100 years ago--Harry F. Ward condemns Western attitude toward China

The following article was published more than eight months after the death of Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Republic of China and Premier of its governing party, the Kuomintang (KMT). China was ruled by the collective leadership of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang from March 1925-May 1926, before Chiang Kai-shek won a power struggle for party and national leadership in 1927. As published in the Montreal Gazette, November 30, 1925 (bold in original):

TRY DOING RIGHT INSTEAD OF GOOD

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Pharisaical Attitude of Western World to China Condemned by Prof. H.F. Ward

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MILITARISTIC SPIRIT

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Chinese Students Coming Over to Study Arts of War, Is Warning Given

-------- "If people of today do not understand what is now going on in and concerning China, there is likely to be a much heavier price paid for that ignorance in the future than was paid for the ignorance of this generation concerning affairs in Europe."

This was the message brought to the members of the People's Forum and the public last night by Professor Harry F. Ward, of New York. Professor Ward is a student of international politics, who has devoted a great deal of time to study of the problems of the East, from where he has recently returned...

...The address...[was] broadcast by the Northern Electric Company.

Professor Ward's contention was that China, always a pacifist sort of nation, was being driven to the use of force through not being given fair play by the Western powers.

"What is passing in China at the present moment," he said, "is that the young China is trained in the knowledge of the West as well as in the ancient law of the East and is writing her declaration of independence. That is likely to be an even more significant event for history than the writing of a similar declaration upon this continent during last century.

"Consider what it means that the oldest and largest unit of the world's population, people with the largest potentialities because of the vigor of their racial stock and long experience of life, should form for the first time a nation in the Western sense of the word."

Always a national unit because of her culture, customs, philosophy and practice of life, China now becomes organized and throws into the conflicting issues of the competing nationalities of the world, the weight of her demand and the strength of her power.

Professor Ward said the great question is whether she can attain her demand by her ancient method of reason or whether she will have to resort to force.

They have always been pacifists, he said: their pacifism being the result of their practical experience of life. China has lived by an appeal to reason, not that there have not been wars, but war has never been the recognized way to do things. A proof of it he cited was the soldier, in past days, having been the lowest member of the social scale.

STUDYING WAR.

Now all that is changing. The Chinese people think they will not get what they want unless they have behind them the military and naval forces that Western countries have. Chinese students are not now coming over to the United States to study in the colleges, but are coming to get to know something of military matters.

"The West may move forces she cannot overcome," he remarked. "Yet the question is very much deeper than that. If the West cannot gi

ve China justice it means that the West is destroying a spiritual contribution which China has made to the world, a contribution which, joined with similar elements in the West, might prove to be the salvation of mankind." Outlining the forces and causes at work which are bringing about this change, Professor Ward stated that firstly there have been treaties which have been secured by force which have deprived China of very vital parts of her territory.

Another grudge the Chinese have is that at a tariff convention at Peking the Western powers did things they had no right to do. The duty on cigarettes, oil and steel going into China was fixed at 5 per cent. Chinese silk coming into the United States is charged 54 per cent.

Professor Ward condemned the settlement system which is in vogue in China. By this system, foreign residents are able to live there without being under the control of Chinese law, a situation which exists nowhere else in the world.

Certainly the Chinese residents in these cities have benefitted by the sanitary methods and municipal administration introduced, but these things count as nothing beside the basic fact of foreign control and he contended no further good of any sort to China or the West can be attained by perpetuating this foreign control.

The speake gave several instances of the misuse of this system, one of which is in Shanghai where, in the foreign settlement, 80 per cent of the taxes are paid by Chinese residents and they are not pemitted a vote or a voice in the administration. Moreover, there is more money spent on the upkeep of two parks, to which the Chinese with few exceptions, are admitted than there is spent on the education of the Chinese children.

Professor Ward designated the Western attitude to China as an unjustifiable assumption of superiority.

"If the West would stop trying to do good and try to do right for a few years, it would be more advantageous," he said. "We have almost come to the attitude of the Pharisee."

When I saw the name Harry F. Ward, I immediately recognized him as the man who devised the Methodist Social Creed, which served as the basis for the Social Creed of the National Council of Churches, and a man who was identified under oath by several witnesses before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities in the 1950s as a member of the Communist Party. For more on Harry F. Ward, see the books Collectivism in the Churches (1958) by Edgar C. Bundy and Outside the Gate (1967) by Carl McIntire.

100 years ago--Winston Churchill blasts socialism and Communism

Mister, we could use a man like Winston Churchill again. As reported on the front page of the Montreal Gazette, November 30, 1925:

CHURCHILL LASHES BRITISH SOCIALISM

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Summed Up Results of Marx' Teaching in Tunbridge Wells Speech

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(Special Cable to the New York Times and Montreal Gazette.)

London. Nov. 29--Socialists and Communists received a merciless tongue-lashing Saturday from Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill--who, by the way, is 51 today.

Speaking at Tunbridge Wells, he said:

"The Socialist in his folly and the Communist in his malice would undermine and fatally wreck the pillars of our society. They wish to go as fast as possible along the same road, but the Communist thinks he can smash his way by violence and the Socialist believes he can do it by humbug. The theories of that remarkable German, Karl Marx, if put into practice, would finally and fatally destroy the liberty and prosperity of these islands and, whether our ruin is achieved by a violent blow or by administration in subtle doses of slow poison, is only a secondary matter. Britain would be laid low and the only question at the post-mortem would be: 'Did she fall or was she pushed?'

"The Socialist tries to lead us to disaster by foolish words and the Communist by violent deeds. We must show ourselves equally capable of meeting and beating them, whether it is a matter of words or deeds.

Churchill derided the Socialist claims of seeking to place life on a nobler plane, and commented on the foreign nature of Socialist minds. "Even their dreary gospel," he said, "comes from Germany and Russia. British Socialists are well known to be the dullest in the world. They have merely gulped down what Karl Marx and Lenin handed over to them." Churchill warned against the "dark power of Moscow" and said: "There we have what was never known before--a band of cosmopolitan conspirators gathered from the underworld of the great cities of Europe and America, in despotic possession of what was once the mighty and famous Empire of Russia. These men are ceaseless in their endeavors to spread revolution throughout every land. There is no country more the object of malignity than this island home of ours, which has so long preserved democratic freedom with order and responsibility in all classes."

100 years ago--the death of Lenin

Taking photos of Lenin's body isn't permitted. This rare shot shows the revolutionary leader in October 1991. (Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)

On January 21, 1924, Vladimir Lenin, aka Nikolai Lenin, né Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic since 1917 and Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union since 1923, died in Gorki, Moscow Governate, at the age of 53, after a series of strokes. Mr. Lenin put the Communist philosophy of Karl Marx into action as the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution that seized power in November 1917, and plunged Russia and much of the world into decades of misery.

Mr. Lenin produced death and darkness, and his body remains in his tomb in Moscow. The Lord Jesus Christ, on the other hand, brings life and light (John 1:4-9, 8:12), and resurrected and left His tomb (Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20), exactly as He predicted, and right on schedule (John 2:19-22). While many people have put their faith in the dead Mr. Lenin, I put my faith in the living Lord Jesus Christ, from whom we have eternal life (John 10:28).

Addition by subtraction: The deaths of James Lovelock and Ron Sider

British environmentalist James Lovelock died on July 26, 2022, his 103rd birthday. Dr. Lovelock, a physician by training, was also a climate scientist and futurist. He was best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis, the idea that Earth itself is a living organism, with life forms interacting with inorganic surroundings to form a synergistic, self-regulating system. The hypothesis, named after the Greek goddess who personified the Earth, has been criticized by secular evolutionists, but has greatly influenced the increase in pagan nature worship that has become so popular in recent decades. I doubt that Dr. Lovelock is enjoying his present climate and environment.

On July 27, 2022, Ron Sider died at the age of 83. Dr. Sider, a native of Stevensville, Ontario, was involved with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship while an undergraduate at the University of Waterloo, and worked in apologetics with IVCF after earning a doctorate in history and master's in divinity from Yale University. He founded Evangelicals for Social Action in 1973, which might more accurately be called "Evangelicals for Socialism."

Dr. Sider was perhaps best known for his books Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger (1977) and Nuclear Holocaust and Christian Hope (1983). Christian writer Lloyd Billingsley described the former as:

A textbook of zero-sum thinking and statist solutions presented in religious vocabulary. A compendium of economic fallacies. (Billingsley, Lloyd. The Absence of Tyranny: Recovering Freedom in Our Time, 1986, p. 196).

