In the Spotlight
By Richard Allen – February 7, 2022
I don’t have many song memories of the early 1970’s, but one that I do have is from my wife-to-be’s 17 yr. old younger sister. A product of the rebellious 1960’s like all of us, she was young, attractive and wore a fringe-leather-jacket as a social statement! Our “Vietnam Conflict” generation had a problem with authority, and the whole get-back-to-nature and use organic substances to live a mellow life, was in vogue. I well remember her singing and loving the song, “Signs” by the 5-Man Electric Band! The chorus went something like this:
“Sign, sign, everywhere a sign, blockin’ out the scenery, breakin’ my mind. Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?”
To my future sister-in-law, this song was the epitome of standing up to the man and making a statement about the rules & standards we thought were being shoved down our throats that she was so anxious to dismantle. Now looking back, this same family member is one of the most compliant, obedient, and subservient persons I know, especially regarding the government’s overreach on the “Wuhan Dempanic!” She’d say that she’s just following the science, but what she really means is that she obediently follows whatever the talking media heads are currently pontificating on Covid. She’s clearly a part of that group of Democrats that Rasmussen polled a few weeks ago, showing that SHE IN FACT LOVES SIGNS, AND SUPPORTS THE STATE TELLING US ‘DO THIS, DON’T DO THAT’ WITH THEIR SIGNS, at every turn! So, how in the world did this happen?
Well, the simple answer is that we become our parents as we grow older. It’s ironic that the very thing we say that we never want to be, is often the very thing we become! Any of us who have become parents know this to be true. One day we are rebels without a clue, and the next day we hear ourselves saying the very things our parents said to us. It’s startling that we go from anti-authoritarian free spirits to authoritarian statists overnight. Just a little bit of responsibility and maturity does wonders! In other words, real life changes us.
Rasmussen recently reported, the Counter Cultural Liberal Democrat Party of the 1960’s – who shouted: Turn on, tune in, drop out, are now the ones wanting to Comply, Conform and Control everyone around them!
“While 78% of Democratic voters support the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate plan, only 22% of Republicans and 41% of voters not affiliated with either major party support the vaccine mandate. And many Democrats would support even harsher measures, including fines for Americans who won’t get the COVID-19 vaccine and criminal punishment for vaccine critics.”
While this may seem harsh, the Rasmussen-Heartland poll also revealed:
“Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Democratic voters would favor a government policy requiring that citizens remain confined to their homes at all times, except for emergencies, if they refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Such a proposal is opposed by 61% of all likely voters, including 79% of Republicans and 71% of unaffiliated voters.”
And. . .
“Nearly half (48%) of Democratic voters think federal and state governments should be able to fine or imprison individuals who publicly question the efficacy of the existing COVID-19 vaccines on social media, television, radio, or in online or digital publications. Only 27% of all voters – including just 14% of Republicans and 18% of unaffiliated voters – favor criminal punishment of vaccine critics.”
This is nothing short of astounding! To go from anti-authoritarian “Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign” of the 70’s, to those who now favor fines & imprisonment for anyone who might even criticize the multi-trillion-dollar Covid vaccine industry in just 50 years, should startle us all! How could the same people who reveled in challenging authority, completely capitulate to the whims of the big-brother and the pharmaceutical medical industry machine? Scripture must have something to say about such a reversal of attitudes, and it in fact does:
“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed, and you decorate the monuments of the godly people your ancestors destroyed. Then you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would never have joined them in killing the prophets.’ “But in saying that, you testify against yourselves that you are indeed the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.” (Matt 23:29-31)
Just like Jesus told the religious leaders of His day, you’re Hypocrites! You act one way, but do something entirely different. And the reason for this hypocrisy is the LACK OF ANY REAL CORE VALUES OR BELIEFS! The Pharisees and other Religious Hypocrites of Jesus’ day were just like the Political Hypocrites of our day: They don’t actually have any real values save one: “What is good for me and my party at this very moment?” It’s situational ethics at its best. No principle-centered values based on the unchangeable nature of God and His truth, we just make it up as we go and hope to come out on top – whatever the situation! This is why the Left can lie with such impunity, change courses and positions on a dime, and speak from both sides of their mouths! They have no real moral, principled beliefs that drive their actions. They just make it up as they go!
