Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †
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Celebrate the goodness of God’s creation!
It’s always there, to remind us that God is greater than any difficulty we face.
✝️ DAILY DEVOTIONAL, August 30, 2021
Eduardo Falu was a famon Argentinian guitarist who performed classical genre Argentine folk music. There was, of course, anelement of politics to this because the folk songs her performed were also promoting Argentine populism. Boy the wy . . . these performances show him playing a particularly good sounding Egnacio Fleta concert guitar.
Sorry for all the typos tonight, folks. The software is getting in the way of making corrections. Probably I should prepare my text offline and then cut and paste.
You’re perfectly fine. I actually misspelled my own name yesterday. Totally humiliating.
In the edit mode, there is no way to fix that. (That I know of.)
Appreciate you and your good postings!
Hey, I noticed something surprising today in my area: Gas prices are taking a dive.
Counter intuitive. You would think, with the turmoil in Afghanistan, this would put upward pressure on gas prices, but I am seeing drops of 20¢-40¢ or even 60¢ a gallon at some stations. Also, a hurricane hit to Louisiana historically pushes prices up due to loss of refining capacity.
The only thing I’m aware of that would tend to push gas prices down now is it’s back to school time, the end of vacation driving season. Also the collapse in confidence in government and the economy may be putting a damper on travel.
Have any of you noticed this in your area? Any ideas about what could be driving it?
Dunno, maybe oversupply as people cut back on driving?
Gasoline producers know there will be a drop in recreational, marine and Summer travel after Labor Day . Back to school has begun and the ‘demand season ‘ eases. Refiners now begin to swoitch production anticipating winter fuels. Nothing more. Hurricanes always cause platform shutdowns and ships from transporting. Gas is near highest prices in years on the NYMEX. US government policy is to make carbon based energy expensive so we beg for renewable ‘green ‘ energy crap.
Up in my area. The usual excuse when there has been a hurricane in the Gulf passing over off shore rigs and disrupting the logistics.
Chicagoland?
Rah, will you be parking your rig Tuesday 31 Aug?
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/08/u-s-truckers-plan-nationwide-protest-mandatory-vaccines-august-31st-tuesday-asking-everybody-not-go-work-truck-shut-officially-video/
Nope! I can’t.
An article locally last week said prices will be up 91 cents per gallon average this year over last years Labor Day, but claimed it would be going down soon after they switched over to the winter blend.
Alas, it didn’t last. Prices rebounding now.
Here’s this Sunday’s service from the little church I attend. This was a special service for us: It was one of the few times during the year that we worship using the traditional Matins service. The sermon topic is “The Church Militant.”
https://stjames-lcms.org/2021/08/29/the-church-militant/
If you have a bit of time, I’ll invite you to listen to the nine minutes from 42:00 to 51:00. It includes the last part of the sermon, followed by the Te Deum, a hymn to Christ that our ancestors in faith have sung for the last sixteen centuries. If you have a bit more time, this is followed by the litany, which you might enjoy praying with us.
Got more time? You might find the whole service refreshing if you weren’t able to get to your own church this week. (Scroll down for words to the readings and hymns.)
Blessings to you this week. Please pray for our country.
I liked the sermon. I was reading through the We Believe section of your church, and I saw that the interpretation there in was at odds with what the first Christians believed about the Body and Blood of Christ, also known as the Holy Eucharist.
Early Church Fathers on the Eucharist and the Holy Sacrifice of the Catholic Mass
I. Didache (mid-first century)
“But let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist, unless they have been baptized into the name of the Lord; for concerning this also the Lord has said, ‘Give not that which is holy to the dogs.’” In the next chapter, there’s a post-Communion prayer of thanksgiving, in which the Church prayed in part: “Thou, Master almighty, didst create all things for Thy name’s sake; You gavest food and drink to men for enjoyment, that they might give thanks to Thee; but to us You didst freely give spiritual food and drink and life eternal through Thy Servant.“
II. Ignatius of Antioch (c. 103-107 A.D.)
This is from Ignatius’ letter to the Smyrnaeans, chapter 7:
“They [the Gnostics] abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again. Those, therefore, who speak against this gift of God, incur death in the midst of their disputes. But it were better for them to treat it with respect, that they also might rise again. It is fitting, therefore, that ye should keep aloof from such persons, and not to speak of them either in private or in public, but to give heed to the prophets, and above all, to the Gospel, in which the passion [of Christ] has been revealed to us, and the resurrection has been fully proved. But avoid all divisions, as the beginning of evils.”
