"How you have fallen from the heights, bright one, radiant like dawn,
How you have now been cut down and laid low.
For you said in your heart 'I will ascend on high, above the very seat of power'... but you have been brought down to the very depths of the realm of the grave, to the very precipice of the abyss.
Those who knew you and your reputation will stare and ponder this calamity. 'Is this the one who made others tremble', they will ask...
You will not be buried with the esteemed in your death, for you destroyed your own land".
Isaiah 14:12-20.
There are times in our lives when we sense, a little like Daniel, perhaps, that the 'princes' and powers that work above and around us have been busy in respect to their cunning and often reprehensible activities. 2020 is clearly a candidate for distinct and extraordinary incidents which appear to drip with such malevolent ploys. From the moment so many decided to set aside the tried and tested methods for dealing with issues produced by a pandemic, it has felt as though we have all been participants in some strange procedure to produce... what? Fear, economic catastrophe, massive spiritual, individual and personal harm? All of this is of course true, as was so aptly expressed by a straight-talking public house owner this past week, but there seemed no end in sight to the pride and arrogance of those running this nightmare here, even when the hard data of the present health of the UK argues entirely for the ceasing of such dreadful social austerity.
The first crack in the portrait, perhaps, has now become evident. It came in respect to the country's leader informing us that it was the particular policy of his office - to continually isolate us as much as possible - which had brought about our present well-being. This set-aside the analysis of many in the 'data not dates' sphere, which understood that the peak of recent infections had already passed before the present lockdown and the accompanying vaccination program had even begun, but as with numerous other occasions in these particular events, facts are the last thing that have been heeded.
Pride and haughtiness in our own actions, noted Solomon, often precede the chasm that announces our demise (Proverbs 16:18), so it isn't too surprising that following such an announcement, those at the helm of this venture found themselves busily seeking to mute the choir of those wanting to examine the consequences of one particular item being raised in recent days... Greensil.
The reasons why the tentacles of this malevolence may unseat many are complex (some seven to nine enquiries are now anticipated as required to deal with the fallout), but it was evident again today that recent seemingly cosmetic 'adjustments' at the very heart of Whitehall - in number 10 itself - are tarred with the very same brush of corruption (in respect to certain 'donations'), which is no doubt why so much "attention" is being directed this week to anything - "earth day" was a good example - to evade the awful truth of the rot at the very core of this entire adminsitration.
My aim here isn't to be "political" about this particular government - it's to seek to cause us to take a good, hard look at what goes on when you're dealing with the tragedy of the human condition when that sorry state is steered by a malevolence that desires one thing - evil.
The historical records of scripture teach us that even in the best circumstances - when the Lord Himself provides a called people to a land they can make their own with His guidance and aid, it is extremely rare to get more than one or possibly two leaders that are going to do the right thing - most, even those who start well, will be overtaken with greed, power or other enticements that will leave both them and their people ripe for being over-run by all manner of wickedness.
The "authorised' response to this crisis, here and elsewhere, has been, as one American scientist put it this week, "diabolical", and has cost so many so much - and that cost is set to deepen immensely in the days to come.
The common belief espoused at present is that slowly but surely, people will pick-up their 'normal' lives once more and we'll then see a gradual return to something akin to what we knew before, but that clearly isn't going to be so, for all manner of reasons.
It has been encouraging to see a theological response of sorts these past few weeks to the latest threats to the normal fabric of society, but this has come late in the day, and may well prove too little to curtail present, developed policies to bring about further incarceration for many in the days to come. I hope and pray that the current internal eruption exposing the sleaze and extortion in our present political powers will not be allowed to be sidelined, but will unseat those who believe themselves right to behave in a fashion that, clearly, continues to benefit their own appetites whilst the nation is covered in the pall of a deathly shroud of loss.
Better, true wisdom informs us, is a little righteousness, than great income and wealth through great injustice (Proverbs 16:8). It is a lesson that is imperative in this moment.
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