Eclipsed: The Church & the State have overshadowed real Christian values
Jordan Henderson
A Facemask for the Christian Right – The Pledge of Allegiance
The pledge of allegiance is a similar ritual to Covid facemask wearing: it is a ritual of subservience to the state, and a ceremonial statement of belief and faith in the authorities. The pledge of allegiance is extremely common in the USA, especially in schools and at government and community meetings.
“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,”
The reality of people across the USA pledging their allegiance to the flag of the US federal government while wearing a Covid facemask was my initial inspiration for the painting above. I then remembered where I first learned the pledge of allegiance as a child…in church.[1]
It is not uncommon to see the flag of the U.S. federal government displayed in evangelical churches. Certain evangelical church youth programs regularly begin with all the children being led through the pledge of allegiance to the government’s flag.[2]
In light of this it is no surprise to me, that when the government ordered churches to close their doors in compliance with the government’s decrees, many churches failed to protest against the state; most complied.
Christians were persecuted in ancient times for refusing to participate in the Roman Empire’s rituals to their gods, yet today many Christians see no conflict of interest in offering up their allegiance in idolatrous rituals to the flag of the U.S. Empire.
Do Americans really mean to commit themselves to obeying future government orders? If their government asks them to do something that they believe is morally wrong, are they going to do it? Hopefully not. If Americans have sense enough to refuse to follow orders that they as individuals deem to be wrongful orders; then why are they voluntarily pledging allegiance to their government?
Someone might reply…
“You see, I am pledging allegiance to my country only to the extent that what they ask me to do is good; if they ask me to do something reprehensible I won’t.”
They will do as they are ordered unless they disagree? If they reserve the right to veto their government’s demands, especially if they acknowledge the moral imperative to do so when those demands are immoral, then they are not swearing allegiance at all.
That’s why the pledge of allegiance doesn’t end with the clause “Unless I disagree for ethical reasons.” That’s called an escape clause, and we might as well dispense with the Swearing Allegiance theater, if we add that kind of clause.
It is not only the mandate-welcoming/police-state-cheerleading/lockdown-loving/triple-masking/triple vaccinated/Left that has an addiction to virtue signaling through government subservience rituals. Here in the USA this problem is rampant on the Right, and the Christian Right too, as demonstrated by the prevalence of the pledge of allegiance.
In the Name of Science” is now a better pretext than “In the Name of God,” but Christians are still important apologists for the powerful
Alongside my earlier paintings commemorating The Triumph and Victory of Science I included this quote from C.S Lewis.
In every age the men who want us under their thumb, if they have any sense, will put forward the particular pretension which the hopes and fears of that age render most potent. They ‘cash in.’ It has been magic, it has been Christianity. Now it will certainly be science”
C.S. Lewis, 1958
Science has clearly superseded Christianity as the pretension of choice by which the powerful rationalize their rule. Yet
However, just as science only supports the legitimacy of the state’s decrees if we allow the state to define what science is; Christianity only supports the legitimacy of the state if we allow the state’s junior accomplices and fellow promoters of earthly authority, the churches, to define what Christianity is.[3]
Christianity has been used to oppress, yet it has also been used to liberate. Corrupt politicians hide behind Jesus, yet Christian Anarchists who reject the legitimacy of state power have built on a foundation of Jesus’ core teachings.
Christianity played a historical role in undermining, and de-legitimizing, acts of humans exercising power over other humans; long before social justice warriors made Christianity into an all purpose scapegoat for social ills, popes issued Papal Bulls condemning slavery in no uncertain terms.
Christians spearheaded abolitionist movements – from Saint Bathilde, and Saint Anskar in medieval Europe to the Quakers in 19th century America.[4]
And Christians refused to allow themselves to be enslaved by the state through military conscription: they denied the state the right to do that.
Christians today could be responsible, they could delegitimize authoritarianism, and they could undermine power structures, if we could pry the Christians out from their hiding place underneath the thumb of the churches and the boot of the state.
Final Thoughts
It is a testament to the ability of churches to mislead their followers into subservience to human authorities, that the Bible itself in the book of Hebrews teaches that divine authority arises within each and every human being, yet the subservience teaching continues (emphasis mine);
This is the covenant which I will make with them
After those days, declares the Lord:
I will put My laws upon their hearts,
And write them on their mind,”
Hebrews 10:16 – NASB
“The Church sets itself up as the means by which divine authority is enacted in the world. If that divine authority was seen as arising from within each and every human being, the Church’s own role would be fatally undermined, along with the hierarchical structures of the wider social system of which it is part.”
Paul Cudenec, from his book ~ Forms of Freedom ~ Chapter 34
Constantine’s conversion did not mark the embrace by the Roman Empire of Jesus’ teaching, but the conversion of Christianity to the interests of the Empire.”
Christian Anarchism for Absolute Beginners an interview of Alexandre Christoyannopoulos conducted by Lars Schall
Eclipsed,, oil on canvas [click to enlarge]
Jordan Henderson lives in the Northwest of the United States. He works in oil paints, and charcoals. A portfolio of his works can be viewed at either of his websites: Original Paintings – Fine Art Prints
Footnotes:
[1] I learned the pledge of allegiance in church during a Christian youth program called Awana (more on that in note footnote 2), and later during Boy Scouts, and tons of other community programs. It’s all melting together now so I don’t remember if the adults ever recited the pledge of allegiance in the church I attended outside the context of the youth program or not. But here are some other people’s interesting, and to their credit, critical, accounts of the pledge of allegiance in church during regular services; see Here and message boards Here and Here.
[2] The Christian youth program I have in mind that regularly begins or began with the pledge of allegiance to the US flag followed by some other pledges, is called Awana. It’s been years since I was in that program as a child, so I called up Awana and asked them if they still begin their programs with the pledge of allegiance. The very polite customer service representative evidently sensed a loaded question and diplomatically skirted the question altogether.
