Ted Walther's Private Diary

For the past couple years the civilized world has discussed the issue of torturing prisoners. Photographs said to be US soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners in Abu Graib prison were distributed world-wide. The news-media, working to bring down the president of the USA, have quoted him as supporting torture.

Torture is common among all the non-Christian countries today. Not so long ago, the Roman Catholic countries also practiced torture in the execution of their inquisitions.

What light does God's gold standard of justice, his Torah, have to shine on the topic of torture?

Deuteronomy 25:1-2 If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked. And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number.

God's Word is clear; a man may be punished only after he has been tried and convicted by a jury. Note that judges is in the plural. Every juror, every member of a jury, is a judge, and that is why professional judges are called jurists. Torture is a form of extreme punishment; since punishment pre judicio is forbidden, so is torture.

The Torah forbids torture. The Apostles Paul and John agree. It also forbids trials in absentia.

Acts 23:2-3 And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth. Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?

John 7:51 Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?

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Naked protest is an ancient tradition across the globe among every race of people.

It is morally equivalent to tearing your robes, tearing out your hair, and wearing sack-cloth and ashes.

Mexican farmers, Russian Doukhobors, Africans of every type, and Europeans take off their clothes as a way to publicly show the humiliation their oppressors are foisting on them.

You have heard it said, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Truly, truly it is easy to trip over the thresh-hold. But when you see another at the thresh-hold, you close the door. Wicked ones! How did you pass through the gates? By yourself? If you would remain, then you must help others to enter also.

[Note: this article is unfinished]

At what age is a person accountable for their actions? How old do you have to be to take the full consequences of the law?

In most Western countries, children under the age of accountability are given different sentences for crimes than adults. Is this fair or just? The Torah can tell us.

Elisha and the bears; Ishmael and Isaac. Moses at age 40.

Booze is an informal word in English, referring to alcohol, and most often, to beer. The word comes from Egypt, where it referred to a type of beer made from skirret weed, a licorice-flavored plant, and "Assyrian root" or radish. Bouza, the Egyptian drink, was made for more than 5,000 years. It isn't sold in Egypt today because of hygiene and sanitation laws.

Genesis 25:29-34 And Jacob boiled some stew: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red stew; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.

My Ethiopian roommate cooked some red lentil stew tonight, a traditional dish of ancient origin in his country. It was made of minced garlic, onions, ginger, paprika, and lentils. It was the tastiest thing I've had in a long time. Addictive even. As I spooned it down my throat, I almost started to sympathise with Esau, torn between his birthright and a bowl of this rich and spicy red lentil stew.

[This blog entry is half-done. Will finish later]

Crude oil is undervalued, and has been for the past several hundred years. It should cost about the same as olive oil, which is just over $1000/barrel.

People have complained as the price of oil has shot up from $33/barrel to $60/barrel. The buzz last summer when the price of gas rose was that oil would go up to $100. Lately, two of the worlds most successful investors, Bill Bowers and George Soros, allowed it might go as high as $260 per barrel [1]. I say they are all wrong. Rock oil is finally going to correct itself to $1000 per barrel, its true value.

Let's look at the Scriptural evidence for this.

Deuteronomy 32:13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;

Job 29:6 When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil;

Of course, this price increase doesn't have to happen. Oil could go easily back down to $12 per barrel. All we have to do, as a nation, is repent and follow God's Torah. He promised to bless us with abundance. Oil is a renewable resource, just like milk and butter. God controls the tap. As our society has become more and more wicked, with genetic experiments, cloning, genetically modified food, artificial insemination, and other forms of witchcraft, God will continue to close the oil faucet. But when he turns it back on, it will be a tremendous sight to see. Our earth has a massive volume. It can generate more oil than we can ever use. There is a long term oil cycle involved, which does not involve fossils.

1. January 27, 2006 article by Nelson Schwartz, senior editor of FORTUNE magazine

The new Ethiopian roommate was complaining about viruses on his computer. He couldn't even connect to the Internet. His computer is an old, cheap, used hand-me-down, so I was worried the sound card wouldn't be detected properly. But I handed him a cdrom with Ubuntu Dapper Drake 6. It installed and rebooted without any problems. Internet, sound, video, and the mouse worked without any decisions on my part. That makes two people now who have made the switch from being virus-ridden computer illiterate Windows users, to happy and still computer illiterate Linux users. Thank you Mark Shuttleworth.

