[This article originally appeared on Invospec.org]

The Primary Focus of Black Lives Matter

Whereas CRT (Critical Race Theory) and SJ (Social Justice) are somewhat removed from one’s everyday experience as they are more “abstract” and less personal, Black Lives Matter is concrete, with its leaders, members, and supporters involved in flesh and blood socio-political activism. Repudiations of Black Lives Matter – as a movement as well as a slogan – are often met with negative knee-jerk responses from the movement’s professedly Christian supporters. Christian supporters usually think that BLM is motivated by a desire to right racially motivated social, judicial, and political wrongs. And if that were truly the case, there would be at least a prima facie justification for supporting the movement. Racism – by which I mean the hatred of anyone who is judged as not belonging to one’s phenotypically distinct ethnic group, the flip-side of which is the showing of partiality to those who are judged as belonging to one’s phenotypically distinct ethnic group – is wicked. We ought to preach that hatred is murder. We ought to preach that God condemns partiality. We ought to remind ourselves daily that all men – even those against whom we have what we perceive to be justifiable grievances – bear the imago dei and, therefore, are to be shown respect and honor as such.

However, this is not what Black Lives Matter is primarily endorsing. Rather, BLM is a spiritual movement that is antagonistic toward the truths of the Christian faith. As Hebah H. Farrag and Ann Gleig note in their article “Despite what conservatives think, Black Lives Matter is an inherently spiritual movement” –

Since its inception, BLM organizers have expressed their founding spirit of love through an emphasis on spiritual healing, principles, and practices in their racial justice work.

BLM leaders, such as co-founder Patrisse Cullors, are deeply committed to incorporating spiritual leadership. Cullors grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness, and later became ordained in Ifà, a west African Yoruba religion. Drawing on Native American, Buddhist and mindfulness traditions, her syncretic spiritual practice is fundamental to her work. As Cullors explained to us, “The fight to save your life is a spiritual fight.”1

The leaders of BLM

…see themselves as inheritors of the spiritual duty to fight for racial justice, following in the footsteps of freedom fighters like abolitionist Harriet Tubman.

BLM leaders often invoke the names of abolitionist ancestors in a ceremony used at the beginning of protests. In fact, protests often contain many spiritual purification, protection and healing practices including the burning of sage, the practice of wearing white and the creation of sacred sites and altars at locations of mourning.2

Thus, while some Christians are led to think that marching, chanting, and singing with BLM protesters are merely political activities, the organization does not agree. The organization views participation in its various forms of activism as participation in spiritual practices.

Some have argued that the movement’s spiritual focus takes a backseat to its primary socio-political focus. However, Farrag elsewhere recounts that BLM’s leaders have stated that it is “first and foremost a spiritual movement.” She writes –

On June 2, 2020, Black Lives Matter’s Los Angeles Chapter sponsored an action in front of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s house…The action, what many would call a protest, began like a religious ceremony. Melina Abdullah…co-founder of BLM-LA, opened the event explaining that while the movement is a social justice movement, it is first and foremost a spiritual movement.

She led the group in a ritual: the reciting of names of those taken by state violence before their time—ancestors now being called back to animate their own justice:

“George Floyd. Asé. Philandro Castille. Asé. Andrew Joseph. Asé. Michael Brown. Asé. Erika Garner. Asé. Harriet Tubman. Asé. Malcom X. Asé. Martin Luther King. Asé.”

As each name is recited, Dr. Abdullah poured libations on the ground as the group of over 100 chanted “Asé,” a Yoruba term often used by practitioners of Ifa, a faith and divination system that originated in West Africa, in return. This ritual, Dr. Abdullah explained, is a form of worship.3

By the admission of its own leaders, BLM is “first and foremost” a “spiritual movement” engaging in worship rituals that take the form of political activism.

BLM vs. “Institutional” Christianity

What is more, according to its leaders, BLM’s

…approach necessitates that communities work to dismantle systems of oppression not only in the state, but also between communities, within communities, in families, in gender relations, in religious practice, and ultimately, within oneself.4

To be opposed to “white supremacy,” in other words, is necessarily to also be actively opposed to, and actively seeking to dismantle, systems of oppression in “religious practices.”

