Blog Archives
The Fix Is In: Delusion Illusion (Part 4)
.
Deciding Deciders and Why We Keep Getting Fooled Again
.
According to Pew Research, the majority of Christian voters in America voted for The Decider twice, the second time by a greater margin.
If one studies the history of presidential elections in this country, one can make the studious claim that the vast majority of American Christians who vote for presidential candidates most likely never get on their face before God before doing so. In fact, most American Christians, like Americans in general, put very little study into their choices and usually make emotional decisions or decisions heavily influenced by the mainstream media, since the media is where the majority of voters get their information.
As far as alternative media is concerned, though it has grown dramatically with the advent and advance of the internet, it has not yet made a dent toward any effective change in presidential elections. The truth is there and readily available for those with a heart to find it, but most do not have such a heart. This is, sadly, especially the case with American Christians in general.
The Powers That Be discovered a few decades ago that Christian voters in America can be manipulated and led around by the nose quite easily, since they recognized that Christians in general are conditioned to do that anyway.
Cultural Christians are notorious for checking their brains at the church door, believing in whatever they are told, acting on whatever they are told, and not realizing that every time they do this more of their individual souls are siphoned away, as well as their God-given but most likely never-exercised critical thinking skills, at least never toward truth and Biblical truth.
Such skills are largely destroyed by clergy-directed and mandated paint-by-the-number dogma-dominated belief systems, in which deadness always take precedence over the LIFE of the Lord for the sake of religious control and the domination of congregations and even great populations by small ruling ecclesiastical cliques desiring much more to create cookie-cutter congregants and package such “believers” for the devil’s supermarket than assist in making DISCIPLES for the sake of the Lord’s KINGDOM.
Rather than being called by the ill-defined, meaningless, and all-encompassing low denominational (pun intended, now that I think about it) name of “Christians,” maybe Christian Zombies would be a better term, since the seeming majority of American Christians, like the American voter, appear as the walking dead led around and called forth by their voodoo masters. They are told what to believe in, who to honor, who to show deference to, who to bow at the feet of, who’s ring to kiss, who to always worship in the here and now (it’s not the Lord Jesus), and to merely give lip service to God while groveling at the feet of those who would disfellowship them in a nano-second in they failed to obey their commands, and if in a different time and place (such as the Dark Ages) would destroy the reputations of such real disciple dissenters first as a lasting testament to all before subjecting them to martyr murder of one form or another.
For such Christian Zombies, fear of religious controllers and loss of cultural and congregational acceptance is the obvious motivating factor rather than fear of the Lord Jesus. And believe me, if anyone took any time at all to study actual history regarding this, one would see that religious people have always had much reason to fear and often greatly fear the religious controllers whose actions reflected perfectly the work of the devil and never illustrated the grace and forgiveness of a merciful and loving Father-God who suffered the very fate of which I speak at the hands of those of which I speak when He came here as one of us.
It is obviously apparent to most, however, that the Dark Ages are not these Ages, and par for the course then is not the same now, at least not in America. But it should be just as obvious that knocking down and destroying the gates of hell will receive a strong reaction regardless of place or time.
And it should be most obvious that pretty much no hell’s gate attacking is going on with most Christians in most churches here, but rather the opposite: The devil is having a field day within institutional American Christianity in general because Christian Zombies have also been trained to lay down their arms. Rather than fight the devil they are inviting him in as a guest of honor and change or dishonor the Word of God toward his liking.
And in the event some see this message as far too strong please note that the deeper the sleeper the louder the alarm must be, and that there must have been a reason the Lord spoke as thus:
When He had said these things, He cried out with a LOUD VOICE, “Lazarus, come forth.” [John 11:43]
And if we too will be effectively raised from the dead (AWAKENED), and I certainly believe it is starting to happen, it must be because very loud voices must say very difficult things (hard sayings) that most are in no way used to or happy with, and many Christians must make the choice to get up from a very deep sleep, crawl out from a very comfortable bed on a very cold winter morning, put their armor on, get anointed with the Spirit of God, pick up their sword, and start hacking away at demons and the lies they espouse.
