Thanks for your thoughtful writing here. I learned about this Substack via your episode on the Christian Libertarian Podcast so I'm excited to read more in the future!
I really enjoy your idea of Spy Wednesday. Very clever! And very true for many "Christians." Anyone who pursue's communion with the powerful at the expense of the poor is indeed a type of Judas.
I do wonder if it's a bit too broad of a brush to paint with when it comes to lockdowns. I agree that they were unnecessary, but I can only say because, as they say, hindsight is 20/20. I'm sure there were churches shutting down for the sake of the bailout money, but just as many did it out of a legitimate sense of "this is the right thing to do." No one knew what was going on for a good long time.
To make matters worse, we were also dealing with something humanity had never seen before - the algorithm. We were all literally being told different "truths."
So, while I agree that there were definitely some people who aligned with civil authorities out of a sense of self-aggrandizement, others did it out of a legitimate sense of rightness and did not benefit from it at all. Maybe you're only speaking to the former, and in that we definitely agree. I just think we can't always cleanly lump everyone into one group.
Again, thanks for your thoughtfulness. I look forward to future posts!
Thanks for finding me, and for listening to my appearance on the LCI podcast with Doug Stuart :-)
You're right about not ascribing the exact same motivations to everyone. I try to evaluate behavior and evidence, but maybe parts of my writing seem more like guessing what's in everyone's minds. I assume they ALL thought they were right. I wonder why they chose the allegiances they did, when the model they claim to profess is the opposite of that.
As far as that pesky algorithm goes, I saw Fauci, Birx, Trump, Pence, governors, public health officials, "experts," etc. I simply didn't believe them, because nothing they said warranted such validation. Sound logic and evaluating evidence served me well; Jesus taught me those. It seems like a question of attention, mental effort, and ethics, more than one of which "truth" a person saw. Has "truth" ever been uniform?
Insightful comment, Mark! And thanks again for your willingness to share.
You're 100% right about sound logic. Unfortunately you're a rare person who questions the information presented to him. That's something I'm trying to grow in myself.
It's a great question of allegiances. The hard part is figuring out where to draw the line since we all show allegiance to the state in some capacity.
I think I just have a lot of compassion (as I'm sure you also do) for those who sincerely believed they were aiding the powerless by aligning with the State in the midst of a lot of confusion. That was me for sure back then.
Truly appreciate you hearing this and engaging with me in a positive, health way :)
As Christendom fades, mayhaps the voluntary folks will have a voice. It is a frustrating situation that tests our patience, however, we need to keep bearing His fruit.
On Easter Sunday 2020 at my anarchist meetup group I (heretic and apostate) opened my Bible and went through some scriptures from the gospels and the book of Acts (well and a little Foucault - hey please don’t think I’m Church of England - at least I didn’t quote from Vogue). I figured nobody else was doing it, I might as well.
Niklas, how did your fellow meetup attendees respond to your gesture?
No judgment on the Church of England . . . one of the co-hosts on the "History Homos" podcast lives across the pond and said he had attended some Anglican services, and he seemed like a quite alright dude :-)
Oh, and for the Paschal Vigil in 2020, I walked up to my parish and viewed the entire Mass through the windows in the exterior doors. The priest was there, along with a lector and a few members of the religious order whose house bordered the parish grounds. The doors, of course, were locked in cowardly, Marduk-worshiping, Judas-emulating fashion. But I was there for the whole Mass.
Most of the attendees were not Christians, but everyone in that group appreciates rebellious acts so they liked it. One guy said that if his church had sermons like that he would go back to church - flattering if sincere.
Hopefully you caught the eye of the priest and made a rude hand signal (in a loving way of course).
During Covid the Archbishop of Washington DC forbid the celebration of Mass. A good priest, Fr. Fred Close found a loophole (sort of). While we could not have Mass we had daily Adoration of the Holy Eucharist. This had not been forbidden so the faithful came every morning. Fr. Fred called it T.W.I.G. (Take What Is Given). The Archbishop did not forbid adoration so as Catholics we did what we could.
Eventually the Mass was allowed but with a mask mandate that Fr. Fred would wear a mask to distribute Holy Communion. He would not do this because it was disrespectful to God. He found a solution in a Eucharistic minister who would distribute Communion.
The whole ordeal was difficult but everyone was thankful for Eucharistic Adoration and eventually Holy Communion.
Let us pray the bishops learn from their errors. It would help if they ordered American flags to be removed from sanctuaries where American flags do not belong. And bishops should order disordered churches to place the tabernacle on the high center altar and no longer in side altars or separate chapels outside of the church.
