A Strange Phenomenon

It is a strange phenomenon to witness this and still several weeks later there has been no change. Very strange. 

Of course the battle for children is not over. In the US they now need to expunge abortion in the pro-death states. Here in Australia there is much to be done as well. The pro-death leftists who marched in protest in Australia against the over turning of Roe vs Wade were right to recognize that their precious pillar of fake equality is vulnerable. The winds of society change, and a lot of people find abortion abhorrent. And not just believers.

The mooted response from big-eva and leading evangelicals is incredible. I think it stems from a few things, but the key one is mis-placed compassion. Too many Christian leaders say we should feel sorry for women who want an abortion. Hence to celebrate the over turning of pro-abortion legislation is viewed as too "insensitive". But we should not feel sorry for women who want to abort their children, any more than we should feel sorry for a man who wants to hit his wife. They are both evil acts. We should feel angered by people desiring to do such evil. 

We should of course offer counselling and help to direct people in other directions, but people direct too much misplaced compassion towards those who would take a life. Perhaps a very small amount do not know what they are doing, but that is not true of the majority. And even if it is, it is still a grevious sin and blasphemy to be repented off, not to be faced softly.

Two Kinds Of Leadership

 

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Leadership is an important and necessary part of a good church. But it needs to be the right kind of leadership. Hebrews 13 shows us that good leaders should be honoured. But what is the right kind of leadership. Well let's see. 

Two kinds of leadership (v.7) – Hebrews 13:7 tells us to remember our leaders – “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.” We see three characteristics of good church leadership here: they speak to you the word of God, their life shows they practice it, and their faith in God’s word increases your faith. So how do we examine this? There are many ways to look at this, but I want to do this through the lens of Moses and Aaron who I see as exemplifying the two kinds of leadership we see in this church, the leadership of Moses and the leadership of Aaron.

What I Do Not Mean – Now this could be easily misunderstood, so first let me say what I do not mean. What I do not mean is that pastors and elders are prophets and priests.

Different kind of prophet - Now in some sense all preachers of the word need to speak prophetically, they need to speak forth the oracles of God as found in the word of God, for sure. But Moses was a particular kind of prophet given a special level of authority – Deuteronomy 18:15-18 - “15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16 just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17 And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.”

Moses and other prophets like him, were given a special and unique level of authority and insight into the will of God. Like Elijah who had the power to raise the dead. Pastors are to teach the word of God directly, but we are not prophets in the same way Moses was.

We may at times see clearly what is coming because we are examining the culture in light of God’s word, but this is more insight and wisdom than prophetic gifting. Anyone who studies God’s word and history together can do the same thing.  

Different Kind of Priest - And all pastors need to act as priests, but only in the same way that all believers are priests. 1 Peter 2:9-10 – “9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” The Bible’s teaching and the Baptist Church’s position is that all Christians are priests, and all of us have a responsibility to represent God to our neighbour. So, church leaders are to be priests in this same sense that all believers are.  

But I want to make this clear I am not saying that church leaders are like Moses and Aaron in the unique sense that they were prophet and priest. What I mean is something different. To me Moses is the archetypal godly leader, that pastors should aspire to be, and Aaron exemplifies the temptation that all pastors should avoid: people pleasing. Let’s examine that.

Moses – Moses’ job was to be the voice of God’s truth to Israel, and to hold none of it back and this is what he did: Exodus 19:1-8 – “19 On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. 2 They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain, 3 while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” 7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. 8 All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.”

“So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had command him…” This is who Moses was called to be, and this is what he did. He set before the people and their leaders all the things that he was told to tell them.

Moses did this consistently and well. Note this, he was not perfect, he missed out on entering the promise land because of his impatience with the people, but he was consistently bold in telling them the word of God, when it was popular and when it was not.

This is the pastor’s job as well. The pastor is to stare down the evil of this culture, like Moses did. Shelter their people from lies as much as they can, like Moses did. And tell them the truth whether they like it or not, like Moses did. Moses is the archetypal good leader of the Church: imperfect, but bold with the truth.

