the provision of the law a fatal flaw that undermines Canada's democratic process of holding the ruling party accountable. He told the Epoch Times, quote, the government has all the incentive to choose some lapdog, who's not going to do their job well, and then let them off the hook in the end. And he said, quote, It is a major conflict of interest and with with and with this, we cannot help but agree under Section 63 of the emergency law. connacher says the government cannot limit the scope of the investigation for its own use. But we see clearly in the question and answer sessions that have already happened resulting revolving around this inquiry, that they are already limiting information and access to certain documents. connacher went on to say that it was extremely important to watch whether Trudeau hands over the power to opposition parties to select an inquiry commission, because this was a political act to declare the emergency in the first place. Well, if Mr. Conacher is still watching, I think what he will see is that indeed, this is a flawed process from the get go.

Just looking at the committee that has been called by the house to review this invocation of the Emergency Powers Act. We see that Trudeau he presented a framework for this committee, and the committee is made up and co chaired by an NDP MP known as Matthew Greene, a block MP a real Fortin and independent Senator Gwen Boniface. It is going to begin meeting April 26, which is yesterday, and of course it has any it has yet to release any initial statements or whatsoever regarding its its approach to investigating Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. But what you'll find interesting is that none nobody from the official opposition has been appointed to co chair the committee. Conservatives accused the government of ducking accountability by deliberately not including a member of the official opposition. Troodos proposal for the Committee's makeup includes three liberal MPs that is individuals from his own party, and it will also include NDP bloc Quebec, Coy and green MPs. conservative House Leader John Brassard said that the Liberals quote, backed by their NDP allies were weakening the accountability and oversight measures, which were written into the emergency proclamation. He said in a statement released yesterday that quote, the emergencies act itself requires an opposition heavy committee to review the use of those powers because in a healthy democracy, the government of the day cannot be allowed to police itself. And again, he is correct. This is unfair treatment of one's self. The government that is in power is clearly giving itself preferential treatment, giving itself a pass by appointing a committee that is going to be made up of various MPs from various parties but not allowing any meaningful participation. By MPs from the Conservative Party from the faithful and official opposition, the loyal opposition as it is referred to here in Canada, this is a serious breach of what is morally correct.

As Christians looking at all of this, we have to understand that we are all tempted out of the sin nature of our hearts, to give ourselves a pass. And the scriptures routinely talk about accountability. When we use this word accountability, what we're saying is that we are willing, at times to allow ourselves to be scrutinized, and to be held up to the light in order to show and to be able to verify that our conduct and our behavior has been moral, that it has been correct, that we have acted in a manner that is consistent with the character of God, when we are unwilling to allow ourselves to be scrutinized, then the implication is clear that there is some element of our behavior of which we are ashamed that we are unwilling to allow to see the light of day. This is immoral. When we look at God, we understand that his work is perfect, and all His ways are justice. That is to say he treats everyone equally.

Therefore, when we look at God, we don't see that God withholds himself or conceals himself in such a way that we are beyond able, we are beyond the ability to measure his conduct, we are beyond the ability to draw judgments regarding the morality of his conduct. God shows himself acting time and again, in the best interests of people, calling them to faith calling them to repentance, calling them to trust in Him, God acts in history in such a way as to bring blessing for the greatest number of people. Indeed, he says over and over again, in Romans 828, perhaps it is most clearly stipulated that God works all things together for good, especially for those who are called according to His purpose. God is a God of justice. And he would not make this statement that all of His ways are justice, if it was not his intention to so act and do so move within the course of human history that we would be incapable of looking at him and forming conclusions about the rightness and the holiness of what it is that he does, knowing this to be the case with God. This is how we also are called to act. In order to be moral, we have to act in a manner that is consistent with God's moral character. In order to be right in order to be just in order to be fair, we have to consistently act the same way that God has always acted in human history, we have to treat people with the same compassion with the same love and with the same commitment to goodness that God has treated them.

Now, in saying all of this, it seems clear that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergency Powers Act for political purposes because the presence of the Freedom convoy on the streets of Ottawa drew attention to the injustice of decrees and official actions of the government, that clearly prep prep was clearly partial to certain segments of our society and population, while being lobbying impartially unfair to other individuals within our society. And this is what was the cause of the Freedom convoy, because the freedom convoy was drawing such attention and such scrutiny to the unfairness and the injustice of the liberal government's actions? Well, it was an it was an event that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau could not allow to continue. And so he had to remove it. The only problem was, he didn't have the power to remove it. So he gave himself the power. And now that we are here trying to scrutinize whether or not his actions were justified, he is not giving himself up to scrutiny. And with all of this as Christians, we must say that this is an assault on freedom. And if it is an assault on freedom for 10% of our population that refuse vaccines, the 10% of our population that were unwilling to be vaccinated if it is an assault on any small minority group within our society, of their freedoms, their rights, if it's an assault on one, it's an assault on all.

But next, I come to an interesting article published in global news. The headline is the Satanic Temple sues elementary school as after school club is rejected. The article begins the Satanic Temple has filed a lawsuit against a Pennsylvania elementary school after the school board voted to deny the establishment of the after school Satan club now, just as we read that first paragraph, I am not kidding you that is word for word what it says they are promoting an after school Satan club, most individuals hold to some form of secular humanism. They believe that all morality is relative that murdering someone for example, is not absolutely wrong in every situation in every circumstance in all at all times and for all peoples in all places. That's what we mean by a moral absolute and So when you have an organization that says we are going to start a club known as the after school Satan club, it begs the question, what exactly are we doing with Satan here? Because if we are called as people to live within a society with each other, and if we are called to seek the flourishing of that society, well, there's no way around it, we're called to hold to a form of morality that will lead not only to my ultimate good, but to everyone's ultimate good.

