THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY

I have been in Sydney this week, seeing doctors and having various imaging procedures and blood tests. I have been staggered to find that in the wonderful hospital where I have had many procedures, compulsory face masks are policed to ensure compliance by staff and patients. This is despite any compelling data that the paper face masks are effective. In fact, a meta-analysis undertaken by the Cochrane Review of 78 scientific studies demonstrated “little to no difference” in the impact of masks on the spread of infectious respiratory disease.

 There are alternative viewpoints (see this recent article in the Atlantic magazine ) but no compelling evidence that there is any benefit to the elderly people I saw in the hospital trying to cope with the negative impact of masks on their breathing. There are also signs in the hospital declaring that couriers are not allowed to enter the hospital without being “vaccinated for COVID”, an injection that has been demonstrated to be ineffective in preventing the disease but which carries significant risks for a person’s health. This information is now beyond dispute but such mandates still persist in the Australian health system.

My experience has taken me back to the drawing board to peruse various writings and seek to determine how we have found ourselves in this new authoritarianism; one where despite any evidence, we are forced into compliance. I don’t think that this is a random event, but undoubtedly, as the future unfolds, we will find ourselves facing more “Big State” impositions that force our obedience. So, we need to be alert and this week my musings have taken me on a journey of thinking that is 180° (more details later in this post) from where most of us are today.

As most of my readers would be aware, my key aim in starting this newsletter was to provide an overview of the significance of current events as they relate to the biblical signs of the times. As we approach the time of the return of Jesus, lots of terrible things are going to occur (see Matthew 24 and the Book of Revelation) before Jesus returns to rule a restored earth. The return of Jesus is such a crazy idea that even the church is silent on this cataclysmic event and pretends that it will never happen!

One of the initial stimuli for writing the Sons of Issachar Newsletter was the realization that just a few companies controlled what we read and view, and significant effort is required to look behind the scenes and discover the important, relevant and factual news. It is easy to be distracted by the latest antics of celebrities and sporting stars, so that we fail to ask questions of real importance.

The silencing of doctors who had views that were different to government public health officials during the COVID-19 “pandemic” shocked me. As did the threats in all Western countries to remove the licenses of doctors who were opposed to forced experimental injections. Whether or not we have realized it, we in the West have moved into a new medical biosecurity dictatorship (and legislation was put in place in advance to remove our normal freedoms. Because of highly effective propaganda campaigns by governments, most people appear to have welcomed this dictatorship so that they can be kept “safe”. In Australia, the most authoritarian state government leaders were voted back into office despite draconian lockdown policies and forced “vaccinations” of the entire voting population. Determining fake from real news is becoming increasingly difficult.

What Is Truth?

Donald Trump popularized the term “fake news”, and there is more fake news than most of us ever realized. In what appears to be a highly organized move internationally, Western governments are now seeking to impose legislation to prevent “misinformation and disinformation” (see Australia’s own recent proposal for a “Ministry of Truth)

Australia's own 'Ministry of Truth'

Increasingly it seems that “misinformation and disinformation” are defined as any views that governments don’t like. I was reminded of this during the week as I read Tim Price’s excellent substack post titled: Behind Every Great Fortune Lies A Crime –

Behind every great fortune lies a crime

 Tim writes:

“As a writer as well as a fund manager, this correspondent has practically a genetic imperative to support freedom of speech. But that is not what we have today, courtesy of operations like Google, Facebook (which we don’t use) and Twitter (which we do – partly because, despite its odious censorship, in essence it offers something closest in theory to the unmediated media experience, whether for authors or for politicians or for anyone else). The problem lies in the explicit censorship that these platforms impose, whether by algorithmic manipulation, or by simply pulling the rug on views that Silicon Valley doesn’t happen to share, all as part of this giant waltz in which tech publishing platforms pretend not to be publishers of anything, yet feel free to remove expressions of opinion that don’t carry the appropriate leftist seal of approval.”

Censorship of views is widespread but mostly hidden behind AI and algorithms. Tim’s idea that for views to be promoted, they need to carry “the appropriate leftist seal of approval” reminded me that it is difficult to be on the “right side of history” and to stand for eternal truths in a post-modernist world. In fact, being on the “right” is now deemed by some (including the US Justice Department) to indicate that you are likely involved in hate speech, white nationalism and are a potential threat to national security!

