Footwashing and Forgiveness
"For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." (Matthew 6:14-15)
In just two weeks, on the evening of April 11th, is the Passover. Through its emblems of the bread and the wine we will once again be reminded of the unparalleled price that had to be paid to grant forgiveness of sin. Spiritual sin, so we might be given access to God the Father, and physical sin, so we may be healed. But for that forgiveness to apply to us, we too must forgive as clearly indicated within the sample prayer: "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors" (Matthew 6:12) . To make sure this humble recognition is at the forefront of our minds before partaking of the Passover emblems, we will once again be given the opportunity to reflect on the frame of mind required through the act of footwashing.
Our Supreme Example
In the scriptural account of Christ implementing the footwashing ceremony, the apostle John first spends several verses reminding us of the uniquely elevated position held by Jesus Christ at the time He instituted the ordinance:
- Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.
- And supper [having occurred], the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him;
- Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God;
- He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.
- After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. (John 13:1-5)
Here was the Messiah, the 'anointed one', on the threshold of a trial so great that He would shortly sweat blood in anticipation of it, yet maintaining sufficient presence of mind to convey this vital ordinance to us all, out of the deep abiding love He has for His people. As the author of Hebrews puts it:
- Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God...
- ...Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. (Hebrews 12:2,4)
Christ was fully aware of the satanic conspiracy that Judas Iscariot had given into. He was also fully aware that shortly He would be regaining the power and honour of His previous exalted position with His Father, and with the whole creation soon to be in subjection once more to Him; every planet, every star system, every galaxy, everything! Yet with all of that in His mind, and knowing He was to be the firstborn of many brethren – King OF kings and Lord OF lords – He washed feet! Just as He was willing to divest Himself of the glory He had initially to become virtually a microscopic non-entity in Mary's womb, so at the end of His life He reflected this identical state of mind as well. And it was THIS mindset that He wanted to dramatically convey to us via footwashing:
- Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
- Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
- But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
- And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:5-8)
The Context
Although footwashing is not mentioned in the other three accounts of this pivotal Passover service, the context in which it was implemented most certainly is. That context is found within the book of Luke, and it is only by putting together the two accounts of Luke and John that the full picture emerges:
- ...there was an argument among them about which of them was the greatest.
- And he said, The kings of the Gentiles are lords over them, and those who have authority are given names of honour.
- But let it not be so with you; but he who is greater, let him become like the younger; and he who is chief, like a servant.
- For which is greater, the guest who is seated at a meal or the servant who is waiting on him? is it not the guest? but I am among you as a servant.
- But you are those who have kept with me through my troubles;
- And I will give you a kingdom as my Father has given one to me,
- So that you may take food and drink at my table in my kingdom, and be seated [on thrones], judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Luke 22: 24-30 Bible in Basic English)
- So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?
- Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.
- If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.
- For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
- Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
- If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. (John 13:12-17)
Our Huge Debt
The Passover is all about the forgiveness of sin – both physical and spiritual – and the tremendous price exacted on the living Word of God to settle our debt. (see Isaiah 53) An aspect of the footwashing that we would do well to take careful note of, is its position at the start of the entire Passover service through which we seek forgiveness – knowing that to be forgiven we ourselves must forgive others – from the heart. This we find graphically illustrated in the parable of the two debtors:
- Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often is my brother to sin against me and be forgiven? Up to seven times?"
- Jesus said to him, "Seven times? I say, seventy times seven!
- That is why the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who resolved to settle accounts with his servants.
- When he began the settlement, a debtor was brought in who owed him three million pounds;
- as he was unable to pay, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all he had, in payment of the sum.
- So the servant fell down and prayed him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you it all'.
- And out of pity for that servant his master released him and discharged his debt.
- But as that servant went away, he met one of his fellow-servants who owed him twenty pounds, and seizing him by the throat he said, 'Pay your debt'!
- So his fellow-servant fell down and implored him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you.
- But he refused; he went and had him thrown into prison, till he should pay the debt.
- Now when his fellow-servants saw what had happened they were greatly distressed, and they went and explained to their master all that had happened.
- Then his master summoned him and said, 'You scoundrel of a servant! I discharged all that debt for you, because you implored me.
- Ought you not to have had mercy on your fellow-servant, as I had on you'?
- And in hot anger his master handed him over to the torturers, till he should pay him all the debt.
