IN THE INFORMATION AGE – HOW DO WE FIND WISDOM?

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10)

I have been contemplating the fallout from the Australian Federal election on Saturday 21st May, which has left me feeling troubled but not surprised. A key question is what does this mean for our country? In one of my early newsletters, I said that “Albo” (Anthony Albanese) would lead left-wing Labor to a win, even though he is an unreconstructed Marxist, who doesn’t know much, and during the election campaign, under questioning, this included even the details of his own policies. The centrist government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison oversaw the lockdown of the country during COVID and the destruction of many small businesses. They presented no vision for the future of Australia apart from a claim to be better economic managers than their opponents.  This claim was hard to sustain as over the last 2 years they spent like drunken sailors and increased Australia’s debt to levels never before imagined. Morrison himself had become toxic to voters who regarded him as arrogant and a bully.  Albo kept a low profile much like Joe Biden during the US Presidential campaign and the Labor party’s approval increased when Albo was laid low with COVID during the campaign.

For the information of US, UK and European readers, Australia has a compulsory voting system and in talking to people in our region in the week leading up to the election, one can see the danger in this system. Many of the people I talked to were going to vote without knowing anything about the policies of the different parties and even for the well-informed, the large numbers of parties in the Australian Upper House (the Senate) was confusing. Unlike the UK, where elections are simply “first past the post”, Australia has a preferential voting system. This system resulted in the socialist Labor party being elected with less than one-third of the primary vote. It is hardly a ringing endorsement for the incoming government when almost 70% of the electorate didn’t vote for them.

The big issue promoted to voters by the major parties was the “climate crisis”, with a number of well-funded “independent” and “greens” candidates being elected to the House of Representatives. This is being supported by various groups claiming that there is a “crisis” and using hysterical girls to talk about “mass extinction” events (don’t click the link below if you want to avoid trauma!)

Now, even assuming that CO2 emissions were causing climate change, Australia’s role in global emissions is minuscule with latest data indicating that Australia was responsible for around 1.1% of global CO2 emissions in 2001. It is obvious to anyone who thinks about this issue for even a moment that whatever policies Australia implements, there will be no impact on international emissions, which are dominated by China, India and the USA.  A climate scare campaign has been employed in Australia by almost all major political parties, as various communities have been impacted by bushfires (called wildfires in the US) and floods in the last few years. These extreme events were said to be evidence of a “climate crisis”, without any data to substantiate the claim, and this appears to have affected people’s decisions to vote for more extreme measures to combat climate change

Very few people realize the negative financial impacts of the proposed actions, with dramatic effects likely on the cost and availability of energy and food.  However, “the climate crisis” has become the key talking point amongst the latte and chardonnay set in Australia’s inner-city suburbs, as fuel and electricity prices rise in response to the “green” policies.

At the heart of the electoral issues is the belief that somehow, governments can resolve the “climate crisis”. Many voters are prepared to believe that more taxpayers’ money spent by bureaucrats will actually solve problems. Of course, this is the view being promoted by the political parties, and also their media accomplices. President Reagan was the clearest expositor of the danger of government together with the importance of self-government, and it is worthwhile watching this short video of Reagan speaking more than 40 years ago

I have been asking myself, how did we get here – to a place where the fear of a climate catastrophe has pushed society into embracing policies of self-destruction, and the majority of people are willing to be subjugated by overbearing and oppressive governments? Australians have always imagined that we are a freedom-loving people who are individualists but this image, if ever true, has been destroyed by the willingness of Australians to comply with tyrannical government overreach during COVID-19.

As I was thinking about these issues, my mind was drawn back to the extraordinary books by Ralph Moody – the “Little Britches” series. Ralph published 8 books after World War 2 about his experiences as a rancher starting with the family moving to Colorado from the US East Coast in the early 1900s. The books will make you laugh and cry and you will be carried along by the extraordinary story of innovation, diligence, hardship and joy associated with ranching at the turn of the 20th century. The remarkable thing is that the events in these books took place before there was Federal income tax in the US, and when families had to work together to survive as there was no social welfare. There were no government handouts and so communities supported and cared for one another. The books are worthwhile reading at any age and instill wonderful values. This was the age when freedom was treasured and governments did not, and were not able to interfere in every area of life because they didn’t have our money, and we weren’t dependent on them!

