160 Epiphany 5: Revival
"Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments!" ~ Psalm 112
Revival
The pagans built a machine for brainwashing us. Living in such sci-fi is beyond the grasp of many. So unbelievable is the obvious reality that well-meaning Christians can become quite angry at you for daring to point it out.
But there are no bones about it. If you tune in for regular programming, then the television programs you. The programming is not merely what you watch. It is what the soul of what you watch is doing to you.
Those who watch them become like them. Television’s adherents imagine themselves on TV, try to picture themselves more and more, and live inner lives experienced mostly as disembodiment and the suspension of beliefs. In this, the television trains its viewers to have minds populated with moving pictures more than words.
So fight back.
We remain in the body not to walk in carnal slavery but as sons on pilgrimage toward our cherished home.
Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in your way. Psalm 119:37
Seek those things which are above... Colossians 3:1
Till angel cry and trumpet sound,
The Mad Christian
Clickbait Paradise
In this edition:
Ecological equity vs healthcare
Marie Kondo's messy life
ChatGPT enters the chat
Profit and loss
The FDA has proposed that covid shots be made available as an annual inoculation. But as we mentioned recently, there are still many questions around the long-term safety and efficacy of these vaccines. Since it is clearer than ever that covid is only life-threatening to particular segments of the population, surely it would be prudent to wait before rolling out an annual jab?
But far from waiting for conclusive results to come to light, undercover video suggests that Pfizer, at least, would like to continue developing vaccines by tinkering with viruses in a process one employee casually referred to as "directed evolution". Although the video has not been fact-checked, Pfizer responded anyway with a bunch of weasel words, insisting they are definitely not engaging in dangerous gain-of-function research, but are rather engineering viruses to "enable the assessment of antiviral activity in cells". There, feel better now?
The Average Joe can concede the attraction of Big Pharma to profit, even perhaps at the expense of some folks' health – well, these drugs are not cheap to make, after all! Money makes the world go 'round. Even more so, in our unhinged and relativistic age where "wellness" means the very opposite and pathology has social currency, the cure is as lucrative as the disease. It's unlikely that the rich and powerful are losing much sleep worrying that their products make people sick. As it has been said, there's no money to be made off healthy people.
But naked greed is only part of the impulse behind this recklessness. Increasingly, those who pull the levers of the medical industrial complex want you to believe that their goals are loftier than saving peoples' lives – they are busy working toward the greater good. If you have to break a few eggs to make this omelette, too bad for them.
What else could explain why med students in Minnesota pledged to "fight systemic racism" and "structural violence" instead of focusing on "do no harm"? Or why scientists feel entitled to continue with dangerous and unethical research? And what's up with the FDA saying it's no big deal if "men who have sex with men" are now allowed to donate blood? Is there a sweep of Occam's razor that can provide a benign and satisfying explanation?
It would seem that we don't even need to search far to find the new mission laid out in the starkest terms. The influential medical journal, The Lancet, just suggested a "revolutionary shift of perspective" is necessary when making decisions about health care. The writers propose a model that moves away from "human-centered" priorities to focus on "ecological equity". Breitbart writes: "The Lancet suggests that the life of a human being is not necessarily worth more than the life of any non-human animal."
The Bible clearly tells us that the spirit of the age is happy to kill and destroy, as are those who come under his influence. So even if there is no malicious plan to depopulate the planet (Rev. Fisk has written about this previously), it's certain that "they" do not value human lives. Reducing the amount of people in the world is a happy side effect of their magnanimous-sounding but deadly ideology.
Yet if we believe we are of no more value than animals, God's order is subverted. If we think we are no better than beasts, we will act like beasts, lives triaged according to their carbon footprint, or intersectional rating. There is no virtue in virtue signaling.
So where does that leave the Christian man? Get strong, get healthy as you can! God be praised for the men and women who still work to bring healing to sick people, whether in mind or body. We can join them in living by the truth that man is unique among Creation, an image bearer, made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory a honor.
