Researchers are beginning to understand the ways in which viruses strategically manipulate and cooperate with one another.
Social organisms come in all shapes and sizes, from the obviously gregarious ones like mammals and birds down to the more cryptic socializers like bacteria. Evolutionary biologists often puzzle over altruistic behaviors among them, because self-sacrificing individuals would at first seem to be at a severe disadvantage under natural selection. William D. Hamilton, one of the 20th century’s most prominent evolutionary theorists, developed a mathematical theory to explain the evolution of altruism through kin selection — for instance, why most individual ants, bees and wasps forgo the ability to reproduce and instead pour all their efforts into raising their siblings. Bacteriologists developed game-theory models to explain why bacteria in groups produce metabolites for their neighbors, even though some cheaters take advantage of the situation.
But until recently, no one had considered that simple viruses, too, have social lives that influence their fitness and their evolution. “From a theoretical perspective, there is clearly huge potential for viruses to interact socially, leading to possibilities for cooperation and conflict,” wrote Stuart West, a biologist at Oxford University who studies the evolution of social behaviors, in an email to Quanta. “However, there has been relatively little attempt to tackle this empirically.”
In a recent study published in Nature Microbiology, Rafael Sanjuán, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Valencia in Spain, and his colleagues used a combination of theory and experiments to explore viral cooperation and conflict. They found that the spatial structure of a viral infection — the way that different sets of viruses can be isolated in separate compartments of the infected body — matters tremendously. In an evenly mixed system, altruistic viruses fall victim to “cheaters” that take advantage of their sacrifices, but if pockets in the body can isolate and shelter the altruists, they have a shot at survival.
Consider the vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), a less dangerous member of the same viral family as rabies. Viral infections usually stimulate the cells of their mammalian hosts to produce interferons, the signaling proteins that raise neighboring cells’ antiviral defenses and interfere with viral replication. The wild-type VSV has evolved ways to suppress its host’s innate immune system, but at the cost of reproducing more slowly. Still, that ability enables the population of suppressive viruses to thrive — unless a “cheater” variant comes along.
The cheater does not have the ability to suppress its host’s defenses; in fact, its presence stimulates the release of interferons. But it still reaps the benefit of a lowered immune response because of the nearby VSVs that suppress interferon release. Because the cheaters don’t pay the reproductive cost of interferon suppression, they can outcompete the wild-type virus in the short term. From a social behavior standpoint, as Sanjuán and his colleagues pointed out in their paper, the wild-type VSV’s suppression of interferon qualifies as an altruistic act because in effect the wild type sacrifices itself for the cheater.
Eventually, the host’s interferon response overwhelms both types of viruses and kills them. It might seem like natural selection would therefore always weed out the ability to suppress interferon because its altruism would perversely leave viruses that had it at a disadvantage.
Sanjuán’s modeling study shows, however, that is not necessarily the case: The altruistic interferon-suppressing virus can still evolve and thrive if it and the cheater are physically segregated. Structures and barriers in the body can create havens where the interferon-suppressing viruses can survive, safe from the damage that cheaters would otherwise bring down upon them.
To model the specific conditions in which innate immune suppression can occur, the researchers used the theoretical framework that Hamilton developed. According to Hamilton’s rule, altruism evolves when $latex r~×~B~>~C $, where B is the benefit to the recipient, r is the recipient’s relatedness to the giver, and C is the cost to the giver.
It’s true. You have an adversary who wants to attack your desires, your thoughts, even how you see and treat your body. So you and I need to be on guard against Satan’s schemes.
According to 1 Peter 5:8, “Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (NASB). But God’s Word also gives us a strategy against those attacks by telling us to “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes…” (Ephesians 6:11-18). I find it interesting that every piece of “armor” described in that passage refers to the character of Christ. In other words, put on Christ-likeness – abide in Christ – and you will fend off the attacks of the enemy.
We abide in Christ through surrender and constant communion with Him. As you suit up with the armor of God, here are five prayers to pray against Satan’s attacks on your heart, mind, emotions, mouth, and body.
1. A Prayer to Guard Your Heart
Lord God, Captain of my heart, Satan knows if I follow Your Greatest Commandment – to love You with all my heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37) – he is powerless over me. Guard my heart, Lord Jesus, so that it beats for You alone. Don’t let me grow complacent toward You or be lured to love anyone or anything more than You. Remove the idols from my heart so that You alone command my allegiance and utmost affections Help me to love and forgive others as You have forgiven me so the enemy can get no foothold through hate or bitterness on my part. Cultivate in my heart Your love that “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7). Finally, Lord, set my heart on things above, not on earthly things. Help me to remember that You died for me and my life is now hidden which Christ in God (Colossians 3:1-2). Increase my longing for heaven so this world holds no power over me.
