The more I study the past, the more the present alarms me. For example, I have long wondered how tyranny would come to the West. What form will it take? How will it come about? Now I think I know. Simply ask yourself this question: What do you get when you put a bunch of power-hungry leaders who seek ever more control together with hordes of docile sheep who seem to question nothing?
Tyranny of course is the answer, and history is full of examples of this. It was the American journalist Edward R. Murrow who rightly said, “A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves”. We certainly see this with the corona crisis.
In one of my very first articles on this matter – penned a half year ago now – I was warning about this very thing. I noted how Statists love a crisis and will use fear as a means to control the populace, gain even more power, and maintain a vicelike grip on the masses.
In one piece I quoted the great philosopher and economist F. A. Hayek: “‘Emergencies’ have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded – and once they are suspended it is not difficult for anyone who has assumed such emergency powers to see to it that the emergency will persist.” https://billmuehlenberg.com/2020/04/17/mandatory-corona-police-powers/
We see this perfectly unfolding in so much of the West today with the corona crisis. Here in Victoria we see perhaps the ultimate version of this being played out. There are plenty of mindless sheeple here who seem to view Dan Andrews as infallible. They will do whatever he says, no questions asked, and defend him to the death. This is the perfect storm for tyranny.
No matter how much blood this government has on its hands, no matter how many more people will die because of their criminal negligence, no matter if we stay barricaded in our own homes for the rest of our lives, we have these brainless devotees (mostly Labor Party hacks or public servants sucking on the government teat) who will fully and fanatically support it.
I am no legal expert, but if the following that is making the rounds on the social media is even somewhat true, then we are in dire straits indeed: “The State of emergency which is constitutionally capped at 6 months, to protect us from tyrants, expires on 13 September 2020. Daniel Andrews is applying through Labor’s attorney general to make a Permanent State of Emergency.”
Whether or not this is the case, it appears that Dan Andrews can do no wrong for too many folks, and they will turn on anyone who dares to ask questions and not fully bow down to the narrative. I get these people all the time attacking me and hating on me. Worse yet, there are countless people who claim to be Christians who are doing this very thing.
I could write a book just on these very sorts of people. Indeed, as I was penning this piece I had even more examples of this. For example, on the social media I had a gal going ballistic at me, accusing me of not being a Christian because I dared to show concern for those dying alone under these draconian lockdown conditions.
I had posted a meme of a sad grandmother isolated from everyone else, wishing she could be with her own family and loved ones in her dying days. But of course Victorian Premier Dan Andrews has ruled that out – it is verboten. And I know of people who have died like this – it is utterly horrible that they must live their final moments all by themselves.
Yes believe it or not, I had this gal who likes to think she is some great follower of Christ attacking me for this, claiming I did not know Jesus, and that we must do what the State tells us to do. She said this old woman was selfish for wanting to see her own family, and she should just die alone because that would be the loving thing to do! I kid you not!!
She has clearly embraced all the fear-mongering and panic-porn about Covid, and thinks being a good Christian is to attack others who dare to question all this. Worse yet, she thinks the loving thing to do is just abandon your own mother to the faceless State because that is somehow the Christian response. Mindboggling! I found her remarks to be so utterly shocking and bizarre that I responded to her as follows:
Oh good grief. No she did NOT say I want to go home and infect everyone I love, hoping they die. Don’t be so foolish. The meme is making the obvious point that it is despicable to isolate people at their most vulnerable and desperate period in life and prevent them from having any contact with their loved ones and close family members – especially in their final days. If you think allowing your own mother to die a horrible death all alone because Dictator Dan said so is so peachy, then it is you who knows nothing of Christian love or biblical reality. I sure am glad you are not my daughter. Neither Jesus nor the prophets nor the disciples have ever insisted that the state is absolute and must be obeyed without question. Sorry, it is sheeple that spout this sort of callous nonsense that are a part of the problem.
She sent back an even more angry response, insisting that I of course am not a Christian. Before I could offer a response, she then blocked me, banned me, and unfriended me! Oh dear – feel the love! Sadly there are so many other folks just like her. They have become slaves to the State, and will actually side with the secular State against actual Christians.
