Something unexpected struck me just the other day. Remember the popular slogan of a few years ago: “No Fear!” As I recall, it was nearly omnipresent, and many people were promoting it on their coffee mugs, T-shirts, and bumper stickers or anywhere else they could find the space. I cannot recall the last time I saw it. It appears to have disappeared into thin air, much like the thin air it sprang out of.

Covid might be to blame. Contrary to the slogan, for the last two years we have experienced irrational, universal, insane fear, driven by nothing more than the idea that we might all get sick and die, repeated endlessly. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. We are all going to die, however, in fact the most certain part about life is that it is going to end…someday. For everyone of us. The sooner we come to grips with that truth, the better. If you are afraid to die, then you are afraid to live and there are huge numbers of people out there who are simply terrified of being alive.

This leads me to conclude that the No Fear mantra (repeated almost endlessly) was only sheer bravado without any lasting power. In essence, we were whistling past the graveyard. We indulged it because it made us feel strong and limitless, then it all ended instantly…like it did for the people of the Tower of Babel. NO FEAR! Until the day they became afraid of each other and scattered like sheep to the most remote corners of the globe.

Tessa Lena has written one of the best statements I have ever seen about our current situation. 

“I am not dreaming. Something terrible is happening to us, and it is not a drill. It is very complex and very trivial. It is imminent and cumulative. Every small fragment of the disaster can be explained in a respectable way, but the big picture is terrifying. We’ve given up our senses and our ancient instincts, but our leaders have no heads. We are not in good hands. We are shackled to a broken algorithm. We are on our own, and the sooner we realize it, the better our chance of surviving.”

She is right. This is not a dream nor a drill. It is terrible. A nightmare, if you will, from which we cannot seem to shake ourselves awake. The fear is palpable, but we must conquer it or we might not survive.

Bionic Mosquito has another take on the matter. In an excellent review of a discussion between four learned men, Jordan Peterson, Bishop Robert Baron, John Vervaeke, and Jonathan Pageau, he says this:

“We are first going to have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death.  What lies on the other side?  I don’t know, but we have no choice but to walk….”

We have no choice but to walk. Absolutely true. Life simply does not allow us to stop where we are while the rest of the world plunges on into unknown darkness. If there is one immutable fact about life (besides death), it is that we must go on, we must move forward, regardless of what that might bring. We can do nothing else.

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil..." -- Psalm 23:4

Our trouble is not new. Some 4000 years ago, the Psalmist wrote these words which must be our attitude if we are to survive the trouble massing against us. David must have had experience with hard times or he never could have penned such beautiful poetry of praise.

However, the resistance to the onslaught against us is building. It is well on its way to becoming a juggernaut which will sweep all this BS out of existence and may very well result in court trials, bankruptcies, and prison sentences of those well-connected and well-heeled people who have been forcing the issue on the rest of us from the very get-go. I suggest we begin with Anthony Fauci, hit him with as many charges of criminal wrong-doing as possible, and move on until there are no more opportunities.

Oh, yes, a new world order is coming, but it is not going to be the one which the-powers-that-be (TPTB) have always dreamed about and worked for. Instead, what I see rising is a world of freedom and liberty for the individual person which will dwarf anything which we have ever experienced and which most people cannot even imagine…yet. It will be like waking up from a bad nightmare and realizing you are still alive.

The important thing to remember about the verse quoted above is not that we are walking IN the shadow of death, but that we are walking THROUGH it. The current time we are in is a passage and some of us will reach the other side, probably scarred and damaged, but clear-headed, a lot wiser, far less arrogant and proud, and much more loving toward other people. The way we were intended to be.  

Psalm 23 continues, "...For You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil and my cup runs over.”

Yes, my cup runs over. In full view of my enemies who can do nothing about it except stare and be envious. It is an awesome, wonderful time to be alive.