2020: A Crisis Of Trust And A Crisis of Truth

 BY MICHAEL BROWN/ASKDRBROWN.ORG JANUARY 01, 2021

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If there is any one thing that strikes me looking back at this calamitous and difficult year it is that we are experiencing a deep crisis of trust. Who can we believe? Who is telling the truth? On whom we can rely for accurate information?

It is into this void that a flood of conspiracy theories has rushed. And it is this crisis of trust that opens the door wide for all kinds of deception.

After all, if we completely write off certain sources of information and we immediately prejudge those who differ with us, we make ourselves totally vulnerable. Isn't that what cult members do?

On the one hand, the mainstream, left-leaning media has earned our scorn, not simply for presenting a biased view of the news but for actually censoring news for partisan political purposes. This is not just bad reporting, this is misreporting.

And what about the anonymous stories with unprovable accusations, which then spread like a plague online? How can we trust what these news sources say?

"Fake news!" we shout dismissively, and for good reason. Much of it is fake.

Yet not everything the left-leaning media says is false, and not everything the right-leaning media says is true. Far from it.

But rather than make an honest attempt to determine what the truth actually is, most of us find it easier to live in our own echo chamber, demonizing those who differ with us and applauding those who stand with us.

Where is the objectivity? Where is the "searching out" of a matter that is so prized in the Book of Proverbs (see, for example, Proverbs 25:2)? Where is the wisdom that is quick to hear, slow to anger, and slow to speak (James 1:19)?

I was interacting with a colleague recently regarding the question of election fraud, telling him that I saw a lot of evidence that pointed to widespread fraud, but I did not have the expertise to analyze it proficiently.

I also suggested he read some articles presenting the evidence against fraud, sending him one link I found very reasonable.

He replied, "I researched the author of the article, and he's a Never Trumper. Why should I listen to him?"

With all respect to my colleague, that is a dangerous attitude to espouse.

When I can't even take the time to objectively evaluate the position of someone with whom I differ, I virtually guarantee that I will have serious blind spots in my life. Do we not have the security to get out of our own bubble?

Even when you present factual, video or audio evidence, that too can be dismissed. "False flags!" "Doctored videos!" (Perhaps even, "Shapeshifters!") Isn't this terribly dangerous?

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But it gets worse.

I recently wrote an article critiquing QAnon, beginning the article by referencing an exchange between President Trump and a reporter that took place on NBC during a town hall event.

The most liked response to my article on Facebook, far and away, said this: "I honestly stopped reading when I got to 'Interviewed at length by NBC'....If anyone follows any mainstream media and regurgitates anything that they spew, they have lost my respect. Simple as that."

Seriously? These were words 7-9 in the first line of the article, the whole purpose of which was to reference what the president said about QAnon. Yet because I referenced what he said on NBC (which was the channel in which the interview took place, with the full consent of Trump), the reader stopped reading the article. Worse still, he was applauded for doing so.

How do we even describe an attitude like this? How can we avoid being deceived when we don't even make an attempt to think rationally? This is closemindedness at its very worst.

It would be one thing if I made a controversial point and said, "I'm stating this on the authority of NBC." It's another thing when the mere reference to the letters NBC - again, while quoting President Trump - causes someone to shut the door on important and helpful information.

Others chimed in with comments like this: "Sad to say that Dr. Brown still believes the corporate media. Not aware of the devil's scheme. Too academic minded."

I repeat: People who "think" like this leave themselves wide open to deception.

But 2020 has been the perfect storm for producing a crisis in trust, especially because of the pandemic.

Do we trust the medical profession, or are all the doctors sold out to Big Pharma? Is the WHO part of a dangerous one-world order? Is the vaccine the mark of the antichrist? Is Dr. Fauci a sinner or a saint? Who does China have in its pocket?

The fact is, when it comes to COVID-19, we have every reason to wonder who we can trust at this time, even if we believed everyone had the best intentions. Does anyone really know what is best?

As for the president, I have heard Christian leaders say that he is the only one they trust right now. I have seen posts saying that "all pastors" have been bought out by "the elites." And on and it goes.

Trump, for his part, has made clear that we cannot trust the Supreme Court. Or the DOJ. Or the FBI. Or Congress. Or the media. Or the voting system (he's been saying that for years, for the record). Or those who used to work in his administration.  "Believe me," he says repeatedly, and many of us do, hook, line and sinker. He alone can be trusted. This too is very dangerous.