Mr. Billingsley said of the latter:

Nuclear Holocaust and Christian Hope, co-authored with Richard Taylor, is a kind of religious version of Jonathan Schell's Fate of the Earth. Like Schell, Sider and Taylor rely heavily on shock tactics--describing blasts, destructions, bombs, blood, vomit, burns, screams. The front, fictionalized section of the book where this occurs is a combination snuff film and nuclear pornographic novel.

Merchandising comes later, the radical Christian version of Jesus watches and frisbees. Sider and Taylor advocate measures like displaying peace bumper stickers (surely a distinctive Christian approach), keeping photos of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the coffee table instead of Ansel Adams, buying stationery with a peace motif, and subscribing to the right magazines including the "rigorously biblical" Sojourners whose peace ministry co-author Taylor is a consultant.

To his great credit, Sider at least has the courage to carry his pacifism to its logical conclusion. The book may very well be the world's longest suicide note, suicide being the sure outcome of his nonmilitary defense plan, a new Anschluss on a larger scale.

The assumption is that, once conquered, we can all eventuall settle down to a peaceful, neo-Scandinavian existence. Germany was once thoroughly conquered; they did not so settle down. Sider's arguments for complete, not just nuclear, pacifism are buttressed with proof texts, but remain to me unconvincing.

It appears they are unconvincing to the authors as well. After three hundred gruelling pages filed with countless usages of "must," "should," and "ought," Sider and Taylor make this astonishing statement: "The authors of this book do not claim to have all the answers." Given this it is difficult to see their book as anything more than a public act of spiritual and political masturbation.

(Billingsley, Lloyd, The Generation that Knew Not Josef: A Critique of Marxism and the Religious Left, 1985, pp. 187-188).

I never for a minute believed that Dr. Sider was a Christian; I always figured he was a Communist masquerading as a Christian. When U.S. President Ronald Reagan delivered his "Evil Empire" speech to the National Association of Evangelicals on March 8, 1983, it was Ron Sider who immediately formed a group to protest against Mr. Reagan's views. Dr. Sider boasted about his participation in the "Witness for Peace" program in Nicaragua in the early 1980s, in which the participants acted as human shields to impede the efforts of the Contras who were fighting against Nicaragua's Sandanista regime. The actions of the "Witness for Peace" participants had the effect of aiding the Sandanista regime, a regime that committed genocide against the Miskito Indians and was persecuting Christians. For information on the Sandanistas' treatment of Christians, I recommend the book Breaking Faith: The Sandanista Revolution and its Impact on Freedom and Christian Faith in Nicaragua by former Sandanista Humberto Belli, published in 1985.

For more on Ron Sider and Evangelicals for Social Action, see my posts 30 years ago: Ronald Reagan, addressing the NAE, denounces the evil empire--and other evils (March 12, 2013) and 30 years ago: Carl McIntire critiques Evangelicals for Social Action's Chicago Declaration (May 1, 2014).

While Canadian truckers lead the fight for freedom, the Church of the Nazarene Canada's president delivers a sermon justifying his cowardice

Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.

Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest...

...Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest...

...Whosoever he be that doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words in all that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death: only be strong and of a good courage. Joshua 1:6-7,9, 18

Freedom is everybody's business--your business, my business, the church's business; and a man who will not use his freedom to defend his freedom does not deserve his freedom. Dr. Carl McIntire, President of the International Council of Christian Churches, 1948-2002

In "Evangelical," the emphasis is always on the word "jelly." Pastor Perry F. Rockwood, The Peoples Gospel Hour Courage--what's that?--21st century Evangellyfish

February 14, 2022 will go down as the darkest day (so far) in Canadian history. For the last couple of weeks, a cross-country convoy of truckers has been in Ottawa demanding an end to Covid-19 vaccine mandates. The convoy has attracted international attention and support and has inspired similar protests in other countries. After two years of unwarranted Covid restrictions, Canadians have reached their Howard Beale moment (see video below) and have decided they're not going to take this anymore. I suspect that Canadians have been willing to protest for a long time, but were waiting for someone to lead it; finally, the truckers came along to do so.



The federal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau--a Klaus Schwab/George Soros/Chinese Communist Party puppet--has just invoked the Emergencies Act, formerly known as the War Measures Act. This is an unprecedented assault on civil liberties, outlawing peaceful protest and freezing financial accounts of anyone supporting the protesters. It's widely suspected that Justin Trudeau's actual father was Fidel Castro--photos of the two at similar ages betray a striking resemblance--and the Manchurian Pothead and his "government," which is run as a criminal operation, have now made it official and declared war on the Canadian people, imposing a Communist dictatorship in full view of the world.

I've never regarded truckers as heroic before, but like most Canadians, I'm now thanking God for their courage and resolve, and I pray it continues. In striking contrast to the truckers, the evangelical pastors in Canada, with rare exceptions such as Artur Pawlowski, Henry Hildebrandt, James Coates, Tim Stephens, and Jacob Reaume, have been conspicuous by their silence and cowardice. They won't fight for their own rights, the rights of their congregations, or their neighbours whom they claim to love so much. The last couple of years could have been the churches' finest hour, but in the war on Canadians' freedom, the churches and Christian organizations have chosen to be draft-dodgers.

Back in the mid-1990s, an older saint in Toronto named Tom Linton, director of International Christian Relief, told this blogger, "We don't have courage in the pulpits." It was a problem in the 1990s, but it was the Covid-19 "plandemic" that revealed the extent of the wimpiness of evangelical "leaders." Typical of evangelical cowardice but surprising in its frankness is the following message, submitted for your disapproval, from Rev. Ian Fitzpatrick, president of the Church of the Nazarene Canada, January 23, 2022:



The message is a mixture of truth and error, with Rev. Fitzpatrick taking Galatians 5:13-15 out of context, and erecting straw men in rationalizing his spinelessness. The context of Galatians 5 and the entire epistle to the Galatians is that of freedom from the law in regard to salvation. Paul was astonished (Gal. 1:6) that those who had come to Christ out of Judaism were deserting freedom in Christ to return to the bondage of the law. Galatians 5 isn't talking about the relations between the individual and the state or church and state. Rev. Fitzpatrick doesn't directly refer to the current demands for freedom re: Covid, but you don't have to wear a deerstalker to deduce it. It's a straw man, because no one who is demanding freedom is demanding license to trample on other people, but just the right to live ordinary lives as we were doing until a couple of years ago. He says that no amount of freedom will lengthen one's lifespan, but that's not necessarily true; even if it is, it's still better to live those days in freedom than in captivity. Rev. Fitzpatrick bemoans division in the church over Covid, but that is, in no small part, the result of the shepherds refusing to fight for and lead the sheep. You'll notice that he's speaking from what appears to be his office, and not from a pulpit in an actual church; that speaks volumes right there.

The Church of the Nazarene, like the other evanjellycal denominations in Canada, didn't wait for the facts before issuing a public statement last year on a certain racial issue from 100 years ago that they had nothing to do with in the first place. However, concerning the mass violations of our civil liberties and the protests against them here and now, there's not a peep from them. As someone of mainly Irish ancestry, I'm embarrassed that the jellyfish "leading" the Church of the Nazarene Canada has an Irish-sounding name. The Church of the Nazarene Canada, however, is not alone in its shame in bowing to Caesar and refusing to oppose domestic dictatorship, but that's a subject for other posts.

Trudeaupia's Canada's public health officer wants "faith leaders" to promote Covid-19 vaccine acceptance

"Dr." Theresa Tam, who has consistently represented the interests of the Chinese Communist regime during the Covid-19 "pandemic" rather than the interests of the Canadian people whom she's supposed to be serving, isn't content with offering Canadians ridiculous advice on their sex lives (see here and here); now she wants "faith leaders" to promote acceptance of the Covid-19 vaccine among their congregations. As reported by John Longhurst of the Winnipeg Free Press, January 22, 2021:

Canadian faith leaders have an important role to play in promoting COVID-19 vaccines, including helping their members overcome vaccine hesitancy.

That was the message Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, delivered to more than 1,300 participants of an online information event Wednesday.

The event was arranged by the Canadian Council of Churches, Canadian Interfaith Conversation and Canadian Multifaith Federation, at the request of the Privy Council and Public Health Agency of Canada.

In her remarks, Tam said combatting the novel coronavirus is a "whole of government, whole of society effort."

As "trusted voices" in their communities, faith leaders are "instrumental" in that effort, since they "know the hearts and minds of their members" and are often "called on for guidance."