As far as I can tell at least some churches still do begin their Awana youth programs with the pledge of allegiance, and I surmise that many do, because the Awana program guides that I was able to find for specific churches through a general internet search, mentioned beginning with the pledge of allegiance such as Here, and Here.
See the following link for another type of church youth program (Vacation Bible School) having the children recite multiple pledges including to the US flag.
[3] The Bible does not define Christianity per se, because Christians decide what writings go into the Bible – this is the Question of Canon – and Christians themselves define how authoritative the Bible is or is not, such as accepting or rejecting The Doctrine of Inerrancy – and Christians decide which teachings to follow, which to ignore, and how to interpret them.
For example; the practice of stoning to death people who have committed the grave sin of collecting firewood on the Sabbath is Biblical, but I’ve never heard anyone advocate reviving it! (see Numbers 15:32-36)
[4] Regarding Queen Bathilde and Saint Anskar – my reference is Rodney Stark’s book – For the Glory of God: How monotheism led to reformations, science, witch-hunts and the end of slavery – Chapter 4, subheading, Saints and Popes, page 329 – ISBN 0-691- 11436-6
SUPPORT OFFGUARDIAN
If you enjoy OffG's content, please help us make our monthly fund-raising goal and keep the site alive.
For other ways to donate, including direct-transfer bank details click HERE.
Thou shalt put no other gods before me.
To marry in the eyes of the lord one must first register with a god put before God.
Such a marriage goes unseen by God. So it seems to me.
Most all religions and most all the religious, and most all the atheists serve the same god- the state.
He who made it, owns it. He who owns it maketh the rules.
Who made it? God?
Who owns it? God?
Who maketh the rules? God?
Give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar.
Caesar made nothing, owns nothing, rules over nothing.
Unless we think otherwise.
To come under God is to come out from under the state.
Imo…
This author, while coming across as quasi-Christian, is actually doing more harm to the cause of Christ than an avowed atheist. By denigrating the authority of the inerrant Word of God, he lifts up the totally unreliable judgement of man. Foolishness! An example: the stoning of people for gathering firewood on the Sabbath. These were Israelites who were under a Theocracy, that has since been dissolved as a result of the Israelites’ rejection of God as their King by requesting a human one. Saul first filled that role. God makes no mistakes. There is a reason for everything He does. The sacredness and binding claims of the Law of God is something few Christians realize today because of sentiments similar to the ones expressed here that have been a part of fallen Christendom for ages now. Take note: those who reject the law of God as supreme in their lives… Read more »
This was good. BTW The Artwork would upset some yanks 😀
I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,”
50 + pentagrams how fitting.
Americans pledge allegiance to the flag that is the symbol of the State that is governed by their god that they put on their dollar bill. It is the System of Mammon.
As an unvaccinated Catholic in NZ, I too have been left to fend with the lepers whilst all the faithful observe complete submission to the absurd government rules. No voices raised to ask, what might Jesus do? Doubtless, they will be offering up prayers for the defence of Ukraine, and will cheer as our military joins forces against the antichrist Vlad the Impaler. I cannot breathe for the hypocrisy and stupidity. God may forgive me, but the Fallible Pope will not, because he asserted that getting vaccinated was a moral duty. But other comments below have reminded me of how I used to feel whenever I entered UK Protestant Churches filled with militaria and festooned with flags. I also recall as a kid being kept apart from Remembrance Day parades because we were persona non grata, as if Catholics hadn’t fought and died too. As someone said, Patriotism is the… Read more »
Unvaccinated Catholic in Germany. When I saw they had boarded the basins for the holy water at the church entrance, when they warned everybody not to attend mass, when the Pope said to watch him hold Easter Mass on tv, when I saw clerics walking around with muzzles – it felt like an invisible hand slapping my face. But the weirdest thing ever happened at the village cemetry where our family grave is. They had put up a sign that masks were required. I laughed and entered. And I saw people busying themselves, planting flowers, weeding, watering – with muzzles on. To achieve what? To keep the dead healthy? Once more the Church has abandoned the common people. Bonus track: The Pope kissing the Ukrainian flag for tv coverage. So no help to be expected from that direction, no spiritual guidance, no message of hope and fearlessness. I shall not… Read more »
Historical record proves that organized region is simply evil. As evil as any social institution can be and this evil grows with the scale, reach, degree of control over society and monopoly on power such religion may acquire. All governments run in the past by religious elite were proved to be as evil as secular governments sharing all methods and techniques of brutal governance when their power was threatened. Rome now Vatican is a prime example of this institutional evil. In 2000 years of Roman church approximately every 100 years Popes set up secret investigations about abuses in church hierarchy and clergy. As Vatican documents were released in early 2000 those reports read like sado-masochist sexual orgy and sexual murder diaries of gluttony and sloth and festivities of sin. Despite of declarations no Pope actually stopped such practices as we read from those documents describing that previous Pontiffs did nothing… Read more »
Ok. Here goes. Churches in America have quite a bit of variety between them. I’ve been involved with quite a few. And, invariably, they each have some good to offer and some room for improvement; glass half-full and half-empty. I waver between being appreciative and critical of each one as would a lover of fine restaurants. So, I have to discipline myself always to just be thankful for each church as a gathering of believers of like, precious faith while at the same time guarding myself against their errors while attempting to bring some improvement, if I can. The only way to do this with the right attitude is to know Jesus, (the Word of God), very well for myself and carefully discipline myself to be faithful to live up to His teaching, (a very humbling, often humiliating, experience). Bottom line, I’m just glad people are taking some interest in… Read more »
Here’s the latest on the status of Covid in the United States: https://www.yahoo.com/news/covid-more-dangerous-driving-scientists-112721912.html It seems that Freedom is a terrible burden for the masses. They need experts to tell them what to do as they quake in fear of Covid. “And beyond that, many scientists said they also worried about this latest phase of the pandemic heaping too much of the burden on individuals to make choices about keeping themselves and others safe, especially while the tools for fighting COVID remained beyond some Americans’ reach.” Fauci must have reread Dostoyevsky’s “Grand Inquisitor” before he issued the latest talking points to his harem of “scientists”. https://www2.hawaii.edu/~freeman/courses/phil100/11.%20Dostoevsky.pdf . “For fifteen centuries we have struggled with that freedom, but now it is all over, and over for good. You don’t believe that it is over for good? You look at me meekly and do not even consider me worthy of indignation? Well, I… Read more »
I seriously doubt very many churches nowadays ever get around to actually teaching the word of God. They’re too focused on lgbt,ending muh raaaycissumz, making sure every member of their congregation has been in at least one mixed relationship and will go on to be in only mixed relationships from now on, welcoming “refugees”(mostly Africans),prison visitation/outreach/reform, more muh raaaycissumz, and please hug at least one lgbt person today.
