Written by Darrell B. Harrison |
Saturday, October 14, 2023
The Pharisees knew, ironically, as a result of their own zealous study of the Law, that no mere mortal — and every mortal is a sinner (Gen. 6:5; Eccl. 7:20; Lam. 3:39; Rom. 3:23) — could ever make a blind man see. They knew that whoever could perform such a miraculous and merciful act would have had to be as holy, pure, righteous — and sinless — as God Himself. Which is to say, he would have to be God incarnate.

Recently, as I was in my home office studying John 9:13-16, I was taken aback at the blindness of the Pharisees who, upon hearing that Jesus had healed a blind man (John 9:13) — from the formerly blind man himself (John 9:15) — complained only that Jesus has dared to perform such a fete on the Sabbath (John 9:16).
What hardened hearts the Pharisees had (John 9:41)!
To be so obdurately tethered to the Law as to ignore the literal eye-witness testimony of something that was humanly impossible is, frankly, astounding! It is no wonder, then, that Jesus would so severely admonish the Pharisees, saying, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind” (John 9:39).
Nevertheless, despite their self-righteous incredulity, the one thing for which I do give the Pharisees credit is that they at least appeared to have understood that no sinful person could ever have done what Jesus did by restoring sight to a man who was congenitally blind. That the Pharisees knew this is affirmed by their posing the following rhetorical question in John 9:16, “How can a sinful man do such signs?” [emphasis added]
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Naomi Wolf is a fighter – a freedom fighter. And when we see basic human rights and civil liberties being stolen away from us at an alarming rate, we need all the freedom fighters we can get. Well done Naomi for sounding the alarm. May many millions of readers heed your call to action.

That those who greatly fear the rise of Big Brother statism in response to things like Covid craziness include people like Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and in this case, long-standing leftist and feminist Naomi Wolf shows that this is not just something that those on the right are deeply concerned about. Numerous intelligent and savvy individuals have great fears about what has been unfolding over the past few years.
Wolf has been speaking out about the lockdowns, the mandates, the forced vaccinations and the like for some time now, and she does not hold back in her brand new book. The subtitle tells us of where she is heading: “The New Authoritarians, Covid-19 and the War Against the Human.” Her main concern is the erosion of our freedoms and basic human rights – not to keep us safe, but to grant unprecedented powers to elitist minorities and globalist bodies.
In 20 meaty and well-documented chapters she makes the case for why we all should be very afraid of where things are heading as Statists exploit crises or even make them up in order to further consolidate power and control. Wealthy and powerful elites gain in such scenarios while the masses suffer – greatly.
Although focused primarily on America, Wolf has plenty to say about England, Europe and even Australia. And the facts, figures and stories she shares about the scene in the US should be of help to whoever is reading this book. The overall thrust of it remains the same regardless of what country you are in.
She reminds us that America has had many, and often much worse, outbreaks of infectious diseases in its past, such as the smallpox outbreak of 1775-1782 and the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918-1919. Europe too has had such outbreaks. Yet even then freedoms remained intact and total lockdowns never took place.
Never mind that early on many experts were warning against lockdowns and other coercive measures. Says Wolf, “The masking, the enclosure, the isolation, the lack of community, fresh air and exercise, the fear, the cabin fever, the generations piled on top of one another, the alienation engendered by computer screens – they all took their toll. People grew pale, fearful, obsessive, phobic, and sad. And unsurprisingly, many got sick and many died.” 
Of course the elites and politicians and ‘health experts’ calling the shots never paid the price for any of this. While we were all locked in our homes (here in Melbourne we were held prisoners for 23 hours a day, with only a 5km travel allowance), the elites were still living the good life.
They were not only getting their cushy salaries paid for by the tax payer, but for the most part they could freely roam about at the beachfront properties. Lockdowns were no biggee for them. Says Wolf: “This somber catastrophe … morphed into a uniform, top-down, almost cozy ‘lifestyle’ that was, as a form of house arrest, tolerable. That is, if you were affluent. What we did not know was that the ‘academic’ studies, the media messaging, and the tools for the cozy lifetime all derived from, and then benefited, the same group.”
And we need to avoid the misnomer “quarantine” – what used to happen to the sick. What happened to us who were mostly healthy were lockdowns?
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Neo-Marxists are re-creating history, inventing a new language, targeting the Christian family, and are seeking to eradicate the two sexes that God created in the Garden of Eden. Children are being chemically castrated and physically mutilated in order to change genders. A justice who sits on the Supreme Court who cannot define what a woman is.  This is the tip of the iceberg, and worst of all it is seeping into the church through false guilt and misplaced pity.  Or, perhaps, and just as dangerous, your church may be ignoring this monster altogether claiming that they are being faithful stewards by concentrating on “spiritual” matters.  