Lest one think that BLM is simply opposed to “religious practices” that are legitimately sinful (e.g. hating one’s neighbor under false pretenses of piety), we must note that it is not merely the wicked actions of Christians in the past that are identified as constituting a “system of oppression” but “institutional Christianity” in general. Farrag and Gleig tell us that –

The history of white supremacy, often enacted within institutional Christianity, has often vilified and criminalized Indigenous and African beliefs...5

Note how this ties together “White supremacy” and religious exclusivism, thereby indirectly indicting biblical Christianity – in which there is only one God (namely, the Trinity) and one way of salvation and communion with God (namely, the perfect life, death, burial, and resurrection of the Son of God) – as a tool of systemic oppression that must be dismantled.

Given that the postmodernist wholesale rejection of “metanarratives” is embraced by the founders of BLM, it follows that “institutional Christianity” – by which we may assume it is meant “orthodox Christianity” – has neither an innate nor bestowed right to deem other religious beliefs and practices as illegitimate, immoral, demonic, and of no benefit to any person. This view reduces the Word of God to a mere cultural production that has no claim to universal applicability. Consequently, Christians who declare that the gods of all the nations are demons,6 and who declare that those who follow their false gods become like them (viz. foolish, deaf, dumb, and blind)7 are viewed as purveyors of “cultural genocide,” illegitimately applying their local “truths” universally.8

Institutional Christianity, BLM founder Patrice Cullors, explains “policed the way [blacks] are allowed to commune with the divine.”9 For instance, whereas Christianity explicitly and overwhelmingly predicates masculine attributes of God, understands man’s role to be that of the head of the household, and explicitly teaches that women are not called to the ministry of Word and Sacrament, the Ifa religion places woman at the center of its practices.10 As Oyeronke Olajubu explains –

…[in] the practice of divination among the Yoruba […] female aesthetics feature prominently in all domains of Yoruba religious life. Ifa poetics, symbolism, iconography, and indeed the Odu (the oral texts that constitute the Ifa corpus, which is the wisdom storehouse of the Yoruba and the core of the divination focus) are symbolized as female, often as the essential wives of Ifa.11

Whereas “institutional” Christianity “polices” the roles of women, Ifa gives women numerous prominent religious roles from which to choose.

The Divine Self?

Additionally, whereas the Scriptures teach God and man are ontologically distinct beings,12 and that the desire to be God is the root sin of all sins,13 the Ifa religion teaches that the self is divine. As Wande Abimbola explains –

…the Yoruba religion…is based on what can be described as a worship of nature. We believe that when our divinities, known as Òrìsà, finished their work on earth, they then changed themselves to different forces of nature. […] The earth itself (herself) is a divinity. Human beings are themselves divine through their Ori (soul or unconscious mind) and Èmí (divine breath encased in our hearts), which are directly bestowed on humans from Òlódùmare, our High God.14

Hence, from Oct 2nd – Oct 4th of this year, BLM held “Black Women are Divine” events in which black women were encouraged to “reclaim [their] Divinity in the name of…the countless women [they’ve] lost.”15

BLM is Not Spiritually Neutral

At this point, it should be clear that BLM is not religiously neutral but actively promoting a syncretic form of the Ifa religion that, through political activism, engages in the following practices –

Idolatry
Ancestor worship
Prayers to the dead
Drink libations
Exorcisms16
Healing Ceremonies

All of these behaviors, we must note, are strictly forbidden by God in his Word. As it is written –

Leviticus 19:31 – “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.”

Deuteronomy 18:9-12 – “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you.”

Isaiah 8:19-20 – And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.

God very clearly detests the actions that BLM is engaging in; consequently, he condemns their actions as abominable.

You Shall Not Be Unequally Yoked

Despite all that has been covered in this article, there will be some who argue that it is possible to work with BLM without engaging in their sins. However, what does the Scripture say?

2 Corinthians 6:14-18 – Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,

“I will make my dwelling among them
and walk among them, and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
Therefore go out from their midst,
and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch no unclean thing;
then I will welcome you,
and I will be a father to you,
and you shall be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty.”

