"Scooching" and The Church

This past week, all the face diaper mandates were finally dropped in Indiana.  One may view that as an attempt on the part of our government officials to “follow the science” when it shows that there is a plummet in Covid cases as the virus loses steam.  But it is more likely that some politicians, whose policies rely on the wind direction, are expecting Hurricane Voter in the very near future, which may blow them right out of their seats if the mandates stay.

Either way, it’s a welcome change, and we literally saw some of the old faces back in church again this week, presumably because after nearly two years, they considered it safe now to do so.  Thank you, Jesus!

If you have ever sat in a church pew, the old wooden kind without the cushions, you may have experienced what it was like when you sat at the end of the pew so you could see the pastor better (if you were short like me), but then someone needed a place to sit and noticed all the empty space in the middle of your pew.  You have some choices:

1. Make them walk in front of you in that tight squeeze between your knees and the back of the pew in front of you, or even get up and move out to the aisle so they can get in.

2. Get up and walk to the middle of the pew yourself so they can have the place at the end.

3. “Scooch” over, sliding towards the middle without rising.

Number 3 causes less stir and seamlessly allows for the filling up of the pews as more congregants arrive.  I know -- you won’t have the place at the end of the pew, and you might even get stuck behind someone tall so you can’t see the pastor, but it saves the embarrassment of the whole roomful of people staring at you. 

So what happened with Covid?  What happened to your church?  I know that in California, many people have been unable to go to any church for two years.  I have relatives in a couple states that have told me that, whether by decree or by fear of catching Covid, that was the case with them.  There are some churches that have been fined over 2 million dollars for holding in-person services.

But our church was one who kept meeting and didn’t get fined.  There were a few weeks when we only livestreamed and encouraged people to stay home (but not everybody did), and then our governor told us we were essential (Yay!) and started a series of steps to re-open the state.  Phase 1, then Phase 2, then Phase 3, and then Phase 3-point-5, 3-point-6, and lots more just-stay-here-at-this-phase-and-never-open … until everybody just forgot about it.

But we finally just had to say, looky here.  The Bible says:

“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” 

~Hebrews 10:24-25

Well, I don’t know about you, but we could clearly see the Day approaching.  The curtain is already rising on the last act of this present age.  So we stayed open.

But even so, there were disruptions, disabilities, and even deaths in the last year-and-a-half.  Some people quit going to church because they fully believed churches were super-spreaders (more than Walmart, I guess).  Some got used to the TV approach.  One of our elders died from a heart attack shortly after “getting over” Covid, and a longtime Sunday School teacher has been out now for months because he and his wife were battling Covid pneumonia.  The husband of one our board members was injured by the vaccine but still caught Covid and nearly died.  

If you come back to church after a long absence, sometimes you’ll find the scenery has changed.  It may feel like you’re starting all over again.  Your kids have grown some and you’ve forgotten the names of the others in the pew.  Things just aren’t the same -- there are new faces and some people are missing.

But now, Covid is over, or at least it’s in remission!  There are still people who aren’t quite over it, but nobody new is getting it.  I glanced around in the Sunday School and found out there was a real need to get back to a semblance of normalcy.  No, we don’t need a “new normal.”  We need the normal where the Church gathers together regularly, without fear, to meet with Jesus and serve one another.  There are very many needy people in any church, and if you always figure the pastor will meet all the needs -- I mean isn’t that what we pay him for? -- you will be wrong.  He can’t do that.  And the Sunday School is a mission field ripe to harvest.

I know the feeling -- nobody wants to feel like they are “stuck in the Sunday School” while others get to enjoy the pastor’s sermon.  But now is the time for the Body of Christ to “scooch.”

Here is another example of scooching.  I mentioned it in my post about pro-life issues.  Operation Rescue was famous for scooching.  When we participated in a Rescue, we blocked the entrance of the abortion mill so that the mother would be unable to get to the abortionist who would kill her child.  If police showed up -- and they always did -- they might ask us to leave and we would not.  They would have to carry us away, one at a time.  They would always start with the rescuer right in front of the door.  It was up to the rest of us to scooch, to make sure that spot was never empty for more than a split second.  We were there to defend the helpless, to rescue the perishing, to put our bodies in-between the killer and his prey.

