1. Outlaws
Alberta’s bureaucracy is consuming power with astonishing speed and frightening ferocity, snarling with iron teeth if any should stand in her way.
“It’s for your safety!” Jason Kenney barks.
That’s a lie. We’re not fools. Government’s feed on control. The more they have, the more they can do. Only then can a leader construct the perfect society while relaxing at home with the thought, “Behold, I am wise!” as a pastor is threatened with prison for preaching to a full congregation and ticketed for not wearing a mask while feeding the poor.
But suppose there are a strong and steady few, who stand up and snarl right back against invading government, that dreadful creature fearsome and void as night. In this case, those courageous citizens are ranchers.
A couple of days ago, a rodeo was held in a parking lot in Bowden, Alberta.* And it was fun. Thousands of people travelled to enjoy watching the cowboys compete, and for a little while, families were free to live. Alberta’s cowboy culture is a cherished part of our history and a defining characteristic of our province. Though we are known for our oil barons in downtown Calgary (who have all relocated their companies to America), hikers in Kananaskis, or roughnecks up north, the first picture that comes to mind when we say “Alberta” is a humble cowboy, riding a horse, driving cattle, on the summer plains supine before the splendor of the rocky mountains. It’s something few have the privilege to understand—I am confident Rachel Notley and Jason Kenney do not.
The “terrible crime” of holding a rodeo was quickly discovered by Alberta’s most moral and immediately declared a disgrace. The attendees were branded harbingers of Covid and agents of apocalypse.
Rachel Notley said:**
“On the same day Alberta has a record of 2,433 new cases of COVID-19. There are no words…”
Jason Kenney followed Notley like a duckling following his mother:*`
“It is disturbing to see large numbers of people gathering this weekend at Bowden in flagrant violation of COVID-19 public health measures…I'm angered and saddened to see so many people selfishly put themselves ahead of others…please smarten up. The more people we have flouting the rules, the longer this pandemic will last.”
Without fail, it’s always our fault.
2. Leadership
At the beginning of WW2, the Luftwaffe would strafe into Great Britain every night and deliver their payload of death and destruction. During the island’s many months of struggle and loneliness, Churchill telegrammed his Minister of Information:*
“The Press and broadcast should be asked to handle air raids in a cool way…The facts should be chronicled without undue prominence or headlines…It must be clear that the vast majority of people are not all affected by any single air raid, and would hardly sustain any evil impression if it were not thrust before them.”
That’s leadership; our government has none of it. If this bureaucracy, the NDP, AHS, and UCP, adopted a slogan, it would be,
“Fear. Be afraid.”
That is their strategy to reshape Alberta's society. Our minds, and the minds of our parents and children, are presently subjected to heavy bombardment, every second of every hour of every day, full of scare and terror manufactured by government and media. Slow but sure, people begin to believe that everything is tainted by Covid. Everything becomes a threat. Every pleasure is poisoned.
That’s horrible enough. But our leaders will not be satisfied until we really believe that living promotes dying. Are you getting together with your friends? You’re killing someone. Want to have coffee with co-workers? That could kill someone. Want to go out at 10 p.m.? That might kill someone.
Every joy and every blessing sours to misery.
3. Freedom
So then, how should we actually live in this Covid age?* Isolated, locked in our rooms, in a society infected with depression, abuse, and suicide (the news never reports on that)? Is this what living is? Was it some great sin to hold a rodeo? Shall we live contrary to our nature as the Lord Jesus created it?
Let us be rational. Aren’t we all going to die someday? Is that not appointed to everyone (Hebrews 9:27)? And who knows when? It is not decreed for man to decide. We were sentenced a long time ago when our first parents rebelled against the commandment in the garden (Genesis 3:6). Inheriting their nature, we are subject to judgement (1 Corinthians 15:21). True, we have the blessing of medicine, but it can merely heal temporarily and comfort, not remove, the inevitable. Only Christ can do that (see here to understand how).
How short is our life! 80 or 90 years is nothing but a morning mist that vanishes at first sun.
Who will say, if unexpectedly on his deathbed tomorrow, “Oh! How relieved I am that I isolated from my family and friends this last year!”?
Who will cheer at the grave, “How happy I am I never visited my father, now dead, in the nursing home in case I was infectious!”?
Who will conclude, perhaps on the precipice of suicide, “How lonely I am! How meaningless my life seems! But at least I don’t have a virus.”?
But if we really are going to be killed by Covid (which is extraordinarily rare),** then let it come while we are still human and doing human things—enjoying a cup of coffee on a rainy Saturday morning, having lemonade with our neighbours, and watching a rodeo with friends.
Thus, we cannot cease our dignified resistance. We can never forget the consequences if the leftist (Jason Kenney has undoubtedly earned his throne in their court) succeeds. Every time control is centralized, it always ends in suffering—always. We might hear ambrosial promises, “Alberta is going to have the best summer ever” or “only a couple more weeks of the lockdowns,” but we know better. If we live dominated by the fear spewed forth from Jason Kenney, Rachel Notley, and Dr. Deena Hinshaw, then their envisioned society really will be a reality, and we will solemnly be forced to admit, “tyranny has triumphed.”
Outlaws
* See the article here
** See Rachel Notley's tweet here
*` See Jason Kenney's Facebook statement here
Leadership
* See Churchill, "Their Finest Hour" Volume II, pg. 151
Freedom
* Watch C.S. Lewis "On Living in An Atomic Age Age" here
** See the JCCF's analysis here
If you’d like to stay informed about the Christian's perspective of current events, or if you’d like to join our growing community of members who love truth, subscribe here for free!