Francis Berger's Blog, page 87

The Most Prophetic Paragraph From Nineteenth-Century Literature

He dreamt that the whole world was condemned to a terrible new strange plague that had come to Europe from the depths of Asia. All were to be destroyed except a very few chosen. Some new sorts of microbes were attacking the bodies of men, but these microbes were endowed with intelligence and will. Men attacked by them became at once mad and furious. But never had men considered themselves so intellectual and so completely in possession of the truth as these sufferers, never had they considered their decisions, their scientific conclusions, their moral convictions so infallible. Whole villages, whole towns and peoples went mad from the infection. All were excited and did not understand one another. Each thought that he alone had the truth and was wretched looking at the others, beat himself on the breast, wept, and wrung his hands. They did not know how to judge and could not agree what to consider evil and what good; they did not know whom to blame, whom to justify.  

      - From Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. Even more prophetic when you factor in the spiritual implications to which Dostoevsky alludes. 

Sunsets That Change Seasons

We experienced our first taste of autumn here in western Hungary in the final week of August. Temperatures have rebounded since then, and though it still very much looks like summer in this part of the world, the warm sun and the balmy air no longer feel like summer. 

The lingering summer masquerade is unclothed soon after the sun sinks away and temperatures drop to single Celsius digits. 

But the impending change of season subtly reveals itself just before the sky darkens over. The sunsets cast a considerably cooler quality of light. A patchwork of clouds inevitably shrouds the last dying rays. The sun itself dips below the horizon at a seemingly sharper angle.  No blackbird song serenades the descending twilight. After darkness falls, all is silent.   Sunset - Mihály Munkácsy - 1873

Explaining Away is the Epitome of Dishonesty

The 2020 birdemic coup has made it much easier to discern the evil inherent in the Establishment's Big Lies, which is the very essence of things coming to a point. 

I imagine many of those who have remained willingly blind to things coming to a point have relied heavily on the "explaining away" mechanism. 

The need to explain away arises when people are faced with a truth that makes them uncomfortable or puts them in a bad light.

People will go to great lengths to avoid acknowledging an uncomfortable truth as truth. They will go to even greater lengths to avoid the responsibility that comes with accepting truth. This is where explaining away happens. 

When someone explains away truth, they are essentially minimizing or dismissing the significance of truth. People who adopt this tactic want to convince others that the reality of truth is unimportant and unworthy of consideration, especially when set against the unreality of lies, which is then presented as being of paramount importance.

More than simple declarations, all attempts at explaining away come loaded with reasons. Saying truth is unimportant is not enough - the assertion must be supported with detailed whys and hows. 

Explaining away has also been utilized as a powerful weapon of inversion. It starts with relabeling good as bad. This relabeling is immediately followed up by an avalanche of reasons, arguments, and explanations, all of which attest to why good is bad and bad is good.

Explaining away has become the official doctrine of our totalitarian reality. All components of the System have been calibrated to minimize and/or dismiss truth whenever it happens to shine through the lies.

The media dedicates the bulk of its energy to explaining away. Professors and researchers build and devote entire careers to explaining away. Politicians and corporate leaders have forgotten how to do anything other than explain away. Common people nourish themselves almost entirely on steady diets of explaining away.

At its core, explaining away is a form of deception. It is meant to influence. It is meant to manipulate. It is meant to control.

And ultimately, it is meant to lure people toward self-damnation.  

Anti-Spiritual Confrontation Is Cooperation With Evil

Confronting evil has always been an unavoidable part of mortal life for Christians. Some forms of evil can be confronted with quiet repentance while others must be dealt with bold directness. Some forms of evil are so great that they must be openly opposed with defiant hostility. 

Many factors undoubtedly influence and determine the "kind" of confrontation a Christian chooses against evil, but no serious Christian would deny the necessity of fighting evil, even when (or perhaps more correctly, especially when) the fight is "restricted" to our thinking. 

For Christians, confronting evil is a duty, not an option. This duty must be positive rather than negative in nature. At its core, all defiance of evil must result in the affirmation of Good. While evil aims to destroy all that is Good, a Christian confronts evil to confirm, increase, and expand that which is Good.

Put another way, while evil has been doomed to perpetually "fight against", Christians are perpetually blessed to "fight for". 

Destroying all that is Good is primarily a spiritual aim, just as confirming, increasing, and expanding all that is Good is primarily a spiritual aim. Thus, all conflicts between Good and evil are fundamentally spiritual conflicts. One side comprises those on the side of God and Creation; the other side, those who oppose God and Creation. 

Most on the side against God and Creation do not consider themselves to be "against" God and Creation for the simple reason that they have deluded themselves, or have allowed themselves to be deluded into believing in the non-existence of God and Creation.

Since they do not believe in God, they do not believe in Satan, and they callously reject any notion of active cooperation with Satan. If asked, people on the side against God will insist that they are actually on the side of good (the side of humanity, equality, morality, freedom, justice, and all the rest of it), and that they are actually fighting against dehumanization, inequality, slavery, injustice, and all the rest of it.  

Christians do not have the luxury of such delusions. All serious Christians understand that being on the side of God and Creation is a spiritual position. As such, all conflict with evil is spiritual conflict. Yes, the conflict may involve material and societal factors, but these factors do not and cannot override spiritual realities and considerations. 

Those opposed to God and Creation are free to blind themselves to the inherent spiritual dimensions of the war they wage. Authentic Christians find it nearly impossible to adopt this "freedom". They understand that if they do, they run the risk losing perspective - the risk of neglecting or forgetting just what it is they are truly "fighting for". 