Now think of the youth group leader / elder who died from the heart attack.  I mentioned him in a post late last year.  Someone needs to fill in for him!  The rest of the Church needs to scooch in, to form a line of defense for the Youth.  Think of the Sunday School teacher whose wife has been so ill.  We need to fill in there as well.  Not only one, but many of us.  We need to come together to love on those little people who are growing in wisdom and stature.

A line of defense.  And who will we be defending against, as we scooch?

There are others who understand that the way to kill America is by winning over our children.  That’s why there have been attacks on our public school kids for decades -- shooters, drug pushers, and communist-sympathizer teachers.  Behind it all is the devil and his hordes.  During Covid, when kids had to resort to Zoom classes, the moms finally got to hear what had been dropped into their children’s heads while they were hidden away in the classrooms.  And now, they are desperate to do battle with the enemy forces who want our kids.  

I saw a Zoom-type performance on YouTube of a Gay Men’s Choir from San Francisco, where they sang a terrible song about how they were coming for our children.  It was ugly enough that the backlash caused them to take it off, but did you see the recent statistic that 20% of GenZ adults identify as LGBTQ in 2022?  Unbelievable?

The Sunday School has perhaps one hour a week.  How many hours a week do the public schools get?

CHURCH!  Do we understand the danger?  If the devil has removed a Sunday School teacher, we must replace him or her with 5 more.  Scooch!  Hold the line, and let’s make a lasting impression on as many impressionable young minds as we possibly can, while there is yet time to do so.

Today, as I write this, our nation is surrendering a second country to a ruthless enemy because our leadership is composed of sniveling cowards and the enemy knows it.  This is unconscionable.  But how much worse it would be to let the enemy of mankind snatch our own children, who were entrusted to our care, out of the hands of the Savior because we just weren’t paying attention or didn’t care.

Honestly, I started this with the intention of expressing that we need to fill in for whoever is missing, but the children are on my heart, so I’ve neglected other jobs like church decorating, women’s group leaders, or even sound booth guys -- we lost one of those, too!  My heart for the children goes far beyond the picture Nehemiah made for me, of a smiling Nehemiah next to Mrs. Margie.  It’s even more than connecting the dots for an older kid with an important question, who has Jehovah’s Witnesses for family members.

It is that the children are the future of the Church.  They are tomorrow’s adults.  They will remember their Sunday School teachers, especially if you are sincerely sharing what you know about the Living God and how much He loves them.

Our Sunday School kids are working on a song for Easter right now.  I taught them who “The Redeemed” are.  Being redeemed is, yes, like a Chuck E. Cheese prize, but hopefully much better than the tiny one you get for a normal amount of coupons.  Being The Redeemed means that we were chosen and bought by Jesus.  And that means that when we accept Jesus, He gets to take us home!

Do you love Jesus?  Do you really love Jesus?  Are you looking forward to seeing Him again, in person, and going home with him?

Tell that to a child!

Our Dear Heavenly Father, we pray for the Church, that the gates of hell will not prevail against her, but that as one must leave, to be taken home by You, others will quickly fill in the void.  But we especially pray for our vulnerable children.  Impress upon many believers to join Team Sunday School, to raise up the next generation to love You with their whole hearts, should You tarry.

In Jesus’ Name, we pray, Amen

I Had a Dream, and It Was About a Communist Takeover.

I had a dream a few days ago, and it was memorable.  Pastor Joe said there are three things you should do with dreams.  Here’s my paraphrase:

1. Determine if it’s just a common garden variety dream, as is the case with most of our visions in the night.

2. If not, determine if it’s a warning from God about something that will happen.  That could be a word of knowledge, or even a gift of prophecy.

3. Or, determine if it’s a situation God wants me to do something about.  If I am afraid in my dream, is this something I should pray against in Jesus’ Name?  

Now here’s my dream.  See what you think!

I dreamed that there was a full-on Communist takeover of the United States.  In my dream, the way it happened was that all 50 states voted to become Communist.

(Already, this doesn’t sound real -- I mean when have all 50 states ever agreed on anything, right?  But strange things have been happening lately.)

The next thing that happened was the abolishment of the Constitution altogether, including our old and “disdainful” Bill of Rights.

