Introduction
As we celebrate the three-year anniversary of the two-week shutdown to slow the curve that never happened, I thought this would be a good time to reflect upon one of the more delightful and less controversial aspects of this glorious wet blanket of care that Big Brother wrapped around face, as too help us breathe better during this pandemic (that is apparently, still considered a state of emergency by our government) – weird.
What one thing could I possibly have in mind you might ask? There was such an outpouring love during this time…such a manifestation of love and care for one’s neighbor…it was almost as if the eschaton was being ushered in. What could I possibly be thinking of? There were so many exhibitions of grace and love…it even became a mantra… “love your neighbor” and “do this, or hinder your witness – of the one true and living God”
Could I be speaking of the quarantine orders and the accompanying slogan to stay home and stay safe and to stay home and save lives? What about the shutting down of schools and businesses? Certainly not allowing citizens to be able to work and provide for their families was act of love and the charitable relief of giving a $600 to each citizen that they already paid for through taxes was awesome – thanks Uncle Sam. What about Governors, like Gretchen Whitler telling residents of her state to narc on, I mean confront, I mean educate their neighbors on the importance of social distancing.
While we’re on the topic of social distancing, let’s not forget how important it was to stand six feet apart where ever we went, especially outside…and by ourselves, because you can never be too safe...What about all those protective plexy walls at the supermarket…We also, can’t forget how important it was to love our neighbors by not getting cancer screenings, and we all needed to make sure that women had access to important health care that they needed like abortions on demand.
I am also so thank you the government, along medical professionals did the hard work of
determining which vegetable seeds carried covid and which ones didn’t. Had it not been for them I would have never known that buying tomato seeds could spread the virus, but buying pot was ok… Without the hours of research and labor I would have never known that I could give covid to myself as I walked alone on the beach. And let’s not forget how safe it was to have some 18 year old kid deliver my food to my house after touching all of it, instead of me touching it at the store…thank you science.
I would have never known how dangerous singing at church was…or how I put my neighbor at great risk of dying a violent, horrible death just by going to church. Let’s not forget the science that clearly showed us that it was ok to be in a massive public riot (peaceful protest), as long as we were in a densely populated area and screaming obscenities. I am so thankful I was prevented from bringing my kids to the playground, before covid, I had no idea that my kids could catch a cold from touching something 500 other kids had touched.
Had the government not spent all that money on commercials showing us all how to wash our hands, I would have never known how. And let us never forget how loving it was to force employees to get vaccinated. No one should ever be responsible for mitigating risk and safety for themselves – I mean, what else is the government there for? Thank you Big Brother, thank you!
No, No, No…all of those things where wonderful in themselves, but the one thing I am thinking of is that glorious wet blanket of love itself that was literally wrapped around our faces…that’s right, brethren and sistren – I’m talking about MASKS.
Face Diapers & the Lost Art of Learning Stuff
On Feb. 21 st the Year of Our Lord, 2023, lightning struck in the most unexpected of places - In an opinion piece, titled “The Mask Mandates Did Nothing. Will Any Lessons Be Learned?” written by Bret Stephens and published by the New York Times…that’s right, the New York Times.
The article begins with the following words, “The most rigorous and comprehensive analysis of scientific studies conducted on the efficacy of masks for reducing the spread of respiratory illnesses – including Covid 19 – was published late last month. Its conclusions, said, Tom Jefferson, the Oxford epidemiologist who is its lead author, were unambiguous. There is just no evidence that they – masks – make any difference…Full Stop.”
He goes on to say that even N95 masks, make no difference either…he even had the audacity to say that population level mask mandates did nothing, and imposing them on the population actually caused considerable physical, psychological, pedagogical and political harm.
Do any of these finding count as the science that we were told over and over again to trust? Nope, not at all! That would force people to come to terms with how easily manipulated they were…it is always much harder to turn around when you realize that you are driving in the wrong direction than it is to just drive faster.
Case in point, Rochelle Walensky, the director of Centers for Disease and Prevention assured everyone this month that her agency’s guidance regarding masking in schools wouldn’t change because she calls into question the validity of the Cochrane study…trust the science, of course, but not when it’s done by actual scientist.
How should we respond to Stephens article, one might ask? Perhaps with a, “Freakin’ Duh!” or maybe with a, “Welcome to the party”…but John McClane style in Nakatomi Plaza. It took three years and how much money to come to the same conclusion that every single doctor and nursing student knew before 2020.
Not to mention all of the people that where mocked, maligned, marginalized not to mention harassed because they didn’t think it was necessary or effective to wear a mask…but if you didn’t have a mask on, you were treated like you had the bubonic plague, regardless of whether or not you were sick in anyway.
If you’re tempted to say, “that’s an exaggeration”…I would say, Oh contrair my friend. Four
months into the covid crazy we released a video entitled “masks”…in this video, I said, The masks had become a stupid virtue signal and bullying tactic by people who have never really contributed anything of value to the entirety of humanity but now they can let everyone know that they are saving the planet one outing at a time. And I referred to people wearing masks on the beach and in their car as being on a whole other level of retardery that we shouldn’t participate in.
