"And great earthquakes shall be in divers places ..."

 "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." (Matthew 24:7-8)

    "And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven." (Luke 21:11)

 

    Earthquakes have been a part of our world for almost as long as it has been in existence. (Not sure whether there were any earthquakes before the Flood, but there have certainly been a vast number since then.) New Zealand is a country that gets its fair share of seismic activity. In fact, so common are earthquakes in the Land of the Long White Cloud that one of the country's nicknames is "The Shaky Isles". And it's not just earthquakes we get, but volcanic eruptions too. Those are less common than earthquakes, but still, we get our share.

    Even by this country's standards, however, the last decade or so has been pretty extreme. For starters, the city of Christchurch shook almost continually for over a year, beginning with the Darfield Earthquake (7.1 on the Richter scale) on 4 September 2010. That was followed by the devastating 6.2-magnitude quake of 22 February 2011, and more big shakes occurred on 13 June and 23 December 2011. The February 2011 earthquake took 185 lives and caused immense damage that forever altered the cityscape and resulted in a very long recovery that is still not complete. (Just three weeks after that quake, on 11 March 2011, there was a 9.1 monster shake that caused a devastating tsunami in eastern Japan, and especially the island of Honshu.)

    Not long after the Christchurch sequence finally settled down, another series of beefy earthquakes centred in Cook Strait shook up the middle of the country in July and August 2013. I well remember being woken up by the first of those earthquakes, a 5.7 on 19 July 2013. Then on 21 July, I was awakened again by a 5.8 tremor. That turned out to be a mere "warm-up act" for a 6.5-magnitude quake in the afternoon. To this day, it remains one of the most intense earthquakes I have ever felt. But the seismic "fun" was only just starting. On 16 August 2013, there was a 6.6-magnitude earthquake that was followed by a succession of heavy aftershocks. Until that day, I had probably never felt more than about three earthquakes on a single day. But on that mad afternoon and evening, I felt about 20! And they were all over 5, with one or two others exceeding 6. I think on that day, I felt just about as many earthquakes over about six hours as the combined total I had felt in my life beforehand! (It was almost like the quakes of my past decided to have a reunion.)

    Rather miraculously, these Cook Strait earthquakes did not do too much damage. They certainly did some, but Wellington was largely able to go on functioning as normal, as were other cities and towns in the upper South Island and lower North Island. Nobody died in these earthquakes, and I can't recall anyone being seriously injured. Still, it was a very unsettling period.

     On 20 January 2014, a 6.2 or 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck near the tiny town of Eketahuna. It shook up Wellington pretty vigorously, and rather rudely interrupted Wellington Anniversary Day, but by the standards of the 2010s, was a relatively minor event. However, it generated an aftershock sequence that continues (albeit sporadically and at very small magnitudes) to this day.

    Then at 12:02am on 14 November 2016, one of the largest and most extraordinary earthquakes in the country's history struck the northeastern coast of the South Island. What made this particular earthquake so remarkable, apart from its 7.8 magnitude, was the way in which multiple faults ruptured as it progressed. Some 20 faults ruptured in succession. It was as if the earth had decided to play a game of seismic dominoes. The earthquake began near Culverden in the Canterbury region of the South Island, but then "travelled" as far as Cook Strait before the faults there (which are aligned differently) acted as a "buffer" to stop the domino effect dead in its tracks. I vividly remember this earthquake. It started quite gently due to the initial epicentre being a long way away, but then steadily increased in intensity until it was the most severe and prolonged earthquake I had ever experienced. Because of the time it hit (just after midnight), the death toll was a miraculously low two. But it did tremendous damage, especially to State Highway 1 between Picton and Kaikoura, and the Main Trunk Line along the same stretch. Kaikoura was cut off for weeks and suffered a fair amount of damage. Wellington got off relatively lightly, but several buildings had to be demolished later. Of course, there were plenty of big aftershocks, which occurred over a wide area due to all the faults that had ruptured. It was 16 August 2013 all over again for a while there. The earthquake also triggered a tsunami that washed away a house in a bay on Banks Peninsula.

    Now on 5 March 2021, we have just had another extraordinary day. For possibly the first time in the country's history, we had no less than three earthquakes measuring over 7 on the Richter scale in the space of about six hours! However, only one was widely felt on the mainland, and that was the first one, which measured 7.3 and struck at 2:27am. While it was well short of the Cook Strait or Kaikoura earthquakes in terms of intensity, it was still a pretty vigorous, rolling shake. Soon after the earthquake, a tsunami warning was issued, and many people living near the sea had to evacuate their homes in the middle of the night and flee to higher ground.