(And which of those original rights hasn’t been flagrantly violated lately anyway?  Who needs them, right?)

Very quickly, a new “Bill of Rights” was established.  Here are some of the important items on that list:

1. Everyone in the world has a Right to come and live in the U.S. whenever they want, to become a U.S. citizen, and to share the wealth.

2. Everyone who is a citizen has a Right to a place to live.

3. Every citizen has a Right to a free public education, from birth on up.

4. Every citizen has a Right to all the food they want, without cost to them.

5. Every citizen has a Right to share everything his neighbor owns.

As I continued to imagine this scenario, long even after the alarm awakened me, I added a few new ones to the list, because they would so easily fit in, and it would be the government’s “solution” to any potential trouble:

6. All citizens have a Right to be Safe.

7. Every citizen has the Right to Freedom from Religion and Freedom from Family.

8. Every citizen has the Right to Remain Silent.

In my dream, the new “Rights'' instantly resulted in chaos.  Vast numbers of people poured across all the borders without even being stopped for questioning.  I watched the flood as if it were a surreal newsreel. 

It was determined that our house had extra room, so four families were assigned living space there.  Soon our house was noisy, messy, and broken.  But then all the children were removed from their families and lived -- and were educated -- at the government schools.

There was nothing left at the stores because people cleaned off all the shelves without bothering to pay for anything.  When that was gone, the stores all closed.  Those who came from everywhere in the world to share the wealth had nothing left to share.  It soon was all gone.  There were riots.

But if the Right to Be Safe was also instituted at the same time, all weapons could easily be confiscated and burned.  Cameras could be installed everywhere so people could be monitored -- in case a crime might be committed, of course.  Then all potential rioting of hungry citizens could be put down quickly because no one would have any weapons except the police.  People would be dependent upon the government, and the government only, for their food and their all-around well-being.

Certainly there would be no competition from God … or from one’s family.

And we would have the “Right,” not to speak, but to be silent.

Now take a look at this peaceful, innocent pop song from the Baby Boomer generation, John Lennon’s “Imagine”:

Imagine there's no heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people

Living for today... Aha-ah...

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion, too

Imagine all the people

Living life in peace... You...

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people

Sharing all the world... You...

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will live as one

This is a song I have hated for a long time, and I’ve had to watch with frustration as school choirs sang this golden oldie in lovely, lilting harmonies during their concerts.  Can we see it yet?  This is another dream of a worldwide Communist takeover, but instead, it is intended to be euphoric.  

My dream was a nightmare, and dream or no dream, it is more realistic.

We must be teaching our children that Communism, that wicked concept my father and other forgotten veterans fought so hard against in Vietnam, is still the enemy.  It is not the way of peace and harmony on earth.

We must push back against the attack -- because it is an attack.  The brainwashing in the government schools has affected our own children and they have turned on us.  If we are divided, it was by design.

And do you notice -- can you perceive -- just how much John Lennon hates God in his song?  He mentions the abolition of Christianity twice in the lyrics, overbalancing the sweet world peace and unity stuff.

The real Enemy is Satan.  Behind this vile movement is the Enemy of our soul, who wants to turn us away from God, whatever it takes.

What to do, what to do … ?

If this is only a word of knowledge or prophecy, then it will happen whatever we do.  And yet, the prophets of old still warned and ended their warnings with “Repent!”

Joel says:

" Now, therefore," says the LORD, "Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning."

So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent, And leave a blessing behind Him --- A grain offering and a drink offering For the LORD your God?

~Joel 2:12-14

Whether it is a word of prophecy or an action item, our reaction should be pretty much the same.  Prayer.  Personal repentance.  Serious, deep, heart-rending personal repentance.  If Satan’s ultimate goal is the abolishment of Christianity and the destruction of the souls of many, the way to push back is to draw as close to Heaven’s gates as possible.

Concerning the United States of America -- who knows if, when we repent, God will relent?  Could He save us from the Communists?  Of course He could!  But we need to stop what we are doing and earnestly pray for that.  If you can do it, also add fasting, weeping, and mourning.