For the past couple months the mother of my children has not been able to log into her web server to update her diary. Knowing I am a Linux expert, she appealed to me for help. The problem had appeared almost a year earlier, but went dormant for a few months. Then it reappeared several months ago. I investigated, and could find no reason for it. Other people could log into the server from different locations. But no matter what software we tried at her location, OpenSSH or PuTTY, all ssh connections were closed as soon as they were opened.

I brought in other experts, who also could not find any reason for her problem. One of them suggested a man in the middle attack. Last night I had a dream that the problem was fixed somehow. So when she phoned and offered $100 to have me fix it, I told her "just try it one more time". She called me back in five minutes, excited and happy. "It works! What did you do?" I had to tell her the truth; I didn't do anything. I had a dream. I didn't even remember the dream, I just remembered the message of the dream. This must be how the old testament prophets felt. (Luke 5:4-8)

Since I didn't do any work, I told her to keep her money, but to offer up prayers to God. Technology is cantankerous and testy; there are things which only God can fix, even in the realm that technology claims for itself.

I visited the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church at 3985 Kingsway St, Burnaby, BC, Canada this morning. It is a ten minute walk from my house.

Sunday previous, I popped in at lunch time, and everyone had left except one of the deacons. He said to come back next Sunday at a particular time. I wanted to inquire closely about a matter of sacrifice. As a follower of the Mosaic Law, I do not believe the animal sacrifices were done away with in the New Testament. My new roommate is an Amhara from Ethiopia, and he told me that his church also practices the old sacrifices. I felt validated; one of the most ancient branches of the Christian church agrees with me that the sacrifices are not done away with!

When I came to church today at the appointed time, I saw I had come early. Today daylight savings time started; I came at the correct time but the congregation was delayed by an hour. I was glad of it afterward; the service was very beautiful. The women sat on the right hand side of the hall, and the men on the left. This is exactly how the Holdeman Mennonites and Jews run their services. The women were all covered with attractive white chadors, and half of the men were wrapped in white togas. They did not chant their liturgy, they sang it.

After the service, the deacon who told me to return the Sunday previous, introduced me to a young man who he said was "the man to talk to." I immediately felt suspicious. The man seemed like he wanted to get rid of me quickly. He was clean shaven, dressed in a natty black Armani suit. When I asked about the sacrifices he said that "they were done away with 2000 years ago, and we follow the New Testament now." He had to run, so I remained sitting, thinking. Why the discrepancy with what my roommate had told me? The young man at the church wasn't giving off the honesty vibes I wanted.

After sitting on the bench at the back of the church for a couple minutes, a middle age man approached and introduced himself, and welcomed me. When I mentioned the sacrifices, he immediately admitted "yes, we do them in Ethiopia, but I shouldn't talk to you about it, only the Father, the priest, can authorize someone here to talk to you about it". The man seemed very humble and earnest, and I felt honesty and graciousness soaking out of his every pore. Curiouser and curiouser!

The middle age man quickly introduced me to the congregation secretary, a powerful, grey-haired man in his fifties. Named Abiba, the secretary is named after the month Abib, the month when Passover and Easter are celebrated, when the ears of barley turn green. Abib literally means Green Ears in Hebrew. I'm sure he won't be offended if I call him Green-Ears, although "Green Ears of Corn" would be more proper. Green-Ears said that the sacrifices are indeed practiced in Ethiopia, and that the reason is that Jesus upheld and established the Law, the Torah, in Matthew 6. As I suspected, the Ethiopian Church never saw a good reason to stop the sacrifices. They do not see them as conflicting with Jesus covenantal sacrifice, any more than the taking of communion does.

As to method, the Ethiopian church kills the sacrifices with a single stroke across the throat using a sharp knife. Also, as per Moses instructions to use an altar made of earth, they slaughter the animal on bare ground, without an altar. The earth itself is their altar. Anyone is allowed to do the sacrifice; I didn't have enough time to ask why that is so. There are families in Ethiopia who claim descent from the tribe of Levi, and who guard the ark of the covenant, which should entitle them to be the ones to do the sacrifices and collect tithes. I will try to ask those questions for next week.

Secretary Green Ears was surprised when I told him that you could roast a sacrifice with the guts still in it. Like most people, it seems the Ethiopians believe that leaving the guts in will poison the meat. In practice, this isn't the case. At death, the animal empties its bowels and bladder. What is left in the intestines is partially fermented grass, which is not harmful. The worst that can happen during the roasting is that the intestines swell and puncture some holes in the sides of the animal. The Sioux Indians of North America used to take a buffalo intestine and suck the fermented grass out of it as a type of very healthy salad. By analogy, maybe the grass in the intestine is the "bitters" that the Israelites were supposed to eat with their passover.

