Keep the Faith

I feel like we are in the middle of a James Bond movie.  Melanie and I watched all 24 of those movies over the last couple of months, starting with Dr. No (1962) and ending with Spectre (2015) last night.  Why?  We’d never seen them, they were a good distraction from our current reality, and the most importantly, good always defeated evil in the end.

Every film had basically the same plot.  An evil person or group wants to rule the world and they are willing to do whatever it takes to succeed.  Only one man can stop them, Bond, James Bond, agent 007.  Evil is winning throughout the entire film until at the very last moment Mr. Bond swoops in to save the day, destroying the evil villain and ending their reign of terror.

One of the films seemed a bit too real, Tomorrow Never Dies (1997).  It was about a media mogul who shaped the news to gain power and control over the world.  He often created the news by staging events to support the narrative most advantageous to achieving his dominance over everyone and everything.

I find the most troubling trend over the last year has been the startling acceleration in the censorship of truth, and the blatant promotion of misinformation, disinformation, and outright lies.  In fact, the major media sources don’t even attempt to hide their deception anymore.  It is usually easy to disprove what they report very quickly with readily available facts.

Take my least favorite topic for instance.  They would still have you believe we are all at great risk of dying from a virus.  But the WHO reports that the infection fatality rate of the virus is now 0.13%, the same as the seasonal flu.  Further, CDC reported deaths for 2020 are 0.87% of the U.S. population, the exact same as it has been for the last four years.  How can that be with over 300 thousand supposed covid deaths?  Did deaths from all other causes decrease for the first time ever?

So what is going on?  Why do the mainstream media so blatantly misinform and lie to us?  I suppose the same reason the media mogul villain in the movie did, power and control.  They want you to be dependent on them and to do what they say, it’s good business.  They do not want you to be independent thinkers who make your own choices based on facts and logic.

And unfortunately, they are very good at what they do and know they can get away with it.  They do it so well that the people they have fooled truly believe they are the informed and wise ones.  They will dismiss all facts that refute their indoctrinated beliefs.  It is a waste of time to even attempt to convince these brainwashed people otherwise.

Most troubling is that those controlling the narrative are also now able to easily squelch dissent.  There is no more debate.  They can’t allow alternative facts or points of view.  If they did, they know they would lose all credibility.  Instead they censor without regard to truth.  And worse yet, they attack those telling the truth.  And get their mindless followers to do the same.

I sadly laugh when I hear our politicians talk about coming together as a nation.  How do they think that is possible?  They, together with their media allies are the ones creating the division.  We are living in two very different worlds.  One based on truth, the other on propaganda.  One based on freedom, taking care of ourselves and each other.  The other based on total dependence on government, in essence, slavery.  Gee, I wonder which of those worlds God prefers for us?  Only when we all live in the truth will we be able to stand united.

I have an idea that might bring us a little closer together.  How about those of you in power simply share the truth about the virus.  All the fear and unnecessary restrictions on our freedom could end immediately with absolutely no adverse consequence, and you know it.  Of course you won’t because your year-long deception would then become obvious.  Instead you will intensify your efforts, intentionally inflating numbers and calling for even more restrictive measures.  Then eventually you will ease up a little and declare yourselves heroes.  In the meantime, we the people will continue our needless suffering.

The recent hypocrisy about the election is especially troubling. Here the media narrative is that there is absolutely no evidence of election fraud. Great! So why not prove it by dispelling all the evidence to the contrary. We spent 3 years investigating Russian interference with the last election. So why not take a little time to look into this election. But instead, all attempts to bring the irregularities to light are immediately dismissed and censored. Why? What are you hypocrites so afraid of?

Instead of wanting to get to the truth, no court will even agree to hear the evidence. All they have done is to rule that the people and organizations asking for a hearing lack standing. It seems no one has standing in this case, how convenient. But why? Probably because they know it will create chaos. So what? Their failure to listen is creating chaos anyway. Wouldn’t holding a fair hearing go a long way toward settling the questions and healing the division?

But once again, those who simply want the truth are being demonized by the mainstream media.  Why didn’t that happened to all those Russian conspiracy theorists?  They got a 3-year hearing conducted by people who hate the President.  They found nothing and yet they still persist to this day. Why is that okay?  Why the double-standard?  Why don’t they want to get to the truth about this election?  Probably because they know the truth will set us free … from them.

Speaking of hypocrisy, why all of a sudden is it wrong to hold a mostly peaceful protest?  They were encouraged all summer long, urged on by the same politicians and media who are now condemning what was minor and short-lived compared to the violence, deaths, property destruction, and looting they openly permitted and supported for months on end.  Shouldn’t they take a consistent position?  Shouldn’t they be held accountable for inciting actual riots?

And why the rush to impeach the President again on baseless charges.  He will be gone in a week anyway.  Can’t they just be happy they have finally apparently succeeded in getting rid of him?  Unless maybe they are afraid the election fraud can be proven?  But they will never allow any investigation to take place once they are in power, so what’s the point?  How any of them call themselves Christians is completely beyond me.

Back to the movies.  It seems hopeless right now.  Evil just keeps winning.  When will James Bond swoop in to save us.  We need our agent 007.  But of course we have an even better savior to call upon, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  He will save us, He already has!

We the faithful know that God has a plan.  We already know how this movie ends, the script is written in the Book of Revelation.  We don’t know when it will happen, but we do know He will win.  And we know we will win with Him if we keep the faith.

Maybe the current plan is for things to get so bad that the masses will eventually return to Him in great numbers.  Or maybe He just wants it to become obvious who the faithful really are.  I want us to be in that number, which reminds me of a song.  When the Saints Go Marchin’ In:

Oh, when the saints go marching in. Oh, when the saints go marching in. Dear Lord, I want to be in that number. When the saints go marching in.

So how do we persist in our pursuit of sainthood in these times of great trial?  Only one way I can think of.  FAITH!

“Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”  Matthew 17:20

We need to muster up our faith to move the mountains of good to the forefront, and the mountains of evil into oblivion.  We need to do what we can to promote good and defeat evil.

We must believe that we can win, trust that the Lord will help us, and have the courage to take the actions required to prevail.  This combination of belief, trust, courage, and action will demonstrate our faith.

And remember, it’s not this world that we are living for, but for the next.  As the serenity prayer says in part:

Trusting that You will make all things right, If I surrender to Your will, So that I may be reasonably happy in this life, And supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen.

And since today celebrates the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., here is a bit of wisdom from him:

“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.” 

Keep the Faith!  Scott