This is where I would usually <insert prayer here> to zip up this post neatly.  But then you might think, “Okay, I’ve read her short 15-second prayer and I’ve done my duty,” and then you could move on.  But seriously consider this.  A deep, heart-rending personal repentance prayer will likely take longer than that.  It will not be generic.  And it will take some self-examination first.  So, no generic prayers this time.  Our lives and our way of life are at stake.  Let’s take the matter seriously.

Pray against communism in America, in Jesus’ Name.  Speak out against it whenever you can, helping others to understand the danger.  Thank a Vietnam era vet for their service!  Make a difference in your own community.  

And return unto the Lord!

What To Do in the Face of Adversity

In 1972 (yes, nearly 50 years ago!), I attended a Spiritual Life Conference in Southern California, and took a workshop about “Drama in the Church.”  Those participating in the workshop collaborated with each other to write, learn, and perform some skits a la Charlie Brown, but with different names for the characters.  I got a role as “Suzy,” who was a knock-off of Lucy Van Pelt.  I had a line, in response to “Ricky Smith’s” confiding in me as “The Doctor,” that he’d been thinking lately, about how going through problems in life might make us better persons -- maybe God had actually planned it that way, that the problems might strengthen our faith.

My line:

“That’s ridiculous, Ricky Smith!  Nobody would react that way to adversity.”

Our dear Pastor Joe was back in the pulpit on Sunday!  After three months’ “vacation,” he was up and running, and he even stayed afterwards for the carry-in.  It was good to see him more resilient now, and he and Peggy both testified.

The title of his message was “What God Taught Me Through Covid-19.”   It seems that when your pastor and his wife are both in the hospital at the same time, the thing to do is text each other.  And what they texted was any and all of the encouragement from The Word of God they’d found.  There was a prayer team on duty, not simply to pray once or even twice a day for this valuable couple, but to “pray through” -- to labor in prayer until there was a release, an answer:  to touch the heart of God.

So what did Pastor Joe learn through Covid?  It was the deep conviction that God had shown mercy on him and his family, coupled with the absolute promise that we should not fret because of the enemy because he was going to be taken down soon.  (There was much more, but that’s a good start.  I gave you the link above -- go check it out!)

Let me tell you, Pastor Joe was all over the Scriptures Sunday morning, reading promises he had underlined as the “Rhema Word,” where God had used a passage in Psalms or Daniel or Luke to speak directly to him.  

God:  “This is a promise from Me to you, Joe!  Believe it!”

Well, when you are stuck in a hospital bed, too weak to even walk around, and you can’t feed the dogs or take out the trash, you have lots more time to read the Word.  And what you find there brings healing to your soul.  He specifically mentioned the television news … nope, no healing there, only anguish and evil.

So I compared Pastor Joe’s experience with Covid with my own and with that of my husband Eric.  While we did read the Word, we still did our best to work, and we never got so bad that we had to resort to any hospital. THAT was a blessing!  And right after we got Covid, everybody else got Covid, so we kept pretty busy.  

I watched Eric.  He had noticed a sudden hearing loss in just one ear before he got sick, and that caused him to lose his hearing aid because the weird hearing loss made everything sound distorted.  When he visited the audiologist, she was alarmed and sent him to an ENT doctor, who prescribed a heavy dose of steroids.  They did the trick, and it was handy that he was on the steroids when Covid symptoms started, but later we discovered that the hearing loss itself was actually a little known early symptom of Covid.

His reaction to the steroids while he had Covid?  It was a roller coaster of “I feel GREAT!  I should be able to get some work done today,” and “I think … I’ll take a nap … zzzzzzz.”

But during those times when he felt great but had too much Covid brain fog to formulate answers to our customers’ questions, Eric wrote three songs, and he sang those and others at the top of his lungs in the living room so that I could hear him at the back of the house in my office.  He sang anything that had a heavy beat and that he could yell at the devil.  “Ain’t No Devil Gonna Tread on Me” by We the Kingdom is a good example of a “kick the devil in the butt” song.

Granted, we were not without sin.  Covid grumpiness is a real thing.  But we knew who the real enemy was.

Me?  I typed.  

If you have seen the length of my three posts about when we had Covid, you know what I’m talking about.  They were not short.  I cut my first attempt at Part 2 into a two-part series when I was faced with something so long that nobody would read it -- and then I lengthened Part 3.