2. A Prayer to Defend Your Mind
Almighty God, cover my mind with the helmet of Your salvation, reminding me constantly that I am Your child and the enemy can’t mess with me. Fix my thoughts, Lord Jesus, on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and admirable. Help me to think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise so Your peace will guard my mind (Philippians 4:8-9). Don’t let me copy the behavior and customs of this world, but transform me into a new person by changing the way I think. Then I will learn to recognize Your will for me which is good and pleasing and perfect (Romans 12:2). Saturate my mind with Your truth so I am convinced that the answers are found in Your Word, not out in the world.
3. A Prayer to Calm Your Emotions
Lord, keep the enemy at bay by calming my emotions with the peace of Your presence. Help me to follow Your command and not worry about anything, but pray about everything, with a thankful heart offering up prayers and requests to you so that You can give me that peace that no one can completely understand – a peace that will control the way I think and feel (Phil. 4:6-7). Remind me, daily, that You are the Only One who can meet my emotional needs so I don’t look to any person for my identity, validation, or for my love tank to be filled. Thank You that You are the God of peace, the God of order, the God who heals my wounds and helps me sort through and make sense of life. You are not the God of chaos or confusion. Fill me with Your Spirit so I may express to others only love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
Now is the time to pray for America. The year of 2019 before us yearns for God’s people from all over the world to pray for America. We are living in serious and critical times.
Call upon your church, friends, colleagues, and any leader in this nation: We need to pray for America.
Below are three prayer priorities I am asking you to agree upon with us at the National Day of Prayer. Please do all you can to forward and assist in this manner. Now is the time to pray for America.
Prayer Priority #1: Oh God, may You begin to raise up a Love One Another movement across America that forwards and advances Jesus’ words to us: Love One Another.
“Love one another. Just as I have loved you.” John 13:34
Jesus tells us to love one another just like He loves us. This includes every person in America as well as every person in the world.
Jesus wants us to love every person sacrificially, willfully, and unconditionally because this is the same way He loves us.
Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to empower us to do the things that only God can do through us. Therefore, call upon God to move in our nation miraculously, replacing hate with love, division with unity, and criticism of one another with love for one another.
Jesus, raise up a Love One Another movement across America.
Prayer Priority #2: Our Heavenly Father, we pray we will be used of God to build up America by blessing and adding value to each town and city in our nation.
“A city is built up by the blessing of the upright, but it is torn down by the mouth of the wicked.” Proverbs 11:11
Heavenly Father, we are Christians, the ones made right by You; therefore, as the upright, may we fulfill Proverbs 11:11 in every town and city in the United States. May we bless each town and city by adding value to it in any way we can.
Heavenly Father, Proverbs 11:11 says the wicked tear down with their words the towns and cities of our nation; but as the upright, may we choose to add value and bless them.
Heavenly Father, we ask You to raise up godly Christian men and women in their towns and cities who will run for local office and use their influence to add value by forwarding and blessing the future generations in these towns and cities.
Heavenly Father, we ask You to bless each town and city with the message and encouragement of Jesus Christ when He said, “Love one another” in John 13:34.
Prayer Priority #3: Lord, we ask You to be with the leaders in our local, state, and national governments as they work and make decisions together for the good of our nation.
Call out their specific names to God if you have them:
Taylor Marshall’s explanation of the Catholic Crisis is so accessible and succinct I thought a transcription of it would be the perfect way to bring non-Catholics up to speed on just what in the world is going on.
Below, see Taylor’s video and, below that, a full transcription of it to make for quicker apprehension.
In short, Bergoglio knew everything. He knew about the Vatican Bank scandal, and he knew the names and details about the widespread homosexual infestation of the Catholic church up through its highest levels.
Unfortunately for Bergoglio, he not only ignored the warnings of the cardinals and papal nuncios reporting to him but promoted the guilty into positions of vast influence.
The real crisis, then, is Bergoglio’s non-Christ-like behavior in just about every way that matters, except for appearances.
Bergoglio is Probably Not the Pope
According to Catholic Canon law 188, if Ratzinger’s (Benedict XVI) resignation was invalid (made out of grave fear that is inflicted unjustly or out of malice, substantial error, or simony), then Ratzinger is still the rightful sitting pope. What does that make Bergoglio? The proper Catholic term for Bergoglio would be an anti-pope.
Why did Pope Benedict XVI resign the papacy on February 28, 2013?
This has been a big mystery for most of us, but we now have many more clues in the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI because of the testimony of Archbishop Viganò.
Viganò was at Ground Zero when the Vatican Bank scandal broke out in 2010-2011. This led to the VatiLeaks scandal and more scandals culminating in this 300-page dossier that was presented to Pope Benedict XVI months before he resigned.
And so, Viganò has really opened this up, and his role in this recent testimony isn’t new; it actually goes back into his days with Benedict XVI in 2010 with the scandal at the Vatican Bank.
So, let’s look at what the Vatican Bank is.
Now, the Vatican Bank is officially known as the IOR, Institute for works of religion. IOR stands for the Latin Institutum pro Operibus Religionis, that’s the Institute of Works of Religion.
