Opinion: Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me - Steve Kirsch, Media Matters, Chris, truth and generosity.

Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.

Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed Me judge or executor between you?” And He said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” Luke 12:13-15

What is truth? Dividing the spoils correctly? No.

I’ve been thinking about facts and truth and what the truth consists of.

If anyone surely was the authority between these two arguing brothers, Jesus was and is, being the Lord of the Universe and the ultimate judge of all mankind. If anyone could divide the spoils of the inheritance correctly, it would be the Judge of the Earth. Of course, the man asking him to intervene in the inheritance dispute calls Jesus teacher, and not Lord, which is a sign that he wants to justify himself, and that’s where our problems always start.

Yes, Jesus refuses to judge between these two brothers, who are arguing about their inheritance. One might ask, why?

Each brother certainly had his own point of view about the facts, and there might well have been a more ‘fair’ division of the inheritance that was possible, but Jesus goes to the heart of the matter: the problem these two brothers have is in their hearts. It is the greed that they both cherish in their hearts, that makes them blind. This is the real problem that is causing a division between them.

They have ungenerous hearts.

There are surely other people in the family who are grieving the loss of these brothers’ father (the inheritance came through the father in those days). Perhaps their mother, the man’s widow; this would be typical, that she outlives her husband, and the last thing she wants to see is a deep division between her sons. She wants to keep the remaining parts of her family together, for she sees years of loneliness looming, and years of want, for if she chooses one brother over the other, she may well be choosing poverty for the rest of her life, but as so often happens in families at these times of loss, these two sons are arguing and perhaps creating a rift that will last for many years, perhaps forever.

And the real problem is not that these two brothers have failed to divide the possessions correctly. The real problem is the two brothers’ prior heartlessness and greed, that stops them from from dividing the inheritance generously, and putting themselves last.

If these two sons had generous hearts they would rather lose out on some material gain and keep their relationship; if they had generous hearts they would be falling over themselves to be kind to the other brother, even to their own disadvantage, and they would be arguing about not taking some piece of the inheritance or other but giving it to the other, because they would rather think the other deserves it more.

You may think such an argument is a pious fiction, but I have seen such arguments in my life between two generous people, “No, you have it, you need it more,” “No, no, your need is greater.”

How this relates to Steve Kirsch and Media Matters

It may seem rather oblique, but the real debate between Steve Kirsch and Media Matters is not about facts. Like the inheritance debate between the brothers, this debate is not about numbers or the right division of statistics, but like this inheritance argument, it is really very much about grief and loss.

Chris’ death

My friend Chris was a lovely bloke. My friends in Perth who read this will know the man that I am talking about. He was a part-indigenous man from a town on the coast of Western Australia far north of Perth with a rich history of immigration, and he was proud of his mixed heritage of indigenous Australian, Afghan, English, etc.

Now what was unavoidably obvious if you met him was that Chris had suffered a stroke many years ago. His right arm was frozen and unusable, and he suffered a speech impediment that sometimes made it hard to understand what he was saying.

After his stroke twenty years ago Chris had turned to the Lord and become a very dedicated Christian. He spent every waking moment thinking of how to tell people that Jesus loves them, and how to pray for them, and how to help them to come to know Jesus. Chris lived on a small income on the disability pension and his accomodation was somewhat precarious – he had taken his landlords to court once or twice to stop them from throwing him out on the street or raising his rent to levels he couldn’t afford, I don’t know the details - in wordly terms he was a very unimportant person.

Now despite his disability, Chris used to ride his bicycle one-handed amazingly well (it was in itself quite a miracle that he could), and he rode all around the streets of Perth, particularly in the town centre, all day long, and he would constantly stop and talk to random people on the street about Jesus. Chris was very fit, actually, because of all this bike riding. After his stroke, Chris’ voice had not recovered either, but despite his speech impediment, he could make himself understood and was not at all ashamed to speak to people in public in the streets and tell them “Jesus loves you”, or to burst out with an “Alleluia! Praise Jesus,” or to offer to pray for them. He was universally loved by everyone he met because of the joy and kindness and effervescent love that he radiated, despite his obvious disability; indeed, usually people would respond with bemusement and positivity to his evangelistic overtures.

But then again, occasionally people would respond badly.