The Protestant Reformation was one of the paramount events in the history of the world.  The Westminster Confession of Faith may be one of the greatest man-made documents ever prepared by the church.  The doctrine of justification by faith alone is the crux of our hope in Christ.
Contrary to what I witnessed a number of years ago, Reformed churches today have become uncompromising in teaching and protecting the great truths coming out of the Reformation period. Only a few decades ago, there were just a few of these churches, at least in the South.  I am a witness to that, having been ordained for over fifty years.  Indeed, every generation must be diligent in protecting these truths because every generation produces its own heresies. If the Reformed Faith is not aggressively taught, it will be lost. Reformed churches will die.  I have witnessed this too.
However, if we remain in the culture of the Reformation period without expanding our defense of the faith against modern insurgent movements bent on destroying our beloved church, then we are in great danger.  We are failing the very people over whom we are called to be shepherds.
Sitting through presbytery ordination examinations for these last fifty years, it has become obvious to me that there is a major flaw in the seminary education of our young men preparing for the ministry. They have no knowledge of that which is a real and present danger.  Later as pastors, they don’t read outside the box of what they were given in seminary.  It’s not what you hear from the pulpit that is the problem.  You are probably hearing orthodoxy every Sunday.  It’s what you don’t hear from the pulpit that concerns me.
The greatest threat to our nation and to the modern church today is Neo-Marxism.  If you do not know what that is, then someone has failed you in your Christian walk. With all due respect to my godly brethren in the pulpits, probably your pastor will be hard-pressed to explain it.  Neo-Marxism is the great white elephant in the room.
Neo-Marxism is a religion.  It is the most dangerous modern enemy seeking to destroy Christianity.  It has infiltrated almost every institution in America from modern universities to the civil government. It is capturing our public education system.  It is foundational in courses taught in graduate business schools.  Results based on Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) scores set the religious direction of our corporations.  It is the religion that undergirds three of the largest investment institutions in the world – Blackrock, Vanguard, and State Street.
Neo-Marxists are re-creating history, inventing a new language, targeting the Christian family, and are seeking to eradicate the two sexes that God created in the Garden of Eden. Children are being chemically castrated and physically mutilated in order to change genders. A justice who sits on the Supreme Court who cannot define what a woman is.  This is the tip of the iceberg, and worst of all it is seeping into the church through false guilt and misplaced pity.  Or, perhaps, and just as dangerous, your church may be ignoring this monster altogether claiming that they are being faithful stewards by concentrating on “spiritual” matters.
Seminary instruction is heavy-weighted on the side of soteriology and missiology.  There are no classes on Neo-Marxism.  The very weapons that seminary students need to fight against the modern tenets of Satan are avoided. It’s the great failure of American Christianity.  The reasons for this failure are numerous, and I cannot go into those here.
This is a diatribe. It’s not an introduction to a book.  It’s really not a short article written for edification. It’s one way to handle my immense frustrations with the modern pulpit. Remember, I have been in the pulpit myself for over fifty years.  Maybe that gives me a right to say what I am saying.  What better way to conclude this short diatribe than by a quote attributed to Martin Luther.
“If I profess, with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition, every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christianity. Where the battle rages the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battle-field besides is mere flight and disgrace to him if he flinches at that one point.”
Larry E. Ball is a retired minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and is now a CPA. He lives in Kingsport, Tenn.
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