Beautifully painted drapery…
As OG readers know the Orthodox Christian calendar makes Easter Day the coming Sunday. Some breaking news is out that Kiev plans to mass attack Orthodox churches at Easter in another false-flag attempt to blame Russia, and involve NATO countries in the conflict.
https://johnplatinumgoss.com/2022/04/18/kievs-evil-easter-intent/
Moses comes down from the mount with The Ten Commandments and says to his brother Aaron, “I got good news and bad news. The good news is I talked Him down to ten. The bad news is…one of them is adultery.
The Church has been corrupted by the same people who appoint our corrupt political leaders (puppets). The state is your enemy
Is there any church that hasn’t been ‘corrupted’ ? Personally I think they are organisations of control, they are what they are intended to be.
“The Catholic Church is an institution I am bound to hold divine – but for unbelievers a proof of its divinity might be found in the fact that no merely human institution conducted with such knavish imbecility would have lasted a fortnight.”
“When one remembers how the Catholic Church has been governed, and by whom, one realizes that it must have been divinely inspired to have survived at all.”
~ Hilaire Belloc
Another sci-fi horror contagion movie re-appropriated as covid propaganda: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/john-carpenter-most-hated-film/ “The Thing is a thoroughly engaging sci-fi thriller that revolves around an alien entity with the horrifying ability to assimilate living beings. An essential horror experience, The Thing is a fan-favourite of modern audiences as well and many fans revisited it when the pandemic broke out all over the world. While reflecting on the relevance of the film, Carpenter commented in an interview: “The Thing is a film about an alien—but it can be read as a metaphor for this pandemic, this disease. The appearance of normalcy is all-important for the creature. It wants to imitate perfectly, so no one can tell who’s sick and who’s not.” Naturally Carpenter will seize on anything that boosts his baby’s status. But he also seems to be doing his bit for directing the public away from “misinfo”: “The director talked about his own… Read more »
Thanks for reminding me of Michael Faraday’s disgrace. Besides being a great scientist, Faraday served as an Elder of the Sandemanians, and preached in Church on Sundays. One Sunday he was summoned to the presence of his Monarch, Victoria Queen of England and Empress of India. Faraday naturally cancelled his usual Sabbath sermon to attend the summons by the Head of State. On his return Faraday found that he had been disgraced and relieved of responsibility as an Elder of the Church on account of his frivolity in setting an Earthly monarch above the King of Heaven.
Convid
Convid has shown that all corporate religion is (are) merely the ecclesiastical arm(s) of the state which is the banker controlled world government. The religious establishments have done everything in their power to propagate the genocidal convid protocols.
Christianity The effort and resources required to uproot pagan pantheisms and replace them with bible based Christian monotheism was enormous and spanned two millennia. It started with Philo of Alexandria. This poweful and well connected philosopher lived between 13 BC and 50 AD.His brother Alexander was the Rothschild of his time and was the financial custodian of Antonia Minor, Marc Anthony’s daughter and the mother of Emperor Claudius who succeeded Caligula. It is likely that Philo, his associates and others in his community commissioned the writing of the gospels. The gospel of St John has a lot of his philosophy. The entire new testament was written in Koine Greek which was Philo’s first language. The old testament had been translated into Greek two centuries earlier and was called the Septuagint. Philo also had close ties with the Palestinian Herod family especially Agrippa I. He led the mission to Caligula after… Read more »
Thanks for that succinct and informative background to Patristics: the historical origins of Christianity, Islam, Marxism and allied “Peoples of the Book”. I agree that St.John smells much more strongly of Greek philosophy than does the rest of the New Testament; although St.Paul also can occasionally quote a snippet of Greek Wisdom to great effect.
Thanks. True about St Paul.
Thank you for this article. But the comments here deriding and mocking all religious faith that some post are not helpful. I am a Christian, but know that others are not — yet can’t we still try to find points where we do agree and take action on those. Just as arguing over and over again whether Covid exists as a separate disease, whether it was manufactured in a lab, etc, has not proven useful in combating lockdowns and coerced/forced vaccinations, neither does mocking someone’s faith beliefs help us work together when and where we need to. I am more troubled by unthinking, “go along to get along” Christians than I am by atheists and agnostics. I have not lived in the US for well over a decade, so perhaps should not comment on what has been happening there (though I recall well the clashes between “liberal” and “conservative” churches… Read more »
GKC: “There is no bigot like the atheist.”
Just sayin’, clearly not grasped by too many, just guessin’ My personal favorite, even considered less deeply by “some”.
“If God did not exist there would be no atheists.”
(Seriously, you have to think about the phenomenological math of that before it REALLY makes sense….)
Étienne Gilson, who developed penetrating theories, a whole school, of “mathématicisme” and has to his credit a vote by L’Académie Française” as a member in perpetuity, and other very rare accolades, called Chesterton one of the “deepest thinkers of all time.” A remarkable two thumbs up, at least, from a mind as highly acclaimed as Gilson.
When you unpack many GKC adages, much more comes to light. As a buffer for the fierce outcry of doubters. So, there’s that.
I would say of God what is said of anyone: You are known by the company you keep.
