Gatherings are being shunned, whether secular or religious, shopping is done warily and with a watchful and fearful glance at those near. Someone sneezes or coughs and people scatter or in anger scold another, everything seems on the cusp of breakdown.

In a society where we are constantly being bombarded by advertising I think we need to understand that most of our fears about the changes coming upon societies now are the result of that advertising. Not those silly thirty second commercials on media about a product, the advertising I’m referring to is the constant bombardment by media outlets about COVID19. Yes its horrible, yes it can be transmitted simply by breathing, yes people are dying; but people are living too. People are surviving the virus at a much higher rate than those who are dying from it, at least for now.

Media thrives off of fearful stories, governments thrive off of induced fear to pass legislation and actions, as a means of circumventing existing laws or restraints on their power. So now, in America, like elsewhere in the world lockdown’s are occurring with more frequency. We are told it’s to slow the spread of the virus, which I’m not going to argue the veracity of that statement. If it slows the spread of the virus, GOD bless those who are working to save lives. My concern is the lockdowns are going to be utilized for more nefarious reasons.

Freedoms lost are lost, those freedoms are nearly impossible to get back. Freedom of assembly for one. If people do not meet for fear of the virus and it remains illegal how is religious freedom going to exist? Some may rationalize that “god or church or religion” means little in the face of a pandemic, I would say they are wrong. Those who relinquish their freedoms willingly are allowing themselves to become slaves to a tyrannical state, which historically ends up being evil.

Freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and association are all being pushed aside due to media/government induced advertised fear.

On these cornerstones not only is this nation built, but the Christian faith. Assembling to worship was why Christians are persecuted and die in China and North Korea, in Muslim majority countries and elsewhere. Our freedom of conscience is being violated by forcing believers to accept the advertised fear of association and assembly. If believers violate those assembly orders they can suffer jail and fines or more.

I’m not saying the sickness cannot and isn’t passed by association, but where is the line in the sand?

So we move from the greatest economy of all time, as we are told by those in power. Record unemployment, so we are told. Best of this and the best of that, so we are told. Making America Great Again is the mantra of those identifying as right/conservative/religious/whatever else is out there. Those claims I’ll leave for economists and historians to hash out over the coming decades, Lord willing. Now in our day, at this specific time in our history those best of this and best of that, well, its sinking into an abyss of darkness.

A quote from an article on Zerohedge

Even God doesn’t play dice with the Universe.

And the sooner we give up our grand ideas of top down control through the decisions of wise and insouciant verified smart people the sooner we can deal with the reality of the life in front of us.

Today the world is contracting, not ending. It’s a smaller, tighter world than it was yesterday. That means the closer your relationship to someone, the more valuable they are.

Our society is changing, in some ways for the better, in some for the worse. The coming deaths caused by the virus and changes are not good, it may be a proverbial way of culling the herd, but death is never a good thing for unbelievers. When I read the words the world is contracting it brought to mind a piece written by CS Lewis, its echoed in several of his writings, but to paraphrase it in my way of understanding it, he wrote that modernism, as I interpret it isn’t a lasting thing, machines are built to make life easier but machines break down, and in time all the steel and iron will waste away.

The virus isn’t attacking machines but it is showing how reliant we are on machines, all of those things mankind has built over the past century and a half are now being stalled and shut down by the smallest of creatures. We are seeing that the advertised ideas of “globalism” isn’t the utopia it was advertised to be. We are seeing the financial leviathan that exists cannot cope with the strain of the smallest of GOD’s creations, the military of entire nations cannot fight and cope with the devastation caused by these smallest bringers of sickness and death. So contracting, yes we are.

We are moving into a time where wars will be fought, mankind has never shown an aptitude for mercy on a national level when something like this occurs. Yes they may try and help each other out in one sense but as we can see nations are turning inward, communities are turning inward and locally. Supply chain economics can and are being disrupted by this small insidious creature we call COVID19.

Wars are fought for the stupidest of reasons, whether they want to advertise it as patriotic or not, whether it has roots in religion or not, war is hell and it always causes death and destruction where it reigns supreme. The COVID19 is a horrendous event, the death caused by sickness and the sickness itself are nothing to be taken lightly, but governments never let a crisis go to waste. Laws and regulations are being passed which are going to restrict freedoms, not only those listed in the Constitution,but much more. Thought, action, association, assembly, religious, family, friends, neighborhoods, communities, counties, and states. Everything is in the process of changing, and in most respects not for the better.

When the people begin to cry for succor in their time of need and feel they have suffered long enough from the pain of isolation and poverty then those in power will step forward with a plan.

That plan will be globalism 2.0.

You’ll have to be marked for travel and purchases, to operate in the new economy you’ll have to prove you are not going to infect others. The subdermal or onskin chips are already available and being utilized for medical and financial means. If you do not receive their mark then you’re either criminal or condemned and pushed to the periphery of society. I believe we as a nation are headed down the wrong path.

Revelation 13

¹⁶ And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

¹⁷ And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

¹⁸ Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

This the is precipice we are standing on.

Fear induced by the advertising of death due to COVID19.

A society that no longer knows how to think, most follow the herd mentality, they just react with emotions and primarily to fear.

The decision is yours to make, some will say Christians don’t have to worry about the Mark because we are going to be raptured away before it comes to pass, I think those people have the wrong interpretation of Scripture. Most the suffering through the book of Revelation is divine action through natural events or mankind warring upon itself, the last set of judgments are defined as the wrath of GOD that’s what Christians are going to be protected from, the final days of the Tribulation. Your decision can only result in one of two things, in the end either we will say to GOD – Your will be done, or HE will say to us – your will be done.

Either we accept the last and final sacrifice, the Lamb of GOD, HIS Son Jesus, as our Savior or we do not, if we do not then its our will that will be done, we will forever be separated from a loving Father who gave HIS own Son to suffer and die in our place, taking upon Himself all the sins of every person in every age of the world.

Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Romans 6:23 “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Romans 5:8  “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 10:9 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Romans 10:13  “for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Romans 8:38-39 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

This is the decision we all are going to have to make, a decision to believe, accept, and have eternal life, or deny and suffer that eternal death and separation.

It’s your decision to make.