Faith groups can help battle the virus by sharing credible information about vaccines with their members, she said, including dispelling fears about their safety.

They can also help by staying "vigilant" and encouraging congregations to maintain safe practices (social distancing, hand hygiene and mask wearing).

By doing this, it will not only help prevent the spread of virus, it will also give vaccines a "bit of a runway" to get going, she added.

Tam said faith groups also have an important role to play by supporting members who are struggling due to the pandemic, especially those who are elderly, vulnerable or dealing with mental health issues.

"Maintaining social, and emotional and spiritual closeness is more important than ever," she said. "Your leadership is vital for supporting and building resilience in your communities as we move through this pandemic and beyond."

Noting some communication materials about vaccines might need to be translated or adapted for different faith and cultural groups, Tam said the federal government is open to providing financial support in such efforts.

She also said Ottawa is open to working with faith groups to use their facilities as vaccination sites.

However, she added, it’s not practical now, since the "first two vaccines are tricky to handle... maybe in the future as more vaccines become available."

As to whether clergy might be put on a priority list for getting the vaccine, Tam said it might be possible, if they are involved in supporting people in long-term care homes, homeless shelters or other services to marginal and vulnerable people.

She also assured faith leaders no animal products or fetal cells were used in the production of the two current vaccines.

When asked when religious groups might see a return to in-person worship services, Tam noted the decision is up to provincial public health authorities.

Her own view is "right now is definitely not the time," with the pandemic surging in some parts of the country.

"It’s really important to follow local public health advice," Tam said, adding: "The best thing to do is to reduce the number of contacts."

All pandemics come to an end, she said, "and this one will as well."

In remarks at the conclusion of the event, Ian Shugart, Clerk of the Privy Council, noted faith groups can contribute to dealing with the pandemic by "inspiring people to action on behalf of others" while showing "none of us is self-sufficient."

The reader will note the liberalism of the "faith groups" named above. Those in "faith groups" that are ostensibly more conservative would still do well to notice if their own "faith leaders" promote acceptance of the vaccine, providing evidence of whether they're shepherds or hirelings.

This blogger would like to see the vaccine administered to politicians, police, and other beings in positions of authority who have shown so little human feeling and done so much to make people's lives miserable over the last year. With reports of people dying from the vaccine (RIP, Hank Aaron), the disappearance from the scene of these authority figures would be what baseball legend Branch Rickey referred to as "addition by subtraction."

May 17, 2022 update: This is also happening in the United States; as reported by Beth Brelje in The Epoch Times, April 6, 2022:

Many who have chosen not to get the COVID-19 shots have cited religious objections. Now Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf’s administration wants church leaders to bring vaccination events into churches.

Pennsylvania’s public health leaders want to “harness the power of community trust in statewide faith-based organizations” to convince folks to get a COVID-19 shot. That is according to the mission statement of the Faith-based Organization Coalition, which is being formed under the state’s Department of Health and is expected to launch April 11.

The state aims to reduce vaccine hesitancy through the “Local Innovations in Vaccine Equity in Pennsylvania” project (LIVE PA), which is a grant program that pays churches and nonprofits to speak with their people and persuade them to get vaccinated.

That is, $10 for each person-to-person outreach including direct phone calls, direct text messages, direct social media messages, door-knocking campaigns, and anything that involves one on one dialogue promoting the COVID-19 shot. The church or other nonprofit gets another $10 for each person who gets the shot.

“LIVE PA is a collaboration between the Wolf Administration’s Office of Advocacy and Reform and the departments of Health and Human Services, working closely with United Way of Pennsylvania to fund hyper-local, grassroots nonprofit and faith-based organizations to partner with certified vaccine providers to help the populations they serve overcome barriers to vaccination,” Amanda McNaughton, member services manager and Resilient PA Staff Liaison for United Way of Pennsylvania, told The Epoch Times.

The funding comes federally from the Center for Disease Control with $4 million dollars allocated to nonprofit organizations and $630,000 for faith-based organizations, McNaughton said. Grant applications were open in July 2021 and will continue through the end of 2023. So far, 104 applications have been approved, combining faith-based and nonprofit organizations, and 93 clinics have been hosted.

The LIVE PA program was promoted in a March 24, 2022 training meeting for chaplain assistants at UPMC Health Care System. Usually connected to churches, chaplains visit the sick and offer spiritual services. The Epoch Times obtained a video of the meeting, during which Aubrey Juris, partnership opportunity initiative coordinator for the Pennsylvania Department of Health Office of Health Equity explained its faith-based initiatives and encouraged chaplains to bring LIVE PA to their churches.

She suggested churches and nonprofits get creative in hosting vaccination events. Churches could set aside two hours after the worship service and the state vaccination partner could give entire families shots. A program like Meals on Wheels could have a vaccination nurse ride along on deliveries and offer the shot immediately, right in people’s homes. Or a community block party with food and prizes could be held where vaccines are being offered.

In another program, the state is seeking partners, including churches, to help distribute COVID tests in high-need communities. Participating sites must manage test kit distribution and publicize availability.

Ultimately, Juris said, the state wants to “establish COVID-19 Resource Centers in nonprofit outreach centers and houses of worship that will serve as long term, trusted resources to local communities, paving the way for COVID-19 mitigation as a social norm.”

Of the $630,000 available for faith-based organizations to participate in LIVE PA, only about $16,000 has been spent, Juris said.

McNaughton says working with faith-based organizations has been helpful.

“We have been thrilled to partner with local faith-based organizations because they are often trusted representatives with long, established histories in their communities,” McNaughton said. “The remaining population of people who are not fully vaccinated are experiencing barriers such as lack of trust or lack of access. Faith-based organizations are uniquely placed to have long histories with the populations they serve and have earned mutual trust with them. Their efforts to promote the vaccine to their congregations and the communities they serve through their charity work have been successful at reaching vaccine-hesitant populations.”

As reported by Leo Hohmann, April 7, 2022 (bold, links in original):

...Is your church or favorite ministry one of these organizations sucking up tax dollars to poison and sterilize their congregants and followers? It’s not just local churches, but big ministries that are involved in this evil.

I reported previously that the Vatican was encouraging Catholic churches to partner with governments worldwide to promote the vaccine, and some of the big-name evangelical ministries such as Samaritan’s Purse are doing the same.



I received hateful emails for weeks because folks didn’t want to believe that such a trusted name in evangelical circles as Samaritan’s Purse could be involved in this plan to vaccinate every man, woman and child with an unproven, untested, and now proven deadly serum. If you still don’t believe it, don’t trust me: Read here, here and here.

Many other churches and ministries are involved in this deadly propaganda campaign. My advice would be to check with your pastor and/or the financial records keeping department of your favorite ministries and ask if they have or ever will accept any of these funds.

I did a quick online search and found several examples of churches participating in this.

An ad from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, states: “Bethel AME Church of Ardmore, Love Your Neighbor, Alpha Kappa Alpha Inc. Phi Beta Omega Chapter, VNA, Walmart Pharmacy and ACME Pharmacy will partner with the Montgomery County Immunization Coalition to hold a community vaccination clinic.”

St. Paul’s Catholic Church partnered with Penn Medicine Princeton Health in Princeton, New Jersey, to convert its church into a vaccine clinic last May.

Democrat Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez helped convert First Baptist Church of Corona in New York City into a temporary vaccination center.

You can find hundreds of such examples online of collusion between corrupt churches and the corrupt medical/pharma complex, all feeding off of taxpayer dollars.

I am sure not every one of these churches is being paid to promote this death shot. Some are no doubt doing it for free, thinking they are doing the Lord’s work. There are no more excuses for that kind of stupidity. At this point the data is clear. You just have to look for it, because you won’t find any reporting from the mainstream media on the issue of vaccine safety. They are all bought off.

When the lid finally blows on this story, and the perpetrators of the greatest crime in human history are exposed, every one of these church leaders will be held accountable for their roles in what is quickly becoming a genocide...

...Number one, those churches didn’t become trusted by working with corrupt governments that force experimental medical treatments on their citizens.

Number two, how can this promotional work be considered “charity” if the churches are being paid to do it?

This is not earning trust. This is abusing trust, which is exactly what the globalist elites said they would do when they sat down at the Event 201 conference in October 2019 to run a simulation of the coming global coronavirus pandemic. If you listened to those seminars, they made it very clear that they would tap into “trusted sources” in the community to promote their narrative and destroy competing narratives about the pandemic.