- My heavenly Father will do the same to you unless you each forgive your brother from the heart." (Matthew 18:21-35 Moffatt)
Although it is not possible if keeping the Passover alone, being able to get on our knees before one of our brethren and willingly wash their feet certainly calls to mind Christ's attitude when He instituted the footwashing ... and who was there at the time! Forgiveness 'from the heart' requires an OUTgoing Christ-like frame of mind – and the footwashing ceremony vividly reminds us of the importance of the mindset that is vital if we are to take Passover in a worthy way.
As king David was well aware, even though he had effectively murdered an innocent young man and committed adultery with the man's wife, he cries out in Psalm 51: "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest." (Psalm 51:4) He comprehended that all sin – whether ours or another individuals, is actually against God, who determines right from wrong, and not us. Therefore we have no reason to withhold forgiveness from another.
Throughout Life
One thing we all must keep in mind is that footwashing is merely a symbol of something far more profound – and far more difficult to do! Partaking of the bread and wine during the Passover service symbolises our acceptance of the broken body and shed blood of Jesus Christ for our sins – but that acceptance is in no way confined to Passover. Receiving forgiveness through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is something that we all need to have applied on a continual basis throughout our life ... whether in regard to miraculous healing or forgiveness of breaking God's spiritual law. So it is with footwashing. Depicting our willingness to do whatever it takes to serve our fellow brethren should not end with the physical act of washing feet on that night. For if it does, it's been a waste of time. It too is something that must be applied on a continual basis throughout our life in the way we treat and relate to one another ... loving our neighbour as ourself.
And in the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10, Christ explains that our neighbour can be anyone in the world, even someone we might naturally want to avoid! So the command to love our neighbour as ourself therefore is quite comprehensive; co-workers, church brethren who 'rub us up the wrong way' – most likely because of difference in personality – and not forgetting who are our closest neighbours – our spouse and family members.
Judas Present
The apostle John makes it very clear indeed that Judas Iscariot was not only present and had his feet washed, but Christ did so KNOWING that Judas was by then fully set to betray him:
- ...the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him;...
- ...He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.
- For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean...
- ...I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me. (John 13:2,10-11,18)
This willingness to serve and humbly assist even our enemies was a command that Christ had built into the very Law of God given to Israel. Loving our enemies and being willing to serve them with outgoing concern reflects the very lifestyle of the Godhead. And it's a mindset that God seeks within every one of His children:
- If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.
- If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him. (Exodus 23:4-5)
- Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD. (Leviticus 19:18)
Some years ago I read a description of how an individual came to realise the futility of bearing a grudge against someone who has harmed you or your family:
"I choose to forgive. I can leave myself to rot in the past, spend my time hating people for what happened ... or I can forgive and forget. It is so much less exhausting! You only have to forgive once. To resent, you have to do it all day, every day. You have to keep remembering all the bad things. I would have to make a long list and make sure I hated the people on it the right amount..." (The Light Between Oceans – M L Steadman. Page 342)
It is certainly going against the natural grain of human nature to pray for our enemies, as Christ instructs us in Matthew 5: 43-48, but Mr Armstrong came to see why in his later years:
“Come out from among them” and have God’s love in your heart and God’s Spirit in your mind, to open your mind to understand the knowledge of God, and the things of God; and have the love of God, so that we can even love our enemies and pray for our enemies. Do you do that, brethren? I confess I didn’t for years. I didn’t quite see that. But in recent months and years I’ve come to see that as never before, and I pray first for my enemies.
As I have said many times, I pray for them first before I pray for you people because they need it worse than you do, and you don’t need it. And I love those enemies. They want to kill me. They hate me. They do everything against me they can. And really the only reason they hate me is because I love the Way of God and they don’t. They don’t realize that. They would never say they don’t love the Way of God. They just say it’s me that they don’t like.
Well, I suppose those who killed Christ, they didn’t realize the only reason they killed Him was because of what He said. They didn’t like what He said. They didn’t kill Him because He had halitosis and bad breath. They didn’t kill because they didn’t like His looks. They killed Him because they didn’t like what He was teaching – the Way of love. And they wanted the way of self, and of vanity, and of self-glory. That’s the reason they killed Jesus. (Sermon - The Trunk Of The Tree - Oct 1983)
God of Vengeance
But don't we read that God is a God of vengeance? Most certainly – but that is the point. Vengeance belongs to God – not to us – for only He knows the heart and has the full perspective needed to justly balance up the score. And part of the footwashing mindset – that is even willing to wash the feet of an enemy like Judas Iscariot – inevitably must include the faith necessary in our loving God to take care of such things in a righteous, godly way:
- To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste...