Hugh, that's a wonderful story of Fr. Fred Close! I hadn't heard of him and his actions during the #COVIDHoax. Undermining coercive civil authority -- even when it's cronyistically endorsed by higher-up Church officials -- is good, Christian discipleship.
> > > It would help if they ordered American flags to be removed from sanctuaries where American flags do not belong.
Huge point for me. I worship Christ, not Marduk and Caesar.
Thanks for the new info on Fr. Close and for sharing your thoughts!
Judas, his betrayer, replied, “Surely not I, Rabbi
This is the attitude of the church today.
Judas and the Conspirators. . .The greatest conspiracy theory ever told.
Kind of interesting how the words, 'conspiracy theory' have been twisted as a means of rejecting any truth it is used against. As it was done then to attempt to ruin the testimony of the early witnesses of the evidence of the resurrection.
So the guards accepted the bribe and said what they were told to say. Their story spread widely among the Jews, and they still tell it today.
Pharisees called a meeting to plot how to kill Jesus.
But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him. . .
When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people conspired against Jesus to put Him to death.
The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.
. Then the Pharisees went out and conspired to trap Jesus in His words.
But the chief priests conspired to put Lazarus to death also,
After many days had passed, the Jews conspired to kill him,
and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. "In fact, this has happened ...
Right! "Conspire" simply means that people agree to do something together, and the something involves a shared meaning. The etymology is "with" plus "breath/spirit." If you don't think conspiracies happen, then you don't know what the word means :-D
Injections are a very unnatural way to consume anything into the body. When we breathe, we have a respiratory system that serves as a series of filters and checkpoints before something gets into our bloodstream. The same thing happens when we eat and activate our gastrointestinal system. An injection bypasses all the body's built-in safeguards and barriers to entry. Injections are always risky and it's morally prudent to be skeptical of them and refuses those you don't want to consume.
I'm glad a clergyman spoke up . . . a rare "speaking truth to power" incident?
Thanks for your thoughtful writing here. I learned about this Substack via your episode on the Christian Libertarian Podcast so I'm excited to read more in the future!
I really enjoy your idea of Spy Wednesday. Very clever! And very true for many "Christians." Anyone who pursue's communion with the powerful at the expense of the poor is indeed a type of Judas.
I do wonder if it's a bit too broad of a brush to paint with when it comes to lockdowns. I agree that they were unnecessary, but I can only say because, as they say, hindsight is 20/20. I'm sure there were churches shutting down for the sake of the bailout money, but just as many did it out of a legitimate sense of "this is the right thing to do." No one knew what was going on for a good long time.
To make matters worse, we were also dealing with something humanity had never seen before - the algorithm. We were all literally being told different "truths."
So, while I agree that there were definitely some people who aligned with civil authorities out of a sense of self-aggrandizement, others did it out of a legitimate sense of rightness and did not benefit from it at all. Maybe you're only speaking to the former, and in that we definitely agree. I just think we can't always cleanly lump everyone into one group.
Again, thanks for your thoughtfulness. I look forward to future posts!
Thanks for finding me, and for listening to my appearance on the LCI podcast with Doug Stuart :-)
You're right about not ascribing the exact same motivations to everyone. I try to evaluate behavior and evidence, but maybe parts of my writing seem more like guessing what's in everyone's minds. I assume they ALL thought they were right. I wonder why they chose the allegiances they did, when the model they claim to profess is the opposite of that.
As far as that pesky algorithm goes, I saw Fauci, Birx, Trump, Pence, governors, public health officials, "experts," etc. I simply didn't believe them, because nothing they said warranted such validation. Sound logic and evaluating evidence served me well; Jesus taught me those. It seems like a question of attention, mental effort, and ethics, more than one of which "truth" a person saw. Has "truth" ever been uniform?
Insightful comment, Mark! And thanks again for your willingness to share.
You're 100% right about sound logic. Unfortunately you're a rare person who questions the information presented to him. That's something I'm trying to grow in myself.
It's a great question of allegiances. The hard part is figuring out where to draw the line since we all show allegiance to the state in some capacity.
I think I just have a lot of compassion (as I'm sure you also do) for those who sincerely believed they were aiding the powerless by aligning with the State in the midst of a lot of confusion. That was me for sure back then.
Truly appreciate you hearing this and engaging with me in a positive, health way :)
As Christendom fades, mayhaps the voluntary folks will have a voice. It is a frustrating situation that tests our patience, however, we need to keep bearing His fruit.
