Timothy Snyder's on How to Avoid or Resist Tyranny: His quotes with my thoughts #15

The students who majored in Philosophy at Sacramento State University, because at the time few in number, could often be likened to close-knit groups. Pranks were important. I couldn’t participate in the class on ethics so it was taped for me. The professor at one point was teaching on the philosopher Nietzsche, the other students made a pact to pretend they loved Nietzsche’s ideas, and told me their plans. When I got the tape I laughed and laughed, the professor was astounded and disappointed. But they finally told him the truth. 

Now we face some of those ideas, ideas, about the “will to power.” The anti-democratic events happening right now in the United States include, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, an immigrant who was mistakenly sent to an awful foreign prison in a country where his life was threatened and two officials of the first Trump presidency being threatened, by the president, with an investigation by the DOJ because they disagreed with the him. The events are too often based on the dark desire for revenge and enemies. But Timothy Snyder’s booklet On Tyranny replaces the darkness with some light. He tends to use fellowship against tyranny. In his 14th chapter Snyder writes: 

“Contribute to good causes: 

Be active in organizations, political or not, that express your own view of life. Pick a charity or two and set up autopay. Then you will have made a free choice that supports civil society and helps others to do good.”

 I want to quote a few more of his suggestions in this chapter. 

“The anticommunist dissidents of eastern Europe, facing a situation more extreme than ours, recognized the seemingly nonpolitical activity of civil society as an expression and a safeguard of freedom.” 

Snyder points out that “one element of freedom is the choice of associates, and one defense of freedom is the activity of groups to sustain their members.” 

He writes, “Háclav Havel, the Czech dissident thinker, gave the example of brewing good beer.”

 It seems that all or most of the organizations I have belonged to were formed to either promote the goodness of Christianity or stand for the truths of Christianity. My last two, Apologetics Resource Center and then in the Presbyterian Church USA, Voices of Orthodox Women, (VOW), which was formed to counter “Christian” women worshiping Sophia and doing communion with milk and honey.

 But in all of that I think beer making might be a very good thing. And, in fact, a group of men in a Presbyterian Church in Loveland Colorado, where VOW held their board meetings, made beer together and it was very good beer. 

Christian or not the members in these groups did sustain each other and friendships were deep. And their love for Jesus grew because of their friendships—that is part of freedom. 

 I have visited the Inklings pub, The Eagle and the Child, in Oxford. There they gathered and read their works to each other and forged deep friendships over good ale and probably tea. They kept away what C.S. Lewis would call Britian, and France and China. Looking for peace, not power he wrote in That Hideous Strength, “When logres really dominates Britian, when the goddess Reason, the divine clearness is really enthroned in France, when the order of Heaven is really followed in China—why, then it will be spring.” 

He goes on to say “we’ve got Britian down but who knows how long we can keep her down.”

 So the United States is rising, that hideous strength is rising here, but stay in fellowship with those you care about, doing those things you care about with the gifts given by a gracious Creator.

 

Timothy Snyder's on How to Avoid or Resist Tyranny: His quotes with my thoughts #14

I have probably told this story before but I will use it to point toward the advice Timothy Snyder gives in his 14th chapter of On Tyranny. It is probably the closest I have ever come to aiding a conspiracy theory. But know, no, no conspiracy here, just an interesting day in the life of a young telephone operator. 

When I first moved to Sacramento, just out of high school, I worked as a telephone operator and at a time when we still used boards where lights flickered and you pushed a line into the hole where the light was and said “Operator.” 

I did this one rather lazy afternoon and got a request, and honestly, I cannot remember whether it was Frank Sinatra calling John F. Kennedy or vise-versa. It was before that election! I quickly closed the circuit, listening to a call would cost you jail. But I did tell the operators on both sides of me who I had just placed a call for and to whom. They immediately plugged into the call. The board repeated itself in front of each operator. When they hung up, I heard one of the operators, under her breath, say, I thought we lived in a democracy. I will never know.

 Now we have all kinds of problems with those who would like our information, and no, this isn’t about the recent foolish actions of the leaders of defense, intelligence and the state department using an unprotected means of sending classified material. But they should probably listen to Snyder.

 “Establish a Private Life: 

“Nastier rulers will use what they know about you to push you around. Scrub your computer of malware on a regular basis. Remember that email is skywriting. Consider using alternative forms of the internet, or simply using it less. Have personal exchanges in person. For the same reason, resolve any legal trouble. Tyrants seek the hook on which to hang you. Try not to have hooks.” 

Now I don’t find any of this relevant for me at the moment. I admit that at one time I had a mailbox at the post office which I used to write for information from racist groups because I didn’t want them to know my address since I was writing articles on them at the time. The only two unsettling things I received was information that a person I was writing about was actually a lizard man—this was from another person who thought he was doing research. And then there was the empty envelope with a very large knife in it, that was troubling. 

But recently I have realized that several public figures, many Christian, have and are receiving threats, and some congresspersons do not speak up about their concerns because they fear for themselves and their families. David French is one Christian in particular. When he was speaking out against Trump in the 2016 election among other threats, he and his wife received, a picture of their young Ethiopian daughter placed on a picture of a gas chamber. The point is to keep your private life separate from your public life. 

 There is also the horror of people being taken off the street, accused of being gang members, without the right to prove they are not. I have written of some who are very close to me who are frightened because one of them only speaks Spanish although an American citizen. They both got passports so that they would always be carrying identification with them. 

