The Rt. Rev. A. Robert Hirschfeld, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, has issued a stark warning to the clergy in his diocese. He told them they need to get their affairs in order and prepare for the possibility of martyrdom while protesting ICE and its efforts to enforce immigration laws and stop illegal immigration, along with other acts of injustice.
Speaking to attendees at a candlelight vigil for Renee Nicole Good—the woman fatally shot by an ICE agent after she drove her vehicle toward him—Bishop Hirschfeld declared her a martyr for the cause and warned the Christians in the crowd that they might need to prepare themselves to do likewise.
I’m also coming to an awareness that the times of statements and the times of our eloquent words have reached a kind of limit, sadly. As someone who is a man of profound historical privilege, as one who has made statements that I have to say have been really good and eloquent, but have not moved the needle one bit, I want to speak briefly primarily to the Christians among us.
We are now engaged in a horrible battle that is eternal, that has gone on for millennia. As soon as the Christian church became linked to the empire by Constantine in the year 325 or so, the church immediately became corrupt. And the message of Jesus’s love, compassion, and commitment to the poor, the outcast, was immediately compromised.
And we have lost that voice, and we are now, I believe, entering a time, a new era of martyrdom. Renee Good being the last of note of those martyrs.
Hirschfeld lists several people who have died as marytyrs recently, including “New Hampshire’s Jonathan Daniels, a man of also white privilege, stood in front of the blast of a sheriff in Hayneville, Alabama to protect a young black teenager from a shotgun blast.”
I have told the clergy of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire that we may be entering into that same witness. And I’ve asked them to get their affairs in order to make sure they have their wills written because it may be that now is no longer the time for statements but for us with our bodies to stand between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable.
And it may mean that we are going to have to in a new way that we have never seen in our, perhaps in our lifetime, except for these remote stories that I’ve just cited, to put our faith in the God of life, of resurrection, of a love that is stronger than death itself.
He notes that Renee Good is in heaven with Jesus now:
If we truly want to live without fear, we cannot fear even death itself, my friends. And that is the stark truth of my faith. If I want to live and live with the fullness that God intends, I have to trust that God will always protect me and raise me as God, I believe, is bringing Renee Good to glory right now. And I see that face of that glory among all of us who are here on this cold, dark night
.Before concluding with a prayer:
You have been created wholly in the image of the divine. Whatever race, whatever gender, whatever orientation, straight, queer, trans, you have been made in the image of the divine. God has always and will always protect you no matter what happens. So live in that fear. God supports you, protects you, and loves you with a power and a presence that is stronger than death. That is how we live free or die. Amen.
14 responses to “Episcopal Bishop Tells Clergy To Write Their Wills, Prepare To Become Martyrs Over Stopping ICE”
“He notes that Renee Good is in heaven with Jesus now” — perhaps long enough to hear “Depart from me; I never knew you”.
He takes a message of impartiality based on skin color and twists it into a message of partiality in favor of wickedness.
And so, he has completely denied the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The difference between Torah as a Constitution of the 12 tribes of the Republic from Torah as the religion of the Jewish people established through the Middle Ages codes of the Mishna Torah and Shulkan Aruch. Classical lashon Chazal has Torah, dat, halacha, derech eretz, minhag—but not “Judaism” in the Protestant sense of private belief and Sunday rituals.
The medieval “religionization” of Torah—Mishneh Torah, Tur, Shulchan Aruch—does something different. But both Church and Islam have produced the fruits of genocide. Large swaths of their histories – indeed marked by forced conversions, inquisitions, or holy wars justified by pompous claims of universal truth. Xtian Europe under the Nazis, and Islam where the ’48 and ’67 wars — wars of genocide to throw the Jews into the Sea.
Torah defines the 8th Oral Torah midda — TRUTH — (which the church denies to this day) as “path”. Meaning that each person and/or people have their own true path destiny walk before their Gods. Since only Israel accepts the God of Sinai ipso facto Goyim worship other Gods. The local tribal god of Sinai does not compare to the Universal Monotheistic Gods of either Xtianity or Islam. Since only Israel accepted the Sinai, all non-Jewish God-talk is, by definition, “other Gods;” no where does the Xtian Bible or Muslim Koran once bring the שם השם revealed in the first Sinai commandment. Furthermore the false counterfeit religions fail to distinguish the fundamental concept of faith which discerns between the Divine Names יה, האל, אל, אלהים, אל שדי, איש האלהים from the Shekinah שם השם.
The Book of בראשית, the Avot called upon these Divine Names because the Torah in the Heavens; whereas at Sinai the revelation of the Torah upon the earth, expressed through the revelation of the שם השם. Thereafter in the Book of D’varim explicitly taught that Torah does not come from heaven. Goyim rejection of the Torah means that for them their God remain in Heaven and not within the Yatzir Ha’Tov within the bnai brit hearts.