 Ephesians 5:11 – Take no part in the unfruitful works of     darkness, but instead expose them.

1 Timothy 5:22 – Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure.

Revelation 18:4 – Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues…”

God’s Word is by no means unclear on this matter – Christians are forbidden from engaging in the spiritual rituals practiced by BLM through political activism. Ironically, however, it is BLM, and not contemporary Christian supporters of BLM, that correctly notes its political activism allies are not neutral participants in a secular demand for a non-spiritual end. One cannot serve two masters – Either one is with Christ and, therefore, against the paganism of BLM (expressed through its slogan chanting, name chanting, marching, singing, protesting, etc); or one is with BLM and against Christ.

There is no other option.

---

1 https://www.mic.com/p/despite-what-conservatives-think-black-lives-matter-is-inherently-spiritual-movement-33913424, Accessed Oct 10, 2020. (emphasis added)
2 ibid. (emphasis added)
3 “The Fight for Black Lives is a Spiritual Movement,” Berkeley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, June 9, 2020, https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/responses/the-fight-for-black-lives-is-a-spiritual-movement. (emphasis added)
4 ibid. (emphasis added)
5 Despite What Conservatives Think. (emphasis added)
6 cf. Ps 96:5.
7 cf. Ps 115:4-8, 135:16-18; Rom 1:18-23.
8 For more on this subject, see Turpin, Katherine. “Christian Education, White Supremacy, and Humility in Formational Agendas,” in Religious Education, Vol.112, No. 4 (2017), 407-417.
9 ibid.
10 This notwithstanding, Yoruba culture is patriarchal. Women are considered to be less than men not merely with respect to physical strength but moral capacities as well. For more on this, see Familusi, O.O. “African Culture and the Status of Women: The Yoruba Example,” in The Journal of Pan African Studies, Vol. 5, No. 1 (March 2012), 299-313.
11 “Seeing through a Woman's Eye: Yoruba Religious Tradition and Gender Relations,” in Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Spring, 2004), 45. (emphasis added)
12 cf. Gen 1:26-27 & 2:7; Num 23:19; Job 33:12b; Pss 90, et al.
13 cf. 2 Pet 2:4 & Jude 6; Eze 28:11-19 & Isa 14:4b-21; Gen 3:4-7.
14 “Religion, World Order, and Peace: An Indigenous African Perspective,” in CrossCurrents (September 2010), 308-309. (emphasis added)
15 https://blacklivesmatter.com/black-women-are-divine.
16 BLM leaders believe that through their political activities they can “exorcise” evil from various geographical locations. Elise M. Edwards, in her paper “’Let’s Imagine Something Different’: Spiritual Principles in Contemporary African American Justice Movements and Their Implications for the Built Movement,” writes –

Cullors…is inspired by indigenous spiritualities and Ifà…She explains that the spirituality of many Black Lives Matter activists is not based in traditional or formalized religious communities. Many of the activists felt rejected or even “pushed out” of churches because of their queer identities or challenges to patriarchy. Nevertheless, they continue to practice their spirituality through “healing justice work,” working to exorcise their communities of racism, sexism, and homophobia.

[Religions (2017), 8, 256. (emphasis added)]

Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.

-          Leviticus 25:10

 As is the case with many Americans, I’ve watched with horror the violence and rioting that has gripped this nation for nearly six months now.  Substantial parts of many of our largest and most famous cities lie in ruins from the predatory acts of mobs affiliated with organizations such as Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Antifa. 

These overtly violent and leftist organizations have, with the apparent consent of local government officials, loosed a reign of terror in America’s cities the likes of which most Americans never imagined possible. 

The Covid lockdowns are another assault on liberty.  As recently as the beginning of this year, who would ever have imagined we’d have government officials attempting to dictate how we celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with our families, or attempting to interfere with our liberty to worship the Lord in our churches?  Yet the so-called pandemic has been used as an excuse for government to suspend personal liberties we nearly all took for granted, close down our businesses, put us out of work and make us dependent on the government dole.

