Reflections on the Year of our Lord 2022

 Bill Wilson, M.D.

The Year of our Lord 2022 in my mind and heart is a jumble of many concerns:

In the United States of America, most significant is the recommendation for criminal prosecution of the former President Donald Trump on charges of insurrection for his orchestrating and involvement in the January 6, 2020, insurrection.  Trying to overturn the legitimate election our beloved President Joe Biden is the height of Presidential hubris and folly.  Surely this will go down in the history of our nation as one of the most brazen and darkest attempts to overthrow our democratically elected government “Of the people, by the people and for the people!”  May this mere man, who is not our president and will never be our president again be condemned to the “dustbins of history!”  Hopefully, this nation has learned something, but I am not sure we know yet what it is.

In the European sphere, the war in Ukraine has emerged as dominating our attention:  Putin’s naked aggression and Volodymyr Zelensky’s surprising courageous leadership to rally the people of Ukraine and indeed the democracies of the world in opposition to Putin has surprised us all!  Putin continues to commit crimes against humanity and openly declares his intent to win this war, but President Joe Biden and European leaders (NATO) HAVE CONSISTENTLY, UNITEDLY SAID “NO TO PUTIN’S AGGRESSION!”  Whether this will eventually devolve into a World War is not yet known, but it has strengthened and united the NATO ALLIANCE and other free nations, reminding us all of the costly defense of our democracies in the face of those who would destroy us and take away our freedoms and liberties!

China, under the leadership of Xi Jinping, who calls himself President, but who is a dictator of a vast Republic, has destroyed the democracy of Hong Kong and is intent on doing the same to the Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan), led by Tsai Ing-Wen of the Democratic Progressive Party, the first female President of Taiwan.  Having strengthen his military to directly compete for the Pacific Basin against the dominance of the United States, his sword rattling will eventually bring China into direct conflict with the United States of America.  President Joe Biden is trying to limit China’s influence, but only the Covid-19 virus has proven effective in doing that, distracting the world which runs on oil from remembering the 1 million Uighurs interned since 2017 in at least 85 camps within Xinjiang, an autonomous region of Northwest China.  Can Xi Ping be anything more than a dictator of a vast people longing to be free?

We might also mention, in passing, North Korea, which is governed by “Supreme Leader” Kim-Jong-un, following his father Kim II—Sung’s lead, keeping 80,000 to 120,000 “prisoners” incarcerated in forced political (4)  and prison (20) labor camps where they are subjected to torture, starvation, persecution and execution,” imprisoned for rights guaranteed as universal under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and prosecuted as anti-state criminals.” (Basic Facts About the Prison Camps, David Hawk, author of HRNK’s Hidden Gulag report). A bizarre, egocentric child of a man, he continues to seek the attention of the world, firing off missile after missile while his own people starve for food and other necessities of life.

Putin is making alliances with Kim-Jong-un and with the Iranian leader Ali Khomeni and the six fuqaha of the Guardian Council to supply Russia with weapons, drones and missiles to use in the slaughter of the free people of Ukraine, the second largest country of Europe after Russia, seeking to destroy and assimilate Ukraine into Russia.  Putin’s warped dream is of becoming a modern Peter the Great, but is instead engaging in the most naked evil seen in our world since the Nazi’s of Germany in World War II.

The alliance of Putin with Iran and North Korea, together with the tacit support of China, and the relatively silence of India and Saudi Arabia is forging the future of a greater world conflict.  Either “might makes right” or it does not!  We have yet to decide what our future will be!

Those who cannot read the handwriting on the wall, warning us of more difficult and sometimes terrible days to come are obviously so enamored by the trinkets bartered and sold across this whole world as to lack time for deeper thought.  No longer content with “the bread of necessity in order to live,” we have gone about seeking new and more sophisticated entertainment.  The rise of the world wide web, the Internet has seduced us all.  The “mark of the beast,” needed in order “to buy or sell” will be a universal tracking identifier which we will need to acquire in order to access our bank account, our health information, our retirement funds.  Will this be overseen and managed by AI?  That is not yet clear, but assuredly this is emerging soon, if indeed it is not already here!

We (the world’s people) are reaching a critical mass in the management of our information.  It is no longer possible for our finite minds to contain or even imagine what is occurring across our world.  There are too many persons (around 8 billion), and too much knowledge being produced.  Trends emerge on the internet which erect and then destroy reputations all within the space of 15 minutes.  The rich and powerful dominate, along with those called “influencers,” who become wealthy being paid by advertisers seeking our attention in order to sell us another ware.

Are we not all being seduced by the siren song, “just a little more?”  “One more gadget, one more acquisition, a more beautiful friend” is all we need to find “happiness.”  And who can pray to the Living God when we are being bombarded constantly by all this noise?  Where is the “still small voice of calm” that Elijah heard while hiding in the cave?  “What doest thou here, Elijah?” (I Kings 19:9-18KJV)

“Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth with hath not kissed him: (I Kings 19:18 KJV)

Will we ever go back to a more simple time, a more simple world, as some seek?  Can we withdraw from this world in order to save it?  No, a thousand times No!  We must run forward straight into it.  We are transforming agents in this world!  We gain nothing by withdrawing from it!  The time is simply too late to have such a luxury as this!  But it is possible to limit our time in these other distractions.  We have the right to turn off the TV, to limit our time on our phones and perusing the Internet.  We do not need to spend our time playing video games, mining e currency or even conversing with friends.  Let us instead carve out one small sphere where we influence for the good!

Perhaps we find one person we can befriend and do something for that one person.  Or we donate one can of food or a non-perishable item to the local food bank.  Or we can give $1 to a charity we support.  Or we could pick up one beer can from the highway edge and properly dispose of it in the recycle bin.  Does a small act of kindness make a difference in the grand scheme of everything?  We will never know until we try to make a difference!  Jesus promises to those who have, more will be given, so they will have in abundance.  The act of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is simply to begin RIGHT WHERE WE ARE!”  A more focused life will never hurt us and may help us more than we know!

This is enough said for now.  There is food for thinking here.  Take the time and think the grand thought, “What can I do with my life to make a difference for God and for the good in this world?”  This is my challenge to myself: “To do one thing more for God and the good of all persons everywhere  this year than I have done in the year before.”  And what shall that one thing be?  “How do I love thee, O my God, my Lord…let me count the ways…”

A Prayer: “O Lord our God and our Savior: let us hear your voice speaking in this cave in which we are hiding.  Come and show us your way!  Through Jesus Christ our Lord, our God and our Redeemer, to whom be all praise, glory, honor and blessing, both now and in the world which is yet to come!  Amen!”

“Amen!  We praise you and worship you alone, Lord Jesus Christ!”  Amen!

Bill Wilson, servant of God by God’s grace and mercies.