One particular day in Hay Street in the centre of Perth an aboriginal woman responded badly; I think Chris might have interrupted a family argument when he told her “Jesus loves you”, and she punched Chris squarely on the nose. Chris responded simply and graciously and completely genuinely with a huge smile, “I forgive you,” and won this woman and her family over completely.

Chris also used to go to the hospitals to preach to people in the hospitals and pray for people. If you or I were to try going into the hospitals to tell people about Jesus, we would not be allowed in, in these days of “respecting people’s beliefs”(even the chaplains can only minister to people who requested their presence) (but what if your belief is that you should tell people Jesus loves you?), but Chris managed to go in under the radar both because of his whimsical gracious spirit and also his disabilities, which to many of the staff made him seem like a patient, and these disabilities also gave him a uniquely non-threatening air when he was speaking to people about Jesus’ love, and a sense of complete authority, for if anyone might have a reason for doubting the love of God, surely this disabled man still suffering the effects of a stroke would have; but Chris testified that God is a loving God.

Now the Coronavirus restrictions greatly distressed Chris.

For at least a year, you see, Chris refused to be vaccinated.

Some people would say he was a simple soul, for he initially believed what some of the more “fundamental” Christians were saying about the vaccines, that they were Satanic, the work of the devil, etc. But as the consequences of his refusal to be vaccinated stretched longer and longer, and as half of Chris’ ministry had been curtailed, completely cut off, and, as I suspect, rationally-minded respected figures he knew (possibly his doctor, possibly one of his pastors, he attended more than one church, I really don’t know) but these authorities might well have reassured him that no, the vaccines were just vaccines, there’s nothing to worry about, take the jab.

So Chris eventually got vaccinated in order to restart his ministry to the people in hospitals.

I used to drive Chris home from church most Sunday nights and on such a trip two weeks before he died, the last time I saw him, he confessed to me he had taken the first two doses of the vaccine. I pleaded with him not to the take the third; I told him that the booster dose was often the worst for myocarditis for men. But Chris wasn’t listening. Other, more authoritative and influential voices than mine had caught his ears, I suspect.

Chris died two weeks later on the doorstep of the emergency department of a major hospital in Perth, and I am certain he was there because he was now allowed in as he had taken his booster dose. Chris died in the midst of telling people “Jesus loves you” in his joyful, irrepressible fashion. Without warning, Chris dropped dead of a heart attack, and they couldn’t revive him, and that was it.

In my own mind I am somewhat divided about the whole issue of his death, for on the one hand, I have no doubt that Jesus is the sovereign Lord over all things and has set the time and date of our death down to the very nanosecond, and we all hope that we will die well, by which I mean, not in the middle of some habitual sin or in a less worthy moment of our lives, in a rage in the traffic or something! And if anyone died well, Chris died well. He was doing the very thing he loved most, telling people about Jesus, and this is indeed the greatest thing anyone can do, to bring their brothers and sisters on this earth to know Jesus’ eternal love, so I have no doubt Chris went straight to heaven, into the presence of his beloved Lord, and is now rejoicing in heaven. Chris, I have no doubt, is in Jesus’ presence right now, healed of all his infirmities and praising the sovereign Lord with a loud voice, crying out “Alleluia” and telling everyone in heaven about the Lord’s grace and glorious love for us all. I whimsically hope that in the middle of all that joy that Chris might think of me occasionally and pray for me, and I truly look forward to seeing him again one day in the Presence of Hashem. I do miss him, and there is a definite hole in our worship services on Sunday nights, when Chris used to cry out, “Alleluia” in the very lively songs and choruses we sing; yes, I really do miss him.

My niggling thought

But at times I also have this little thought that niggles at me.

You see, I believe Chris was murdered, or at least that he was killed through negligence; or he was a victim of manslaughter, at the very least.

He was a victim of the negligence of the people who advised him to take the vaccine; he was a victim of the companies who made these poisonous products and tested them haphazardly and ignored the negative safety signals and actively went out of their way to influence the health authorities to suppress the cheap and readily available treatments, Ivermectin plus Zinc, and Hydroxychloroquine. I don’t know who the people were who advised Chris to take the vaccine, or whether he was simply responding to the general opinion on the media and the radio and the social media companies and Facebook and Twitter and the government websites that they were ‘safe and effective’, but we had conversed many times about the vaccine, and I had told him how deadly it is, but in the end it is probable that he hadn’t believed me. I can understand why - who am I to him? Why should I know more than his Doctor?