Aaron – Aaron shows us the archetype of the bad leader who is swayed by people’s opinions. Now, we have to be fair to Aaron and say that his whole ministry was not terrible, and he was the head of the Levitical priesthood. But early on in his role he made a serious mistake. He instituted idolatry in the famous golden calf incident: Exodus 32:1-6 – “1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” 6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”

Why did he do this? The people wanted it, so he gave them what they wanted. This is the archetype of bad leadership; tailoring the word of God to suit the audience. Ignoring aspects of God’s word, or even denying them, as Aaron did here. He broke the first and second commandment to make the people happy, and forged for them a new god, a false god made of metal.

This is a constant temptation for pastors, to pander to the people or to the culture around them. Some ministers live in fear of offending the culture and this effects their entire ministry. Every pastor faces this temptation, and Paul challenged this in Galatians 1:10 – “10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

It is a leader’s job to ignore the temptation to be like Aaron with the golden calf, and to be more like Moses and slay sacred calves. But this is easier said than done, because sometimes you have to challenge calves that people cannot let go of emotionally, or that are held to by people you hold dear, and for some they just cannot abide causing offense.

But this temptation needs to be resisted by leaders, because as Paul said, Acts 20:26-27 - “26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, 27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” If a pastor hides biblical teaching because of fear of the people, then he becomes responsible if people are led into error. However, if a pastor has declared the biblical truth to you as Paul did, then he is “innocent of the blood of all.”

So, when it says, remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you, and how they live and believe, this is referring to those who do this diligently. Jesus put it this way in Matthew 23:1-3 - “23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, 3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do.”

In other words when pastors preach the clear words of God, be quick to obey it. But when they are not practicing or teaching it properly, that is different.

Our Hebrews' writer even gives some guidelines here. In remembering those who spoke to you the word, Hebrews’ gives some simple guidelines to test the quality of the person teaching it to you.

This is an excerpt from a sermon on Church leadership from Hebrews 13, you can listen to the whole message here. 

 

Opposite

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When are people going to learn that doing the opposite of what experts say is often the right course of action? Those of us who say this do not say it for no reason, it is a very helpful metric. 

"Aussies lash out at RBA’s broken promise after claiming there would be no cash rate hikes until 2024

For more than a year, the Reserve Bank kept repeating one crucial claim. Now, it has backflipped – and left countless Aussies out in the cold.

For months on end, the message from the Reserve Bank of Australia was clear – interest rates would not rise until 2024.

That message was repeated time and time again from late 2020 and throughout 2021, as Australia faced the devastating Covid pandemic.

In fact, for most of last year, the RBA issued the same repeated assurance: “The Board will not increase the cash rate until actual inflation is sustainably within the 2 to 3 per cent target range. For this to occur, wages growth will have to be materially higher than it is currently. This will require significant gains in employment and a return to a tight labour market. The Board does not expect these conditions to be met until 2024 at the earliest.”

Countless Aussies took out mortgages over this period, at a time when house prices, and therefore mortgages, had never been more expensive, with many taking those crucial four words – “2024 at the earliest” – into consideration when making such a momentous life decision.

Then, in May this year, disaster struck when the RBA announced the first official interest rate hike since 2010, lifting the cash rate by 25 basis points to 0.35 per cent."

I remember watching this situation with inflation and interest rates in late 2020 and early 2021 especially and observing how seriously the inflation was hitting the Aussie market, especially houses and cars, and saying to family and friends, interest rates are going to go up soon. In fact, I was so sure of this I made some important decisions based on this observation. 

Some of these family and friends would send me articles saying: but they have promised that interest rates would not go down for years. But it was all these promises that made me realize, they are about to go up. For a couple of reasons. First, often those in power tell us the opposite of what they are really going to do, because they think they know so much better than us on many things. This has always been the way of the elites. Second, the news is not primarily about informing us, but rather more about influencing us. 

What is or is not reported on is often used to influence how the population acts in certain situations. You have to realize that the elites in our society believe it is part of their job to direct how we live, this has always been the case, and they have many ways of seeking to influence this. Coming out of rolling lockdowns and closed borders, those in positions of power would have recognized how quickly that could turn into a recession. In such a situation they want people to spend and spend big. Even spend record amounts on houses prices or cars, because this flows more money into a stagnating economy. Money in saving accounts is not useful to a stagnating economy, it may be good for you, but it is not good for key modern economic drivers. It was very clear that prices were increasing too quickly and the only way the powers that be in the West know how to control monetary inflation is via interest rate manipulation. Which meant that it was guaranteed that interest rates would be raised sooner, rather than later. I actually expected it to happen late last year, or early this year, and it happened in May.