    The next two earthquakes were near the Kermadec Islands - a 7.4 at 6:41am and an 8.1 at 8:28am. While these were a bit too far away to be properly felt in NZ, they did generate some tsunami activity that resulted in more people fleeing their coastal homes or being evacuated from them. In the end, we got nothing worse than 30cm high waves, but it was a considerable disruption to people's lives for a day.

    Our local seismic event monitoring agency, GeoNet, reckons that the earthquakes are probably related and that this event may have been more complex than first thought. The quake near Te Araroa, which they are now calling the East Cape Earthquake, occurred in or close to the Hikurangi Subduction Zone, one of New Zealand's greatest natural hazards as it is capable of generating earthquakes up to 9.0 in size. (As we saw in Japan in March 2011, and earthquake that big could trigger a truly devastating tsunami.) So it's not great news for us if that zone is starting to wake up.

    The earthquakes come in a week when there was also a 6.2-magnitude earthquake in Greece. Iceland is also experiencing quite a prolonged earthquake swarm at the moment. And over the past 20-30 years, the number of major earthquakes has gone up considerably. I have lived in New Zealand for all but two years of my life, and prior to 2010, earthquakes were just an occasional thing. I'd feel maybe one or two a year. They provided an interesting talking point on the day they occurred, but were otherwise no great concern. Now however, they are becoming an increasingly regular part of everyday life, although there can still be more stable periods. But I have never known a decade to have so many big earthquakes, and for the shaking to continue over such prolonged periods (as happened with the Christchurch, Cook Strait and Kaikoura sequences).

    When Jesus talked about the period leading to the final Tribulation and His second coming, He described the events that would take place as "the beginning of sorrows" (Matthew 24:8). The word "sorrows" in the King James Bible means birth pangs or labour pains. When a woman goes into labour, her contractions are fairly wide apart. But as her baby's birth gets ever closer, the contractions start to become more frequent. They also increase in intensity. Well this is exactly the pattern that we are seeing with earthquakes, not only in New Zealand, but elsewhere in the world. They are more frequent and getting more intense. Notice that "pestilences" are also mentioned. That's why I believe COVID-19 is real - it's one of those prophesied pestilences. There have been other pestilences in recent times too (SARS, MERS, swine flu and even a measles resurgence), but none with the global reach and impact of COVID-19. It has been a while since a serious famine, but the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted many supply lines, and last year there were several serious locust plagues that destroyed an awful lot of crops. Recently an article on Stuff revealed that our government was considering rationing food if the pandemic had been severe enough to require Level 3 and 4 lockdowns for months on end. There aren't too many major wars going on just at present, but there is certainly plenty of tension around. China has been acting pretty belligerently towards Taiwan and Hong Kong, and the United States feels like it could descend into civil war if the right kind of "triggering event" were to occur.

    Now certainly, all of the events Christ talked about have occurred throughout the past 2,000 years. But as His return, along with the Tribulation period that precedes it, gets ever nearer, we can expect them to become more common and severe. Interestingly, the Lord also said that the world would be similar to how it was in the days of Noah and the days of Lot:

    "And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." (Luke 17:26-30)

    Now one key point of this passage is that most people of the world will be just living their lives, blissfully unaware that Christ's return is imminent. Christians will be watching out for it, but the lost will just carry on their merry way. However, it is interesting that Jesus specifically references the times of Noah and Lot. Let's take a look at what the world was like before the Great Flood:

    "And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart." (Genesis 6:5-6)

    "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." (Genesis 6:11-12)

     Sounds a lot like our world today. Violence is everywhere. Mass murders have become almost commonplace. There are video games, movies and books filled with the most extreme and grotesque violence imaginable. Again, there has always been some degree of violence in the world, but nowadays it seems to be ramping up to unprecedented levels.

    Now Lot lived in Sodom, which is where words like "sodomy" and "sodomite" come from, because it embraced homosexuality. Read Genesis 19:1-26 to see how that all panned out. (There is a similar account in Judges 19:16-28, although that involves bisexuals rather than exclusive homosexuals as the men of Sodom were.) There has never been a time in human history when the sin of homosexuality has been as widely praised and approved of in society as today. Never before in the six thousand years or so that the earth has been in existence have two men or two women been allowed to "marry" in so many countries. There is also an extraordinary attack on gender right now - even Mr Potato Head is not allowed to be male anymore! (He's just "Potato Head", without the "Mr", in order to make him more "inclusive".) The world is so consumed with evil that the wicked act of abortion - murdering a baby in the womb - is trumpeted as a virtue.