As Snyder writes, “What the great political thinker Hannah Arendt meant by totalitarianism was not an all—powerful state, but the erasure of the difference between private and public life. We are free only insofar as we exercise control over what people know about us, and in what circumstances they come to know it. During the campaign of 2016, Americans took a step toward totalitarianism without even noticing by accepting as normal the violation of electronic privacy. Whether it is done by American or Russian intelligence agencies, or for that matter by any institution, the theft, discussion, or publication of personal communications destroys a basic foundation of our rights. If we have no control over who reads what and when, we have no ability to act in the present or plan for the future. …” 

But Christian let me add the future is in His hands so we in our faith have reason to act or plan for the future. And part of that is caring for those who live in fear, who have needs, who seek the safe harbor.

Beauty ... And Threats Against Chief Justice Roberts

 

I have decided that I need to write again an article that features the false prophet Julie Green because of something I heard her prophesying. This is about MAGA also and the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). But first I want to write about what splits the darkness we are experiencing.  I was so troubled this morning and praying about all of this darkness, both right and left, and God dropped a word in my heart, that is beauty, the beauty of Christ.

Jesus’ beauty outweighs and outlasts all of the darkness.

When we first moved to our house 39 years ago, I went searching for Christmas tree bangles. I found some Christmas balls, each with a large rose on them. The Song of Solomon speaks of one who says, I am the Rose of Sharon, the lily of the valleys. While this book of the Bible speaks of the beauty of human love, it holds beautiful images of Jesus and His Church. He is as a beautiful rose. He is also the Star of Balaam’s forced prophecy.

I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; A star shall come forth from Jacob, a scepter shall rise from Israel, …

The rest of the prophecy speaks of the history of Israel but as the great composer Mendelssohn, a Jewish convert, saw and wrote, There Shall a Star From Jacob Come. The beauty of Jesus will eventually overcome this darkness.

What is fostering the darkness, the lies, the lack of care for the poor, sick, stranger and prisoner. Well of course Satan is always the originator as is human depravity, but there are several movements that are seemingly merging and pushing the present evil agenda. One is political MAGA, one is a combination of Christian nationalism and the NAR. Within MAGA are many who are only secular Christians who don’t understand the truths of scripture and among Christiam nationalism are many who twist Scripture and the creeds of Christianity.

To show how much the political and the religious is merging is a prophecy by Julie Green a false prophet connected to both NPR and MAGA. She has, as I have written before, spoken at Clay Clark and Michael Flynn’s Reawaken Tour. As I have pointed out before Donald Trump’s son Eric is also a part of this tour. Green has enveloped herself in much of the MAGA movement by being a part of the tour—she is well known and undoubtedly an influencer.

Where the political and her prophecies meet is with some of Trump’s battles against his perceived enemies.  Now it is the judicial system as he is involved in several court cases in his attempts to deport immigrants without due process, etc., etc. She just a few days ago spoke this, about Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts, which is supposedly God speaking through her.  She began by calling American leaders swamp rats, and then turns on Roberts:

“Justice Roberts, I will say your name again, you think because you have chief in front of your name and you are protected by the deep state that you can rule anyway you want or the way your puppet masters tell you and you will get away with it. Your days in the Supreme Court protected from your dark acts and your past against this nation well be exposed and I will remove you because I am the Judge over all the earth.

And you will no longer sit as a justice in the supreme court but in a jail cell where you belong while you await a trial to be sentenced for treason.

 I will show the world your dark secrets and how you committed treason on your … and helped steal the twenty-twenty election by your order from above to throw out or discredit any election fraud evidence and you passed this message along to the judges' nationwide through your secret servers- can throw out and damage and destroy the truth at all costs. I will show how you padded your pockets and how you are deeply connected to the sex trafficking world and that is why you have your position today.

But someone has everything they need to take you out completely, video and audio evidence along with numerous emails There all coming out to take you out justice Roberts. Justice is coming for you and your sentence is about to be handed down.”[1]

Now I could speculate that Green has links to people who have some vile plans or her illusions and hatred for leadership in the supreme court, and her idolatrous view of Trump—she has God calling him his David—is so great that she is able to form her own vile story. Whatever it is, this is extremely evil. She goes on to predict that this will happen to many judges and includes what she calls the establishment.

Besides these kinds of threats and they are threats, is the way Green destroys the word of God. She continually gives her followers courage using God’s promises. But then, with her prophecies and explanations causes the words to have no real meaning.   

Please understand that religiously focused MAGA people and some in the NAR are enraptured with the possibilities of her and other NAR prophets.  The money systems, supposedly, will collapse and the “true” believers will gain all of the wealth and power while all other leaders sit in jail or are killed. This is the root of evil. The temptation that Satan offered Jesus in the wilderness. He is now offering it to a misguided and broken people.

The Church, ensconced in the beauty of Christ, called to a life under the cross must stand away from the evils of these movements but stand soberly telling the truth and praising the purity, beauty and holiness of Jesus.

 

---

[1] LIVE WITH JULIE: THE DEEP STATE IS BEING ERADICATED FROM THIS NATION Several words were hard for me to understand so I left them out but those parts do not change any of this.

Once Again-Here is Danger-Loss of Our Soul

If you do not grieve over Jerce Reyes Barrios, a Venezuelan Soccer player, tortured by Maduro’s dictatorship, and then sent from the US, by President Trump’s instructions, to a prison in El Salvador, you would not have grieved over the Jews, Romas, Confessing Church Pastors, etc. sent to concentration camps in the Nazi lands. You would have been an indifferent citizen who paid no attention to what was happening in your country or someone who knew and just didn’t care. Or sadly you would have been part of those goons who rounded the people up and sent them off to die. 

