THE STRONGMAN

God, bless the Haitian people.  They have suffered death and destruction and cholera and the lack of basic needs.  Who possibly would have guessed it could get any worse for them?  But last week former dictator "Baby Doc" Duvalier showed up from exile.  His dreaded Tonton Macoute "enforcers" used to terrorize Haiti before he was chased out.  Baby Doc says he has come to help, but strongmen usually have an agenda.

Sometimes persuaders are not brutal, but are just bullies.  Are you familiar with the SEIU?   The Service Employees International Union is the fastest-growing union in America, representing 2M workers in 100 different occupations.  SEIU members are in fields such as healthcare, food service, janitorial, and security.  They backed the President's election to the tune of $61M; the President required the TARP money to go solely to union workers.  And there are ACORN connections to the SEIU.  http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=35696

It might be fair to say that the SEIU and the White House are simpatico.  White House records for 2009 show the president of the SEIU topped the visitor's list with the most visits (22).   http://www.workerfreedom.org/seiu-president-andy-stern-visits-white-a3717

Apparently the SEIU also has a bus ministry.  The news has been full of these buses in the last couple of years.  When the Rally to Restore Sanity was held in D.C., SEIU buses brought folks in.  They also transported people 900 miles across the country to St. Louis to protest a company called Scripts.  And the purple buses brought busloads to town hall meetings and Tea Party rallies that resulted in some clashes.

Last May, news accounts described "thugs" that were bused in to protest in front of the PRIVATE HOME of the Deputy Counsel of Bank of America.   http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/19/news/companies/SEIU_Bank_of_America_protest.fortune/index.htm   A journalist named Nina Easton lived next door.  She wrote a piece about the incident after she got a call from the lawyer's anxious teen who was home alone when 14 busloads of protesters arrived.  If the SEIU had a beef with Bank of America, shouldn't they go to the business?


A bus caravan of 11 buses was sent in June from Los Angeles to Phoenix to protest the immigration bill. How exactly does that union/immigration connection work?  Workers' union funds go to transport SEIU people from CA to AZ to protest for immigrant rights...and that helps the unions how?  Don't unions want the work?

Now we are hearing that in Washington, D.C., the above pamphlet was distributed by the SEIU in protest of a Wal Mart to be built there.  Again, they call for protest at the developer's HOME.  But what's even worse, you can see the pamphlet has a bullseye beside the developer's home address.  It's troubling to put the home address...and the bullseye has recently been declared off limits for civility.

Nina Easton called the protesters in her neighborhood "the politics of personal intimidation".  That would be in keeping with a quote from Andy Stern on his Wiki page.  Mr. Stern was the SEIU president from 1996-2010 and he is unapologetic about targeting private firms and shaming business leaders.  Here is his quote:  "We use the power of persuasion first.  If it doesn't work, we try the persuasion of power."  

Persuasion by power, Mr. Stern?  Strongmen persuade as brutes or bullies, but no one likes being strong-armed.  Mr. President, if you have influence with these guys, please tell them their ways are not the American way.

I find it ironic that the One who COULD have displayed more power than all of us corporately combined...the same Mighty One who spoke the world into existence...DOES NOT stoop to strong-arm.  He chooses to deal with us gently; His agenda is to leave our future up to us.  He was truly the humble Savior at His first visit.  But when He returns, it will be as THE STRONGMAN who stands on the neck of iniquity...yet is a Friend to those who experience His grace.

I am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that day.