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Articles, Education, Prophecy, Teaching

The Queen ‘Cancelled’ … At Oxford University?

It is considered the Number One, or Two, university in the world. She is the most well-known and respected leader on the earth today. They both live in the same country – indeed, they are within 1-2 hours distance from each other. Like horse and carriage, they are synonymous with the greatness of their nation.

Yet we are in a culture war with ‘political correctness,’ ’historical revision,’ ‘defund the police,’ with continuous attacks on national borders, traditions, and institutions. Part and parcel of cultural Marxism and the culture war is ‘cancel culture,’ which seeks to silence, de-platform, and, if possible, destroy, the object of its scorn. It doesn’t just target the little guy; even the rich and famous have been in its cross-hairs, like JK Rowlings, Donald Trump, and Franklin Graham (none of these have disappeared yet).

Did Queen Elizabeth II get ‘cancelled’ at Oxford University? It depends on how your perspective.

Perspective, Please

Here’s what actually happened. Magdalen College, one of the top schools of Oxford, has a ‘Middle Common Room’(MCR) for the graduate students. At a June 2021 meeting, 17 of the 250 MCR members, most of them international students, debated whether a 1952 portrait of the Queen should stay or be removed from the wall. The student president of MCR, Matthew Katzman, aged 25, from Maryland USA, led the charge for removal.

Katzman said the MCR should be a welcoming neutral place for all members regardless of background, demographics or views. The portrait of the Queen is ‘unwelcoming’ because its ‘depictions of the monarch and the British monarchy represent recent colonial history. Patriotism and colonialism are not really separable ….’ Being an American, Katzman would be unfamiliar with royal things and Magdalen, founded in1458, as well as the historical city of Oxford, are full of royal items, sculptures, and art.

It needs also to be noted the portrait has only been in the MCR since 2013; apparently, before that date there was no picture of the monarch. What the students were doing was simply exercising their democratic right to decorate their common room as they see fit. After all, if you can’t have freedom of speech in a university, what hope do we have for the rest of society (Note: Freedom of speech at university level is under threat … but that’s a separate matter).

The President of Magdalen, Dinah Rose QC, supported the students right to make that decision, in part because of the need to protect free speech in the face of cancel culture. Rose expressed personal admiration for the Monarch and the British values she upholds. These include debate and the right of freedom of expression, even if such is offensive and wrong. In conclusion, Rose said, ‘I strongly support the MCR’s exercise of that right, and their right to take democratic decision about their own affairs, including the decoration of their own space in college.’[1] Sounds reasonable.

So let’s not make this bigger than what it is — the portrait of the Queen will not be ‘hanging out’ with the Magdalen students. This is not Bastille Day.

Please Consider

Freedom of speech means the ability to speak your mind without censure; but it also means being ready to handle a response. Please consider the following:

RIGHT OF REPLY: In former times, public statements could be countered by opposing arguments. That’s part of the deal. Yet in today’s highly triggered, thin-skinned, prima donna snowflake world, you can’t have people exercising free speech, only to bubble wrap and whisk them to a ‘safe space’ so they can’t hear counter arguments. It doesn’t work like that.

Magdalen’s MCR decision did get some high-profile and negative responses.

UK Education Gavin Williamson called the decision ‘absurd’ and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed. Oxford Chancellor Lord Patten called the student vote ‘offensive and obnoxiously ignorant.’

Harry Mount, a graduate of Magdalen, wrote in The Daily Mail, that the student decision to remove the portrait was ‘the latest example of knee-jerk wokery’ (here’s a new word for you) and got him thinking how ‘how stupid very clever people can sometimes be.’

TIMING: Part of the outraged response has to do with timing and the monarch herself. Britain has just gone through a long lock-down, with all the trauma and stress it entailed. ‘Cancel culture’ has struck like a hand-grenade tossed into a crowd. The Queen had just lost her husband of 73 years, Prince Philip, on 9 April 2021, two months shy of his 100th birthday. Then there are the continued actions and statements of Harry and Meghan, even from far away California. The Queen is a strong survivor but it is still a lot to bear on a 95 year old woman. British people are feeling extra protective of the Her Majesty at this time.

It’s one thing to protest and oppose an unpopular king like James II, who spawned the Glorious Revolution of 1688. It is another thing to show ‘seeming disrespect’ to the longest serving and most popular monarch in British history. While the MCR students may not have intended any kind of insult towards the Queen, the timing during all these events was unfortunate and can be easily misinterpreted.