Regarding the overall plan of the PTB in the here and now, the first stage often involves a seemingly innocuous, likeable, charming, somewhat doltish, and seemingly harmless fellow who gets away with much under such cover, rarely evoking suspicion from the majority. Perhaps Christians are used to the type more so than others since the type often fills their pulpits. This type very successfully puts believers to sleep and teaches them to be nice and smile a lot as if we are in a time of peace when spiritual war is actually breaking out all around us and ramping up like never before and strong warriors are called for rather than clueless, weak anti-disciples and Neville Chamberlain clones.
If the first stage succeeds, the second stage ushers in a seemingly much different individual, but actually quite similar once one gets beyond surface perspective (which most people cannot do since they buy into the left-right, good-bad, us-them false paradigm). The new guy ramps up the rhetoric, speeds up the process, and continues getting away with defying everything sacred and honorable because the previous candidate proved he could get away with it with the majority not only not noticing but supporting it, and therefore has no fear of retribution or being stopped.
This is in part why the political left was raised from the dead and why it has achieved such astounding success the last few years. The left also recognized the same religious manipulation process and turned itself into a medieval religion willing to destroy anyone and everyone that does not obey the great ruling leftist religious masters who tell America what to do, how to act, how to think, etc.
And like the political right, the political left has also raised up its own antichrist candidate and worship him always without question under all circumstances with no deviation regardless of what he does and how he tramples upon and burns the Constitution just like the one before him.
If correction remains unmade, the next candidate, Mr. or Ms. Stage Three, will continue in this same vein of slowly uncovering the giant ugly demon under political packaging toward and until the final stage when there will no longer remain any packaging at all and the enemy will reveal himself completely, knowing he has accomplished complete and total control of all possible enemies and will thus rule with an iron hand.
This will happen universally and is happening according to the prophetic Word of God until the perfect end time when the Lord Jesus will return to set everything right and take His rightful place along with the very, very few of His real disciples separated out as sheep from goats—real disciples who loved, honored, and obeyed Him when pretty much the whole wide world was going the other way—real disciples who suffered accordingly at the hands of evil people running an evil system including both the political and religious of which all will be destroyed and cast into a black hole in far space never to rise again.
The apostle Paul said this very thing almost 2,000 years ago:
Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.
Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.
Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed.
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.
For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. [2 Thessalonians 2:1-14]
Yes, whoever ends up in heaven will arrive there only because of the full and incontrovertible knowledge that his or her full ticket was paid at Calvary when the perfect sinless blood of the one Sacrifice Lamb, Yehoshua HaMashiach, was shed to pay for our sins and free us from the power of sin, but also because each of these real disciples repented and surrendered to God, were born again from above, believed accordingly, kept the faith faithfully, remained faithful, and endured until the end which then became a glorious beginning.
But until that glorious beginning, spiritual warfare is rising exponentially. It is time to take sides with the Lord Jesus in full measure. It is time to fight.
…The dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. [Revelation 12:17] [1]
© 2014 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
The Fix Is In: Delusion Illusion (Part 1)
The Fix Is In: Delusion Illusion (Part 3)
It’s here.
We have reached a point in time in which technology is so advanced it can not only be used to distort reality to the degree of creating near foolproof false narratives, but can also reveal the deception of existing false narratives.
Some such false narratives have been around awhile. Some of these fake storylines passed off as fact are so far-reaching it would do more than merely shock the vast majorities of those conned by them if revealed for what they actually are, but undoubtedly also cause disruptions on more than mere major scales.
And those in the know know the time is short. Truth is coming forth like never before in history and secrets are being exposed. People are figuring things out. Massive lies are being revealed. Not sure where all this is heading, but as they say down south, somethin’ is fixin’ to happen.
Historians know truth to a greater degree than the average person simply because they do a lot of research. Good historians do more. Great historians find things they are not supposed to find.
Much of history is a fictional narrative based on fact and passed off as authentic. Powerful people have far too much at stake to allow truth to be known as it concerns their less than stellar exploits in exploitation and power and wealth gathering. Real history includes all the hidden plans and conspiracies made in secret by extremely wealthy and powerful people and none of this is part of the historical narrative, except possibly a fraction.
