Here‘s why we need to pray for them.
They no longer “sit around in coffee shops” or “take lots of selfies”. They now stick themselves to roads and such things. However, they still “think they know most everything”. Or even more so than 6 years ago, when this song was first posted.
Yep, we need to pray for them.
Article by Joshua Stylman.
Excerpts:
“Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can control the world.” — Henry Kissinger
It’s seemed evident for a while that the current fiat monetary system is, at best, unstable. At worst, it’s a Ponzi scheme whose time has expired. If that’s the case, I suspect the central bankers and 0.1% know this and might be prepared to usher in the new system before the old one collapses on itself – even as they loot it on the way down with the most significant wealth transfer in human history.
To anyone who pays attention to these trends, it seems evident that Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) will be that new system.
Every indication is that CBDC’s arrival is imminent. Yesterday [i.e., 15th November 2022], several global banks announced a partnership with the NY Federal Reserve to pilot digital dollars. Given the ubiquity of credit/debit cards, payment apps, and other online payment systems, digital money has been bound to happen for some time. The risk isn’t the electronic part, that’s inevitable – it’s the fact that a central bank will oversee the digital currency.
From my vantage point, it’s impossible to overstate the risk presented by CBDC. Whether it’s a utopian vision based on good intentions or a sinister plot to crush our sovereignty, the result may be the same: control. A Central Bank Digital Currency has all the downsides of fiat money, plus the added layers of surveillance and programmability overseen by the state.
So many people on Team Reality have likely felt like dissidents over the last few years simply for challenging anything beyond the herd mentality. Asking questions or speaking against the narrative about topics including the likely origins of the covid virus, usefulness of PCR, risk to most of the population, benefits of early treatment, advantages of natural immunity, safety and efficacy of vaccines, pros and cons of masks/lockdowns, and the utility of vax passports created an environment where people were stigmatized, alienated or outright censored. Imagine a monetary system with features baked in to socially engineer how we live.
[…]
I’m well aware this must sound insane, especially to anyone that hasn’t paid attention to this trend for a while. A few years ago, I would have thought it was preposterous, but after witnessing the government’s lies, deception, and grab for control, I’ve become fearful that this may be where we’re headed. When you consider that vaccine mandates had no medically justifiable purpose, it’s entirely plausible that they were simply an onramp to normalize a “papers please” society. In NYC, where I lived until recently, most people accepted vaxports and loved the Excelsior Pass mobile app because it was convenient. How many will feel the same about digital money, which will undoubtedly come with its share of benefits?
[…]
I’d love to be wrong about all this. However, until there is evidence, we need to be suspicious of anyone perpetuating this dangerous path, regardless of their motivations.
If you have yet to notice, a primary theme of the last three-plus years (at least) is ‘freedom vs. control’’ so it’s not hyperbole to suggest that the future must be decentralized if we want to ensure our children grow up in a free world.
On Christmas Day, 2021, Dr. Gary North posted his last message to the public. Here it is (it was titled “Merry Christmas”):
I am sending you my latest book, The Biblical Structure of History. This is my final book. I wrote it in six weeks: October 3 to mid-November. In early December, my health began to fail. I can no longer write my daily articles. I look back in gratitude: I completed my final project. My timing was right. Thanks for reading my tips for the last sixteen years (or whatever).
My book is here: The Biblical Structure of History
North was a PhD of History. On another page on his website, he had already posted the individual chapters. The page contains the following introductory words:
There is no neutrality in academia. This applies to the study of history.
Historians abandoned any commitment to neutral history a century ago. Yet they pretend that they are sufficiently neutral to be entitled to financial support by taxpayers. Public day schools and tax-funded universities teach anti-Christian history.
Homeschool families have no materials to teach students how to deal with humanistic historians in college. The students are sent into the academic meatgrinder unprepared.
My book will prepare them.
I have today finished reading this book and will now quote passages from its final chapter, the title of which is: “Progress”.
Biblical progress means the redemption of the world. This will be comprehensive. It will apply to every area of life that is presently under the dominion of sin. There will be no safe zones for sin.
Evidence of God’s comprehensive redemption will be widespread knowledge of the word of God. Dominion is not merely technological. It is covenantal.
The Bible teaches that there are rival kingdoms that compete for dominion in history. They do so in terms of rival systems of ethics. The conflict between the two kingdoms is not primarily based on power. It is based on ethics. The kingdom of man does have a tendency to manifest itself as a power religion. But the Bible makes it clear that this strategy of dominion eventually fails. “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright” (Psalm 20:7–8). “Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors” (Psalm 73:18–19). The biblical basis of long-term dominion is obedience to God’s laws.
