CANADIAN IMMIGRATION AND SHARIA LAW

Symbol of Sharia. crescent moon & Venus star

I said yesterday that Canada as a culture has made a perceptible shift to the Left and this is demonstrated with the election of the current Liberal federal government. The Liberal policy agenda became attractive to a majority. This government will make decisions from the Left of Centre on vital issues in 2016 and beyond. Furthermore I vaguely expressed apprehension about some issues and the choices to be made. Today I am expressing one specific area of uneasiness.

It is an Immigration and Sharia Law item.

ROB FORD IS A LIFE COACH

Rob Ford is a life coach right now. Here is what he is teaching Canadians. We have not seen a repentant Rob Ford, not yet. We have seen a proudly apologetic Rob Ford. We have also witnessed defiance. Evidently, apology and defiance can partner together. They are not mutually exclusive. Repentance and defiance however, are diametrical - opposites. Repentance in this situation, can only be authenticated by Mr. Ford’s resignation from the office of Mayor of Toronto. Apology and repentance are not parallel terms or character statements. The citizens of Toronto, the City Councillors, the network of Canadian Mayors deserve more than apology now.

ROB FORD IS A MAN OF FAITH

Rob Ford is a man of faith. He believes in himself absolutely. He unreservedly believes that he is meant to be Mayor and that he is unimpeachable by virtue of being Rob Ford, and that his agenda and solutions for Toronto are indispensable. So committed is he to this faith that a compromise, a leave of absence to seek help is deemed by him to be a surrender. Not his occasional drug taking or dishonesty but his unqualified faith is dehumanizing him and corrupting him.

For all our sakes we wish to bestow power upon the wise. Sadly, all of us, including the wise, share a potential for corruptibility. Bestow power on a person and you create a true test of character. History and experience inform us that power attracts the corruptible. Invariably, power in human hands will be liable to abuse. We can never assume that power and wisdom are synonymous. These are truths we are relearning as we watch Rob Ford's world unravel. I hope he receives help willingly and survives as a father and husband but not as a Mayor.

WEDNESDAY IN COUNCIL WAS HARD FOR ROB FORD

Rob Ford doesn’t get it and he doesn’t want to hear it. He needs help. I have viewed video of Rob Ford in today’s Toronto City Council meeting. Thirty of his fellow council members stood to tell him that he should take a leave of absence and seek help. His responses indicate that he has no idea about authentic leadership.

Ruth Johnston

Ruth Johnston

On Monday we received the news that a dear friend has passed away. I am still intrigued that the news came as such a blow even though we had expected to hear it for some time.

In most circles Ruth was known as Gordon’s wife. They were married for fifty-three years. Gordon is a leader, a gifted, magnetic, convincing and confident person. He was a successful business executive, followed by a succession of consultant and leadership roles in Christian organizations and churches. He walks with God. Ruth was a homemaker, wife and mother, the traditional role of a person of her generation. Moreover, she was compelled to be close to her home because of her physical challenges. She was a diminutive woman, made smaller through the years by the arthritis that ravaged her and the succession of complications she endured. As long as we have known her, thirty years, she lived with pain. Yet she lived so well. She was thoughtful, articulate, spiritual and interesting.

For Christine, Ruth was the complete confidant with an understanding and patient spirit and a spiritual depth of conversation that stimulated and empowered Christine. Christine loved Ruth very much. One of the hard things for Christine about our move west from Toronto was leaving Ruth. For me, Ruth was an eager listener and a delightful writer. She and I took pleasure in the way we each put words together to describe scenes and situations and to convey ideas and values. She bumped up my self esteem.

In her 77th year she passed into the arms of her Lord, Jesus Christ. She leaves a crowd of friends and three children and their spouses, Susan and Bruce, Heather and Jeremy, Graeme and Carina and grandchildren Melissa, Michael, Matthew, Kriss, Joshua, Katie, Bethany, Esther and Henry. A celebration of her life takes place) on Thursday, July 30th at 4:00 p.m., at Morningstar Christian Fellowship, 7601 Sheppard Avenue East, Scarborough (just west of Morningside Avenue), Toronto.

GPS Application

"For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21

The Toronto Star Notice