    The Bible warns us that "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived" (2 Timothy 3:13). At the start of that same chapter, we are told, "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come, For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

    The times we are living in are indeed perilous. Evil is flourishing in ways that were unthinkable for most of human history. The wickedness of man has once again become great in the earth. And those "labour pains" are getting closer together and ever more intense. As the world becomes more violent, it is also shaking more violently. Which means we can expect the world to get even more wicked and the "birth pangs" to get even more frequent and intense in the next few years and decades.

    However, although I believe the hour is late, the end is not yet. Christians need to watch, but also be about our Father's business while we are able. And to any non-Christians reading this, you need to repent of your sins (be sorry for the offences you have committed against God) and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. The world may not end tomorrow (in fact, it quite definitely won't), but your life might (though I sincerely wish everyone who reads this many long and happy years). The Bible says: "[B]ehold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2). It also warns, "Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." (Proverbs 27:1) If God has softened your heart to repentance and you understand your need for salvation, don't put it off another day. Tomorrow just may be too late.

UPDATE (9/3/2021): I'm not sure how sound the writer of this article is, but he claims to have sourced his information directly from the US Geological Service. In the first 65 days of 2021, there have been some 42 earthquakes of 6.0 or higher. That is a record for any year. 2011 holds the record for the most major (6.0+) earthquakes over the course of a whole year: 207. (The previous record holder was 1957 with 205, mainly in Alaska.) In the first 65 days of 2011, there were 30 major earthquakes (including the devastating Christchurch one of 22 February). This year appears to be on track to beat 2011's overall record. A concerning observation made in the article is this: "What is happening along the eastern margin of the Australia plate this year is similar to the great Honshu quake swarm on the Japanese Trench back in 2011 when around 70 major quakes, mag 6 or higher caused the destruction of the Fukushima Nuclear Plant and resulted in the deaths of 22,000 people." Let's hope that New Zealand doesn't get a repeat of that terrible disaster in Japan (which happened a mere three weeks after the Christchurch earthquake). But we should certainly be prepared, and as I said above, Christians need to continue being about the Lord's business while we can.

UPDATE 2 (21/3/21): After a sequence of more than 50,000 earthquakes over the past month, the Fagradalsfjall volcano in southwestern Iceland has erupted for the first time in about 800 years. It is located near the capital, Reykjavik, and the country has suspended air travel as a result. Mt. Etna in Sicily has also been extremely active lately.

COVID-19: A Real Pandemic or a Fake Plan-Demic?

    For about a year now, our lives have been dominated by a virus known as SARS-CoV-2 or more commonly, COVID-19. It has been quite extraordinary the way this virus has affected the world. There has scarcely been a nation untouched by it. We have seen much sickness and death (though nothing on the scale of the Spanish flu pandemic a century ago) and the freedoms that people (in the West especially) once took for granted have been severely curtailed by lockdowns and assorted other restrictions.

    The pandemic has provided fertile ground for conspiracy theorists, many of whom allege that the pandemic is actually a "plan-demic" and just an elaborate hoax by the New World Order or Illuminati or Deep State or whoever to take away our freedoms. One such group promoting this idea is QAnon. A number of Christians and conservatives have bought into it. So is COVID-19 a real pandemic, or the greatest "false flag" event known to man? (Because if it IS a "false flag", it is on an unprecedented scale.)

    I plan to write more on conspiracy theories some other day, but just for now, I'd like to make one key point about them: they promote the fear of man. Think about it: there are these boogeymen, who tend to belong to secret societies that are into all sorts of sinister things, and they're out to get us, all in the name of world domination. So we should be afraid, very afraid. Afraid of these evil MEN (and women - I'll just say in passing, there is something about Hillary Clinton that really gives me the creeps). That's the general gist of most conspiracy theories (at least, the ones that I'm aware of).