Yet, searchers for truth know such information must exist because of the playing out of historical events. Outside of random events and accidents, everything is planned. We see the result of the plans but almost never see the plans themselves. Some plans appear above board. Most are not. There is far too much going on behind the scenes of which the vast majority is not aware.
An excellent example is found in Outer Space. There are two unknown entities there known as dark energy and dark matter. One can often find the presence of unknown truth the same way scientists “find” dark matter and dark energy—they cannot actually observe these but they can observe the effect they have on what they can observe.
No one knows what these are but we know they are there. Current estimates are that dark energy comprises 68% of the Universe, and dark matter makes up 27%. This means that everything observable by us in the entire Universe only adds up to about 5% of all that is there.
Based on this astounding fact, people should be much more careful about what they perceive as fact, and the beliefs they hold that they think are based on fact, since the odds are huge there is much more truth that exists that they are completely unaware of and most likely will never put forth the effort to discover. And they must consider that forces exist to hide truth and that the world is filled with deception.
Thus, the Delusion Illusion.
As most know, history is written by the victors. Victors have all the power. They can do anything they want, and that includes writing the records. This process had for long centuries been fairly simple because the majority of planet Earth’s inhabitants were illiterate, out of touch, had no power whatsoever to affect real change, had no influence, etc.
This is no longer the case. Information has exploded and is shooting up the exponential curve at great speed. Much that has been locked up in the unknown is now becoming known, and ease of access is also accelerating rapidly. This was prophesied long ago:
“Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.
“Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.
“But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.” [Daniel 12:1-4]
The rich and powerful have always been a very small minority. It had control in its hands. When we think about all the great wars of history, these wars had their distant origins in one king fighting another, though such kings started out in mankind’s history as the biggest or smartest guy within a small group, tribal leaders, the best fighters, and not to be forgotten, the most pathological.
Such were those who had no empathy for others whatsoever, could never feel anyone else’s pain, had no mercy or compassion, and were thus unhindered in using their natural brutality in any way they wanted. They demanded respect. Everyone else backed down, and those who did not were taken out.
Thus, much of “history” is actually composed of the tales of various kingpins attempting to defeat other kingpins and take their stuff. Some invented moral reasons for such as a way to involve their people emotionally. Whatever the case, one can be assured that surface facts are all that remain, and inside skullduggery and internal reasons for appropriating the stuff of others to gain greater power and wealth are largely lost under a smokescreen of deception.
This process has obviously made it into modern times. As technology increased over the last century or so, it became easier for the controllers of technology to control the historical narrative. Much of “reality” became a stage play. Once all the major newspapers were bought up by a few powerful people, the news within the papers became jaundiced toward ends decided upon by the propagandists. For those who objected, it was fairly easy to either create false scandals, blackmail such objectors, remove their income sources by bribing and/or intimidating those in vulnerable positions who would rather play ball, or simply revert to the old tried and true elimination by death of one sort or another.
We have all heard of “palace intrigue.” We know powerful leaders were always on their guard against hostile takeovers. Why did ancient kings have food-tasters and bodyguards and secret police and spies and etc? They obviously knew that the desire for power and wealth was a disease reaching immense proportions on occasion, that they themselves had gained power and wealth through illicit means, and that regardless of how they got where they were someone would attempt to take them out as well and take their stuff. A fairly recent president gained his position through such means and spent the rest of his days in ever growing paranoia for this reason, which only added to his circumspect mental condition.
In past imperial periods, it was often family members and inlaws. They could trust next to no one. Whoever they did trust had to be vetted to the nth degree. The successful remained successful by successfully establishing a palace guard of enough trusted ones that they retained power longer.
History reached a moment, however, when powerful people realized they should put an end to such nonsense since a better way had presented itself. Instead of fighting each other all the time, they saw the wisdom in becoming leagued together for both means of greater protection but mainly as a method of gaining far greater wealth and power and learning to share it.
In other words, a much bigger pie created a much bigger piece of pie for each that they could never achieve on their own. Hence, mankind progressed from mere military control as a single method toward the age of political control, in that kings began ruling among themselves through political means involving sell-out trusted ones and mouthpieces—those who would stand in as faux leaders though controlled by the powerful, who became puppeteers and then created the greatest format of control, to be discussed in future posts.