So the following, in essence, is “What I Learned Through Covid-19” -- not exactly in a nutshell, though:  

Like Pastor Joe, Eric was being comforted when the Spirit gave him songs.  He was anxious to share them with others whenever he could.

Like Pastor Joe, I felt relief when I could write down what I knew, and then share that with others.

See a pattern developing here?

Covid is not the only adversity ever.  In fact, it is not the only adversity people are going through right at this present moment, either.  Covid is a disruption, to be sure, but it’s nothing like the disruption that happens when your breadwinner passes away suddenly from a heart attack, or when you lose your job over company policy with which you cannot comply.  Getting Covid is not as bad as being left behind in Afghanistan during the takeover by the Taliban.  It’s not as bad as the adversity of being trapped in your house because the streets are too violent and you fear you’ll get shot.

So include any or all of the above, along with what could happen in the future, should the Lord tarry.  We do not know what rapids lie ahead on this river -- we only know the pace is picking up.

Here’s the nutshell:  During adversity, keep on doing whatever the Lord has called you to do, but do it even more frequently, more earnestly, more faithfully than ever before.

Are you a prayer warrior?  Then “pray through” whatever circumstances in which you find yourself and intercede for others.  Don’t stop!  Pray 25 hours a day -- pray without ceasing.

Have you a calling to a teaching or preaching ministry?  Be it for adults or little children, teach them of God’s faithfulness.  Learn from the Scriptures during adversity and then pass on what you’ve learned.  Don’t stop -- just teach harder, more often, and more earnestly than ever before.  Call upon the Spirit to instruct your understanding and make sense of it to encourage others during their hardships.

Are you called to write?  Then write it all down.  Research what you’re writing and make sure it’s right.  Send others the link so that those others can benefit from what you know, and then they in turn can pass on the knowledge again to others.  Have messaging conversations with others who are lonely, frightened, or anxious, or who need information, help, or who simply need a word of encouragement. 

Are you called to sing or to write songs?  Put to music what you are feeling and what you know that you know to be true about God.  Speak it, sing it, yell it!  Our Christmas program was a hit because we did not back off even when so many had been sick -- those who could come the Sunday before Christmas sang their little hearts out -- even children who had never practiced any of it but were excited about waving streamers in worship to the Lord.  Those who came on Christmas Eve fought the devil with the lungs God had healed just for the occasion.

And Eric and I sang songs to sick friends to do battle, to lift their spirits, to push back against the plotting of the enemy.

Is the Lord any different during adversity?  To the contrary:  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  He is the same God alive in us today as He was to the Prophet Elijah or King David.

And so here is what I learned during Covid:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

~2 Cor. 1:4-5

There’s something I never noticed before.  God comforts us in different ways because He knows our needs.  He brings a friend alongside who has been through the same thing and can help with that need.  If you don’t have any of the abilities I mentioned before, but you’ve been comforted in adversity when someone helped you install a water heater, or when someone mowed your lawn or changed your tire, or when someone helped you clean your house or cook a meal, can you help someone else with that?

Maybe the gift of a zucchini in season would be a comfort to someone going through a heavy trial of losing their job and literally not having enough to eat.  Some people love to send and receive cards of all kinds.  Some people need an in-person visit and a shoulder to cry on.

But I can tell you this:  Do NOT surrender to the enemy.  Times of Covid, or times of general adversity, are not the time to wring our hands and be defeated.  They are the time to be determined to not be dissuaded from our faith, but to “Keep Calm and Carry On.”  If the enemy detects that after all his attacks, you are still believing God with even more ferocity than ever before, he might just go where the hunting ground is more fertile and leave you alone.

It is our reaction to adversity that counts.

“O Father God, You who are the same yesterday, today, and forever, we thank You that You are always faithful to comfort us, in the way that speaks to us of Your love.  Help us while we are experiencing adversity to double up on our efforts to do exactly what we are called to do, that others might also be comforted by Your love and Your faithfulness.

“It is a privilege to serve You!  We are Yours!

“In the Name of Jesus we pray, Amen”

Mass Formation Psychosis: Why People Are Acting So Crazy

I heard something this week that was very similar to what I said in my January 4th post.  If you’ll remember, my post was talking about the “herd mentality,” and my observation was that “the herd” was mainly driven by fear, and individuals within the herd instinctively did what everybody else was doing without questioning the sanity of it all.