 If you are not troubled by Trump, by press secretary Karoline Leavitt, by supposed prophet Julie Green insisting that judges, if they oppose Trump’s rulings, should be impeached, or as Green suggests imprisoned, possibly even hung, then you are walking in the shadow of those who once destroyed a democracy in 53 days

 If it does not strike you as strange that Trump is insisting that the pardons that Biden gave to the January 6th Committee is not valid perhaps you have not followed the Committee’s process as they investigated the attempted coup on that 6th. Perhaps you did not hear the testimonies of the police who were badly hurt—who cannot work now because of those attacks. Perhaps you do not realize that Trump wants to jail many members of the committee. Democracies do not jail members of committees for hearing and listening to witnesses. 

 In the book of Mattew in the Bible one is told of the great judgement when the Lord Jesus comes in His glory. Jesus speaks of this. First, Jesus already knows that there are both sheep and goats and He divides them putting the sheep on his right side and the goats on his left.

 Notice Jesus doesn’t divide them that way because of their good or bad works. The sheep have already been made sheep. That was Christ’s work on the cross. The goats formed themselves into goats, C.S., Lewis would have called them humans becoming monsters such as one meets in a nightmare. 

 But there are rewards and punishments—the sheep, because they were sheep, gave the hungry something to eat. They gave the thirsty something to drink. They invited the stranger in. They clothed the naked and visited the sick. They went to those in prison. 

 The goats did none of this! 

 And Jesus equates the good to others as good to Himself. The lack of caring of others with the lack of caring for Him. 

 There is a Kingdom, present and yet still coming. There is a King present and yet still coming. I have no doubt that those gifted with His grace will at least eventually see that a stranger went off to a prison in a foreign land and he did not deserve it. Bring him home! I have no doubt that those gifted with His grace will embrace the good judges who want the stranger who had been tortured to be free. I have no doubt that those embraced in the King’s grace because of His cross will, since His throne is set on kindness, truth, and justice, seek only kindness, truth, and justice.

 

Timothy Snyder's on How to Avoid or Resist Tyranny: His quotes with my thoughts #13

We all experience grief, loss, the feelings of abandonment and even betrayal. I’ve experienced some of that. Losing my mom and dad, a grandma, aunt and uncle, in the midst of birthing four children. I never wanted the telephone to ring again. The last two, children, would come a bit later. 

 And then there was the time we thought all that we owned would be lost. My husband went with a group of men, camping with the Royal Rangers. An organization much like the Boy Scouts. A young boy went off by himself, fell into the river, and drowned. A hungry lawyer and a hungry reporter brought the whole thing to trial insisting it was the church’s and Royal Ranger leader’s fault. I still remember our friends, we two couples, frighted but prayerful, eating together, playing monopoly, they cheated because I was beating—we laughed until tears ran down our faces. And the next day the end of the trial, the verdict was not guilty, and the jury came down to hug the defendants. 

And then there was the time my Church, Journey now Hope, was taken by the PC (USA) denomination because we left in protest of their immoral rulings about marriage and ordination. We lost everything, except our faith. And the next Sunday in a borrowed church communion was blessed. Except my husband had trouble going up to the cup-he was scared he would get lost—and that brings me to my final loss I will write about before I get to my main subject. 

My husband had Alzheimer’s, and the first few years were blessed. We shared so much together. We walked, and sung together, visited friends, even made a trip to the bank since my husband could no longer ride his bicycle there. At the time it was the oldest bank in Sacramento, only one. My husband knew everyone there. I took him in to say goodbye and they crowded around him saying goodbye. And then that last week … 

Hospice gives you a booklet to help you understand all the signs of death. The legs becoming blotchy, and that final breathing like a fish puffing. That last week he never opened his eyes, did not speak but once, and did not eat or drink water--he could not. And over a few weeks before he had pulled out the hair on his eyebrows and mustache. We sang to him and read scripture, I think he heard. 

 And then one morning sleeping, after he was gone, God gave me a dream, I was looking out my front window and he was walking up the steps. He had long hair and thick eyebrows, a mustache and even a beard—all of it white. And then I woke up. And this is to say in the midst of sorrow and grief God gives comfort, hope and peace. 

It has been hard to write about this next subject that Timothy Snyder writes about in his On Tyranny. It includes protests and some of them I am bothered by. That is the ones that end with the protestors being violent. I know that is not God’s will. But I know that there have been some that are centered in His righteousness. 

Snyder writes: Practice Corporal Politics. “Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen. Get outside. Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Make new friends and march with them.”

 Now I agree with this but there is another way also. The East German Christians protested but they also prayed in their churches. They still followed the Barman Declaration that the Confessing Churches in Nazi times held to. I cannot remember where I read it but as they prayed in their churches and the tanks drove through the streets, many of those in the tanks left them and went into the churches to also pray and that had a great deal to do with how the wall fell. 

In Romania the Reformed Churches, in protecting a pastor, were a strong part of the protest, and I have a wonderful movie titled the Singing Revolution in which in Estonia the country virtually, while protesting, sang their way out of the overlords of the Soviet Union. 

 And very recently the protesters of Hong Kong were greatly carried along by Christians and in the great crowded streets a Christian song was often sung. Hong Kong's protesters adopt Christian hymn as their call to action. This protest was brutally put down, many protesters believed they needed to go into exile, some are still in prison but God has not forgotten. And that once again brings me to the subject of grief. If we do not grieve the continuing loss of democracy and the many people who are being affected by the loss we will fall into apathy—so we must at least try to understand and grieve with those who grieve.

 

 

Timothy Snyder's on How to Avoid or Resist Tyranny: His quotes with my thoughts-12

 I just saw an article on Google news that I thought would be funny, "Signs you are in a bad Mexican Restaurant." It wasn't funny, just very good information and made me start thinking about some of my experiences eating Mexican food and wanting some. First of all, l as I have written in my blog Tacos with Grace, my family has eaten a lot of American homemade tacos. but I am thinking about in Mexico.

