The Facts, Not the Fanaticism

The following intro and video are from COVID Shots to “Decimate World Population,” Warns Dr. Bhakdi – The New American

In this exclusive interview with The New American magazine’s Senior Editor Alex Newman, world-renown German-Thai-American microbiologist Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi warns that the COVID hysteria is based on lies and that the COVID “vaccines” are set to cause a global catastrophe and a decimation of the human population. Starting off, he explains that the PCR test has been abused to produce fear in a way that is unscientific. Next, he explains what the mRNA vaccines are going to do to the human body in terms and using analogies that anyone can understand. Among other concerns, he expects massive deadly clotting as well as immune system responses that will destroy the human body. Finally, Bhakdi, who warned of impending “doom” during a Fox News interview that went viral, calls for criminal prosecutions of the people responsible and an immediate halt to this global experiment. (Emphasis mine)

“Anyone who has the slightest idea about infections and immune defense also knows that the mechanistic concept for the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination which is presented to the public is amateurish and naive from the start.”

 “Corona Unmasked” by Sucharit Bhakdi and Karina Reiss | Algora Blog

“Corona Unmasked” by Sucharit Bhakdi and Karina Reiss | Algora Blog

COVID Court:

Remember “Fifteen days to flatten the curve”?

One Year of 15 Days to Flatten The Curve – Evangelical Dark Web

Go to the following site and send the model bill to your state rep and senator. I did.

“FIVE FREEDOMS”: Model Bill 1: Vaccine Passport/Vaccine Discrimination Prohibition Bill – DailyClout

“FIVE FREEDOMS”: CDC Guidance, April 26 2021, Calls For Discriminatory Two-Tiered America On the Basis of Zero Science – DailyClout

Merriam-Webster Expands Definition of ‘Anti-Vaxxer’ to Include Those Who Oppose Forced Jabs – Summit News

‘We will give you privileges, we control you’… – CITIZEN FREE PRESS

Healthy 17 year-old Utah high school athlete develops 3 blood clots in his brain immediately after Covid Vaccine… – CITIZEN FREE PRESS

EU reviews reports of rare nerve disorder after AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 shot | Reuters

No Jab For Me

Dr. Zelenko — I have many patients suffering from ‘Vaccine Regret’… – CITIZEN FREE PRESS

Moderna reports $1.7 billion in COVID-19 vaccine sales, posts first profit ever – MarketWatch

‘Great Reckoning’ Coming for Fauci, Media on CCP Virus | Populist Press 2021 ©

Dr. Fauci’s Entire Career and Reputation Now Hinge On This One Video… – Revolver

Update on ivermectin for covid-19 – Sebastian Rushworth M.D.

“All independent groups of scientists, all concluding the same thing: that the evidence suggests that it [Ivermectin] should be the standard of care,” Dr. Kory said.

COVID-19 patient receives ivermectin drug from Elmhurst Hospital after judge’s order (fox32chicago.com)

You want to fight off illness and COVID?

Fish as A Natural Source of Vitamin D – Sizzlefish

Ivermectin, Dr. Pierre Kory of the Frontline COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FCCCA).

Home | FLCCC | Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (covid19criticalcare.com)

Mother’s Day Interlude

The regular Sunday afternoon phone calls to my mother ended just over a year ago. Mom passed last March.

Years before, my parents retired and moved a thousand miles away from Chicago. I called on Father’s Day and Mother’s Day. These phone conversations and the many others had an endearing sameness to them

When I called, Dad would pick up. He would ask “How’s things going? How’s work?” and then “Here’s mum”. Mom was the conversational one. She would ask “What’s up? Are you seeing anyone right now?” After I gave her the details – “Nothing new” – we talked about the weather. This went on until dad passed.

After dad’s passing, seven years before last March, my phone calls to mom began.

Mom, waiting anxiously, questioned me during the weekly “Mother’s Day” afternoon phone calls. “What are you doing with yourself? Are you behaving yourself? Are you following the Lord?”  She had concerns about me since my earliest days. As the oldest, mom had to endure the unorthodox me the longest. She did so with steadfast love and unwavering prayer.

As mom neared the age of 91, our phone conversations lasted only a minute or two. I would ask her, as I did many times before, “How are you?” She’d reply, “Hanging in there.” On the Sunday afternoon of the day she passed, I called and asked again “How are you?” Mom, barely audible, answered “Hanging in there.” She then dropped the phone in her weakness. She would go to the Lord that evening.

With the passing of dad and then mom, I told my sister that I felt I had lost a fixed reference point in the universe – true north.

*****

Each day, as the sun begins its daily round over the Chicago area, I take my long walk. The mix of Chicago weather keeps me guessing as to what to wear. The mix of exercise and endorphin release helps me deal with the stress created by the over 400 days of Illinois’ unconscionable mandates, restrictions and EOs.

I greet the people walking their dogs or jogging by. I say “Good morning” to the lady crossing guard who stops traffic to allow me to cross. But kids crossing the street or getting onto a school bus and going to school is rare these days. The tree-lined suburban neighborhoods I walk through are uncommonly quiet.

I walk primarily to think and pray. I never take a phone with me. I’d rather listen for the Lord. It was during a recent walk that I understood the Lord directing me to memorize Scripture once again.

During 5th and 6th grade I had memorized lots of Scripture. The Sunday School I was attending had a Scripture memory contest once a year. Students were given two pages of Scripture verses to memorize. On the day of the contest, we were to recite the text along with chapter and verse.

I don’t remember what I won but I do remember the scripture I memorized. Portions of it float to the top when I wade into praying and writing.

In the past two weeks I memorized Psalm 103. I printed the psalm and carried it with me on my walks. I rehearse the words two or three times during my walks.

Psalm 103 gives us Gods’ perspective:

For he knows how we were made;
    he remembers that we are dust.

Psalm 103 tells us how God deals with us:

As a father has compassion for his children,
    so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him

Psalm 103 adjures us . . .

do not forget all his benefits—

who forgives all your iniquity,
    who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the Pit,
    who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good as long as you live
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s

Did you know that God’s “steadfast love” is mentioned four times in Psalm 103?

If you want to detoxify your mind of Progressivism’s profanations (e.g., “birthing parent”), then I recommend that you begin to take the word of God into the core of your being.

*****

Episode 923 – Big Tech’s Peon Cyborgs … Big Tech Bans Trump, Transhumanism, Masks

*****

This Mother’s Day . . .

Let’s admit it. COVID is not a “public health” crisis. Over 99% of people recover from the COVID virus and do so with or without proven prophylactics/protocols such as Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin. An unproven “emergency use” vaccine is certainly not to be taken. It should never be given to our children, as Dr. Fauci, the man behind the Wuhan virus, and Big Pharma want to have happen.

The “public health” issue is the fascist governance that makes us lab rats in a controlled social engineering experiment. See links below for more information.

