Goodman Grey
11-10-2020, 02:00 PM
Some of you may have heard this story in Church or elsewhere. I am posting this to show that no matter how much things change in the world, some things still stay the same.
1 The tyrant Antiochus, sitting in state with his counselors on a certain high place, and with his armed soldiers standing about him,
2 ordered the guards to seize each and every Hebrew and to compel them to eat pork and food sacrificed to idols.
3 If any were not willing to eat defiling food, they were to be broken on the wheel and killed.
4 And when many persons had been rounded up, one man, Eleazar by name, leader of the flock, was brought before the king. He was a man of priestly family, learned in the law, advanced in age, and known to many in the tyrant's court because of his philosophy.
5 When Antiochus saw him he said,
6 "Before I begin to torture you, old man, I would advise you to save yourself by eating pork,
7 for I respect your age and your gray hairs. Although you have had them for so long a time, it does not seem to me that you are a philosopher when you observe the religion of the Jews.
8 Why, when nature has granted it to us, should you abhor eating the very excellent meat of this animal?
9 It is senseless not to enjoy delicious things that are not shameful, and wrong to spurn the gifts of nature.
10 It seems to me that you will do something even more senseless if, by holding a vain opinion concerning the truth, you continue to despise me to your own hurt.
11 Will you not awaken from your foolish philosophy, dispel your futile reasonings, adopt a mind appropriate to your years, philosophize according to the truth of what is beneficial,
12 and have compassion on your old age by honoring my humane advice?
13 For consider this, that if there is some power watching over this religion of yours, it will excuse you from any transgression that arises out of compulsion."
14 When the tyrant urged him in this fashion to eat meat unlawfully, Eleazar asked to have a word.
15 When he had received permission to speak, he began to address the people as follows:
16 "We, O Antiochus, who have been persuaded to govern our lives by the divine law, think that there is no compulsion more powerful than our obedience to the law.
17 Therefore we consider that we should not transgress it in any respect.
18 Even if, as you suppose, our law were not truly divine and we had wrongly held it to be divine, not even so would it be right for us to invalidate our reputation for piety.
19 Therefore do not suppose that it would be a petty sin if we were to eat defiling food;
20 to transgress the law in matters either small or great is of equal seriousness,
21 for in either case the law is equally despised.
22 You scoff at our philosophy as though living by it were irrational,
23 but it teaches us self-control, so that we master all pleasures and desires, and it also trains us in courage, so that we endure any suffering willingly;
24 it instructs us in justice, so that in all our dealings we act impartially, and it teaches us piety, so that with proper reverence we worship the only real God.
25 "Therefore we do not eat defiling food; for since we believe that the law was established by God, we know that in the nature of things the Creator of the world in giving us the law has shown sympathy toward us.
26 He has permitted us to eat what will be most suitable for our lives, but he has forbidden us to eat meats that would be contrary to this.
27 It would be tyrannical for you to compel us not only to transgress the law, but also to eat in such a way that you may deride us for eating defiling foods, which are most hateful to us.
28 But you shall have no such occasion to laugh at me,
29 nor will I transgress the sacred oaths of my ancestors concerning the keeping of the law,
30 not even if you gouge out my eyes and burn my entrails.
31 I am not so old and cowardly as not to be young in reason on behalf of piety.
32 Therefore get your torture wheels ready and fan the fire more vehemently!
33 I do not so pity my old age as to break the ancestral law by my own act.
34 I will not play false to you, O law that trained me, nor will I renounce you, beloved self-control.
35 I will not put you to shame, philosophical reason, nor will I reject you, honored priesthood and knowledge of the law.
36 You, O king, shall not stain the honorable mouth of my old age, nor my long life lived lawfully.
37 The fathers will receive me as pure, as one who does not fear your violence even to death.
38 You may tyrannize the ungodly, but you shall not dominate my religious principles either by word or by deed."
1 When Eleazar in this manner had made eloquent response to the exhortations of the tyrant, the guards who were standing by dragged him violently to the instruments of torture.
2 First they stripped the old man, who remained adorned with the gracefulness of his piety.
3 And after they had tied his arms on each side they scourged him,
4 while a herald opposite him cried out, "Obey the king's commands!"
5 But the courageous and noble man, as a true Eleazar, was unmoved, as though being tortured in a dream;
6 yet while the old man's eyes were raised to heaven, his flesh was being torn by scourges, his blood flowing, and his sides were being cut to pieces.