In thinking about truth, it is interesting to note the discussion more than 2,000 years ago, between Pontius Pilate and Jesus, just before His crucifixion:

“Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?”

Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause, I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all.” (John 18:37-38).

Clearly, Pilate did not expect an answer from Jesus after he asked, “What is truth” as he went out immediately, not waiting for an answer. Nonetheless, Pilate was staring the truth in the face. Jesus had previously declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6). Truth is a person, so one way to know the truth is to know Jesus and love the things He loves.

Nothing Deceives Like Deception

I am always fascinated that in Jesus’ last private briefing to His disciples on the Mount of Olives, just hours before He was arrested, His initial warning about the coming difficulties and the end of the age was: “Take heed that no one deceives you” (Matthew 24:4). Deception has become the main standard operating procedure of the satanic forces that have been deployed against whole populations. The mantra of “safe and effective”, which really meant unsafe and ineffective, is just one recent example. It is a little like the various countries that include “Democratic” in their title (eg The Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea). You can be certain that in such countries, there is no democracy. The Democratic Party in the US has been very effective with similar deception, labeling legislation the exact opposite of what the legislation intends. To impose trillion dollar expenditures and taxation on the unsuspecting US population, the legislation is called “The Inflation Reduction Act”. To ensure the destruction of marriage, legislation is enacted called The Respect for Marriage Act. Are whole populations fooled? Probably, because why would governments keep on playing this deceptive game?

During the COVID-19 lockdowns, a memo must have been sent out to world leaders to strong-arm them into using the phrase “build back better”, which seemed to mean exactly the opposite, namely “lock down completely”!  It appeared to be a signal to the New World Order  - that these leaders were on board with the globalist 2030 agenda, espoused by Klaus Schwab and his World Economic Forum cabal. Here is a video of a collection of clips of various leaders using the phrase “build back better”.

For those not inclined to believe conspiracy theories, it is hard to sustain such a view when you see the central coordination of this idea that was imposed on the world. It does make you think that there is a Mr Big (Satan?) somewhere, orchestrating everything and seeking to deceive the world. The deception includes the various forces at work to persuade us that gender is a social construct, traditional marriage is a  form of oppression, national borders are racist and that “diversity, equity and inclusion” are the highest forms of morality.  

Steven Wilkinson, in his thought-provoking “Pitchfork Papers”, covered some of these issues last week in his post Whispers in the Dark

Whispers in the Dark

Steven wrote about the remarkable story of Hans Fallada and his book Stranger in My Own Country, written while in a Nazi mental asylum in 1944.  Well before Big Tech censorship, the Nazis had media control down to a fine art. Fallada found a clever way around the censorship using microscopic handwriting and an old German writing style, as well as writing on alternate pages. Please read Steven’s important essay, which concludes as follows:

The “Stranger in My Own Country” sentiment is fomenting deep resistance amongst many in the countries of Christendom - the occidental nations who are seeing their values and dignity overwhelmed by untrammelled immigration coupled with a childish philosophy of multiculturalism and deep incompetence in managing the integration of the hundreds and thousands of people pouring over their borders. This phenomenon along side and exacerbated by governments everywhere out of their depth in almost every aspect of public policy - healthcare, public finances, education, security, inflation, energy, housing, to name just a few of the more important ones - is the seeding ground for discontent on an epic scale. 

In a sense, many of us are becoming “strangers in our own countries”, just like Hans Fallada in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s.

Ignoring History and The Collapse of Civilizations

In Australia,  the Institute of Public Affairs is a beacon of light in an otherwise dark information landscape. This free-market think tank does outstanding research on many of the issues that we face. Their recent report, written by Bella D’Abrera and Brianna McKee, on the teaching of history in Australian universities is a “must read”. While the analysis relates to Australia, undoubtedly, similar approaches are being taken internationally.  The authors reported that post-modernist theory has replaced the teaching of history across Australia’s 35 universities. In the outline of their research they write:

“In The Idea of History, the great English philosopher Historian RG Collingwood wrote that ‘history is for human self- knowledge. The only clue to what man can do is what man has done. The value of history, then, is that it teaches us what man has done and thus what man is.’