Added to all this is the crisis taking place right now in the charismatic church, where a substantial chorus of prophetic voices, in absolute one accord, has proclaimed that Trump will serve a second consecutive term. They prophesied this for many months before the election, and now, most of them have reaffirmed their prophecies, "Joe Biden will not serve in the White House. President Trump will be inaugurated. The tables will turn."

Can you imagine the fallout if this does not happen?

Does it simply mean these individuals cannot be trusted? Or is this an indictment on the entire charismatic movement (of which I am a part)? Or is this an indictment on the very idea of God and the Bible?

If we are to be lovers of truth, we must follow that truth wherever it takes us, regardless of cost or consequence. And we must be open to correction, learning to listen, to investigate, to search out all sides of a matter, and to walk in humility towards those with whom we differ.

In this new year, I encourage you to welcome challenges to your own points of view. To become a student of the truth, researching both sides of the debate. And to lean hard on the Lord, asking Him to guide you into all truth. As Ambrose once said, "Before God can deliver us, we must undeceive our­selves."

To cite Proverbs again, "Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones" (Proverbs 3:7-8).

May 2021 be the year when the sword of truth emerges to cut through the lies. And may we have the courage to follow the truth, come what may. It will deliver us from a pandemic even more deadly than COVID - the pandemic of deception.

Originally published at AskDrBrown.org - reposted with permission.

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Will The UN Continue To Single Out Israel For Condemnation In 2021?

 BY DAVID HARRIS/ALGEMEINER JANUARY 01, 2021

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The recent spate of annual anti-Israel resolutions at the UN is a telling reminder that Israel is treated according to a totally different standard than all other countries in the international system.

Of course, Israel deserves attention and scrutiny, as does every other nation. But it also merits equal treatment -- nothing more, nothing less.

First, Israel is the only state whose capital city, Jerusalem, with which the Jewish people have been umbilically linked for more than 3,000 years, is not recognized by almost all other countries, with the notable exception of the United States and a handful of others.

Imagine the absurdity of this. Foreign diplomats live in Tel Aviv while conducting virtually all their business in Jerusalem, an hour's drive away, where the prime minister's office, the Knesset (Parliament), the Supreme Court, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are all located.

In fact, look at listings of world cities, including places of birth in passports (with the exception again of the US, thanks to the current administration), and you'll see something striking -- Paris, France; Tokyo, Japan; Pretoria, South Africa; Lima, Peru; and Jerusalem, sans country -- orphaned, if you will.

Second, Israel is the only UN member state whose very right to exist is under constant challenge.

Notwithstanding the fact that Israel embodies an age-old connection with the Jewish people, as repeatedly cited in the most widely read book in the world, the Bible; that it was reborn based on the recommendations of both the League of Nations and UN; and that it has been a UN member since 1949, there's a relentless chorus denying Israel's very political legitimacy.

No one would dare assail the right to exist of many other countries whose basis for statehood is infinitely more questionable than Israel's, such as those that were created by brute force, occupation, or imperialist mapmakers. Just look around at how many nations fit those categories -- including, by the way, quite a few Arab countries. Why, then, is it open hunting season only on Israel? Could it possibly have anything to do with the fact that it's the one Jewish-majority country in the world?

Third, Israel is the only UN member state that's been targeted for annihilation by another UN member state.

Think about it. The leadership of Iran, together with Iran-funded proxies in Lebanon and Gaza, has repeatedly called for wiping Israel off the map. Is there any other country facing such a stated goal of genocidal destruction? Meanwhile, a majority of UN member states continues to conduct business as usual with Tehran, as if this threat to another nation was either welcome or somehow irrelevant.

Fourth, the UN has two agencies dealing with refugees.

One, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), focuses on all the world's refugee populations, except for the Palestinians. The other, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA), handles only the Palestinians.

But the difference goes beyond the anomaly of two structures, two bureaucracies, and two budgets. In fact, they have two strikingly different mandates.

UNHCR seeks to resettle refugees; UNRWA does not. When, in 1951, John Blanford, UNRWA's then-director, proposed resettling up to 250,000 refugees in nearby Arab countries, those countries reacted with rage and refused, leading to his departure. The message got through. No UN official since has pushed for resettlement.