Watch the video below from Event 201 and fast forward to the 19:25 mark. That’s CIA operative Avril Haines speaking in October 2019 about “flooding the zone” with “trusted sources” during an upcoming pandemic. Haines would later become Biden’s director of national intelligence. Another speaker, LaToya Abbott, starts talking at the 23:56 mark about the importance of combatting “anti-vaccine sentiment,” which tells you they already knew (in October 2019 two months before the pandemic was discovered in China) they were going to roll out a first-ever coronavirus vaccine that would be controversial.



Recruiting pastors to entice their flocks to accept a medical treatment they know nothing about is fraud and abuse against the people of God. Only an extremely naive and stupid pastor, or one who is an evil globalist, would agree to work with the government on such an devious plan.

With more data coming out every day on not only the failed efficacy of these injections but the dangers to health and safety, there are simply no more excuses left for pastors to be naive.

God have mercy on any pastor or ministry leader who is participating in this program.

70 years ago: "Communists" take over a small town in Wisconsin

On May 1, 1950, the Wisconsin branch of the American Legion staged a mock Communist seizure of Mosinee, Wisconsin as an example of what life would be like in a "United Soviet States of America" (see also here, here, and here). "Communist invaders" theoretically sealed off the town; arrested Mayor Ralph Kronenwetter and Police Chief Carl Gewiss; shut down a church; purged the town library; replaced the local newspaper with one of their own; and consigned citizens to a "concentration camp." Mayor Kronenwetter suffered a cerebral hemorrhage hours later, and died within a week.

Hmmm--shutting down churches; censoring libraries and newspapers to reflect the Communist viewpoint; and quarantining healthy people herding ordinary people into concentration camps. Such a thing could surely never happen here and now.

Apostate mainline churches support illegal blockades in Canada

For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; II Thessalonians 2:7a (NIV)

The Coastal GasLink project is a natural gas pipeline covering approximately 670 kilometres (about 416 miles) from the area of Dawson Creek, British Columbia to the B.C. coast near Kitimat. The company, after years of consultation, has signed agreements with all 20 First Nations (i.e., Canadian Indian bands) along the pipeline route. The Trans Mountain Pipeline is an oil pipeline carrying oil from Alberta to the coast of British Columbia; 120 of 129 Indian bands support the project. Native and other organizations protesting the projects have had their days in court, and lost.

The overwhelming majority of Indians support the pipelines because the projects offer them a once-in-a-generation chance to improve their economic circumstances and escape poverty. However, the Wet'suwet'en, an ostensible First Nation in British Columbia run by allegedly hereditary chiefs, has, for several weeks, been operating an illegal blockade of the Coastal GasLink project. The blockades have spread across the country, e.g., Mohawks in Ontario are expressing solidarity with the Wet'suwet'en protest, using it as an excuse to continue several hundred years of grievances with Canada. All three levels of government in Canada have done nothing to end the lawless blockades; the police, with the notable exception of Vancouver, have been worse than useless, refusing to clear the blockades, while arresting law-abiding people who do try to clear the blockades.

It comes as no surprise to this blogger that the federal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has done nothing to stop the lawlessness. This "government" is basically just a criminal racket, under the titular leadership of a pot-smoking puppet of evil international financier George Soros. Mr. Trudeau has finally gotten around to saying that it's time for the blockades to end, but his actions, or lack thereof, increase my suspicion that he supports the protests--especially since they have a disproportionately negative impact on the economy of western Canada, rather than his parasitical home province of Quebec.

There's nothing "grassroots" or spontaneous about the protests that are increasingly paralyzing the Canadian economy, as becomes apparent when court decisions come down in favour of the pipelines, and protest rallies magically appear in various places within minutes of the announcement of the ruling. The Wet'suwet'en aren't even a real Indian band, but are a company, with the "hereditary chiefs" actually a board of directors, while many of their sympathizers are foreign-funded non-Natives (see videos at the bottom of this post).

On February 16, 2020, geopolitical blogger Dracul Van Helsing came across a Trotskyite World Socialist International (his description) website, and one of their leaders was boasting about his plans to take over Canada, noting that the political leaders are weak, that it was easy to take over the links of Canada's infrastructure, and that he was going to use the Wet'suwet'en dispute to do that, sending out agitators to lead groups of Wet'suwet'en supporters into blocking railways, bridges, highways, airports and various government and public buildings, bringing the Canadian economy to a virtual standstill, making it ripe for widespread anarchy and eventual violent revolution. The next day, they began doing just that, but on the following Sunday, when blogger Van Helsing to post the link for the relevant item to his own blog, the item had been taken down--which this blogger finds very suspicious.

The activities described in the item quoted by Dracul Van Helsing remind me of a book published in 1972, but still relevant. A former Czechoslovakian Communist Party official who defected to the West wrote The Subverters (or The Subverters of Liberty, depending on whether it's the British or American edition), in which he revealed that U.S.S.R. dictator Josef Stalin in 1948 had begun training "master subverters." The master subverters were carefully prepared for 10 years in specially-constructed communities made to resemble those found in the countries to which they would be sent. The master subverters spent these years in these pseudo-Western communities learning the languages (including accents) and customs of their assigned countries, and were given new identities, with all the proper documentation, so that by the time they graduated and took up their assignments, it was impossible for most of the residents in the Western countries to which they were assigned to know that their new neighbours weren't new arrivals from among their own people, but were in fact Soviet spies. Mr. Hutton argued that disruptive events that happened in Western countries in the late 1960s-early 1970s, such as race riots in America, campus protests in Western countries (especially in France), labour strikes in Britain, and skyjackings in the Middle East and elsewhere, were related, and were the result of years of work by the master subverters. It sounds suspiciously like what's going on in Canada today.

The current activities of certain Native terrorists activists also remind me of the prophetic novel The Flaming Sword (1939) by Thomas Dixon, in which Communists used Negroes as dupes in an attempt to take over the United States. Mr. Dixon wrote his novel after researching every race riot in the U.S.A. from 1900-1938.

Despite the overwhelming evidence that the protesters who are attempting to shut down Canada are a small, loud, and violent minority, it comes as no surprise to this blogger that they've attracted the support of clergy from the country's apostate mainline churches. As reported by John Longhurst of the Winnipeg Free Press, February 10, 2020 (link in original):

Two Manitoba bishops are among 71 Anglican, Presbyterian, Lutheran and United Church of Canada leaders and others from across Canada showing support for the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs protesting the $6-billion, 670-kilometre Coastal GasLink pipeline that will go through their traditional territory.

Both The Right Reverend Geoffrey Woodcroft, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Rupertsland, and Bishop Susan Johnson, National Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, signed the solidarity statement that calls on the Canadian government and the RCMP "to immediately cease their occupation, arrests, and trespassing on Wet’suwet’en sovereign territory."

The statement, goes on to note "these unlawful occupations and tactics violate the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples" and violate the wishes of the Wet’suwet’en Clan Chiefs who "hold sole title to their unceded territory and unanimously do not support the construction of the pipeline."

It goes on to say the pipeline project would mar the landscape, cut down trees, harm migration patterns of animals, and put the entire watershed at risk of a leak and contamination.

"We are deeply concerned about the militarized arrests, pressure and trespassing presence of the RCMP on Wet’suwet’en sovereign territory," it states, adding this treats "Indigenous peoples like prisoners on their own territory."

The statement concludes by noting the pipeline not only tramples on the rights of Indigenous Nations, but endangers "our collective wellbeing and future."

For Johnson, signing the statement was a way to remind Canadians "we are not living in to the calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, including the commitment to free, prior and informed consent."

She’s also "deeply concerned about climate justice and about responsible resource extraction. The concerns of the Wet’suwet’en overlap all of these concerns."

For her, using the RCMP is the wrong way to deal with the issue.

"If we are serious about addressing these concerns, then we need to take time to have a real consultation," she said.

By signing the statement, she wants members of her denomination, and other Canadians, to know "we stand with the Wet’suwet’en people and hold our government accountable for its actions."

As for Woodcroft, one reason he signed it because the Anglican community in Manitoba and northwest Ontario is "well connected" with Indigenous people.

He also sees signing it as a way to promote the Anglican Church’s goal of promoting reconciliation with Indigenous people, and of ensuring treaties are fulfilled.

Concern about climate change, and the future of the planet, is also on his mind.

"I am convinced that Creator, God is calling not only me, but all of goodwill, to get on with providing a better tomorrow for all people," he said.

The church has "always had a voice and a strength to care deeply for God’s creation," he added, concluding that is something "we somehow forget" until situations like this arise. Then "we are called back to exercise love, justice and humbleness."

