Putin, Modi, Ana & Simeon

 

I 

I was listening to the podcast Today, Explained ‘Biden Vs. Putin (feat. Navalny)’ (28th April 2021) and I was overwhelmed by the injustice that has happened to Alexei Navalny, who is the opposition to Putin – Putin had his agents attempt to murder him with neural toxins and was almost successful, except Navalny was shipped off to Germany where he was saved. Returning to Russia he was immediately arrested and incarcerated. 

 I read an article by Arundhati Roy, about India’s disaster in the face of Covid, and the terrible antics of the Indian Prime Minister. 

 And I complained to the Lord, these people just reign, unchecked, reigning disaster down and oppressing people. These rich, selfish, boorish men are having the time of their life and people just have to live in the misery these bad leaders bring about. 

II 

Yesterday as I prayed I recalled the account of Simeon and Ana in Luke’s Gospel. 

 25 And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s [o]Christ. 27 And he came [p]by the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, [q]to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, 28 then he took Him in his arms, and blessed God, and said, 29 “Now, Lord, You are letting Your bond-servant depart in peace, According to Your word; 30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation, 31 Which You have prepared in the presence of all the peoples: 32 A light for revelation [r]for the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.” 33 And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him. 34 And Simeon blessed them and said to His mother Mary, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and [s]rise of many in Israel, and as a sign to be [t]opposed— 35 and a sword will pierce your own soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” 36 And there was a prophetess, [u]Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in [v]years and had lived with her husband for seven years after her [w]marriage, 37 and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She did not leave the temple grounds, serving night and day with fasts and prayers. 38 And at that very [x]moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak about Him to all those who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. 

 So, Simeon and Anna? 

They spent their lives campaigning against the corrupt religious leaders of their day, and led many political marches against the Roman Empire during their lifetime. 

 No. 

 They spent the better part of their lives in the Temple. Doing what? Praying and fasting. I have no idea what their lives were like, Luke’s account certainly has Ana spending the bulk of her life in the Temple praying and fasting. Simeon, not sure, maybe he did do what I mentioned earlier? 

What struck me was that, as far as we would be concerned, they were doing nothing.

 Part of this comes from my own angst – I want to serve God by getting out there and making the world a better place. 

This is what came to mind yesterday. 

III 

I was chatting to Tan this morning and that’s when I began to join the dots. I keep wondering why everything seems to be getting worse. Then I realised my old mistake of expecting God to fix everything up so that we can have an easy life right now. If I read Revelations right, the Devil and his angels have been unleashed on the Earth. Satan has dominion over the Earth. Jesus in the wilderness doesn’t challenge the Devil’s authority when he says to Jesus that he’ll hand the kingdoms to Him, if Jesus will just bow down and worship him. We are witnessing this. That makes sense of the satanic nonsense I see unleashed upon the Earth. We’re not here to ‘fix’ things up. I don’t think we’re here to make the world a better place. But all through history, you can see the campfires in the darkness. The moments when the Church of Jesus Christ ignites and God is made know to the people all around. And people can enter that Kingdom and live in that Kingdom and experience that Kingdom in their lives right then and there. It’s a kingdom of peace, and of joy. Where the burden is light. Where we bear much fruit. But that Kingdom is not coming through the flesh. That kingdom won’t appear in the flesh. There are righteous men and women that transform their systems. Lawyers, politicians, nurses, cleaners, doctors, social workers, school teachers – the ones who listen to Jesus and bring light and life. And for a moment around the people that know them, there is a reprieve. They’re not going to bring the perfect legal system, or a perfect hospital system, or a perfect school system. But for the people who know them, they bring Christ. These people I just mentioned. I think they’re the Anas and Simeons in the temple. Of course, the temple is long gone. The veil was torn in two. We now, are the temple. We are the body that grows up into the Head Who is Jesus Christ, Christ Who looks and sees what the Father is doing, and follows that lead. We must pursue the prayer and fasting, the worshiping of God and the participation in His life before we do anything else. Not to look around us and go and fix problems that we think are problems, because I suspect there is someone else out there stirring up trouble in order to lure us into our flesh. 