The Ethiopians remove the guts and internal organs, wash them, then use them for various purposes after the sacrifice.

When I asked about the liturgy, I was told they had copies in the church library, but noone could really give it a name. Secretary Green-Ears said that it was divided into 14 parts, and one part is recited each week. Also that the liturgy came from Saint Basil, presumably the Basil that organized monastic life with the monastic rule that came to be followed in all the monasteries of the Orthodox world.

Before I became Torah observant, I loved Filipino food. My favorite dish was something called pancit palabok. Pancit palabok is a type of clear, translucent, rubbery noodles cooked with a special sauce. It has slices of boiled egg on top, and lots of little crunchy pieces of "chicharon" or pork crisps (deep fried pork rinds) sprinkled over top. It has everything; something chewy, something soft, something crunchy, and something spicy.

When I gave up pork, I had to eat palabok without the chicharon. It just wasn't the same. It lacked the little crunchy bits that made it so much fun. I thought of using potato chips, but they weren't crunchy enough. Last night I tried my own special popcorn blend. It worked! Pancit palabok is now as fun to eat as I remember it. I don't know if this trick works with regular popcorn; let me describe my special blend.

First, I deep fry the corn seeds until they pop. Then I pour olive oil over it and add nutritional yeast, salt, and cayenne pepper. Then I shake it. Here are the proportions:

• 3/4 cup popcorn kernels
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Several of my friends say they find this popcorn recipe addictive. They always ask me to make it for them. You have been warned.

The United States Constitution says that a person has a right not to incriminate themselves.

Amendment Five, U.S. Constitution: No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

What does the Torah have to say about the right of a person not to testify against themselves?

John 5:31,32,36,37: If I bear witness by myself, my witness is not true. There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true. … for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. …

John 8:18: I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.

Those two quotes don't seem to square up. Why would Jesus bear witness to himself, if his witness is not true? What did Jesus mean? Let's look at what the Law says about witnesses.

Numbers 35:30 Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die.

Deuteronomy 17:6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.

Deuteronomy 19:15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.

Matthew 18:16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

It looks like Jesus was saying that in a capital case, and even in minor cases, it takes two or three witnesses to convict a man. If Jesus only witnessed about himself alone, his witness would be impossible to verify. But because his works and his Father both witnessed for him, his witness was established according to the Torah.

How does this tie in to a persons right not to incriminate himself? It seems like a distorted version of the rule of two or three witnesses. It means that even if a person does confess, that is still not sufficient evidence; you still need a second or third witness besides. In other words, in the Torah, a man's own word is not enough to convict him.

The Torah is much more generous than manmade law. To take advantage of the Fifth Amendment, a person has to keep their mouth shut. Under the law of Moses, it doesn't matter what a person says; the right is always present.

Let's put our scientific hat on now. WHY would a law code make a man's confession out of his own mouth insufficient to convict him? The reason is justice. Godly justice. Godly justice requires only the guilty be punished. In times past it was known for a poor man to "confess" to a crime he was innocent of, in return for various favors. The man might die, but his family would get the reward. Even today innocent men are often offered "plea bargains" where they confess their guilt to a small crime, and recieve a punishment. Most men accept, because they cannot afford to hire competent lawyers to defend them in the labyrinthine laws of this un-Godly society. Under the law of God, this unjust practice isn't so easy to pull off. Two or three witnesses must be found. And the law itself is so short and simple, with no additions or removals allowed, that there is no NEED for lawyers. A man can easily defend himself on the merits of his case.

Notice also of a right to a grand jury. This also conforms with the requirements for capital punishment, of stoning to death. To stone someone to death was the job of both the witnesses first, and the grand jury afterward. If the grand jury chose not to convict, then the person would not be stoned. If the community felt that justice had not been judged in a persons case, they would not stone them. Therefore, stoning a man to death for a capital crime truly is a reflection of community justice; a community would not stone someone unless they were convinced of his guilt beyond a shadow of a doubt. And after the community had participated in the stoning, they could not later go back and say they made a mistake; they themselves were responsible for the punishment. This acted to prevent mob action and hasty, rushed trials. This also naturally leads to the right of no double jeapordy; you are judged once and acquitted, or punished. Since everyone has a role to play in the sentencing, noone can go back later and say the trial wasn't fair.

The US Constitution was based on the Law of Moses, although in a slightly distorted form. I may go more into this topic later.