Years ago when we were often traveling to Baja where my husband's brother worked in an orphanage, I took one trip alone via a bus and then with the lady who founded the orphanage. I came back across the border with a Mexican American couple. They stopped at the outdoor fish market in Ensenada. That was where I had the best fish tacos I have ever enjoyed. And they are eaten with cabbage not lettuce.

Another enjoyable time was when a friend at the orphanage took me and my husband to a stand that served carnitas. My husband had been there before and told me the owner looked like my dad and he did despite the fact that my dad was a mixture of English and Scottish. The carnitas were wonderful, but the funny thing was that on the way my friend, Valerie told me that the first time they went there they became very sick the next day. I did not get sick and neither did anyone else.

Another story connected with the orphanage which I think I have told before was about a house across from the orphanage where the family operated a small cafe. One day my husband and his brother decided to go in and order some food. They entered and sat down at a table and ordered dinner. They were served but found out afterwards that the family had closed the restaurant but simply served them anyway. Such was the great hospitality.

I didn't intend to let this lead into another posting on Timothy Snyder's book On Tyranny but I think I shall. Chapter 12:

Make eye contact and small talk.

"This is not just polite. It is part of being a citizen and a responsible member of society. It is also a way to stay in touch with your surroundings, break down social barriers, and understand whom you should and should not trust. If we enter a culture of denunciation, you will want to know the psychological landscape of your daily life."

This has a lot to do with the hospitality I mentioned above. The orphanage while filled with Mexican children was helped and aided by many different nationalities. at times it could seem like a large Christian conference although at the time it was a very rugged place to be, For instance when we went we always carried a large amount of clothes, canned food, and used tiny motel soap which they used in their washing machines. The orphanage has since grown and modernized as has Baja.

But Snyder's other words about a culture of denunciation may seem unnecessary for now but not so. Today I listened to a video with Jonah Goldberg and Sam Harris. I only listened to the shorter version since I am not a member of Harris's site. It was about the actions of Vance and Trump toward Zelensky and also about senators who needed courage. One of the reasons they needed courage was because some of them have been threatened including their families. That is one of the reasons some have not spoken up.

The beginning of the Orphanage

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Timothy Snyder's on How to Avoid or Resist Tyranny: His quotes with my thoughts-11

Last night, Thursday night, I watched a very old movie, produced in 1940. The Mortal Storm with a great many well-known stars, well known if you are in your eighties, include Margret Sullavan, James Stewart, Robert Young, Frank Morgan, and Robert Stack. The movie is one of the earlier Hollywood movies that addressed the horror of Nazi Germany and was made before the United States entered the war. There are about 10 others. 

 The Mortal Storm focuses on a German family in a small university town. The family is shattered, torn apart, by the rise of Hitler. The movie is both sad and romantic. It does not have a happy ending. Part of the back information states: “What may seem small and personal is instead towering, a bold revelation of the brutality of the Nazi regime that so infuriated propaganda minister Goebbels that he banned all MGM movies in Germany.” 

This was an interesting time in America, many were unaware of the reality of Nazi brutality toward those in Germany who disagreed with their ideology. Some were more interested in doing business with Germany and some simply agreed with their insistence that some of humanity was less than human. I have written about that here, The Second Coming of Fascism to the United States.   

There were several movie producers, Jewish, who produced movies about Nazi Germany while many in the United States continued to fight over which side we should be on, if any. There was even a senatorial committee formed to investigate the producers, seemingly to suggest that their productions were unlawful because they might formant warmongering groups. Two senators started the investigation, Gerald Nye of North Dakota, and Bennett Clark of Missouri. Steven Ross author of Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews foiled Nazi Plots against Hollywood and America writes of that investigation:

 “Clark opened the September Senate hearings by condemning the motion picture industry for glorifying ‘England’s Imperialism’ [Remember England was under attack at that time begging America for arms.] and creating ‘hatred of the people of Germany’. Nye joined the vilification by calling Hollywood the ‘most potent and dangerous Fifth Column in our country.’ … Both senators insisted that their investigation was driven by patriotism and not prejudice. Nye declared the Jews have themselves to blame.” 

 Notice how familiar this all seems. Accusations based supposedly on Patriotism, accusations of hatred because of truth telling against bullies, a nation being accused of “imperialism” although they are the ones under attack. Nonetheless the investigation came to nothing after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and Germany and Italy joining with Japan against the United States. 

 One must read long and well researched materials to understand the truthfulness of what is happening in our world. History and well written journal material is important in crisis times. Here is Timothy Snyder’s 11th point in his book On Tyranny:

 Investigate: “Figure things out for yourself. Spend more time with long articles. Subsidize investigative journalism by subscribing to print media. Realize that some of what is on the internet is there to harm you. Learn about sites that investigate propaganda campaigns (some of which come from abroad), Take responsibility for what you communicate with others.”

 Most of the secular news and opinions I listen to are on the internet. The Dispatch, The Atlantic- of course they both have Christians on staff and religious articles. Also, some articles and opinion pieces in the New York Times. I also subscribe to some religious journals, Touchstone, Christianity Today and Voice of the Martyrs. There are religious programs on the internet that deal with both religion and culture as well as news that I find immensely helpful. 

The point is there are a lot of good solid offerings to be had but this should go along with the advice from Snyders last point—read books. Most of the views I hold are formed by Scripture reading, daily, and by love of books both fiction and non-fiction. I have always loved history and believe we can not understand where we are at without some knowledge of history.

 

There is danger here!

