"Beware that there is not found among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit - a person who when he hears the words of the sworn covenant, assures himself that he will be safe, even though he walks in stubbornness of heart". Deuteronomy 29:19.
This morning I watched a well-known Christian reporter in Australia speaking to a packed out venue of hundreds about the present crisis and how we can so easily be motivated into all manner of behaviour because of the over-arching narrative of fear. He sought to encourage them to what he saw as a better way - of seeking to continue to be there for each other, and to hold fast to what is good.
Tuning-in to a local church broadcast following this, there were prayers once again that the program to defeat the virus with the current process of jabs would continue and grow to ensure our safety - presumably because not only mainstream clinicians but the Government(s) (globally) are advocating this as the only approach to take to end the crisis...
...but this comes in a week when one of the world's most prestigious medical journals (The Lancet) has published comprehensive data to show a continual and worrying decline in the efficacy (effectiveness) in the MRNA materials in use amongst almost all age groups after only a very short period (several months), and that this period appears to be reducing. Added to this, these materials do not prevent those receiving them from being contagious with the disease or, in some cases, from becoming ill and dying with the virus, even in those regions where the latest 'booster' version have been administered.
Clearly, then, if we are seeking a clear success in implementing this program to bring about the 'zero covid' result spoken about in the early part of the year, we are very, very far from that, and yet, authorities still seek to act in respect to policy in ways which they have deemed necessary to support this solution, whilst casting what can only be deemed as a damning narrative against any possible alternatives.
This is the state of play as hundreds of thousands of workers who have sought to give a great deal throughout the crisis to this point are now being deemed no longer employable purely because they personally will not allow themselves to be jabbed, and those very policies will now exclude them from service.
This is now deemed permissible as larger sections of society are allowed to employ discriminatory requirements against those who, for various ethical, social or medical reasons, seek to continue to live within the choices a free society should provide, in spite of the malice and harm now being metered to them.
Yet the church prays on for the success of these means.
"La'anah" is a Hebrew word for a plant which produces an intensely bitter oil. In the New Testament, the Greek equivalent is used by John to speak of the devastating impact of a 'star' on earth in the last days - wormwood (Revelation 8:11), which poisons the very waters with its toxic bitterness. It's also the term used in passages like the one above, which warn us of how men will turn away from the covenant of God to their own devisings in respect to safety and confidence, believing they can achieve something above and beyond what is provided in God alone.
Since March 2020, the majority of the Christian church has conformed itself to a process of 'progress' devised by men and corporations which, at the very least, have agendas other than benevolence when it comes to their motivational imperatives - and that's putting it mildly! This has lead us into a course of action which is clearly ongoing and continual, and whilst we may have enjoyed a short spell of reprieve for a few months, it has already become clear that this is expected to end shortly for another lengthy period to come - not, it should be noted, to merely deal with an expected growth in viral cases, but, even more likely, because of seasonal flu and the influx of demands at hospitals in respect to this.
What is occurring, in other words, is the policies that have been employed to deal with a pandemic will now be rolled out and implemented in relation to illnesses we have, until recently, taken to be part of the common nature of life. This will most certainly mean a curtailing of 'normal' activity for all in the times to come.
The church must decide if such perpetual restriction is not only acceptable but moral and reasonable in respects to a Christian world-view, and if it is not, what must be done to counter this growing narrative of fear in our society.
We cannot allow the bitter-ing nature of this evil to take root and grow amongst us.
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