Grace and Shalom to your home.
Here's hoping for a vacuum that can be filled, and for a Christ-centered model eager to fill it!
Amen
On Easter Sunday 2020 at my anarchist meetup group I (heretic and apostate) opened my Bible and went through some scriptures from the gospels and the book of Acts (well and a little Foucault - hey please don’t think I’m Church of England - at least I didn’t quote from Vogue). I figured nobody else was doing it, I might as well.
Niklas, how did your fellow meetup attendees respond to your gesture?
No judgment on the Church of England . . . one of the co-hosts on the "History Homos" podcast lives across the pond and said he had attended some Anglican services, and he seemed like a quite alright dude :-)
Oh, and for the Paschal Vigil in 2020, I walked up to my parish and viewed the entire Mass through the windows in the exterior doors. The priest was there, along with a lector and a few members of the religious order whose house bordered the parish grounds. The doors, of course, were locked in cowardly, Marduk-worshiping, Judas-emulating fashion. But I was there for the whole Mass.
Most of the attendees were not Christians, but everyone in that group appreciates rebellious acts so they liked it. One guy said that if his church had sermons like that he would go back to church - flattering if sincere.
Hopefully you caught the eye of the priest and made a rude hand signal (in a loving way of course).
I doubt the priest saw me. But I saw him. My only hand signal was the sign of the cross a few times :-)
During Covid the Archbishop of Washington DC forbid the celebration of Mass. A good priest, Fr. Fred Close found a loophole (sort of). While we could not have Mass we had daily Adoration of the Holy Eucharist. This had not been forbidden so the faithful came every morning. Fr. Fred called it T.W.I.G. (Take What Is Given). The Archbishop did not forbid adoration so as Catholics we did what we could.
Eventually the Mass was allowed but with a mask mandate that Fr. Fred would wear a mask to distribute Holy Communion. He would not do this because it was disrespectful to God. He found a solution in a Eucharistic minister who would distribute Communion.
The whole ordeal was difficult but everyone was thankful for Eucharistic Adoration and eventually Holy Communion.
Let us pray the bishops learn from their errors. It would help if they ordered American flags to be removed from sanctuaries where American flags do not belong. And bishops should order disordered churches to place the tabernacle on the high center altar and no longer in side altars or separate chapels outside of the church.
Hugh, that's a wonderful story of Fr. Fred Close! I hadn't heard of him and his actions during the #COVIDHoax. Undermining coercive civil authority -- even when it's cronyistically endorsed by higher-up Church officials -- is good, Christian discipleship.
> > > It would help if they ordered American flags to be removed from sanctuaries where American flags do not belong.
Huge point for me. I worship Christ, not Marduk and Caesar.
Thanks for the new info on Fr. Close and for sharing your thoughts!
Judas, his betrayer, replied, “Surely not I, Rabbi
This is the attitude of the church today.
Judas and the Conspirators. . .The greatest conspiracy theory ever told.
Kind of interesting how the words, 'conspiracy theory' have been twisted as a means of rejecting any truth it is used against. As it was done then to attempt to ruin the testimony of the early witnesses of the evidence of the resurrection.
So the guards accepted the bribe and said what they were told to say. Their story spread widely among the Jews, and they still tell it today.
Pharisees called a meeting to plot how to kill Jesus.
But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him. . .
When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people conspired against Jesus to put Him to death.
The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.
. Then the Pharisees went out and conspired to trap Jesus in His words.
But the chief priests conspired to put Lazarus to death also,
After many days had passed, the Jews conspired to kill him,
and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. "In fact, this has happened ...
..
Right! "Conspire" simply means that people agree to do something together, and the something involves a shared meaning. The etymology is "with" plus "breath/spirit." If you don't think conspiracies happen, then you don't know what the word means :-D
Also, thank you for the recommendation :-)
You might like this:
https://www.cga.ct.gov/2020/phdata/tmy/2020HB-05044-R000219-Copenhagen,%20Michael,%20Father-TMY.PDF
Injections are a very unnatural way to consume anything into the body. When we breathe, we have a respiratory system that serves as a series of filters and checkpoints before something gets into our bloodstream. The same thing happens when we eat and activate our gastrointestinal system. An injection bypasses all the body's built-in safeguards and barriers to entry. Injections are always risky and it's morally prudent to be skeptical of them and refuses those you don't want to consume.
I'm glad a clergyman spoke up . . . a rare "speaking truth to power" incident?