Thus, the political leaders we see today are not actually leaders but mere marionettes on strings. Regular historians might see this to a degree but largely discount the notion. Great historians, however, can see the strings, can identify the strings, and can trace the strings back to the ones holding the strings and pulling the strings.
And many decades ago, when advancing though early technology became much more fully in their control, they could get away with almost anything and did, since they controlled mass information sources and fused technology with propaganda.
Thus, the great kings who leagued themselves together as one appropriated even more power and wealth and were able to achieve a dream that many ancient ones sought but never gained. Their power is such that they can not only do whatever they wish at any given time toward the final goal, but also possess an extremely malevolent and prodigious ability to deceive, and not just a few, but the entire world.
So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.
I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?”
There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven.
It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.
If anyone has an ear, let him hear. [Revelation 12:17-13:9] [1]
© 2014 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued.]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
The Fix Is In: Delusion Illusion (Part 2)
The ministry of John the Immerser was to prepare the way for the ministry of Messiah.
Part of the preparation was preparing hearts.
Part of it was to prepare the spiritual eyes and ears of the people who possessed them, though all were most likely affected by the general blindness of the nation at that time.
“Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
“In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE; FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.’
“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.” [Matthew 13:13-16]
One may wonder why most of the people could not see and hear, and why only a few did. The above passage reveals the answer:
“The heart of this people has become dull.”
The word “dull” is translated from the Greek word pachuno, which is translated into English as “to make thick, to make fat,” and metaphorically, “to make stupid (rendering the soul dull or callous).”
The Hebrew word from the Isaiah passage regarding this sad heart adjective is shaman, and means, “to be fat, make fat, grow fat, or become fat; to show fatness.”
It is variously translated as fat, dull, gross, sluggish, and insensitive, the latter of which appears to be the modern PC definition, which segues from identifying Christians who can’t understand squat no matter how hard one may try to fix their sub-Forrest Gump spiritual IQ with words right on target but extremely offensive—to a nice word which renders such individuals as merely somewhat out of touch with God with no harm done to one’s religious or church social status (or preaching credentials).
The Lord, however, pulled no punches, as did prophets before Him. For whoever may care, it is extremely serious to claim to be a Christian without knowing or wanting God. Just as the Lord said that blind people leading blind people will result in multiple AAA calls to rescue from ditches, so is it the case when preachers with fat hearts lead people with fat hearts. The whole congregation, church building and all, falls into a proverbial ditch, lists to one side, and remains there as a spiritual testament to fat hearts out of touch with God everywhere, while attendance continues by people who make downward adjustments and learn to walk on a slant.
These people cannot see or hear, though they have eyes and ears, and cannot understand, though possessing a mind. It must be noted that their blindness and deafness is, quite strangely, willing. They have closed their eyes and ears by choice. They have also closed their minds. They have willingly chosen to become spiritual dullards with heavy eyelids, sound-deadening headphones, and minds the Lord could not squeeze truth into with the assistance of compressed air or pneumatic tools. Imagine an entire nation of people like this before John the Immerser appeared, topped off with fat-hearted religious leaders who wouldn’t know God if he became a Man and looked them in the face.
It is often the case that our brains are less than lightening fast, but we enjoy those moments when trying to grab hold of something intellectually difficult and actually succeeding, and having a happy “Aha” moment when the tumblers all come together in the correct order and we finally “get it.” Christians with fat hearts never get it, so they build mathematical and verbal formulas they do get, such 1+1=2 (I think) and c-a-t, and then proceed to build their entire religious super structure around such kindergarten principles and easy to understand concepts, thus dumbing-down future generations within that particular Christian culture if said foundational and structural concepts become fully accepted and remain.
This is exactly what the nation of Israel did. The Hebrew prophets, who could see, hear, and understand extremely well (and paid the price for it—both in getting there and staying there), and had the spiritual equivalent of world-class athlete’s hearts, lean and strong with no blockages or cholesterol problems but expressing the epitome of perfect working order with all chambers, valves, and parts pumping and opening and closing like that well-oiled machine we hear so much about with the express result of KNOWING God first and speaking forth His Word second, that all could hear from the Lord On High and thus subvert the devil’s deadening process on the understanding of sinful human beings racked with the ongoing consequence of spiritual disease.