But what I heard this week was an explanation that was deeper and more thorough.  It was also more scholarly, so let me explore it and break it down a bit.  

We are in the middle of what is called “mass formation psychosis.”  So says Dr. Robert Malone, whose credentials are much too long to include in a parenthetical phrase.  It will have to suffice to say that he is a vaccinologist, the inventor of the core mRNA technology that drives the Covid shots.  Granted, he is apparently still thinking it’s okay to shoot up old people with the clot shot, because they are the “most vulnerable,” and I think that’s not a very good idea simply because old people are more easily killed by it.

But regarding the mass formation, or the madness of crowds, he was mostly quoting what he’d learned from Dr. Mattias Desmet concerning the weird phenomenon we are seeing these days.  Dr. Desmet had taught classes in this psychological condition for years, but then missed it when it was actually happening to us.  Two months into it, he came to that realization and spoke out, noting that he himself had been blind to its beginnings. 

Dr. Malone passed it on because it explained why he himself, who understood the workings of the mRNA technology probably better than any other human being, had been canceled by Google as being a purveyor of dangerous disinformation when he said it was wrong to inject children with it.

Mass formation psychosis is understood to be mass hypnosis on a group of vulnerable, lonely people. 

They are vulnerable because they have an underlying anxiety or anger that is “free floating,” which means they don't have anyone or anything to blame for it. When a common enemy is pinpointed, this group of disjointed, unrelated individuals somehow bands together, and with a fearless leader and a feeling of camaraderie, the mass sets out to extinguish that enemy.

The danger lies in this group’s feeling that anyone who disagrees with them is an enemy, and their urgent need to cancel anyone who is not part of the mass. Have you ever heard the term “We’re all in this together”?  Remember when Joe Biden appealed to that mass in his now famously divisive speech with: “I know you’re angry at those people who refuse to get vaccinated, and I’m angry too”?  He pointed out the “unvaxed” as the cause of all our problems with Covid, and then began a propaganda campaign, saying we were experiencing a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.”  

The mass mainstream media has gone along with this narrative, repeating it over and over again.  The anger is only getting worse.  There are reports of people saying that the unvaxed who get Covid should be left to die without getting any treatment, and others think they should be put in concentration camps such as those the Aussies have been using.  The mass is willing to order all people to stop saying anything in opposition to their belief system.  Neil Young, joined by Joni Mitchell and even Megan Markle and her esteemed husband Harry, announced that he would not allow his (old and tired) music to be played on Spotify if Joe Rogan’s podcast remained.  Joe Rogan, of course, had been spreading “disinformation” too, saying monoclonal antibodies and other early treatment had saved his life when he had Covid.

And there is a real possibility that the mass, after the “Mr. Nice Guy” techniques like deplatforming and gaslighting don’t change the minds of the unvaxed, will turn very ugly on us, and that they will begin to “cancel” us in the same way the French did to the aristocracy, or as the Nazis did to the Jews.

Did you hear Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor hysterically claiming that there were 100,000 children on ventilators in this country from Covid, and that that’s why we need Biden’s vaccine mandates?  Did you wonder how she, one of the most powerful women in America, could perpetuate that whopper and still, even after being fact-checked, never apologize for her “error”?

The point is, people in the mass are unconcerned about whether what they believe might be a lie, whether it is intentional propaganda or an accidental misstatement.  They have to believe what they do and rally around their fearless leader, even if their current beliefs are clearly the opposite of their past beliefs, or even if real statistics and truths are held before their very eyes.  It’s the old adage, “Don’t confuse me with facts: my mind is made up.”  They feel better if they are part of something bigger than themselves, and they must not waver in their loyalty.

Ah, the human mind!  How complex it is!  No, it is not just the bubbly-looking mass of neurons inside the skull.  It has the ability to think and reason for itself -- or to bypass and ignore reasonable thought when convenient so that the once-troubled mind can remain in a comfort zone it has defined.