COVID Court:

Healthy 17 year-old Utah high school athlete develops 3 blood clots in his brain immediately after Covid Vaccine… – CITIZEN FREE PRESS

Healthy 17 year-old Utah high school athlete develops 3 blood clots in his brain immediately after Covid Vaccine… – CITIZEN FREE PRESS

Immediate Use of Ivermectin Medicine Globally Can End COVID-19 Pandemic: Scientists | The Weather Channel – Articles from The Weather Channel | weather.com

No Jab For Me

Dr. Zelenko — I have many patients suffering from ‘Vaccine Regret’… – CITIZEN FREE PRESS

Moderna reports $1.7 billion in COVID-19 vaccine sales, posts first profit ever – MarketWatch

Tennessee Woman Left Paralyzed And Unable To Walk After Taking Pfizer Vaccine – National File

19,916 ‘eye disorders’ including blindness following COVID vaccine reported in Europe | News | LifeSite (lifesitenews.com)

Professor Didier Raoult: “There are 70% side effects with the Pfizer vaccine . . .

Vaccine Shedding Causing Miscarriages and Blood Clots in Unvaccinated Females (banned.video)

Evidence mounts that Covid Vaccine causes spontaneous mental illness… – CITIZEN FREE PRESS

35-year-old woman dies of brain hemorrhage 11 days after receiving J&J vaccine | News | LifeSite (lifesitenews.com)

Tucker Asks How Many Died From Covid Vaccine and Exposes the Cover-Up (Banned From YouTube?) (rumble.com)

Home Depot goes full mask Nazi… – CITIZEN FREE PRESS

Cult Of The Mask: List Of Documented Mask Side Effects; Vexed; More! — Coronavirus Update LXIX

From the attached Mask PDF:

Here’s the list of negative effects, documented across many papers (from their Figure 2, which I wish was a Table): lowered O2, uppered CO2, increased humidity and temp, increased breathing resistance, increased respiratory rate, increased blood pressure, cerebral vasodilation, increased heart rate, respiratory impairment, exhaustion and fatigue, drowsiness, dizziness, headache, psycho-vegetative effect (my favorite), decrease in empathy (brother!), itch, skin irritation, acne, rhinitis, voice disorder, false sense of security (ahem), bacterial contamination, fungal contamination, and, the best for last, viral contamination.

May 1st Anti-Lockdown Protests in Ireland | Dave Cullen (gab.com)

Sharyl Attkisson digs into Covid origins… Fauci looks guilty… – CITIZEN FREE PRESS

‘The Walls Will Close In’: Kassam Says Great Reckoning Coming for Fauci (rumble.com)

Atomic Scientist Mag: Left Media Failed to Ask Questions Over Wuhan Lab… Trump Derangement Syndrome Let China Off The Hook. (thenationalpulse.com)

The Nazis are coming for you based on COVID hysteria (aka “public health concerns”):

Calgary Church hero Artur Pawlowski arrested by Canadian SWAT Team in the middle of busy highway… – CITIZEN FREE PRESS

POLICE STATE: Watch the moment a SWAT team arrests a Canadian pastor – Rebel News

Cross Purposes

You and I are inundated by narratives day and night. We are implored to spend our time, money, and allegiance in response to them. Their goads come at us through the mail, and via emails, radio, TV, and social media. Here are only a few of their associated rallying cries:

“Today Only!” “Act Now!” “Call Now!” “Last day to act!” “Crisis into opportunity!” “Doing nothing is not an option!” “Let’s get it done this year.” “We must move beyond climate talk to climate action.” . . . And there is, of course, The Great Reset’s pervasive “Build Back Better!” (bidding us to become the bricks and mortar of the Globalist’s Tower of Babel.)

The pressure to surrender and conform to narratives can be as manipulative as it is intense. The pressure is especially persuasive when a long-standing narrative fuels pressure to have a defining moment enacted. To wit, Palm Sunday and the so-called “triumphal entry”.

In terms of the gospel according to Mark, Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, though taking on a “triumphal” and precursive tone, was anti-climactic. There was no takeover, no ousting of Roman rule, and no fire coming down upon the unrighteous.

Jesus entered Jerusalem, went into the temple, and looked all around. It was already getting late, and he returned to Bethany with the twelve. (Mk. 11: 11)

Those who had lined the road up to Jerusalem and had shouted “Hosanna in the Highest” did so out of the highest hopes. Along with the palm branches, they held expectations of a “Messianic Apocalypse”:

. . . for the heavens and the earth will listen to His [God’s] messiah . . . [and all w]hich is in them shall not turn away from the commandments of the Holy Ones. Strengthen yourselves, O you who seek the Lord, in his service! Will you not find the Lord in this, all those who hope in their heart? . . .

These words, from the Qumran text 4Q521 dubbed “Messianic Apocalypse”, were written some 100 years before Jesus. I wonder. Did the people go home that night and ask each other “What’s up with that guy? Why doesn’t he get with the program?” They would have had their reasons for asking.

Second Temple period Jews were experiencing a cultural crisis. Under the rule of a Seleucid (Greek-Syrian) king named Antiochus IV Epiphanes (“god manifest”), that began in 175 BC, the Jews had been under tremendous pressure to conform to Hellenistic culture.

(Note: the apocalyptic visions recorded in the latter chapters of Daniel (7-12) were written in response to the ongoing Jewish persecutions (167-164 BCE) by Mr. “god manifest”. The chapters can be dated toward the end of the Maccabean revolt (see below).

Antiochus did all he could to push his cultural narrative onto the Jews. He plundered the temple, erected an altar for Zeus Olympus in the Jerusalem temple and sacrificed to Greek gods. Traditional practices of Judaism were outlawed.

Many Jews at that time were greatly concerned about the growing assimilation to Hellenism and its gods. While some Jews went along with the cultural change, others revolted against it.

The Maccabean revolt was the armed resistance. Mattathias, a priest, and his sons Judas Maccabeus, Jonathon, Simon, John, and Eleazar led the resistance.  Under Simon, Judea and Jerusalem achieved political independence for a time – the yoke of the Gentiles was removed from Israel (1 Maccabees 13:41-42)

After purifying the temple of foreign elements, Simon led a procession of those playing musical instruments and hymn singers waving palm branches into the temple. This much abbreviated version of second temple times sets the stage for Palm Sunday. You get a feel for what the people were thinking about Jesus.

Jesus entered a Jerusalem under Roman rule. The accounts of the Maccabean revolt, Simon’s “triumphal entry”, and the Messianic Apocalypse stoked imaginations that day. The crowd wanted Jesus to be the fulfillment of their Messianic hopes.

Jesus had encountered similar pressure to conform to the long-standing narrative – the advent of the Messiah – several times before.

When Jesus began to teach his disciples something new – there’s big trouble in store for the son of man – Peter did not hear Jesus conforming to the ‘popular’ messiah narrative. Sure, there had been trouble before. But this? . . .

There’s big trouble in store for the son of man. The elders, the chief priests, and the scribes are going to reject him. He will be killed – and after three days he’ll be raised. He said this all quite explicitly. (Mk. 8: 31-32)

Moments before Jesus said this, Peter had boldly declared Jesus to be the Messiah (Mk. 8:29). Clinging to a notion of the messiah as a formidable political and spiritual power and projecting onto Jesus that notion, Peter rebuked Jesus for saying things that took the wind out of the narrative he and others had been floating.

Jesus forcefully replied to Peter’s cross purposes:

Get behind me, Accuser! You’re thinking human thoughts, not God’s thoughts.