Now, in newspapers and the news, they call it the Vatican Bank. I’m gonna use the term Vatican Bank and IOR interchangeably; they refer to the same Institute.
Now, the IOR was founded in 1942 by Pope Pius the 12th. So it’s a new Institute. It’s recent within the last 100 years. And what’s interesting about the IOR is it’s not the property of the Holy See. It remains outside the jurisdiction of the prefecture for the economic affairs of the Holy See. This makes it independent, and therefore many people have conspiracies about what it is and how it works.
Now the IOR is governed by a commission of five Cardinals and a lay board of superintendents. Now let’s look at the scandal of the IOR the Vatican Bank going back to the year 2009.
From 2009 to 2010, under Viganò’s leadership, the Vatican City went from a 10.5 million negative deficit to a 44 million positive surplus under Viganò’s supervision.
How did that happen, was Viganò really good at the stock market? No, it seems this 54 million dollar swing into the black, into the positive, was in fact not great investing but the consolidating of hidden funds; hidden funds that were being used all over the place in Vatican City without oversight, off the books, not audited, not being accounted.
And so it seems that Viganò and those with him consolidated all of these accounts and put them into one place to be seen. And so, suddenly, the Vatican City went from a negative 10.5 million deficit to a 44 million dollar surplus. 54 million dollars, the equivalent of US dollars, suddenly appeared in the Vatican checking account.
Not surprisingly, in September of 2010, that same year, the Italian government seized 23 million euros from the Vatican Bank, from the IOR, and alleged that there was money laundering conspiracy going on with the IOR. It fell under the anti-money laundering laws of Italy.
About 6 months after the money was seized on March 27th, 2011 archbishop Viganò, the same Viganò, addressed a letter to Pope Benedict the 16th describing the financial corruption in the Vatican Bank, the IOR.
Then a few months later on May 8, 2011, Archbishop Viganò addressed a second letter this time to the Cardinal Secretary of the state again describing financial corruption in the Vatican Bank.
Now just a few weeks later, Rome’s Attorney General released the 23 million euros, those assets, back into the Vatican Bank. So, the charges of money laundering were dismissed or taken care of, somehow.
A few months after that onAugust 13th, 2011 Pope Benedict XVI removes Viganò from within the Secretariat of state and instead appoints him as papal nuncio to the United States of America where he will live in Washington DC next to Cardinal McCarrick and Cardinal Wuerl. Reuters reported that Viganò was unwilling to take this assignment but Benedict the 16th insisted, and so Viganò said yes.
Why did Pope Benedict do this? Well, it seems that Pope Benedict knew that he could trust him to go and make an honest investigation into the alleged corruption of the infamous Cardinal McCarrick. We now know that because of the 11-page testimony that Viganò released. Again, now with this new document if it’s true these stray ends are coming together and being wrapped up.
After Archbishop Viganò was sent to Washington DC some hierarchs in Vatican City issued a statement against him and here’s what it said:
“The unauthorized publication of two letters of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the first addressed to the Holy Father on March 27, 2011, the second to the Cardinal Secretary of State on May 8, for the Governorate of Vatican City is a source of great bitterness”. It continued, “The allegations contained in them can not but lead to the impression that the Governorate of Vatican City, instead of being an instrument of responsible government, is an unreliable entity, at the mercy of dark forces. After careful examination of the contents of the two letters, the President of the Governorate sees it as its duty to publicly declare that those assertions are the result of erroneous assessments, or fears based on unsubstantiated evidence, even openly contradicted by the main characters invoked as witnesses”.
So, these Cardinals and secretaries of the Vatican state issued the statement directly against Viganò, and they call Viganò a liar. So was Viganò a liar? Was their corruption at the IOR, the Vatican Bank or was there not?
Well, just a few months after this happened in May 2012 a journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi published a book called “His Holiness: the secret papers of Pope Benedict XVI.” This is the controversy known as Vatileaks, it’s like WikiLeaks, but it’s the Vatican, the VatiLeaks scandal. And this book included letters by none other than Archbishop Viganò.
Just a few days later on May 23rd, 2012 the Pope’s Butler Paolo Gabriele, a was arrested by Vatican police, not Italian police, but by the police force of Vatican City itself. And the next day he was charged. And on the very next day May 24, 2012, the head of the Vatican Bank was fired. So they arrested the butler and then the next day they fired the head of the Vatican Bank. That head or president of the Vatican Bank was Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, and the reason given was “failure to provide any formal explanation for the dissemination of documents last known to be in the president’s possession.”
A couple months later, August13, 2012, Pope Benedict’s Butler, Paolo Gabriele, was indicted by Vatican magistrates for aggravated theft. On October 6 the butler, Paolo Gabriele, was found guilty of theft and was sentenced to a reduced sentence of 18 months inside the Vatican. And usually, these punishments are not in a dungeon in the Vatican. They are living in Vatican City under house arrest.
And on December 22nd, 2012, interestingly enough, Pope Benedict the sixteenth pardoned his Butler Paolo Gabriele. So Paolo the Butler receives a papal pardon.