This same Ignatius, in his letter to the Ephesians, refers to the Eucharist as “the medicine of immortality.”
III. Justin Martyr (150-155 A.D.)
Justin Martyr clearly shows that from the beginning, the Church held that not only was the Eucharist the Flesh and Blood of Christ, it also wasn’t bread and wine after the consecration. Here’s Chapter 66 of his First Apology:
“And this food is called among us Εὐχαριστία [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.”
IV.Irenaeus (180 A.D.)
Irenaeus, in Book V, Chapter 2 of Against Heresies,
“Then, again, how can they say that the flesh, which is nourished with the body of the Lord and with His blood, goes to corruption, and does not partake of life? Let them, therefore, either alter their opinion, or cease from offering the things just mentioned. But our opinion is in accordance with the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn establishes our opinion. For we offer to Him His own, announcing consistently the fellowship and union of the flesh and Spirit. For as the bread, which is produced from the earth, when it receives the invocation of God, is no longer common bread, but the Eucharist, consisting of two realities, earthly and heavenly; so also our bodies, when they receive the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, having the hope of the resurrection to eternity.”
V. Tertullian (c. 203 A.D.)
Chapter 19 of On Prayer was whether we should receive Communion on fast days (called “Station” days). He says yes, because it’s the Lord’s Body, and that’s Who we’re striving for. He also notes, as many of the above Fathers before him noted, that the Eucharist is truly a Sacrifice offered to the Father:
“Similarly, too, touching the days of Stations, most think that they must not be present at the sacrificial prayers, on the ground that the Station must be dissolved by reception of the Lord’s Body. Does, then, the Eucharist cancel a service devoted to God, or bind it more to God? Will not your Station be more solemn if you have withal stood at God’s altar? When the Lord’s Body has been received and reserved each point is secured, both the participation of the sacrifice and the discharge of duty.”
Conclusion
As you can see, from the earliest days of the Church, we see the Church Fathers proclaiming unanimously that the Eucharist is truly the Body and Blood of Christ, and that the Eucharist truly saves. We also see them articulating that the bread and wine become the Eucharist at the prayer of consecration during mass, and that once consecrated, the bread and wine cease to be common bread and wine. Christ doesn’t just mingle amongst the elements.
The elements cease to be, and become Christ instead, in what has been called transmutation, and would soon be called transelementation and eventually, transubstantiation. The rest of theology was understood through this prism of the Eucharist: if your views caused you to reject the Eucharist, you were out. The Christians would stop communing with you, and if you were a priest, you could no longer offer Mass in good faith. So this very Catholic understanding of the Eucharist served as a benchmark for determining Christianity from the very beginning.
Those Didache quotes aren’t quite as strong as the rest. Not that I know enough about him to say he does or doesn’t believe the same as the rest.
What I find interesting though is Ignatius’ comments about the Gnostics. They sound like people I’ve met who flee the room if someone from a different Christian denomination prays. And it contradicts the image drawn of ‘secret knowledge’. It would be pretty easy to spot people who refuse sacrament and run from the room each time someone prays. Or even someone who hangs around Christians to prey on them, but refuses to even be there for worship with prayers and the Eucharist.
There is also a logic fail on the gnostics part. If you don’t believe that there is anything special about communion, then why refuse? Must be some part of their secrets that I haven’t heard about.
Anyways, thanks for the quotes. I’ve tried to read some early church father’s writings but … At least they are more readable than Josephus.
The Didache was an early source, mid-first century, compiled based on the teachings of the Apostles. It was basically the first catechism.
The gnostics were declared heretics because they did not believe in the passion or that Christ rose bodily from the dead.