    But what does the Word of God say about fearing man? Let's have a look at some Scriptures on the subject. I'll start with one of my all-time favourites, Proverbs 29:25, "The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe".  So if you're living in fear of the Deep State or Illuminati or the mainstream media etc., the Bible says that this is a snare! What should we be doing instead? Putting our trust in the Lord! If you're trusting God, you have nothing to fear from men, even the most powerful and wicked individuals alive today. The powerful Pharoah of Egypt and all his mighty armies were no match for the Living God when He was delivering the children of Israel, so what harm can the Illuminati, Deep State or the like do? Anyway, here's another good Scripture on this subject, Psalm 27:1-3. "The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident."

    That was written by David, who faced some pretty scary people in his time, like the giant Goliath and mad King Saul, not to mention any number of Philistine soldiers. One of his own sons (Absalom) even conspired to overthrow him! (It didn't end well.) But David didn't fear any of them because he trusted in God. Speaking of David, he has the following wise counsel for everyone getting uptight about the so-called COVID conspiracy and other similar things: "Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity". (Psalm 37:1) Also this: "Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil." (Psalm 37:7-8) Solomon adds this in the Book of Proverbs: "Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked; For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be put out." (Proverbs 24:19-20)

     Incidentally, that is another danger of conspiracy theories: not only do they promote the fear of man, they also cause you to fret about evildoers (real or imagined). So it is with the COVID conspiracy theory. People everywhere are getting worked up into a frenzy over the hoax they think this is. And what if it is in fact a hoax? Fretting about the alleged perpetrators of it and being afraid of what they're plotting isn't going to help one little bit. Just rest in the Lord and He will work everything out. Also, be about His business (and don't be distracted by conspiracy narratives, regardless of their plausibility).

    But I'd like those of you who think COVID isn't real to also consider this: why WOULDN'T it be real? Have you considered what God might be doing with such a virus, or are you so caught up worrying about what mere men are doing that you haven't considered that? Let's look at a prophecy Jesus made about the latter times:

    "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." (Matthew 24:7-8)

    "And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven." (Luke 21:11)

     The word "sorrows" here actually refers to labour pains. When a woman is in labour, her contractions increase in intensity and come closer together until she eventually gives birth. It certainly seems like the "labour pains" are starting to come thicker and faster. Certainly, the number of major earthquakes around the world has gone up a lot in the past 20-30 years, and the 2010s was an extraordinarily shaky decade in New Zealand, which is known as the "Shaky Isles" anyway. So if we are indeed in a time when the final tribulation and Christ's return are getting really close, then why wouldn't COVID-19 be one of the pestilences that Jesus prophesied?

    Pestilences and plagues are mentioned quite often in both the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, they tended to be used to either chastise Israel or humble the enemies of Israel. In the New Testament, they are talked about mainly in the Book of Revelation, where they are part of God's judgment on mankind but also His last attempt to bring sinners to repentance.

    Why might God send a pestilence like COVID-19 into the world? I don't know all the answers to that, but one thing I have noticed is that human pride and vanity seem to have been reaching new levels in recent years. Mankind has become so puffed up lately that it's a real wonder we haven't burst. So I think it is possible that COVID is a kind of rebuke to the world by God and a reminder that we really are frail and feeble creatures in need of His mercy. We think we're so great and powerful, and then a little microscopic virus comes along and stops us in our tracks. "But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty". (1 Corinthians 1:27)

    What should the response of God's people be to this situation? Should it be to fuss and fret and cry that the whole thing is a hoax? Or should it perhaps be to turn to Him in repentance and prayer?

     "If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:13-14) 

    Now, in this case the COVID-19 pestilence has not just been sent among God's people, but the whole world. But God's people are, if you'll pardon the expression, not immune from this virus. So the need to humble ourselves, pray and turn from our wicked ways still applies. Christians ought to be spending a lot more time on their knees and a lot less time protesting and waving banners and railing against governing authorities while claiming that COVID isn't real. (Although it's probably more unsaved people and false converts doing this sort of thing.) And even if somehow it ISN'T real, God is still allowing all these lockdowns to happen. He could easily put a stop to it if He wanted. So if He is allowing some sort of grand hoax to be perpetrated on the world, He has a reason for it (though we can be sure He will judge the deceivers in the end, so either way, we shouldn't worry).