This is why the ancient gods were so much closer to the real thing. No one thought to portray them as benevolent or as loving humanity. Those gods kept the company of tyrants.
So too does the Christian God keep the company of tyrants.
Touche!
However, if you flip the last statement on its head … ’tis tyrants who wish to portray that they keep the company of God …
the better to hawk their evil deeds.
Completely baseless assertion. The godless atheist is probably responsible for more deaths in the history of the world than any other. I can’t think of a single example of a devout Christian who can be described as a ‘tyrant’. Misguided individuals maybe but tyrants by nature ‘rule’ tyrannically and normally tyrants rule nations. Beyond the usual tropes regarding the inquisition and I would agree that those responsible for the inquisition were tyrants although I see little evidence that they were Christian. Christians especially today do not ever get in positions of power sufficient to enact ‘tyrannical’ edicts. Another two false tropes who occasionally pop up over this topic are Bush and Blair. Bush is a member of a secret satanic cult Skull and Bones who obviously he pledges allegiance too first and Blair has allegiance to the cult of Rome. Neither of those institutions are I would assert in any… Read more »
Perhaps a good idea to dwell on the fact that more atrocities have been committed by obedient people than disobedient people throughout history. Anyone for a good old Christian crusade? Was it one of the Urban popes who said “this myth of Christ has served us well”?
Not sure if discussing origins of the “virus” is not useful, but it diverts energy perhaps from the bigger problems of rights, probably.
The equating of facemasks with pledges of allegiance, and all that jazz, yet further unmasking of the Nazi morphogenesis of either. And, by the bye, heaviest connections to Freemasonry (shhhh, this has been kept secret, even more than the handshakes, etc, yawn). As many here were quick to point out, there was a direct connection of Coronapalooza and Ukraine events. I have a catchy, short, if not sweet, formula: Coronapalooza = NATO-centric “dis-ease”* Ukraine false flag War = NAZI-centric episode A handy guide. *A quick comparison of deaths by countries, stats kept abundantly, are all in agreement, and show NATO countries, more or less, with an order of magnitude of “corona casualties” over most small world countries, roughly TEN or even TWENTY to ONE. Mexico is an odd case, one of the few south of USA INC. with a huge IFR, last I checked it was 8% !!! A good… Read more »
TYPO: CRISTERO, not the word my glasses missed, smudged. One fact that dropped off the radar: the lockdowns and surplus of coronapsychosis, as Lukashenko dubbed it many moons ago, disguised the total “eclipse” of Communion wine, for ALL, Orthodox Christian rites. They tried this 5 years ago with a hepatitis “outbreak” in San Diego, and only reinstated it not that long before 2020. We had Communion “under two species” as the language has it, for not very long at all, afterr a lengthy suspension, only to have it disappeared ever since. 25 months and counting? Very suspect, I hope there are those who will inquire into that SD, Ca. event, ca. 2016. It struck me at the time as a “dry run”, literally, for something else, such as Coronapalooza. Still does. No Communion Wine means that for two years+ we can only receive the Eucharist (wafer) without wine. First years… Read more »
Geo. Washington and the other founders never pledged allegiance to the flag and it would never have occurred to them to do so.
The Pledge didn’t exist until 1892…
That’s interesting, I didn’t know. Shortly after court rulings gave corporations received recognition as “persons” under the law, too.
I smell a lot of then-contemporary rats. Many corporate. Just as many, fascist (literally).
The character of the modern churches can be seen in the visage of the Uberwoke Pope and our very own Justin Welby, best mate of Tony Blair, who employs his son. Forget all that theological nonsense, all that matters is non stop gay anal sex for everybody, as many child trannies as possible, non stop abortions, paganism, and slobbering over the correct flags, be they the rainbow flag or the Ukrainian Nazi battle flag. That is their catechism. That is what our paedo church establishment stands for.
Jesus saves, Jesus slaves. But can he be resurrected after millennia of crucifying him all over again, and again, in the churches of empire, from Pox Romana to Pox Americana? If anything good ever comes out of the good news – real human values linking up with the original spiritual revolts of later institutionalized religions deriving from the axial age of imperial ‘civilization’ (800-200 BCE) – its light seems all too easily hidden under a bushel by the empire’s noble lies with which the city of god complies, collaborates, conspires (e.g., the liberation theology movement laid to rest by John Paul II and televangelist exports of counterinsurgency warfare). Here in the belly of the beast of Babylon that is U$, Inc., most church brands with which I’m familiar, more than I care to recall, fly the flag faithfully on their stages for the sacred, which cross with the swords of… Read more »
Yes. To you and to Rich.
Rich, Adrienne, famously refused the Medal of Arts offered her by Clinton, writing the White House scathingly, “Art means nothing if it simply serves to decorate the dinner table of the power that holds it hostage.”
Prophetic too, as philanthropists are tasking all the arts institutions they hold hostage now more and more to ramp up the murder of the Art Spirit in the USA. Classical music has been savaged for several decades now, clearly, under the guise of philanthropy. All the philistine phat cats want to do is commodify it. To commoditize artists. To “own” it, like the great worm SMAUG with his mountain lair of golden baubles.
(The SMAUG reference is a classic Hobbit visual).
Worse yet, there is much evidence that slowly they are trying to kill off the greatest aspects of art, and Art Spirit, to reify it simply for auctions, since Nazis hate the refinement of discernment such gifts and cultures bring. The skills to tell scheiße from Shinola, or if that’s too dated an image, counterfeits from the real deal.
Age old Philistinism,gone nuclear in a nuclear age. Homogenization of the arts and music industry. All hat and no cowboy?!
Absolutely. The commercialization of all that moves, of the whole cultural realm.
More wise words from Archbishop Vigano. There are some brave souls in the churches who are speaking out.
https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/vigan-vatican-critic-blames-deep-state-ukraine-war-citing-covid-19-measures
Thanks for the link. Archbishop Vigano has been a breath of fresh air through all this.
Something seems odd and out of place. Though.