Lying has become mainstream, and a sense of shame when caught in a lie is exceedingly rare.  There may be an attempt at cover-up, but when a liar has been exposed, and when calls to resign surround him, he will usually dig in and stay.  Eventually the incident is back-paged and forgotten.  And what of those who believed the lie?  They usually just go on believing it -- at least until it is far too embarrassing to admit that they do.  (Case in point:  the talking heads who kept on saying Kyle Rittenhouse was a racist because he had shot two black men.)

What can we do when a large percentage of Americans have fallen for the lie and are shamelessly and loudly perpetuating it, hyper-resistant to the truth?  How can we do anything about the mass that may in time choose to physically cancel us?  And when falling for the lies tends towards global authoritarianism, is there a solution?

Dr. Malone says that people like himself and others, who are knowledgeable, need to stay on the fore-front and lead a resistance movement.  We need to make people understand that there’s a larger threat than Covid.  And we need to form local communities that care for the lonely.  Network with people.  Don’t give up.

Another mass, he says, will naturally form in response to the first one.

We’re witnessing that kind of pushback with the Canadian truckers, who braved bone chilling weather this week to bring their rigs and their horns and Canadian flags to the capital in a convoy 43 miles long, and demand that Trudeau lift the vaccine mandates for truckers who cross the nation’s borders. Trudeau is conveniently hiding out from the tens of thousands of truckers in an undisclosed location.  He says he goes to rallies and talks to people on occasion, as long as he agrees with them -- like BLM for example.  

How could he intentionally block out the sound of thousands and thousands of honking horns and discredit the working class, calling them a “fringe element”?  It is hard to understand, except that he is a member of the mass, and the mass cancels out those with whom they disagree.  He still contends that the only way they can fight the virus is to get everybody vaxxed -- while, ironically, announcing that he has himself contracted Covid.

But the mass formation psychosis theory hinges upon emotionally disturbed people who need a target -- a scapegoat to assuage themselves of any guilt.

Now that I mention it … hey, we have Someone who answers that description.  In fact, that scapegoat idea is an Old Testament sacrifice, and it is said that all of those sacrifices were instituted to illustrate Christ and His mission.  Jesus voluntarily took all our sins and the accompanying guilt and blame upon Himself, and then He was punished for them in our place.  He was our Scapegoat.

But there is a prayer in John 17 that shows the bigger and better plan for Mankind, masterminded before the world began by The One True God.  In these verses, Jesus prays for His people outside of time and space, and His disciples are simply awestruck hearing Him praying specifically for them and hearing the marvelous plans He has.  But Jesus also includes people who will hear His words and believe, someday in the future, because of the witness of the disciples … and that’s me, too!

In His prayer, Jesus tells the Father that His great desire is that His people will be “one” as He and the Father are “one.”  In this plan, He has formed us believers into a Body -- not just a shapeless, hulking mass, but a functional, attractive, faithful, living Body, with whom He will be united as a man takes a bride.  This is what He said:

"I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.

“And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

"Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”

This passage of Scripture is so mind-bogglingly beautiful that I named my blog after it.  But we have yet to see this fulfilled.  The jokes abound concerning Heaven: 

“Walk softly past this room.  That’s the Pentecostals (or a different denomination), and they think they’re the only ones here.”

With the Church so fractured in its beliefs and so much of it corrupted, how can we ever be “one” in the same way God the Son is “one” with God the Father?  To be perfectly frank, there are some ministers that we would be loath to invite to speak from our pulpits because of doctrinal differences, and apart from standing next to us at pro-life gatherings, there are some who claim to be members of Christ’s Body that we truly think are quite weird and with whom we rarely interact.  Connectedness seems rather elusive these days.

In these verses, Jesus wants this relationship between us because we will become “perfect,” and because if the world sees us in this kind of unity, they will know that Jesus is who He says He is.

That hit me this morning.  Jesus has in mind a “more perfect union,” built upon the Truth of His Word, and focused on the Person of the Son of God.  This is the answer for the lonely and disconnected who fall victim to mass formation psychosis.  This plan is the one that will truly set people free.  We may not succeed, but the Church is the answer to the mass, and we must proclaim it to those lonely people.  And we must demonstrate God’s love for them by our love for one another.

This song is much more meaningful than I ever gave it credit for. May it be our prayer.

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord

And we pray that all unity may one day be restored

And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love

Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.