I am seeing more and more that the devil is using fake Christians to attack real Christians. And it can be all very subtle as well. Let me offer one more example of this. The other day I penned a piece on just how bad Kamala Harris and her policies are, and how her and Biden are the most radical leftist Democrat team so far seen in America.
Of course I got all the usual suspects attacking me for that: lefties, Democrats, atheists, and so on. One guy claiming to be a believer said he prayed to God first before penning his comment. He then proceeded to tear into me, telling me I am no Christian. While he hated on me and Trump, he sang the praises of Biden/Harris.
Um, I don’t think the god he prayed to is the one he thinks he did! It sounds like his god is himself and his hardcore leftist ideology. And the god of this world who has blinded so many. Yet he wanted me to believe that he was some concerned brother in Christ seeking to lead me back to true faith! Um, no, I don’t think so.
Defying the Holocaust: Ten courageous Christians who supported Jewsby Dowley, Tim (Author)
Just as there is fake news, so there are fake Christians. Jesus of course warned that these folks would be a major problem for his genuine disciples. And we sure are seeing it now. The corona crisis is simply bringing many more of them out into the open. And it sure is frightening to behold.
So between all these sham believers and counterfeit Christians, and masses of servile sheep who are too afraid to think for themselves and actually ask some hard questions, and plenty of Statists who are loving their new-found powers, we do have the perfect storm brewing.
And as mentioned, history is replete with examples of this. But it is exactly because we do not know our history that we keep repeating its mistakes. Let me conclude by briefly mentioning one new book which is quite relevant here. I will need to properly discuss it in future articles, but I can at least alert you to it now.
I refer to Defying the Holocaust by Tom Dowley (SPCK, 2020). In it he tells the stories of “Ten Courageous Christians Who Supported Jews”. The sad part is, as he says in the introduction, there were not many of these sorts of Christians around.
Most of them either supported Hitler and the Nazis, or they remained silent. And among the very small group of those who did seek to help and rescue the Jews, there were some who were non-Christians as well. Let me just offer one small part of what he wrote:
When the Nazis started to destroy the European Jews, the millions of non-Jews in Europe had to decide their stance: would they help the Nazis, help the Jews, or do nothing. A very small percentage resisted or helped. The great majority did nothing. More than 16,000 rescuers have been recognized officially by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, yet no one knows how many there were in total. The number of those who escaped the Holocaust by living illegally with the aid and support of non-Jews is extremely low in comparison with the number deported to the extermination camps.
Of course I am not equating what happened last century in Europe with what we are now going through in the West with corona. But a significant point needs to be stressed. Back then very few people spoke out and resisted the rising tide of tyranny when they had the chance to do so. And soon enough it was too late to speak out at all.
Many voices today have been warning about over-the-top Statist responses to corona: the erosion of freedoms, the destruction of liberty, the radical increase in State power and control, and the silence of so many people. Fear has paralysed far too many folks, and they seem to be willing to go along with whatever the powers that be tell them to do.
That is a very frightening place to be in. Clearly, we have NOT learned the lessons of history.
Thanks Bill,
Shorten’s performance on the ABC insiders program last Sunday was woeful. He said Premier Andrews was doing a good job and brought out the constitution trying to claim that Scott Morrison was responsible for the Quarantine stuffups in Victoria. Utterly Pathetic. Daniel Andrews is costing the Australian economy billions. We who live in other States will pay the price in taxes to rehabilitate the federal coffers and pay back the massive debts. . Gross incompetence with over 1000 Victorian health care workers now with the virus. How the hell could this be allowed to happen? My 13 yo daughter would have made better decisions than Andrews. The mind boggles how stupid many Victorians are thinking he has done a good job.
God bless
Philip
It is very sad to watch our once safe and friendly Australia turn into such a dangerous and debased society. I still can’t believe it myself and I’m only 44.
I often attempt to broach these types of obvious issues to loved ones and friends only to be met with glares and cold shoulders. A few, including my Mum, understood me.
We have left behind our home to live in Tasmania and start again as we found much of our surrounding culture too difficult to bare after realising the stronghold of Marxism everywhere.