The Religious Hypocrites that Jesus took to task were currently pretending that they were all for the Prophets, now that it was fashionable and safe to be seen as supporting these men of old who spoke for Jehovah God. But back then, their fathers didn’t like the message of the Prophets. In that day the Prophets were speaking out against their forefathers and the hypocrisy they were living, it wasn’t expedient to back the Prophets – it was costly! So, to help themselves, they wanted to kill the Prophets and stifle their voices! My young in-law was much the same. It cost nothing for any of us to rebel back in the day and trending to be seen as one who wanted to stick it to the man, and show them we’re not going to obey your silly signs! But today, when she’s told by the powers that threaten all of our freedoms and livelihoods, that if she doesn’t obey, she’ll lose everything! Today it’s much easier to Comply, Conform and be Controlled! Do you see the pattern here?
Serving self-interest was always at the core of the beliefs for those on the Left, and sadly all of ours as well! What used to be “live and let live,” has been replaced by “obey or else!” This is the way of the world, and until grace changes our hearts giving us new affections and interests, the “self” will rule over every facet of life. There is no place where we are more dismayed that the so-called Civil Libertarians’ total acquiescence to than their “ANTI-FIRST-AMENDMENT CENSORSHIP!” People who used to pride themselves in saying:
“I may not agree with what you are saying, but I’ll fight until the last breath for your right to say it!”
Those days are long gone. The once champions of “free-speech” are now leading the charge with the BIG-TECH-MONOPOLIES to restrict, censor, and label as false any speech that doesn’t agree with their one-world-global-governance agenda. To use Jesus’ language, it’s easy to imagine that 50 years from now the children of these Lefty-Progressives – embarrassed by the exposes that will come out on the fraud and totalitarianism perpetrated on this current age, all saying:
“If we had lived in the days of the Big-Tech-Monopolies’ Censoring Free Speech, we would have spoken up for the rights of the common people to protest and ask for a redress of grievances against the punitive measures imposed by an Iron-Handed Government, sold out to Global Pharma Companies and Tech-Oligarchs!
It’s even harder to fathom the same people who have ranted about a woman’s body, a woman’s choice — now saying that the government has an unlimited right to inject a person with an experimental jab that didn’t go through normal trials, and whose results are negligible. Even the Pharma companies are smart enough that they wouldn’t move forward without a government guarantee THAT NO-ONE CAN SUE US FOR DAMAGES!
Yes, it’s always easier to speak up when it’s safe, because there is no cost involved. John Bunyan in his classic, “Pilgrims Progress” recorded a dialogue between Christian & his companion Hopeful, and a man from the town of Fair Words, a man named Mr. By Ends, an unprincipled man who didn’t like taking undue risks with his beliefs either. Mr. By Ends, a fair-weather-Christian lays out his risk-free values as opposed to those of Christian & Hopeful – whose beliefs he thought to be too rigid, incurring too much risk or potential loss:
“First, we never strive against wind and tide. Secondly, we are always most zealous when religion goes in his silver slippers; we love much to walk with him in the street, if the sun shines and the people applaud him. . . .
In contrast to Mr. By Ends, Jesus talks continually about the cost of discipleship, entering the straight and narrow gate, and purposely taking the difficult road. In Luke chapter 6 we hear Jesus saying:
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.” (Luke 6:20-26)
Yes, it’s easy to follow the trendy-popular crowd when they complain about authoritarian rule, but it’s another thing to stand up and be counted when the going is tough, and the cause is unpopular, but True! And sad to say, we live in a generation when the only thing that people really believe in and hold in high esteem, is themselves, along with their comfort, popularity and ease!
Let’s pray for God to raise up a generation of men and women with real faith, who don’t talk about “how they would have taken a stand against the Signs of Authoritarianism if given the chance,” but who will, like their Lord Jesus – actually stand up for the Truth – even when there isn’t a trendy song to encourage other shallow, self-centered people to celebrate their actions!
This article was first published in:
https://rallen879.wixsite.com/website-1