Now while all of this is going on, the VatiLeaks, Pope Benedict XVI is unnerved, and he commissioned an investigation. He chooses three of his most trusted cardinals to do an investigation on the irregularities the Vatican Bank and to find out who these people are. And these three Cardinals were Cardinal Herranz, he’s a Spanish Cardinal and member of Opus Dei, and he served as the chair of this investigation committee. Also Cardinal Joseph Tomko, he’s Slovak, and he’s bi-ritual, he serves in the Roman Rite and the Eastern Churches I think the Byzantine jurisdiction, but I’m not quite sure on that. And then also Salvatore de Georgi is an Italian.
These three men did a secret investigation for Pope Benedict XVI. They prepared a 300-page dossier inside of a red binder and presented it to Pope Benedict XVI on December17th, 2012. This red binder with 300 pages in it documented financial corruption but also deep moral corruption; allegedly describing Vatican hierarchs and Cardinals dressed in drag with lewd details about them given by Roman male prostitutes.
By the way, December 17th, the day he receives this red binder dossier and reads it, is the day reported that Pope Benedict XVI realized I am not up for this challenge I’m going to resign.
Just to make a connection the binder was given on December 17, 2012. It was on December 22nd, five days later, that Pope Benedict pardoned his Butler Paolo. And this has led some including myself to wonder perhaps the leak was on purpose. Why would the Butler do all this if he’s a very close friend to Ratzinger Benedict and then go through the whole process of a trial and then get pardoned within days of this binder by Benedict XVI? It’s a little unclear, but something’s going on there as well.
Now just a couple weeks after he receives the binder and reportedly decides to resign pressure is placed upon him. On January 1st, 2013 the ATM machines inside Vatican City, these are the machines that people who work there used to get cash to get money, they cease to work and all the Vatican bank accounts are reportedly closed; so much so that the Sistine Chapel the Vatican Museums can only accept cash because the systems are down.
On February 11th, so a month in eleven days later, Pope Benedict XVI announces publicly that he is going to resign at the papacy. The very next day on February 12, 2013, a Swiss company called the Aduno Group takes over the operation of the Vatican ATM cash machine and by doing so circumvents the Italian and EU regulatory pressures.
On February 28th Pope Benedict officially resigned at the papacy, and we entered into an interregnum.
On March 13, 2013, Pope Francis was elected by the College of Cardinals. What’s interesting is just a few months after the election of Pope Francis in June 2013 the money-laundering case against the ex-head of the Vatican Bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, was dropped. And around the same time, Pope Francis appointed Monsignor Battista Mario Salvatore Ricca as the interim head for the Vatican Bank.
So, why did Pope Benedict XVI resign? Well, going back to 2009-2010 there’s a shake-up in the Holy See with the Vatican Bank and who is right there in the middle at the bull’s-eye? Viganò. Viganò is the one that’s shaking things up, and it leads to secular intervention and an accusation of money laundering. The head of the Vatican Bank ends up getting fired. Viganò ends up being pulled out of the Secretary of State and sent over to the United States of America. But 54 million dollars have come into the Vatican Bank, and there’s a lot of questions and the VatiLeaks begins to break that open and that, in turn, leads to Benedict discovering the moral rot of sexual deviancy within the walls of the Vatican. Something he may have suspect or not but becomes clear when those three Cardinals present a 300-page binder on to his desk.
So really it was a four-punch knockout. First off, Viganò blows the whistle on alleged money laundering; two, the accusation of money laundering leads to the VatiLeaks scandal; three, the VatiLeaks scandal leads Benedict to form a secret investigation with three Cardinals; and then four, those three Cardinals expose moral rot, sexual deviancy, that’s been paired up with financial irregularity. This is what moves the Pope to resignation. And just to make sure there’s enough pressure on him to actually do it and to do it quick something funny goes on with the Vatican banks beginning on January 1st, 2013. And it seems that the powerful Cardinals, the powerful hierarchs within Vatican City, wanted it to happen fast because they don’t want the contents of that 300-page dossier released to the public because there is moral scandal in those pages.
Now, that binder was left for the successor of Benedict who is Pope Francis, but nothing has been done. And what we’ve seen in the years to follow is that those who were opposed to Benedict XVI, theologically but also on administration, have been reinstalled, reinstated and promoted. Viganò says that Benedict XVI put sanctions on Cardinal McCarrick in Washington DC and that Pope Francis reversed them.
If that’s the case we can see that within the walls of Vatican City, not just Cardinals working secretly, but Pope Francis himself, has been undermining the investigation that was prompted by Viganò as far back as 2010.
So where do we stand now? Well, we had this 11-page document that Viganò has released to the public and it connects the dots, morally. He doesn’t go into the financials; a lot of that stuff is already out in the public though no one knows about it. But, if you go back into the VatiLeaks story, you’re gonna see Viganò is all over it.