The renunciation of man’s narrative brings to mind Mark 1: 13. There, we read that Jesus went into the desert for forty days and was tested by Satan’s narrative.

Satan wanted Jesus to be the Messiah – a compromised, self-promoting, and self-advancing Messiah. He wanted the Jesus to be the Messiah the people wanted and not the Messiah the people needed.

Jesus had a growing number of people following him. Why not take advantage of the populist surge and clean house and become a hero? As before, there would be processions honoring a conquering hero. “‘C’mon, fulfill your destiny!” “The time is ripe.” “Act now!” “Build back better!”

Good Friday and Easter. We find out Jesus’ Cross Purpose. We find out why, though dealing with enormous opposition, he did not surrender to the pressure or conform to narratives and to cross-purposes. We are admonished to carry on the same way by considering his example:

We must look ahead, to Jesus. He is the one who carved out the path for faith, and he’s the one who brought it to completion.

He knew that there was joy spread out and waiting for him. That’s why he endured the cross, making light of its shame, and now has taken his seat at the right hand of God’s throne. He put up with enormous opposition from sinners. Weigh up in your minds just how severe it was; then you won’t find yourselves getting weary and worn out. -Hebrews 12: 2-3

Next, we’ll look at the gospel record of Jesus countering narratives and settling debates using “God’s thoughts”. We’ll also take a look at conformity.

*****

“We need an army to rise up,” he said. “We need people to stand up and not comply. We need a civil rights awakening again, noncompliance like Martin Luther King, Jr.” Our guests are: Rabbi Spero, Rudy Giuliani, Pastor Artur Pawlowski, John Brakey

You Violate My Terms of Truth

It didn’t take long. This morning I found the following YouTube notice (shown below as a screen capture). The “removed’ video was posted in Forcing Dysfunction on Sunday.

In the “removed” video, Dr. Carson spoke about the benefit of hydroxychloroquine as used by an African population – the people had a very low rate of COVID cases. He also spoke encouragingly of herd immunity.

Apparently, a site called YouTube is not about your narrative. It is about YouTube publishing a forcing function narrative on you.

Youtube’s mission statement? “Ignorance is strength.”

“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” ― George Orwell, 1984

The following video – The Manufacturing of Mass Psychosis, Can Sanity Return to an Insane World? – may explain YouTube’s menticide machinations. It certainly explains what has been going on the past 399 days.

Think about this video when you are ordered to submit to more mandates from the Fauci/CDC/Biden regime.

Watch before narrative publisher YouTube takes it down.

We need to talk about “parallel structures” . . .

Forcing Dysfunction

You and I encounter false narratives throughout our lives. Such narratives may be innocuous, as in “The tooth fairy will give you a quarter for the tooth under your pillow.” Or, they may be conniving, as in Obama’s “You can keep your doctor”. We also encounter behavior-shaping constraints based on narratives.

Forcing functions based on safety are common place. For example, one cannot operate a microwave or a washing machine without closing the door. Another example would be the reverse lockout on the transmission of a moving auto. We take these forcing functions in stride without a concern about our freedom. They make sense. But what happens when behavior-shaping constraints based on a quasi-safety-quasi-science narrative are employed to compel one to act against one’s own freedom?

Common sense safety practices have been abrogated and with them our freedom. Like good little sheep we are now to obey barking mad “Public Health” forcing functions: “wear a mask” (or “two”), “stay home”, “restrict your business”, “limit your church gathering”, “don’t go near your grandparents”, “social distance”, “get the jab”, “get the vaccine passport” “Do what we say or we will deal with you”, “We will tell you when it is safe to come out.”

Tragically, we are being forced to do senseless anti-human anti-social anti-flourishing anti-science things in the name of “Public Health”. And if we don’t do them AND don’t empathize with the forcing functions employed, we will be shamed or fined or our lives unplugged in the name of “Public Health”.

Over the past year our rights have been tethered to the “Public Health Crisis” narrative. Those behind the narrative – Globalists – took advantage of the manufactured COVID crisis. They played on emotions – empathy and fear – to get people to submit to the narrative.

The American people had been prepped to submit to top-down control by the “we need nationalized healthcare” narrative. That socialist gambit has been pushed for several years now. So, when the “Public Health Crisis” came along many were ready to have government bureaucrats tell them what to do.

 We could call the seizure of our livelihoods a “Marxist takeover”. But what has happened is more insidious than playing at Marxism. We are being forcing-function-ed into taking the deadly jab of fascism. Our lives, with our rights and property under the control of the Globalist Gatekeepers, will only continue with the proper papers – a vaccine passport for starters. Data collection of your life (social credit system) will determine if your “papers are in order”.

We are being driven into normalizing COVID mandates. We are being driven into normalizing fear. We are being driven into normalizing our submission to others whose narrative – The Revolution aka The Great RESET – we DO NOT share.

Do Not NORMALIZE and give credence to this insanity. You will go crazy. Do not become obsessed with germs. You will go crazy. Businesses and churches DO NOT normalize and give credence to masks, social distancing, and vaccine passports. DO NOT normalize dysfunction!

DO NOT kowtow to anything the “Public Health Crisis” narrative posits. Not even if you are told (lied to, actually) that things can return to normal once . . . maybe . . . well, . . .

Faustian Fauci, “the science” behind the Wuhan virus, when asked about the point of return to normalcy, answers with ambiguity. He remains in the media spotlight for just that reason – as a forcing function mechanism of dependence on “the science.” Put another way, Fauci “poka-yoke” appearances are a way of ensuring allegiance to “the science” without actually using science.

Things will not return to normal. This I know. For the “Public Health Crisis” narrative tells me so.

Over the past year we have been living under restrictions based on the false pandemic narrative. There is no pandemic. There is no “Public Health Crisis”. We have been lied to about case numbers. We have been lied to about the number of COVID deaths. (See my previous posts for details).

We are being told via every media source to “follow the science” and get the jab so we can return to normal. Don’t believe it. The father of lies is busy today.

Over and over again, Jesus countered false narratives with truth. He exposed the narrators and sent them reeling:

“You are the from your father the devil! And you’re eager to get on with what he wants. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he’s never remained in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells lies, he speaks what comes naturally to him, because he is a liar – in fact, he’s the father of lies!

Another false narrative promoted today: “America is systemically racist, ergo, racism is a Public Health Crisis”. Tomorrow, the false narrative will be “Climate change is a Public Health Crisis.” Next week, the false narrative will be “Guns are a Public Health Crisis.” The week after that, the false narrative will be “Christians are a Public Health Crisis.” With each false narrative will come the forcing functions to produce the outcome desired.

You and I, humans, are of no consequence to the Globalists. You and I are annoyance to be dealt with on their way to The Great Reset. You and I are seen by them as ants in their ant farm.

“Man has it all in his hands, and it all slips through his fingers from sheer cowardice.”

― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from the Underground

*****

You and I both know that most commercials and PSAs are created to condition the viewer to respond positively to whatever is being offered . . .