Oh yes, it’s here too. However we are somewhat anonymous and can start again with a place that is slightly further away from the maddening crowd, now finding a few likeminded Christians.
We don’t know for sure what our future will bring here but our faith in Christ alone is all that matters.
We are forever grateful for you Bill. We won’t stop praying for you and all our loved Christian brothers and sisters around the world (many we have met and many more to meet in heaven).
Meanwhile the medical and political powers that be steadfastly ignore or tell porkies about hydroxychloroquine – a drug that is well proven to safely protect health workers and those at risk from catching Covid-19 as well as effectively treating those infected with Covid if used early. When I pointed this out to a medical expert I was surprised to receive a reply, but not surprised by the carefully worded disingenuous reply:
“Hydroxychloroquine was found to have no significant impact on reducing death in patients (who were very ill and required mechanical ventilation (oxygen)) compared with standard treatment. But the toxicity was not a problem.”
My interpretation: “I know its perfectly safe and that it is just as good as other treatments when a patient is VERY sick, but I will completely avoid the fact that thousands of doctors worldwide say it is very effective when use early and proactively”.
Wholeheartedly agree.
Thanks guys. And this to confirm what I mentioned in the article:
Vic Premier moves to extend state of emergency capabilities indefinitely
Premier Daniel Andrews is working with the state’s solicitor-general to introduce new legislation and amendments to allow authorities to extend the state of emergency for as long as necessary.
From today’s paper: “Premier Daniel Andrews is working with the States solicitor-general to introduce new legislation and amendments to allow authorities to extend the State of emergency for as long as is necessary.”
This means the continued suspension of parliament, complete power with no accountability and no specified sunset clause. This is unprecedented.
He is working with the Attorney General Jill Hennessy to remove the final safeguards. EVERYONE needs to follow the instructions below, re-write it in their own words and email the AG, we cannot let our state be destroyed without a fight. The pace of government overreach since Mar-April is unrelenting. Please pray, send and forward to all your contacts.
Send email to: attorney-general@justice.vic.gov.au
Attention: The Hon Jill Hennessy MP – Attorney General- Dear Ms Hennessy, I understand that Law Reform has been requested by the Victorian Premier, Mr Daniel Andrews, to extend the six month period of the State of Emergency declared on 13 March 2020 to beyond 13 September 2020. I oppose and do not support any reform to this law.
Thank you, Bill, for voicing what I said to friends in March when my State introduced its State of Emergency. I commented then that these powers, once in, are very rarely removed, only amended to become more powerful. Gladly, this has not yet been the case here (SA), but I’m sure that move would be so easy to make. So much of this pandemic is covered by lies and mis-information. concerning treatment, contagion, etc. I have been absolutely appalled at how people seem to have just “rolled over” and become sheeple and have given away all rational thought concerning the numbers relative to population, both in Australia and world-wide, and how many in comparison with previous viruses world-wide. I now don’t discuss it with my friends as my views are not appreciated. I obey the State’s laws, but don’t necessarily agree with them.
The state’s over-reach everywhere is frightening. We’re watching Oz from Britain with much concern; next month our government too will be voting on extending its coronavirus powers for another two years. I don’t doubt they will succeed, there seems to be not one single MP who is doing anything to voice the concerns of the people….although many of them here are behaving like obedient cattle. God’s veil of delusion is very black. We are beginning to develop protest groups but the battle is immense and truth is obliterated from the Internet as fast as it gets put up.
Hi Bill,
All Dictator Dan needs to do is extend the State of Emergency past the next election and then the State decides it’s too dangerous to Vote. A corrupt Labor Government stays in control and does more shadow deals with China that the people, Premier Andrews (who he is supposed to represent) know nothing about. Andrews is a profoundly dangerous leader.
God bless Victoria. Thank God I live in NSW.
Philip
Well done Bill,
Lord knows how many people will stand up against this rubbish we’re seeing !!!
Blessing
Sue
Thanks Sue.