Could Viganò be lying? He could be, and if so all this falls apart. It could just be that he’s been a troublemaker from the very beginning. But if he’s telling the truth and other Vatican officials and other Cardinals come forward and attest to what Viganò has been telling us then this pontificate of Pope Francis is in big, big trouble.
So there it is Archbishop Viganò and the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI.
If this helps you get some clarity or connect the dots, please like it, share it, subscribe to this channel. But more importantly pray the rosary, go to confession, draw near to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Do not lose faith, do not lose charity, do not give in to hate. Use this as a time to offer up great sacrifice because if these things are true, we are in a very difficult epoch of Catholic Church history.
Again thanks so much for watching god bless you see you in a future video.
If you’re interested in the topic of exorcism, the documentary, “The Devil and Father Amorth,” is worth your time.
It’s a professionally made documentary primarily due to the thoroughness of the director. He interviews a broad sample of observers (and participants) around the exorcisms. And, despite his expertise, the director removes all effects and technical obstacles from his subject rather than add layers of them as he did in “The Exorcist.”
If you’ve watched the clip, you’ve heard the voice of one of the possessed women (Christina) at 1 minute, 12 seconds into the above trailer.
I consistently hear three voices every time the one being exorcised cries out. If this is, somehow, faked by the director, it discredits the documentary. However, I don’t suspect there was any sound editing of the ladies voice. To satisfy my own curiosity of the makeup of these “voices,” I captured many of them from the documentary, and you can see their spectral frequency prints, below.
Dissociative Trance Disorder?
When the director interviews a room full of five doctors of various expertise, he’s quickly referred to what the doctors say is “a recognized diagnosis, worldwide”: Dissociative Trance Disorder.1 From the abstract of that paper:
Although dissociative trance disorders, especially possession disorder, are probably more common than is usually though, precise clinical data are lacking. Ten persons undergoing exorcisms for devil trance possession state were studied with the Dissociative Disorders Diagnostic Schedule and the Rorschach test. These persons had many traits in common with dissociative identity disorder patients. They were overwhelmed by paranormal experiences. Despite claiming possession by a demon, most of them managed to maintain normal social functioning.
Robert Barron, a Catholic bishop in Los Angeles, says he wouldn’t speak to the devil like Father Amorth because he’s not at that spiritual level:
Speaking to the devil like Father Amorth? I would never dare do that. I’m not there, spiritually, I think it’s a very dangerous thing…it’s dangerous ground. You have to be really, really, Holy. . . I’m not ready for that; I’d be afraid.
Jeffrey B. Russell’s Says it Best
One of the most insightful comments in the documentary is by Jeffrey Burton Russell, author of “The Prince of Darkness.” Jeffrey says that possession is merely the seizure of your body.
The way they take over your soul is by tempting you to sin. That’s how they get you because you’re using your free will to do evil.
Spectral Frequency Displays
As a musician, I have a good ear for sounds and the ability to distinguish between them.
For example, you know that feeling you get when you’re watching a movie and can’t quite place the voice? I rarely experience that since the person behind the voice is evident to me (If I know who they are in real life.)
To make a more objective visual image, however, I used the Spectral Frequency Display in Adobe Audition to show the “print” of the voices in this documentary.
For reference: human speaking voices for men range from ~85 – 180hz and for women, 165 – 255 Hz. Frequencies above this are usually attributed to harmonics, room echo, or non-vocal-cord sounds produced by the throat. All of those elements are present in the voice prints, below.
The vertical axis is frequency, and the horizontal axis is time. The brightness represents the loudness of the sound source in that frequency range. The bright yellow areas are the primary sound, the orange and purple are harmonics, echo, or non-vocal-cord sounds. The black areas are silent.
Here’s the director’s voice asking a question:
Here’s Christina answering the Director’s question:
Father Amorth praying:
Father Amorth makes a guttural sound during prayer:
Family praying together:
Christina’s first “possessed” voice:
A six-second segment of Christina’s possessed voice:
When looking at the prints of Christina’s voice during the possession, it becomes apparent why it gives the impression of either three or four voices. Two frequencies are pronounced enough to be heard separately at 1k and below. Two more are at 2k-4k. Her first print is also extraordinary in that it emits harmonics >16khz. No other voice in the documentary does that.
But look at the print when Father Amorth makes a guttural sound during prayer. Strong harmonics appear three or four times just below 3k Hz. This is an important comparison because Father and Christina are in the same room at the same time.
For an additional comparison, I’ve recorded two isolated voice tracks of Janis Joplin. The recordings attempt to isolate only Janis’ voice to be as similar as possible to the Father Amorth and Christina.
Janis Joplin, Clip #1:
Janis Joplin, Clip #2:
”Dissociative Trance Disorder: Clinical and Rorschach Findings in Ten Persons Reporting Demon Possession and Treated by Exorcism” by Stefano Ferracuti, Roberta Sacco, and Renato Lazzari, Dept. Of Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine, University of Rome “La Sapienza.” Journal of Personality Assessment, 1996, 66(3), 525-539, Copyright 1996, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. ↩
Adam Ford, the man behind The Babylon Bee, has started a Christian “Drudge Report” called the “Christian Daily Reporter.” If you enjoy Adam’s comics and humor on “The Bee,” you might be interested in the daily news articles Adam finds important enough to share with other believers.
