They Were Wrong, We Were Right

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Joe Hilderbrand gets a lot wrong. Afterall, he was wrong about what a decent member of society is. Getting a vaccine does not prove you love your country, it is not the one thing you need to do to demonstrate this and we now have had it admitted by Pfizer themselves that there was no evidence their version, a major staple of Australia's pandemic response, ever stopped transmission. So he gets some important stuff very wrong. Decent members of society don't bully people to get an unproven medication they don't want or need. 

But he was right about the lockdowns, and other ridiculous covid response measures, because it was so easy to see they were unjust and wrong. This was very easy, and a lot of good people got this right, because it was not hard to see, from very early on. And Australia’s first major inquiry into the pandemic response has found this to be the case:

"The thing about the truth is that it always comes out. It may take years, decades or even centuries but reality has a way of asserting itself. Lies inevitably fall apart.

And so more than two and a half years after Covid-19 first came to Australian shores the truth has finally emerged about our various governments’ response to it and the lies have been exposed.

Lockdowns were wrong. School closures were wrong. Border closures were wrong. Poor people were hurt the most.

These are the findings of the first and so-far only full inquiry into Australia’s response to Covid, an independent review funded by three major philanthropic organisation and headed by Peter Shergold, previously the most senior public servant in the country and now Western Sydney University chancellor — an eminent and highly qualified mind deeply respected on both sides of politics.

They are unequivocal, they are damning and they are almost word for word exactly what I and a few other brave souls have been saying from the very beginning of the pandemic.

As I have been shouting from every platform I can since 2020, the most egregious act was that committed against our children — the mass shutdown of schools on the basis of no evidence whatsoever. To their eternal shame, state premiers and chief health officers were both complicit in this.

They were wrong and they caused untold damage that will be immeasurable and long-lasting. The inquiry makes this crystal clear."

The pandemic response was heavy handed, clumsy, economically disastrous, and for small children developmentally detrimental. This is all compounded by coercing people to take an experimental drug they did not want, with terrible side effects for many people, before the pandemic response was allowed to wind down. Evil on top of evil. 

But here is the kicker for me: this was so obvious, so bloody obvious, but so many pastors could not see this. Leading pastors praised the government's tough handling, defended it, criticized those who didn't agree as conspiracy theorists. But it was clearly wrong, practically and morally. Why couldn't they see this? Because many of them are blind. Many of them foolishly believed lie, after lie, after lie.

"His watchmen are blind;

    they are all without knowledge;

they are all silent dogs;

    they cannot bark,

dreaming, lying down,

    loving to slumber" (Isa. 56:10). 

They are so focused on developing their visions, they can't see clearly the evil in front of them. Think about that. Church leaders talk so much about "vision" today, but then God gives them an opportunity to call out clear evil, and they can't see it. Incredible. 

Some will respond, but we did see it, we just didn't speak up. But that's worse, that is cowardice. 

So which is it? Are many Church leaders blind or cowardly? Either way, this explains so many of the issues in the Church today. 

You might ask: Matt, why are you so hard on pastors? Here is why: Because they are supposed to have the wisdom of Christ to clearly see evil, and to rise up and confront it. That is part of our calling. But evil rose up, consumed our nation and the churches, and some cheered it on, and others remained quiet. If the pastors, the watchmen don't call out evil, then the whole nation suffers. So this needs to be called out, constantly, until there is repentance on their part for not seeing the evil and not speaking against it. 

So I ask you: if you could not see this clearly, why couldn't you. It was so obvious. As obvious as calling out 2+2=5 as wrong.