    So in conclusion, I believe that it is far more likely that COVID-19 is a real pandemic and one of the pestilences Jesus spoke of in his prophecies about the "beginning of sorrows". In fact, if it were a hoax, it would be an absolute logistical nightmare to implement, I would have thought. Also, the nations of the world would be more coordinated in their messaging, whereas there has been a wide variety of responses and approaches to handling the virus. One thing that is not really in dispute though is that the number of cases and deaths is not accurate. The figures published by Johns Hopkins University are more of a reasonable approximation than an exact number. This has nothing to do with any sort of conspiracy though (which is not to say some world leaders aren't covering things up to make it seem like they're doing a better job than they are). Look at any pandemic in world history, such as the Black Death of the 14th Century or the Great Plague of London or the Spanish flu, and you will never find absolutely exact figures for either cases or deaths. It's impossible, really, because when you have a pandemic like this that affects so much of the world at once, different countries will use their own criteria, and of course there are those countries that lie about their real numbers to make themselves look better. Even countries that are generally more reliable sometimes change their criteria. For example, the UK once did not include rest home deaths in their COVID-19 death toll, but now they do. China does not count asymptomatic cases, whereas most other countries do. It is also entirely possible that some deaths will be wrongly attributed to COVID, but this is probably as much down to incompetence as any deliberate plot.

    It is also fair to say that the number of potential deaths was probably greatly overestimated in the earliest days of the pandemic. A little over 2.5 million people worldwide have died of COVID-19. The Spanish flu took 25 million lives at a bare minimum! And the death toll from that pandemic could be as high as 50 million. So in the scheme of global pandemics, COVID-19 is well down the scale. Here in New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern warned that thousands of New Zealanders could die from this virus, and the death toll after a year stands at 26. How much of that can be attributed to all the lockdowns, and how much to bad estimates or even scaremongering on the part of health experts, politicians and the media is hard to say. The fact remains though that the death toll is far below initial estimates.

     Quick comment on face masks (I will admit, I have somehow managed not to wear one at any stage of the pandemic, and early on the experts seemed to think they weren't necessary before changing their tune a few months later). Some people consider these a form of oppression and refuse to wear them on that basis. I don't know how effective or otherwise face masks are at preventing the spread of the coronavirus, and I think they're certainly not perfect, but they must have some benefit, otherwise why are doctors who treat COVID patients bothering with them? (Although they go further and wear face shields as well, so perhaps they don't feel the masks are enough.) Consider the Spanish flu pandemic. People wore face masks a lot then. How much good they did, I don't know, but the point is, this is not the first pandemic where face masks have been widely worn. The Bible instructs us to obey our leaders except where that obedience would clash with God's commandments. As far as I can see, there is no express commandment against wearing face masks in the Bible. In fact, lepers were told to put on something like a face mask in Leviticus 13:45. So if you're in a situation (e.g. riding public transport) where a face mask is required by law, just go ahead and wear it without fuss (unless of course you have a genuine medical reason not to, and some people do). That said, if you are otherwise in a situation where face masks are NOT legally required, wear a mask or don't wear a mask as you see fit. (I almost never see people wearing masks when I'm out - they're not legally required in NZ except on public transport.) If you still want to believe that being made to wear a face mask once in a while is some form of persecution, consider this: it may not be much fun to wear a face mask, but compared with say, being thrown to lions (which some Christians were subjected to in Roman times) or being put through the worst tortures of the Catholic Inquisition (which persecuted and killed many Bible-believing Christians in the Dark Ages and Middle Ages), or being arrested and thrown into labour camps (happening right now in countries like China and North Korea), it's not that big of a deal, really. Again though, I'm all for exercising personal liberty in this matter as far as reasonably possible.

    Speaking of China, I also do want to say that I think the Chinese government has a lot to answer for. It is documented and verifiable fact that they actively covered up the earliest stages of the coronavirus in Wuhan. When people tried to sound a warning about it, the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) threatened and arrested them. And most criminally of all, they allowed about five million people to leave Wuhan (for Chinese New Year travel) before locking it down just a day or two later. This is not to say that China deliberately unleashed COVID on the world (and it's wrong to give ordinary Chinese people a hard time over it, so please don't do that), but the actions of the Chinese government in those very early stages unquestionably contributed to the dire situation the world quickly found itself in by March 2020. Unsurprisingly, they're in denial about their role to this day and are even peddling some wild conspiracy theories of their own (according to them, America started it!).

     Anyway, whatever you believe about COVID-19, at the end of the day, the most important thing is to trust in the Lord and rest in Him. If it's all a gigantic hoax, He will ultimately judge those who have perpetrated such an extraordinary deception on the world. But if it's real, as I believe it to be, then maybe He wants to humble the world somewhat and perhaps even chasten those who are His own. Also, think of it this way: if an even worse pandemic comes along, we'll all be well versed in what to do! But anyway, God is in control here, not the Deep State or who-have-you. They might think they're oh-so-powerful right now, but God will have the last laugh in the end (see Psalm 2:4). Whatever the exact deal is with this pandemic, our job is to serve the Lord, fulfil the Great Commission as best we can and stop fretting about the vain machinations of men.