Here is a good jumping off point for the church fathers. I want to warn you, however, that if you are not Catholic, the church fathers will create some discomfort for you. As is often said, protestants read their way into the fullness of the Truth. Good luck.
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/fathers/
DDB, thanks for the well-documented comment. I’m glad you enjoyed the sermon.
I’d say that confessional Lutherans (those who are consistent with the Book of Concord of 1580), agree with most of what you quote from the Church Fathers. A notable exception is the idea you quote that each Eucharistic service is a sacrifice to God the Father.
Lutherans believe that in the Eucharist communicants receive the true body and true blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This was a difference between Luther and other reformers in the sixteenth century. It has persisted to this day.
We agree joyfully with your quote from Irenaeus: “…but the Eucharist, consisting of two realities, earthly and heavenly; so also our bodies, when they receive the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, having the hope of the resurrection to eternity.”
Rather than use the term “transubstantiation,” or try to explain the Eucharist in scientific terms, we regard it as a mystery and a miracle, as supported by the biblical text, as well as by the Church Fathers. So we preach, teach, and confess that Christ’s body and blood are truly present, but do not try to explain it further.
I mention this not to reignite the debates of the Reformation, but to clarify my church’s position (from this layman’s understanding) without denigrating yours. Let us both give thanks to Christ our King.
Thanks for clarifying. Luther was the first Christian from the founding of Christianity in 33 AD up until the 16th century to deny that the mass was the unbloodied representation of Christ’s Sacrifice on Calvary to the Father for the remission of sins. If you’ve read the church fathers, and I assume you have based on your excellent reply, you know they believed what Luther did not.
Even the Orthodox, who split over the fillioque (the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son vs from the Son alone) and politics in the 11th century still practice the same representation of the Son’s Sacrifice on Calvary to the Father in their liturgy every Sunday. They have the identical sacraments, and the same theology.
My point is this: Luther himself understood that the Catholic church was the church founded by Christ himself, but thought it had gone astray through selling indulgences, and other issues with the human-run component of any institution. He broke away anyway, and came up with his own novel interpretation of Christianity despite knowing what the church fathers, and every historical Christian had taught, up until he started teaching something different.
“Intelligence officials estimate that China has now stolen all the personal identifiable information of about 80% of Americans, and it has a good start on collecting information on the remaining 20%.”
Link: https://www.npr.org/2021/08/26/1013501080/chinas-microsoft-hack-may-have-had-a-bigger-purpose-than-just-spying
30 August 1959
Bobby Darin‘s “Mack the Knife” debuts on Billboard’s Pop chart. The song, taken from a 1928 German play called Three Penny Opera, will be Darin’s biggest hit, reaching number one and winning a Grammy Award for Record of the Year.
30 August 1980
“Sailing” by Christopher Cross was Billboard’s top single. The record would sweep the Grammy Awards the next Spring when it won for Song Of The Year and Record Of The Year.
30 August 1986
Steve Winwood, former lead vocalist for The Spencer Davis Group, had the number one record in the US with “Higher Love”. It made #13 in the UK.
Mack the Knife , my Ma’s Fave Song ?
Neither of us could sing but we still enjoyed singing it Together ?
Good Memories , Thanks , Rebel ?
You never believed in some devolved Qplan. But everything is about patterns and trends, and you see events repeat and repeat again, see patterns repeat and repeat again. So you explore some very strange rabbit holes indeed, looking for explanations. Are you catching brief glimpses of glitches in the matrix? Are you seeing synchronicities? Are you witnessing a Fourth Turning? A Great Awakening?
You feel very alone as you follow yet another faint path into the woods. Then a series of seemingly unconnected events leads you to a deep dive into the Gospel of John and the Word, reason, logos, and order. And that brings you back to something that was there all along, if you had only taken the time to remark it as you blew past it years ago. Someone already blazed this trail, and it was only a moment ago.
“That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already is; and God seeks out what has gone by.”
– Ecclesiastes 3:15
AM I CONVINCED BY CHRIST?
