Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First"... updated version.

A friend in the USA just sent this to me.  I do not know who wrote it but, for those in my age group and older, you will recognise the reference.

Bud: ‘You can’t come in here!’

Lou: ‘Why not?’
Bud: ‘Well because you’re unvaccinated.’
Lou: ‘But I’m not sick.’
Bud: ‘It doesn’t matter.’
Lou: ‘Well, why does that guy get to go in?’
Bud: ‘Because he’s vaccinated.’
Lou: ‘But he’s sick!’
Bud: ‘It’s alright. Everyone in here is vaccinated.’
Lou: ‘Wait a minute. Are you saying everyone in there is vaccinated?’
Bud: ‘Yes.’
Lou: ‘So then why can’t I go in there if everyone is vaccinated?’
Bud: ‘Because you’ll make them sick.’
Lou: ‘How will I make them sick if I’m NOT sick and they’re vaccinated.’
Bud: ‘Because you’re unvaccinated.’
Lou: ‘But they’re vaccinated.’
Bud: ‘But they can still get sick.’
Lou: ‘So what the heck does the vaccine do?’
Bud: ‘It vaccinates.’
Lou: ‘So vaccinated people can’t spread covid?’
Bud: ‘Oh no. They can spread covid just as easily as an unvaccinated person.’
Lou: ‘I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore. Look. I’m not sick.'
Bud: ‘Ok.’
Lou: ‘And the guy you let in IS sick.’
Bud: ‘That’s right.’
Lou: ‘And everybody in there can still get sick even though they’re vaccinated.’
Bud: ‘Certainly.’
Lou: ‘So why can’t I go in again?’
Bud: ‘Because you’re unvaccinated.’
Lou: ‘I’m not asking who’s vaccinated or not!’
Bud: ‘I’m just telling you how it is.’
Lou: ‘Never mind. I’ll just put on my mask.’
Bud: ‘That’s fine.’
Lou: ‘Now I can go in?’
Bud: ‘Absolutely not!’
Lou: ‘But I have a mask!’
Bud: ‘Doesn’t matter.’
Lou: ‘I was able to come in here yesterday with a mask.’
Bud: ‘I know.’
Lou: 'So why can’t I come in here today with a mask? ... If you say ‘because I’m unvaccinated’ again, I’ll break your arm.’
Bud: ‘Take it easy buddy.’
Lou: ‘So the mask is no good anymore.’
Bud: ‘No, it’s still good.’
Lou: ‘But I can’t come in?’
Bud: ‘Correct.’
Lou: ‘Why not?’
Bud: ‘Because you’re unvaccinated.’
Lou: ‘But the mask prevents the germs from getting out.’
Bud: ‘Yes, but people can still catch your germs.’
Lou: ‘But they’re all vaccinated.’
Bud: ‘Yes, but they can still get sick.’
Lou: ‘But I’m not sick!!’
Bud: ‘You can still get them sick.’
Lou: ‘So then masks don’t work!’
Bud: ‘Masks work quite well.’
Lou: ‘So how in the heck can I get vaccinated people sick if I’m not sick and masks work?’
Bud: ‘Third base.’

Power Over Nothing

What actually is Satan's power?  I have personal first hand experience of the prince of darkness but that is not usually something one wants to talk about and certainly not boast about.  I was a young man, only 24 years of age.  It was a terrifying ordeal which was brought to an end by the Lord Himself.  Had the Lord not stepped in then I suspect I would not have survived.  Do not think that words cannot kill... I can state categorically that words can kill, especially when confronted by a powerful accuser psyche to psyche.  One's own sense of guilt in response to overwhelming accusation can be so powerful that death can result.  I will not outline the series of events here but simply tell you a little something about the power of the enemy... and that where there is no sin the power of the enemy simply does not exist, he is utterly powerless.  So how did he come to wield authority over humanity?  What does that even mean?

This will not be a detailed discussion for that would take a volume to write but I will talk about enough to, hopefully, inspire your own thoughts regarding a few things.  It seems relevant in the current state of the world to properly recognise where we really stand and to realise that we are not slaves to wicked men, but we must first recognise that fact.

When one considers these questions of authority and power carefully, it becomes apparent that authority of one over another, if not instituted by God, is the result of a usurpation.  This is precisely how the devil gained power over humanity.  He tempted Eve using lies and appealing to her susceptibility to pride.  If she had simply said, "No", then the devil would have utterly failed to achieve anything at all.  His only true power, if it can even be called that, is the power to deceive.  When a person believes a lie, such a person acts on it, essentially submitting to its author, the devil, by acting on the devil's word.  When one acts on the word of another, that is submission.  Once such a submission takes place, it sets a precedent, that is, it creates a spirit of submission, expressed as a persistence of that submission, a persistence difficult, perhaps even impossible, to break, since the one to whom one has submitted must then relinquish that authority first, the social contract, which is really a spiritual contract, and which cannot be broken without consequences and, yet, a greater contract has been broken and consequences are inevitable... for humanity, it is death.  However, given that such submission to a usurper is disordered, since it is not of God, then it is an evil spirit, an entity which has no eternal place in truth so such a spirit cannot persist forever, it must come to an end, it is inherently a spirit of death and, therefore, a dead spirit.