To add insult to injury, they have slapped masks on us, which do little and perhaps nothing at all to slow the spread of the virus but are most effective when it comes to humiliating and dehumanizing people and showing them who’s boss. 

Then to top it off, the Democrats committed election fraud on a shock and awe scale resulting in a Joe Biden “victory” to which we’re all supposed to accede, no questions asked. 

For as long as this author can remember, he’s heard talk of the decline of America and the decline of the West.  John Robbins noted in his essay “The Religious Wars of the 21st Century” that the West has been in decline for more than a century.  The reason for the decline?  Writes Robbins, “The Biblical theology that created Western civilization five hundred years ago has all but disappeared from the West.”  Robbins’ words were simply a restatement of the main thesis of Gordon Clark’s A Christian View of Men and Things that had been published over fifty years earlier. 

The American republic and the freedoms and prosperity Americans historically have enjoyed did not come about as some random occurrence.  It was not lightning in a bottle or happenstance.  The freedoms and prosperity of the United States is the result of the ideas that were believed by the people of America at the nation’s founding.  And their ideas about liberty – both political and economic – were the result of their believing the doctrines of the Protestant Reformation which began 251 years prior to the signing of the Declaration of Independence.   

In his booklet Christ and Civilization, John Robbins remarked that, “God blessed his people in Western Europe and America beyond anything they could have imagined, and his blessings spilled over into society at large, creating what we now call Western civilization” (45).  Christ, Robbins tells us, promised this in his Sermon on the Mount, when he told his disciples to seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness and that all the things they sought – food, clothing, etc. – would be added unto them. 

Robbins continued,

All these things – the things we call Western civilization – were added to the European and American Christians, on an historically unprecedented scale, just as Christ had promised.  And they were added because their priorities were straight:  They believed the Gospel, seeking first the Kingdom of God and his imputed righteousness, not their own righteousness or prosperity (46).

So how is it possible that a nation conceived in liberty, one that traces its founding back to the landing of the Puritans in December 1620, come to a point where liberty hangs by a thread and republican government is but a step from being extinguished?

In a word, unbelief.

As heirs of the founders of this nation, we have not guarded our doctrine.  We have, as the Israelites in the time of Isaiah and Jeremiah, forgotten our God.  And for this reason, all these things have befallen us.

It was mentioned above that this author has for most of his life read and heard about the decline of America and the West.  But while he’s heard about these things for decades and has taken them seriously, they always seemed rather theoretical and distant, but now they are at our front door. 

At the risk of sounding alarmist and of falling prey to the tendency to overstate the long-term implications of current events, it seems not a stretch to me to say that if Joe Biden is successfully cheated into the White House in January, it will be the end of our republic. 

The entirety of the American establishment – political, academic, business, religious, media, financial, and entertainment – is behind a Biden presidency.  The only thing that stands in their way are the Trump deplorables, and they have little to no institutional or cultural power. 

In fact, they have so little power and are regarded with such contempt that they can be insulted and physically assaulted and no one – not even the people and institutions that supposedly are on their side - will defend them.   

In a brilliant monologue from June 1, 2020, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson explicitly made this point.  “When the mobs came, they abandoned us,” was his opening line.  But it was really at the 12:31 mark that he got down to naming names of Republicans and conservatives who, when Republican voters needed them the most, instead turned on them, denouncing them as a bunch of racists. 

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It is scarcely possible for me to contain the anger I have for the cowardly politicians and others who, on the one hand say that they are behind you, but who, on the other hand,  abandon you to the mobs when the going gets tough.  It’s even worse than that, as Tucker Carlson pointed out.  Not only did people in the Trump administration, including Trump himself, do little to nothing to defend their supporters, or even simple law and order for that matter, but many of them actually piled on, saying in effect, “You know all those terrible names the Dems and BLM and Antifa are calling you – fascists, racists, etc. – well, they’re right; you really are all those things and you deserve the beat down your getting.” 

Yesterday, I was reminded once again of the astounding level of verbal and physical abuse Republicans and Trump supporters have been subjected to over the past five years.  A peaceful protest – not mostly peaceful, but actually peaceful – by Trump supporters in Washington D.C. turned violent when the demonstrators were attacked by violent mobs of Antifa and BLM.