Stop letting Facebook and Google dictate which news and opinions you are allowed to see.
The Christian Daily Reporter is a source for the most important news and content from a Christian perspective — and it lives outside the tech-giant information choke hold.
This third transcript is Part 2 of the presentation Michael Heiser gave in 2013 to Future Congress 2. It’s entitled “The Post-Christian Future, Part Two, Pop Culture as High Priest of the Post-Christian Religious Worldview.
Part two is ~8500 words and includes 40 slides. All the material (and excerpts, below) is owned and copyrighted by Dr. Heiser and please consider supporting his work in creating, presenting, and posting such presentations on Youtube.
The excerpts, below, are 1/8th of the entire transcript. They are not a summary of the presentation.
Pop Culture as High Priest of the Post-Christian Religious Worldview
MH: What I’m going to focus on is talking about the post-Christian culture post-Christian condition. And then sort of zero in on how in the post-Christian world what you’re going to see, as far as the morphing of Christianity. And I’m not saying that the morphing is going to be good. In fact, I’m suggesting that the morphing is not a good thing. And it’s really going to morph into something that’s actually very old. And we’ll talk about that at that point. So this is going to be sort of, hey here’s what I think it’s going to look like. And it’s not really just opinion because I’m going to show you what people are saying right now okay, the Futurists scholars and religious studies scholars and pop culture that sort of thing. And we will comment on it as we go.
MH: Techno-utopian values. The usual suspects, here: progress, purposeful evolution, human power over nature, material or technological advancement as the key to success in the future world, all that sort of stuff. Freedom really translates to don’t give me any rules or any dogma so I can be free — happiness and hedonism right in their presentation. The singularity, something we’ll talk about momentarily.
MH: But I want to zero in on this document: “A Cosmist Manifesto,” this one here, and here are the ten points. I’ve abbreviated the annotations for the cosmos manifesto, but here are the ten principles, ten points humans will merge with technology to a rapidly increasing extent. It’s a new phase of the evolution of our species.
MH: You might be thinking cyborgs here, which is one think about it. But if you know anything about nanotechnology that’s an invisible integration. That’s something you never see, but it has the potential. Once you have control over every atom in your body I mean you know every molecule you can change the human species as we know it. And this is going to be and is now, I mean, you can buy whole books on the ethics of nanotechnology. I’ve read a couple of them this year again to get my head into the sequel to the novel. And they’re talking about things like elimination of disease, optimizing the human DNA for its various potentials, and they’re really ultimately talking about immortality because you’re dying cell by cell and every cell is made of molecules and at you know that sort of thing. Well if you can control and release nanobots into the body so to speak that instantly repair cellular loss you have potential immortality other than somebody you know shooting you in the head or something like that I mean you get the idea. You will not age you will not decline as a physical specimen. So this is how it’s going to be cast, but this is the sort of merging they’re talking about, too. It’s not just what we would sort of think of as a cyborg.
MH: So what’s the theological cost? Well, we become divine apart from God’s plan of glorification.
MH: It redefines salvation only in terms of the end, glorification, rather than it dismisses the means which is the cross and the whole reason for it which is sin.
MH: I drew this from my series I did on The Da Vinci Code, someone out there may have seen.
MH: So, what is Gnosticism? The basics. Well, the Gnostics believe that there is something they refer to as the true God or the light or pneuma, which is spirit. And isn’t God a spirit, doesn’t John 4 say that? God is a spirit; he’s pre-existent, God is preexistent, uncaused, and perfect? Sounds pretty biblical, so far.
MH: Gnostics imagined the true God of being both male, the Father, and also female. And the reason they thought this was because everything else that exists is produced by this God.
MH: Now, in terms of cosmology, the highest Aeon is called, in Gnosticism, the Logos. Is that a familiar term? Okay, this is the highest son of the true God, the Logos. The first aeon, the first emanation, the first act of the father, he is the entire likeness and image of the true God. And these are Gnostic statements okay. He’s the form of the formless, the body of the bodyless, the face of the invisible, the word of the unutterable and all these things. And he actually possesses the knowledge of all the eons. He is unquestionably superior. He’s the top dog, the top Eon.
MH: Now, the Logos right here again is the top, and together the law goes with the true God, the father and mother element in the true God, form the Triad. Let ‘s just call it a Trinity and be done with it. It’s not the same as a Trinity. If you know your trinitarianism, this is not same. But they’re using the three language.