- If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me...
- Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people. (Deuteronomy 32:35,41,43)
- O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself. (Psalm 94:1)
- To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; (Isaiah 61:2)
- Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. (Romans 12:19)
- For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. (Hebrews 10:30)
- He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. (Revelation 13:10)
That vengeance belongs to God and we must therefore leave any recompense required to Him, includes not even trying to get our own back verbally – either to their face or behind their back:
- Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips.
- Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me: I will render to the man according to his work. (Proverbs 24:28-29)
- But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
- Bless [eulogise/good word] them that curse you, and pray for them which [verbally abuse] you. (Luke 6:27-28)
Passover – The Start
Clearly there is a great deal more to why Christ and the Father have us wash feet as the very first thing, not only of Passover, but of the entire Holy Day season each year. The astounding Plan of God – bound up within the Holy Days – is a step-by-step enactment of the destruction of Satan's greedy, incoming, self-centred mindset as well as its replacement within the Spirit-born sons and coming Kingdom of God. Here in Psalm 103 we read the mindset of a God-being, and one WE need to emulate, remembering that currently we are merely dust – potsherds – as is the rest of humanity, whether friends, foes or family:
- He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
- For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
- As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
- Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.
- For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. (Psalm 103:10-14)
Passover is placed at the start of this process as sins of all kinds must be dealt with first – before the Plan can even begin. But before everything there must be a WILLINGNESS in all of us to put aside the vanity-filled mindset of Satan, and instead humbly serve one another in a forgiving, outgoing manner – even including our enemies. And THAT is the very purpose of footwashing, and why Christ instituted it to begin the entire Holy Day season.
It came out of a clear blue sky, and it changed the world…
COVID-19
“Just five years ago, our leaders doomed us to a spiral of decline by failing to stand up to lockdown fanatics
What were we thinking?
Five years ago, we were sliding towards the most expensive mistake ever made by a British government, a mistake that led to our financial ruin, the annihilation of our basic freedoms and the obliteration of public trust.
Never before had our civil liberties been so blatantly disregarded. We were subjected to house arrest on the basis of unsupported conjecture, our property rights were violated, our freedom of expression repressed, even our ability to leave the country denied.
Where were all the human rights lawyers when they were needed? Where were the Doughty Street types, so vocal in their defence of illegal migrants, convicts, and terrorists? The one time that there truly was a national human rights violation, they were cheering it on.
Meanwhile, the British state told lie after lie after lie. Just three weeks! Facemasks are dangerous! One more month! Facemasks are essential! Squash the sombrero! Young people are at risk! Just two more weeks! Wait for the vaccine! Wait for the second vaccine! Your jab protects others! It’s the third shot that really works! Dangerous new variant! One last lockdown! Just three more weeks!
As we approach the fifth anniversary, we don’t like to admit that we destroyed our economy, took away part of our kids’ childhoods, permanently aggrandised the state and indebted ourselves for a generation – ALL FOR NOTHING.
The careful protocols of our own scientific advisers, as well as of the World Health Organisation (WHO), counted for nothing when set against hysterical newspaper headlines, panicky opinion polls and feverish rants by Piers Morgan.
Five years ago this Tuesday, Jenny Harries, then the deputy chief medical officer, gave an illuminating, though now neglected, interview. It was not neglected at the time. On the contrary, it took place in Number 10, and the interviewer was the prime minister himself, Boris Johnson.
Dr Harries – who has since become Dame Jenny and been put in charge of the UK Health Security Agency – was impressively level-headed. She explained that, ‘for most people, it really is going to be quite a mild disease’.
Facemasks
She advised against wearing facemasks unless told otherwise by your doctor. She explained why Britain, unlike many countries in Europe, was not banning large meetings or sporting events. There was, she reminded us, a plan in place, and it provided for the gradual spread of the disease through the population in a way that would not overwhelm hospitals. Try to suppress the spread too vigorously, she said, and there would be a peak later on (which, indeed, is exactly what happened).
Lockdowns
Dr Harries was absolutely right, but she was only repeating the global consensus. A little earlier, the WHO had looked at lockdowns and concluded that they were ‘not demonstrably effective in urban areas’. Its researchers had carried out a study of 120 US military camps during the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, and found ‘no statistical difference’ between the 99 camps that had confined men to quarters and the 21 that had not.