On the other hand, maybe he had decided his ministry was more important to him and that he would take the risk.

I understand this sentiment and in many ways approve of it.

The prophet Agabus in Acts 21:10-14 predicted Paul’s imprisonment, which turned out to be instrumental in spreading the Christian message in the Roman world of the first century AD, and Paul was more than willing to suffer for Jesus:

(Agabus) took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’”

When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.” Acts 21:1-14

And it is true that my friend Chris’ death glorified God just as his life did.

But this nagging thought won’t go away. For unlike Saint Paul, my friend Saint Chris was not handed over to his fate by the Jewish leaders; for today the rabbis are more inclined to be advising against taking the coronavirus vaccines actually.

No, Chris was handed over to his fate by other authorities: Christian leaders who have been encouraging their flocks that taking the mRNA vaccines is our duty to stop the spread. Other Christians, showing by example that we should take the vaccines and telling Chris that I’m a conspiracy theorist and that the vaccine would not harm him, and that it is our Christian duty to trust the government (nowhere in the Bible does it say this, by the way, it says the opposite, “Put not your trust in Princes”).

Perhaps Chris trusted his Doctor, who was too afraid to speak up in case she lost her license (I have no idea what gender Chris’ Doctor was by the way). Perhaps Chris was handed over to his fate by the news media who are all toeing the line and repeating what is now seen certainly to be a lie, “Safe and effective”. Perhaps Chris was handed over to his fate by the government’s lies, and by the general opinion expressed by so many people that everything Steve Kirsch and others are saying including me is ‘just a conspiracy theory.’

And it is so easy to justify oneself.

Media Matters quotes ‘fact checks’ that are nine months old, and they say to themselves, it’s not my fault, I rely on those fact checkers; if they are wrong, then that’s their responsibility, not mine - am I expected to check every single fact? We’re just a media organisation, not a fact checker. Don’t expect us to know. Well, don’t pretend you do know, then. Give Steve Kirsch as much of a platform as you give to nine month old brief fact checks that gloss over what is obvious.

And the Doctors say, well, I could lose my career (Was Chris’ life worth more than your career, you selfish, sinful person?). The Doctors say to themselves, AHPRA has threatened us that if we express anti-vax doubts, then we will be disciplined and possibly lose our licenses; and they know Doctors who have lost their licenses and their livelihood. It’s AHPRA’s fault, it’s not my fault, they say, that we have to lie to our patients. Indeed, these Doctors may well express in a roundabout way to their patients that the vaccines are something to be skeptical about, but they will not say it outright, because they are afraid of ending up cleaning windows. Well, let me say, cleaning windows is not so bad. I did it when I lost my job for six months. But these Doctors who have doubts and say it in a roundabout way are no use to a simple person like Chris, who is completely honest and open and for whom the ways of guile and deceit and irony and lies are completely unknown.

I don’t mind being ‘Agabus’ to Chris’s Paul. I don’t mind being the prophet who told him, ‘If you take the vaccine, you’ll die,’ because at least I was telling the truth.

But what about all these other people? What about Media Matters, which is supporting the censoring of Steve Kirsch, who is rightly raising these doubts and issues and these statistics, that cast doubt on the government narrative? Aren’t you ashamed of yourselves: you are living in the United States, a country that is supposedly built on free speech, and you are collaborating in silencing a voice that might well be saving people’s lives? Wouldn’t it be better to give him the benefit of the doubt?

What about the Doctors and pastors and government officials and reporters who go along with it all? And the nurses who administer the jabs and everybody else who is going along with the lies, or at least, who is unwilling to examine the evidence that seems to indicate that way more harm is being done than good? Many of these people are Christians, I have no doubt. What about them?

How do they sleep at night?