But the obvious violence went largely unreported in the mainstream media.  No one asks Joe Biden, Kamala Harris or other Democrats to denounce such violence.  And really, if Biden were an honorable man, no one would even have to prompt him.  He’d do it on his own accord.

To borrow a phrase from Antifa, Joe Biden’s silence, and the silence of the Democrats, the silence of the media pundits, the silence of most Republicans, the silence of the academics, the silence of the Hollywood and entertainment elite, the silence of business big shots, the silence of the Big Tech executives is violence.  They allow, permit, condone and justify the open assault of peaceful Americans exercising their First Amendment rights. 

These are the same arrogant elites who will unctuously lecture their fellow Americans on justice while they themselves know nothing of it. 

Is it not abundantly clear at this point that now is the time for freedom loving Americans, and I mean here in particular, freedom loving Protestants, to take a stand to defend the nation founded by their forefathers? 

So what does that mean in practice?  For starters, it means praying for your country.  It means, in the first place, praying that the Gospel of Justification by Belief Alone be widely preached and believed.  It is this truth that created Western civilization and it is what will sustain and preserve whatever can be salvaged out of the current mess. 

It also means praying that justice prevail and lies be exposed.  Never, never, never in all my life have I witnessed such fraud as what took place during the November 3 presidential election.  It is imperative that Joe Biden be prevented from taking office in January.  He is a fraud and a usurper, plain and simple. 

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said this in an interview:

NEWT GINGRICH: Well, it's a nice sentiment. First, you go out and the Democrats steal five or six states, and that's what Republicans believe we're watching. We think we have evidence of a lot of it. Then you turn around and you say let's forget four years of Nancy Pelosi, let's forget four years ago of impeachment, harassment, opposition, hostility, hatred, and now that I've won, why don't we make nice together? 

I think he would have to do a lot to convince Republicans that this is anything except a left-wing power grab, financed by people like George Soros, deeply laid in at the local level, and, frankly, I think that it is a corrupt, stolen election. It's very hard for me to understand how we're going to work together without some very, very big steps by Biden. And I have -- I have doubts if the left-wing of his party would tolerate him genuinely trying to work with Republicans.

[…]

JEDIDIAH BILA: Yeah, Newt. No, I just want to ask you for clarity, because the accusation of incidents of voter fraud, which do happen in every election, unfortunately, is very different from the accusation of a stolen election. That's very serious. The implication here is that there's enough widespread voter fraud going on that would have changed the outcome of the election. I haven't seen evidence of that to this moment. Is that what you're suggesting has happened here?

GINGRICH: What I'm suggesting is you don't see the evidence because the local officials who are Democrats hide the evidence and then turn to you and say, "Since you have no evidence." So they say, "Oh, we let the poll watchers in the building." That's right. But they kept them far enough away they couldn't see anything. And I think I can show you case after case, it happened magically at almost exactly the same moment on election night that a series of key states quit counting, almost as though they were coordinating what they were doing. 

The Bible says “Thou shalt not steal,” but the Democrats have stolen the election, and done it with breathtaking boldness.  In doing this, they have lived down to the well-earned reputation as the party of rum, Romanism and rebellion.  In truth, the Democrats simply can’t help themselves.  It’s who they are.  It’s what they do.  It is, as it were, in their political DNA.  And they must be stopped.

It was our Protestant forebears that founded this country, and in its hour of need it is up to us to defend her.  We must pray and then we must act.  Not in foolishness, but in knowledge of the truth.  Not in fear, but in boldness.  Not in doubt, but in faith.

In Proverbs we read, “A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring.”  

If you and I remain silent in the face of obvious evil, we are that righteous man who falls before the wicked.  We must not let that happen. 

So what does it mean to act?  What does it mean to refuse to fall down before the wicked?  It has been my purpose to leave this open.  What each of us does is dependent upon the opportunities presented to us.

Take, for example, when Jerusalem was surrounded by the Babylonian army and the enemies of Jeremiah lowered him into a dungeon to die.  A certain Ethiopian eunuch named Ebed-Melech organized a rescue party and pulled Jeremiah out, saving his life. 