As a result of me saying that the emperor needs to cover up his junk, I received multiple death threats, was told how unloving I was, was told I needed to be removed from ministry, and was told that my children should be taken away from me…and that was just from the Christians.
So, upon reading such an article, I don’t know that, “thankful” is the right expression, and
whatever my response to this article may be, I think it’s safe to say that it is less than exuberant. But back the title/question of the article, “The Mask Mandates Did Nothing. Will Any Lessons Be Learned?”
In some respect, we can answer that question with a resounding NO! Nothing new was learned as a result of all of this. This was all common knowledge before covid that “the science” had already proved and nobody questioned it…all of the studies had already been done on masks long before 2020. There is no new data available now that wasn’t beforehand…What we did learn however, is that “trust the science” comes with the same authority as a papal bull for secular idolaters as does a real papal bull for Roman Catholic idolaters.
That is, trust the science comes to the public as infallible, undeniable, unquestionable, and authoritative regardless of whether or not it defies all of the science done beforehand, like a pope contradicting popes that have gone before them, but all being equally infallible…how does that work? Don’t know, shut up and trust the science – you unloving prick…and you’re racist.
Perhaps, nothing was actually learned, but a whole lot was certainly affirmed. Did anyone
question whether or not Tim Keller was a commie before covid, not really, but now we know. Did anyone really question whether or not Russel Moore was an effeminate soft turd of a man before covid, not really, but now we know. Did anyone really question whether or not the Gospel Coalition had turned into a liberal cesspool, that desperately wants to be liked by the cool kids, not really, but now we know.
Did anyone question whether or not two kingdom theology was really paganism shoved right up the tail pipe, not really, but now we know. Did anyone really question whether or not the separatistic pietism that’s prevalent in much of the church, would ever stand up to Leviathan, not really, but now we know.
Did anyone really question whether or not Big Eva and the institutions surrounding her had been taking money from nefarious sources for a long time? Not really, but now we know. Did anyone really question whether or not broader evangelicalism was filled with a bunch of emotive effeminate pastors that stand about as upright as a wet noodle? Not really, but now we know. Did anyone really question whether or not many churches would kow-tow to the government? Not really, but now we know.
Did anyone really question whether or not these same emotionally manipulative men would turn on their congregations and manipulate them by telling what the “loving thing to do was” and what was “winsome and reasonable”…no, not really, but now we know. We should also not be surprised, that the loving thing to do and the winsome and reasonable thing to do was always the thing that never cost them anything.
Many of us suspected a lot of things, but to see it all play out in real and in real space was still disheartening to the extreme. It’s one thing to suspect that many in the church would have no problem selling out their brother or sister in Christ, if it cost them anything at all, even something as small as the approval of the unregenerate, is disheartening. It’s one thing to suspect that many in the church would have no problem sending their brother and sisters to a concentration camp…sorry, reeducation training…is disheartening.
It's one thing to suspect that many in the church would bow down and do whatever the
government told them to do (and then quickly turn around and say, that the government was not telling them how to preach the gospel yet, so it’s ok…because as soon as they do that, then they will grow pair), but to see it actually happen is disheartening.
The fact of the matter is, many in church leadership thought it was a good idea, to segregate their bodies, separate the churches - saying who could worship and when…After shutting down their churches for months, many still thought assigned seating was a good idea, many had mandatory mask mandates for attendance, and many told their congregations that it is loving to not get the vaccine that they knew nothing about. In my own city, multiple pastors even formed a covid task force encouraging their members and communities to get the vaccine, particularly communities of color…because nothing says loving your neighbor, and “I’m not a racist”…like experimenting on people of color. None of which has been publicly repented.
Not only that, they openly demonized those who questioned the efficacy of what they said and did…and they didn’t just ridicule those who disagreed with them, they said that those who questioned them, were actively disobeying God, by not loving their neighbor…but of course, they very much wanted you to know that they were humble ones…just trying to make the world a better place and all.
Conclusion
Will any lessons be learned from all of this? In good Yogi Berra fashion, let me just say that we learned what we already knew. That is, that stupid theology makes stupid people. Weak theology makes weak people. Trite theology makes trite people. Shallow theology makes shallow people. In short, we become like what we worship. And we should all take a good, hard look in the mirror, because what we’ve become ain’t pretty.
However, there is a silver lining in all of this…God shacks things up to strengthen what remains. The actual church of Jesus Christ didn’t weaken as a result of covid…it actually become much stronger by removing all of the dead branches. It forced many to solidify convictions they already had but just didn’t know it yet. It made the church realize what happens when we worship and just how cataclysmically important that is. It gave the church an abject lesson that doctrine matters and has real time consequences. As Machen said,
"indifference toward doctrine makes no heroes of the faith."
Covid was the ultimate beta test…Now we know who the heroes are, and perhaps, the battle for Middle Earth has just begun.
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