A Christian historian should begin with this premise: there has been no change in the concepts of covenantal success and failure with the coming of the New Covenant. There is ethical conflict in every area of life between the two kingdoms. A Christian historian should understand that there has been an escalation of conflict because of the New Covenant. The conflict has spread outside the borders of Israel ever since the days of Augustus Caesar. There has been an increasing self-consciousness on the part of both covenant-keepers and covenant-breakers about the nature of the conflict. Each side becomes more self-conscious about implementing its worldview at the expense of the other. Renaissance humanists were far more self-conscious than their predecessors. Enlightenment humanists were more self-conscious than Renaissance humanists. Humanists in the nineteenth century became more self-conscious than humanists in the eighteenth century. Humanists in the twentieth century continued this increase in awareness regarding the threat of Christianity to the extension of the kingdom of man. But, with each escalation of self-awareness, humanists have become more irrational. The confidence of Renaissance humanism is no longer widespread among humanists in the twenty-first century. The epistemological and moral acids of deconstructionism and postmodernism have undermined humanism. These acids have barely touched Christians. Among those Christians who did not go to graduate school, these acids have had almost no effect at all.
With greater wealth and greater knowledge comes greater responsibility. This is a fundamental principle of life. Most societies understand this. People teach this to their children. But covenant-breakers do not recognize this truth in their own lives when they prosper. Their success leads them into disasters. This is what Psalm 73 teaches. Success for covenant-breakers is a slippery slope. It confirms their covenant. They are deceived by this confirmation.
Humanists are losing faith in the future. They are also losing faith in Western civilization. The top American universities ceased requiring a course in Western civilization in the 1990’s. Postmodernist historiography has called into question the historiography of the modernists, the Enlightenment, and the Renaissance. This creates a tremendous opportunity for Christian historians to re-interpret the history of Western civilization in terms of the contributions of Christendom, which is what Renaissance historians dedicated themselves to refuting.
Humanism is now in defensive mode. It dominates the institutions of higher learning and public education. It dominates what are called the mainstream media. But their audiences are shrinking. A kind of disintegration is taking place. This disintegration became visible in 2011: the so-called Arab Spring. It was an unorganized revolt against Middle Eastern governments. It began to spread. This has been chronicled in a 2014 book by Martin Gurri: The Revolt of the Public. Social media available on smartphones have begun to fragment the establishment’s near-monopoly of control over the flow of information. It took less than a decade from the development of YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter to overturn governments in the Middle East and around the world. It happened without warning.
The Internet has created opportunities for evangelism and education on a scale unparalleled in human history. It is time for Christian historians and Christian storytellers to take advantage of this opportunity.
This final chapter is followed by a conclusion to the final part of the book, a conclusion to the book, and one appendix (“A Battle Over Narratives”).
I pray that North’s work will fall on fruitful ground, that it will help gain converts to Christianity and prepare future readers for the ongoing clash between the “two kingdoms”.
Some quotes from comments underneath:
The song is performed when Joseph is at his lowest point, almost giving up on his faith. He decides to trust fully in God and acknowledge that he is the master of the universe who has an ultimate plan, even if things seem bad at present and he doesn’t fully understand why.
I love how Joseph went from singing about how amazing and miraculous he is to being humble and singing about how God knows better than him
This song lives rent free in my heart and head. It helped me get through my darkest moments in my life and today listening to it 16th June 2022, at exactly 8:20am in still in tears God bless every one whose story is like Joseph. in everything God knows best
Rewatching this I realize that Joseph took time to shape out each and every rock he put around the tree. It’s so symbolic, wow.
“But it was you who taught that bird to fly. If I let you reach me, will you teach me?” This line speaks to me so much…
This song was such a huge testimony builder. Not only to put my trust in the Lord, but to trust in His timing. When we struggle and pray for help, we often expect immediate responses and help, sometimes we have to allow ourselves to go through the trial because God really does know what is best and when the time is right, He WILL always help us! Sometimes we need our trials to help us learn and grow and become better people. He doesn’t let us go through ANYTHING we are not strong enough to get through! Whenever we are going through something that makes us wonder why God allows us to go through it, it’s only because He KNOWS we have what it takes to get through it! If God believes in us, and He really does know better than we do, we should too! If we put our trust in Him, He will help us and turn us into someone better than we were before. I used to pray for God to end my suffering, now I’ve learned to pray and ask for understanding of why I’m suffering and what I can learn from it, how can I grow and become a better person, and the strength I need to get through it. Been learning to live by: “Not mine, but thy will be done, just help me to understand thy will.”
Article by Mike Whitney.
Excerpts:
“The Ukrainians are in bad shape… It won’t be long before the Ukrainians run out of food. It won’t be long before they freeze… They have done all that we can reasonably expect them to do. It’s time to negotiate…. before the offensive begins, because once it begins, there will be no further discussion between Moscow and Kiev until it is over to the satisfaction of the Russians.” Colonel Douglas MacGregor, “War in Ukraine; Quiet Before the Storm”, 15 minute-mark
Anyone who genuinely cares about Ukraine should support Ukrainian neutrality and an end to NATO expansion. That is the only way this war is going to end. Russian security will be achieved by-way of a treaty or an iron-fist.