This is a useful grid for analyzing what you are being told in the media, ask yourself this: how does this benefit those who are telling me this, how does this not benefit or benefit myself, and how does this manipulate my emotions and influence me to act. If you take time to do this you will be less swayed by the current media narrative. Once you analyze the media through this framework, you will recognize that people are seeking to direct you far more than they are seeking to inform you. Knowing this one fact, that media is more about influencing you than informing you, allows you to turn it into a valuable source of counter-narrative information. 

My Co-Written Book Is Out

My first book, co-written by fellow Baptist pastor Tim Grant, is now available on kindle. It is our hope that this book inspires many about the importance of liberty of conscience on morally neutral issues, and also of the incredible impact the Church as a whole can have when they advocate for this principle. Here is a short excerpt from the book:

PART SIX

THE SIMILARITIES OF THE COVID YEARS TO PROHIBITION
 Chapter 13
The Corruption Of The Rule of Law

"What Mr Costello calls an “individualist libertarian ethic” I would argue is an inalienable right of every man, woman, and child on this planet, protected by various international human rights charters and the Nuremberg Code."
– Tony Couper[1]

Prohibition and Covid

The Covid years share many similarities with the Prohibition years. Prohibition and medical mandates are different sides of the same coin; one says “you can’t,” the other says “you must.” Both actions constrain and coerce conscience by moralistic busybodies that desire to shape society into their own image. During Prohibition, partly because of the influence of the Baptist Church, ordinary people became criminals by continuing to brew and sell alcohol, an action that Scripture does not explicitly forbid. In fact, the concept of Prohibition for Christians is quite embarrassing considering passages such as Deuteronomy 14:22-26 which states, “… bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the Lord your God chooses and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves.”

Even though Scripture here is clearly supporting the fermentation, sale and consumption of alcohol products, indeed encouraging it, this did not stop the Church from making a monumental mistake. Baptists openly lobbied for Prohibition, despite the fundamental Baptist distinctive of liberty of conscience, and despite the clear teachings of Scripture on alcohol. This was a mistake of sizable proportions. To advocate for Prohibition, Baptists had to deny their unique identity and the clear teachings of Scripture, thus rejecting the very things baptists had historically prided themselves in upholding.

Likewise, during the Covid years, Baptists have failed to advocate for liberty of conscience on matters that would have compelled their forebears to act, both in matters of medical mandates and the segregation caused by vaccine passports. It is the conviction of the authors that during the Covid years, the Baptist Church is repeating the same mistakes of Prohibition. In its silence, it has failed to speak to the issue of coercion, and in some respects, lent credibility to mandates and societal segregation.

As authors and pastors, we understand that there are incredibly strong opinions regarding vaccines across the spectrum of society. We understand that the Australian population is largely very positive towards vaccination and very critical of vaccination being questioned. We, therefore, understand that this creates a climate in which it is near impossible to condemn the mandates and the segregation without being slandered with the charge of being an anti-vaxxer, even though the issue of vaccination in itself is not the issue. But it remains true that a climate of censorship also existed during Prohibition.

A Baptist pastor who condemned the Anti-Saloon League, or the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, and spoke of the moral neutrality of alcohol might have been hounded out of his pulpit by his own congregation. It quickly became the ‘done thing’ to condemn alcohol as the ‘demon drink.’ Indeed, many Baptists in our ranks today still hold such views strongly. In a time of national hysteria when significant pressure is being placed on people to have a certain opinion, it is hard to not only speak out against the matter but also difficult to speak in defence of liberty of conscience on the matter. It is in such moments where voices of reason are most needed. It is in times of national hysteria when reminding ourselves of long-held values is most important.

If Prohibition could be described as Alcohol-0%, the vaccination mandates could be described as Vaccine-100%. Another way to articulate this is that Baptists lent their voice and their silence in support of the insanity of both alcohol zero and covid zero - two absolutist policies that disregard the individual’s conscience. However, in the end, legislating on matters of moral neutrality results in the same consequences. 

______________________________________

[1] (Couper, 2021)

Satandom

 

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If the Church fails or refuses to extend its morality on society, then Satan will rise up and enforce his morality on society. These are the only options.