 

UPDATE (3/3/2021): During the post-Cabinet press conference on Monday (1 March), our Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, made the following rather startling remark when referring to the compulsory two-week stay in "managed isolation" that every new arrival to New Zealand must now go through:

   

"We drum in that messaging around the dangers of Covid pretty diligently for a full two-week period of sustained propaganda." (The full quote is available here)

     You can view a YouTube clip of this here. The entire press conference in which she makes this remark is also available for viewing here.

     Now a single throwaway comment, perhaps made by someone feeling a bit tired and stressed at the time, isn't really definitive proof of anything, but it was still a very interesting choice of phrasing. Frankly, I nearly fell off my chair when I heard the words "sustained propaganda" coming out of our PM's mouth! What world leader would knowingly admit to using propaganda? Did she inadvertently let something slip? It was certainly a curious little incident.

    I Googled a definition for "propaganda", and the top hit was from the Encyclopaedia Britannica Web site, which defines propaganda as "dissemination of information—facts, arguments, rumours, half-truths, or lies—to influence public opinion". Their entire article about propaganda is quite well worth reading: https://www.britannica.com/topic/propaganda

     So as I say, a rather curious thing for our PM to say so openly.

 

UPDATE 2 (6/5/21): Today I came across this report on the New Zealand Herald site. It is talking about hospitals in Auckland being under severe strain. The opening paragraph states: "Sick and injured patients are being left in hospital corridors and ambulances are queuing outside Auckland emergency departments as demand continues to skyrocket."

    These are the kind of horror scenes that you might more readily associate with a country like India or Brazil, where COVID-19 is currently running absolutely rampant and the public health systems are under severe strain. But in Auckland, three of its biggest hospitals are reportedly overloaded - these hospitals being Auckland City, Middlemore and North Shore. This is due to an "increase in admissions". How is this possible when we don't have COVID-19 in the community? The question is not really answered, other than with this explanation: "Operating well above maximum capacity was a problem that had escalated this year with the backlog of planned care that had been put on hold because of Covid-19". So the COVID-19 pandemic may have something to do with it after all. Auckland has been worse affected than the rest of the country since it has been through several Level 3 lockdowns as well as the Level 4 lockdown that was nationwide last March, April and May. Still, it's a rather curious thing that our hospitals are struggling so much when we don't even have COVID here (at least, not in the community - there are always cases at the border).

 

UPDATE 3 (27/5/21): As we know, the COVID-19 pandemic started in Wuhan, China. It so happens that Wuhan is home to a virus laboratory (called the Wuhan Institute of Virology) that is particularly well-known for doing research about ... coronaviruses! This naturally led to the theory during the earliest days of the pandemic that COVID-19 had been developed in this Wuhan laboratory. However, it was rubbished as a conspiracy theory. Well, one of the reasons why people are attracted to conspiracy theories is because every once in a while, something dismissed by the mainstream media as a conspiracy theory turns out to be true. All of a sudden, the possibility that COVID-19 inadvertently leaked out of the Wuhan laboratory is starting to gain serious credence. Reports are circulating that back in November 2019, three workers from the laboratory were hospitalised with mysterious flu-like symptoms. One month later, cases of COVID-19 began to be reported in Wuhan. US President Joe Biden has ordered an investigation and wants answers within 90 days. Of course, China is angrily denying that the coronavirus could possibly have come from the Wuhan laboratory, but then again, the Communist state angrily denied the existence of COVID-19, or at least the seriousness of it, when it first appeared. The CCP has a track record of lying shamelessly to both the world and its own people, so their denials don't count for much.

    Notice that there is no suggestion here of COVID-19 being a fake virus. The question is over its origin. The most widely accepted theory is that it came from an animal like a bat or pangolin. The idea that it came from the Wuhan lab, despite the fact that it specialises in coronavirus research, was scoffed at until the past week or so. Now it is considered very plausible. I heard one person (in a FOX News report, I think it was) say that the lab might have been trying to mix coronaviruses from different animals, hence the belief that it transferred directly from animals to humans. Then it may have transpired that the virus leaked out, some of the workers caught it and this helped to establish human-to-human transmission. If this is true, it may explain why the virus has behaved in quite unusual ways - for instance often displaying worse symptoms in the second week of infection than the first.