Media is a forcing function used to “steer people down one pathway”. The following video shows Neil Cavuto positing the Fox News corporate COVID narrative. Dr. Ben Carson deflects the narrative that Neil Cavuto is trying to steer him into. The reason Dr. Carson can deflect the narrative is simple: he looked outside the narrative and sourced the truth.

Note: YouTube has now removed the video. Not submitting to the false narrative is unacceptable for YouTube.

*****

What will the future of America look like? Hopefully, it will never get as horrific as it did under past failing liberal states. But this regime is already one that will denounce a police officer for saving someone’s life. This is a regime that tries to imprison a teenager for life for defending himself while trying to protect his community from a rioting mob. This is a regime that foments war in Ukraine to avoid admitting it lost an election. This is a regime that takes children from their parents so they can be put on hormone pills and have their genitals mutilated.

These Key Similarities Between Lenin’s Red Terror and America’s Woke Culture Reveal Left’s Blueprint For Complete Takeover

*****

COVID Court:

“29. It’s against the Nuremberg code to force vaccinations on a person, and informed consent overrides public policy. Federal law prohibits employers and others from using vaccines under EUA as a condition of employment. A Nevada attorney is ready to do battle. “

Keep this link: No Jab For Me

Woman lies paralyzed in Nashville hospital, after receiving Pfizer vaccine… – CITIZEN FREE PRESS

MIT researchers say you’re no safer from Covid indoors at 6 feet or 60 feet in new study (cnbc.com)

(READ) New blood disorder warnings appear on Covid-19 vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson | Sharyl Attkisson

(STUDY) Is shingles a new side effect from Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine? | Sharyl Attkisson

“I find it peculiar that all the people who told me they knew for certain that hydroxychloroquine was both dangerous and ineffective are now equally certain this vaccine is harmless and effective. Since I know they were lying before, their current proclamations don’t inspire confidence.”

Why I’m Not Getting the Vaccine › American Greatness (amgreatness.com)

“It is unclear how the FTC would know whether the products Neptune promotes is more or less effective at treating or preventing Covid-19 than vaccines. There are ongoing studies looking at the potential benefits of vitamins and various therapeutics when it comes to Covid-19.”

(Of course, Vitamin D works!)

Feds charge chiropractor for advertising vitamins as effective for Covid-19 | Sharyl Attkisson

*****

Episode 893 – Thunberg-ism … The Great Reset at the Sistine Chapel
Episode 887 – Big Media’s Next Propaganda Pivot … Lies About Lockdown, John Tamny

Artur Pawlowski is a Polish Pastor in Canada and a hero for freedom everywhere

A New American Divinity – Part I: Scientism. (thenationalpulse.com)

The Reset Controllers:

Informed Dissent

What is more monstrous? COVID-19 that has over a 98% recovery rate without a vaccine OR the debilitating pandemic of CONTROL-21 data collection which has no foreseeable recovery rate and forces you into bondage?

Before you answer these questions, ask yourself . . .

Why take an “emergency use” not-fully-tested vaccine? “The Science” terms you a” guinea pig.”

Why take mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) when your body already knows how to fight the virus?

Why take the vaccine when COVID has a 97-99.75% recovery rate?

Why take the vaccine when the prophylactic/protocol benefits of Ivermectin or Hydroxychloroquine are highly effective? If you think you have contracted COVID then call your doctor and ask for Ivermectin.

What does a vax passport mean?

Here’s what it means to Dr. Naomi Wolf. She warns about the IMMEDIATE dangers of vax passports and the end of liberty and human agency:

Here’s the link to Dr. Naomi Wolf on the Eric Metaxas Radio Show. She talks in more detail about Vax Passports, Bill and Melinda Gates, the “closed circle of profit” and more.

And, most curious …

Why aren’t churches and minsters talking about the dangers of the vaccine and vaccine passports? Do they fear losing something? Buildings? Status? Do they think that not questioning authority is what is required of a Christian? We don’t need more Chicken Soup for the Soul sermons and buildings for Bible classes. Where is the leadership? We can no longer live as cowards under cowards.

The scribe Daniel, living within a beastly empire, did not live as a coward. He was offered a passport to go on living – fall down and worship the golden image – and he said “No.”

Who will deliver you? The gods of men (e.g., Anthony Fauci, Bill Gates) or the Almighty God?

Education:

Parents Defending Education (The Indoctrination Map)

California Ethnic Studies Programs: Merchants of Revolution (city-journal.org)

Critical Race Training in Higher Education

Calif. Ethnic Studies Curriculum Accuses Christianity of “Theocide” (city-journal.org)

California’s proposed ethnic studies curriculum urges students to chant to the Aztec deity of human sacrifice to gain power of social justice. (We are told that Mary Magdalene was possessed by seven demons. Demons do not just possess a person. They are invited in by the person. And that is what will happen when a child chants to an Aztec deity.)

Vaccine court:

Father of seven, 43, is left paralyzed on one side and unable to talk after receiving J&J vaccine | Daily Mail Online

Chinese Whistleblower Dr. Li-Meng Yan Blames Dr. Fauci for COVID-19 Outbreak Coverup | Tech Times

Seizure in the drive-thru Vaccine line… Then the next dude collapses… – CITIZEN FREE PRESS

STUDY: Vaccinated people more likely to be infected with Covid-19 variant | Sharyl Attkisson

The Coming Genocide of Adverse COVID Vax Reactions, and Who to Blame for It | Coronavirus News (wordpress.com)

(READ) Compare blood disorder reports among Covid-19 vaccines | Sharyl Attkisson

Is the Astra-Zeneca vaccine killing people? – Sebastian Rushworth M.D.

Information for dissent:

COVID-19 | Fleming Method w/a 2-1/2-hour Masterclass on SARS-CoV-2

Home | FLCCC | Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance  “We regard ivermectin as a core medication in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.”

Fascism in America in 10 easy steps – Naomi Wolf (drnaomiwolf.com)

The voices of dissent:

Building Tools for Tomorrow’s Shareable and Social Democracy – DailyClout

BillCam: SB 615 To Prohibit The Requirement Of Vaccine Passports In Arkansas (dailyclout.io)

Become a precinct committeeman

I wouldn’t be opposed to someone creating a smartphone app that produced Vaccination record false positives for the Vax Passport gods. This would be in keeping with “The Science” – the FDA and WHO promoted PCR-test used to produce inflated case numbers.

You should ask yourself “Why was I born at this time?

Episode 869 – Party Line Science, CNN and the Medical Bureaucracy, Dr. Yan, Dr. Steven Hatfill, Dr. Betsy McCaughey, Dr. Richard M. Fleming
Episode 879 – A Who’s Who of Devils … Vatican Conference, More CNN Tapes
Episode 881 – The Russians Investigate Chernobyl … The Global Cover Up of the CCP virus, Josh Rogin

The First Noël

The following took place during my thirteenth year . . .

A week before Christmas Day, a gaggle of us self-conscious teenagers loaded into three cars. We headed to Elgin State Hospital, formerly called the Northern Illinois Hospital and Asylum for the Insane. Our church’s youth group leader had decided that, in the spirit of Christmas, his charges should bring hope and joy to the less fortunate.

