I could not have been more wrong about how the election would affect the Great Pandemic Panic. I assumed that if Biden won, or the left could claim he won, the WuFlu would be consigned to the hazmat container of history.
Why lockdown the country, bankrupt businesses and put school children under house arrest if the results can’t be blamed on Trump?
What I failed to anticipate was how much leftist governors and their pet bureaucrats would enjoy newfound powers under what Candace Owens calls “diet fascism.” They like ordering people around. And since the orders are ‘for the people’s own good’ increasing the number of Kung Flu orders and expanding the reach of the edicts only serves to make the dime store dictators feel even better about themselves.
It’s health policy by onanism.
Recently Dr. Fuhrer of the Los Angeles Department of Health ordered the cancellation of trick-or-treat. Excuse me, that’s Dr. Barbara Ferrer. It’s typical of our faceless government bureaucrats that they decide to ban the one event - other than bank robberies - where Americans are happy to wear masks.
Dr. Ferrer canceled the candy grab on Tuesday and on Wednesday she backed down. She grudgingly moved trick-or-treat from Verboten to ‘not-recommended-and-if-Pennywise-gets-your-kids-it’s-on-you!’
It’s a sad commentary on our nation that citizens meekly gave up Easter celebrations. Children let their elderly parents die alone. But when the Flustapo cancelled trick-or-treat, the populace rose up in arms.
Will it happen again when they cancel Christmas?
It certainly didn’t when leftist governors told residents who and how many they could invite for Thanksgiving dinner. It’s entirely possible turkey celebrants are ignoring the Flustapo’s rules. Thanksgiving takes place inside the home, no matter what California Gov. Gavin Newsom decrees. Unless the authorities bring a warrant with them they aren’t going to be taking dinner attendance in very many homes.
It’s quite possible Thanksgiving will be celebrated with Dr. Ferrer being none the wiser. No public civil disobedience necessary.
Christmas is different. The services are public. There’s Advent. We can’t anticipate the pagans joining us in our protest as we joined them to rescue Halloween. It’s going to be up to Christian leaders, and I don’t think they’re going to rise to the occasion.
Former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson says there are two teams driving Kung Flu policy. Team Reality and Team Apocalypse. I disagree. There is a third team: Team Surrender. I think the vast majority of our namby-pamby pulpit possums are on Team Surrender. They don’t even fight for the worship rights enshrined in the Constitution, much less those that originate with God.
If we had more pastors like Tony Spell in Baton Rouge, who fought worship restrictions from day one, we would have a good chance of success. Spell has been arrested for opening his church and he’s preached with an ankle monitor on his leg.
When I asked him what the future holds he told me, “We will never comply with this government.” I can assure you Christmas services will be open for one and all at Life Tabernacle Church.
Even pastors like California’s John MacArthur, who finally had enough this fall and opened Grace Community Church, could help fight the Flustapo’s ban or restrictions on Advent, Christmas Eve and Christmas services. Why aren’t pastors networking in their respective towns and planning a mass civilly disobedient uprising of many, many churches opening together for Christmas?
The odd Unitarian might alert the authorities to the plan, but if Jesus can overcome Judas surely the majority of pastors can bypass a rat.
Civil rights pastors marched to the Edmund Pettus Bridge knowing there would likely be a beating waiting for them, but they believed in what they were doing. Our pastors fear the wrath of the media and the Flu Fuhrers more than they trust the Bible and the lord.
If the pastor can’t find the courage to celebrate the birth of Jesus, church members need to find it for him. Call the church office. Call the deacons. Tell them you don’t intend to remain a member of a church who abandons the Lord at Christmas.
If the pagans can save Halloween, surely the Christians can save Christmas.
(For those readers wondering about the outcome of my account suspension by the Kancel Kommissars at Twitter, I have reassumed command. The Twits sent an email, “Our support team has reviewed your account and it appears we made an error. We’ve determined there was no violation and have restored your account to full functionality.” You may now add @ReluctantUser2 to the long list of Twitter censorship errors that only seem to affect conservatives.)
Michael Shannon is a commentator and public relations consultant, and is the author of “A Conservative Christian’s Guidebook for Living in Secular Times.” He can be reached at mandate.mmpr@gmail.com.