Torah understands truth as path. Xtianity & Islam understand truth as set in stone a monopoly dictate. Truth as “Path” validates that many paths exist that a person him or herself can choose to walk therein. “Path” as a monopoly dictate means that the dominant Xtian or Muslim theology slaughters any and all heretics. The two definitions of “TRUTH” not at all the same. Torah revealed only to the Jewish people. We as a tiny tiny tiny minority of Mankind do not pretend to any psychotic notions of “Universal” anything least of all the local tribal god of Israel.
Its truly an honor to discuss with you the different “textures of languages”; cotton fiber feels different from wool or linen fibers. The Torah directly forbids mixing linen and wool in clothes. Linen a summer fabric whereas wool a winter fabric. The oversimplification of “Universal Monotheism” an utter abomination of faith. Rambam’s Mishneh Torah a comprehensive code of halacha perversion; its יד\14 arranged not around tribes and land allotments, but around abstract legal categories and mitzvah-topics. His halacha code designed to permit Jews in g’lut to learn and lived religiously obey. The subject becomes the yachid (individual) asking, “What is my chiyuv?” more than a polity asking, “What is our constitutional structure?” The national-constitutional elements subsumed and lost under the religion of Yidishkeit.
Certain strands of Jewish thought emphasizing particularism—the idea that the Torah originally revealed specifically to Israel alone; which excludes all universal pretensions. That other nations have their own valid paths because they refused to accept the revelation of the Torah at Sinai. For example the false Rambam opinion known as the 7 mitzvot bnai noach (primarily Sanhedrin 56a-60b) which he interpreted as 7 Universal commandments for all Mankind. The Book of D’varim classifies two types of Goyim residing in the oath sworn lands; the gere toshav and the Canaanite NaCree or Samaritan refugees who have no legal rights because they falsely claim themselves to be the “real Jews”; a claim taken up by both Xtian and Muslim replacement theologies.
Despite Rambam’s bombastic bunk claims, his code does not remotely resemble the revelation of Oral Torah at Horev because his code prioritized alien Aristotle deductive Order & logic over the kabbala of rabbi Akiva’s פרדס inductive Order & logic. The lights of Channuka testify that only פרדס logic explanes the revelation of the Oral Torah at Horev on Yom Kippur 40 days after the sin of the Golden Calf. Meaning the P’rushim catagorically rejected the assimilated Tzedukim/Karaite attempts to convert Jerusalem into a Greek polis and forget Oral Torah inductive logic.
The Aggadic source in mesechta Sanhedrin which address the subject of 7 mitzvot “bnai noach” strictly and only applies to gere toshav Goyim living within the borders of Judea. The Sanhedrin courts Capital Crimes mandate only applicable to within the borders of Judea when Jews rule the land as an Independent nation. The Sanhedrin court failed to correctly judge Herod, and put him to death for his Capital Crimes because Herod was appointed as king by the Roman occupiers!
Some want to argue that Nazi ideology was not “purely” Xtian because it blended pagan Germanic elements, racial pseudoscience that favored culling inferior races, anti-clerical tendencies etc. But this argument utterly fails to ignore the plain and simple fact that for 2000+ years the church has publicly boasted that Europe converted to Xtianity and accepted that faith. Hence the curse: “by their fruits you shall know them” applies equally to both Xtian Europe and Muslim Arab lands which make the same boast! That those Middle East lands converted to embraced Allah as God & Muhammad as the last prophet.
Arab propaganda has pulled a rhetoric rabbit out of its hat! Nakba originally referred to the defeat of 5 Arab Armies and their failure to throw the Jews into the Sea; the nascent Jewish state (as coined by Constantin Zureiq in his 1948 pamphlet, blaming Arab disunity and aggression).. Changed Nakba unto the Arab refugees, while ignoring the greater “Nakba” of Jews thrown out of Arab lands!
The Oral Torah stands upon the משל metaphor of Israelites making bricks through the medium of straw in ancient Egypt. The “bricks” נמשל, the logical middot taught by Rabbi Akiva’s 10 middot, Rabbi Yishmael’s 13 middot, and Rabbi HaGalilee’s 32 middot. The study of both Talmud and Midrashim – halacha and aggada builds the “construct” of understanding the intent of these texts through the basic building blocks of these 10, 13, and 32 respectively. The middot of Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Yishmael, and Rabbi Eliezer HaGelili are literally paths of reasoning—ways we walk from text to halacha. Even inside Torah there are multiple derachim—Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai, Bavli and Yerushalmi—“eilu v’eilu divrei Elokim chayim.”
Rambam’s Universal God follows the Avoda Zara of Xtian and Muslim theology just as his Universal bnai Noach represents only his own personal opinion among Reshonim peer scholars! The Reshonim did not poskin halacha from aggadic sources as did the Rambam. Halacha follows the majority and not a single minority opinion. The Rambam supporters centuries later confuse the lone Rambam misinterpretation of 7 mitzvot bnai noach as applicable to all Goyim Universally – simply bat shit crazy.