“Notwithstanding in this rejoice not…, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” Luke x. 19, 20
Jesus Christ says, in effect, don’t rejoice in successful service, but rejoice because you are rightly related to Me. The snare in Christian work is to rejoice in successful service, to rejoice in the fact that God has used you. You never can measure what God will do through you if you are rightly related to Jesus Christ. Keep your relationship right with Him, then whatever circumstances you are in, and whoever you meet day by day, He is pouring rivers of living water through you, and it is of His mercy that He does not let you know it. When once you are rightly related to God by salvation and sanctification, remember that wherever you are, you are put there by God; and by the reaction of your life on the circumstances around you, you will fulfil God’s purpose, as long as you keep in the light as God is in the light.
The tendency today is to put the emphasis on service. Beware of the people who make usefulness their ground of appeal. If you make usefulness the test, then Jesus Christ was the greatest failure that ever lived. The lodestar of the saint is God Himself, not estimated usefulness. It is the work that God does through us that counts, not what we do for Him. All that Our Lord heeds in a man’s life is the relationship of worth to His Father. Jesus is bringing many SONS to glory.
Oswald Chambers
August 30th Devotional
‘Details on the “One Ring” solution will come soon, perhaps as early as tomorrow…’
NO BRAG, JUST FACT.
Thank Goodness! Ida now a TS with maximum sustained winds down to 60 mph. Tornadoes and flash flooding are now the two main threats.
Actor Ed Asner has died at 91. RIP Ed. Thank You for all the wonderful memories!
Spurgeon wisdom on target…….
“Wait on the Lord.”
Psalm 27:14
It may seem an easy thing to wait, but it is one of the postures which a Christian soldier learns not without years of teaching. Marching and quick-marching are much easier to God’s warriors than standing still. There are hours of perplexity when the most willing spirit, anxiously desirous to serve the Lord, knows not what part to take. Then what shall it do? Vex itself by despair? Fly back in cowardice, turn to the right hand in fear, or rush forward in presumption? No, but simply wait. Wait in prayer, however. Call upon God, and spread the case before him; tell him your difficulty, and plead his promise of aid. In dilemmas between one duty and another, it is sweet to be humble as a child, and wait with simplicity of soul upon the Lord. It is sure to be well with us when we feel and know our own folly, and are heartily willing to be guided by the will of God. But wait in faith. Express your unstaggering confidence in him; for unfaithful, untrusting waiting, is but an insult to the Lord. Believe that if he keep you tarrying even till midnight, yet he will come at the right time; the vision shall come and shall not tarry. Wait in quiet patience, not rebelling because you are under the affliction, but blessing your God for it. Never murmur against the second cause, as the children of Israel did against Moses; never wish you could go back to the world again, but accept the case as it is, and put it as it stands, simply and with your whole heart, without any self-will, into the hand of your covenant God, saying, “Now, Lord, not my will, but thine be done. I know not what to do; I am brought to extremities, but I will wait until thou shalt cleave the floods, or drive back my foes. I will wait, if thou keep me many a day, for my heart is fixed upon thee alone, O God, and my spirit waiteth for thee in the full conviction that thou wilt yet be my joy and my salvation, my refuge and my strong tower.”
Mornin’ infidels.
. . . but deliver us from the Evil One.
Amen ?
The Jesus Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me, a sinner.
Prayer of Saint Ioannikios the Great of Bithynia (+ 846)
My hope is the Father, my refuge the Son, my protection the Holy Spirit. O Holy Trinity, glory to Thee.
Right now, in these terrible hours, our active duty military and generations of still dedicated
former servicemembers are being subjected to these dynamics:
At the top we have a SECDEF and CJCS, along with the senior staffers within DOD directing in THE most self
destructive and dishonorable action in Kabul while, simultaneously managing programs highly corrosive
to good order and discipline.
At the grunt level our amazing young men and women in the combat arms are justifiably resentful and
even fearful of the directed ‘jab’ with a solution lacking ANY long term study on effects wrt reproduction,
and with minor benefit compared to readily available therapeutics, these young servicemembers from
America’s heartland are forcibly enduring indoctrination training antithetical to America’s traditional
cultural and religious beliefs.