Other signers of the statement include The Most Reverend Mark MacDonald, National Anglican Indigenous Archbishop; The Right Reverend Ron Culter, Archbishop of the Anglican Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island; The Right Reverend Andrew Asbil, The Bishop of Toronto; Jennifer Henry, Executive Director, KAIROS; Carragh Erhardt, Justice Ministries, The Presbyterian Church in Canada; Peter Haresnape, General Secretary, Student Christian Movement of Canada; The Reverend Dr. Joanne Mercer, Anglican Parish of Twillingate, Anglican Diocese of Central Newfoundland.

Find the full statement here: https://bit.ly/2uy25MQ.

In addition to the solidarity statement, members of Hope Mennonite Church in Winnipeg signed a petition sent to the Prime Minister to honour the jurisdiction of the Wet’suwet’en traditional governance and publicly affirm the demands of all five Wet’suwet’en Clan Chiefs.

In the petition, they also call on Coastal GasLink to vacate the territory of the Wet’suwet’en; that the Canadian and British Columbia governments uphold their commitments to implement the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; and that the RCMP respect the rights of the hereditary chiefs and refrain from interfering with Wet’suwet’en law.

I'm not taking a chance that the link and the statement might disappear, so here, with the names and affiliations of the signatories, is the statement by mainline clergy in support of the small, violent minority of terrorists who are attempting to shut down Canada:

Thursday February 6th 2020

Peace be with you,

In solidarity with our Wet’suwet’en relatives, we call upon the government of Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to immediately cease their occupation, arrests, and trespassing on Wet’suwet’en sovereign territory.

In a public statement made yesterday, the RCMP have asserted that they will arrest any persons who will not leave their camps on unceded Wet’suwet’en territory. Wet’suwet’en law precedes and supersedes Canadian law on Wet’suwet’en land. The militarized forced removal of Wet’suwet’en from their own territory, for the economic benefit of fracked natural gas Coastal GasLink’s 670km pipeline is consistent with the colonial practices of genocide. These unlawful occupations and tactics violate the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Wet’suwet’en Clan Chiefs hold sole title to their unceded territory and unanimously do not support the construction of the pipeline. The pipeline project would mar the landscape, cutting down trees, harming migration patterns of animals, and putting the entire watershed at risk of a pipeline leak and contamination. Furthermore, the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people found that there is a direct connection between resource extraction projects and increased violence against and within Indigenous communities. The migration of settler labourers to pipeline projects sites has been connected to increased sexual harassment, murder, rape, sexual assault, the influx of drugs and alcohol, increased conflict and policing, and the undermining of Indigenous self-determination in their communities.

We are deeply concerned about the militarized arrests, pressure and trespassing presence of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Wet’suwet’en sovereign territory. We are alarmed by the RCMP’s establishment of an “Exclusion Zone”- which infringes on freedom of movement of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, with the exclusion of media from witnessing and documentation, and bars clan members from accessing their own lands. These acts of intimidation, occupation, and restriction are harmful and reverses us back to the pass system era, which treats Indigenous peoples like prisoners on their own territory.

The RCMP does not hold the jurisdiction or right to arrest sovereign Wet’suwet’en peoples on their own unceded Nation and territory. The practice of forced relocation, arrest, detention, and criminalization of Wet’suwet’en, Indigenous peoples, and their allies on Wet’suwet’en land is an egregious and shameful violation of international law. We call upon the RCMP and Canadian government to respectfully honour Wet’suwet’en Clan law, whereby ceasing their surveillance, occupation, and militarized violence on Indigenous land.

The continual prioritizing of the interests of private sector and resource extraction over the rights of Indigenous Nations, laws, treaties, lands, and waters, condemns our collective wellbeing and future. We call upon the RCMP and government of Canada to immediately halt all violations and assaults on Indigenous water and land defenders. We stand with the Wet’suwet’en and their allies who have made significant sacrifices on the front lines of this violation on their territory. We honour and respect their commitment to defending the wellbeing of the waters, lands, creatures, people, and sovereignty of Wet’suwet’en.

Sincerely,

The Reverend Evan Smith
Sandra Campbell
The Reverend Leigh Kern
Toronto Urban Native Ministry

The Most Reverend Mark MacDonald
National Anglican Indigenous Archbishop

Bishop Susan Johnson
National Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada

The Right Reverend Ron Cutler
Archbishop of the Anglican Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island

The Right Reverend Andrew Asbil
The Bishop of Toronto

The Right Reverend Geoffrey Woodcroft
Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Rupertsland

The Right Reverend Riscylla Shaw
Bishop Suffragan of Toronto

The Right Reverend Peter Fenty
Bishop Suffragan of Toronto

The Right Reverend Jenny Andison
Bishop Suffragan of Toronto

The Right Reverend Kevin Robertson
Bishop Suffragan of Toronto

Aaron Sault
Suitaakii Black
The Right Reverend Sydney Black
The Vision Keepers Council

The Reverend Canon Ginny Doctor, Mohawk Turtle Clan
Coordinator of Indigenous Ministry, The Anglican Church of Canada

Jennifer Henry
Executive Director, KAIROS

Melanie Delva
National Reconciliation Animator, The Anglican Church of Canada

Yolanda Bird
Suicide Prevention, Alberta and Saskatchewan

Carragh Erhardt
Justice Ministries, The Presbyterian Church in Canada

Judith Moses
Deputy Prolocutor, The Anglican Church of Canada

The Reverend Dr. Karen L. Egan
Prolocutor, The Anglican Church of Canada

Peter Haresnape
General Secretary, Student Christian Movement of Canada

The Reverend Dr. Jennifer Eileen Sculley
Director of Faith, Worship and Ministry, The Anglican Church of Canada

The Reverend Jasmine Hanakaulani Bostock
St. Peter’s, Honolulu

The Reverend Pamela Rayment
St. Clement’s Church

Laura Walton
Prolocutor for the Anglican Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario

The Reverend Dr. Joanne Mercer
Anglican Parish of Twillingate, Anglican Diocese of Central Newfoundland

The Reverend Valerie Kerr, Mohawk, Wolf Clan
Archdeacon

Elin Goulden
Social Justice and Advocacy Coordinator, The Anglican Diocese of Toronto

The Reverend Maggie Helwig
Social Justice and Advocacy Committee, The Anglican Diocese of Toronto

The Reverend Canon George M. Porter
Gathering Table, Thunder Bay

The Reverend Andrea Budgey
University of Toronto Chaplain

The Reverend Tay Moss
Church of the Messiah

The Reverend Samantha Caravan
All Saints’ Peterborough

The Reverend Dana Dickson
Trinity Anglican Church, Bradford

The Reverend Dr. Jason McKinney
Epiphany & St Mark, Parkdale

The Reverend Canon Brad Smith
St John the Evangelist, Peterborough

The Reverend Mark Regis
Church of St. Mary and St. Martha

The Reverend Don Beyers
Christ Church Bolton, York-Credit Valley Social Justice Officer

The Reverend Janaki Bandara
St Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, Cambridge

The Reverend Dawn Leger
St. John’s West Toronto

The Reverend Stephen Kern
Dr. Anne Kern
St. Philips-on-the-Hill, Unionville

The Reverend Dr. Alison Kemper
The Reverend Canon Joyce Barnett
St. Matthias Bellwoods

The Reverend Megan Jull
St. Augustine of Canterbury

The Reverend Sherman Hesslegrave
Zachary Grant
Church of the Holy Trinity

The Reverend Alexa Gilmour
UCC, Toronto

The Reverend Sandra Fyfe
Anglican Parish of Horton, Wolfville

Lisa Alexander
Lawyer/Mediator, Victoria

Andrew Stephens-Rennie
Vancouver, BC

Canon David Robinson
Winnipeg

The Reverend Dr. Heather McCance

Caitlin Reilley Beck

Sharla Sandrock

The Reverend David J. Burrows

Kathy Wellunscheg Klassen

Belinda J. Kishimoto

The Reverend Elizabeth Boehm-Wilson
UCC minister, Kingston

Suzanne Brooks

The Reverend Anne Hoganson

The Reverend Justin Philip Cheng

Susanne Cruickshank

The Reverend Dr. Morar Murray-Hayes

Professor Alan L. Hayes

The Reverend Susanne McKim
Trinity-St. Paul, Port Credit

The Reverend Canon Nicola Skinner
Grace Church, Markham

The Reverend Erin Martin
St James the Apostle, Sharon

The Reverend Susan Spicer
St. George, Ajax

The Reverend Dr. Leigh Silcox
St. Matthias, Etobicoke

For media contact: lkern@toronto.anglican.ca

Two things from the list of signatories stick out to this blogger: the disproportionately large number of female names, especially those with religious titles in front of them--an obvious indication of apostasy; and the fact that almost all of those whose locations are identified come from oil-consuming areas, and almost none from-oil producing areas, and are far away from where the protests originated (although, the way the protests are spreading, they may already have come to experience the protests and/or their effects directly). These people are not Christians, but are liars, hypocrites, economic ignoramususes (ignorami?), and mental and moral pygmies (and I say that with all due respect). They openly support lawlessness, while having the nerve to say "Peace be with you."