Pincer psyops by the right?
It was a pledge of abstinence in the Methodist church. Wish I had stuck to it! We also had that stuff (allegiance) in the cubs; “I promise on my honour to do my duty to God and the King/Queen, to help other people at all times and to obey the Cub Scout Law”. Interestingly, Baden Powell, was a Freemason, and this is a kind of subtle brainwashing into blind acceptance of subservience to authority. All the animal imagery from Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book” similarly echoes, vaguely, the animal imagery of the lodge, with its hierarchy right up to the throne of the goat. Kipling was a mason. So, I suspect is Andrew Lloyd-Weber, whose musical “Cats” is an adaptation of T. S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s book of Practical Cats. Eliot was a mason – which Nobel (another mason) prizewinner for literature was not? If you think the playing field… Read more »
I second that and highly recommend Winter Oak’s post.
And here is a photo of Charlie taking orders from his boss Lord Rothschild:
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTrFeCPhc8X5OICUC2OnP9SAKmABw_uK3I05eCOxRGF4xkBBo_t6juvEoF_d9bppaItHnY&usqp=CAU
My father was a Mason, though amazingly he kept it an absolute secret throughout my teen years that I lived in his manse, while going to prep schools, and never divulged it in all the years from cradle to the day, at 17yo, that we parted paths permanently, “irreconcilable differences”. We only met face to face once after that. Today is his 40th Anniversary. (Actually yesterday, but all the same ) He was assassinated near UCLA, April 16, 1982. It was staged to look like a suicide, gun in hand, locked Lincoln. Burt Folkart, chief obituarist for L. A. Times (he put his name to the obits of RFK, Natalie Wood, Cary Grant, Orson Welles, and all those in thec1980s) penned that one for my namesake, JWE, and toward the end included facts about his VP role at Philosophical Research Society, whose founder and President was hosting Sirhan in his… Read more »
I did reply, John, but it seems to have got lost.
Moderator?
Yeah,I’ve been having problems perennially (per secundum annum) with the formats here, ever since they changed the old one, fall of 2020. I just appended a note with a correct quote of “Amthor” (MPH of PRS in profile, very sly reference) which is highly relevant, for those who can see it. Wanted to get it right, even though it’s “just” a film noir screenplay from 1945, “Murder, My Sweet”!
My comment was innocuous. Just a little anecdote about a slim hard-backed volume I got from a second-hand bookshop of the funeral of William Powell’s oration over the body of Myron Selznick written by Gene Fowler.
Nota Bene: this is the direct correct quote from Jules Amthor’s soliloquy to a captive Philip Marlowe in 1945 “Murder, My Sweet” just before he gets the full MKULTRA Manchurian Candidate treatment, some years before it, or the CIA,existed. Right? Not before Gehlen or his stooge Mengele had done their dirty work at Auschwitz, though… AMTHOR: “I am in a very sensitive profession, Mr. Marlowe. (hardening his tone). I am a QUACK.. Which is to say I’m ahead of my time in the field of psychic treatment. Naturally, there are certain elements who would like to show me in a bad light. It’s entirely possible they have discussed me with the police. That is it.” That’s Philosophical Research Society in spades. An old vet told me in 2016 that MPH was the director of Project Monarch (Mind Control), one of the many interchangeable tentacles of MKULTRA. When I asked him… Read more »
I didn’t know Eliot was a Mason. I accused him, in absentia,once I recognized the dots and their network, like Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein, and all that literati, of being Intelligence agents. Eliot was a pen pal of James J. Angleton, CIA counterintelligence chief for its first 25 years and just a super-spook from the Abyss. Even he thought he was going to hell, or so he told Joseph Trento (The secret History of the CIA) on his cancerous smokers deathbed, a lookalike for X Files “Cigarette Smoking Man” for dead real.
I don’t wish to speak Ill of the dead, but like T. Leary, something about Eliot never ever held the ring of truth for me. Obviously,I can’t prove these things, but there is enough evidence to call them out. As ghosts!
I also really suspect that many of these types have a world fame that is fueled and funded by the cabals. “Insiders”.
The Pledge of Allegiance is, like the “In God We Trust” on the currency, a relic of the deep Cold War. It encapsulates everything that’s wrong with American faux-patriotism which is why I’ve never recited it, ever. It irritates me that our children are forced to recite it frequently, its the worst form of indoctrination imaginable. The US is founded on its Constitution which are in essence a set of rules to allow people to get along without dictating to anyone how they should live or what they should believe. Its a very abstract idea, especially for the late 18th century, because what its really enabling is what I describe as “organized anarchy”. Its also cuts completely across the heirarchical nature of most societies so much effort has been devoted to finding ways to warp and weave it into the much more understandable notion of a leader that everyone follows… Read more »
The Pope used Good Friday to lecture Europeans that they are racists:
https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3174469/ukrainian-refugees-treated-differently-those-elsewhere-pope
At least he stopped short of supporting arming Ukraine like Ursula von der Leyen – although his condemnation was hardly the strongest.
This Pope is full of malice.
Strange that he stopped at supporting Ukraine with arms as I am led to believe the Vatican has huge financial interests in the arms industry.
Most churches in the US capitulated to the state mandates that ordered the closing of churches, these mandates prevented marriages, funerals and other social gatherings in the various religions buildings. The few pastors who stood up to the tyrannical miscreants were demonized and a few were arrested! The dazed, traumatized and fearful masses went along with the psyop allowing the government and their church leaders to engage in massive social reengineering. Just as US physicians and funeral directors were threatened with the loss of the professional licenses if they didn’t toe the COVID line, preachers, pastors and other religious officials were intimidated and coerced into being complicit with the scam.
The supreme irony is, the words “Fear not” are mentioned over 350 times in the Bible yet most Christians have shown themselves to be cowardly weak minded hypocrites.