When Eve submitted to the devil, the order of authority was being inverted, since mankind had authority over the earth and had a place higher than a fallen spiritual being.  However, it was not until Adam submitted to Eve, completing the inversion of authority, placing the devil above Eve and Eve above Adam, that mankind was then severed from God, for it is impossible for the inversion to continue such that Adam would rise above God, yet that is what the devil alluded to when he said, "... you will be like God, knowing good and evil."  The devil has always sought to be above his own Creator.  However, we also see that God went some way after the fall of Adam to correcting the structure but it could not be completed at that point and was going to take the plan of salvation through Christ to complete, to restore the structure He had created in the order of His creation.

About 4000 years later, the work of Christ on the cross and in the grave re-established the authority of mankind over the fallen spirits and over the natural realm but it is only valid for those in Christ, since all others are still buried in the soil, still dead, still under the power of corrupt flesh.  The whole process of the restoration of creation under man's authority, that man being Christ and those in Him (which is obviously His body), will be completed upon His soon return but the completion of the process of full restoration of all things is in another thousand years at the great judgement, the destruction of the old heavens and earth, the creation of the new, eternal, heavens and earth.

In the present world, the only reason corrupt people execute authority over us is because we accept it and, by having submitted, those wicked people continue to exercise authority.  We have failed to stand against their evil deeds, such as lawless "laws" on abortion, homosexuality, etc.  The only reason we accept it is because too many, through a fearful and Godless outlook, accept the lies they are being told as if those lies were truth.  We have all been conditioned, to one extent or another, to simply accept the "order of things" as if it were somehow blasphemy to speak against it, as if this evil order was sacrosanct, but it isn't.  I know what the scripture says regarding submission to authority but it also tells us that we have not merely a right but an obligation to speak the truth, to speak that truth to power just as Yeshua did.  When corrupt men have overstepped the bounds of their authority and, as they seem to invariably do, sought to crush dissent from their required narrative and sought to crush people and, most of all, to crush "religious" freedom (and you will notice it is always most focused on destroying Christianity), then we have an obligation to disrupt their world with the truth, even if it means we are directly threatened with punitive actions.  Always remember that such punitive actions come from injustice, not from truth, and all who wield power in such an unrighteous manner and remain unrepentant will themselves be ultimately subject to the consequences of their actions.  Perhaps that is not much of a consolation in the here and now but the here and now quickly becomes yesterday.

When one believes a lie as if it was truth, one then acts on that lie and it only ever leads to sin, harm, destruction, thus giving the devil power to execute process in this world.  Since the lie is something not of reality then one acts on a fiction as if it were fact and thus disregards fact as fiction, something which can only result in consequences contrary to the good of reality.  It destroys God's creation.  It destroys us.  Satan's only power is to deceive and he can only do it effectively through accusation against you for your sins, against unrighteousness that is found in you... but if those sins have been confessed and paid for and justice done, as was the work of the cross of Christ on Calvary, then Satan's accusations fall to the floor, powerless and of no consequence.

It is true that the scriptures indicate the power of the devil to bring catastrophe, such as happened to Job, but this is completely under the limitations imposed by God, and not something the devil can do at any time for any or even no reason.  Such things serve God's purpose and never occur without God's consent, for He has always placed a constraint on the corrupting effects of evil spirits.  The only persistent power of the devil is the power to deceive and, such deception, if believed can lead one to commit atrocities.  Mankind, devoid of God's Spirit, becomes the true threat and a source of great evil, but always remember Who has ultimate power over all, Him whose Word is absolutely final.

The devil drives one to fear, especially fear of loss or exposure or humiliation, fear of many things, and those fears are real in the lost whose sins remain and whose minds are in darkness, but those fears were washed away by the precious blood of the Lamb of God for those who have stepped out of darkness and into the light.  Over such, death has no power at all.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you; draw close to God and He will draw close to you.

Safety is a Person

I was considering all the issues that we currently face, mostly man-made problems caused by out of control governments acting in evil ways against the best interests of the people who elected them.  I was contemplating how money corrupts and, how it appears, nobody seems to be immune from its corrosive effects.  Everywhere I look and see a conflict of interest, there also I see corruption.

Then my thoughts turn, as they invariably do, back to the Lord, my Saviour.  Sitting here, far from a large city where it seems peaceful, though it really only seems that way, recognising that this apparent peace is only paper-thin, merely a delicate façade, just like all of our man-made institutions, our social structures, economic structures, electronic systems and so on, all just hyper-thin, delicate structures, so carefully constructed, so easily destroyed.

It seems as if there is no safety anywhere, anymore.  Despite the outer peacefulness of this location, there is a subtle, subversive turmoil, raging under the gentle waves of the breeze, under the quiet, weather-beaten skin of so many all around me, so many I rarely see but who are all still there, troubled within like stormy waters, fearful of what is coming upon the earth.  This is not so much a storm among the nations as it is a storm among minds and hearts and, from that, nobody can escape.

This is why it is critical now, perhaps more than ever before, that we have the ark of the covenant in our hearts, since safety is found only in that ark wherein is found the Word of God, and that Word has a name, Yeshua.

Safety is a person and His name is Yeshua, the only-begotten son of the Eternal God and the first-born of the dead.  In Him, and only Him, do I find my peace.