IGNORANCE: Though the graduate students at Magdalen can do what they want with their common room, at least offer a proper reason. To say that Elizabeth II represents ‘recent colonial history’ truly is absurd (Note: Cultural Marxist often throw around the word ‘colonial’ to make it synonymous with ‘racism’).

In her long reign, the Queen has presided over the peaceful decolonisation of the British Empire, from which emerged the Commonwealth of Nations. Many of these former colonies are enthusiastic participants in the Commonwealth, which consists of fifty-four sovereign nations, 2.4 billion people, of which 60% are under the age of 30. It is a big global multinational, multiracial family. The Queen is the titular head of the Commonwealth and greatly loved by its members; it is perhaps her finest individual achievement. To the students of MCR, you are free to do what you want in your common room, but come up with a better reason.

TREND: The MCR controversy is just a blip on the radar compared to a much bigger civil war brewing at Oxford University. Cancel culture includes toppling of statues, which has happened in the USA and UK. Historical figures are being ‘cancelled’ because of alleged links to slavery, however tenuous they may be. The National Trust, caretaker of historic homes and mansions throughout the UK, have 93 of their sites blacklisted because of supposed links to slavery by the original owners.

One reviled figure is Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902), whose statue is displayed prominently high up at Oriel College, a school he helped fund. Rhodes scholarship comes from him. The Left see Rhodes as an oppressive coloniser, while the other side said he is a historical figure; toppling his statue would ‘erase history’ and ‘censor the past.’ A head of one college at Oxford is boycotting cooperation with Oriel and tutoring its students until the statue is removed (Honest question: How does removing a statue help oppressed people?).

BIGGER THREAT: The monarchy faces a bigger threat than the removal of a portrait from a common room or Cecil Rhodes statue. Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have gone on record saying publicly ‘racism’ and ‘deception’ are found in the monarchy, the Commonwealth, the British press, and other unsubstantiated claims. These pronouncements may die down and be forgotten, which is the preferred outcome, or they could flare up again, either by the Sussexes or someone else who picks up the torch.

From a Biblical perspective, God is not in the business of cancelling out people, but of redeeming them from sin, giving them an abundant life in this world, and hope for the world to come. The things that gets cancelled include ‘sin, shame, and death.’

That’s the glory of the Gospel.

 

 

 

 

 


[1] ‘Now PM hits out over students’ outrageous attack on the Queen, by Josh White and Glen Keogh, The Daily Mail, June 10, 2021, page 6.

Articles, Education, Prophecy, Teaching

The end of an era? Israel’s New Government

He has been a towering figure in Israeli and even global politics for fifteen non-consecutive years (1996-1999; 2009-2021). Many younger Israelis have known no other leader than him. It is reported that, apart from the American President, he received more world leaders than anyone else. While increasingly a polarising figure at home, he was received with great honor in places like Washington, Moscow, and Beijing.

Our course the man in question is Benjamin ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu, who is Israel’s longest serving Prime Minister. On Sunday, 13 June 2021, Netanyahu ceded, most reluctantly, the prime ministership to a new Change government.

Assessing Netanyahu

From an objective point of view, Netanyahu has been an effective leader. As Finance Minister and Prime Minister, he presided over the growth of the economy, helping to make  Israel a start-up capital and Middle Eastern Silicon Valley. When it comes to issues of national security and counter-terrorism, Israelis trust him most. More than any other person Netanyahu has been sounding the alarm over Iran’s nuclear program.

On the diplomatic front, he quietly built relations with Arab world, particularly Saudi Arabia and some of the Gulf Countries, something that was unthinkable a few years ago. Evolving from a ‘no recognition of Israel’ to a cautious embrace, they have been attracted to its technology and also as a serious counterweight to Iran. Eventually, under the supervision of US President Trump, came the Abraham Accords in October 2020, where the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco, have all agreed to make peace with the Jewish state. Others Arab nations are expected to follow. Netanyahu’s eloquence – in English and Hebrew – is unrivalled.

Yet, there is always the challenge when a person has been in power for a long time, namely the threat of corruption. Netanyahu is currently being tried for that very thing. Of course, he should be presumed innocent until proven guilty, but it is a drag on the entire country. There has been the political stalemate with four elections in two years, and being the powerful person he is, it is fair to say that he is the epicentre of it. Then, his attacks on the incoming government have been described as unfair and virulent.