Léon Bloy, who was a “mentor” to the colossal intellect of Jacques Maritain, and his wife, wrote, “A Christian is either a hero or a pig.” I often take Graham Greene, MI6 agent who broke the mold, author of “The Quiet American”, “Ministry of Fear”, “The 3rd Man”, “The Power and the Glory”, “Our Man in Havana” and others that are still intimately related to the current global context, has always struck me as a kind of “heroic pig” or a sort of that hybrid, servant of the global public interest with a spotty past, and, in their later years, neighbor/good friend of Charlie Chaplin (“The Great Dictator”) in Vevey. In “Our Man in Havana” one witness to that 1950s grudge match between Fidel Castro and Fulgencio Batista, Greene has observe to the “heroic pig” of that novel, “You should dream more, Wormold. Reality in this century is not something… Read more »
Yes, but in the what might be called the health freedom/anti-Great Reset movement, there are many Christians. I see the US flag all the time. I have been at several large gatherings where – not the Pledge of Allegiance – but the National Anthem was sung. This has made me very uncomfortable. I don’t really understand what they mean by the term patriot, but to me it has always meant “my country right or wrong”, and a knee-jerk support for whatever the Government’s enemy of the month might be.
“. . . long before social justice warriors made Christianity into an all purpose scapegoat for social ills, popes issued Papal Bulls condemning slavery in no uncertain terms.” No papal bulls are cited to support the author’s defense of the Catholic church and Christianity in regard to the issue of slavery. Citing “Immensa Pastorum Principis” of 1741 would’ve helped to convince most readers of the church’s purported innocence. But, nearly 300 years prior to that, the papal bull, “Dum diversas,” was issued in 1452 to authorize and sanctify the perpetual enslavement of “non-believers.” “Perpetual” means forever, and “non-believer” is anyone the church declares to be such. At the time, it was issued for Alfonso V of Portugal to support and encourage his exploration of the African coast in search of potential slaves, but was intended for, and used by, all Catholic monarchs (including Ferdinand and Isabella, known as the “Catholic… Read more »
Hey Richard, here is the hyperlink supporting that claim in the original essay. Sometimes things get lost in the conversion from writing programs to email and back into a publishing program, or maybe the link being on an older website maid it less secure than desirable. But anyways here is the link that delves into the controversy http://www.churchinhistory.org/pages/booklets/slavery.htm
Rodney Stark also takes a deep dive into the matter in his book “For the Glory of God: How monotheism led to reformations, science, witch-hunts and the end of slavery” very worth reading.
Of course plenty of people used the Bible to justify slavery, people used the Bible on both sides of many issues because it was prestigious akin to science now. However since, slavery in various forms has arguably been common over the ages and around the world; anyone arguing against it when it was widespread deserves careful attention and credit.
The linked article from the churchinhistory.org cites only church or papal decrees that support the author’s argument(s) that the Catholic church has always condemned slavery. The papal bull, dum diversas, promoting and consecrating slavery in perpetuity, is not mentioned at all in the article, nor is any church or papal decree supporting slavery and conquest by way of European settlement in the New World. Mention of any pro-slavery bull(s) would undermine the premise of the article.
Here is an excerpt from Papal Bull Sicut Dudum issued by Pope Eugene IV in 1435 “4. And no less do We order and command all and each of the faithful of each sex, within the space of fifteen days of the publication of these letters in the place where they live, that they restore to their earlier liberty all and each person of either sex who were once residents of said Canary Islands, and made captives since the time of their capture, and who have been made subject to slavery. These people are to be totally and perpetually free, and are to be let go without the exaction or reception of money. If this is not done when the fifteen days have passed, they incur the sentence of excommunication by the act itself, from which they cannot be absolved, except at the point of death, even by the Holy… Read more »
Sicut dudum of 1435 was intended as an ecclesiastical order to free any enslaved Canary Islanders who had converted to Catholicism. Its dictum is for the Canary Islands only and does not protect any non-Christians (i.e., non-believers) from being enslaved. It is confined to a specific place and did not condemn Portuguese slave hunts along the African coast. Dum diversas of 1453 served as the official papal enabler for King Alfonso V to hunt slaves along Africa’s coast, and this evolved into the Atlantic slave trade to the New World. All of this information is available to everyone due to the internet, so there is no need to rely on old and misleading versions of the history of Christianity.
This isn’t a version of Christianity, we are simply talking about documentable Papal Bulls which are merely one aspect of one branch of Christianity. I conceded multiple time in the article above that Christianity has been used to oppress. My point in the instances in which Christianity has been used to liberate is just that; that Christianity has indeed been used to liberate. We can take a nuanced view that does not shy away from looking at the good, the bad, and the ugly of Christian history. But many people feel that so much as acknowledging the good is somehow denying the bad.
The good is just about all we hear about Christianity. Anything that’s perceived as intended to spoil Christianity’s image is simply omitted from the narrative. Almost no one is aware that a papal bull(s) (dum diversas) was issued to justify the hunting of Africans for use as slaves, and that the bull is designed to de-humanize Africans so that they will be perceived as, and can be used like, draft animals. In issuing the slavery bull(s), the church knew that slavery is supported in Biblical scripture. To keep most readers unaware that slavery is supported in the Bible, modern versions of the Bible use euphemistic terms such as “bondsmen” and “bondsmaids” for slaves. Search online for “what does the Bible say about slavery?”
When the Christ said “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s” (Luke 20:25 et al) – he opened the door to all things statist, including Pledges of Allegiance.
Maybe he’ll have the good grace to close that door when he returns.
Christianity is in us how much of the bible did they manipulate to work to their advantage? I think alot.I know who I am and what I feel and see life is what I see beautiful people is what I see nature life death.I do not see politicians or scientists telling me what to believe when I can see it with my very eyes that’s what I believe in.👍
Great article which raises valid points.
Why should anyone capitulate to anyone based on who they claim to be, i.e. government, educators. medics? And most particularly, why would Christians, who answer to their creator and not their fellow man, follow lockstep with illogical government mandated policies?