 One caveat: it looks like I’m being nihilistic. 

‘Just sit back and do nothing because the world is meant to go to Hell in a handbasket.’ I think of the Martin Luther Kings, the Dietrich Bonhoeffers, the William Wilberforces, the Florence Nightingales etc etc… they did not sit back. They had deep, deep convictions that cost them mightily. Nothing could have stopped them, I suspect. But they started from a place of prayer. And they were raised up for that moment. All I’m saying is that, perhaps we’re called to the place of Ana and Simeon. They’re only mentioned because they enter the same space as the Christ. There are oceans of Anas and Simeons that will only ever have the attention of the One True God.

Martyn Iles 'The Truth of It' is anything but.

I'm curious. If you are a Christian, and you have strong opinions about Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, do you know where those opinions come from? What is it you're reading? Do you hear this from the pulpit? Online? Other Christians. Perhaps you have no idea what I'm talking about. 

I've come across this a lot recently. People have expressed the sentiment that the Democratic leadership will lead to the downfall of America. I suspect one of the key issues for people is the issue of abortion. 

This is not the place where I'm going to discuss abortion. 

The point of this post is addressing the claims, made by a person of influence, that are false. In September 2020 Martyn Iles released an episode of The Truth of It entitled: 'The Truth about Kamala Harris'.

 The first half of the episode Ilse outlines Harris' political position and some of the things she's voted on. In summary he describes her as very, very, very LEFT. Oddly enough the 'LEFT' regard Harris as way too RIGHT. But the dog whistling here is the description of Harris as LEFT, which, of course, sets people off. That's pretty much the end of any rational discussion because, well, cUlTuRaL mArXiSm!!!!!!!! Thanks Peterson.  Anyhow: I'm not addressing the first half of the video. My concern is Iles' misrepresentation of the facts in the second half of the video. 

THE CLAIM

The claim by Martyn Iles, the managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby - (you’d know him as the legal defence of Israel Folau ), that Kamala Harris was a rabid Pro Choice persecutor of Pro Life campaigners and it’s really dangerous she’s in power, is not correct. 

I feel really strongly about the misrepresentation of Kamala Harris, (newly elected Vice President), particularly by Christians. 

Some time ago Martyn Iles posted a Vlog on his Youtube channel: The Truth of It. It was called The Truth about Kamala Harris. (I've embedded a link a little further on, so keep reading) I think it's one of the reasons why Australian Christians are under the impression that the Harris and Biden are double teaming for satan. 

If you can’t be bothered reading everything here my main point is:

1. Iles is claiming that Kamala Harris is a rabid Pro Choice persecutor of Pro Life campaigners and insinuates that it’s really dangerous she’s in power.

2. Martyn Iles is repeating claims that have been THOROUGHLY DEBUNKED through criminal investigations, and court cases.

I’ve heard Martyn Iles speak, he’s a gentleman and an exceptional speaker however as the Managing Director of the Australian Christian Lobby he has an obligation to faithfully represent all sides of an argument without trotting out claims that have been debunked. 

And I mean REALLY debunked by people of the highest integrity. 

You can Martyn Iles video here. watch the video before proceeding (I'm only dealing with his claims from 6.42min so fast forward to that.

I’m starting from 6:42min Regarding the David Daleiden matter….. 

David Daleiden 

Now, you may recall that the reason Daleiden got into so much trouble was because back in 2015 he posed as a Bio pharmaceutical company looking to buy ‘baby parts’ from Planned Parenthood. He edited the videos of the interviews he conducted so it looked like the Planned Parenthood representatives were ACTUALLY selling him baby parts. (go check the Wikipedia entry on him - I'm not posting a link cos all you gotta do is write the guy's name and + wikipedia).