Well, I find it hard to sleep at night too. I wake up sometimes, wondering if my assessment of the numerical evidence is correct, worrying about this particular figure or that particular figure (the devil whispers in my ear and brings to mind the Sydney data, where unvaccinated people in July were still perhaps very slightly more likely to end up in hospital than the vaccinated; but of course, the ‘unvaccinated’ were probably the people who got vaccinated in the last fourteen days and had the immune dip and were counted as unvaccinated in the stats - and here is the problem! We just don’t know all the facts, but what we do know looks so very bad. ) Or wondering if I’m being sucked into another ideology, or even thinking, like every good social movement, perhaps this anti-RNA vaccine movement will all end in tears; like the anti-apartheid civil rights movement, which was a good thing in its time, and fair and just, perhaps this libertarian anti-pharma movement will end up being something like Black Lives Matter or Antifa in reverse, in time. But all these are just the devil’s lies.

The devil particularly likes to whisper in my ear, how can everybody else be wrong and you be right about all this?

Well, CS Lewis said, “When the whole world is running towards the cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost mind.”

Even so, I can tell you definitively that I don’t have all the answers. I’m good with data and numbers and evidence, I know that, but I’m not immune to being fooled. I can still get it wrong.

But I can also tell you, that it’s the devil who makes me doubt that things that I know are true. And I can tell you, that the vaccines are doing way more harm than good, that the way the authorities are structuring all their data collection is not to find out the truth, but to justify themselves. But will it do any good to condemn them for this?

For I can tell you what’s really important here: it’s this:

Jesus loves you. Jesus loves me. And Jesus even loves them as well.

Jesus died on the cross for our sins, he loves us and wants us to have a share in His kingdom for all eternity, just like Chris does now.

Alleluia!

And that’s why we should be praying for the people in power, the governments, the health authorities, the doctors, the mass media, the internet authorities, the liars, the thieves, the billionaires, and also for those like Steve Kirsch who are also authorities of a sort, and for ourselves. How do we expect any of these people, or even ourselves, to come to knowledge of the truth, if no one is praying for them?

And knowledge of the truth - that is precisely what is lacking here.

Which truth?

The truth that we need to have generous hearts, forgiving, Christ-like hearts, like Chris had, who more than once forgave someone who hit him on the nose. I am sure that he knows everything now, and if it is true that he was killed by the vaccine, I am sure that Chris forgives everyone who had anything to do with his unjust death.

May God have mercy on us all, for such is the spread of accusation and vitriol and nastiness and condemnation in this age, that which one of us can say he has not ever spread more division? God have mercy on us all. Please, Lord, give us forgiving hearts. Let us not condemn. Perhaps I’ve been wrong to say that Media Matters’ pathetic backdown was weasel words, perhaps they’re doing the best they can, too? Dear God, have mercy on them as well. Which one of us can say he can see well enough to take the splinter out of his brother’s eye? Not me; perhaps I have a beam in my own eye and don’t know it.

Prayer is the only thing that can save our nations.

Pray, brothers and sisters, pray. We need more than a rightful division of our nations’ inheritance: we need changed hearts and a generous spirit.

First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be offered for everyone—for kings and all those in authority—so that we may lead tranquil and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity. This is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Saviour, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:1-4

Addendum: Judgement for liars, God’s grace

I am adding something more to this article. Where people actually know the truth and consciously keep promulgating lies, they will not escape God’s judgement:

When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: Fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, along with every hidden thing, whether good or evil. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

Romans 3 tells us we are all, however in the same boat. None of us are righteous, we have all sinned. There is, nonetheless, a solution, a way to be free from God’s judgement for our sins:

But if our unrighteousness highlights the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict His wrath on us? I am speaking in human terms. Certainly not! In that case, how could God judge the world? However, if my falsehood accentuates God’s truthfulness, to the increase of His glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner? Why not say, as some slanderously claim that we say, “Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is deserved!

What then? Are we any better? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin. As it is written:

“There is no one righteous,

not even one.

There is no one who understands,

no one who seeks God.

All have turned away,

they have together become worthless;

there is no one who does good,

not even one.”c

“Their throats are open graves;

their tongues practice deceit.”

“The venom of vipers is on their lips.”

“Their mouths are full

of cursing and bitterness.”

“Their feet are swift to shed blood;

ruin and misery lie in their wake,

and the way of peace they have not known.”

“There is no fear of God

before their eyes.”

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.

But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, as attested by the Law and the Prophets. And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Photo by Will Roocke on Unsplash