Four of us sat bunched together in the back seat of one of the cars. We kidded each other about who was the crazier. We cackled and fidgeted and sniffed the mimeographed sheets of Christmas Carols and became giddier. None of us knew what to expect. “But for the grace of God” is all I heard the youth group leader say before I got in the car.

The high school senior driving our car asked us if we wanted to hear about “Elgin State.” We became quiet and ready to squeal like when the four of us sat at a campfire last summer. Jeff slowly spun out his words and waited for our reaction.

 “They say the place is . . . haunted … horrific experiments had been performed there . . . spirits of the unclaimed dead walk the cemetery grounds and, . . .  in the buildings, . . . the criminally insane live there.”

It didn’t take much. Jeff’s description of Elgin State and the winter wind that howled through Jeff’s rusted-out car gave us goose bumps. I wound and unwound the pretty purple printed sheets. Lise snapped her gum. Mary kicked the front seat and Joan kept biting her nails.

The three cars drove through the front entrance and down a long driveway towards the largest brick building I had ever seen. I suddenly felt out of place. I saw no signs of Christmas anywhere.

We parked along the front of the building. The youth group leader led our group of sixteen through the front door. He announced us at the front desk. Soon an older gentleman came down the stairs.

Dr. I-Forget-His-Name was bald and wore thick-rimmed glasses. In his white lab coat, he looked like the mad scientist I’d seen in a movie that I wasn’t supposed to watch but watched anyway at a friend’s house. Up close, I could see small blood vessels on his nose and cheeks. Whispering to Lise, I wondered if that is what happened when you work here. I tried not to stare when he escorted the group upstairs.

On the second floor he directed us to a double-door entrance. We walked through it. The room before us was bigger than any church sanctuary I had been in. There were large windows along the length of the room. They were foggy, providing a pale spectral light. None of the patients stood near them.

There were no curtains around the windows. There were no pictures on the walls, no paintings, and no Christmas tree or decorations. The furniture, wooden chairs and tables, was scattered around the room on the dull linoleum floor. The hall seemed soulless and indifferent toward the fifty gowned inmates within it.

The patient’s voices, moans, yelps, and shrieks sounded like they were coming out from a deep cave. Many sat staring off blankly. Some of them bobbed their head endlessly. Those who walked around seemed content to be walking in no specific direction. Our appearance at the double-door made no difference to them.

We gathered in two rows just inside the doorway and began signing Jingle Bells. Our voices reverberated and then seemed to go off somewhere. Our captive audience didn’t stir. We followed with Silent Night. There were a couple of moans of recognition. Then we sang The First Noël.

The First Noel the angels did say
Was to certain poor shepherds
In fields as they lay
In fields where they Lay keeping their sheep
On a cold winter’s…

Out from the hallway behind us came a naked man. He began shouting and writhing right in front of us. One of the girls shrieked. The patients whooped and hollered.

Two men with white coats tried to grab the man. But he squirmed and threw them off again and again. He jumped and shouted and flung his arms right in front of us. He wanted to be right in front of us.

More white coats came to help. They surrounded the man and subdued him. He was dragged from the room.

It took a few minutes for our youth group leader to get us back to singing. When we did, we kept looking behind us to see what was next. But nothing happened after that.

When we finished singing our host escorted us down stairs. At the door, he thanked us for coming. On the way home we had a lot to talk about. Jeff said nothing.

That night I told my parents about my experience at Elgin State. Father said he was reminded of the Gadarene demoniac. Mom said “That poor man.”

Two weeks later, on New Year’s Eve, I was allowed to stay up late. I sat with my father as he watched the newsman recap what had happened in 1965. Something was said about demonstrations and Vietnam and The Great Society. But I sat there thinking about “that poor” wild “man” in Elgin State. He sure reacted to The First Noël.

Are We to Be Their Playthings?

“There is no question in my mind that very significant powerbrokers around the world have either planned to take advantage of the next pandemic or created the pandemic.” – Dr. Michael Yeadon, ex-Pfizer VP

Sixty years ago, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, in his farewell address January 17, 1961, warned the nation:

“. . . we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military–industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist.”

The “conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry” persisted by the means of self-preservation: generate kinetic military action to generate the continued sales of military armament.

Clearly this “misplaced power” existed in the Bush-Cheney and the Obama-Biden administrations. Both made sure to continue world strife.

The Nobel Peace Prize winning 44th president launched more drone strikes than “43” carried out during two full terms. Obama launched two undeclared wars, and—as he bragged in a speech defending the Iran deal—bombed no fewer than seven countries.

Sixty years later and we are witnessing and are subject to another disastrous rise of misplaced powerGlobalist Oligarch Tech World Order Kyrioi Enclave (G.O.T.W.O.K.E.).

 The “military–industrial complex” was described as an “iron triangle” with government officials, legislators, and military-industrial firms at adjoining angles.

G.O.T.W.O.K.E. can be described as an inverted pentagram. The five interconnected points of darkness are globalists, oligarchs, techno-utopians, politicians and the media. Within the star are the stakeholders: government entities such as the CDC, NIH, DHS, etc., the Party of Davos, Pope Francis, and a supporting cast of useful idiots such as Progressive Christians -Evangelicals, Catholics, Jesuits – and election-stealing Democrats.

The inverted star represents the consortium of power and Satanic influence at work to subvert the created order.

Literature has analogies to G.O.T.W.O.K.E. For, the evil that man does to man has been repeated throughout history. Those who write to warn us, take the implications from the record of atrocities and apply them in a post-contemporary setting which contain new means to apply the same evil.

The three authors below published their novels after WWI and WWII. They understood the horrors resulting from progressivism and totalitarianism.

Aldous Huxley, in his novel Brave New World wrote of the World State and its motto “Community, Identity, Stability”.

In George Orwell’s 1984 we read ofthe “Party” and its enigmatic leader Big Brother. Of course, the Party has slogans: “War is peace,” “Freedom is slavery,” and “Ignorance is strength.”

C.S. Lewis penned a space trilogy. In the third novel in that series – That Hideous Strength – we learn of the National Institute for Co-ordinated Experiments (N.I.C.E.) N.I.C.E. is a scientific and social engineering agency and a front for dark supernatural forces. There are significant parallels of N.I.C.E. activity to what is happening today.

Like N.I.C.E., G.O.T.W.O.K.E. will stop at nothing to get their way. The epigraph and the following is from the article Ex-Pfizer Vice-President: COVID-19 Vaccines to Cause “Mass Depopulation” Event Within 2 years | The Red Elephants (the entire post is a must read!)

“I think the end game is going to be, ‘everyone receives a vaccine’… Everyone on the planet is going to find themselves persuaded, cajoled, not quite mandated, hemmed-in to take a jab. 

“When they do that every single individual on the planet will have a name, or unique digital ID and a health status flag which will be ‘vaccinated,’ or not … and whoever possesses that, sort of single database, operable centrally, applicable everywhere to control, to provide as it were, a privilege, you can either cross this particular threshold or conduct this particular transaction or not depending on [what] the controllers of that one human population database decide. And I think that’s what this is all about because once you’ve got that, we become playthings and the world can be as the controllers of that database want it.” 

