Letter to the Brethren – August 21, 2023

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Dear Brethren, Co-Workers and Friends,

Is it inconceivable that because of a pandemic or other threats, our government will again begin to impose lockdowns and other restrictive authoritarian measures on us in the future? If so, how will you act and react?

You might think our government might have learned from the many mistakes which were made and the many unconstitutional and useless measures which were imposed on us when the COVID pandemic engulfed the nation. You could not be more wrong.

Notice what is posted on the website of California’s government, pertaining to Corona (covid19.ca.gov):

“California’s COVID-19 State of Emergency is over, but COVID-19 has not gone away. To safely go about our daily lives, we need to keep taking steps to prevent the spread. Get your kids and yourself vaccinated and boosted. It’s our best tool to end the pandemic. Vaccination is safe, effective, and free… Find out how long to stay home and avoid others if you test positive for COVID-19… You can access a digital copy of your vaccination record if you got vaccinated in California. Save it on your phone and use it as proof of vaccination wherever you go… Wear a mask to keep from spreading the virus to those who are vulnerable. This includes those with weak immune systems, those who are pregnant, and the unvaccinated.”

It is truly incredible that such measures are “recommended” while it has been scientifically established that many of them are useless and wrong and, in far too many cases, dangerous.

To begin with, vaccinations are not safe, and booster shots are unnecessary in any event.Southern Maryland Online wrote on August 8:

“Health Secretary Xavier Becerra [an attorney with no medical degrees], a Biden appointee, wrote in a social media post on Nov. 29, 2022, that people should get vaccinated ‘if it’s been over 2 months since your last dose’… [When asked], the [Biden] government said it had no evidence to support Mr. Becerra’s recommendation.”

Rebel News reported on July 25:

“The senior Health Canada official [Dr. Celia Lourenco]… admits that underreporting adverse effects caused by COVID vaccines is a ‘well-known fact’ .… litigator Bernard Desgagné… claimed this degree of underreporting could have caused millions of deaths south of the border… A health department spokesperson told the publication that ‘most pre-pandemic studies about this topic estimate adverse drug reactions under-reporting rates of 90% or higher.’…”

In regard to the wearing of masks, Fox News wrote on June 10:

“A recent study published by the prestigious Cochrane Library, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health, dug into the findings of 78 randomized controlled trials to determine whether ‘physical interventions’—including face masks and hand-washing—lessened the spread of respiratory viruses… ‘There is just no evidence that [masks] make any difference. Full stop,’ Tom Jefferson, the study’s lead author, said in an interview. When asked specifically about fitted N95 masks in health care settings, Jefferson said: ‘It makes no difference—none of it.’…”

Outkick wrote on July 19:

“Dr. Anthony Fauci… made any number of unimaginable mistakes. He claimed, inaccurately, that masks work to stop the spread of COVID. He advocated for school closures… His misinformation on the efficacy of COVID vaccines helped usher in the spread of vaccine mandates and passports…”

But if you think that this is only in the past, and it could not happen again, think twice. Even though the website of the California government, as quoted above, is enough reason for concern, note this article by The Dossier, dated August 1:

“The Pharma-sponsored corporate media is once more spreading the fear hype. ‘Time to bring [masks] out again especially as the school season starts,’ read the MSNBC headline Tuesday morning. An entire segment on Tuesday from ABC’s Good Morning America was dedicated to tracking supposed increasing hospitalizations from coronavirus infections, warning that the numbers are ‘on the rise’…

“Coronavirus hysteria ended because enough human beings became educated to the reality that the ‘response’ to the ‘pandemic’ was wildly overblown… It’s the same reason why Pfizer and Moderna stock is crashing…

“The problem occurred because it took too many people way too long to realize that humanity had been bamboozled by power hungry tyrants… When the next big power grab arrives, we should hope for much more courage and bravery than last time around.”