As for the comment that "there is a direct connection between resource extraction projects and increased violence against and within Indigenous communities": if that's true, why are the overwhelming majority of Indians in favour of these projects? Are the majority of Indians therefore in favour of increased violence within their communities? I don't believe so, but these religious liberals apparently do, which prompts me to accuse these liberals of a racist slur against the law-abiding majority of Indians. And aren't these liberals always saying that poverty leads to violence? Now they're saying that increased prosperity is directly connected to violence. This blogger can come to no other conclusion than that the signers of this statement want the majority of Indians in the affected areas (and I think it's reasonable to infer that they they would also be opposed to such projects elsewhere in the country) to continue to live in poverty, with everyone subject to continuing and increasing anarchy. These apostates are as sincere in their professed concern for the poor as Judas Iscariot:

Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.
Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him,
Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?
This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. John 12:3-6

See the following videos for more information:

SPECIAL REPORT: Foreign-funded corporation posing as a First Nation blocks pipeline (Rebel News, January 23, 2019)



Investigating the fake First Nation running the illegal Coastal GasLink blockade (Rebel News, January 15, 2020)



Coastal GasLink protester IDENTIFIED — he's from Ontario! (Rebel News, January 17, 2020)



K'omoks First Nation in BC denounce “non-indigenous” protesters for blocking highway (Rebel News, February 13, 2020)



The truth behind First Nations pipeline protests (Financial Post, February 14, 2020)



Majority of First Nations support Canadian energy (True North, February 14, 2020)



Pipeline protests have nothing to do with supporting the Wet’suwet’en people (True North, February 15, 2020)



Wet'suwet'en hereditary Chief Woos, aka Frank Alec TOOK OVER a title reserved ONLY for women! (Rebel News, March 3, 2020)



See also my post The Flaming Sword: A prophetic novel? (January 14, 2009)

See also Dracul Van Helsing's posts:

Pansy Justin Calls All Wimps’ Meeting With Pansy Jagmeet and Pansy Yves-Francois (February 18, 2020)

Renfield’s Ottawa News Broadcasts and The Arrival of Magical Mystery Tour (February 19, 2020)

Justin Trudeau’s Failed Macho Man Impersonation and The Unmasked Demon Dancer Chief Woos (February 21, 2020)

Trotskyite Anarchists Throw Burning Debris Against Canadian Trains (February 26, 2020)

HT: Dracul Van Helsing

U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo rebukes China for persecution of religious minorities

As reported by Eva Fu of The Epoch Times, June 21, 2019 (updated June 22, 2019) (bold in original):

U.S. State Secretary Michael Pompeo sternly reprimanded China for “staggering religious abuses” committed in the country during his unveiling of the State Department’s annual report on global religious freedom on June 21.

He warned that governments that persecute religious believers should not be able to get away with such actions without consequences.

Pompeo especially pointed to atrocities being committed in China against religious groups of all sorts.

“The Chinese Communist Party has exhibited extreme hostility to all religious faiths since its founding,” Pompeo said during a June 21 press conference.

“In China, the intense persecution of many faiths—Falun Gong practitioners, Christians, and Tibetan Buddhism among them—is the norm,” Pompeo said, adding that the department decided to add a special subsection in the China section to document human rights abuses on Islam-practicing minority groups in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. The United Nations estimates that over one million Uyghurs and other minorities are currently being detained inside concentration camps where they are forced to renounce their faith.

Individuals there won’t be able to tell their stories otherwise.

“History will not be silent about these abuses—but only if voices of liberty like ours record it,” Pompeo said.

His comments were also a rare instance of a top U.S. official publicly calling out China for its ongoing persecution of Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline for mind and body improvement based on moral teachings of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance. It has been severely persecuted since 1999, with hundreds of thousands of adherents being thrown into prison, brainwashing centers, labor camps, and other detention facilities where they are often tortured.

Sam Brownback, the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, also specifically condemned the atrocity of forced organ harvesting, a state-sanctioned practice whereby hospitals amass profits by killing prisoners of conscience and selling fresh organs for transplant surgery.

A recent ruling by an independent people’s tribunal in London found substantial evidence that forced organ harvesting has taken place in China for years “on a significant scale,” and that Falun Gong practitioners were likely the principal source of organs.

The new report pointed out that although freedom of belief is enshrined in China’s constitution, the scope for the protection of such rights is not defined, giving way for the Chinese communist regime to outlaw religious activities and restrict believers’ rights when they are perceived as a threat to the Party’s control.

“The Party demands that it alone be called god,” Pompeo said.

Religious Abuses

In China, only five religious organizations have state approval to officially hold worship services under strict Party control, forcing many who refuse to conform with the Party ideology to go underground.

U.S. officials, as well as international NGOs, have repeatedly expressed their concerns over China’s crackdown on over 200 million religious believers in the country.

In Xinjiang, for example, residents are confined in concentration camps “designed to strip away the culture, identity, and faith,” said Brownback at the press conference. The Chinese regime has sought to break their faith by forcing detainees to eat pork and forbid their fasting during Ramadan.

The Chinese regime has employed a massive network of advanced surveillance cameras that tracks residents’ every movement in real time.

In Tibet, communist red flags, as well as portraits of communist leaders, are hung up prominently in Buddhist monasteries. Over the past decade, more than 150 Tibetans have set themselves on fire as a public protest against authorities’ trampling on their religious practices and culture, according to the report.

Meanwhile, members of underground Christian churches face the threat of constant arrests and forced demolition. Authorities also require Christian churches to install surveillance cameras and have forced house church members to sign papers to give up their faith.

“China has declared war on faith,” Brownback said.

Falun Gong, first introduced in China in 1992, grew to a following of 70 million to 100 million in China by 1999, according to official estimates at the time. Beijing saw its popularity as a threat and began a decades-long persecution that has seen at least thousands of adherents killed for their faith.

With regards to organ harvesting, a 2016 report by three investigators, Nobel Peace Prize nominee Ethan Gutmann, former Canada Secretary of State David Kilgour, and human rights lawyer David Matas, gave a conservative estimate based on hospital data that 60,000 to 90,000 transplant operations take place in the country each year, far exceeding the Chinese regime’s stated numbers based on its voluntary donation system.

“This [organ harvesting] should shock everyone’s conscience,” Brownback said.

Brownback and Pompeo both said that it is more pertinent right now than ever to promote and protect religious freedom.

“We will not stop until the iron curtain of religious freedom come down, until governments no longer detain and torture people for simply being of a particular faith or associated with it,” Brownback said.

Pompeo added that the U.S. administration will make promoting religious freedom a “top foreign policy agenda” and continue to be the vanguard for international religious rights.

“For all those that run roughshod over religious freedoms, I’ll say this: the United States is watching and you will be held to account,” he said.

“It’s a distinctly American responsibility to stand up for faith in every nation’s public square,” Pompeo added.

Chinese authorities tear down a church--and order the congregation to pay for the demolition

As reported by Olivia Li of The Epoch Times, June 10, 2019 (bold, link in original):

Local Chinese authorities tore down another Christian church in May, after church members refused to donate the building to the county government.

Moreover, church members were ordered to pay the demolition cost and were fined 50,000 yuan ($7,236) for “illegally using farmland to build a church.”

Local government officials in Tanghe County, Henan Province, had initially demanded that the church building be donated to the county, a church member surnamed Zhou told Radio Free Asia on June 7. When the demand was rejected, the local court issued a mandatory demolition notice, and the roughly 2,700-square-foot church was torn down overnight on May 16.

Forced demolitions of Christian churches is widespread in China. In addition, since 2018, crosses on thousands of churches have been dismantled by local authorities in Henan, Anhui, and Shandong provinces, and Christian believers have been forbidden from attending meetings.