Post-modernism, however, is fundamentally anti-historical because it posits that nothing can be learnt from studying the past. Historians should give up their claim to any special authority in the matter and should approach the field as a means of critical self-reflection. Post-modernism rejects the notion that the past must be understood “historically.”

They note:

“That the study of history has been subsumed by post-modernist theory is demonstrated by the fact that in 2022, more history subjects were offered at Australian universities that teach about ‘Race’ than ‘Democracy’ (86 subjects compared to 33 subjects), ‘Identity’ than the ‘Enlightenment’ (64 subjects compared to 25 subjects). ‘sexuality’ than the ‘Reformation’ (54 subjects compared to 17 subjects).”

Ignorance of history and its hard-won freedoms are necessary for governments to take control of populations. I realized the importance of a longer-term view of history this week when I watched a fascinating interview with the eminent US historian Dr Victor Davis Hanson, which you can see below. It is 70 min long but well worthwhile viewing.

Dr Hanson has written more than 20 books, with subjects as varied as the history of ancient Greece to the significance of President Trump.  He is a prominent commentator on political issues in the US and beyond.

Dr Hanson spoke about how civilizations can be wiped out. He gives examples of Alexander wiping out the Thebans, the destruction of Constantinople, which had stood as a bastion of Christendom for more than 1,000 years; destroyed by the Muslim invaders in AD 1453. He also cites the examples of the Aztecs whose civilization was wiped out by 500 Spanish conquistadors led by Hernán Cortés. He believes that we mustn’t ignore the lessons of history about the rise and fall of civilizations.

An interesting observation Dr Hanson makes in relation to current events is that with the Ukraine conflict, he has “counted 19 incidents of a Russian high-ranking official saying that they want to use nuclear weapons to end the rogue state of Ukraine.” He follows up by saying: “We think in the modern world human nature has changed ..but there are situations in which we can have the extinction of a culture”. It is important to take note of warnings of nuclear annihilation, which also have been repeatedly made by Iran against Israel. We in the West must not simply put our collective heads in the sand and hope that all will be well.

Dr Hanson hints in other writings that as a Western society, we may be on a collective suicide mission. In his recent article in The New Criterion, Dr Davis writes about the influence of Silicon Valley and its promotion of socialist ideas which dominate the US Democratic Party:

“The Democratic Party has adopted a hard-left progressive agenda, one far more radical than at any time in its history. It is now a party dominated by bicoastal globalized wealth. It is deeply embedded within and compromised by Chinese investment. It has become both the protector and beneficiary of monopolistic Big Tech. Much of its woke politics were inherited from pet elite universities.”

As China rises in economic and military strength with its alignment with the other BRICS nations (see this link), the US appears bent on self-destruction by opening its southern border, hamstringing its military with woke recruitment strategies, spending money it doesn’t have, running down its military stockpiles and supporting a senile octogenarian to lead it into disaster.  The only explanation is that these are intentional strategies, promoted by globalists, to bring down the US. As stated by the World Economic Forum, by 2030 “America’s dominance is over”.

How has this happened and who could be behind this self-immolation? Simply, St Paul has the answer:

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12).

It is difficult for our modern generation to believe that there are satanic spiritual forces at work that aim to enslave and destroy us. It is easier to see the impact of these forces and to be prepared ourselves, if we have a “right view of history”. Fortunately, I have come across a remarkable book that helps us to have such a view. The book is simply titled: 180° by Feargus O’Connor Greenwood.

We Need to “Unlearn the Lies You’ve Been Taught To Believe”

This is the subtitle of the book published in 2021 by Feargus Greenwood – see this link.

The book is more than 700 pages but is a compelling read. You can obtain an overview of Feargus’ book by listening to a recent podcast with James Delingpole:

Through a series of case studies of events that we think we know about, Feargus encourages us to shift our viewpoints 180 degrees. He starts the book with a quote from a French philosopher, Henri Bergson:

“Fortunately, some are born with spiritual immune systems that sooner or later give rejection to the illusory worldview grafted upon them from birth through social conditioning. They begin sensing something is amiss, and start looking for answers. Inner knowledge and anomalous outer experiences show them a side of reality others are oblivious to, and so begins their journey of awakening. Each step of the journey is made by following the heart instead of the crowd and by choosing knowledge over the veils of ignorance”.