7 And though he fell to the ground because his body could not endure the agonies, he kept his reason upright and unswerving.
8 One of the cruel guards rushed at him and began to kick him in the side to make him get up again after he fell.
9 But he bore the pains and scorned the punishment and endured the tortures.
10 And like a noble athlete the old man, while being beaten, was victorious over his torturers;
11 in fact, with his face bathed in sweat, and gasping heavily for breath, he amazed even his torturers by his courageous spirit.
12 At that point, partly out of pity for his old age,
13 partly out of sympathy from their acquaintance with him, partly out of admiration for his endurance, some of the king's retinue came to him and said,
14 "Eleazar, why are you so irrationally destroying yourself through these evil things?
15 We will set before you some cooked meat; save yourself by pretending to eat pork."
16 But Eleazar, as though more bitterly tormented by this counsel, cried out:
17 "May we, the children of Abraham, never think so basely that out of cowardice we feign a role unbecoming to us!
18 For it would be irrational if we, who have lived in accordance with truth to old age and have maintained in accordance with law the reputation of such a life, should now change our course
19 become a pattern of impiety to the young, in becoming an example of the eating of defiling food.
20 It would be shameful if we should survive for a little while and during that time be a laughing stock to all for our cowardice,
21 and if we should be despised by the tyrant as unmanly, and not protect our divine law even to death.
22 Therefore, O children of Abraham, die nobly for your religion!
23 And you, guards of the tyrant, why do you delay?"
24 When they saw that he was so courageous in the face of the afflictions, and that he had not been changed by their compassion, the guards brought him to the fire.
25 There they burned him with maliciously contrived instruments, threw him down, and poured stinking liquids into his nostrils.
26 When he was now burned to his very bones and about to expire, he lifted up his eyes to God and said,
27 "You know, O God, that though I might have saved myself, I am dying in burning torments for the sake of the law.
28 Be merciful to your people, and let our punishment suffice for them.
29 Make my blood their purification, and take my life in exchange for theirs."
30 And after he said this, the holy man died nobly in his tortures, and by reason he resisted even to the very tortures of death for the sake of the law.
31 Admittedly, then, devout reason is sovereign over the emotions.
32 For if the emotions had prevailed over reason, we would have testified to their domination.
33 But now that reason has conquered the emotions, we properly attribute to it the power to govern.
34 And it is right for us to acknowledge the dominance of reason when it masters even external agonies. It would be ridiculous to deny it.
35 And I have proved not only that reason has mastered agonies, but also that it masters pleasures and in no respect yields to them.
4 Maccabees 5 and 6
Do not let this happen to you. The Democrats want us to suffer for our beliefs, but we shouldn't let them.
We should eat the "pork," pretend to believe in their beliefs, and wait for when the time is right to make our move.
For now, accept the possibility that Biden may become the next President (even if there's a possibility that the votes may be recounted and the balance of power may shift back towards us), don't allow anyone to see your pain and suffering in public (in particular, no hysterical crying fits please), and remember that this is not the end.
Half of the USA still supports Trump and the Republican Party. You still have friends and allies. And slowly, but surely, we will use the rules and laws to chip away at the power base of the Democrats.
There is nothing that Democrats would enjoy more than the sights and sounds of our pain and suffering. Do not give them the pleasure.
Do not fall prey to the gaslighting.
Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which a person or a group covertly sows seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or group, making them question their own memory, perception, or judgment, often evoking in them cognitive dissonance and other changes, including low self-esteem, thereby rendering the victim additionally dependent on the gaslighter for emotional support and validation. Using denial, misdirection, contradiction, and misinformation, gaslighting involves attempts to destabilize the victim and delegitimize the victim's beliefs. Instances can range from the denial by an abuser that previous abusive incidents occurred, to belittling the victim's emotions and feelings, to the staging of bizarre events by the abuser with the intention of disorienting the victim. The goal of gaslighting is to gradually undermine the victim’s confidence in their own ability to distinguish truth from falsehood, right from wrong, or reality from delusion, thereby rendering the individual or group pathologically dependent on the gaslighter for their thinking and feelings.
Stand tall, and stand proud. You are American citizens.
(But for the time being, it may be best to hide or disguise our true political beliefs while in public, so we can retreat, regroup, and mount another assault. I mean, hating niggers is still okay, obviously. I'm not going to tell anyone otherwise. We may have lost this battle, but we did not lose the war!)