Zhou also revealed that the priest, Zhang Yongcheng, had to leave the county so that local authorities couldn’t target him to pay the fine. Meanwhile, Zhang’s son, a student, was intimidated at school.

Other Churches Confiscated

After that incident, several other churches were “donated” to the Tanghe county government, and the donations were notarized, according to Zhou.

“If they refuse to donate, officials will come and tear down their church just like what they did to our church,” Zhou said.

Another church member who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the county government accused the church of using overseas funds for construction; in fact, all the money came from member donations and the church members still owe more than 400,000 yuan ($57,889) in loans.

According to a religious affairs ordinance, effective Feb. 1, 2018, religious groups aren’t allowed to accept conditional donations from overseas organizations or individuals. Furthermore, any donation from overseas that exceeds 100,000 yuan ($14,472) must be reported to a department of religious affairs at the county level or above for approval.

Liu Yi, the founder of Chinese Christian Fellowship of Righteousness in the United States, told Taiwanese journalist Yang Hsien-hung in September 2018 that in Henan Province alone, crosses in nearly 7,000 churches were forcibly removed in 2018.

A priest surnamed Feng from Guangdong Province told Radio Free Asia that he was outraged when he heard about the recent incident in Tanghe County.

“Christian believers were even forced to pay the demolition cost. It tells us the suppression of Christians is getting worse. We’ve heard of similar incidents in Beijing, in Anhui Province and Jiangxi Province, as well as in northeastern China,” he said. “We are facing a harsh environment. We pray to the Lord to protect us and give us courage.”

The Chinese regime has recently intensified its suppression of house Christians, with reports since February that local authorities were dismantling underground churches, taking down crosses, and ramping up efforts to “sinicize” religious faith—in other words, forcing worshippers to recognize the Chinese Communist Party’s control over religion.

Gigantic statue of Jesus to be erected in Vladivostok--on a site originally intended for a statue of Lenin

As idolatrous as a statue of Jesus is, it's amusing to think that Vladimir Lenin must be spinning in his tomb at the thought that Jesus is once again an object of veneration in Russia, while Mr. Lenin is passe. As reported by Marc Bennetts of Religion News Service, March 15, 2019 (link in original):

An artistic rendering of the statue of Christ planned for Vladivostok in eastern Russia.

Moscow • Authorities in Vladivostok, the largest city in far eastern Russia, plan to erect a gigantic statue of Jesus Christ on a site once designated for a monument of Vladimir Lenin.

The statue, which has not yet been approved by the Russian Orthodox Church, is to be 125 feet high — the same height as the Christ the Redeemer monument in Rio de Janeiro, according to blueprints made public by Vyatsky Posad, a Russian Orthodox Christian center. The statue will stand on top of a hill looking east over the Pacific Ocean.

Soviet authorities issued orders for the construction of a 98-foot-high bronze statue of Lenin at the site in 1972. Another statue, of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, was planned to be built on a neighboring hill. But construction hitches meant the plans repeatedly were postponed, before eventually being scrapped altogether in 1990.

Supporters of the Jesus statue are enthusiastic, despite the lack of details about the project. Descriptions of the statue as a “symbol of the unity of the Russian people” that would “bless” ships leaving and arriving in the port city were later deleted from the Vyatsky Posad’s website, for reasons that remain unclear. Attempts by Religion News Service to contact the Vyatsky Center for comment were unsuccessful.

Other Russian media outlets, however, have published blueprints for the project, and plans for the statue were discussed openly at a meeting at the proposed site in late February attended by Oleg Kozhemyako, the regional governor; Ali Uzdenov, a vice president of the Russian business conglomerate Sistema; and Gennady Tsurkov, the head of the Vyatsky Posad center, which is connected to Iliy, an influential monk who is spiritual adviser to Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Tsurkov, in an interview with Russia’s Govorit Moskva radio station, said the statue project had been inspired by Iliy.

“He really wants to put up a statue of Jesus Christ as a protector of our Russia from the east,” Tsurkov said. “He says, ‘we need to make it higher [than the statue in Rio].’” Tsurkov clarified that while the statue itself would be the same height as the Christ the Redeemer monument, it would also stand atop a 98-foot-high pedestal. “Altogether, it will be 68 meters [223 feet].”

Tsurkov said that private investors would fund the construction of the statue but that total costs had yet to be finalized.

Kozhemyako said a small chapel that could hold up to 30 people would also be built close to the statue. “Delegations will just arrive, go in, and light a candle,” the regional governor said, according to online footage of the on-site discussion.

Online opinion has been almost entirely negative. “Is there nothing else for us to spend our money on?” wrote Svetlana, on a forum for residents of Vladivostok. “We’d be better off spending the money on hospitals, schools, roads … ”

Others on the same forum suggested the project could be part of “a money-laundering scheme.”

Roman Lunkin, a religion analyst at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, told RNS that it was not certain that the Russian Orthodox Church would approve the project, because the proposed design was more in keeping with Roman Catholic statues and monuments. “There is a tradition in Orthodoxy of putting up crosses,” he said, “but not statues.”

With the Russian Orthodox Church closely aligned with the Kremlin, Lunkin explained, the project contained a “political-patriotic” element that apparently underlines what President Vladimir Putin has described as the religious values that bind modern Russia.

“This huge statue of Christ is proposed to act as a kind of border post in Russia’s far east to guard our motherland,” Lunkin said. He also criticized comments attributed to Ilya, the patriarch’s spiritual adviser, about making the statue larger than its counterpart in Brazil as an ill-considered attempt to “demonstrate Russian greatness” to the entire world.

The construction of a massive statue of Christ in Vladivostok would also neatly symbolize Russia’s startling transformation from an officially atheist state in the Soviet era, which ended in 1991, to today’s Christian-majority country. Around 80 percent of Russians currently identify as Orthodox Christians, including Putin, a former KGB agent. Few, however, attend church services or observe religious fasts.

The Vladivostok statue wouldn’t be the first time that a Christian structure has been built on the site of a monument to Lenin. In 2000, Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral was consecrated at a location within sight of the Kremlin towers, replacing a previous cathedral building that was demolished on Stalin’s orders in 1931 to make way for a planned 1,000-foot-high Palace of Soviets.

The palace, which would have been the world’s tallest building at the time, was to have been topped by a colossal statue of Lenin. Construction was postponed and then later scrapped with the outbreak of World War II.

It’s not only in grandiose architecture that Lenin and Jesus compete in today’s Russia. Gennady Zyuganov, the leader of the modern-day Communist Party, frequently compares Lenin to Jesus Christ and has claimed the Soviet Union was an attempt to establish “God’s kingdom on earth.”

U.S. political cult leader Lyndon LaRouche dies at 96

I missed this when it occurred a month ago: Lyndon LaRouche, economic theorist, conspiracy theorist, perennial U.S. presidential candidate, and cult leader, died on February 12, 2019 at the age of 96, as reported in a laudatory obituary published in his Executive Intelligence Review.

Mr. LaRouche's cult--the International Caucus of Labor Committees--revolved around himself rather than around fixed dogma, which enabled him, over a period of 40 years, to retain much of his following while migrating from Marxism to a position on the political spectrum that could be described, in the words of a former professor of mine, as "slightly to the right of Nero."

Mr. LaRouche achieved some success at infiltrating the Democratic Party in the 1980s, but his tentacles reached beyond the United States. This blogger has seen LaRouche cultists at the Lester B. Pearson International Airport in Toronto, while the Schiller Institute, which was founded by his second wife Helga Zepp-LaRouche, had, and perhaps still has, a base in Sherwood Park, Alberta. In the mid-1980s, an obscure critical article about Mr. LaRouche by Alberta cultwatcher Chris Milner in Alberta Report magazine prompted a handwritten rebuttal to Mr. Milner from a well-known American admirer of Mr. LaRouche.

For more on Lyndon LaRouche, see the following articles:

Lyndon LaRouche, Cult Figure Who Ran for President 8 Times, Dies at 96 by Richard Severo, The New York Times, February 13, 2019

Lyndon LaRouche Jr., conspiracy theorist and presidential candidate, dies at 96 by Timothy R. Smith, The Washington Post, February 13, 2019

Ideological Odyssey: From Old Left to Far Right by John Mintz, The Washington Post, January 14, 1985

Political Theater of the Absurd by Scott McLemee, Inside Higher Ed, February 19, 2019

Vatican and Vietnam report progress in upgrading diplomatic relations

Pope Francis, having already sold out his own bishops to the Communist government of China, is apparently preparing to do the same in Vietnam; as reported by Catholic News Service, December 20, 2018:

VATICAN – Delegations from the Vatican and from Vietnam reported continued progress in their discussions, including agreeing on "upgrading" relations with a permanent papal representative "in the near future," a Vatican press statement said.