MH: Last point: there’s a whole scholarly book. This is University of Chicago Press this, and this is a dense read, it’s a scholarly book called mutants and mystics science fiction superhero comics and the paranormal. And guess who wrote it? Our friend Jeffrey Kripal. He has an entire chapter if you’re into UFOs this will be shocking to you. his entire last chapter is on Whitley Strieber and communion. The whole purpose of the book is to show how comic books, and specifically the alien theme, has been a useful and wonderful and delightful vehicle for transmitting the truths of Gnosticism. I mean, they’re not secretive about this. It’s just, here it is, you know?
MH: I highly recommend that you read this. He argues that much of the recent popular culture of the u.s. Comes from what we used to be called the paranormal. He has a third book called authors of the impossible where he as an academic says academic scholars ought to own up to the fact that paranormal stuff is real. And he’s arguing in favor of paranormal stuff within the account.
MH: He even goes into Madame Blavatsky. None of this is new. The whole alien thing is just rehashed Gnosticism slash occultism slash theosophy slash whatever, fill in the blank, for a technological society. That’s all it is. And this is what’s going to reach the masses.
MH: And what I’m telling you this whole presentation comes down to this: the adaptation is going to be led by people who know what they’re doing and will control the vocabulary and teach others. They will teach others to mine the vocabulary and morph the theology, and it’s only going to take a generation before that becomes the articulation of what Christianity is.
In a world of information overload, whoever appears to be the most reasonable can influence or control the overloaded.
There’s no historical precedent for the amount of information the average person has at their fingertips, today. Anyone with a phone can bring libraries of information to bear on each and every decision.
But information is not knowledge. And knowledge is not wisdom. Without wisdom, it’s hard to tell what information applies to which decision.
This challenge, to the average person, is an opportunity for:
Those who would seek to influence.
Those who would seek to control.
Influence vs. Control
Whether influence is good or bad can only be determined by context and discernment. For now, I’ll confine “influence” to that with no destructive intent.
Control, on the other hand, is the desire to obtain consent for the purpose of domination. I’ll explain why consent is necessary, later in this article.
How can you tell whether someone is seeking benevolent influence or destructive control?
Those Seeking Influence …
… behave like vendors in a marketplace. They present the pros and cons of an idea or product and leave you to decide for yourself.
Those Seeking Control …
… bully, rather than inform or persuade. For example, any one of Schopenhauer’s 38 stratagems might be used to give the appearance of being right; with little or no interest in actually being right:
The Extension (Dana’s Law)
The Homonymy
Generalize Your Opponent’s Specific Statements
Conceal Your Game
False Propositions
Postulate What Has to Be Proved
Yield Admissions Through Questions
Make Your Opponent Angry
Questions in Detouring Order
Take Advantage of the Nay-Sayer
Generalize Admissions of Specific Cases
Choose Metaphors Favourable to Your Proposition
Agree to Reject the Counter-Proposition
Claim Victory Despite Defeat
Use Seemingly Absurd Propositions
Arguments Ad Hominem
Defense Through Subtle Distinction
Interrupt, Break, Divert the Dispute
Generalize the Matter, Then Argue Against it
Draw Conclusions Yourself
Meet Him With a Counter-Argument as Bad as His
Petitio principii
Make Him Exaggerate His Statement
State a False Syllogism
Find One Instance to the Contrary
Turn the Tables
Anger Indicates a Weak Point
Persuade the Audience, Not the Opponent
Diversion
Appeal to Authority Rather Than Reason
This Is Beyond Me
Put His Thesis into Some Odious Category
It Applies in Theory, but Not in Practice
Don’t Let Him Off the Hook
Will Is More Effective Than Insight
Bewilder Your opponent by Mere Bombast
A Faulty Proof Refutes His Whole Position
Become Personal, Insulting, Rude (argumentum ad personam)
Personal Favorites
Declaring as “over”, debates that have hardly begun.
Declaring as “debunked”, valid concerns yet to be addressed.
Declaring as “discredited”, persons of integrity.
Declaring as “concluded”, discussions that have hardly begun.
Threats in lieu of persuasion.
Imposing artificial deadlines for a decision.
Declaring that “everybody does it” while providing no specific examples.
All of the above are attempts to deceive, rather than inform or persuade.
The Debate is Over!
Whenever I hear someone say, “The debate is over”, I know an end has been pronounced by someone desperate to avoid a beginning. I also know that the one making the pronouncement has made an investment, either monetary or emotional, that debate would put in jeopardy.
Global/Climate (Cooling | Warming | Change)
The first time I heard the phrase “Global Cooling” was in a sentence declaring the debate about it to be over. The phrase was then changed to “Global Warming” in the same sentence declaring that debate to be over, as well.
Finally, the phrase was changed to something for which no debate is necessary: “Climate Change”. Indeed, climate is 100% guaranteed to change, forever!
The debate is over on a lot of things: ocean waves, morning dew, childish innocence. If the debate about something is declared to be over before it’s even begun, the one making the declaration has something to hide.
The Information Advantage
Due to the amount of information available, those who seek control must compete in the “marketplace” of ideas. They must not only to appear reasonable, but the most reasonable among competing alternatives. This “most reasonable” appearance must persist for as long as it takes to obtain a lasting form of control. The best of these is a binding contract, either signed or opted into.