Feargus writes: “....so do not blindly accept any information you are given, especially if it comes from an expert. We are all swimming in a sea of lies. Naivety and cynicism are dead weights chained to your ankles. Scepticism is your life raft. Be sure you understand the difference.”

This early section of Feargus’ book caught my attention – not accepting any information you are given, “…especially if it comes from an expert”. During the COVID-19 “pandemic” public health “experts” were rolled out on the nightly news bulletins to engender fear and provide, what was in retrospect, fake information. We were repeatedly told that ineffective and dangerous vaccines were “safe and effective”.

The book 180° is the work of 10 years of Feargus’ life in investigating various events that we thought we knew about: for example, the sinking of the British passenger liner The Lusitania in 1915, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and remarkably, the full story of 9/11 and the Twin Towers (most people have forgotten about building 7 (see this link) , which despite not suffering any damage from the initial incident, was destroyed alongside the World Trade Center.  Even if you are a top conspiracy theorist, you will find new information in Feargus’ book about the “terrorist” attacks against New York in 2001. The extent of the official deception is so vast, it is almost impossible for the mind to grasp.

The use of “false flag” events (those designed and carried out so that another party can be blamed) to ensure that populations call for more government control and surveillance. You will find this material truly shocking. Feargus also covers many other notable events: the London underground bombing, the US Parkland school shooting and the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack and he demonstrates that the official version of events is a web of lies and deceit. He also establishes how the banking families have used debt to control nations and in a chapter titled “American Gulag”, explains the liberty-tyranny cycle. He quotes G. Michael Hopt:

“Hard times create strong men,
Strong men create good times,
Good times create weak men,
Weak men create hard times.”

Two of his most potent chapters relate to the medical system and are titled “Quack Attack” and “Plandemic”. The quote from Sir William Osler, founding professor at Johns Hopkins, at the start of these chapters provides a flavour of what is to come:

“The person who takes medicine must recover twice; once from the disease and once from the medicine”.

His chapter “Curating Reality” helps us to understand how information is controlled and how, amongst other issues, a climate hoax has been forced upon us.

In his podcast with James Delingpole, Feargus provides helpful information for we now “conspiracy realists” to communicate with our friends and families about the fact that most of what we think we know needs to be inverted 180°.

If we try to persuade people with facts, then we can face the “backfire effect”. This is when people have their strongly held beliefs challenged, these beliefs become more embedded not less.  Feargus also says “people will forgive you for being wrong but won’t forgive you for being right”.

Communicating With Those Who Think That Governments Have Our Best Interests At Heart

Here is his advice about how to have more effective communication with friends and family whom you would like to help understand about what is happening in the world so that they can consider turning their viewpoint 180°:

• Be kind first, be right later. If you go to an animal shelter and get a traumatized dog, you’re not going to try to teach it a new set of tricks but rather win it over with love, compassion and food. This works with people.

• You win by not winning. If your aim is to convince the other person of your position, you have already lost before you open your mouth. The objective is to get the other person to ask a question or continue listening.

• You need to aim to seed not succeed. An apple tree takes time to grow and so you need to plant an idea and have the other person discover the truth.

• Let the vitriol wash over you. People want to regurgitate everything they think they know. Let that happen and let this pass you by. People need to get their energy out and then may be prepared to listen.

• Remember the rider on an elephant. The rider is the logic and reasoning. The elephant is the emotion. Talk to the elephant first. Dealing with people’s emotion is more important than logic.

• Keep the conversation going. Keep in a listening mode, not combat mode. If you see a frown or crossed arms, you need to recognize this and shut up.

• Use questions not statements.

• People slide from A to Z, they don’t jump from A to Z. Take one small truth and show it to them. Then let them think about what you’ve said, and they will start asking questions.

• Facts don’t change minds, friends do. It’s not about the evidence but preparing people emotionally to be able to absorb information

We all need to be prepared to shift our views 180° because we have all been misled by authorities over many years. One of our main problems is that we don’t know what we don’t know!

The approach proposed by Feargus when talking to people who are unaware of the great deception, seems a good one. The problem is that you have to keep your composure and not allow yourself to become angry or just try to present more facts. Remember, “facts don’t change minds, friends do”. This wonderful advice is particularly important because as “Sons of Issachar” we need to understand the signs of the times, and we definitely need to be on “the right side of history”. PS This is Jesus’ side!