But this hope might not materialize. The question is, how will you react? Will you buy into the propaganda of the mass media—the fake news—and the Big Pharma-supported government, as far too many did last time?

Consider this article by Life Site News, dated August 7:

“[200] U.K. scientists at a high-security government laboratory have begun developing vaccines for a potential future pandemic [referred to as “Disease X”]… Since the coronavirus outbreak in 2020 and the subsequent draconian lockdown policies, leading globalists like Bill Gates have been continuously warning about the ‘next pandemic.’

“[In 2023,] former British prime minister Tony Blair predicted that vaccines for future pandemics will require ‘multiple shots.’ Blair called for digital infrastructure ‘to know who has been vaccinated and who hasn’t been.’ A few months later, the European Union (EU) and the World Health Organization (WHO) announced a partnership to create a ‘global system’ of vaccine passports built on the EU’s ‘system of digital COVID-19 certification.’ 

Moreover, the head of a ‘nudge unit’ employed by the U.K. government during the COVID crisis said in a recent interview that lockdowns would be accepted by the population in future pandemics because people already ‘know what the drill is.’ 

“Professor David Halpern from the Behavioural Insights Team (the ‘nudge unit’) admitted that his agency used psychological manipulation to prime the population and defended the use of fear-based messaging ‘in extreme circumstances.’ He said that visual prompts and catchy slogans can be used to prime people if they ‘are wrongly calibrated.’”

So, given enough pressure, propaganda and psychological manipulation, the majority of gullible people might become “convinced” that they just have to go along, like dumb sheep following the slaughter, and we can even expect that they will begin to try to “influence” those who are “wrongly calibrated” to get in line… and report them to the authorities if they don’t. This is not a wild guess, because this is exactly what happened before.

Lockdowns because of “pandemics” are decisively NOT a thing of the past! But lockdowns may not just occur because of pandemics. 

Report 24 wrote on July 31:

“Klaus Schwab’s daughter Nicole Schwab obviously follows the example of her father. At an event, she indicated that the Covid crisis had shown that radical change is possible if there is enough panic… Will climate lockdowns follow soon after the Covid lockdowns?…

“The WEF [World Economic Forum] makes no secret that Covid-19 has been used as a test run for a potential climate dictatorship… Nicole Schwab… sees Covid as a ‘tremendous opportunity’ that has shown that radical change is achievable when people are scared…

“If you take the political measures of the Corona period as a model, the fear arises that globalists are actually flirting with dictatorial ‘climate lockdowns’. That would mean severe restrictions being imposed on individuals and businesses to reduce carbon emissions. These measures could include travel restrictions, strict regulations on energy use and consumption in general, and even temporary closures of industries considered to be harmful to the environment. Globalist advocates argue that strict action is needed to prevent catastrophic consequences of supposedly man-made climate change…”

The irony is that “man-made climate change” may not even be scientifically proven… as there were many doubts regarding the ”scientific” assessments of the COVID “pandemic.”

The New York Post wrote on August 9:

“We are told climate change is a crisis, and that there is an ‘overwhelming scientific consensus.’ ‘It’s a manufactured consensus,’ climate scientist Judith Curry tells me. She says scientists have an incentive to exaggerate risk to pursue ‘fame and fortune.’

“She knows about that because she once spread alarm about climate change… Curry was the unusual researcher who looked at criticism of her work and actually concluded: ‘They had a point.’… Alarmist scientists’ aggressive attempts to hide data suggesting climate change is not a crisis were revealed in leaked emails… It made Curry realize that there is a ‘climate-change industry’ set up to reward alarmism…

“Some United Nations officials were motivated by ‘anti-capitalism. They hated the oil companies and seized on the climate change issue to move their policies along.’… The researchers quickly figured out that the way to get funded was to make alarmist claims about ‘man-made climate change.’ This is how ‘manufactured consensus’ happens.”