The Real Problem
Dr Harries knew all this. And so did Boris, who spoke what was, in retrospect, the most telling line of the entire interview: ‘Politicians and governments around the world are under a lot of pressure to be seen to act, so they may do things that are not necessarily dictated by the science,’ he said.
Five days later, Boris took to the airwaves to tell people ‘to stop non-essential contact and travel’. A week after that, we were in lockdown.
Why The Sudden Change??
Well, on March 16, Neil Ferguson and the team at Imperial College published an apocalyptic report based on modelling that estimated that if no measures were put in place deaths over the following two years could reach more than half a million.” (telegraph.co.uk)
The Pandemic Predictor
“Neil Ferguson, through his institute at London’s Imperial College, can call the shots on a major percentage of the global population. He’s Mr Genius, when it comes to projecting computer models of epidemics. Fellow experts puff up his reputation. According to the Business Insider (4/25/2020), ‘Ferguson’s team warned Boris Johnson that the quest for “herd immunity” [letting people live their lives out in the open in the UK] could cost 510,000 lives, prompting an abrupt U-turn [massive national lockdown in the UK]… His simulations have been influential in other countries as well, cited by authorities in the US, Germany, and France.” Not only cited, not only influential, but swallowed whole.
Business insider continues: ‘On March 23, the UK scrapped “herd immunity” in favor of a suppression strategy, and the country made preparations for weeks of lockdown. Ferguson’s study was responsible.’ There’s more. A lot more. Same BI article: ‘Dr Deborah Birx, coronavirus response coordinator to the Trump administration, told journalists at a March 16 press briefing that the Imperial paper [Ferguson’s computer projection] prompted the CDC’s new advice to work from home and avoid gatherings of 10 or more.’ Ferguson, instigator of LOCKDOWN. Stripping away of basic liberties. Economic devastation.
Business Insider: ‘Michael Thrusfield, a professor of veterinary epidemiology at Edinburgh University, told the paper he had “déjà vu” after reading the [Ferguson] Imperial paper [on COVID], saying Ferguson was responsible for excessive animal culling during the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak. Ferguson warned the government that 150,000 people could die. Six million animals were slaughtered as a precaution, costing the country billions in farming revenue. In the end, 200 people died.’
‘Similarly, he [Ferguson] was accused of creating panic by overestimating the potential death toll during the 2005 Bird Flu outbreak. Ferguson estimated 200 million could die. The real number was in the low hundreds.’ HELLO? ‘In 2009, one of Ferguson’s models predicted 65,000 people could die from the Swine Flu outbreak in the UK — the final figure was below 500.’
So you have to ask yourself, why would anyone believe what Ferguson has been predicting in this COVID hustle?” (nomorefakenews.com)
Why Was Ferguson Taken Seriously?
“The grisly truth is that we wanted to believe Ferguson. Although we sometimes now imagine that Boris wrenched our freedoms from our unwilling hands, it was the other way around.
We have forgotten the ‘Go Home Covidiots’ banners… the terrified phone-ins… the YouGov poll showing that 93 per cent of voters wanted a lockdown.
NOT FOR THE FIRST TIME, PEOPLE WERE DEMANDING, AGAINST ALL REASON, THAT THEIR POLITICIANS DO SOMETHING – ANYTHING.
The tax hikes, the devaluation of our savings, the uncontrollable national debt – these things were inescapable consequences of paying people to stay home for the better part of two years. The rise in conspiracy theories, the belief that the world is run by Davos illuminati who aim to phase out cash, inject us with microchips and conscript us into the Ukrainian army: that came directly from the lies that we were told in 2020, above all the nonsense about vaccinating young people to prevent transmission.
For years to come, Britain will be poor, indebted and repressive because, in early March 2020, no one wanted to stand in the way of a stampede. We did this to ourselves.” (dailymail.co.uk)
Never Forget What The Lockdowners Did To Us
“‘We’re approaching 1 million US deaths from COVID-19, but the numbers can’t capture how these deaths occur: ALONE. Patients take their last breaths amid the alarms of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), without their families,’ wrote Helen T D’Couto, who in 2022 was an attending physician in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Georgetown University Hospital when she wrote a powerful column detailing her heart-breaking experiences during Covid and its accompanying irrational — and unscientific — lockdowns.
‘This near-universal policy of forced isolation in the ICU is not conclusively supported by data and is clearly traumatic to patients, their families, and clinicians like me caring for the dying in the ICU,’ D’Couto stressed in the column, headlined, ‘Forcing my Covid patients to die alone is inhumane — and unnecessary.’ The piece was published on March 7, 2022, about two years after a Rockford, Illinois, hospital locked out my uncle from seeing his dying wife.