And in the middle, junior and mid-grade officers are beginning to revolt and refuse their role in leading
their men and women to death while facilitating the elimination of the core values that provide
the necessary resilience to win the fight, and survive the battle with dedication to the nation intact.
Top down. Bottom up. Inside out.
This is NOT by accident.
Quote
“What if you were seeking to subvert or deconstruct the current laws of the United States, our constitution,
our way of life? Our way of life in total, even down to the most fundamental of all of our human
governmental hierarchies, the family. How would you do it?
The term for undertaking such a massive societal shift can be summed up in a word that is becoming
increasingly familiar in our normal day-to-day discussions: deconstruction.
The deconstruction of our societal hierarchies is a complex undertaking with the primary concern of
fracturing the cohesiveness of a society, nation, or community with the intention of taking the useful
rubble of the demolition and rebuilding a new, reformed hierarchy.
So what is it that is being done to deconstruct our nation?
Van Jones, the progressive political commentator and former Green Jobs Advisor to the Obama White House,
stated the following at the NOW Campaign for America’s Future back in 2010:
“Our governing move is three things — top down, bottom up, and inside out. We need to work on the middle
and the bottom. Government will handle the top down but it’s also bottom-up and inside-out — so now
you’re //the NOW audience in this case//challenged as you leave here — your challenge is to take care of
that bottom part and that inside-out part — the heart part.”
https://sovereignnations.com/2019/08/21/plan-change-everything-top-down-bottom-up-inside-out/
As we navigate through these hours we must hold faith in the virtue, and necessity, of the core values of
our founders realizing what we are experiencing is being created for a purpose – “Fundamental transformation”
by deeply evil people who hate this still almost free country with the heat of a thousand suns.
For DOD that is the debilitation of our armed services as a functioning means of national (think culture,
border, constitution) defense, and it’s recreation into an evil and deadly ideological enforcement tool aimed
first at the ‘clingy’, bible holding and gun owning people it was intended to defend.
God bless America. And pray God blesses our loyal men and women in uniform!
Day 16 of 30 Collective Fast
My Jesus, I love thee, I know thou art mine;
for thee all the follies of sin I resign;
my gracious Redeemer, my Savior art thou;
if ever I loved thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
I love thee because thou hast first loved me
and purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree;
I love thee for wearing the thorns on thy brow;
if ever I loved thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
Ida now down to 45 mph maximum sustained winds.
Verse of the Day for Monday, August 30, 2021
✟
“For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.”
Isaiah 41:13 (KJV)
Thank You, Jesus, for blessings received and prayers answered!!!
BE MY VOICE
PRAYING ON THE ARMOR OF GOD
Father God, I now follow your command to put on the full armor of God, because my battle is not against flesh and blood but against rulers, authorities, the powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the unseen world.
I first pray on the Belt of Truth that it may be buckled around my waist, may I be centered and encircled by your truth dear Lord. Hem me inside all that is true and right, and may I be protected and held up by the truth of your living word, in my Lord Jesus name.
I pray on the Breastplate of righteousness, please protect my vital organs and my inner man, cover my integrity, my spirit, and my soul. Guard my heart for it is the wellspring of life, please strengthen and guard the most vulnerable places in my life with that which is right, good, and noble that I might not receive a fatal blow from the enemy, in my Lord Jesus name.
I pray on the Gospel Shoes of Peace. I choose to stand in the shoes of your good news, and on the firm foundation of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the solid eternal rock. All other ground is sinking sand, I pray that I will not slip or fall, but that my feet would be firmly fitted on your lordship, my Lord Jesus. I choose to stand on you, so that the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus, the eternal Rock of Ages. I receive your holy peace now my Lord, from the sole of my feet to the crown of my head, in my Lord Jesus name.
I pray the Shield of Faith into my hand now. As I take up the shield of faith, I ask that you might extinguish every dart and arrow, that is launched from the enemy to take me down spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, and every attempt of the enemy to destroy my joy. I ask that my faith in you would make it flame out. Extinguish every flaming arrow that would come against me, my life, my family, my home, or my ministry. May my faith always be out in front of me like a shield. Give me the courage to “faith my fears” by choosing to walk by faith and not by sight, in my Lord Jesus name.