And so it is that one of the pointy fingers of G.O.T.W.O.K.E., the media, invoked a representative of an increasingly Progressive Christian college to call out, persuade, and cajole White Evangelical Christians to submit to “a jab.”

“If we can’t get a significant number of white evangelicals to come around on this, the pandemic is going to last much longer than it needs to,” said Jamie Aten, founder and executive director of the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College, an evangelical institution in Illinois.”

White Evangelical Resistance Is Obstacle in Vaccination Effort – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

We are told in the NYT article that “Distrust of scientists has become part of cultural identity, of what it means to be white and evangelical in America”.

So, we are to trust Anthony Fauci, who with Francis Collins of the NIH, was behind the gain of function experiments gone awry in Wuhan China? Are we to trust scientism – scientific claims devoid of empirical evidence and debate and derived from ideology?

I wonder. Do Progressives pray “woke will be done on earth as it is in my belief system”? This would make sense with the following.

One of the rules Victor Davis Hanson lists in his article Radical New Rules for Post-America, Americans privately fear these rules, while publicly appearing to accept them is . . .

“Wokeness is the new religion, growing faster and larger than Christianity itself.”

Of course, to be a woke crusader one must wield the sword of wokeness. One must slash scientism deniers with cutting edge wokeness.

While woke warriors are fighting the good fight with yard signs, bumper stickers, virtue signaling, and interviews they are too busy to notice what G.O.T.W.O.K.E. is doing. This is by G.O.T.W.O.K.E. design.

The COVID-19 “pandemic” is being employed to produce a feudal state. The new class structures will mirror Medieval times.

 Following a remarkable epoch of greater dispersion of wealth and opportunity, we are inexorably returning towards a more feudal era marked by greater concentration of wealth and property, reduced upward mobility, demographic stagnation, and increased dogmatism. If the last seventy years saw a massive expansion of the middle class, not only in America but in much of the developed world, today that class is declining and a new, more hierarchical society is emerging.

The Coming of Neo-Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class by Joel Kotkin (goodreads.com)

One major way to bring about a feudal state is the control of money.

You may be aware that the Fed has propped up the stock market with low interest rates. But those not in the stock market and with a savings account have not earned interest on their money. So, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer – by design.

And, when the Biden regime talks about spending trillions of dollars for infrastructure (‘crumbling roads and bridges”) they mean they will spend a small portion on infrastructure and a massive amount to produce Obama’s “fundamental transformation” of society. The inordinate spending will mean increased taxation and not just of the wealthy. Raising your taxes is in the docket.

With the amount of government spending based on printing money and accruing debt beyond our GDP, a devaluation of the dollar and inflation will soon hit the economy. The middle class and poor will be hit hardest. Inflation means that the cost of goods will go up but wages will remain stagnant so that businesses can afford the cost of goods. Your purchasing power will decline.

With a devalued dollar, the Fed will create a digital world currency to replace physical currency. This may be done under the guise of securing public health: “cash passes on disease and pandemics”.

You will be required to exchange your physical dollars into the new digital dollar (DUSD). But here’s the kicker. The exchange rate will not be one for one. It will start out less than one for one and then decrease over time. This will serve to persuade, cajole, and force you to exchange your USD for DUSD.

And, as Dr. Michael Yeadon infers about the vaccine, a digital currency means we become playthings and the world can be as the controllers of that database want it.” 

Your smartphone is to become the controller’s means to monitor your behavior. A social credit system will be set up using your phone. This is not science fiction. This system will parallel the China Social Credit System mandated by the Chinese Communist Party. China’s population of 1,443,585,192 is controlled digitally.

Your money, your health, your contacts, your purchases – everything about you will be monitored in light (dark, really) of G.O.T.W.O.K.E. social policy. G.O.T.W.O.K.E.’s Great Reset is going to make this happen in our lifetime.

Consider what the above means for Christians. G.O.T.W.O.K.E. is led by atheists, nihilists and narcissists. None of them want anything to do with God. The tower of Techno-Babel they are building has nothing to do with God. They desire to delete Christ with their apps and algos and then by persecutions and deaths.

Some place their hope in a “horses and chariots” election, in an outpouring of rebuke against what is happening. But what I have written about above is taking place now and will not be overcome by voting in the ‘right’ candidates. We must prepare for what is next.

So, I believe it is time for Christians to prepare to go underground. Get rid of personal debt. Get rid of church buildings, building programs and church debt.

The underground church is nothing new. And, it is necessary. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist as Christians in China are fully aware.

We go underground to recover what it means to follow Christ and to steel ourselves with prayer and intimate community for what is coming.

For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.

Isaiah 60:2

*****

Episode 852 –they are coming for people of faith NY Times and Liz Cheney
Episode 854 – Occam’s Razor … Fauci’s Virus and Open Borders Superspreaders
Episode 858 – Naomi Wolf Cryptocurrency and China’s Passports … The CCP’s Next Attack

You can choose to not submit your yourself to those who would use you as playthings:

Here it comes:

CDC declares racism “a serious public health threat” – Axios

Bill Gates, George Soros Team Up To Form Organization Tasked with Policing with ‘Disinformation’ – Conservative Brief

Some women report heavier and more painful PERIODS since getting the COVID-19 vaccine | Daily Mail Online

Second Vaccination Site Halts Operations After Adverse Reactions to Johnson & Johnson Vaccine (theepochtimes.com)

Beautiful 28-Year-Old Nurse Died Because of the Pfizer mRNA Injection – Shaneya.Info

They Are After Your Child – They Want to Inject Your Child With Dangerous Synthetic mRNA Technology – Shaneya.Info

Mandatory Vaccines, Mandatory Tracking Bracelets and Mandatory PCR Tests Are a Pretext to Mandatory RFID Implants Into Our Hand and Brain – Shaneya.Info

Georgia is the fourth state to pause Johnson & Johnson vaccine (nypost.com)

We are CNN’s Playthings:

*****

Note: The “rapture” is a fantasy imposed onto Scripture. We should see the Scripture in the context it was written and not add fantasy notions to it. The Apostle Paul, by the Holy Spirit, gave us the imagery of Christ returning in power. In 1 Thessalonians 4.15-16 the Apostle “Paul is casting a vision of Christ’s return wrapped in political overturns (he actually does this a lot!)”. There will be no “rapture”. “The Late Great Planet Earth” and the “Left Behind” series of ‘end times’ books are fantasies imposed on Scripture. These books are not worth your time.

*****

A Plain Reading of the Times

The brainwashing techniques of the tortuous past year – the state’s coercion to make us obey irrational and inhuman restrictions, the sensory-depriving mask mandates, the social isolation, the state-instigated shaming and punishment of those not conforming, the 24/7 fear-peddling of the media, the forced subjugation to pseudo-science, the unrelenting “get-the” vaccine goading – reminded me of the O’Brien-Winston Smith struggle session in George Orwell’s 1984:

I tell you, Winston, that reality is not external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which can make mistakes, and in any case soon perishes: only in the mind of the Party, which is collective and immortal. Whatever the Party holds to be the truth, is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party.

O’Brien later questions Winston as to Winston’s understanding of why people are brought to Room 101. Winston replies “To make them confess”. O’Brien replies “No, that is not the reason. Try again”. Winston answers “To punish them.” “No!” exclaimed O’Brien.