So often religious groups that are extreme and yet insist they are biblical, using Scripture to under gird their ideology, are dangerous. They pull apart people’s lives, in some cases even endanger their lives. I mentioned in my last posting about a trip I took with a friend going from Sacramento to the Midwest. I will say a bit about that trip as I write about, in this posting, a dangerous movement connected to the MAGA movement. 

The trip with my friend was to eventually divide us in Wisconsin. She was dropping me off in Madison where my sister and her two young daughters lived. She was to go on to Indianapolis where she had been invited to live with a friend and the friend’s mother and help with the church they were attending.

 All along the way God kept speaking to my heart telling me to go all the way to Indianapolis with my friend. I kept saying no, she’s a bit cranky and if I do that she will have to turn around and take me back to Madison. 

We landed in Madison for the night. My friend with her expensive camera took pictures of my two nieces and then left the next morning. Without her camera. I in the mean time was trying to get a plane out of either Chicago or Indianapolis and found either was going to be almost impossible when she called to see if her camera was there. Needless to say we both left together for Indianapolis and her friend’s house. 

Have you ever entered a place and experienced what could be called red lights flashing in your mind. We both did when we entered the home. The next morning after the friend and her mother left for work we went searching for some clue that would explain our concerns. We found a hand written sermon in a kitchen cabinet. 

They, the people in the church, were going to Mars! 

 We spent the rest of the morning trying to get the friend to return to Sacramento, and chasing down the moving van to send my friend’s furniture back to Sacramento. We were unsuccessful with the first and successful with the last. I should say that I was so thankful for our church, Ware house Ministries, at the time. As we kept in touch with them, getting their advice and feeling their prayers. 

So I write all of this to remind all of us that people can sound biblical, give biblical advice and be totally off the wall with heresy and possible hurt. And this is the main message of my posting. I have written several times about the false prophet Julie Green who is a part of the New Apostolic Reformation movement. She is also friends with a large group of MAGA and Qanon people including Clay Clark, Michael Flynn and Eric Trump Jr. the son of President Trump.

 Green is often a speaker at the Reawaken Tour led by the three just mentioned. These meetings are filled with many conspiracy speakers and of course their important focus is Donald Trump. Green reads her prophecies almost daily and listening it is supposedly God speaking through her. Lately with the presidential election she has God continue to give out judgement on most of the “establishment.” They will be fired, and/or imprisoned and this includes judges who supposedly covered up the “election fraud.” In fact, this includes chief Justice John Roberts. 

 And now she points to Elon Musk’s many firings as proof that her prophecies are true. I could go two ways with this. Green is being told ahead of time what is going to happen in the Trump government, but that would be pushing conspiracies myself which I despise. But the other way is that it is so much in the heads and hearts of MAGA people that the Democrats are enemies’ intent on destroying Christians and America that such information as the destruction of their enemies is a main theme in their dreams and Green’s prophecies. 

 So, to hopefully bring some rational questions to this because Green insists the American Christians are like the Israelites in Egypt, in bondage: Are we slaves or citizens in America? Have we been whipped, beaten, imprisoned, starved, burned at the stake, had our heads cut off as Christians in some other places and times have experienced?

 No! 

 Green keeps pushing this and falsely allowing God, supposedly through her, to call down judgement on enemies, even other Christians. She brings all of the promises of God from the Scriptures to her listeners but then places them in a false time of great persecution. She is bringing harm to the message of the gospel; she may eventually bring harm to those Christians who are not aligned with Trump or his followers. 

 In another posting I did several years ago, I wrote this: “The Church was born in tribulation, and still endures the tribulation, not in all places but in some places all the time. From Nero to Hitler, from Domitian to Idi Amin, from North Korea to radical Islam the anti-Christs keep appearing and being destroyed by the will of God. And yes, there will undoubtedly be a final anti-Christ destroyed by Christ’s glorious return.

 But not out of the tribulation is there safety, rather in the midst of common life and tribulation, normal workdays and dark eras the Christian finds peace, safety and comfort in the arms Jesus Christ. His people are united to him, nourished by him, kept faithful by him.” If you are a Christian find your peace in Christ and don’t listen to the wild prophecies of MEGA or NAR today. They quote Scripture while teaching a political ideology.

Timothy Snyder's on How to Avoid or Resist Tyranny: His quotes with my thoughts-10

Years ago, yes, I say that a lot, now. But years ago, I took a trip with a girlfriend, actually a friend of the family. I was to travel with her and then fly home while she stayed with another friend. That is a story in itself that I may write about another time. My husband was kind enough to take care of our children, five at home. 

When I returned, we took a trip to Mexico to visit an orphanage where my husband’s brother worked. While there my brother-in-law told us that he had been told that I had ran off with another man. A very big lie! I finally traced that lie to a sister in-law- who had called the day before I left. I told her I was taking a trip with a friend and would be gone for slightly over a week. Sometimes when you are trying to live for Christ those who are not will jump at the chance to make your life colorful in a bad way. Thankfully that lie did not go far. 

 Timothy Snyder in his introduction to chapter 10 of On Tyranny, writes about holding on to truth. He writes: 

Believe in Truth: “To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true , then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.” 

 Snyder goes on to give four descriptions of the death of truth in four modes. He writes that he is using the observers of totalitarians, naming one observer, Victor Klemperer. (P.66) The first is “open hostility to verifiable reality.” Yes he does use Trump and his many lies here. The second is “shamanistic incantation.” And Snyder refers to Klemperer’s note that “the fascist style depends on ‘endless repetition.’ Snyder gives as one example the constant reference to the “Big Lie” about the stealing of the election as well as the constant reference to various people giving them degrading names. And repeating those names over and over. He writes “The Big Lie created its own world, where anyone who pointed to simple truths was the enemy.”