    I'm none too sure whether the truth of the virus' origins will ever be firmly established. Even if it did leak out of the Wuhan laboratory, you can be sure the Chinese government will go to great lengths to prevent that from being proven (they're probably working on a cover-up even now). Still, it has been a very interesting development, and definitely a story to keep an eye on. 

 

UPDATE 4 (28/5/21): By way as a follow-up to yesterday's update, please have a look at this article on the BBC News Web site. Not so much the main story (though by all means, feel free to read that). Rather, I would like to draw your attention to the analysis by BBC China correspondent John Sudworth, which appears below the main story. He notes the startling about-face by the media and scientific community in going from dismissing the lab-leak theory as a "dangerous, fringe conspiracy" to now viewing it as "an entirely plausible possibility". He then states, "The truth is, there's always been plenty of circumstantial evidence to support both competing theories." A key reason why the lab-leak theory was dismissed out-of-hand before had to do with politics. After explaining that there is no clear evidence to prove either animal-to-human transmission or a lab leak, Mr Sudworth writes, "The lab-leak theory, born into an environment poisoned by disinformation, was undermined not so much by China's denials, but by the fact it was being pumped by former US President Donald Trump". (My emphasis) So because Donald Trump said it, it had to be wrong. That seems to be what it boils down to. Now that Joe Biden is prepared to entertain the possibility, suddenly it's cool to believe in the lab-leak theory again. Mr Sudworth then goes on to reveal that he did a report about the lab-leak theory in May 2020, but had some difficulty in doing so, as he "ran into long and fraught editorial discussions before the report finally made it to publication".

    Mr Sudworth then makes these observations about the attitude of the scientific community towards the two main COVID-19 origin theories: "The prevailing narrative has also loomed large over the science. Despite the dominant voices of some leading virologists insisting that only a zoonotic origin needed be investigated, a determined group of scientists has continued to argue that both scenarios should remain on the table". (Emphasis mine) True science should be politically neutral, but that does not appear to have been the case in this instance, and you wonder how much other science around COVID-19, and especially the vaccines, may be affected by politics. Mr Sudworth then rather gloomily concludes, "Wherever the debate goes now, China is extremely unlikely to allow another investigation on its soil". Sadly, I agree. And even if they do allow another investigation, it will only be after they have removed all the evidence that might prove the virus did indeed come out of the Wuhan Institute of Virology. That's how Communist governments roll. (Although there are many other kinds of ungodly government systems where the same thing would happen.)

     Some more information appears below John Sudworth's analysis piece. The most interesting paragraph from that (for me) was this: "Anthony Fauci, President Biden's chief medical adviser, has maintained he believes the virus was passed from animals to humans, though he conceded this month he was no longer confident Covid-19 had developed naturally". (My emphasis) Anthony Fauci has been a very prominent figure throughout the pandemic. He was a top advisor to Donald Trump (relations between the two of them were pretty fraught) and has continued as chief medical advisor under Joe Biden. In many ways, he has guided the official pandemic narrative in the United States. So for him to admit that he is no longer confident COVID-19 developed naturally is, in my view, quite significant.

    Actually, what is also fascinating to read is that Facebook is no longer censoring people's claims that COVID-19 came from the Wuhan lab: "While there is still no evidence to suggest it is man-made, Facebook on Thursday said that in light of the ongoing investigations and in consultation with public health experts it would 'no longer remove the claim that Covid-19 is man-made from our apps'.

"We're continuing to work with health experts to keep pace with the evolving nature of the pandemic and regularly update our policies as new facts and trends emerge,' it said." 

    Just a few days ago, Project Veritas exposed Facebook for secretly cracking down on vaccine hesitancy. So it's good to see them being more open about their censorship of other opinions related to COVID-19. But as I said above, Donald Trump believing and promoting the lab-leak theory made it Uncool and Obviously Untrue. To believe anything Donald Trump says is Dangerous to Society. (Facebook, like Twitter, removed him from their platform after the Capitol riot on 6 January, when he was effectively declared to be the Antichrist by the Left.) But now that Joe Biden and Anthony Fauci are, if not believing it, then at least open to it, suddenly it's Cool again. As long as the Cool Kids believe it, Facebook will allow it. That's freedom of speech, Facebook style.