"They shared the belief that this step will help relations between the two sides grow and develop further," said the statement, released Dec. 20.

The two official delegations met in Hanoi Dec. 19 for the seventh meeting of the Vietnam-Holy See joint working group, which is trying to pave the way for full diplomatic relations between the Vatican and the communist government. The last working group meeting was at the Vatican in 2016.

"The two sides agreed that relations between Vietnam and the Holy See should continue to be maintained based on the mutually agreed principles and fruitful dialogue in order to build confidence and bolster relations in the interest of both sides and of the Catholic community in Vietnam," the Vatican statement said.

The two delegations also discussed "and reached an agreement on relevant matters toward upgrading relations in the near future between Vietnam and the Holy See from non-permanent pontifical representative to permanent pontifical representative," it said.

While the two countries do not have full diplomatic relations, Vietnam agreed to let the Vatican name a nonresident papal representative to the country in 2011, which was seen as a major step in an ongoing process to normalize relations.

That appointment came after landmark high-level meetings, such as Pope Benedict XVI's meeting with Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet in 2009 and his 2007 meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. That meeting marked the first time a prime minister from Vietnam's communist government met a pope and top officials from the Vatican Secretariat of State.

Talks and relations between the Vatican and Vietnam were strengthened further when Pope Benedict met the head of Vietnam's communist party, Nguyen Phu Trong, and top party and government officials in January 2013. Pope Francis welcomed Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang to the Vatican in 2016.

After the bilateral discussions Dec. 19, the Vatican "expressed its appreciation and gratitude to the Vietnamese side for the attention that the Vietnamese authorities have accorded to the Catholic Church in Vietnam in recent years."

"The Vietnamese side reiterated that the Vietnamese (communist) party and state are consistently implementing and tirelessly improving the policy framework respecting and ensuring freedom of beliefs and religion of the people; encouraging and facilitating the Catholic community to operate in accordance with Vietnamese law, and to participate actively in national economic and social development and construction," the Vatican statement said.

"The two sides also discussed issues concerning the partition of dioceses and the appointment of bishops in Vietnam," it added.

According to the U.S. International Commission on Religious Freedom's 2018 annual report, Vietnam was one of 16 countries designated as Tier 1 -- the harshest level of repression of religious liberty.

A Tier 1 country, the report said, is "any country whose government engages in or tolerates particularly severe religious freedom violations, meaning those that are systematic, ongoing and egregious."

See also my post Pope Francis betrays legitimate Chinese Roman Catholic bishops in favour of those appointed by China's Communist government (February 4, 2018)

40 years ago: A testimonial dinner that never took place

A testimonial fund-raising dinner in honour of former San Francisco Housing Authority chairman and Peoples Temple founder and leader Rev. Jim Jones was scheduled to be held in San Francisco. However, the gala, endorsed by 75 prominent leaders in support of this prominent Communist liberal social reformer, was cancelled two weeks before the scheduled date because of the guest of honour's permanent inability to appear at the event.

Chinese government drafts new regulations to restrict religious content online

As reported by Agence France-Presse, September 11, 2018 (links inserted by London Daily Telegraph):

Chinese authorities have drafted sweeping new regulations that would severely restrict religious content online, including images or even descriptions of religious activities from praying and chanting to burning incense.

The move comes as Beijing tightens the screws on religion, especially for followers of Islam and Christianity.

The new rules would only allow members of officially licensed organisations to post certain kinds of religious content, according to a draft document published online Monday by the bureau of religious affairs.

Individuals would be forbidden from posting photos, videos and even text related to religious activities, or sharing links related to preaching.

Organisations that break the rules could be shut down, the document said, but it did not detail penalties for individuals, beyond saying any violations would be handled "according to law".

China's officially atheist government is wary of any organised movements outside its own control, including religious ones, and analysts say oversight of such groups has tightened under President Xi Jinping.

While Beijing officially recognises five religions, it imposes strict controls on how they may be practised - regulating everything from who can attend services to what can be said by religious leaders.

The regulations are intended to promote "social stability" and stop religious fraud, cults and appeals to "extremism", the document said.

The propagation of religious information within China by any "overseas individuals and organisations" would also be banned.

As written, the regulations could make it illegal to publish information about virtually any kind of religious activity - even pictures from a wedding ceremony - according to Jeremy Daum, an expert on Chinese law.

"As they currently read, the measures cast the net far too wide," he said, adding that "even parts of traditional Chinese culture over which the Party is rightly proud will be excluded".

The country's top leaders recently called for religious practices to be brought in line with "traditional" Chinese values and culture, sparking concern among rights groups.

State supervision of religion has increased in a bid to "block extremism", and in areas with significant Muslim populations authorities have removed Islamic symbols, such as crescents, from public spaces.

In the far-western region of Xinjiang, Uighurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities are harshly punished for violating regulations banning beards and burqas, and even for the possession of unauthorised Korans.

Up to a million minorities are believed to be held in extrajudicial re-education camps in Xinjiang, rights groups say.

Many of them were detained for posting "extremist" religious content - everything from Islamic State group videos to holiday greetings - on social media.

As reported by Frank Fang of The Epoch Times, September 12, 2018 (links in original):

Beijing has intensified its suppression of religious groups, especially in central China’s Henan Province, where authorities have continued to tear down Christian crosses.

The Chinese regime has removed about 7,000 crosses from churches across Henan recently, according to Jonathan Liu, a priest and founder of the San Francisco-based Chinese Christian Fellowship of Righteousness, in a Sept. 10 interview with Taiwan’s international radio station Radio Taiwan International (RTI). Liu said a pastor for a Three-Self Church located in Henan told him the number of crosses while the two communicated through China’s popular social messaging app WeChat.

The Three-Self Church, a Protestant church, is one of several congregations that have received official approval from Chinese authorities, as Chinese law stipulates that religious believers can only worship at government-sanctioned churches. However, millions of Chinese have defied such restrictions to attend congregations at so-called underground or house churches.

Liu added that the cross removal in Henan targeted both government-sanctioned and house churches.

As for why Henan is being targeted by the Chinese regime, Liu explained that Henan is a place of significance for Chinese Christianity since it is nicknamed China’s Galilee—a reference to the site where Jesus is said to have walked on water. In some villages of Henan, more than 95 percent of the local population are Christians, Liu said.

“Even though [Chinese authorities] have never publicly acknowledged this, the reason behind [the Henan suppression] is that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) wants to secure its rule in the area,” said Liu.

The mass removal of church crosses in Henan is similar to what happened in eastern China’s Zhejiang Province in 2016, according to Liu. Then, crosses from more than 1,700 churches were taken down by Chinese authorities.

They also targeted Wenzhou, a city in Zhejiang that’s known for a large number of churches and practicing Christians, Liu said. That was one of the first areas of China visited by foreign missionaries during the 1800s.

On Sept. 10, the Chinese regime toughened its controls on religious groups in China with new draft guidelines. According to China’s state-run newspaper Global Times, the guidelines require that all organizations engaged in the dissemination of religious information online will need to apply for licenses from provincial religious affairs departments.

The new guidelines also specifically prohibit online religious services from inciting subversion—a catch-all charge for virtually anything the CCP disapproves of, such as opposing the leadership of the Party.

The recent suppression of Christians isn’t limited to Henan. In Beijing, the Zion church, the largest house church in the capital, was shut down by local authorities on Sept. 9, after declaring gatherings at the church illegal.

According to a Sept. 8 report by Association for the Defense of Human Rights and Religious Freedom, an independent nonprofit, restrictions on churches also are occurring in southern China’s Guangdong Province and in Heilongjiang Province in the north.

Liu told RTI that Christianity has become very different under the CCP, because the core of the religion has become toeing the Party line. Christians must be obedient under the regime’s leadership, he said.

For example, during church services, churchgoers are required to sing China’s national anthem or other songs that praise the Party, and pastors are required to read out a set of Party regulations on “religious affairs” before giving sermons.

Ultimately, the Chinese regime turns local Christians into “Pink Christians,” said Liu. Pink in China has the underlying meaning of being very patriotic to the CCP, a play on the significance of the color red in symbolizing communism. The term “Little Pink,” or “Xiaofenhong” in Chinese, for example, means Chinese youth who are nationalistic trolls on the internet who defend the Party against any criticism.