Moreover, the UNRWA and UNHCR definitions of a refugee differ markedly. Whereas the UNHCR services only those who've actually fled their homelands, the UNRWA definition covers "the descendants of persons who became refugees in 1948," without any generational limitations.

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Fifth, Israel is the only country that has won all its major wars for survival and self-defense, yet is confronted by some defeated adversaries who have insisted on dictating the terms of peace.

In doing so, ironically, they've found support from a number of countries which, victorious in war themselves, demanded -- and, yes, got -- border adjustments. A quick glance at, say, earlier maps of Europe and today's amply illustrates the point.

Sixth, Israel is the only country in the world with a separate -- and permanent -- agenda item, #7, at the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council.

No other member state, including serial human-rights violators like Iran, North Korea, Syria, and Venezuela, gets its own agenda item. Only the sole liberal democracy in the Middle East is treated in this blatantly biased manner because that's the way it works -- the bad guys circle the wagons to protect one another, and, at the same time, gang up on Israel, creating an automatic majority against it.

Seventh, Israel is the only country condemned by name at the World Health Organization as a "violator" of health rights.

This canard happens despite the fact that Israel has achieved one of the world's highest life expectancy rates for all its citizens, Jewish and non-Jewish alike; is among the very first medical responders to humanitarian crises wherever they may occur; and is daily advancing the frontiers of medicine for everyone, including in response to COVID-19, something that can't be said for too many other nations.

Eighth, Israel is the only country that's the continuous target of three standing UN bodies established, staffed, and funded solely for the purpose of advancing the Palestinian cause and bashing Israel -- the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People; the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People; and the Division for Palestinian Rights in the UN's Department of Political Affairs.

Ninth, Israel is the only country annually targeted by double-digit UN General Assembly resolutions and countless measures in other UN bodies, such as the Human Rights Council.

Indeed, astonishingly, every year Israel is pretty much on the receiving end of more such efforts than the other 192 UN member states combined. No one can seriously argue that this is remotely warranted, but it's a reality because in every UN body except the Security Council, where each of the five permanent members has a veto, it's all about majority voting.

When close to two-thirds of the world's nations belong to the Non-Aligned Movement, and when member states in recent years elected chairs from Iran and Venezuela, that just about says it all.

And tenth, Israel is the only state targeted by the BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions) movement.

Has anyone seen any significant campus activity that targets true human rights offenders, including some in Israel's neighborhood, who have dropped chemically-laced barrel bombs on civilians; taken aim at Christians; denied Palestinians full rights; persecuted LGBT communities; and used capital punishment, even for minors, with abandon?

Would a student government official be forced to resign over her support for the existence of any country other than Israel, as happened at the University of Southern California? Would any campus tolerate a student senate president who likens any other country's government to Nazi Germany, as happened with Israel at Florida State?

Have the Democratic Socialists of America tried to prevent New York City Council members from traveling to any country other than Israel? Has anyone seen any flotillas or flytillas organized by European far-left groups that don't involve an anti-Israel angle? Has anyone seen movements demanding entertainers pull out from scheduled performances in any country except Israel?

Turkey, to take just one example, has brazenly and illegally occupied more than one-third of the island nation of Cyprus for 46 years, deployed an estimated 40,000 Turkish troops there, and transferred countless settlers from Anatolia, yet not a peep about Ankara from those who purport to act in the name of "justice" and against "occupation."

Given political realities, tackling any of these instances of egregious double standards and blatant hypocrisy can be a daunting challenge. And, still worse, this list is not complete.

The old advertisement proclaimed that you don't have to be Jewish to love Levy's Jewish rye bread.

Well, surely, you don't have to be a pro-Israel activist to be troubled by the grotesquely unjust treatment of Israel. All it takes is a capacity for moral outrage that things like this are happening in today's world.

Originally published at Algemeiner.com - reposted with permission.

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Happy New Year 2021 from The Staff & Crew of The New Underground Church.

 Happy New Year 2021

from The Staff & Crew of

The New Underground Church.

Wishing all of our Readers A Most

Excellent & Safe & Hopeful

New Year 2021.

May God Bless America

& make our Nation A Safe Haven for

those who Love the God of The Bible,

Freedom of Speech. & The American Way

Staff & Crew

On loan from imagination department.