The only bishop in the Church of England with a public profile I know of who is actually a real Christian and fights for the truth of Christ is Gavin Ashenden. Just after the election I looked at his Twitter account where he had posted a couple of videos concerning reactions by the left to their defeat. The account is here and the videos are on 13th December, one beginning "This reminds me of a psychotic episode" and the other " The Left at work, celebrating their rejection of hate".
Now, I didn't vote for reasons I have given in earlier posts but the result was clearly the best one possible. Seeing these reactions confirmed something I have known for a long while but rarely seen displayed so openly. The left is quite literally demonic. That is to say, there is a demon that animates their whole anti-God and nature ideology and feeds it with hatred and resentment, and those inclined to these negative states are susceptible to the influence of this demon and sometimes possessed by it. That is why great swathes of the English working classes abandoned Labour in this election and voted, quite possibly praying to their forefathers for forgiveness, for Boris Johnson. Their left was not demonic even if, as I would maintain, the seeds were there. But generally it was a party that fought for the working man. Fair enough. But the modern left has ignored, worse it's rejected, these people and looked for new groups through which it can push its agenda of spiritual destruction. The modern left is demonic, witness its reaction to those who oppose it both in America and here, When they don't get their way they go slightly mad, a sure sign of possession. When the right lose they go away to lick their wounds but when the left lose they also lose their reason. The mask slips and the hatred is naked as it is in these two videos.
Just after I'd written this I went back to the account to check the link worked and the bishop had posted a third video beginning "I advise not viewing this overflowing etc". It's possibly the worst of all, considering it's coming from a young girl who hopes to be a doctor. The chief emotion it stirs is pity that a person can debase herself to this degree. Hopefully in later life she will look back at this and shudder in embarrassment.
American author, and right wing pundit, Ann Coulter made the same observation, in her book "Demonic". US $5 in kindle format.
ReplyDeleteShe draws heavily on "The Crowd" by Gustav Le Bon. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=gustav+le+bon
-Bookslinger
William, it is a tragic thing to witness.
ReplyDeleteThe middle classes now seem to be most susceptible to this form of possession. Unlike the demoniacs of the Gospels - whose outward appearance and behaviour left no-one in doubt as to what awful event had taken place - these poor souls are tragically left with a functioning social faculty. Except of course when the mask slips as this example shows.
The modern-day trigger is always political. Did the left really think that decades of normalising political hatred - the tribal chants of "tory scum" - would not eventually invoke real demons from the abyss.
For the millions who happily self-identified as "bolshies" - now we see the results - actual cold-hearted Bolshevism arising within their souls - the Will to Power rising up and overpowering every capacity of loving feeling and rational thought that they once possessed.
Brilliant comment, Moonsphere.
ReplyDeleteYes, Bookslinger, there's no doubt that Trump draws out and exposes the poison in the souls of the left like no one else. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. It might be good as it shows them for what they are but it does increase the naked hate and anger and cause even greater irreconcilable division. But then that's the fault of the left who have politicised everything so there can no longer be any point at which the two sides can meet as used to be the case.
After an electoral hiding like that the rational thing for Labour to think would be, 'we've lost badly, why is our message not resonating with the electorate? what can we learn from this debacle? where do we need to change?' Anyone would do that after a comparable loss - in business, sport, or any walk of life. But no, they double-down instead on the identity politics and Marxist claptrap that led to the worst Labour defeat in any of our lifetimes. Astonishing. Real cognitive dissonance. Astonishing, that is, unless there really is a demonic element driving all all this. I think with regards to 'woke' in general, there certainly is. The whole thing appeared out of nowhere about 2014 if I remember rightly at a time when relationships between the sexes, different races, etc, seemed pretty stable, at least from my perspective in the UK.
ReplyDeleteIt's also very telling that for all the liberal tub-thumping about the far-right threat, at the moment in Britain it's the far left, as we saw in last night's anti-Boris protests in London, who are actively and openly rejecting democratic norms. So yes, as you've often said, the Devil plays both sides, and I have many worries concerning the Alt-Right and their ilk, but the initial madness does seem to be coming more from the left. This then provokes an often wrong-headed and decidedly non-spiritual response and the spiral into civilisational collapse takes another turn. As Moonsphere says, when you see middle-class, otherwise well-adjusted types so colossally out of touch with political and social reality you have to wonder why. You have to ask what or who has got inside their heads and is prompting them to behave this way.
Gavin Ashenden absolute top man by the way. Should be in Lambeth Palace. There are one or two RC Bishops I admire greatly - Mark Davies (Shrewsbury) and Philip Egan (Portsmouth) - but Ashenden's a man of real faith and insight who has abandoned a cushy career to play what can only be described as a prophetic role. If a serious national crisis does eventually come our way, he'll become Archbishop of Canterbury. There won't be anyone else with comparable faith, gravitas and passion for Our Lord. There certainly isn't at the moment!
ReplyDeleteAnd great comments from you, John! I don't know the bishops you mention but am glad to hear they are there.
ReplyDeleteRegarding your remark about the devil playing for both ideas, yes there's no doubt he does since both sides have negative aspects that can be played upon. My hope now is the the Conservatives recognise who voted them in and don't let them down with an extreme agenda that panders to big business. Unfortunately I don't doubt that they will continue with the liberal agenda as they are not conservative in a cultural sense. Consequently I don't see any indication of a spiritual awakening on the back of this. But at least the worst has been avoided for the time being.
Gavin A actually left the C of E a few years ago. He was made a bishop of a breakaway traditionalist Anglican church based in Canada - although he lives in the channel islands.
ReplyDeletethere's no doubt that Trump draws out and exposes the poison in the souls of the left like no one else.
ReplyDeleteTrump has had a similar (and I would say beneficial) effect on those thought to be on the right. He has exposed those who have submitted themselves to a religious spirit, like the Biblical Pharisees. I had initially thought that Trump's main purpose wasn't policy or political victories but a restoration of free speech and the destruction of PC culture. I see now that his purpose is even more fundamental, God is using him primarily to expose and bring light to all that has been hidden in the shadows for centuries. And then it's up to each of us individually to choose sides.
-Andrew E.
@Andrew - That strikes me as true, and a helpful way to understand the Trump phenomenon. I don't know if you saw on my blog an example, as it now seems, of this choosing of sides.
ReplyDeletehttps://charltonteaching.blogspot.com/2018/05/negative-notice-of-dark-star-rising.html
That does make sense. It needs someone like him to do what a saint could never do.
ReplyDelete