 The third mode is, “magical thinking, or the open embrace of contradiction.” Snyder gives several examples. One is, “Liberating the wealthy from taxes will not increase the national debt.” The fourth mode is, “misplaced faith.” That is placing faith in a person who insists they are worthy of that faith. Snyder gives several examples here, but I am thinking of the video Trump placed on Truth Social yesterday where he was implying that he would save Gaza and had multiple images of himself including a huge gold statue that reminds one of the huge statue that Nebuchadnezzar placed on the plain of Dura insisting that all should worship it. 

For a Christian misplaced faith is idolatry because there is only One to place faith in and He, Jesus, is ultimate Truth. But every time we accept untruth, even small lies, we are growing toward that idolatry—we are becoming creatures who are walking in a foggy unreality, losing our foothold. 

 C.S. Lewis wrote of those who were becoming splendors like gods and goddesses or becoming like monsters of nightmares. Truth or untruths under girds such transformations. Tonight, these weeks, a nation, Ukraine is being hurt by the lies told about them and their leader. The monsters have told the lies and others are agreeing because of the fears that lying can cause.

 Rise in splendor Church, stand in truth. 

 

Timothy Snyder's on How to Avoid or Resist Tyranny: His quotes with my thoughts-9

The first time I heard the phrase “the deep state” was from a friend I had worked with in writing ministry, someone I respected and cared about. When I asked her what she was talking about, and this was all on Facebook, her answer was to me gibberish. I did not understand. I still don’t really. Bureaucrats seeking to destroy America! Democrats who are demonic! No, a better word or words might be mythical creatures created by others with dark imaginations. Or, perhaps, paranoid yet dead imaginations. 

 The real term could be Democrats whose principles I don’t agree with. 

And then there is the term “globalist.” Which, according to some means someone who wants The United States to be absorbed into a one world government. But a globalist might simply mean someone who wants peace among nations with all working toward the good of the nations and peoples. 

I have told my story before about a ministry that turned toward dark terms partly because of a book the leader wrote, When The World Will be as One. That was someone who had a very definite definition of globalism. It included as he put it, the Jews (money changers) Jesus chased out of the temple who supposedly went out into the world and became the international bankers.

 And then we could think about the “enemy within.” Now that could mean extremist groups in the United States, like The Proud Boys or it could mean American citizens who disagree with political leaders. One is something to worry about, the other is not an enemy but friends of so many who care about democracy. 

 This leads to Timothy Snyder’s book On Tyranny. His 9th chapter begins with this: 

Be Kind To Our Language:

 “Avoid pronouncing the phrases everyone else does. Think up your own way of speaking, even if only to convey that thing you think everyone is saying. Make an effort to separate yourself from the internet. Read books.” 

Okay, I need to take a lot of that advice—I spend too much time on the internet. And I could read a lot more. 

Snyder lists some books that would be helpful, writing, “Any good novel enlivens our ability to think about ambiguous situations and judge the intentions of others.” Snyder goes on to list some good books to read, And some of my grandchildren will be pleased to hear one is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. 

 Another helpful suggestion is made to Christians. They, “might return to the foundational book, which as ever is very timely. Jesus preached that it ‘is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God. We should be modest, for ‘whoever shall exalt himself shall be abased and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” 

 Further: “And of course we must be concerned with what is true and what is false: ‘And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free,’”

 Now of course Jesus does go on to state that God can make it possible for the rich man to enter the Kingdom and that would be a change of heart, the regeneration of a lost soul. One who becomes willing to give up all for the Lord. And truth should be capitalized since Jesus is the Truth who gives new life and makes us free, free to live a redeemed life. Free to care for the poor, the needy, the prisoner, the immigrants

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Timothy Snyder's on How to Avoid or Resist Tyranny: His quotes with my thoughts-8

This is the 8th lesson from Timothy Snyder’s book On Tyranny and the 8th quote I am using.

 “Stand Out” 

“Someone has to. It is easy to follow along. It can feel strange to do or say something different. But without this unease, there is no freedom. Remember Rosa Parks. The moment you set an example. The spell of the status quo is broken, and others will follow.” 

This is a section where Snyder lays out steps that brought the whole world into World War II. He does this to show how Churchill was at one time the only leader standing against Hitler. The United States had not entered the war, yet—but eventually Hitler found himself fighting not only Britian, but having turned on his ally Russia, found himself fighting on two fronts. If Churchill had not continued the fight alone, with France, Norway, Poland, and other nations invaded we would surely, still, be aligned with Nazis1.  or be their subjects. 

Trump is not a Nazi, but perhaps a fascist since he is attracted to authoritarian rulers such as Putin. In the midst of this it is good to see many friends caring for the well being of others. Standing for truth in the midst of lies. Praying for rulers and the ruled. Seeking the peace, grace and help of the true Ruler.

 Toward the end of a news video I posted several days ago there was the story of some immigrants who had been deported to Panama. They were not from Panamá but were sent there as a holding place and were locked in a hotel. Most were returning to their own country but some could not go so were being sent to a camp close to a jungle. One was a woman from Iran who had become a Christian so if she went back to Iran she faced the possibility of death. Pray for her.2.

[1] There were Americans who wanted to align with Nazi Germans, Americans First is not new.

[1] Migrants including Indians deported from the US moved from Panama hotels to Darien jungle This is not the same video I placed on Facebook but now I can’t fined that one. 

 

Timothy Snyder's on How to Avoid or Resist Tyranny: His quotes with my thoughts-7

I have waited awhile to put up my next quote from Timothy Snyder's book, On Tyranny. It is a very serious quote and I wasn't sure how to approach it. After several events today I believe we all need to be very serious about what is happening in our country. There is much to be ashamed of. 