Don’t blame the prophet for having a heart for God,
And for being strong and anointed and doing his job.
The prophets were the cure for blindness and deafness among God’s people, but when the Hebrew priests finally succeeded in killing them off, finishing the job started by the Hebrew kings, principally Solomon, Mr. Fat Heart himself, and took over—priests who had no prophetic abilities and did not know God—the cure ceased to exist for four centuries and the anti-cure did anti-work on the hearts of the people.
Therefore, the nation of Israel did not just become spiritually stupid as by some generational downward drift due to laziness or whatever, but by and through the leading and teaching of those who had no business leading and teaching and were never called by God for that service.
The Pharisees were the later evolutionary product of those Hebrew priests and the very blind men leading the blind people they created that the Lord Jesus was talking about.
Then the disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?”
But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” [Matthew 15:12-14]
The same, exact, and what should be obvious parallel is playing out today, in that so many Christians over so many decades and even centuries have been led around by the blind though they neither realize nor acknowledge they are blind and refuse to admit their ears simply do not work and their hearts look like a giant sack of potatoes rolling down a hill.
The Greatest Prophet is the cure but the cure is deemed too strong, too powerful, too mean even, and completely inappropriate for our traditional Christian comfort levels and far too much to deal with when one is thoroughly ensconced in a fleshly anti-world of illusion and preoccupied with pride and money and uncrucified flesh and religious standing and social cred that would all and must all dissolve in an encounter with the King—Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession (Hebrews 3:1).
The Lord did not mince words in the Matthew 13 passage and expressed perfectly and clearly the fate of the dull at heart.
One can almost hear the prophet Nancy singing, with the end notes heading down the stairs,
These hearts are made for burning
And that’s just what they’ll do
One of these days these hearts
Are gonna burn all over (Gehenna)…
Why did John the Immerser say the following to the nation of Israel?
“You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.
Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” [Luke 3:7-9]
Fat hearts cannot produce good fruit.
Good fruit results from the process of repentance.
Repentance allows for closeness to God.
Closeness to God creates lean, athletic, and pure hearts.
Pure hearts break the power of the Delusion Illusion.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” [Matthew 5:8] [1]
© 2014 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued.]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
The Fix Is In: Delusion Illusion (Part 1)
There are professional sports in which it is fairly obvious that the proceedings are a farce. It’s not real. It may look real to some, but it’s actually all a set-up.
Then there are sports in which people swear up and down it can’t possibly be fixed and that everything must be on the up and up.
Maybe some of this attitude comes from the idea that most people may be honest, or that they are simply too ignorant or naïve to understand such sinister possibilities. We may call this being naïve to the point of being willing dupes. If so, it is a fatal naiveté. And by fatal I mean that people have bought into the proceedings to the degree that they can never find their way back out. They have not only been deceived, they have been captured.
Minds can be captured quite easily. Sometimes people suspect they are being played but turn from the idea quickly because the thought is too scary. If such things were true it would mean their life is based in part on falsehood. But shouldn’t they be more scared that it is, and want to do something about it?
Professional boxing has always had a reputation for subterfuge. Organized crime was involved in the sport seemingly from the get-go. It does not mean that all fights were fixed. It would be too obvious. But many were. There was way too much money involved. Good fighters were paid relatively well. Big gates were consistently produced. Promoters knew exactly what to do to get the best crowds. Boxing became an art of deception. To the common man it was just a fight that people paid to see. To promoters, however, it was a way to make some serious money, to separate as many people as possible from the money in their wallets by promising a great event well worth the price of admission.
Whenever money is involved, greed happens. And in the case of sports, it is always much more about entertainment than honesty.
Sports other than boxing et al are seen as impossible to fix. But here’s something to think about: How many sports have rules and officials? And how many of those rules are interpreted by the officials? How many judgment calls are made? When a basketball referee calls a foul is the call always consistent with all calls made by all basketball referees?