When the people of Ephesus came to faith in Jesus, they also saw this as a great liberation from evil, and they burnt their evil books:

^"11 And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, ¹² so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. ¹³ Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” ¹⁴ Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. ¹⁵ But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” ¹⁶ And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. ¹⁷ And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. ¹⁸ Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. ¹⁹ And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. ²⁰ So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily" (Acts 19:11-20). 

When the Norse King of Norway was converted he so thoroughly destroyed the idols of the Norse, their beliefs were nearly lost to the dustbin of history. The Anglo-Saxons were so thorough in destroying theirs, their religion was lost. We just assume their faith was the same as their continental German and Norse brethren. They were so joyful about being liberated from evil, they cast off all signs of it, as did the Ephesians.

The Western church is in the process of learning the hard way that there are only two options. We and unbelievers are about to learn why the ancient pagans who encountered the early Church, were happy to burn their idols with glee. Because of the evil attached to them. 

There never was the possibility of a secular or neutral society. This was always a myth, a lie, a phantasm. There is only Christendom or Satandom, and because we forgot this, we have to learn it the painful way, again.

Liberty Does Not Mean What You Think

Liberty Does Not Mean What You Think

Perhaps no word has been used, abused and broken like ‘liberty’. It has noble beginings. It was the cry of the oppressed in Scripture, it was the cry of the Baptists in the 17^th century. But it was twisted out of shape by others, as it was the cry of the wicked French revolutionaries that unleased chaos on France and Europe and it is the cry of many socially wicked movements today as well. It is misunderstood by many in the Church and society today, and it is becoming the dominant catch cry of the right wing political movements at the moment, but not necessarily always in the right way. The modern concept of liberty has historically been part of the leftists revolutionary movements of the enlightenment. But liberty has been twisted, abused and misused from what it is supposed to mean. 

If you look in the Scriptures you will see that liberty is used in two main ways: liberty from debts or liberty from slavery, which were often overlapping concerns in the Old Testament. These ideas are then attached in the New Testament to the Christian idea of liberty in Jesus Christ, who releases us from our debt of sin and slavery to sin. 

To gain a strong understanding of the original use of this term you can read Michael Hudson’s book “…and forgive them their debts…”, where he shows in some detail that the origins of liberty were freeing people from their debt masters. Much of the Bible is dedicated to advocating for this form of liberty, and many people miss this. To understand how this concept is developed in the New Testament and how it should be understood by Christians we can turn to the example of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of faith:  

“Chapter 21. Of Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience

1. The liberty which Christ has purchased for believers under the gospel, consists in their freedom from the guilt of sin, the condemning wrath of God, the severity and curse of the law,[1] and in their being delivered from this present evil world,[2] bondage to Satan,[3] and dominion of sin,[4] from the evil of afflictions,[5] the fear and sting of death, the victory of the grave,[6] and everlasting damnation:[7] as also in their free access to God, and their yielding obedience unto Him, not out of slavish fear,[8] but a child-like love and willing mind.[9]

All which were common also to believers under the law for the substance of them;[10] but under the New Testament the liberty of Christians is further enlarged, in their freedom from the yoke of a ceremonial law, to which the Jewish church was subjected, and in greater boldness of access to the throne of grace, and in fuller communications of the free Spirit of God, than believers under the law did ordinarily partake of.[11]

2. God alone is Lord of the conscience,[12] and has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are in any thing contrary to his word, or not contained in it.[13]  So that to believe such doctrines, or obey such commands out of conscience, is to betray true liberty of conscience;[14] and the requiring of an implicit faith, an absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience and reason also.[15]

3. They who upon pretence of Christian liberty do practice any sin, or cherish any sinful lust, as they do thereby pervert the main design of the grace of the gospel to their own destruction,[16] so they wholly destroy the end of Christian liberty, which is, that being delivered out of the hands of all our enemies, we might serve the Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our lives.”[17]

If you were to ask most people today what ‘liberty’ or ‘freedom’ meant, they may argue that it means to be free to live how you want. Free to do what you want. Free to identify how you want. To be absolutely free in how you live in every way. Even many Christians would subscribe to such a perspective with varying versions of "Christian" Libertarianism (an oxymoron if there ever was one). But this is not how the Scriptures or the Church have traditionally understood liberty.