Not long after when the Babylonians had breached Jerusalem’s walls, God spoke to Jeremiah and told him to tell Ebed-Melech that his life would be spared, “because thou hast put thy trust in me.” 

“God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him,” says the author of Hebrews. Because of this, we can have confidence, as did Ebed-Melech, the he will reward our efforts on behalf of justice and truth if we put our trust in the Lord.

What will that look like in this case, a reward from God?

I don’t know.

Perhaps we can save the American republic.  Perhaps not.  Ebed-Melech didn’t save Jerusalem from being sacked and burned with fire.  Jeremiah’s decades of preaching truth didn’t prevent the exile of the Jews to Babylon.

But God rewarded these men nonetheless.  And he will reward us as well, if we seek his face and speak his truth with all boldness. 

My brothers and sisters in Christ, it’s time to stand for liberty.  It’s time to stand for the truth. 

Anyone vaguely familiar with the life of Christ knows that he did not shy away from asking his listeners questions. These questions played a pedagogical function, causing his listeners to reflect on what he had been teaching them. For instance, when he wanted to get his listeners to reflect on God’s care for his sheep, the Lord asked them –

“What do you think?”1

And when he wanted to get his listeners to reflect on who it is that does or not does do the will of God, the Lord Christ asked them –

“What do you think?”2

When he wanted Peter to reflect on what taxing Christ and his disciples implied, Jesus asked him –

“What do you think, Simon?”3

Jesus, knowing the Pharisees’ position on the identity of the Messiah as being merely the son of David, got his listeners to think about what the Scriptures explicitly and implicitly teach about the Son of David by asking them –

“What do you say about the Christ? Whose son is he?”4

And upon receiving their answer, went on to ask –

“How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord…?5

“If David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”6

Unlike many people today, Christ encouraged men to think for themselves about what they were being told, as well as about the implications of their words. Although he is to be trusted immediately, without question, Christ nevertheless encouraged men to think about his teaching, to mull it over, and to think about whether or not they were willing to follow him. For instance, in the Gospel of Luke we read –

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.7

Note that thinking is directly tied to not merely decisions respecting the here and now, but to eternity as well. We find Christ doing something similar in John 6, where after he declared that only those who eat his flesh and drink his blood have life in them, asked the disgruntled disciples –

“Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?”8

Christ was getting the disciples to reflect on the nature of their relationship to him. He was getting them to think about the most important information they would ever receive, and to do so without the aid of the experts of their time – viz. the Pharisees.

In the next part of this article series, we will delve into the Scriptures respecting this matter.

[Continued in Pt. 2]

1 Matt 18:12.

2 Matt 21:28.

3 Matt 17:25.

4 Matt 22:41.

5 Matt 22:43.

6 Matt 22:45.

7 Luke 14:25-33. (emphasis added)

8 John 6:61b-62.

Ransomware: [This] is a type of malicious software, or malware, that prevents you from accessing your computer files, systems, or networks and demands you pay a ransom for their return. Ransomware attacks can cause costly disruptions to operations and the loss of critical information and data.1

IRL: An acronym for the phrase “In real life”

I had my first experience with ransomware years ago when I managed to download a corrupted file that locked my computer up, making it impossible to use. While I didn’t know enough to avoid downloading that corrupt file, I did know that I’d be a fool to believe that paying a ransom would actually result in my computer becoming usable again. Why would I trust a person who was willing to forcefully and stealthily disrupt my life for the sake of lining his pockets? Why would I trust a covetous scammer to change his ways once I gave in to his demand for money? The problem is that with my refusal to pay the scammer, I had to completely start over. My only option was to erase my hard drive and install a new operating system on it. This meant that I had to be willing to let maybe a hundred or so documents cease to exist.

So I bit the bullet.

I wiped the hard drive, installed a more secure operating system, and began all over, reminding myself of God’s Sovereignty over all things. And today, I know better. I have a better understanding of where and how ransomware is installed on computers. I have a better understanding of how I can avoid having my life, digital though it be, locked down by a scammer whose main goal is to exercise power over me via the mechanisms of fear and extortion.