And when we think about Satan and who he is, well, one conclusion we can reach pretty quickly is that whatever he's promoting, it's probably not good. So why then would we have an after school Satan club. The article continues, the northern Elementary School in New York, Pennsylvania, is being sued on the grounds of a constitutional violation. The Satanic Temple intends to prove in court that the school board discriminated against the temple by barring the creation of the after school Satan Club, which all of this despite other organizations being allowed to operate their own programs.

As we read a little bit further on in the article, one of the things that we discover is that the after school Satan club meets at select public schools, where good news clubs also operate. And so what is a good news club? Good news Club is a club that is organized usually by churches, or sometimes by other Christian parent ministry organizations. It is then run inside of a school facility in order to provide after school care for students who perhaps don't have an immediate ride home after school or who need some form of daycare or supervision until such time as their parents can get off work and come pick them up. And the benefit of these organizations is that while they're willing to look after kids for free, after school hours as a service as a ministry to parents who are still working, they take advantage of that time to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with those students. Their goal is quite clearly to provide a blessing and a benefit to parents, but at the same time to try to reach the heart of that student with the good news of who the Lord is and what He has done for them by dying on the cross.

It is interesting that the Satanic Temple is trying to run after school Satan clubs in the exact same schools where these good news clubs operate, it is apparent that they are attempting to counteract the efforts and the intentions of those churches and parachurch ministry Christian organizations which are attempting to share the gospel. However, the article tells us that one of the things that the Satan club is not trying to do is they are not trying to evangelize the official statement that we received from the Satanic Temple and this article says, quote proselytization that is evangelism is not our goal. We're not interested in converting children to Satanism.

After school, Satan clubs will simply focus on free inquiry and rationalism, the scientific basis for which we know what we know about the world around us and quote, now with that statement, we have to just scratch our heads and hold it with a large grain of salt. I mean, as they're saying that their desire is not to evangelize and not to proselytize. But their desire is to simply teach children that we know what we know, on the basis of scientific inquiry and rationalism. Well, they're still making a faith claim. What they're claiming, then is that God is not real, that there is nothing beyond this physical world that we can see with our eyes that we can, that we can touch with our hands beyond what we can measure and empirically assess and evaluate that is a faith claim to say that there is no God is to claim a kind of absolute knowledge of the universe in which you can be conclusive and asserting that there is no God, that kind of a claim is a faith claim. And it's not something which can be known. And so in asserting this, they are clearly establishing themselves as a faith organization.

Well, and they make no bones about that. What kind of a faith organization then are they? Well, they are a faith organization that is calling individuals to the worship of Satan. But of course, they would say they are not doing that. They're just trying to show that there is no God. This is a polarization, which does not hold up under even the most basic of scrutiny. One of the really fascinating things that you need to be aware of when it comes to the Satan temple and the so called after school Satan clubs, is that the individuals who oversee these various chapters, these various congregations of the Satan club, they make it clear that they're not worshippers of the devil, or are they? One of the individuals and it's not his name, by the way I'm not sure what his name is, but he is considered the Satanic Temple spokesperson he up he issues various statements and releases news releases under the name Lucien Greaves and I just have to chuckle when I read that name. I'm not sure it's a real name.

I can't take it Seriously, but if so, Lucien Greaves, which is a spokesperson for the Satanic Temple has released various statements, and has told Fox News that when it comes to the Satanic Temple quote, We don't worship the devil, we don't actually believe in the devil. We believe that the Luciferian character represents the eternal rebel within all of us. There is he says, an undeniable rise in recent days and more conservative thought. And conservative thought has always been deeply ingrained with tradition, which in turn, is deeply ingrained with the predominant religion. He's careful not to say anything about Christianity to this point. But he goes on he says, quote, The Satanic Temple has always found it important to actually take on these institutions and systems that would use tradition and so called religious freedom in order to actually promote a dominant religious viewpoint.

And so the goal of the Satanic Temple that is, the goal of these after school Satan clubs is that they want to challenge what they refer to as the dominant religious viewpoint. It's interesting that their actions are targeted only at schools where there are good news clubs operating these are Christian organizations. And therefore, it seems apparent that the Satanic Temple though they tried to portray themselves as not being relational, religious, and although they tried to portray themselves as not worshipping Satan, it is quite clear that they are opposing God. And while they may claim not to worship Satan, they make it a religious duty of their own, to go anywhere that Jesus is preached, and to seek to stop and oppose the preaching of the cross. They may claim that they're not worshipping Satan, but they are clearly acting in the spirit and in the manner of Antichrist. And though they may claim they are not worshipping Satan, they are clearly working for him.

Thanks for listening to the Observer. I'm Joshua Claycamp. And you can follow me on Twitter by going to twitter.com/joshuaClaycamp. The observer is a ministry of First Baptist Church where Christians seek to discern the news differently. For more information on First Baptist Church of Kamloops just go to first Baptist Kamloops dot  or for more information on first Baptist gospel Academy, a private school where students are educated according to a Christian worldview. Just go to FirstBaptistClassical.org. I'll meet you again tomorrow for more of the Observer