 The posting below from the Whitehouse X site is one thing to be ashamed of. It is immigrants being chained before they are loaded on their deportation plane. There is the suggestion that those chaining them are experiencing euphoria. Besides that, is the fact that today the president said that Ukraine had started the war that Russia actually started. And this after not inviting Ukraine to the supposed peace talks. Our nation is descending deeper and deeper into darkness. 

 Snyder's quote is: "Be Reflective if you must be armed: If you carry a weapon in public service, may God bless you and keep you. But know that evils of the past involved policemen and soldiers finding themselves, one day, doing irregular things. Be ready to say no." 

Snyder writes about how so much of the harm and killing among both Nazi and Soviet authorities was done by regular policemen who never expected to be where they were and did not know how to say no.

 There were so many in Nazi Germany who were ashamed at what was happening to others, what was happening to the Jews, the Roma, the Poles, the Jehovah Witnesses, the LGBT communities, the disabled, the Confessing pastors. 

There were members of the white Rose a group of young people who wrote about all of the terrible actions of the Nazis. They were mostly Catholic and Lutheran. They were caught and most beheaded. 

 And there was the Confessing Church which included Bonhoeffer. In his Ethics he in his feelings of shame wrote a confession of sin for the church as a whole. It is long but I will try to put some of it here.

 "With this confession the entire guilt of the world falls upon the church, upon the Christians, and since the guilt is not denied here, but is confessed, there arises the possibility of forgiveness. ...

 I am guilty of cowardly silence at a time when I ought to have spoken. I am guilty of hypocrisy and untruthfulness in the face of force. I have been lacking in compassion, and I have denied the poorest of my brethren. I am guilty of disloyalty and of apostasy from Christ. ...

The Church confesses that she has not proclaimed often and clearly enough her message of the one God who has revealed Himself for all times in Jesus Christ and who suffers no other gods besides Himself. She confesses, her timidity, her evasiveness, her dangerous concessions. She has been often untrue to her office of guardianship and to her office of comfort. And through this she has often denied to the outcast and to the despised the compassion which she owes them."

 

Timothy Snyder's on How to Avoid or Resist Tyranny: His quotes with my thoughts-6

Uniforms are interesting signs of authority, peacefulness, goodwill and bravery, but also evil. When I think of uniforms outside the police or the armed forces, I think of those who call themselves Christians and wear uniforms. And I think of good and evil. 

 The good I think of is the Salvation Army--giving food, clothing, comfort and the Gospel. The evil I think of is Sacramento's onetime cult. They no longer exist in Sacramento but at one time they had a commune on X street. After changing their name from Free Love Ministries to Aggressive Christianity they decided to get uniforms. 

A young woman, a member of the cult, was brought to my office to talk with me because she wanted to leave the group. She had committed some sin, not making it to their prayer meeting I believe, and they wouldn't let her have a uniform. She did, thankfully, leave as did a woman who was pushed out of her marriage, declared spiritually dead by them. and used as a slave. 

 The cult eventually left Sacramento and ended up, I think, in New Mexico. Just a few years ago I heard on the news that the leaders, Jim and Lilla Green had been arrested for allowing sexual abuse in their commune. And this brings me to Timothy Snyder's 6th way to avoid or resist tyranny. 

"When the men with guns who have always claimed to be against the system start wearing uniforms and marching with torches and pictures of a leader, the end is nigh. When the pro-leader paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the end has come." This of course is not something that one can do, but what one must know.

 I could not believe what I was seeing on TV when the many men, in Charlotteville, marched with torches shouting racists slogans, nor the many who attacked the United States Capital beating the policemen and degrading its many offices. 

 Among those who participated at the Capital were uniformed paramilitary groups. The end was nigh. But the day is still free. They have been pardoned by the President but the day is still free. Speaking secularly, we are free. Free to vote, free to write, free to complain or not. But, there are still unknowns, I will not enumerate, except can we write tomorrow? Can we complain? 

I think some of the later chapters have better answers, Stand Out, Be Kind to Our Language, Believe in Truth. Thats coming. But finally, tomorrow is unknown except- as Charles Williams kept writing in his book, The Place of the Lion, after all was disappearing still there was the sheep: 

 .. but the Virtue understood, in its soaring comprehension, the safety in which the sheep still lived, or from what yet deeper distance of spirit was to arise the Innocence which everlastingly formed and maintained them."

 

Timothy Snyder's on How to Avoid or Resist Tyranny: His quotes with my thoughts-5

I've had several aunts who played with my sisters and I when we were children. One aunt, a Missouri aunt. played dress up with us. And we went gooseberry picking with her and then enjoyed her pie. Another woman who I think of as an aunt although she was a second cousin. Mary always brought paper dolls when she came. They were already cut out and saved in boxes. She always took them home with her but we played with them while she visited. I don't know who told me,

 I don't remember, but it was probably my mother who was angry at several great aunts for giving me and my sisters a haircut and perm while my mother was in the hospital. That was in California. In Stockton California. That is where three great aunts and my second cousin Mary lived. 

 The story was that because there was a mentally disabled person in the family when Mary was in the hospital for something serious, the great aunts, without permission, had her sterilized so she could not have children. I wondered for many years how that could be? and then I read a book. 

The author of Preaching Eugenics: Religious Leaders and the American Eugenics Movement, writes about the Eugenic movement in America. Somewhere in the book she noted that Stockton California was one of the larger centers where eugenics was promoted. And then I knew how it was that at the words of several great aunts a woman who loved children lost her ability to birth them. A woman who loved playing with children was denied having her own at the words of a relative. But what if there had been a doctor who said no! Absolutely not! 