When Christians neglect or forget what it is they are fighting for, the spiritual motivation behind any confrontation with evil weakens. In such cases, Christians may find themselves preferring to fight against rather than fighting for. All confrontations with evil are rendered anti-spiritual from the perspective of Good when "against" eclipses "for" in Christian motivation, . 

When a Christian enters into confrontation, what he or she is fighting for must always be greater than what he or she is fighting against. 

Always. Even during these unprecedented times. 

When Christians resort to fighting against rather than fighting for, they stop confronting evil and begin actively cooperating with it. 

Orbán and the Pope: Much Ado About Nothing

So, the 2021 International Eucharistic Conference wrapped up in Hungary this week with the pope celebrating the closing mass. The pope also briefly met Hungary's prime minister. Here is my summary of their meeting: 

Pope:   Open up your country to mass migration.
Orbán: Help protect "Christian values" in Hungary. 

Neither man had anything to say about the massive and sustained assault on Christian values and human freedom via the birdemic, the 2020 global totalitarian coup, lockdowns, lockouts, pecks, and peck passports.

And why would they? Despite their apparent differences, both are deeply committed to the agenda. 

Worthwhile meeting. Glad it took place. 

We now return to our regularly scheduled totalitarian program.

Getting From B to C Really Is a Problem

Yesterday morning I happened to catch a snippet of conversation between two radio show hosts criticizing a local teacher who had stirred up a bit of controversy by seating pecked and unpecked students separately in his class. The teacher also allegedly awarded the pecked extra merit points simply for being pecked. 

There are very few birdemic measures in Hungary at the moment, and the radio show hosts took turns expressing their alarm and revulsion over the teacher's "dictatorial and discriminatory" actions. 

As I listened, I thought, "Hey, these guys have actually managed to think their way from point A to point B."

Then one of the radio hosts said, "Of course, it would be a different story if the government officially introduced a measure that mandated separating unpecked students from the pecked students, but it hasn't, which means the teacher has clearly stepped out of bounds."

"Quite right," the other chimed in. "If such a restriction were in place, then there would be nothing to talk about. Nevertheless, as of now, the teacher's actions are blatantly authoritarian. 

I turned off the radio. "They managed to get from A to B," I thought, "but C is clearly beyond them." 

Free To Engage With the World (and Confront Evil) In Ways Those Who Reject Christ Cannot

When we accept Christ's gift of salvation and everlasting life, we do not become "free" from the world, nor are we "free" to turn our backs on the world, but we are free to engage with the world and confront evil within the world in ways those who reject Christ cannot.

The significance and power of this freedom cannot be overstated. 

It not only signifies the essence of spiritual transformation and spiritual creativity, but also provides the only effective means through which evil can be resisted and overcome. 

The Great Lockout Has Been Initiated

Back in December I speculated that our totalitarian overlords might initiate a transition from lockdown to what I at the time termed as The Great Lockout.

Several countries around the world have since implemented coercive segregation measures against the unpecked, usually in the form of barring them from non-essential services such as restaurants, theaters, parks, etc. Nevertheless, in my original post on the subject I suggested that the introduction of more severe forms of lockout - barring unpecked individuals from essentials such as employment and healthcare - could be in the offing. 

Well, the "more severe" form of lockout has materialized Down Under where one provincial official has explicitly revealed his vision for a "pecked economy", one in which unpecked will be unable to participate. Said leader also suggests the unpecked will be denied healthcare services (see short video below).

That these declarations are ipso facto complete violations of the supposed universal human rights upon which secular, liberal, democratic societies are founded should be taken as clear confirmation that the global diktat of "none are safe until all are safe" has completely obliterated the so-called "era of human rights." 

In case you still had any doubts, "normal" is now officially over. 

As a side note, I should add that the international, global organization behind the current declaration of universal human rights has recently mandated pecks for all of its employees, thereby nullifying the very rights it professes to espouse and defend.

The intensification of demonic pressure in places where severe lockout measures are being considered is undeniable. As with every instance of demonic pressure we have experienced since the 2020 birdemic coup, it is important to bear in mind that these sorts of proposed actions are, primarily, a form of psychological manipulation. The demons are pushing buttons to get people to react. 

The open mention of severe lockouts marks a new phase in our current, ongoing spiritual war. To hinder the demonic objectives driving these tactics, it is vital to remain on the right side of the spiritual war.

​This entails not reacting to these sorts of manipulations or, conversely, reacting in ways the demons do not anticipate. 

I Don't Negotiate With . . .

I've developed this sardonic habit of thinking whereby I turn well-known System catchphrases against the System itself.  

My latest is a direct response to anything related to the birdemic and its propaganda, peck(s), pills, passports, or what have you:

Sorry, but I don't negotiate with terrorists. 

In The Event of a Zombie Apocalypse

This is one of the more amusing - or disturbing - oddities I have recently come across.

Amazon's service terms contains a clause that directly refers to a zombie apocalypse. I get the sense some wag lawyer wedged this into the terms as a joke, but considering what corporations have become in the past decade or two, who knows?  (Bold added; see original service terms here): 

42.10. Acceptable Use; Safety-Critical Systems. Your use of the Lumberyard Materials must comply with the AWS Acceptable Use Policy. The Lumberyard Materials are not intended for use with life-critical or safety-critical systems, such as use in operation of medical equipment, automated transportation systems, autonomous vehicles, aircraft or air traffic control, nuclear facilities, manned spacecraft, or military use in connection with live combat. However, this restriction will not apply in the event of the occurrence (certified by the United States Centers for Disease Control or successor body) of a widespread viral infection transmitted via bites or contact with bodily fluids that causes human corpses to reanimate and seek to consume living human flesh, blood, brain or nerve tissue and is likely to result in the fall of organized civilization.