While men will suffer the hurt of their own destructive religions, we will trust ourselves to the Great Physician, who gives us the words of eternal life and the supper to sustain us through this valley. He is risen, which means you will rise also. You are immortal and he is coming soon.
Modest gains
Utah has passed a modest bill which prohibits medical professionals from prescribing hormone treatment to children. The bill also directs the state's HHS to review medical evidence of such treatments. In Virginia, a bill known as "Sage's Law" would require schools to let parents know if their child is being treated as the opposite sex at school. The story behind the bill, which we referred to last month, is heartbreaking.
Modest gains, but lots of pushback. Nebraska Democrat Megan Hunt introduced a billwhich would ban children from attending "religious indoctrination camps" such as Vacation Bible School or youth group camps. Hunt says that the "well-documented" presence of sexual predators at such events means they are in the "hyper-sexualized" category that her opposition places drag queen shows.
In Florida, school librarians in one liberal county removed every book from shelves in protest over new laws on race and sexual content, saying they would "err on the side of caution" rather than giving kids just the good stuff. It may be by design that educators play dumb when it comes to explicit material. But perhaps the white noise has so corrupted their morals that Justice Stewart's criteria doesn't translate now – could it be that not everyone knows pornography when they see it?
Bless this mess
Queen of minimalism, Marie Kondo, admitted last week that she has "kind of given up" trying to keep her house immaculate. Kondo welcomed her third child in 2021 and says that "spending time with her children" is more important than cleaning in this season of her life.
It's nice to hear some realism when it comes to family life! A couple of ads recently crossed our feed and they really highlight how often family life is depicted as constrainingand burdensome. Often children are characterized as an imposition on parent's well-being. Parents sacrifice all the time for our kids, but the idea that a single and childless life, curated and scheduled (as they portray it) is more desirable undersells the fulfillment God built in to family life.
Marie Kondo's aesthetic is infused with a jumble of Eastern spirituality – cleansing rooms, making spaces sacred and discarding objects when they no longer "spark joy". Her method has a mystical appeal to secular Westerners looking for a spiritual experience through calm, quiet and order.
But raising children in the fear and admonition of the Lord is a weighty task, less calming than minimal interiors, more difficult than keeping drawers tidy, for sure. But shot through with eternal joy and of great spiritual significance. Maybe Ms Kondo will one day discover this for herself.
Other life news..
Pro-life father, Mark Houck, has been acquitted by a Philadelphia jury after being charged for violating the FACE law. The law broadly blocks anyone from trying to help women within an abortion clinic. Houck was arrested last year at gun point in front of his family in an early morning FBI raid and says he will now file a lawsuit against the Bureau.
Florida has proposed a "permanent sales tax holiday" on baby clothes, cribs, strollers and diapers as part of the Governor's Framework for Freedom. Perhaps Governor DeSantis should also look at regulations around carseats too?
Love and marriage go together like chicken and dumplings? Cracker Barrel says that couples who get engaged at one of their restaurants on Valentine's Day could dine for free for a year.
Masters of the universe
The Davos party for the World Economic Forum is well and truly over and by now all the souvenirs are probably taking their place of pride in the pool houses and home libraries of various elites. No doubt the fond memories remain: the courtesans, the unique musical entertainment, and the general planning of global takeover.
Prominent opinion has varied on whether the whole organization is really just fake news and a toothless tiger as Chris Rufo believes. The writers at Spiked largely agree saying that the WEF is a grift and Davos is a shiny object to attract gormless elites who spout nonsense to impress each other. For folks outside the Davos bubble, they are certain, the bluster rings hollow.
But even if you think there is no real power in this self-appointed nobility, the desire to funnel capital into their world-saving projects is clear. The side-effect necessarily involves constricting liberties including private property and free market. They spelled it out in their 2030 vision: you'll own nothing and be happy.
Psychologist Jordan Peterson announced he's starting a "human-focused" think tank, an alternative to the "apocalyptic narrative" broadcast by the WEF. Peterson said the consortium will pitch a positive vision for the future including systems of government that aren't imposed globally from the top down. He also said they'd like to focus on how to make cheap energy available to more people and to increase the birth rate among "long-term monogamous couples who are child-centered".