Maybe this is why from the onset of COVID-19’s popularization by the media, I didn’t trust what I was being told. The hustle, the con, the scam was too familiar. We were being told that if we did not walk in lock step2 with unconstitutional, authoritarian demands that our everyday lives would remain inaccessible to us and our loved ones.3 If we ever wanted to “get back to normal,” they claimed, we had to practice the ineffective ritual of social distancing,4 refrain from even the most common forms of physical contact with other people,5 isolate ourselves from our pets who might otherwise provide us with companionship and a small dose of dopamine to help keep us from getting depressed while in isolation,6 cover our faces with masks that are, well, useless,7 and be vaccinated by the billionaire son of a eugenicist, a man who also happens to be obsessed with population control.8

We were being told that our lives were being held ransom until we made the payment demanded of us – absolute compliance with unscientific and, in some cases harmful,9 rituals that deny us of our God given freedoms. And up to the present moment, there are many people who are still playing along in this “theatre of the absurd” who have no intention of breaking the fourth wall. They believe that their lives will return to normal if they simply comply, comply, comply. But are they right?

Will we be liberated when we renounce our liberties?

No. Contrary to the opinion of the inadvertently(?) Orwellian dystopians among us, freedom is not slavery. The coronapocalypse will not end if we pay the ransom. Like the hacker who had no intention of restoring my files to me had I paid him the ransom he demanded, con men in the government and the media will only use our compliance to continue to exploit us.

We need to remove the OS, as it were, that made it possible for this ransomware IRL – namely, the media’s mythical portrayal of COVID-19 as the cause of the end of the world – to ever become a means of violating our basic human liberties. We need to “not be conformed to this world, but...transformed by the renewal of [our] mind[s].”10 If the world is selling us panic, then probe the foundations of that panic. Do those foundations exhibit rational coherence? Can those foundations be deduced, even in principle, from the teaching of Scripture? If the answer to those two questions is no, then is there any grounding for the panic?

Starting over is not easy, but it’s necessary.

1 “Scams and Safety,” Federal Bureau of Investigations, https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety/common-scams-and-crimes/ransomware, Accessed July 1st, 2020.

2 See “Scenarios for the Future of Technology and International Development,” Rockefeller Foundation (May, 2010), pp.18-25. Downloadable here – https://thewatchtowers.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Rockefeller-Foundation.pdf.

3 See Villasanta, Arthur. “Coronavirus: US May Never Get Back To 'Normal', Dr. Fauci Warns,” International Business Times, April 6, 2020, https://www.ibtimes.com/coronavirus-us-may-never-get-back-normal-dr-fauci-warns-2953810.

4 See Wood, Patrick. “The Miserable Pseudo-Science Behind Face Masks, Social Distancing And Contact Tracing,” Technocracy News & Trends, June 1, 2020, https://technocracy.news/the-miserable-pseudo-science-behind-face-masks-social-distancing-and-contact-tracing/?fbclid=IwAR1zA4mMFdRmbSpoNwsQQAB9W8D4UcIMoipiZkm7Ol_MSnCA9F_et_wDFtg.

5 See Calicchio, Dom. “Fauci on US after coronavirus: No shaking hands ‘ever again,’” FOX News, April 9,, 2020. https://www.foxnews.com/health/fauci-on-us-after-coronavirus-no-shaking-hands-ever-again.

6 See “If you have pets,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Updated June 28, 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/pets.html.

7 See Brosseau, Lisa M., Sietsema, Margaret. “COMMENTARY: Masks-for-all for COVID-19 not based on sound data,” Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, April 1, 2020, https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2020/04/commentary-masks-all-covid-19-not-based-sound-data.

8 See Corbett, James. “Who is Bill Gates?,” The Corbett Report, May 1, 2020, https://www.corbettreport.com/gates/.

9 See Blaylock, Russell. “Blaylock: Face Masks Pose Serious Risks To The Healthy,” Technocracy News & Trends, May 11, 2020, https://technocracy.news/blaylock-face-masks-pose-serious-risks-to-the-healthy/.