Will there be future lockdowns, not only because of a “return” of COVID 19 or an unknown future epidemic (“Disease X”), but also because of the fear of “man-made climate change,” coupled perhaps with an ever-increasing hysteria of the Woke nonsense?

Again, we ask, what will you do in times like these? Will you become a gullible follower and embrace man-made rules which would be in violation of God’s commandments?

In our free booklet, “Obeying God Rather Than Men,” which we wrote and published in 2020, we said this on pages 37 and 38:

“True Christians understand that the Sabbath and the Holy Days must be kept, and that they must not instead accept the mark of the beast by worshipping on Sunday and pagan holidays, and by refusing to worship on God’s weekly and annual Sabbaths. 

“But how does this play out in practice when the government prohibits Christian churches to meet and assemble on the Sabbath? They might not even place this prohibition under a religious mantle, but they might give some other reasons, such as the outbreak of a pandemic that would require people to stay at home. The weekly Sabbath and the annual Holy Days are commanded biblical holy assemblies or holy convocations (compare Leviticus 23). We should ask ourselves whether refusing to follow God’s command, because the government says so, would be pleasing to God (compare Hebrews 10:25; the Living Bible states: “Let us not neglect our church meetings, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near”).

“In this day and age, we have the means of broadcasting sermons live over the Internet to the homes of Church members, which we can resort to on a temporary basis, when physical person-to-person meetings and assemblies with the brethren are not possible. But what happens if a government would prohibit such services as well? How far would we go to follow governmental rules which would prohibit religious services in any manner and of any kind? 

“Christians in the early Church were forced to meet in secret, in catacombs, in order to escape the fury of the Roman government. When they were caught, they were severely punished, but they were willing to obey God rather than men.”

We also stated this on pages 39 and 40:

“God’s ministers are commanded to feed the flock. Zechariah 11:16 warns us of a worthless shepherd who will not feed or heal Church members. Ezekiel 34:4 applies this to other shepherds as well. God’s true ministers have a duty to anoint those with oil who are sick (James 5:14), which includes the laying on of hands (Luke 4:40; Mark 16:18; Acts 28:8).

“But in times of the existence of a real or perceived virus that is allegedly being transferred through touch or close proximity (‘social distancing’ is supposed to prevent this from happening), a government might prohibit such a practice of anointing. 

“It is true that God allows His ministers to prepare and send out an anointed cloth instead, when person-to-person anointing is not possible (compare Acts 19:11–12). This is mainly meant for cases of great distance. In any event, what happens if this procedure is prohibited as well? Pretty soon, we might be labeled by God as worthless shepherds if we refuse to anoint the sick. Some might want to agree with the government that for the greater good and the health of the public, laying on of hands by a minister should be omitted, without considering that God has shown over many years that, due to His protection, His anointing ministers will be immune from contracting the disease of the sick person…

“Conflict may arise when a government, perhaps due to fear of a virus which might allegedly be transmitted by touch or close proximity, prohibits the practice of baptizing or ordaining a person, which requires the laying on of hands by the minister on the person (compare Acts 8:12–17; 19:5–6; Acts 6:2–6; 1 Timothy 4:14; 1 Timothy 5:22; 2 Timothy 1:6). In addition, a government might prohibit Church ministers to bless little children (Mark 10:16; compare Matthew 19:13–15) or to conduct marriages, as all these procedures require the laying on of hands to set the persons aside for a holy and righteous purpose. Already in Old Testament times, it was understood as symbolizing the imparting of godly blessings (Genesis 48:13–20), His authority and spiritual power (Numbers 27:18; Deuteronomy 34:9).”

Let us not think that these questions and warnings have no relevance for our future. They most certainly do, and we had better be prepared to know and live by the right answers. We would suggest that in order to be ready to face the days to come, you read or reread the entirety of our free booklet, “Obeying God Rather Than Men.” 

In Christ’s service, and with His love,

Norbert Link

©2024 Church of the Eternal God