1 The tyrant Antiochus, sitting in state with his counselors on a certain high place, and with his armed soldiers standing about him,
2 ordered the guards to seize each and every Hebrew and to compel them to eat pork and food sacrificed to idols.
3 If any were not willing to eat defiling food, they were to be broken on the wheel and killed.
4 And when many persons had been rounded up, one man, Eleazar by name, leader of the flock, was brought before the king. He was a man of priestly family, learned in the law, advanced in age, and known to many in the tyrant's court because of his philosophy.
5 When Antiochus saw him he said,
6 "Before I begin to torture you, old man, I would advise you to save yourself by eating pork,
7 for I respect your age and your gray hairs. Although you have had them for so long a time, it does not seem to me that you are a philosopher when you observe the religion of the Jews.
8 Why, when nature has granted it to us, should you abhor eating the very excellent meat of this animal?
9 It is senseless not to enjoy delicious things that are not shameful, and wrong to spurn the gifts of nature.
10 It seems to me that you will do something even more senseless if, by holding a vain opinion concerning the truth, you continue to despise me to your own hurt.
11 Will you not awaken from your foolish philosophy, dispel your futile reasonings, adopt a mind appropriate to your years, philosophize according to the truth of what is beneficial,
12 and have compassion on your old age by honoring my humane advice?
13 For consider this, that if there is some power watching over this religion of yours, it will excuse you from any transgression that arises out of compulsion."
14 When the tyrant urged him in this fashion to eat meat unlawfully, Eleazar asked to have a word.
15 When he had received permission to speak, he began to address the people as follows:
16 "We, O Antiochus, who have been persuaded to govern our lives by the divine law, think that there is no compulsion more powerful than our obedience to the law.
17 Therefore we consider that we should not transgress it in any respect.
18 Even if, as you suppose, our law were not truly divine and we had wrongly held it to be divine, not even so would it be right for us to invalidate our reputation for piety.
19 Therefore do not suppose that it would be a petty sin if we were to eat defiling food;
20 to transgress the law in matters either small or great is of equal seriousness,
21 for in either case the law is equally despised.
22 You scoff at our philosophy as though living by it were irrational,
23 but it teaches us self-control, so that we master all pleasures and desires, and it also trains us in courage, so that we endure any suffering willingly;
24 it instructs us in justice, so that in all our dealings we act impartially, and it teaches us piety, so that with proper reverence we worship the only real God.
25 "Therefore we do not eat defiling food; for since we believe that the law was established by God, we know that in the nature of things the Creator of the world in giving us the law has shown sympathy toward us.
26 He has permitted us to eat what will be most suitable for our lives, but he has forbidden us to eat meats that would be contrary to this.
27 It would be tyrannical for you to compel us not only to transgress the law, but also to eat in such a way that you may deride us for eating defiling foods, which are most hateful to us.
28 But you shall have no such occasion to laugh at me,
29 nor will I transgress the sacred oaths of my ancestors concerning the keeping of the law,
30 not even if you gouge out my eyes and burn my entrails.
31 I am not so old and cowardly as not to be young in reason on behalf of piety.
32 Therefore get your torture wheels ready and fan the fire more vehemently!
33 I do not so pity my old age as to break the ancestral law by my own act.
34 I will not play false to you, O law that trained me, nor will I renounce you, beloved self-control.
35 I will not put you to shame, philosophical reason, nor will I reject you, honored priesthood and knowledge of the law.
36 You, O king, shall not stain the honorable mouth of my old age, nor my long life lived lawfully.
37 The fathers will receive me as pure, as one who does not fear your violence even to death.
38 You may tyrannize the ungodly, but you shall not dominate my religious principles either by word or by deed."
1 When Eleazar in this manner had made eloquent response to the exhortations of the tyrant, the guards who were standing by dragged him violently to the instruments of torture.
2 First they stripped the old man, who remained adorned with the gracefulness of his piety.
3 And after they had tied his arms on each side they scourged him,
4 while a herald opposite him cried out, "Obey the king's commands!"
5 But the courageous and noble man, as a true Eleazar, was unmoved, as though being tortured in a dream;
6 yet while the old man's eyes were raised to heaven, his flesh was being torn by scourges, his blood flowing, and his sides were being cut to pieces.