It’s hard to believe we’re now five years from the beginning of all of that madness. Of all the terrible things the ‘experts,’ the groupthink scientists, the power-drunk unelected bureaucrats, and the evil politicians did to us in that unconscionable lockdown of our liberties, forcing people to die alone was the most inhumane.
Five years after the madness began, American can never forget what insane lockdowns — and the people behind them — did to our republic and to its citizens.
Remember, too, that many of the same politicians who are now moaning and protesting about federal bureaucrats losing their jobs pushed for and cheered on the lockdowns that drove millions of private-sector workers from theirs. How many of those same politicians stood up for the federal employees who faced losing their positions through the stroke of President Joe Biden’s pen for refusing to get an ineffective and potentially dangerous Covid vaccine?
The same people who are shedding tears over violent illegal immigrants being rounded up and jailed or deported are ones who created tip lines to rat out Americans who violated lockdown orders. The same people who are lying to you about Trump and Republicans cutting Social Security benefits to actual beneficiaries remained silent when nursing home patients were forced die alone in the name of Covid fear, politics, and ‘following the science.’ What a cruel and unnecessary way to die. What an awful time in America.” (thefederalist.com)
Get Vaccinated - Or Else!
“Dr Ajaz to have declared that the COVID jab mandates ‘were ethically and scientifically unsound…’” (stationgossip.com)
“AstraZeneca pulls Covid vaccine after admitting potentially deadly rare side effect.” (express.co.uk)
“The World Health Organization (WHO) has labeled unvaccinated people a ‘major killing force globally’ in a new campaign being promoted on social media.” (thinkcivics.com)
“The UK government now oddly admits that vaccines have damaged the natural immune systems of those who have been double-vaccinated. It goes on to say that this drop in antibodies is essentially permanent.” (brutalproof.net )
“FDA finally admits Pfizer Covid vaccine causes blood clots… Pfizer’s President of International Developed Markets, Janine Small, admitted that the vaccine had never been tested on its ability to prevent transmission, contrary to what was previously advertised.” (thegatewaypundit.com)
Politics vs Science
“The global lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic ruined the lives of millions of people, especially the most vulnerable. Now the globalists responsible admit they issued their decrees solely on the basis of politics. The World Health Summit held a three-day conference in October with the World Heath Organization (WHO). Approximately 300 speakers and 3,000 participants attended to discuss the world’s COVID-19 response and how to approach future pandemics. Reporter Alexandra Lavoie spoke with Razak Gyesi Issahaku, a member of the German-West Africa Center for Pandemic Prevention (G-WAC) and pressed him on the globalist elite’s decisions related to the pandemic.
Here are some of his answers:
‘In the heat of the pandemic, most of the decisions were not based on science like I said. They were just reactionary. Anything that would help,’ said Issahaku. ‘Now, with the benefit of hindsight, we can tell that some of those decisions is not backed by science.’
Issahaku then admitted the vaccines do not stop COVID from spreading. Last year, Pfizer claimed their vaccine reduced the spread of the virus by 90%. ‘The vaccines do not stop the spread of the disease. But now we know,’ he said. ‘At first, nobody knew so it was political, yes, but we think it helped in flattening the curve as well. A lot of the decisions were not backed by science,’ said Issahaku.
Scientists across the political spectrum sounded the alarm on the harm of lockdowns from the beginning of the pandemic. Media and political elites, however, derided them as conspiracy theorists and reckless. The few politicians who actually followed the science, like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, saved their economies from ruin and countless lives in the process. Amazing what happens when governments prioritize protecting the vulnerable and allow healthy adults to make a living.” (thegatewaypundit.com)
“Next Time Perhaps We Shouldn’t Shout Down The Pandemic Pariahs”
“I no longer believe that, overall, lockdown saved a single life, and it may indeed have caused the deaths of many, not least the section of the population most vulnerable to Covid, the very elderly and the chronically ill — isolated in their care homes, unvisited and often untended. The cost to the country has been staggering — £400 billion and counting. Not to mention the medical problems which arose from the extended seclusion, the undetected cancers and heart disease, and the damage to the education of millions of children.