I pray on the Helmet of Salvation, that you might protect my mind from the thoughts that can lead me astray. I choose to take every thought captive, and arrest all intentioned ideas and motives that would harm others, or distract me from your holy will for me. I submit every captured thought to the Lordship of my Lord Jesus Christ, and ask that you would imprison those thoughts that are not of you my Lord. Transform my mind and renew my thinking that I may think God thoughts, and have a sober mind that is focused on your glory. Please protect me from being double minded that I may allow my mind, I reject to live an earthly life, because I choose to live a holy one, governed by you My Lord Jesus, the prince of peace, please have my mind to be saturated with the holy mind of Christ, in my Lord Jesus name.
Finally, I take up the Sword of the Spirit which is the holy word of God, I pray this powerful offensive weapon into my hand, and ask that your holy word would be fitting for every encounter I face. As the enemy gets close to me, please give me the insight, wisdom, and skill to wield the word of God to drive away the enemy, in my Lord Jesus name.
May the enemy and his team flee from me, upon hearing the word of God spoken by the power and direction of the Holy Spirit. Give me the sword of the spirit to cut through the wiles of the devil, so that I may discern the schemes of the enemy when he is near.
With all kinds of prayers, supplication, and intercession I pray to you my Lord God as the one who fights my battles. Now that I’m in your holy powerful armor, I walk away covered and ready to face my day as you go before me, and please protect me in the midst of the spiritual warfare in this unseen world, in my Lord Jesus name.
Thank you my Lord, for the spiritual weapons of armor and prayer that you have given me. It is written no weapon formed against me shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses me.
Thank you Father God, my Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit, that I am more than a conqueror in my Lord Jesus. I pray all of this in the mighty name of my Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, amen.
Blinken blinks again as ‘phone’ call between ChiCom FM Wang as Wang demands full compliance with Beijing’s wishes so they can roll into Kabul. Can impeachment cover the entire administration of losers? Think ‘positively’ https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/chinese-foreign-minister-tells-top-us-diplomat-world-must-positively-guide-taleban https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3146817/top-china-diplomat-wang-yi-tells-us-counterpart-anthony
A sad day…my children have the blood of American Revolutionaries–Patriots…who fought for our freedoms, in their bodies. Then and now.
Freedom is never free.
As I embark on my ‘journey’, I ask for prayers for discernment and wisdom, as I fight ‘city hall’.
I will be here in absentia, I am now going “10-7” for an undetermined period of time.
Be safe all, stay true and God Bless Each and Every one of my Fellow Treepers.
May the courage and determination that sustained your ancestors carry you and your children’s efforts through to victory.
Illinois Governor Pritzker’s tyrannical and unilaterally imposed mask mandate goes into effect today, Monday, August 30.
I will not be complying and I hope to see many of my fellow Illinoisans not complying. Compliance is consent and we can’t allow ourselves to consent to endless mask mandates.
We have been dealing with Pritzker’s mask mandates and other covid edicts for a year and a half. If we don’t resist now, they will likely become a permanent fixture during cold and flu season and whenever a particularly bad cold is going around.
Peaceful, widespread civil disobedience is the only way to defeat this mask mandate and Pritzker’s other covid decrees.
Courage is contagious. The more people who engage in peaceful civil disobedience will make it easier for others to join in.
Also, the more people who don’t comply make it harder for heavy handed authorities to punish those who are out of compliance.
I look forward to seeing my fellow Illinoisans joining me in peaceful civil disobedience.
Free the smiles!
https://www.thecentersquare.com/illinois/pritzker-mandates-vaccines-for-educators-hospital-staff-masks-for-everyone-indoors/article_d9db592e-0692-11ec-97e8-eb018c438adc.html
The most often used argument in favor of mask and covid vaccine mandates is that “science” requires us to wear masks and get vaccinated.
Experts, such as Fauci, are held up as infallible human personifications of science who are authorized to issue tyrannical mandates, decrees, and edicts under the authority bestowed upon them by “science.”