Dear Bill, Thank you for the article but I am so sorry you have been abused on social media. Doesn’t this ”holier than thou” person who attacked you realise that it is decidedly UNCHRISTIAN to sit in judgement of a poor lonely old lady who is really suffering because of the draconian lock down Daniel Andrews has brought in? I think your answer must have wounded her pride.
Neither can Christians vote for politicians who support abortion murders or any other Marxist/Leftist causes. They are just kidding themselves if they think they can.
“philosopher and economist F. A. Hayek: “‘Emergencies’ have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded – and once they are suspended it is not difficult for anyone who has assumed such emergency powers to see to it that the emergency will persist.”
The ‘new’ normal!
Decided and determined by the State…acquiesced to, by the Sheeple.
Thank you Bill. I must confess I have been very much a “sheeple” and always read your articles and think, as a medical worker that what the Vic gov says goes.
However it occurred to me one day some weeks ago that I should pray and ask God what His thoughts are on the Covid Crisis.
I must now say that over several weeks I have found my position changing, and believe the Lord has been showing me that this whole mess is a political beef up to a dangerous regime.
I read your articles with gratitude that there is someone who speaks the way I now think and has the gift of eloquence of speech that I don’t have. Many thanks for your articles.
Thanks Margaret.
One wonders whether Dan wants a total decimation and bankruptcy so higher powers can bail Victoria out under a dodgy deal? Dan has unleashed a police state with extreme powers without an ounce of proof lockdowns have worked ANYWHERE. Scomo was disappointing today spilling out all the usual spill about pandemic (how can it possibly be a pandemic when 0.003% have it) and 99.5% recover and even the elderly over 80 have a low 5% fatality rate? And the usual suspects once this coronavirus has destroyed the economy will resume the armageddon talk of catastrophic climate change and demand green new deals.
Education has been turning out clueless sheep for 3-4 generations now but with millennials hit critical mass. The church has been so impotent for about the same period that it’s people are just as clueless. The salt has long since list it’s savor.
You may not be comparing the two but I feel the camps are coming again and again most will do nothing and the church will sign louder.
When fascism comes to America, it will not be in brown and black shirts. It will not be with jack-boots. It will be Nike sneakers and Smiley shirts. Germany lost the Second World War. Fascism won it. Believe me, my friend – George Carlin
Thanks again Bill for articulating what so many of us feel. It is important for us to know history. I watched a documentary on Netflix the other day on Hitler’s early life and his rise to power. A couple of things really stood out. Firstly, the Nazis gained their total control by gradually chipping away bit by bit all through the 1930’s. And secondly, they changed the culture so that most of the population did not understand what was happening. The resistance, when it came, was too little, too late. I was gratified to see the massive rally in Germany a few weeks back – 1.3 million Germans marching in protest through the streets of Berlin. They know their own history! They are still smarting from what their great grandparents did, and they know they don’t want to go down that road again. I joined the Facebook group Millions Rise For Australia about a week or so ago. When I joined there were 45,000 members. When I checked this morning there are now 77,600 members. People are being jolted awake, particularly in light of the vaccine spectre that was announced yesterday. We Christians know that there are spiritual forces of wickedness behind all of this. I am being challenged to spend more time in prayer. We need to be encouraged to really believe that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. The decline into darkness doesn’t have to be inevitable. I believe God doesn’t want that for Australia or for any other nation.
Look up Professor Carl Henaghan, Director of the Centre for Evidence- Based Medicine in Oxford University, England, for some sensible comments. If you can find the article in yesterday’s (21st August) Belfast Telegraph, it contains more common sense than any I’ve read.
Thanks Bill,
Shorten’s performance on the ABC insiders program last Sunday was woeful. He said Premier Andrews was doing a good job and brought out the constitution trying to claim that Scott Morrison was responsible for the Quarantine stuffups in Victoria. Utterly Pathetic. Daniel Andrews is costing the Australian economy billions. We who live in other States will pay the price in taxes to rehabilitate the federal coffers and pay back the massive debts. . Gross incompetence with over 1000 Victorian health care workers now with the virus. How the hell could this be allowed to happen? My 13 yo daughter would have made better decisions than Andrews. The mind boggles how stupid many Victorians are thinking he has done a good job.