The Rambam codification of halacha called Yad Chazakah as opposed to the false name Mishna Torah. Why the latter a false name for the Rambam halachic code? Because the Book of D’varim has the 2nd Name of Mishna Torah! Rabbi Yechuda Ha’Nasi named the 6 Orders of Sanhedrin courtroom rulings “Mishna” based upon the 2nd name of the Book of D’varim. Mishna Torah means “Common Law” – meaning law derived from courtroom common law precedent Case/Rule comparisons! The Rambam’s halachic code a Statute law that follows the model of Greek and Roman law imposed by governmental decrees rather than courtroom rulings. The two legal systems day and night different from one another.
The post Shoah term “Righteous Gentile” refers to Goyim who risked their lives to save Jews from barbaric European Xtian European Nazis. World to Come refers to the brit cut between the pieces wherein Avram cut a brit alliance concerning the eternal future born birth of the people having the status of “Chosen Cohen seed of Avraham, Yitzak and Yaacov and not the future born seed of Moshe Rabbeinu which forced HaShem to make “t’shuva” and remember the oaths sworn to the Avot. Even HaShem cannot annul a Torah oath. But even Man can annul vows!
The “Sanhedrin” under Roman authority compares to the “Sanhedrin” established by Napoleon. Both existed only as a rubber stamp – tits on a boar hog. Torah as constitution of a sovereign people vs Torah as religion of a powerless minority. Everything else—Rambam, Shulchan Aruch, Bnei Noach, Christianity, Islam, Nakba—fits into that split.
Torah as constitution vs Torah as medieval “religion”; A republic of tribes in its land, not individuals shopping for “salvation.” Torah, dat, halacha, derech eretz, minhag—never “Judaism” as a private Sunday-style faith. Rambam’s 14 books (yad) are arranged thematically, not by tribes, land, courts, or real political institutions. This latter g’lut “Earth-quake”: shifts from “How does the people govern?” to “What is my individual chiyuv?” These codes are optimized for galut Jews, to survive as a religious minority without sovereignty. This represents a “medieval religionization” of Torah—the turning of brit Sinai into a statute-based religion.
Reverend, you are leading muddle headed fools into the pit of hell, right along with you. This is why the TEC is dead.
If you’re dumb enough to take this clown’s advice, do it! The herd needs thinning anyway.
Will this tinhorn bishop be at the front during parades, protests, and ICE interference, or is he just running his mouth and inciting to riot?
I’ll renounce my baptism in the church what a jerk this priest is!
Maybe that’s a good idea. Because it sounds like you’ve lost your way and no longer understand what it means to be a christian. Forever, those of us who walk with Christ have been under threat from people who regard the world’s treasures as theirs and theirs alone.
Someone far above a mere mortal once said; “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesars, which means “Obey the Law”, followed by; “The poor will always be with you”, which implies that being poor is an affliction common to ALL societies, yet the people this “priest” calls to protect are ripping the US taxpayers when after 10 years in the US, 78% are jobless (if you don’t count defrauding US) taxpayers a job) and on welfare…..hmmmm.
sorry you are so poorly informed about the economic contributions of our immigrant neighbors; sadly you are throwing out made up numbers to justify acts of blatant evil. Should you have educated/informed opinion about our economy, immigration, due process, states’ sovereignty, freedom of speech – let’s talk. but please stop the hyperbolic vitriol.
He stated factual information. Stop lying about those who chose to break our laws to come here and then broke our laws again, probably multiple times, to work, own a car, etc. It is YOU who are justifying blatant evil. Repent and turn to God and His righteousness will free your mind from the evil that currently blinds it — or burn in Hell for all of eternity
Bless you, Bishop Ron, for saying the hard part out loud.
Following Jesus means taking up our cross, not inflicting it on others who might be different.
Christ’s peace be with you and your Diocese.
This “Rev” is doing Satan’s work and if he does not repent and turn to God he will burn in Hell for all of eternity
Rick, the cross does not give license to sin. Those who pervert the grace of God into a license to sin are condemned (2 Peter 2, Jude)
Here’s what Jesus said …
“23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life FOR MY SAKE will save it.” – Luke 9:23-24
If you lose your life for the sake of justifying, supporting, and giving license sin, you’re not a hero. On the contrary, that would make you extremely wicked and also, frankly, extremely stupid. Such would not bode well for you on judgment day.
It is extremely wicked to conflate skin color with abominable sin. And it’s also extremely wicked to conflate skin color with illegalities. To do so is, in fact, fairly racist on your part and on the part of the “bishop”. It’s not a sin to have a “different” color of skin. Nor is it illegal.
What he and you both are doing is trying to elevate, advance, and encourage wrongdoing and wickedness, using skin color and ethnicity as an excuse.
By your “others who might be different” reasoning, you could justify any sin and all manner of wickedness imaginable, because the sinner is “different”. You need to pick up your Bible and start reading it for a change. You obviously have not.