Today, government bureaucrats are active in every area and are attempting to restrict our actions in the name of risk mitigation. I read recently about a 70 year old woman in the UK who came out of retirement as an event planner to organize a small street party in her suburb, to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee on 4-5 June this year. The woman was sent 23 pages of forms by the local council that included “the requirement to provide a counter-terrorism plan, a security plan, a severe weather management plan and a COVID risk assessment”. Clearly, we are being over-governed and strangled by red tape, and while we have access to “clouds” of information, how can we make wise decisions and live them out? We have become reliant on “experts” who tell us what to do. However, these “experts” have promoted a fake climate crisis, insist that we trust “the science” but then disregard biological sex differences. The “experts:” also mandated “safe and effective” experimental injections to combat COVID-19 that killed tens of thousands and caused millions of adverse health effects. Opposing voices are being suppressed by mainstream media and governments are using the claims of fake news to set up “ministries of truth” to protect us.

Each of us is placed in a difficult position because we can’t know everything, and we have to be reliant on others to help make decisions. How can we do this when there is so much information out there, and much of it conflicting? There are difficulties but I believe that the key idea that we can rely on is found in the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament – “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10). The phrase the “fear of the Lord” (Hebrew - יְהוָ֑ה  יִרְאַ֣ת  - the root word for ‘fear’ here is yareh ) is used 1286 times in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word yareh translates into English as fear, but also means awe, reverence, dismayed, frightened and afraid. The fear of the Lord should humble us as He is a God whose judgement is eternal (Matthew 13: 40-43). Without an understanding that there is a God who made us and has laid out His law and design within the fabric of creation, then we make decisions based on our own “intelligence”, which can lead us in the wrong direction – one in opposition to God.  If you read through the books of Judges and Kings in the Old Testament it is possible to see the devastating outcome when the children of Israel, God’s chosen people, did not “fear the Lord” and “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). We are at such a point today in our Western society where an absence of the fear of the Lord (an understanding that acting in ways that oppose God’s laws and act against His created order, will lead to death) will have adverse effects for us individually and for our societies.

The framers of the US Constitution had a “fear of the Lord” and understood God’s “natural law”. John Adams famously said “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other“. This was the view of the founders of the US constitution where those who wrote the constitution understood that “God’s moral inclinations are intrinsically woven into the design and nature of creation”. I also recently read a helpful article by Robert Reilly about natural law and the US Constitution.  Reilly writes “there are no Christian principles per se embedded in the Constitution: rather, the Constitution is embedded in Christianity. The Constitution does not declare principles, it provides for their implementation”.

The changes in US law and in the legal systems in many Western countries that have embraced a “progressive” agenda, have been implemented without any fear of the Lord. Without a fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom, decisions that seem good are made by governments, and promote what they consider to be “social justice”. Yet these decisions often are diametrically opposed to God’s law and His creation and so deny real justice. Examples of laws that have been implemented in the West and that are in opposition to God are: the promotion of the killing of babies up to and even after birth; the denial of biological gender and support of gender fluidity; the promotion of euthanasia for the elderly or suffering; animal rights being equivalent to human rights; forced indoctrination of school children with anti-Biblical views; the removal of terms such as mother, father, he and she; the legalization of homosexual marriage and even polyamorous marriage in some parts of the west;  and mandating experimental injections for whole populations, in opposition to the very codes agreed to after the horrors of Nazi medical experimentation. All of these decisions have been made without any apparent fear of the Lord or understanding the consequences of God’s judgement. Not only does wisdom result from the fear of the Lord but the Book of Proverbs tells us that “fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7). Without a fear of the Lord, we are likely to embrace evil ideas through our own pride and arrogance (Proverbs 8:13).

So - when we are faced with information and decisions, without a fear of the Lord, we can’t possibly even start on the right track, and you can see this every day on TV with various advocates for “social justice” promoting ideas that demonstrate opposition to God. Our own assessments in understanding the right response to various social issues and laws that are being promoted by governments should always start with the question: does this demonstrate a fear and honour of God and His ways? If the answer is no, then we can know for certain that the idea or law is wrong and harmful and we need to stand against it. If we are still uncertain about the right response to a particular issue, we can ask God for wisdom (James 1:5) because all wisdom comes from Him (Proverbs 2:6). The Bible is a book of God’s wisdom and it is worthwhile being fully acquainted with the wisdom books – Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. Wisdom also can come with age if we have the ability to learn from our mistakes, otherwise we repeat them. Just for fun, I have included a link to the wonderful interview from the 1960s of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore regarding teaching ravens to fly under water - a very difficult job! It is evident from the interview that many of us continue to do the same thing that has caused problems and expect a different result:

St Paul tells us in his letter to the Galatians: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7). The law of sowing and reaping is a natural law to help us understand that if we are getting bad/painful results from what we are doing, it could well be because we are experiencing the results of sowing badly. Most parents are faced with this when children ask to be bailed out in various circumstances. If the child has done something foolish (sowing badly), they need to experience the consequences (reaping what they’ve sowed) otherwise they will continue to do the harmful thing. There are many implications of understanding the law of sowing and reaping and I found this article by Sue Bohlin very useful. In our information age when we can find out substantial amounts of data (or at least information to which Big Tech directs us with their algorithms), wisdom is a precious and rare commodity. When God appeared in a dream to King Solomon and asked what He (God) would like Him do for him, Solomon asked for a “discerning heart” to govern his people and to “distinguish between right and wrong”. God was pleased that Solomon asked for “discernment in administering justice” and gave this to him and in addition great wealth. In our current age, we too need to ask God for wisdom and discerning hearts at a time when there is no fear of the Lord in our lands. Then we can distinguish between right and wrong and so in our decision making choose the path of life.

