Number Of His Name (Left Behind Is A Lie, Part Eight)

 And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. ~Revelation 13:16-18

I'm going to tell you something right now.

I am getting goddamned sick of privileged idiots, whose solution to everything seems to be either "Blame somebody else" or "Put somebody else at risk." I'm sorry if anybody doesn't get this; But if your ego or your politics or your selfish goals are more important to you than the fact that people are dying, you're part of the problem. We're not going to be judged on what other people did when we die. We're not going to be able to take credit for the actions of others when we stand before God. We will be asked what we have done, and we should expect that the Creator of the infinite universe knows the truth of us before we speak. "But China..." is not going to be a valid answer, in times like this the question that God or history or your grandchildren always are going to eventually ask is what did you do.

What did you do? It's a simple question, take account of your own actions.

Does Marsha Blackburn really think her ideal version of a USA stripped bare of most of the people she doesn't like, with a population of say 60 million, whole regions and states depopulated by the virus, failed, or seceded due to the collapse of Federal authority...and those quite likely having more people and equal or more likely greater diplomatic, economic and military power in their own right...with its capital in say Nashville, is going to get any response other than "LOL" when it tries to sue the Chinese government?

And that's exactly what focusing so intently on their own goals and power and wealth will get these people, their own little banana republic somewhere. They're focusing so hard on scoring their own goals that they literally cannot see they keep kicking the ball between their own team's goalposts. Reality is a harsh mistress.

People are dying, if your primary focus is on your own pleasure, rather than your own survival and the survival of the people around you, then you are part of the damn problem and it really is that simple. If you think this pandemic and social distancing are making you give up every form of pleasure, you're a fucking idiot. Yes, you can still go do stuff, to a degree, you can go to a restaurant and get your food, you can bring it home and eat it with your own knife and fork on your own comfortable couch and watch Disney Plus or Netflix or whatever you want. It is a right to have food, I'd argue it's even a right to be a consumer, but it is not a right to be feted and waited on especially in a time like this where people being in close proximity puts them at risk.

The "Pleasure" this Bethany Mandel bitch is talking about isn't the pleasure of getting and eating an Awesome Blossom and some Alice Springs Chicken and fries with bacon and cheese from Outback Steak House. No, she wants the pretty darker-skinned or lower-class waitress to have to smile and nod and take her orders. That's what she wants. She wants to wield the power of capitalism and class and race to make herself feel like she's somebody for a couple hours.

Apparently, this lady wrote an article on why Jews should befriend Neo-Nazis, as if the occasional success by brave and enterprising people to talk some asshole around to basic humanity is something we all have the capability, inclination, patience and time to replicate. Among other things, an ass whuppin' might have the same effect, and it takes a lot less time.

Changing minds is good, but it's also more often than not very difficult. I've made such efforts to educate people for years, and not necessarily extremists either, and my rate of success is average, at best. The real fanatics almost certainly remain fanatics, at best they'll transfer their fanaticism to something else that's hopefully less harmful, but without constant reinforcement it may not hold up. Among other things, I've seen people go from drug addiction to Jesus and right back again when things got tough. Like I was taught, you have to love your life more than you love your sin...and a lot of people don't. Pride...and the willful ignorance that goes with it...is sinful.

To go from such laudable if naive goals to being mad that you can't go to Applebee's or take your grandchildren to the zoo right now seems...well, I'm going to be honest, it seems like this person's good intentions and noble goals weren't about being good, but rather simply appearing to be so, in order to improve one's own fortunes. To an extent, that's fine, but an actual decent or good person would understand that we're in a fucking crisis and make adjustments accordingly. You can delay gratification and enjoy yourself however you want when the virus is under control. Is waiting for better or safer conditions really so hard? That would be the actual conservative course of action. You at least have to try to strike a balance between what you want and the public good, or we don't have a civilization.

And if what you want is to force people to go back to work and risk their own lives so you can enjoy yourself or preserve your shitty politics, then fuck you. I have nothing better than that to say. Go pick up your copy of Atlas Shrugged, sit down on the couch and read it and shut the fuck up.

We can't really afford to waste time arguing with people who will simply never make a good-faith argument in the first place. People are dying, among other things.

The "Mark of the Beast" as spoken of in Revelation is simply the spiritual acceptance of the false world system of money, power and privilege in the same way that a Christian accepts Jesus Christ and tries to follow His ways, or that a Muslim submits to Allah and follows the Five Pillars of Islam per their understanding of the same God, or in the same way that a Buddhist follows the noble Eight-fold Path. And yes, people make gods of celebrity and power and wealth all the time. It's not a new thing. There's nothing new under the sun in that way.

If you believe in maintaining capitalism, politics, power and wealth above preserving life If you don't think you've chosen, well, you have.

Whether you realize it or not you're confessing your spiritual truth physically with your mouth when you say "Make America Great Again" in the exact same way that a Christian does when they say "Jesus is Lord" or that a Muslim does when they shout "Allah Akbar."

Now I'm not saying that Donald Trump is "The Beast" anymore than I'm saying Nero was, or Charlemagne, or Napoleon or Saddam Hussein or Yasser Arafat or any of the other people the End Times nuts have accused of such throughout history. I'm saying it's part of a system. Who the "Beast" is, who is representative or the earthly, public face of that system changes every so often.

By that logic, who the "Beast" or whatever you want to call it is doesn't matter. The false world system is a system of spiritual laws that remain the same no matter the spirit of the age or the times, in the same way that the government of the United States is a system of worldly laws and not of men. It literally doesn't matter who it is or where, if you make power and wealth your god then the Bible is pretty clear on what happens to you. It says that Christ will separate the people as a Shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, with one on his right side, the other on his left, and that to those who did not treat others with decency...for those others truly were representative of Him...he will say "Depart from me, evildoer."

Have fun wandering the underworld or being cast into the Abyss.

To enter into Eternal Life, or even just to maintain civilization in this one, you have to care about other people. It really is that simple.

Part Seven
Part Nine.