They say that those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. However, for this day and age, let us rephrase that: those who learn from history, but assume that such things could never happen again, well, they may just be repeating it already.
For those of this author’s generation, those who have only ever known peace and prosperity, relative freedom, democratic elections, high quality goods and services and the internet age, so many of the things we learned in school seemed like fanciful stories. Sure, you can visit a museum and see the uniforms worn by ANZACs and other returned servicemen, you can even see interviews with WW2 veterans, but it never truly seems real.
It is our generation that makes a deadly error, assuming that order and civilisational advancement is the natural state of things, and that we needn’t ask why fences were erected before we tear them down. We have been so thoroughly catechised by films and TV that we, for the most part, cannot imagine a world where petrol is not affordable and available, where electricity isn’t always on, and where our politicians could repeat the mistakes of those of the past.
The fact is that nations like Canada, the United States, England, France, New Zealand and Australia, all great in their own right, are running on fumes. Our universities and HR departments are busy demolishing the foundations on which they build their safe spaces, and so all of these have something rotten at the core. The fundamental assumptions and values that built the character of so many of these nations, values that come from the pages of Scripture, are both the strong foundation of their economic and cultural success and the subject of their bitter contempt.
Canada has fallen. Her robust charter of rights means nothing, and her leader has all the backbone of a vermicelli noodle in a wind tunnel. New Zealand, a nation that was an outstanding example of ethnic harmony between Indigenous and non-Indigenous citizens, is now subject to the societal manipulation of Ardern, who is ardent to create a two tiered society, and whose actions are bringing racist standards into law. In England, citizens are encouraged to inform on their countrymen. What is this, 1984?
How did you react when you read that? Did you think, ‘Ok, you’re right that there have been some seriously undemocratic and immoral decisions made by certain leaders, but I would make an argument that it’s not as bad as you make it out to be.’ Was that your thought, or did you scoff to yourself, thinking this author to be a boy crying wolf, and a misinformed one at that?
The generations before this author are accustomed to the legacy media: those news anchors they have known so long, the familiar TV channel, the same guy who reads the sports. Unfortunately, so much of what is actually important isn’t on the news at all. The news bulletin since the end of 2019 in Australia has been about three things: the bushfires, then covid, then Ukraine. In Melbourne, when well over 300,000 Australians marched peacefully across the city to demonstrate their strong disapproval of the proposed Vaccine Mandate bill, legacy media and the police estimated that no more than 20,000 were there. They weren’t misled, they were intentional. They chose their camera angles, and the angles they chose supported their claim. However, having been among their ranks, this author and any time-lapse footage of the event can verify that 300k is a conservative estimate.
So what, you might say, the police gave a small estimate for the number of people who turned up. How is that relevant to anything?
Well, when the established media start lying to people’s faces, they can get away with it for some time. However, anyone who has heard of the infamous paper Pravda (Правда) knows where that ends.
We are so used to entertainment that we’ve blown our sense of proportion right out the window when it comes to what is a small crisis and what is dangerous to the very foundation of our society.
What’s more dangerous to Australia; one particular respiratory virus that most people survive, or the introduction of medical apartheid, coupled with government monitoring? The scariest thing is just how quickly so many Australians have entirely forgotten their second-class citizen neighbours (those who, due to their medical status, are prohibited from entering most workplaces, restaurants, entertainment venues, sporting facilities, some religious centres and half a dozen other things.
What’s more dangerous to the survival and integrity of our nation in 100 years; the criminalisation of believing and teaching God’s word on the subject of homosexual practise, or the idea that Christian schools should be able to decide to hire only Christian teachers?
The Church is the supporting pillar that ensures that truth will always stand. Christ himself is the truth, and it is the duty of all Christians to represent truth. Should not the Christians be at the forefront of calling out cultural hypocrisy? Shouldn’t those who are commissioned to care for the widow and orphan also care for the soul of the nation in which they live? How can we be more concerned with the circuses we are given to expend our attention on (the bushfires, covid, foreign wars, etc) than those fault lines that will tear our country down into utter disrepair?
In 100 years, no one will be speaking about Joe Biden or Zelenski. In 100 years, no one will be debating the merits of Extinction Rebellion. However, if we don’t focus our attention on the indispensable necessity of free speech, free association, gathering to worship God and proclaim the full counsel of his word, the sanctity of human life from conception, private ownership of property and the sexual categories and standards of Scripture, this author has no reason to think there will be any recognisable Australia left to defend. Maybe just a new province of a neighbouring superpower, connected by belt and road.
We live in a house that we cannot imagine ever falling. We sit with our eyes glued to a black mirror, and we will not see that the house is on fire until the face we see behind the mirror is entirely engulfed.
Distilled Orthopraxy 