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World Roundup

A Summary of Some Significant Events in the World During the Last Week

USA

In the midst of many issues that are confronting US society, it is impressive that the Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco has written to the US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to say that Pelosi could no longer receive Communion because of her support for abortion. It is unusual to see any churches standing up for principle and for God’s law.

Yet another tragic school shooting, this time in Uvalde Texas, has politicized the issue of gun rights in the US and Joe Biden has stated: “As a nation, we have to ask: When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?  When in God’s name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?”. Biden has been invoking the name of God a lot recently but there is no evidence that he is close to the Almighty or on the same page as any part of God’s agenda.

Like many Australians, I could not understand the US commitment to gun rights but after studying at length the US Constitution about 10 years ago, I learnt how the “right to bear arms” was fundamental to the way that government was constituted. The Second Amendment to the US Constitution, ratified in 1791, states that “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” This seems quite simple and there are no conditions associated with the right to bear arms. In fact the Founding Fathers understood that governments have the tendency to oppress the people and so a tyrannical government could be overthrown by the people. It is notable that in the last years, cities like Chicago and New York, with strict gun control  and schools which are gun-free zones, have had the most gun violence. It is a true saying that “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun”. The US Founders wanted to ensure the citizens had access to guns, if necessary to violently overthrow the federal government if it became tyrannical. Mass shootings provide the “ammunition” for the left-wing big government supporters to try to impose gun restrictions. However you don’t have to look very far to see what happens when you disarm populations – ask the Chinese, Cubans, Russians, North Koreans and any from the former Soviet bloc.

A 5 min video from Curtis Bowers about the shootings is worthwhile viewing. Curtis is the man who made the Agenda films about the impact of the communist agenda in the US and this short video provides some context of the forces at work. Government gun seizures were successful in Australia and New Zealand and so the attempt to seize US guns will continue by the Democratic Party. It is clear however that US citizens are on the ball and there are reports of an additional 5 million people acquiring guns in the last 2 years . It is not hard to see that any US government attempt to confiscate guns would lead to civil war.

United Kingdom & Europe

The UK has been grappling with the release of the senior civil servant Sue Gray’s “partygate” report which was completed months ago but has been awaiting the conclusion of the London Metropolitan police investigation. The most significant finding is a previously unseen photo of the Prime Minister Boris Johnson holding aloft a glass of champagne at a farewell function to one of his staff. There were a number of parties held at No. 10 Downing Street during the lockdowns and Ms Gray was critical of the culture at the PM’s residence. She described the parties as a “failure of leadership and judgement” but did not single anyone out for action. Boris seems to be a remarkable survivor and many thought he would have been out of office by now. However the Ukraine conflict seems to have saved him. I was very amused at the quote in the UK Express paper which quotes Conservative MP Michael Brown: “Boris is a nightmare, chaotic, potentially lying, cheating in everything he has ever done, but at the end of the day never forget that Boris has been the best winner for the Tory party since Margaret Thatcher. So, I think they’ve got to stick with him. There’s nothing else around”. You couldn’t call it a ringing endorsement of Boris but it does look as though he will be the UK Prime Minister for a while longer. The only remaining challenge for Boris is the Privileges Committee of the Parliament which has a number of Labor members. This committee is investigating whether Boris lied to Parliament in his previous statements about the parties in No 10 Downing St. If the committee finds that Boris did lie to Parliament then most commentators believe that he would have to step down. It is one thing to lie – but to lie to Parliament is a bridge too far!

An intriguing side story was published earlier this year about Boris’ then fiancée Carrie Symonds hosting a party in the Downing St apartment on 13 November 2020. This was the night that Boris’ senior advisor Dominic Cummings was removed from his job (and carrying out a cardboard box of his possessions) following what was seen as a power struggle between him and Carrie. There were reports (not formally investigated by the police or Sue Gray) of a victory party after Cummings lost out in the power struggle with Carrie. There was evidently a lot of noise from the No. 10 flat with banging and dancing and various Abba tracks played including “The Winner Takes it All”. “Partygate” which seems rather trivial at one level but highlights the differences in requirements between those who make the rules and their “subjects” has still a long way to play out. Dominic Cummings is not going to give up his quest to bring down the Prime Minister and as Dominic was reported as a “man who brings a nuclear weapon to a pillow fight” and was described by a former UK Prime Minster as a “career psychopath”.  In the meantime, one of the Abba band members, Benny Andersson was approached for comment and his assessment was that this party (if it happened) was “not an Abba party but a Johnson party where they happened to play some Abba music”.