One of the most obvious cases of judgment in officiating in which an official is granted much power to interpret the rules involves balls and strikes in baseball. Though some may think all umpires call the same game behind the plate nothing can be farther from the truth. Each umpire has a different strike zone though the rules only allow for one strike zone. The players must learn all the different strike zones possessed by all the different umpires, the same way they must learn all the pitchers and the different pitches they throw. Some umpires call a lower zone and more hitters are called out by strikes a tad below the knee on good days, and sometimes far below the knees. The players are okay with it as long as the ump is consistent. Other umps have a higher zone. Sometimes umpires will give a pitcher a strike though the pitch is off the plate. Veteran pitchers often get calls that rookie pitchers never get and must earn.
What does any of this have to do with game fixing? Simply the fact that a whole lot of interpretation is going on, and when games are called (interpreted), the written rules take a backseat.
Boxing has traditionally had three scorers to call a fight—the referee in the ring and two ringside judges. They award each round to the fighter whom they think did better. If there is no knockout, as is often the case, a boxer wins or loses by the decision of the judges and referee. These judgments are purely interpretative. It is sometimes the case that all three scores are fairly close. Often, though, there are wide discrepancies, which result in split decisions, which mean one judge thought fighter A won, while the other two thought it was fighter B. In the early days, draws were fairly commonplace, meaning neither fighter won.
It would be better that someone was knocked out, because then a clear winner could be declared. But then, are knockouts actually obvious? Of course not. Fighters were often paid to take a dive. Fighters learned early on that if you wanted to make a living you better play by the rules, but I’m referring to the rules behind the rules. Rule number one was to obey whoever was getting you the money.
Most fighters never had a chance at any big paydays or championship fights. Those that did had much more say in the proceedings. There were certainly honest fighters. Not everyone was corrupt. But there was also such a thing as institutional corruption. There was and remains such a thing as business as usual. It becomes traditional. People accept it. They like particular sports enough to look the other way. And the promoters of sports know exactly what the people want and they know exactly how to get the paying customer to fork over the cash.
They know how to jazz up the proceedings. They know how to get peripheral people on board. It used to be that only men and very few women appreciated watching organized sports. The promoters then worked on methods to gain the confidence of the female fan. Sports began being marketed as female friendly and then family friendly. When baseball was the undeniable American pastime, it was certainly family friendly to an extent, but it remained rare in the early days for regular fans to attend games, simply because they often didn’t have the money or the time.
Radio and then television changed all that. In fact, television changed everything.
One would think that entire games and matches being televised and put on film would make it far less likely that arranging outcomes could be possible. Actually though, it is easier to deceive people by putting the show right in front of them than in keeping it hidden. This is the very nature of showmanship. The show has never been reality, but the secret of good showmanship is to make it appear that way.
Movies started out as poor methods of entertainment, but people were so struck by the medium they were not very discriminating. In a relatively short time though, moving pictures or “movies” became so artful and the technology so professional that it was very easy to impress the paying public to pay up to see the show. In reality, movies are a very deceptive exercise in not only giving people what they want but causing them to pay great amounts of cash for the privilege. After a century of moving pictures, next to no one understands what’s really going on in the process, or how whole populations are swayed and deceived by the art and content of the “entertainment.”
In politics, how many times have we heard about the “smoke-filled rooms” in which powerful movers and shakers make decisions that will affect an entire populace? And how many people actually care? The fact of the matter is that political decisions are always decided behind the scenes with the perpetrators knowing they can manipulate the process after the fact, especially by rigging the vote.
Now, at this point many people leave the discussion because they cannot handle the possibility that elections may be fraudulent. However, we certainly know that many elections have been, and some were presidential elections. But these were only the ones later discovered. How many fraudulent elections have never been discovered?
After a while, one begins to notice that much of what is portrayed as legitimate is not legitimate at all, but since people lack total proof or the ability to do anything about it they accept it. Thus, the manipulators behind the scenes continue to get away with their manipulations and even outright lies, since the public at large is either duped, apathetic, or powerless to act. Every now and then, however, someone not only figures it out, but speaks out about it.
And now you know why God made prophets…
“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; For you will go on BEFORE THE LORD TO PREPARE HIS WAYS; To give to His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, TO SHINE UPON THOSE WHO SIT IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel. [Luke 1:76-80] [1]
© 2014 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued.]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