Introducing Naftali Bennett

Who is the man who replaced Netanyahu as Prime Minister of Israel? His name is Naftali Bennett, leader of the New Right Party (Yamina). Bennett was born in March 1972 in Haifa, the son of Jewish migrants from the United States. A very successful business owner and multi-millionaire, he is an observant Orthodox Jew. Bennett is married to a professional pastry chef named Gilat and they have four children.

Politically, he is right of Netanyahu and described as an ‘ultra-nationalist.’ He is against a Palestinian state ‘in the tiny land of Israel,’ believes in cutting taxes, reducing regulation, and encouraging small business. While he affirms homosexuals have the same human rights as anyone else, he is against same-sex marriage or the advancement of the gay agenda. Many of his coalition partners, and even Netanyahu, are far more ‘gay-friendly’ than Bennett.

Israel’s proportional representation democracy means that every election results in a hung parliament; thus rendering all Israeli governments a coalition. Under Netanyahu, there were right-wing and religious parties in his coalition. Under Bennett, the religious and right-wing parties are gone and secular, centrist, leftist have replaced it. For the first time ever, the Arab parties, called Joint List, are part of an Israeli coalition government. 

The Challenges Ahead

Bennett’s main partner is Yesh Atid (there is a future) secular centrist party, led by Yair Lapid. They have a revolving agreement: Bennett will serve as Prime Minister from June 13, 2021- to 27 August, 2023. On the latter date, Lapid will become Prime Minister until November 2025.

That’s if the coalition last that long, and it is a big ‘IF.’ Prospects are not good. Bennett’s Change Government has 61 Knesset (Israel’s parliament) seats and Netanyahu has 59. If just one member of Bennett’s coalition defects, the whole government will come crashing down, triggering a new election.

Then there is the Netanyahu factor: He will not go away nor will he be cancelled. He continues to serve as leader of the Likud Party and Opposition Leader. It is no secret that he aims to do what he can to undermine the new government, and considering its ultra-thin majority, that won’t be hard to do.

And it won’t be necessarily just Netanyahu who will put the new Change government to the test. Two days after Bennett took office, Hamas deployed fire balloons from Gaza, which have started 30 fires in Israeli areas near the border. 

When it comes to the Middle East, especially Israel, expect the unexpected. In the meantime, there is something you can do: pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6). Jew and Arab, Christian and Muslim, will all be better off because of it.

#yamina #naftalibennett #netanyahu #psalm122 #psalm122v6 #teachallnations #

Articles, Education, Prophecy, Teaching

Covid-19 & Fauci Emails: A Smoking Gun?

 

During the height of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, he was the face of America’s national response. His name became a household word. Many considered him ‘America’s Doctor,’ having served as the chief medical advisor to every US President since Ronald Reagan.

The man: Anthony Fauci, scientist, physician, and immunologist. He is the Director of the American National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). He was the lead member of President Trump’s White House Coronavirus Task Force. An anxious nation looked to his voice of reason, calm, and knowledge to get through the scourge of the pandemic. Fauci enjoyed great favour with the mainstream media.

Is that image changing? With the release of 3,200 pages of emails through Buzzfeed thanks to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), it appears there is another side to this ‘respected and trusted’ face of Fauci. Though there is still much to sort through and the emails are redacted, yet things look questionable, if not ominous

Remember at the outbreak of the pandemic? The world was told that Covid-19 came from bats in the Wuhan wet market. Yet, this explanation did not satisfy. Reports came that the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) may have been the source. Fauci denied it and the mainstream media criticised anyone advocating this position as a ‘conspiracy theory.’ Of course, since Donald Trump was the biggest proponent of the ‘lab leak,’ the media was even more insistent that it was wrong.

Then Wall Street Journal reported that in November 2019, just before the outbreak of the pandemic, three researchers at WIV had been infected with Covid like symptoms. This put more credence into the theory. This report may have lit the fuse.

Attitudes began to change when a delegation from the World Health Organisation (WHO) went to WIV in January 2021 to inspect the facility. They were only allowed three hours in the facility by their Chinese hosts and faced other limitations. This visit breathed new life into the ‘lab leak’ theory. Then, in May 2021, eighteen prominent scientists signed an open letter asking for a full investigation of the WIV.

Dr. Fauci denied there was a lab leak for the longest time. Only recently he said that he is ‘not convinced’ that Covid-19 developed naturally (meaning, through bats at the wet market). It is beyond the scope of this article to go into all the details – they are massive, being processed, and redacted – but please consider: Fauci’s NIAID, via the Ecohealth Alliance, gave money (in the millions) to WIV and deny the virus leaked from the lab. Why the donations to WIV and why the denial?