Russia and Ukraine

The internet has been abuzz with reports from the World Economic Forum of the speech by Dr Henry Kissinger (now 98 years old) given by video link. Dr Kissinger is the former US Secretary of State under President Nixon and is a noted globalist. In his speech, Kissinger noted that the conflict in the Ukraine could “permanently restructure the global order”. Kissinger is one of the few globalist voices promoting the idea of peace in the Ukraine-Russian conflict and a negotiated settlement. He said “Parties should be brought to peace talks within the next two months. Ukraine should've been a bridge between Europe and Russia, but now, as the relationships are reshaped, we may enter a space where the dividing line is redrawn and Russia is entirely isolated. We are facing a situation now where Russia could alienate itself completely from Europe and seek a permanent alliance elsewhere. This may lead to Cold War-like diplomatic distances, which will set us back decades. We should strive for long-term peace." I am surprised to find myself in agreement with Dr Kissinger and it will be interesting to see what influence his speech has.

Another interesting perspective on the conflict was provided by the Spectator UK podcast a few days ago titled “Is Kissinger Right About Ukraine”. The Spectator’s Freddy Gray interviews Sergey Radchenko. Radchenko is a Cold War historian and a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. The interview is around 30 min and one of the issues raised was the role of China. I was intrigued that Professor Radchenko used the Chinese proverb “to kill the chicken to scare the monkey”. He believes that West is committed to supporting the war in Ukraine to scare China. We will have to wait to see how this plays out but with the West preoccupied with Ukraine it could be the ideal time for China to launch an invasion of Taiwan.

To gain some further perspective on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, I watched the hour long UK Column interview with Colonel Richard Black, a former US Marine and Virginia State Senator. Colonel Black’s view is that the US involvement in the conflict is a “senseless endeavour” and that the conflict could have been avoided. He provided excellent context in relation to the history of NATO after the fall of the Soviet Union. He made the point that Russia is not the Soviet Union, the size of the economy is half that of Italy and Russia does not have an expansionist philosophy. A significant issue that I hadn’t heard previously is the apparent shift of NATO from a defensive role to one of offense in the period after the Cold War. This is particularly so when seen from a Russian viewpoint when various former Soviet block countries joined NATO and so NATO has gradually expanded eastwards towards Russia.

NATO and the West have definitely played a role in provoking Russia and I think that Henry Kissinger is correct – rather than throwing billions of dollars at Ukraine to prolong the conflict, a path to find a negotiated peace treaty should be sought.

China vs The West

Leaked audio recordings from a May 14th Chinese military planning exercise have indicated that 140,000 soldiers and 953 ships have been earmarked for an invasion of Taiwan. The authenticity of these recordings is in doubt but there are details provided that suggest that the audio could be authentic. With such a large number of ships proposed, one of the options must be a blockade of Taiwan. I hadn’t realized until recently the key role of Taiwan in the manufacture of electronic components. Taiwan is responsible for the majority of global semiconductor manufacturing and so if China seizes Taiwan, there are huge implications for the computer chip industry worldwide.

I was amazed this week to hear an interview with Joe Biden in Tokyo during a press conference. Biden was asked by a journalist if the US would defend Taiwan militarily if China attacked and Biden answered “Yes..that’s a commitment we made”. The journalist was clearly shocked and then said “you would”? White House officials then walked back Biden’s comments but it is a challenging situation for the US and its armed forces if there was conflict between China and Taiwan.

Meanwhile, new Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attended his first meeting of The Quad – the US, Japan, India and China, in Tokyo earlier in the week. The Australian Labor Party is close to China and is likely to be more accommodating than the previous Australian government. It is interesting because India is supportive of Russia and yet concerned about China and so finding common ground is challenging and all countries are heavily dependent on trade with China. China is taking a long-term view and it seems likely that China will eventually dominate the Southeast Asia and Pacific region.

Israel

The Bennett minority government has survived to continue in government for the time being. There are daily challenges in this coalition with the Arab parties but various forms of self-interest are preventing government collapse. A major challenge is the traditional flag march for “Jerusalem Day” into the Old City of Jerusalem which is planned for Sunday 29th May. The event celebrates the reunification of Jerusalem after the 1967 Six Day war. Many Palestinians see the march as provocative and the terrorist group Hamas has threatened violence. These are the difficulties and challenges for the Israeli government and it really needs the wisdom of Solomon to manage the competing interests and the constant terrorist threats.