Consent is Required for Lasting Control
Without consent, control is temporary. It lasts only as long as you remain fooled.
With consent, however, control lasts for the length of the contract.
The Jurisdiction of Reasonableness
Mere opinions, and the bullying tactics used to get them accepted, don’t matter unless there’s a valuable jurisdiction to be gained, and a judge to decide who gains them.
Those who don’t seek control rarely think about things like jurisdictions and judges. Those who do seek control, however, think about little else. They spend most of their time campaigning for appointment, by you, to be a judge in one of the most important jurisdictions of all: your mind.
Your mind is not only a jurisdiction, but the deciding jurisdiction of all others.
Agreement Types
Contractual opt-ins are becoming more and more subtle. For example, the mere breaking of a plastic seal on the box for a TV or appliance, is the opt-in for many EULAs (End-User License Agreements).
Still, an actual signature “on the dotted line” of a contract is the best legal mechanism of control.
The Debt-Contract Example
Only a handful of contracts, spread across the 7 Matters of Life, are needed to control most aspects of life. Three debt-contracts illustrate the point:
Student loans — 10 Years.
Car Loan — 5 Years.
Mortgage — 30 Years.
One of these three contracts enslaves a large percentage of the world. To avoid that fate, consider two questions, before signing one of them:
Are you fully aware of the educational, transportation, or housing alternatives that would fill these needs without going into debt?
Do you not know that, if you present yourselves to anyone as an obedient slave, you are a slave of the one whom you obey? (Romans 6:16)
Most liberties are not “lost” or “stolen”. They are surrendered, voluntarily, through legal contracts. It’s worth understanding some legal terms around such contracts.
To bear witness v. — To solemnly assert something, offering firsthand authentication of the fact; often concerning grave or important matters.
Truth (quality) n. — Conformity to reality or actuality; often with the implication of dependability.
Message — truth n. — A message that conforms to reality or actuality; whether historical (in space and time) or supernatural.
The Usual Campaign Sequence
The campaign to become an appointed judge in the jurisdiction of your mind follows a usual sequence. Think of it as a sales pitch, because that’s what it is.
I am the most reasonable and provide the best options.
You are less reasonable with limited options.
“Those who love the truth hear my voice”1, and sign my contract.
Conclusion
Your mind is the deciding jurisdiction of all others, and you are its primary judge. The cost of retaining this position is choosing the highest source of truth, exploring all options available, and solving problems with a commitment to remain debt-free.
Pay whatever cost necessary to remain the primary judge of the jurisdiction of your mind. If you forfeit that position, all that isn’t immediately lost, is exposed to loss.
In a world of information overload, whoever appears to be the most reasonable can influence or control the overloaded.
My favorite book of 2014 was The Supernatural Worldview: Examining Paranormal, Psi, and the Apocalyptic, by Cris Putnam.
The reason the book is important is summed up by Chuck Missler in his foreword:
How will you deal with empirical validations of extrasensory perceptions? Of near-death experiences? Non-biblical spirits? Evidence that the mind goes far beyond the organ we know as the brain?1
… the current trends toward a “Supernatural Worldview” will prove to be a critical challenge to those who take their personal destiny seriously, and we can certainly anticipate that our adversaries will exploit these challenges to advance their own agendas.1
Cris Putnam And Derek Gilbert On “The Supernatural Worldview”, Parts 1 & 2
Cris Putnam And Gary Stearman On “The Supernatural Worldview”
Table of Contents
— Foreword by Chuck Missler
Chapters:
1. Paranormal Witness to Gospel Witness
2. The Supernatural Worldview of REALITY
3. The Paranormal Paradigm Shift
4. The Ethos of Demythologization and the Excluded Middle
5. Near-Death-Experience Science Drives the Paradigm Shift
6. Telepathy, Dreams, and Remote Viewing
7. Precognition, Theology, and Watchman’s Warning
8. Apparitions, Hauntings, and Poltergeists
9. Mediums, Ghosts, Familiar Spirits, and the Supernatural Worldview
10. Satan, Demons, and the Ghost Hypothesis
11. Spiritual Warfare, Juvenile Prophets of Baal, and the Zombie Apocalypse
12. The Supernatural Worldview of the Bible
SkyWatchTV 3/7/17: Tribute to Cris Putnam
I was shocked to learn that Cris died, last week. Here’s a tribute to a tenacious researcher, talented author, believer, and husband, by the folks at SkyWatch:
Chuck Missler, Foreword to The Supernatural Worldview: Examining Paranormal, Psi, and the Apocalyptic, Defense Publishing. ↩
MH: Now, the Logos right here again is the top, and together the law goes with the true God, the father and mother element in the true God, form the Triad. Let ‘s just call it a Trinity and be done with it. It’s not the same as a Trinity. If you know your trinitarianism, this is not same. But they’re using the three language.
The reason the book is important is summed up by Chuck Missler in his foreword: