Pestilence, Plagues And 1984 Doublethink

Psalm 91

1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

9 Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;

10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

16 With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

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Presently, I am working my way through the Psalms. Probably better stated: the Psalms are working their way through me. To journey through the Psalms is to experience some of the greatest “highs” and “lows” of the Christian experience.

The Book of Psalms is actually a window into our own person, presently and/or potentially, with all the good and bad that encompasses. It’s truly a fascinating journey.

As I read Psalm 91 I was encouraged by the positive reinforcements it offered to God’s people living in virulent times of — pestilence and plague and death. This Psalm, however, does not present us with a carte-blanch Get Out Of Jail Free Psalm Card.

Instead, it endeavors to confront us with the level of faith required to believe that: God may choose to spare me; and then again, He might not.

But regardless the outcome, our faith will be stretched into a practical reality as we learn to rely upon God to do what He deems best for us and, more importantly, for His glory. If His glory is uplifted by not delivering us, so be it. If His glory is uplifted by delivering us, so be it.

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Therefore, by referencing Psalm 91 —

How are we to view the world in which we find ourselves confronted with a “pandemic”?

How are we to react?

What can we or can we not say?

What should the emphasis of our focus and outreach sound and look like?

What encouragement can we find to help us craft our words and actions at this present moment in time?

These are honest and necessary questions to which I need answers. So, what do I do?

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One of the things I like to do is fact check everything I can with what the Bible itself has to say. I, then, also like to look and see what credible Bible commentators have to say. I prefer to check with the older commentators of the Bible, meaning … those that wrote back in the 1600’s - 1800’s. It’s refreshing. They weren’t trying to be religiously or politically correct in what they said.

So when I read the words “pestilence” and “plague” I sought to understand how the context of what was written in the Bible back then applied to my daily, present life right now.

Therefore —

I want to share with you the notes Albert Barnes wrote in the 1800’s on verses 3 and 8 of this Psalm. I love how straightforward he was with his words.

Remember, I’m writing this blog within the context of our supposed pandemic. I’m thinking what Barnes concluded and wrote back then is what we should conclude and say right now. See if you trow so.

Hope you find what he said as encouraging and refreshing as I did. The highlights are mine. — —

V. 3

“And from the noisome pestilence - The "fatal" pestilence; the pestilence that spreads death in its march. That is, he can prevent its coming upon you; or, he can save you from its ravages, while others are dying around you.

“This promise is not to be understood as absolute, or as meaning that no one who fears God will ever fall by the pestilence - for good people "do" die at such times as well as bad people; but the idea is, that God "can" preserve us at such a time and that, as a great law, he will be thus the protector of those who trust him.

“It is to be remembered that in times of pestilence (as was the case during the prevalence of the Asiatic cholera in 1832 and 1848), very many of the victims are the intemperate, the sensual, the debased, and that a life of this kind is a predisposing cause of death in such visitations of judgment. A large part of those who die are of that number.

“From the danger arising from this cause, of course the virtuous, the temperate, the pious are exempt; and this is one of the methods by which God saves those who trust in him from the "noisome pestilence." Religion, therefore, to a considerable extent, constitutes a ground of security at such times; nor is there any reason to doubt that, in many cases also, there may be a special interposition protecting the friends of God from danger, and sparing them for future usefulness. The promise here is substantially that general promise which we have in the Scriptures everywhere, that God is the Protector of his people, and that they may put their trust in him.”

V. 8

“Only - That is, This is "all" that will occur to you. The only thing which you have to anticipate is, that you will see how God punishes sinners. With thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked - Your own eyes shall see it.

“You will see the just punishment of the ungodly, the vicious, the profane, the sensual. You will see what is the proper fruit of their conduct; what is the just expression of the views which God takes of their character.

“This undoubtedly refers to the general principle that there is a moral government on earth; that vice is often punished as such; that the general course of the divine dealings is such as to show that God is favorable to virtue, and is opposed to vice.

“The system is not complete here, and there are many things which could not be reconciled with this, if the present world were all, and if there were no future state: but the course of events indicates the general character of the divine administration, and what is the tendency of things. The completion - the actual and perfect adjustment - is reserved for a future state. The facts as they occur on earth prove that there is an attribute of justice in God; the fact that his dealings here are not wholly and fully in accordance with what justice demands, proves that there will be a state where full justice will be done, and where the whole system will be adjusted.”

Don’t you find what he said —

Refreshing …

Convicting …

Encouraging …

Emboldening …

I do.

Therefore, I leave you with the following as a sort of addendum to consider, please.

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For a year plus now, we’ve been living under the misguided impression that we are in the midst of a deadly worldwide pandemic. Personally — I am done with the all too frequent and constant overblown hype propagated through 1984ish Doublethink. (The 1984 dramatized audio-book. It’s awesome. I read the book while listening at the same time and it sprang to life.)

The following is from: Big Brother and Other Terms from "1984"

“Doublethink: the act of simultaneously accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct.

“According to Winston Smith, the protagonist of 1984, doublethink is:

“ ‘To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again, and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself—that was the ultimate subtlety: consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word—doublethink—involved the use of doublethink.’

“Four examples of doublethink used throughout 1984 include the slogans: War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength, and 2 + 2 = 5”

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We are now living in the midst of well-formulated 1984 Doublethink times.

Present day 1984 Doublethink mindset —

**Though you were initially instructed to not wear a mask because it wouldn’t protect you, you must wear a mask because it does protect you.

**We, the Government, aren’t requiring you to get a Vaccine Passport but we are working to help facilitate Vaccine Passports.


**Once you’re vaccinated you’ll be able to fully resume your regular lives again. Unfortunately, there will be certain facilities, venues, or activities you won’t be able to fully experience like you did before the COVID-19. pandemic. Therefore, at those facilities, venues, or activities you are allowed to partially experience after being vaccinated, you’ll still need to wear masks even if you’re vaccinated and especially as regards gatherings of people.

**The vaccine will protect you against the virus but you can still get the virus. You can still shed the virus, too. But good news, you’ll have a shorter recovery time if you get vaccinated and … rest assured you will be protected against the virus but … others might get it from you as you shed the virus so we must all continue to wear masks and get vaccinated.

**Young children are minimally at risk of getting the virus but they must wear masks because there’s a strong probability they can and will get the virus.

**Remember these are only temporary measures that, unfortunately, might last indefinitely.

Conclusion:

The insanity of Doublethink is the new sanity.

Perhaps we need to apologize to our Founding Fathers for how easily we’re rolling over in the face of so little opposition.

They gave their lives to be free from the intrusive overreach of government that was robbing them of their personal liberties. We on the other hand are willingly handing over our personal liberties to the control of the government and … thank them for it.

Shame on us.

Don’t trow so?

I trow so.