The plan to use Ukraine as a staging-ground for conducting a proxy-war on Russia preceded the invasion by at least 7 years. The Obama administration and their neocon allies set a trap for Russia in order to drag them into an Afghanistan-like quagmire that would deplete their resources and kill as many Russian servicemen as possible. As Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin recently admitted, the US wants to “weaken” Russia so it is unable to project power beyond its borders. Washington seeks unhindered access to Central Asia so it can encircle China with military bases and nuclear missiles. The US intends to control China’s growth while dominating the world’s most populous and prosperous region of the next century, Asia. But first, Washington must crush Russia, collapse its economy, isolate it from the global community, demonize it in its media, and topple its leaders. Ukraine is seen as the first phase in a much broader strategy aimed at regime change (in Moscow) followed by the forced fragmentation of the Russian state. The ultimate objective is the preservation of Washington’s preeminent role in the global order.
Putin’s winter offensive threatens to derail Washington’s plan to drag the conflict out for as long as possible. In the weeks and months ahead, Russia is going to intensify its assault on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure. Most of the country will be plunged into darkness, fuel supplies will dry up, food and water will become scarcer, communications will be cut off, and all rail-traffic will cease. Millions of civilians will flee to Europe while the entire country slowly grinds to a standstill. At the same time that Russian battalions overtake cities and towns east of the Dnieper, the Russian army will block vital supply-lines from Poland cutting off the flow of lethal weaponry and combat troops headed to the front. This, in turn, will lead to widespread capitulation among Ukrainian fighting units operating in the field which will force Zelensky to the negotiating table. Eventually, Russia will prevail and its legitimate security demands will be met.
When the ground freezes, Russia’s offensive will begin.
Here’s an excerpt from the Leaders’ Declaration of the G20 in Bali, which has just ended:
“… We acknowledge the importance of shared technical standards and verification methods, under the framework of the IHR (2005), to facilitate seamless international travel, interoperability, and recognizing digital solutions and non-digital solutions, including proof of vaccinations. We support continued international dialogue and collaboration on the establishment of trusted global digital health networks as part of the efforts to strengthen prevention and response to future pandemics, that should capitalize and build on the success of the existing standards and digital COVID-19 certificates.” [my emphasis, PwG]
Success? What success? Vaccinated people can still pass on the virus. Here’s a quote from the NHS website: “There is a chance you might still get or spread COVID-19 even if you have a vaccine”.
Here‘s an appropriate comment from Paul Joseph Watson.
The G20-Declaration also says:
We recognize that the extensive COVID-19 immunization is a global public good and we will advance our effort to ensure timely, equitable and universal access to safe, affordable, quality and effective vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics (VTDs). [my emphasis, PwG]
Calling immunisation a “public good” means these governments are giving themselves permission to intervene forever into the private affairs of humans, namely their health care. Currently, of course, the “vaccine” doesn’t provide “immunisation”, but that doesn’t mean they won’t stop trying to establish the “public good” with this or other means (such as lockdowns, internment, incarceration … ).
Calling immunisation a “global” public good means these governments are giving themselves another reason (apart from “climate change”, “fighting poverty” and so on) to establish another lever for “global governance”, in other words, a world government. Another shot at building a Tower of Babel.
They’ve given themselves permission. They think they have the authority to do so. From whom exactly, I wonder?
Addendum: Kit Knightly has a good overview of what else the G20 got up to here.
This past week saw G20’s annual meeting taking place in Bali, with the leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies signing a pledge that commits to:
Yes, while everyone was so nicely distracted by the “fall of Kherson” and that missile that allegedly hit Poland, leaders from around the world were gathering in matching shirts and publishing their plans for world government in glossy little ring binders.
He continues:
Oh, a little reminder to those who still believe Russia is fighting the good fight against the globalist baddies in Ukraine – Russia is a member of the G20 and signed the pledge. [Emphasis in the original.]
As did China, along with every other member of BRICS.
There are no heroes here, they are all in it together…but their war sure made for a good distraction, didn’t it?
Basically, it’s all just confirmation – if confirmation were needed – that the Great Reset is still coming. Even if Covid goes away, the new normal is here to stay.
But, of course, that was always the plan.
When the prevailing creed is anti-creation, the artists will hate creation, beauty and meaning.
A Cy Twombly daubery has just passed hands for $41 Million. The obscurantist dribble accompanying this transaction mentions Bacchus and Greek and Roman culture. That’s no co-incidence. It’s anti-Christian through and through.
A 9-minute video excerpt of Paul Joseph Watson interviewing Michael Schellenberger.
From Schellenberger’s substack:
Michael Shellenberger is a Time Magazine “Hero of the Environment,” Green Book Award winner, and the best-selling author of San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities (HarperCollins 2021) and Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All (HarperCollins 2020).
He’s been called an “environmental guru,” “climate guru,” “North America’s leading public intellectual on clean energy,” and “high priest” of the pro-human environmental movement for his work.
Schellenberger became a Christian when he was researching for his book “Apocalypse Never”, as I noted here.
See video here (17 min).
John MacArthur says we are living in paganism 2.0. What they hate most is biblical truth. (I’d go further and say they even hate the idea that there is something like the truth.)
John Piper adds that we are like exiles in this world. We have always been. We should read 1 Peter and rejoice in our suffering, for our eternal reward is in heaven. This is what Christian clergy should be preaching, not things that make the congregation hate and fear the culture surrounding them.
Here’s a passage he may have meant 1 Peter 3, 13-17 (NIV):
Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats[b]; do not be frightened.”[c] 15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.