What we also sacrificed during Covid was an appetite for the truth. Those who challenged the official edicts were censored, harried and pilloried, caveated by the BBC if they were allowed on air at all, signposted as disseminators of that quixotic thing ‘fake news’ if they were on social media. And this happened long after their points of contention were proven to contain a certain truth, whether it be about masks, social distancing, lockdowns or indeed — and here I worry that we may have a scandal brewing for the future — the dangers of vaccines.
There will be another, similar scare one day not too far distant.
My only request is that we keep our critical faculties about us and do not treat as pariahs, to be disparaged, those who beg to differ from the approved paradigm. We should remember that the greater the consensus, the more doubting we should be.” (thetimes.com)
We Need To Keep In Mind Where We Are In The Panorama Of Prophecy
We are told in Matthew 24:7 that there will be pestilences at the end of the age…
2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak.
2005 Bird Flu outbreak.
2009 Swine Flu outbreak
2020 Covid-19
Interesting that the computer models for all these disasters came basically from one man. Proven facts were ignored, “people demanded that their politicians did something – anything”. With Covid-19, the YouGov poll showed that 93 per cent of voters WANTED a lockdown.
So instead of following the true science, hysterical newspaper headlines, panicky opinion polls took over. The face masks, the lockdowns, the vaccines … ALL FOR NOTHING.
“WE DID IT TO OURSELVES”!
These Events Should Be A Warning Of Things To Come
The world is being prepared for the coming Great Tribulation - a time of trouble that is going to be so intense that unless Jesus Christ intervenes, mankind would be exterminated! (Matthew 24:22)
We are now in the time just before a “United States of Europe” restores the “Holy Roman Empire,” under the Papacy, in a union of Church and State. This could happen SUDDENLY, leaving the whole world aghast in WONDER.
Matthew 24 In Action
Right now the world totters on the brink of WWIII - with the crisis in Ukraine.
Iran is still striving to make nuclear weapons and supporting terrorist groups.
China is rearming as fast as it can - to become a world power.
Taiwan is under constant threat from China.
Israel is living through an ongoing hostage crisis - and continuing war.
Europe is rearming to counter the threat from Russia.
Terrorists are becoming even more daring. Reports are coming in that the Houthis launched an attack comprising of 18 ballistic and cruise missiles, along with drones, targeting the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier and its accompanying warships in the northern Red Sea on Sunday.
America is living through an upheaval, due to all the changes being made by the new administration while Britain goes deeper into debt than ever before.
Now: End Time Action In The Religious World
The King Of Modern Day Ephraim Wants To See “Mother And Daughter” Reunited!
“King Charles is going to meet the Pope to heal the rift between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church.” (telegraph.co.uk)
“Catholic bishops have been reminded that ecumenical work is not an option but an obligatory part of episcopal ministry.” (anglicancentreinrome.org)
The Catholic Church In Prophecy
Mr Armstrong explains:
“Where, then, did human church government derive its present form? ‘The first pope, in the real sense of the word, was Leo I (440-461 AD),’ says the Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, volume 7, page 629. To him the form of government of the Roman Empire was the most marvellous thing on earth. He applied its principles to the church, organized the church into a government, forming the papacy.
This church government or organization is the IMAGE OF THE BEAST.
Says Myers’ Ancient History: ‘During the reign of Leo I, the Church set up, within the Roman Empire, an ecclesiastical state [government] which, in its constitution and its administrative system, was shaping itself upon the imperial model.’ This church government, then, according to this historical authority, is in fact a model, a counterpart, an image of the beast which is the Roman Empire government.
This image – man-designed and man-ruled church government – compelled people to worship the church! And since the church was organized into a worldly government, this was worship of the image – false worship – idolatry!
But this church became a mother, and daughter churches came out of her in ‘protest,’ calling themselves ‘Protestant.’ And all have worldly, political church government. ‘Upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS’ (Rev. 17:5). Her daughters are called ‘harlots.’ Together, they are called ‘BABYLON.’ They are pagan, teaching pagan doctrines and customs, cloaked in the name of Christianity! And all nations are deceived!” (Who or What Is the PROPHETIC BEAST? - Part 1)
As Mr Armstrong warned:
“The WHOLE WORLD is now ON FIRE! This is not the GREAT TRIBULATION, but is certainly preliminary to it.
It’s time for intensive FASTING AND PRAYER!”
Latest Audio - 2025-03-22
“Just what is an APOSTLE?”
Today we find the Church of God in a “wilderness of religious confusion!”
The confusion is not merely around the Church – within the religions of the world outside – but WITHIN the very heart of The True Church itself!
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