God bless
Philip
It is very sad to watch our once safe and friendly Australia turn into such a dangerous and debased society. I still can’t believe it myself and I’m only 44.
I often attempt to broach these types of obvious issues to loved ones and friends only to be met with glares and cold shoulders. A few, including my Mum, understood me.
We have left behind our home to live in Tasmania and start again as we found much of our surrounding culture too difficult to bare after realising the stronghold of Marxism everywhere.
Oh yes, it’s here too. However we are somewhat anonymous and can start again with a place that is slightly further away from the maddening crowd, now finding a few likeminded Christians.
We don’t know for sure what our future will bring here but our faith in Christ alone is all that matters.
We are forever grateful for you Bill. We won’t stop praying for you and all our loved Christian brothers and sisters around the world (many we have met and many more to meet in heaven).
Meanwhile the medical and political powers that be steadfastly ignore or tell porkies about hydroxychloroquine – a drug that is well proven to safely protect health workers and those at risk from catching Covid-19 as well as effectively treating those infected with Covid if used early. When I pointed this out to a medical expert I was surprised to receive a reply, but not surprised by the carefully worded disingenuous reply:
“Hydroxychloroquine was found to have no significant impact on reducing death in patients (who were very ill and required mechanical ventilation (oxygen)) compared with standard treatment. But the toxicity was not a problem.”
My interpretation: “I know its perfectly safe and that it is just as good as other treatments when a patient is VERY sick, but I will completely avoid the fact that thousands of doctors worldwide say it is very effective when use early and proactively”.
Wholeheartedly agree.
Thanks guys. And this to confirm what I mentioned in the article:
https://www.news.com.au/national/vic-premier-moves-to-extend-state-of-emergency-capabilities-indefinitely/video/33c6bc50e2176e504d3e738c9309b696
And this from Political Posting Mumma”
From today’s paper: “Premier Daniel Andrews is working with the States solicitor-general to introduce new legislation and amendments to allow authorities to extend the State of emergency for as long as is necessary.”
This means the continued suspension of parliament, complete power with no accountability and no specified sunset clause. This is unprecedented.
He is working with the Attorney General Jill Hennessy to remove the final safeguards. EVERYONE needs to follow the instructions below, re-write it in their own words and email the AG, we cannot let our state be destroyed without a fight. The pace of government overreach since Mar-April is unrelenting. Please pray, send and forward to all your contacts.
Send email to: attorney-general@justice.vic.gov.au
Attention: The Hon Jill Hennessy MP – Attorney General- Dear Ms Hennessy, I understand that Law Reform has been requested by the Victorian Premier, Mr Daniel Andrews, to extend the six month period of the State of Emergency declared on 13 March 2020 to beyond 13 September 2020. I oppose and do not support any reform to this law.
Thank you, Bill, for voicing what I said to friends in March when my State introduced its State of Emergency. I commented then that these powers, once in, are very rarely removed, only amended to become more powerful. Gladly, this has not yet been the case here (SA), but I’m sure that move would be so easy to make. So much of this pandemic is covered by lies and mis-information. concerning treatment, contagion, etc. I have been absolutely appalled at how people seem to have just “rolled over” and become sheeple and have given away all rational thought concerning the numbers relative to population, both in Australia and world-wide, and how many in comparison with previous viruses world-wide. I now don’t discuss it with my friends as my views are not appreciated. I obey the State’s laws, but don’t necessarily agree with them.
The state’s over-reach everywhere is frightening. We’re watching Oz from Britain with much concern; next month our government too will be voting on extending its coronavirus powers for another two years. I don’t doubt they will succeed, there seems to be not one single MP who is doing anything to voice the concerns of the people….although many of them here are behaving like obedient cattle. God’s veil of delusion is very black. We are beginning to develop protest groups but the battle is immense and truth is obliterated from the Internet as fast as it gets put up.