 Few people know that Hitler used the American Eugenics movement as his standard for life. For him only white Aryans were worthy of life. But what if the doctors had said no! What if the lawyers had said unlawful! What if the Judges had said unlawful. This is Timothy Snyder's fifth point in his book On Tyranny:

 "Remember Professional Ethics; When political leaders set a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become more important. It is hard to subvert a rule-of-law state without lawyers., or to hold show trials without judges. Authoritarians need obedient civil servants, and concentration camp directors seek businessmen interested in cheap labor." 

 Snyder ends this chapter with this: Professional ethics must guide us precisely when we are told that the situation is exceptional. Then there is no such thing as "just following the rules." If members of the professions confuse their specific ethics with the emotions of the moment, however, they can find themselves saying and doing things they might previously have thought unimaginable." 

 Notice that so much of these thoughts cover both the right and left- look at yourself, and yes, I at myself. The log is in all of our eyes.

 

Timothy Snyder's on How to Avoid or Resist Tyranny: His quotes with my thoughts-4

There are beautiful signs or symbols and ugly ones. The symbols of Christianity are many. in the medieval ages often the unicorn was a symbol of Jesus. Charles Williams in his book The Place of the Lion gives the reader a beautiful picture of communion in a small Methodist chapel. As each person takes the cup a unicorn swings his one horn toward then with sparkling light shining on them. 

Of course, the cross is both symbol and reality and the Church lives under its keeping. Each believer must embrace the cross and live as their Savior lived which includes dying and living.

 But there is an ugly image and use of the cross- it has been called the crooked cross and it is--the swastika. Synder in his book On Tyranny speaks of this in the fourth chapter, "Take Responsibility for the Face of the World. He writes: 

"The symbols of today enable the reality of tomorrow. Notice the swastikas and the other signs of hate. Do not look away, do not get used to them. Remove them yourself and set an example for others to do so." 

 There are also words that are symbolic if you know the history of them and while you cannot take the words away you can renounce them. Snyder writes of how in the early Soviet times Stalin referred to the prosperous farmers as pigs. This became the Marxist propaganda since it made it easier to remove them from their land if they were thought of as pigs. This is the same as calling the legal immigrant Haitians pet eaters in order to make a false point about immigrants. 

There is a beautiful cross that leads away from the ugliness because hate, and death died there, and life became a gift through the resurrected life of Jesus. So go tear down some swastikas whether they are written or spoken.

  

Timothy Snyder's on How to Avoid or Resist Tyranny: His quotes with my thoughts-3

Timothy Snyder's third leading statement in his book On Tyranny has to do with the importance of democratic nations having two or more parties. A tyrant will usually work to destroy opposition parties allowing themselves full control. Sometimes, often; such a leader will have help. 

 Here is a statement, supposedly God's words through her, by the false prophet Julie Green. I have written about her before, several times on my blog. She is part of MAGA and often enjoys the same platform with other MAGA members such as Eric Trump Jr., Laura Trump, and Michael Flynn. Three days ago, these were her words. 

 "An exit out of your capital will take place. My children you will see many leave on their own and some will be removed in handcuffs and prisons will be filled with the ones who use to rule this nation. ... when treason is committed, they will be punished, and justice will always be served says the Lord."

 Too many have worked to discredit the Democrats and others--they are supposedly vile, evil criminals attempting to take over the world. Yes, their views on abortion are terribly wrong--but they are not working as minions, in conspiracy, with evil rulers to destroy everyone and take over the world. 

 Here is Snyder's quote: "Beware the one- party state. The parties that remade states and suppressed rivals were not omnipotent from the start. They exploited a historic moment to make political life impossible for their opponents. So support the multi-party system and defend the rules of democratic elections. Vote in local and state elections while you can. [and this one is funny for someone in their eighties but it's for others anyway.] Consider running for office."

 

Timothy Snyder's on How to Avoid or Resist Tyranny: His quotes with my thoughts-2

I am writing the quote for the second chapter of Timothy Snyder's little book, On Tyranny. I will have to correct a small part of it because I am a Christian. You will understand. Here is the quote:

 "It is institutions that help us to preserve decency. They need our help as well. Do not speak of 'Our Institutions' unless you make them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions do not protect themselves. They fall one after another unless each is defended from the beginning. So chose an institution you care about--a court, a newspaper, a law, a labor union--and take its side."

 So many, for me, a newspaper; I often post from and encourage the reading of The Dispatch because they are moderate conservatives and they don't deal in click bait or conspiracy theories, or sensationalize unimportant news. I am so grateful for them. And they also do some great religious pieces. Of course, I also read the New York Times-the opinion pieces, of David Brooks, Russ Douthat and David French. All Christians by the way. 

 But there is another institution that Snyder did not mention, the Church. And this is the great thing - the Church will not fall, maybe here in America suffer a little, suffer greatly in other places- but as God's word says-"the gates of hell will not prevail against her." In the end, and there will be an end, there will be a forever Kingdom. And there is a forever King- just not, for now a forever earthly king.

 

Timothy Snyder's on How to Avoid or Resist Tyranny: His quotes with my thoughts

This is a small series I am writing on Facebook but thought I would put it here too.

I have been ordering fish from the Wild Alaskan Fish Company. Today with my order was a map of Alaska with places of interest on it. I was interested to see where the mountain Denali was. It is named that because it is the name used by the indigenous people of Alaska. I believe I will keep using that name. What I am going to write next has to do with that- I will let the reader figure out the connection.

 I have been reading a very small book by the historian Timothy Snyder. The book On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, gives suggestions for how to avoid or resist tyranny. The author is well known for several books, including, Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin. That is not a small book. I am going to quote the beginning of each of his chapters in On Tyranny. Not all at once but every several days. Here is the first: 

"Do Not Obey in Advance: Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do."