10 Rom 12:2.

In Matthew 24, the disciples of God ask him –

“...what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”1

Christ then details the events which will signal his second advent, and states that

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”2

The Gospel will be proclaimed as a testimony to all nations, but before this there will be a great time of tribulation. The situation will be dire. It will be so dire, in fact, that the love of many will grow cold. Christians will not fall away from Christ, for he promises that no man – and that includes ourselves – can pluck us out of his omnipotent hand.3 However, Christians can grow cold. Consider John Gill’s commentary on this passage –

And because iniquity shall abound... Meaning, either the malice and wickedness of outrageous persecutors, which should greatly increase; or the treachery and hatred of the apostates; or the errors and heresies of false teachers; or the wickedness that prevailed in the lives and conversations of some, that were called Christians: for each of these seem to be hinted at in the context, and may be all included, as making up the abounding iniquity here spoken of; the consequence of which would be,

the love of many shall wax cold. This would be the case of many, but not of all; for in the midst of this abounding iniquity, there were some, the ardour of whose love to Christ, to his Gospel, and to the saints, did not abate: but then there were many, whose zeal for Christ, through the violence of persecution, was greatly damped; and through the treachery of false brethren, were shy of the saints themselves, not knowing who to trust; and through the principles of the false teachers, the power of godliness, and the vital heat of religion, were almost lost; and through a love of the world, and of carnal ease and pleasure, love to the saints was grown very chill, and greatly left; as the instances of Demas, and those that forsook the Apostle Paul, at his first answer before Nero, show. This might be true of such, who were real believers in Christ; who might fall under great decays, through the prevalence of iniquity; since it does not say their love shall be lost, but wax cold.4

Just prior to the Lord Jesus’ return, things will get so bad that some Christians will grow cold in their love, losing their zeal for evangelism, as well as their desire for fellowship with the saints. Yet this causal relationship between the increase of wickedness and a decrease in love is not unique to the time period just before our Lord returns to judge the quick and the dead. Rather, it is a constant reality we often forget about, at least until time unfolds and we are face to face with it again.

Today, we are facing riots in every major city, where the smoke of burning police vehicles and historical landmarks rushes to blind us to the coronapoclypse myth’s decaying corpse. Cacophonous sloganeering deafens us to the sound of our economy collapsing, pastors caving to the wicked whims of Caesar, and “men” of God capitulating to the demands of the gender-fluid. The world and the flesh and the devil unremittingly call us to lay down our powerful spiritual weapons5 and pick up the carnal weapons they’ve forged against the true Triune God – scientism, critical race theory, statism, nihilism, hedonism, moralism. Indeed, as David declares –

On every side the wicked prowl,

as vileness is exalted among the children of man.6

We are being directed at every turn to be spiritually quarantined, lest we become infected with unbelief and suffer despair, hopelessness, and embitterment.

But if we do not come into contact with these things, how will we build immunity against them? How will we develop spiritual antibodies if we cave and abdicate our calling in Christ?

Counterintuitively, it is precisely these spiritual attacks on us that God uses to conform us more and more to the image of his beloved Son. James 1:2-4 states as much, declaring –

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Not only this, but these attacks also serve to humble us and draw attention away from us, while simultaneously underscoring the truth of the Gospel and the power of God. As Paul declares in 2nd Cor 4:7-18 –

…we have this treasure [viz. The Gospel of reconciliation] in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.

Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

What is, on the one hand, distressing and painful to see and hear, is yet, on the other hand, the very means whereby we grow in Christ and become better equipped to face future trials that may be even worse. Therefore,

...let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.7

We will reap a harvest of confidence in our Lord’s Sovereign direction of all that ever has happened, is happening, and will happen. And we will be further equipped to love our brothers and sisters in Christ who will experience what we have already experienced and, by the grace of our God, have overcome.

Press on, brethren.

Press on.

Soli Deo Gloria.

1 Matt 24:3b.

2 vv.9-14.

3 cf. John 10:27-30.

4 Emphasis added.

5 cf. Eph 6:10-18 & 2nd Cor 10:3-6.

6 Ps 12:8.

7 Gal 6:9.