7 And though he fell to the ground because his body could not endure the agonies, he kept his reason upright and unswerving.
8 One of the cruel guards rushed at him and began to kick him in the side to make him get up again after he fell.
9 But he bore the pains and scorned the punishment and endured the tortures.
10 And like a noble athlete the old man, while being beaten, was victorious over his torturers;
11 in fact, with his face bathed in sweat, and gasping heavily for breath, he amazed even his torturers by his courageous spirit.
12 At that point, partly out of pity for his old age,
13 partly out of sympathy from their acquaintance with him, partly out of admiration for his endurance, some of the king's retinue came to him and said,
14 "Eleazar, why are you so irrationally destroying yourself through these evil things?
15 We will set before you some cooked meat; save yourself by pretending to eat pork."
16 But Eleazar, as though more bitterly tormented by this counsel, cried out:
17 "May we, the children of Abraham, never think so basely that out of cowardice we feign a role unbecoming to us!
18 For it would be irrational if we, who have lived in accordance with truth to old age and have maintained in accordance with law the reputation of such a life, should now change our course
19 become a pattern of impiety to the young, in becoming an example of the eating of defiling food.
20 It would be shameful if we should survive for a little while and during that time be a laughing stock to all for our cowardice,
21 and if we should be despised by the tyrant as unmanly, and not protect our divine law even to death.
22 Therefore, O children of Abraham, die nobly for your religion!
23 And you, guards of the tyrant, why do you delay?"
24 When they saw that he was so courageous in the face of the afflictions, and that he had not been changed by their compassion, the guards brought him to the fire.
25 There they burned him with maliciously contrived instruments, threw him down, and poured stinking liquids into his nostrils.
26 When he was now burned to his very bones and about to expire, he lifted up his eyes to God and said,
27 "You know, O God, that though I might have saved myself, I am dying in burning torments for the sake of the law.
28 Be merciful to your people, and let our punishment suffice for them.
29 Make my blood their purification, and take my life in exchange for theirs."
30 And after he said this, the holy man died nobly in his tortures, and by reason he resisted even to the very tortures of death for the sake of the law.
31 Admittedly, then, devout reason is sovereign over the emotions.
32 For if the emotions had prevailed over reason, we would have testified to their domination.
33 But now that reason has conquered the emotions, we properly attribute to it the power to govern.
34 And it is right for us to acknowledge the dominance of reason when it masters even external agonies. It would be ridiculous to deny it.
35 And I have proved not only that reason has mastered agonies, but also that it masters pleasures and in no respect yields to them.
4 Maccabees 5 and 6
Do not let this happen to you. The Democrats want us to suffer for our beliefs, but we shouldn't let them.
We should eat the "pork," pretend to believe in their beliefs, and wait for when the time is right to make our move.
For now, accept the possibility that Biden may become the next President (even if there's a possibility that the votes may be recounted and the balance of power may shift back towards us), don't allow anyone to see your pain and suffering in public (in particular, no hysterical crying fits please), and remember that this is not the end.
Half of the USA still supports Trump and the Republican Party. You still have friends and allies. And slowly, but surely, we will use the rules and laws to chip away at the power base of the Democrats.
There is nothing that Democrats would enjoy more than the sights and sounds of our pain and suffering. Do not give them the pleasure.
Do not fall prey to the gaslighting.
Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which a person or a group covertly sows seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or group, making them question their own memory, perception, or judgment, often evoking in them cognitive dissonance and other changes, including low self-esteem, thereby rendering the victim additionally dependent on the gaslighter for emotional support and validation. Using denial, misdirection, contradiction, and misinformation, gaslighting involves attempts to destabilize the victim and delegitimize the victim's beliefs. Instances can range from the denial by an abuser that previous abusive incidents occurred, to belittling the victim's emotions and feelings, to the staging of bizarre events by the abuser with the intention of disorienting the victim. The goal of gaslighting is to gradually undermine the victim’s confidence in their own ability to distinguish truth from falsehood, right from wrong, or reality from delusion, thereby rendering the individual or group pathologically dependent on the gaslighter for their thinking and feelings.
Stand tall, and stand proud. You are American citizens.
(But for the time being, it may be best to hide or disguise our true political beliefs while in public, so we can retreat, regroup, and mount another assault. I mean, hating niggers is still okay, obviously. I'm not going to tell anyone otherwise. We may have lost this battle, but we did not lose the war!)