A great organisation which is challenging vaccines, smart grid, 5G and geoengineering is
InPower movement. Through very well crafted Notices of Liability, which incorporate Biblical verses for support because law is based on the Bible, InPower holds those who uphold and enforce the policies of vaccines, smart grid, 5G and geoengineering, liable. -Personally liable. Order followers do not, and should not, get off scot-free.
https://www.inpowermovement.com
Not being funny but when I see blue and yellow colours together it triggers something,Didn’t we have blue and yellow signs with convid?Subliminal messaging me thinks before the fact 😬
I think of the Swedish flag.
Perhaps the Swedish variant of the covidiarrhoea will be the one that finishes us off…
You vill no lonker zink of ze Svedish flag. You vill zink of ze Ukranian flag und ze Ukranian people, who you vill now stand vith.
Blue und yellow, Ukraine, from now until ve tell you othervise. Lie back and zink of Ukraine.
True they plan things years in advance.As I watch police shows and have watched how our local Bobby has become militarised.Or how our children have become sensitised.Or how our local shops have become no go for fast cheap junk food.Music TV have become demonised sexualised oh they have been working hard to bring in a one word government.
They are in full lock step unless we we squash them it’s us they are are war with us and we can go yes we are Christian’s if you are Christian in a church you have no chance,We are Christian’s the way Jesus taught not in churches.Being a Christian is not what the churches are teaching us we have to be lions we have to look outside the box.We are not the hippie tambourine playing imbeciles they portray we are David and Goliath.
Yellow
You’re right Annie – they use colours to condition us to planned future events – in combination with images, sounds and words.
https://www.bitchute.com/video/Hyfq8elxPn79/
It never fails to amaze me that pious souls think themselves the first to figure out what real christianity is, and that it is a kindly, benevolent thing. Centuries of enabling totalitarianism, nationalism, slavery, genocide, promoting oppression, misogyny, homophobia, ethnocentrism, why those things don’t count at all! Churches growing wealthy as the compliance assurance arms of state power, tut, tut, nothing to do with the teachings of Real Jesus ™ at all. Kinda supports my pet theory that faith is basically a sad self-flattery, whistling in the dark as a goose walks over your grave. And imagine that, people who are sure the almighty creator of the universe tales a personal interest in their daily moods swings dismiss guys like me as arrogant fools who think too much of themselves.
As a Christian, it’s very upsetting for me to wonder if my church and others acted as if they were a business and were afraid to upset their ‘customers.’
In Australia, churches have an ABN number (Australian Business Number) which indicates that they are corporations.
Remember when “Mission Statements” became fashionable among corporations? (Well, they did in the UK anyway). Eventually, everyone was at it, and in due course, the Church of England dreamed one up.
If satire hadn’t already died (according to Tom Lehrer) when Henry Kissinger got his Nobel Peace Prize, then it would have died that day for me.
For contemplation! And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. 45 And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. 47 If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. 48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. 49 For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I… Read more »
For further contemplation!
John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
What about the Mother?
Jesus, therefore, seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing by, said to his mother: iWoman, behold thy son.; Then, he said to the disciple iBehold thy mother.; And from that hour the disciple took her to his own (home). This very well-known text is one of the most important Marian passages in Scripture
Amen.
For contemplation!
‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.
😂
🙊🙉🙈💡🍞
For further contemplation!
And ?
😂
👎
The UN-member corporate ‘NATIONS’ (https://www.un.org/en/about-us/member-states) and their ‘CITIZENS’ (http://pacinlaw.us/pdf/Citizen_Legal_Fiction.pdf) controlled with Maritime & Admiralty law through the ‘UNIDROIT’ (https://www.unidroit.org/) system based in Rome. The Jolly Roger reminds us that we are not ‘standing’ on the land.
After the experience of wading through various twitter feeds from the likes of one “Red Kahina” and completely failing to understand the allusions and neologisms on display, I find this quote via John Steppling: “These new forms of knowledge platforms are built to structure our reading in particular ways, opening the possibility of distracted and fragmentary reading habits in contrast to deep reading, which may make it difficult to develop critical reflection or offer space for contemplation.” (From one David Berry though I’m none the wiser about him even though I fully appreciate the quote!) And now, bearing all that in mind, look at this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-61075197 “A new Doctor Who podcast spin-off series is making the show more female and LGBTQ+ than ever before. Doctor Who: Redacted, written by a transgender woman and with a transgender star, premieres on BBC Sounds this week. It’s the story of three young women… Read more »
Wow! Kind of makes me glad I’m in America, where after half a millennium, Indians finally get to shoot back without being portrayed as the spawn of Satan.
I think the podcast was a work of fan(ny) fiction, not the BBC. You can stand down your inner Mary Whitehouse.
Speaking of Mary Whitehouse, the BBC ran a fictionalised account of MW starring Julie Walters in the title role. It was customary cute trivialisation that portrayed Whitehouse as a kind of lovable buffoon which was far from the truth. But the curious thing is that one issue did come up which, for all that it was played for laughs, is indeed a matter of deep concern. Whitehouse stood for the old face-to-face community – deeply reactionary in her case but nevertheless something infinitely more valuable than the peculiar media driven atomised and easily manipulable mass that was in the ascendant then and even more so now. Thus this wretched media can spin whatever it wants as something “groovy” and “trendy” which hooks in the impressionable youth who have been the stooges of the system from the moment the consumer culture took off. And the “natural” effects of this consumer… Read more »
I fear most Brits no longer see any reason to embrace Christian values in any case. The 60s were a long time ago, but the damage was done. “Christian values?”, I hear the youth of today exclaim. “You mean patriarchal, woman-humiliating, clan-based greed? Who needs that?” As for real Christian values… well, nobody reads the Bible any more, since religious studies are pretty much banned in our schools, along with Shakespeare, Orwell, Huxley and a host of other authors who might upset Boris Johnson’s mother… The occasional archbishop remembers what those values are, but the Church has generally become a career path for politically-correct priests, and not the self-sacrificing, self-critical vocational duty it is supposed to be. Talking to a priest today is like talking to one of one’s teenage classmates in school. All ‘trendy’, ‘with it’ and ‘tolerant’, no matter how perverted the matter at hand might be. The… Read more »
The wisdom we seek is already there “in our stupid heads right now.” But most people reject it for no better reason that it isn’t an answer – it’s a question: what is this shit?