We are expected to mindlessly obey these mandates as they are ostensibly required by science. If we dare to disagree with these mandates we are portrayed as being science deniers.
This Charlie Kirk podcast with Hillsdale College Professor Wilfred McClay provides an academic refutation to the idea that “science” and the “expert class” can somehow supersede our constitutional, unalienable, and God-given rights.
They trace the concept of governance by the “expert class” to the progressive movement of the early 20th Century and to figures such as President Woodrow Wilson, who was a staunch progressive.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0mfFCUDdOtDF53ayQ0cQn0
Science and medical experts should not be allowed to govern us unchecked anymore than any other type of person. This is technocratic tyranny, which is just as bad as tyranny imposed by a king or anyone else.
I repeat the following points often because they provide our greatest counterargument to those who want to force us into masks and into getting the covid vaccine.
The whole idea that “science” can somehow justify suspending our civil liberties and force us to mask up, vaccinate, quarantine healthy people, suspend in-person learning, and test people indefinitely to make sure that they aren’t infected with covid needs to be squelched.
As British Rabbi Jonathan Sacks said:
“Science will explain how but not why. It talks about what is, not what ought to be. Science is descriptive, not prescriptive; it can tell us about causes but it cannot tell us about purposes. Indeed, science disavows purposes.”
In other words, science only tells us what is. It doesn’t tell us what policies to implement. Mask and vaccine mandates are the result of political science, not actual science.
If the vaccine works, then those who are vaccinated should have no reason to be concerned about the vaccination status of others or feel a need to force others to wear a mask in order to protect themselves.
Just because someone in power might think that particular items, such as mask wearing or vaccinations, are scientifically proven to be efficacious, doesn’t mean that they can be mandated on others.
Part of living in a free society means accepting the fact that other people may very well do things that one may find unscientific or inefficacious to living a healthy life.
The concept of medical privacy protects those who don’t wish to disclose their vaccination status to their employer, school, or other people in general.
Risk is inherent in a free society. A free people assume that risk as they go about their daily lives. No more restricting our liberty under the guise of additional security.
No more mask mandates, quarantining of healthy people, lockdowns, vaccine mandates, mandatory covid testing, and other covid mandates.
I believe in local control, but the problem with this bill is that it would give local school boards the authority to issue local mask mandates, which is an authority that they do not currently have.
The ability to issue mask mandates is an authority that no one should have, whether they be local, at the state level, or the federal level.
The truth is that these technocrats aren’t following science.
Science says these masks stop enough virons to become a risk in themselves, but they don’t stop enough to stop you from getting sick, or stop you from infecting others.
Science confirms that with real data showing that mask mandates and lockdowns had no effect. Many more countries had increases in cases and deaths after doing these things than had decreases.
Science doesn’t cherry pick data. Nor does it deny evidence and design trials so they fail.
Science knows better than using a non-sterilizing vaccine in the middle of an epidemic. That guarantees things will get worse.
Science knows that these vaccines do not provide permanent immunity, that the antibodies they produce rapidly disappear in only months.
Science knows that these vaccines flood our bodies with a harmful part of the virus.
Science knows that doctors need to examine, diagnose and treat patients.
Science knows that the earlier you treat a viral infection the better chance the patient will survive.
Science doesn’t censor or deem by fiat, it argues theories with real data. And it is always trying to improve.
The list of science that has been intentionally unlearned is staggering. Way more than above.
It is horrible watching people who know better lie and lie, censor and censor, then prove you right while forcing yet more atrocities upon us.
You explain why science can’t and shouldn’t be used to control people. But this real world example of the worship of phony science to control people shows an even deeper reason. Human nature.
Once science becomes a tool of control, it becomes subject to the whims of the controller, and it stops being science. Instead it is just the dictates of power hungry, egotistical people.
JIT, don’t know your background,
but it is darn wholesome fun watching you skewer icons! ?
(and your comments on MacArthur were eminently fair!)
Well said!
A judge in Cook County, Illinois took away the parental rights of a mother, Rebecca Firlit, due to her refusal to get the covid vaccine.