He and his partner was raided and the full videos were presented to the court. One of the claims made by Martin Iles was that Harris presided over the raids. 

FACT CHECK• "While Harris was California attorney general, her agency investigated the anti-abortion activists. They were charged with violating state privacy laws (and raided) AFTER Harris left for the U.S. Senate. (See for an amazing fact check website on the entire matter: here

The full un-doctored videos did not in any way demonstrate that Planned Parenthood had actually accepted his offers. He got into a tonne of trouble because he released these doctored videos, putting the lives of Planned Parenthood staff at risk. Everything is on the public record. 

Martyn Iles goes on to make three key claims: 

7:13min Iles: 

"They included meetings with very senior executives from America’s largest abortion service Planned Parenthood. They confessed they had been doing for some time, they’d been doing the following…" 

CLAIM ONE 

"...selling baby body parts or the body parts of aborted babies as an industry standard practice thereby trading in human organs and tissues." 

NOT CORRECT. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform website CLEARLY scuttles that argument. Planned Parenthood does not, and has never, participated in the selling of  body parts of aborted babies. You got any doubts fact check it yourself over at the House Committee website. It's got tonnes of video and documented evidence. 

CLAIM TWO 

"...adjusting their abortion procedures to birth late-term babies alive and harvest their organs whilst they are still alive to obtain the best quality specimens." 

This one is tricky. It's a mix. I think it's presented by Iles in a way that is misleading. There's a Scientific America article that interviews a bioethicist who 'raised an eyebrow' at a Doctor:

"In one video, physician Deborah Nucatola, the group’s senior director of medical services, describes how she crushes fetuses above and below key organs to preserve them intact for research. She also described turning a fetus into a breech presentation to deliver the head last, when the cervix is more dilated, thus preserving the brain.

This raised the question of whether physicians are altering abortion techniques to accommodate research requests, violating a widely held precept of research ethics. Arthur Caplan, a bioethicist at the New York University School of Medicine, dismisses the videos as “pure politics”, but some of the footage “did get my eyebrow to arch”, he says. “You can’t use a different approach to the abortion to try to preserve something. Those are just no-no’s.”

Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Amanda Harrington says that the organization is not aware of any instances in which the method of an abortion has been changed to preserve organs. But, she adds, “if minor adjustments that have no bearing on the woman’s health and safety are done when the woman has expressed a desire to donate tissue, that is entirely appropriate and ethical and legal”. Women’s health and safety, she says, “is always the number one priority”."

Further, I Googled: 'do Planned Parenthood harvest babies organs whilst they are still alive?', and I found a Snopes article 'Did Planned Parenthood Harvest the Brain from a Living, Late-Term Fetus.?

That article said:

What's True According to unedited Center for Medical Progress video reviewed by the Los Angeles Times, the heart of an aborted fetus was briefly restarted before its brain was harvested. 

What's False A portion edited out of the video stated that the fetus was dead at the time the organ was removed. ' 

So, I think Mr Iles is oversimplifying things there to the point of, well, I don't know if his Youtube Channel should be called 'The Truth of It.'

CLAIM THREE

 Iles: "Providing price lists to biotech companies for such things as whole babies heads, whole foetus’s and hearts that are still beating.You can buy those things as a biotech company off an abortionist." 

NOT. TRUE

I'm sorry but it's Snopes again. But that's their job, fact checking, and they're a lot better at it than Iles. Click here for the link.

Here's the gist of it

"The anti-abortion website LifeSite published a story containing a headline that said the CEO of the biotech company StemExpress admitted in court to “selling beating baby hearts, intact baby heads.” That headline was not only false, but it presented a security risk to a witness in a criminal trial, according to a report from an investigator with the California state Department of Justice."

I won't go on. However this is all part of a bit of a project of mine to try and understand why people, in particular Christians, are so susceptible to buying into conspiracy theories so readily. 

Seeing some of the stuff that Iles puts up, as someone that Christians are supposed to trust, sheds some light on that mystery.