Fauci finally admitted to doing the funding but said it was to avoid an outbreak on American soil. Since this was the case, if the lab leak theory is true, then America basically helped fund a pandemic!

One of the main issues is ‘gain-of-function’ (GOF), where you juice up a virus and make it potent, either to develop a vaccine to counter it or weaponise it for bio-terror. We may never know the true motivation since much documentation was destroyed. However, the emails appear to show that Fauci knew about the GOF at WIV and approved it.

In summary, what have we learned about Fauci and the emails?

1.       He knew that school age children were not at risk; yet, he advocated the closure of American schools;

2.       He went from saying masks obtained in the store do not work, yet he then became a zealous masker;

3.       He ignored the sound and common sense advice from his own scientific colleagues (isolate the vulnerable, let the healthy develop herd immunity, get back to normal) and appeared to prefer the fear and drama of locking up healthy people nationwide.

4.       Contrary to his public denials, Fauci probably knew early on the virus started from a lab leak at WIV.

5.       The USA under Fauci funded dangerous research which was banned at WIV – in essence, creating viruses that never existed.

6.       In 2012, USA wanted to ban ‘GAF’ research (it later did), Fauci said such research should continue and was ‘worth the risk of a pandemic.’

7.       Fauci was warned that Wuhan was not telling the truth regarding the data and virus- and ignored the warnings.

8.       According to the Daily Telegraph, Dr Fauci knew that Covid-19 was potentially engineered – yet he said nothing in the early months of the pandemic. Others had to bring this to light.

9.       Could his knowledge, indeed, complicity in dangerous ‘GAF’ research in Wuhan make him liable to civil lawsuits or criminal penalty? Only time will tell.

He knew about the uselessness of masks and of the lab leak, but he was prepared to tell the supportive media keep the myth of masks and Covid’s ‘natural wet-market origin’ for months. They were his 

rockweiler to anyone who strayed from this narrative.

THE BIG QUESTION: However, there is a really big question that has nothing to do with the emails. Just days before Donald Trump was inaugurated US President in January 2017, Anthony Fauci predicted that the incoming administration would face a major public health challenge in the area of infectious disease and there would be ‘a surprise outbreak.’ In essence, he predicted the 2020 pandemic three years before it happened.

How did he know for sure it would happen?

Why was he so confident it would happen?

Most telling, why did he not use his knowledge and good office to fight this thing? According Sky News Australia’s Sharri Markson: quote ‘Fauci is the man solely responsible for lifting the US ban on this risky research in 2017.’

What were the results of it all?

The United States (and the world) was locked up, masked up, with a wounded once-healthy economy. People lost income, jobs, businesses and their health. Lives were turned upside down, school children were kept from the classroom – the price was enormous. And Anthony Fauci was a key influence behind these decisions.

What does all this mean?

Former (US) Center of Disease Control (CDC) Director Robert Redfield: I was threatened and ostracised because I proposed another hypothesis (to the origin of Covid) … I expected it from politicians, I did not expect it from science.’

Beyond Anthony Fauci, what can we learn from this? By now we know that political correctness, spawned by cultural Marxism and postmodernism, has had a significant and adverse effect on society. However, if you think that it is only limited to politicians and mainstream media, think again. PC and playing politics is found in all areas of life, including Christendom and science.

While we have been led to believe that scientists are paragons of objectivity in research, the Fauci emails offer a different view. Scientists can have the same pre-conceived prejudices as anyone else. Even when they want to be unbiased, the pressure of obtaining funding for research projects is so great that they feel the need to ‘bow the knee’ to the PC party line.’ Remember that next time you are told there is ‘scientific consensus’ and ‘settled science’ vis a vis man-made global warming or evolution.

Solution? In the natural, we need to demand more transparency and accountability from public figures. A professional, impartial media based on true journalistic standards, would be a great place to start. Private citizens can exercise this prerogative and have more power that realised. Some of them, with a phone camera and healthy curiosity, are becoming ‘citizen journalists.’

More importantly – and effectively – is a widespread latter day outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:17). Wait on God and pray fervently, knowing that God’s best is worth the wait!

#fauciemails #politicalcorrectness #revivalnow #acts2v17 #originofcovid #originofpandemic #covid-19origin