Liberty is freedom from debt, it is freedom from the debt of sin, slavery to devil and death, to be free to live according to God's commands in the light of his word and in the light of your conscience. It is a freedom to do what is right and not be enslaved by the things in this world that would direct you otherwise. This is freedom. This is liberty.

Secular forms of liberty can basically be summarized as varying justifications for putting your sexual organs wherever you want in contradiction to God's commands. Secular liberty is debauchery. Note what Baptists would have thought about this: “They who upon pretence of Christian liberty do practice any sin, or cherish any sinful lust, as they do thereby pervert the main design of the grace of the gospel to their own destruction, so they wholly destroy the end of Christian liberty…” Those who seek to justify liberty to make sin allowable ruin liberty. This is exactly what happened in the West. Liberty got disconnected from its biblical boundaries and has become libertinism, wickedness and perversion.

If you understand liberty as the French revolutionaries understood it, or how perverted sexual liberation movements understand it, then liberty does not mean what you think it means, and to disconnect it from it’s original meaning and intentions is to ruin it and return people to the very slavery Christian liberty was designed to save them from. This is exactly where we are as a society.

---

[1] Galatians 3:13

[2] Galatians 1:4

[3] Acts 26:18

[4] Romans 8:3

[5] Romans 8:28

[6] 1 Corinthians 15:54-57

[7] 2 Thessalonians 1:10

[8] Romans 8:15

[9] Luke 1:73-75; 1 John 4:18

[10] Galatians 3:9, 14

[11] John 7:38-39; Hebrews 10:19-21

[12] James 4:12; Romans 14:4

[13] Acts 4:19, 29; 1 Corinthians 7:23; Matthew 15:9

[14] Colossians 2:20, 22-23

[15] 1 Corinthians 3:5; 2 Corinthians 1:24

[16] Romans 6:1-2

[17] Galatians 5:13; 2 Peter 2:18, 21

It Is Being Admitted Now

Vaccine mandates were never about the science, they were always about the politics, ideology and socio-political attitudes. You may not like hearing that statement, but it is a fact. That was always the case, the reason we can know this is because there was no "science" on how society wide mandates of an experimental and rushed medication could stop a pandemic in its tracks. 

There were pockets of such experiments done in previous pandemics, but never a society wide push like we just experienced, it was an experiment on a grand scale. It just was not possible to say that "the science" says, when this had not been done. We can now say that the current "science", but really it is just good old-fashioned experience, shows conclusively that mandating rushed medications to stop a pandemic does not work. The data on the spread of the virus (and deaths from the virus) in Australia this year proves this: 

Source worldometers (Data shows deaths increasing despite high vaccine rollout. Go to worldometer for futher explanation of the graph). 

And now it is being admitted that the mandates are not good, or "science-based", by Australia's former deputy Chief Health Officer:

"He cited a quote from Monash University bioethicist Zeb Jamrozik: 'There are worrying signs that current vaccine policies, rather than being science-based, are being driven by socio-political attitudes that reinforce segregation, stigmatisation and polarisation …'

Dr Coatsworth gave two main reasons to argue that the public health rationale for mandates no longer outweighed ethical concerns.

He said it was now accepted that vaccines 'do not reduce transmission' because the Omicron variant was more infectious."

Dr Coatsworth, to his credit, has been a consistent critique of the mandates for some time now, but his quoting of this other expert is significant. The "tone" of the mandate narrative has changed in the last year, basically because they failed to deliver what was promised that they would deliver. 

This was obvious last year, it was obvious from the start of this whole fun parade back in 2020. It is just not possible to stop a respiratory virus in its tracks with experimental medications, when it has already spread across the world. You just can't do it. You can slow it down with all sorts of extreme measures, but you can't stop it. You can only delay its spread. 

However, no one was supposed to say this publicly last year. You were not supposed to point out the obvious, because it would "undermine the effort to get everybody vaccinated". I can speak to this personally because myself and some other pastors were severely slammed for making a public statement that people should not be coerced. You can read our statement here and you can read one of the most prominent responses to it here. I ask you to do something simple. Compare our Ezekiel Declaration with the response of those other two pastors, and then compare it to what is now happening and to the statements of Dr. Nick Coatesworth, the former Chief Health Officer and what he says in this article above. Then ask yourself this question: what came over society over the last two years? 

This was not hard to see, many people in Australia and overseas predicted saw this coming and yet many people severely freaked out at our pointing this out. What came over people?