Yes indeed. It’s basically unthinking rejection.
In Western Charades, Allegiance to virtue, signalling to others, absent the real virtue within, today, Is highly lauded and praised widely, e.g. Sean Penn, once a drama queen, (With Madonna), Always a drama queen loud mouthed attention seeking Ignoramus, whose Arrogance likely commands a Chinese Public shaming, To boot regional tensions, absent Penn: China delivers missile defence systems And more Military hardware to Serbia 🇷🇸 upon Vucic’s re-election. Where was Sean and his Corprate Airforce One crew ? Lost for words? Checking the map? Googling Serbia, Sean? Behind NATO Frontlines, in the centre of the Balkan … forget the Ukro-Nazis ! Is anybody interested in what actually just happened Balkan-wise? Nope. Back to Penn, Pal Putin & Ukraine, old news regurgitated, By the agitated fragile egotistical ‘Piss-artiste’, whilst, Inertia Creeps, within NATO’s Territory. Incredible. A news blackout !? Or staged distractions ? Meanwhile, Jimmy Dore does a fine comic relief… Read more »
https://www.azquotes.com/quote/663216
https://www.azquotes.com/quote/210217
yes and no, se my comment just below.
And happy Easter to you my friend
All religion is a mechanism for control and exploitation. Most use fear to keep their flocks in line. As do our ‘gov’ts’. This is a very old trick, still being played. It’s no accident that those who exploit ‘democracies’ and the church are among the richest on the planet.
Fear and disinformation. Remind you of anything, just recently?
When one sees pope francis kissing the hand of a rothschild, one knows where the power lies. The church will do god’s bidding just as long as it falls in line with their own.
why we need real spirituality, or else we’ll be taken in by religion. which includes treating science, polities, even atheism as religion, unconsciously.
some of us more than others of course but the collective un/subconscious connects us all.
The herding instinct is strong in some animals.
it is, and that’s ok, we’re social being. lack of conscientiousness is our problem.
The Pope is not ‘religion’, although he probably likes to think he is.
Considering that the Vatican had centuries more to accumulate wealth, in reality it would probably be the Rothschild kissing the hand of the Pope.
But humility is always a good cover for power.
I wasn’t joking about the pope kissing the hand of a rothschild. Google it, see what you get.
I replied to my own post by mistake and now i cannot delete it.
Religion and spiritual faith is one thing. The political and financial structures of organizations purporting to be exclusive channels of communication to “God” are a totally different thing. The two are only loosely connected.
The pledge of allegiance is a similar ritual to Covid facemask wearing: it is a ritual of subservience to the state, and a ceremonial statement of belief and faith in the authorities. Glad to hear someone make this point at last. It’s something that’s baffled me for years. Why would anyone pledge their allegiance to the State? Let alone to a coloured rag? It is ridiculous. And Christ taught that we shouldn’t go swearing oaths, anyway. Not even to God. But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne: Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these… Read more »
If their government asks them to do something that they believe is morally wrong, are they going to do it?
Of course they are going to do it and American citizens are no different to other nationals like the British, Australians and New Zealanders who have clearly demonstrated their willingness to comply. These governments don’t ask the people, they demand and set into law penalties for those who won’t comply.
They will do as they are ordered unless they disagree?
Again, American citizens are no different any other nationality and are likely to comply as they did in those experiments years ago (the name of the experiment currently escapes me) whereby the participants believed they were electrocuting an individual behind a screen and despite the feigned screams of anguish and misgivings they had, they continued to comply with the direction they were given.
“It is not only the mandate-welcoming/police-state-cheerleading/lockdown-loving/triple-masking/triple vaccinated/Left that has an addiction to virtue signaling through government subservience rituals. Here in the USA this problem is rampant on the Right, and the Christian Right too” Where has there been more opposition to vaccination – on the secular Left or on the religious Right? I’d reckon it’s the latter – I don’t have any stats to back that up but then neither did the author. Anyway, any opposition should be welcomed so why sow division? “long before social justice warriors made Christianity into an all purpose scapegoat for social ills, popes issued Papal Bulls condemning slavery in no uncertain terms.” They also issued Papal Bulls condemning freemasonry – but haven’t done so for many decades. Why might that be? The US deep state has long realised the importance of religion and sought to infiltrate it. One of the seldom-mentioned parts of the… Read more »
Where has there been more opposition to vaccination – on the secular Left or on the religious Right? I’d reckon it’s the latter …. As I recall there never was any opposition from the Left – not to the vaccines and not to the whole covid bullshit. The Right did offer up some whilst the Left always droned on about how opposition was a “Right Wing” thing. This was clearly a vital part of the covid con. But it has led me to muse on the benefit of what the Left have said generally. Despite my appreciation of Marx, I find it deeply sobering as to why those who claim to follow him almost invariably grab the covid mantra the way an adolescent boy grabs his willie. The staggering unification of the entire media on covid shows how unified they were all along. And the Left covid tumescence shows how… Read more »
What have that lot ever done for us? plus ça change, plus c’est la même choseSo who is claiming the laurels who is offering the solutions and claiming based upon their track record to be the holder of the solutions the keeper of the panacea? Is it Klaus Schwab, What have the WEF ever done for us? Is it Bill Gates, What has the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation ever done for us? Is the the European Union or NATO? Kennedy (JFK) famously said, ” Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” All well and good but to what end? What is the point? What are the objectives? what are the problems we are able to tackle and which problems should be prioritised. The Novel Walden Two is controversial because its characters speak of a rejection of free will,[3] including… Read more »