“Shall I tell you why we brought you here? “To make you sane! . . . The Party is not interested in the overt act: the thought is all we care about. We do not merely destroy our enemies; we change them.”

What has taken place the past year is also eerily similar to the mind-control techniques used on Korean War prisoners detained by communists in North Korea and China. The Biderman Report of 1956, details techniques used on prisoners (see chart below).

What has taken place the past year -the quashing of dissent – is also eerily similar to the destabilization techniques (“decomposition”) that was used in Stasi psychological and political warfare.

…the Stasi often used a method which was really diabolic. It was called Zersetzung, and it’s described in another guideline. The word is difficult to translate because it means originally “biodegradation.” But actually, it’s a quite accurate description. The goal was to destroy secretly the self-confidence of people, for example by damaging their reputation, by organizing failures in their work, and by destroying their personal relationships. Considering this, East Germany was a very modern dictatorship. The Stasi didn’t try to arrest every dissident. It preferred to paralyze them, and it could do so because it had access to so much personal information and to so many institutions.
—Hubertus Knabe, German historian

“The aim of decomposition is the fragmentation, paralysis, disorganization and isolation of hostile-negative forces, thereby providing a differentiated political-ideological recovery.”

You can read about the methods of The Stasi Decomposition here.

The 20th century handed us blood-stained receipts for the purchase of ideological conformity. These should have served as warning signs. But these signs are being taken down. History, with its own voice of dissent, is being “decomposed” by those who are taking control of the past (e.g., the 1619 Project). For . . .

Those who control the present, control the past and those who control the past control the future. ― George Orwell, 1984

2021 and the “PARTY” continues. Over my 68 years I’ve witnessed the American psyche transformed from an attitude akin to that of fiercely independent frontier folk to that of the emasculated, passive and childlike Eloi. In the process Americans have become fodder for the ruthless dark army of the “PARTY”, aka Globalists.

It is the Progressives – “PARTY” useful idiots – who use coercion and control, as documented above, to demoralize, degrade, and dispatch Americans. It was the much-ballyhooed Progressive FDR who ordered Japanese-Americans into internment camps. FDR created a milieu of fear to perpetrate this crime against a portion of humanity.

Have you noticed? For Progressives, being a U.S. citizen means doing nothing more or less than what they say. And, Progressives do not stop with removing freedom and rights of Americans. They desire the exorcism of the human spirit so that you and I may only be possessed by their collectivist ideology.

Human agency is a problem for Progressives. Your claim to be made in the image of God is a major problem for them. Your heart, mind and soul must be purged of anything that is God-resident. We do not merely destroy our enemies; we change them.

Over the past year we’ve witnessed how they “change them”. We’ve seen people forced to submit to the indoctrination of Critical Race Theory. We learned of the dark army’s passage of the For the People Act of 2021 (H.R. 1) – the act works to keep the dark army in control Of We the People.

We’ve learned of Megan Markle’s childish “me-me-me” worldview that was meant to be replicated worldwide. And, we’ve seen the entire population locked down when only those at risk – a small segment of the population – should have been quarantined.

We’ve seen the normalcy “goal post” moved over and over the past year (a destabilization technique). We’ve been forced to follow the (pseudo-)science of COVID pronouncements.

In truth, leftists and Democrats have become the purveyors of superstition. Their creation of a fantasy world is not because they do not believe in science per se, but because they believe more in the primacy of ideology that should shape and warp science in the proper fashion for the greater good. What prompted Paul Ehrlich, Al Gore, or Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) hysterically and wrongly to forecast widespread demographic or climatological catastrophe in just a few years was not ignorance of science per se, but a desire to massage science for our own good.

. . . Fauci has rejected science, as he knew it, to mislead the public. . . he adopted the Platonic “noble lie” on occasion. – Victor Davis Hanson, Follow The ‘Science’ They Said

In this post I presented some analogies from history of what the intelligentsia – those who think they know better than you; today these are the Globalists of Davos – will do to make sure you are controlled to the nth degree so as to produce the outcomes they desire.

Now come the questions: Since we have the blood-soaked receipts of the evil that occurred in the 20th century are people now allowing it to happen again?

Where are people’s heads at right now? Are people running around in a make-believe Where the Wild Things Are world created for them by the thought-control Globalists? Is political correctness and the “cancel culture” about people preferring a make-believe world as found in children’s books? Do people relate to Megan-Markle spewing her WOKE pablum?

(What should be deeply concerning: history and now literature, which also takes us beyond our finite self-world, are now being discarded as not being relevant to one’s own “me-me-me” experience.)

Do people like being treated like children? Are there people who are perfectly content being juvenile in their thinking and playing the Eloi? A plain reading of the times would indicate this to be so.

“Take your medicine and we’ll give you a cookie (or a Krispy Kreme Donut).”

****

Below are some links, videos, and podcasts – basically, a plain reading of the times:

“…reports of injuries and deaths following the experimental COVID-19 “vaccines.”

3,964 DEAD 162,610 Injuries: European Database of Adverse Drug Reactions for COVID-19 “Vaccines” (healthimpactnews.com)

Doctors Around the World Issue Dire WARNING: DO NOT GET THE COVID VACCINE!! (healthimpactnews.com)

The vaccine – “an experiment on humanity.”

Wait Until You Find Out What They’re Not Telling You About Covid-19 – Revolver

Man’s skin ‘peeled off’ in reaction to Johnson & Johnson COVID shot (nypost.com)

Transhumanism, (Nano) Technology, and the New you!

Transhumanism Is The New Religion Of Technocracy

Here’s someone fighting the dark army with Light:

Deconstructing “Wokethink” – Mark Jeftovic (02/25/2021) – WallStreetWindow.com

Dr. Gad Saad: How Infectious Ideas are killing Common Sense; Idea Pathogens

EXCLUSIVE: Cigna’s critical race theory training: Don’t say ‘brown bag lunch’ and be mindful of ‘religious privilege’ (washingtonexaminer.com)

Episode 818 – Industrialized Crime … The Globalists’ Border Crisis and Endless Warfare
Episode 825 – Trust the Science, Follow the Money … American Elites’ Connection
Episode 831 – Black Box Voting … Ending Voter Fraud in Machines and By Mail

Added 3-31-2021: Here’s an interesting talk by an interesting character. Brand gives us a plain reading of the times. He comments on the Davos’ elitist view of things (us) and their takeover of the world via technology. He talks about the COVID Pandemic Shock Doctrine, The Great Reset, and the disturbing trends of technology.

(You will want to read the thread.)

“You still don’t get it?”

“I can see people,” said the man, peering around, “but they look like trees walking about.”

A blind man gains partial sight. He interprets the forms he sees via his prior limited understanding. Did he know at this stage that his perception was off?

The gospel according to Mark is composed of short narratives that could be easily visualized by those who heard its oral performance. Mark would have the listener hear, see and perceive who Jesus is. He would have the listener understand that seeing and hearing alone are not sufficient for the followers of Jesus. Understanding is what is required. At a mission critical point in the gospel account -Mark chapter 8 – Jesus reproaches his disciples for their lack of understanding.