Schwab vs Peterson? May the best plan win. 🍿
What do you want to do tonight, Brain?
Working like a machine
It can write praise songs that could be about Jesus or a boyfriend. It can write in the style of Thomas Aquinas (if you don't mind that all the saints get "blended"). Now media outlet, Buzzfeed is going to use artificial intelligence program ChatGPT to write for them. The learning engine will start out generating content, such as quizzes, but Buzzfeed hopes AI will replace some of its staff this year.
Tech media site, CNET has experimented with using ChatGPT to write news reports, but found that some stories needed '"substantial correction" by a human. One expert said that we still need human writers and that perhaps the machines should stick to "non-political and non-controversial subjects, not areas that really touch society in a meaningful way."
Given the dreadful job our corporate media types do of reporting the facts, maybe some robot writing would be an improvement!
In related news.. A bunch of Stanford students have been using ChatGPT on their final exam, with educators expressing concern about the impact "on student learning, and concerns regarding the safety and accuracy of content." Meanwhile, a Canadian student has built an app to detect when ChatGPT has been used to write an essay. So, a case of swings and roundabouts.
Odds and ends
Chinese spy balloons have been spotted in US and Canadian skies. The US shot one down on Saturday, with the White House revealing they had been aware of the balloon for days. It is not certain why the balloon wasn't disposed of sooner, but commentators assume it was probably an effort to not upset China right before Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was due to visit Beijing. He has since cancelled the trip.
A university removed the slave owning benefactor's name from its building. Donor family has asked for their $51 million back.
Gene-editing company hopes to resurrect the dodo.
Headlines from far away
Hundreds of thousands of workers in the UK have gone on strike over pay and new government regulations. Employees in transport, health, education and other civil servants walked off the job, an escalation of union action which has been disrupting the lives of Brits for months (AP)
A tiny nuclear capsule has been found in Australia, after falling off a truck during transportation. The small quantity of Caesium-147 is used in mining and was the subject of a frantic search, as it emits significant radiation (Epoch Times)
The Philippines has agreed to host more US military bases (AP)
Independent candidate and retired general Petr Pavel has been elected president of Czech Republic (Just the News)
Shares in Adani Enterprises plummeted after a report claimed the company was corrupt. The company belongs to India's richest man, Gautam Adani (Yahoo)
John Michael Jones Gets a Life is produced for Mad ⳩ Mondays by E. Darwin Hartshorn. Episodes can also be found on Tuesday, along with previous episodes, on Bunny Trail Junction at bunny-trail.com.
Quick Hits for the Eyebuds
🐜 Trained ants sniff out cancer in mice
🚜 A [tiny] real life tractor beam
🫧 Bubbly: study says Da Vinci's 500-year old paradox has been solved
🐟 Gamer fish racks up bill for his owner
📸 Colorado bear takes over 400 selfies
🦅 How bald eagles really sound
🤷 No one knows what's written on the world's oldest billboard
🌡️ Mount Washington (NH) was colder than Mars, at a record-breaking wind at -110F
☃️ International snow sculpture champions
🔪 A beginner's guide to knives
A Good Word: Links from the Show Notes
Gashmu Saith It: How to Build Christian Communities that Save the World
Last week on Stop the White Noise, Rev. Fisk talked about his library, and this week Mrs. Fisk shared what she was reading. Gashmu Saith It is written by Reformed Pastor Douglas Wilson in Moscow, ID. In the book of Nehemiah, the heathens mocked the Israelites for rebuilding. But don't let the heathens get to you.
"A city without walls is not really a city; neither is a city without a church at the center. Get busy. Build the walls, fight sin, love your family and church, and live out the Gospel."
Sweetness You May Have Missed
Let us pray: O Lord, keep Your family the Church continually in the true faith that, relying on the hope of Your heavenly grace, we may ever be defended by Your mighty power; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.