Cook County Judge James Shapiro randomly asked her whether she had been vaccinated. Firlit told Shapiro she didn’t get vaccinated because she has had bad reactions to vaccines in the past.
Shapiro then ordered that Firlit be prevented from spending parenting time with her son until she gets vaccinated. Over the past two weeks, Firlit has been able to talk to her son on the phone and through video calls, but has been unable to see him in person.
“I miss my son more than anything. It’s been very difficult. I haven’t seen him since Aug. 10,” Firlit told the local Fox station in an interview.
“I think that it’s wrong. I think that it’s dividing families. And I think it’s not in my son’s best interest to be away from his mother,” Firlit said.
Firlit is now appealing the court order, saying the judge has no authority to take away her parenting rights over her vaccination status.
“It had nothing to do with what we were talking about. He was placing his views on me. And taking my son away from me,” Firlit said.
Her attorney, Annette Fernholz, claimed the judge has overstepped his authority.
“In this case you have a judge, without any matter before him regarding the parenting time with the child deciding ‘Oh, you’re not vaccinated. You don’t get to see your child until you are vaccinated.’ That kind of exceeds his jurisdiction,” Fernholz said.
“You have to understand the father did not even bring this issue before the court. So it’s the judge on his own and making this decision that you can’t see your child until you’re vaccinated,” Fernholz added.
The attorney representing Firlit’s ex-husband, Jeffrey Leving, says they were also surprised by the judge’s decision, but they support the ruling saying that given the pandemic, the child should be protected from an unvaccinated mother.
“There are children who have died because of covid. I think every child should be safe. And I agree that the mother should be vaccinated,” Leving said.
Fewer than 400 children in the US have died from covid. In every case, the child had a comorbidity that complicated the situation.
This story is an egregious example of tyranny being imposed under the guise of protecting us from covid.
No judge, or any other sort of authority figure, has any right to separate families over vaccination status. This is an abhorrent overstep on the part of the judge.
Risk is inherent in a free society. A free people assume that risk as they go about their daily lives. No more restricting our liberty under the guise of additional security.
No more mask mandates, quarantining of healthy people, lockdowns, vaccine mandates, mandatory covid testing, and other covid mandates.
https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/chicago-judge-strips-mother-parental-rights-being-unvaccinated
A couple of questions…how old is the child and why were they in court to begin with?
Note to self…”Read article before asking questions!” (Sorry!)
why would Ga.SOS office order and pay for 4,300,000 mail-in ballots and envelopes from DOMIONION AND mail them out.
https://sos.ga.gov/securevoting/
I know I should know but I don’t: what happened to Grandma Coffeve (sp?)??
Hello friends of the treehouse. If I could ask for all your prayers today.
My father was admitted to the hospital for the wuflu.
He’s not doing so great and I just ask for everyone’s prayers for him to get well soon. He’s posted to the treehouse before and he’s a avid reader and fan of Sundance. Thank you everyone and God bless.
“Trust God enough to obey Him”, a wonderful series by a blessed woman of God, Mrs. Jennifer Speer: https://wordofjoy.org/live-strong- I pray it encourages you as it has me.
And the African wave train just keeps pumping them out into the Main Development Region:
lilbirdee12’s prayer:
Our Heavenly Father, Your children come to you tonight to ask for healing and peace throughout our country so that we may return to being One Nation Under God. Guide us to be leaders in Your Kingdom, spreading Your Love and Salvation to all. Forgive us our sins and deliver us from evil.
Lord, we ask for a blanket of protection over all our troops and law enforcement who serve to defend and protect us. Bless our representatives with the strength and wisdom they need to achieve the path You have chosen for us.
Please place Your Guardian Angels of Protection around Donald Trump and his family as they seek to lead America back to You. Also, we pray for Angels to protect and support our Sundance as he works for justice and peace.
Grant us patience, Lord, as the evil ones try to anger us and cause us to fall.
Spread blessings over Israel and Netanyahu.
We humbly ask that You please comfort those who are grieving and in pain.
Thank you Father, for Your Love and the gift of Life.
In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.
Amen
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
✝️ Lord, thank You for the day. Amen.