The disciples had been mumbling about not having brought enough bread for their boat crossing. Yet twice before they had seen with their own two good eyes Jesus multiplying loaves to feed thousands. They had picked up the leftovers! And now they are mumbling about not having enough bread!

“Don’t you get it? Don’t you understand? Have your hearts gone hard? Can’t you see with your two good eyes? Can’t you hear with your two good ears?”

“You still don’t get it?”

Right after this rebuke is the narrative of the blind man who receives a two-stage healing of his eyesight (Mk. 8:22-26). The man’s depth of field is made whole. He could see everything clearly. Men were no longer like walking trees. His perception was growing.

Mark then increases the depth of field for those visualizing the account of the blind man’s healing:

Jesus and his disciples came to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his disciples, “Who are the people saying that I am?

(I suppose in this setting that Jesus’ question could also be stated as “What do people perceive about me?”)

He gets feedback.

John the Baptist,” they said, or, some say, Elijah. Or, some say, one of the prophets.

Like the blind man whose initial vision is without depth of field and lacking clarity, people are reporting that they are seeing a form that they were vaguely familiar with.

What about you? asked Jesus. Who do you say that I am?

Peter, recently admonished about the bread incident, doesn’t hesitate to declare “You’re the Messiah.”

The people perceived Jesus to be one of several polemical figures: Elijah, John the Baptist or a prophet. The people were looking for just such a figure to re-enter into their times and bring about God’s judgement on the wicked.

Peter, like many Jews during the second temple period, looked for a new emergent figure: the messiah.

Hearing Peter’s reply, Jesus gave his disciples strict orders to not disclose this to anyone. It would appear that Jesus had more to teach the disciples and he didn’t want them to go public without them seeing/understanding what he sees. Mk. 8:31:

Jesus now began to teach them something new.

Jesus tells the disciples that the son of man must suffer and die at the hands of those who reject him.

Peter is clearly rattled with this new teaching. Clinging to the vague figure of a messiah and projecting onto Jesus that image, Peter rebukes Jesus for saying things that would alter his own view of things.

Jesus sternly rebukes Peter for rebuking him.

Get behind me, Accuser! he said. You’re thinking human thoughts, not God’s thoughts.

Even after all that he had witnessed, including an unclean spirt that identified Jesus as “God’s Holy One”, Peter still did not perceive who Jesus is. Peter still didn’t understand. Peter, with his “human thoughts”, was still in “men as trees walking” mode.

Jesus does not hold back. Jesus goes on to describe what is required of those who follow him. He talks about life altering choices. He talks about accountability. (I think Peter, at this point, wanted to go back to passing out bread.)

Having taught them something new, Jesus, his mind set like flint towards Jerusalem, brings his closest disciples on a field trip. Peter, James and John go with Jesus up atop a high mountain. There, Jesus is transfigured into heavenly splendor right before their eyes. Moses and Elijah, the Law and the Prophets, are standing with Jesus.

Peter, again using human thoughts, didn’t know what to say but he said it anyway . . .

I tell you what – we’ll make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah!

Peter (“You still don’t get it?” Peter) gets another stern rebuke:

Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud: This is my son, the one I love. LISTEN TO HIM!

This same Peter declares to bystanders who are questioning his relationship to Jesus, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about.”

A Roman centurion who stood before the cross, saw how Jesus died. He declared “This fellow really was God’s son.”

Seeing, hearing and perceiving. “You still don’t get it?”

****

Mark’s skillfully structured biography uses a literary device (inclusio) to emphasize that seeing, hearing and perceiving things from God’s perspective are absolutely essential traits for followers of Jesus. Between healing-of-blind-man narrative brackets, Jesus takes his disciples aside and talks mission detail. He relates what His father has told them. He wants the disciples to take this in. This information will prepare them for what is coming.

Beginning Bracket: Mark 8:22-26. We read of a blind man receiving a two-stage healing. Then, in Mark 8:31-32

There’s big trouble in store for the son of man, he said. The elders, the chief priests, and the scribes are going to reject him. He will be will be killed – and after three days he’ll be raised. He said this all quite explicitly.

And, again in Mark 9:31-32:

The son of man is going to be given over into human hands. They will kill him; and when he’s been killed, after three days he will rise again.

They didn’t understand the saying, and they were afraid to ask him.

And, again in Mark 10:32-34:

“Look, he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem. The son of man will be handed over to the chief priests and the legal experts, and they will condemn him and hand him over to the pagans. They will taunt him and spit at him and flog him and kill him – after three days he will rise again.

End Bracket:  Mark.10:46-52. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus receives his sight after calling out loudly to Jesus “Son of David! Jesus! Take Pity on Me! … Son of David take pity on me! . . . Teacher, let me see again.”

****

Both hardness of hard (Mk. 3:5) and the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod (Mk. 8:15) can keep one from seeing and perceiving who Jesus is and what he is about. Jesus warned against both.

When the disciples asked about his use of parables (Mk4:10-13), Jesus’ response included words from Isaiah 6: 9-10:

The mystery of the kingdom is given to you, but for the people outside it’s all in parable, so that ‘they may look and look but never see, and hear and hear but never understand; otherwise they would turn and be forgiven.’

Don’t you understand the parable? He said to them. How are you going to understand all the parables?

When Jesus confronts the disciple’s mumbling about not bringing enough bread (Mk.8:17-18) he questions them as to whether they are just like the outsiders he talked about in his response to parable use:

Can’t you see with your two good eyes?

Can’t you hear with your two good ears?

Many today do not perceive who Jesus is. They, like Peter, readily associate themselves with Jesus, as Jesus appears to them as being “on the right side of history”. But they remain clueless as to who he is. Instead, they project onto Jesus a form they are familiar (and comfortable) with.

Some are not comfortable with a Jewish Jesus. Some project onto Jesus a Catholic or Evangelical image. Some project onto Jesus an image of a Progressive social justice warrior. Some say he is Elijah, some say John the Baptist and others . . . Oprah, for instance, projects a Pluralist-Pantheist-Playdough image onto “the Son of God”.

***

Why was Jesus pressing so hard for his disciples to gain understanding? Human thoughts deny the reality of Jesus every time. With God’s thoughts, God’s perspectives, we can see beyond our present circumstances and our present suffering and grab ahold of God’s resources.

The apostle Paul, who wrote of unwise hearts growing dark (Rm. 1:21) and teachers possessing an outline of knowledge and truth (Rm. 2:20) prayed for the church at Ephesus. He desired that the church receive the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus.

I personalized Paul’s prayer, found in Ephesians 1: 17-19, so that those of us who follow the Lord can pray and grow in the wisdom, knowledge and understanding of our Lord.

I pray that the God of King Jesus, our lord, the father of glory, would give me, in my spirit, the gift of being wise, of seeing things people can’t normally see, because I am coming to know him and to have the eyes of my inner most self opened to God’s light. Then I will know exactly what the hope is that goes with God’s call; I will know the wealth of the glory of his inheritance in his holy people; and I will know the outstanding greatness of his power toward those who are loyal to him in faith, according to the working of his strength and power.

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War Room Episode 795 – Dennis Prager, Transhumanism, and the West