Thanks guys. See my brand new piece on this here:
Dan Andrews now wants to have Victoria a police state indefinitely! https://billmuehlenberg.com/2020/08/18/lets-make-this-a-police-state-forever/
Hi Bill,
All Dictator Dan needs to do is extend the State of Emergency past the next election and then the State decides it’s too dangerous to Vote. A corrupt Labor Government stays in control and does more shadow deals with China that the people, Premier Andrews (who he is supposed to represent) know nothing about. Andrews is a profoundly dangerous leader.
God bless Victoria. Thank God I live in NSW.
Philip
Well done Bill,
Lord knows how many people will stand up against this rubbish we’re seeing !!!
Blessing
Sue
Thanks Sue.
Dear Bill, Thank you for the article but I am so sorry you have been abused on social media. Doesn’t this ”holier than thou” person who attacked you realise that it is decidedly UNCHRISTIAN to sit in judgement of a poor lonely old lady who is really suffering because of the draconian lock down Daniel Andrews has brought in? I think your answer must have wounded her pride.
Neither can Christians vote for politicians who support abortion murders or any other Marxist/Leftist causes. They are just kidding themselves if they think they can.
“philosopher and economist F. A. Hayek: “‘Emergencies’ have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded – and once they are suspended it is not difficult for anyone who has assumed such emergency powers to see to it that the emergency will persist.”
The ‘new’ normal!
Decided and determined by the State…acquiesced to, by the Sheeple.
Thank you Bill. I must confess I have been very much a “sheeple” and always read your articles and think, as a medical worker that what the Vic gov says goes.
However it occurred to me one day some weeks ago that I should pray and ask God what His thoughts are on the Covid Crisis.
I must now say that over several weeks I have found my position changing, and believe the Lord has been showing me that this whole mess is a political beef up to a dangerous regime.
I read your articles with gratitude that there is someone who speaks the way I now think and has the gift of eloquence of speech that I don’t have. Many thanks for your articles.
Thanks Margaret.
One wonders whether Dan wants a total decimation and bankruptcy so higher powers can bail Victoria out under a dodgy deal? Dan has unleashed a police state with extreme powers without an ounce of proof lockdowns have worked ANYWHERE. Scomo was disappointing today spilling out all the usual spill about pandemic (how can it possibly be a pandemic when 0.003% have it) and 99.5% recover and even the elderly over 80 have a low 5% fatality rate? And the usual suspects once this coronavirus has destroyed the economy will resume the armageddon talk of catastrophic climate change and demand green new deals.
Education has been turning out clueless sheep for 3-4 generations now but with millennials hit critical mass. The church has been so impotent for about the same period that it’s people are just as clueless. The salt has long since list it’s savor.
You may not be comparing the two but I feel the camps are coming again and again most will do nothing and the church will sign louder.
When fascism comes to America, it will not be in brown and black shirts. It will not be with jack-boots. It will be Nike sneakers and Smiley shirts. Germany lost the Second World War. Fascism won it. Believe me, my friend – George Carlin
Thanks again Bill for articulating what so many of us feel. It is important for us to know history. I watched a documentary on Netflix the other day on Hitler’s early life and his rise to power. A couple of things really stood out. Firstly, the Nazis gained their total control by gradually chipping away bit by bit all through the 1930’s. And secondly, they changed the culture so that most of the population did not understand what was happening. The resistance, when it came, was too little, too late. I was gratified to see the massive rally in Germany a few weeks back – 1.3 million Germans marching in protest through the streets of Berlin. They know their own history! They are still smarting from what their great grandparents did, and they know they don’t want to go down that road again. I joined the Facebook group Millions Rise For Australia about a week or so ago. When I joined there were 45,000 members. When I checked this morning there are now 77,600 members. People are being jolted awake, particularly in light of the vaccine spectre that was announced yesterday. We Christians know that there are spiritual forces of wickedness behind all of this. I am being challenged to spend more time in prayer. We need to be encouraged to really believe that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. The decline into darkness doesn’t have to be inevitable. I believe God doesn’t want that for Australia or for any other nation.
Look up Professor Carl Henaghan, Director of the Centre for Evidence- Based Medicine in Oxford University, England, for some sensible comments. If you can find the article in yesterday’s (21st August) Belfast Telegraph, it contains more common sense than any I’ve read.