I gotta have my orange juice.

It seems to me that there are at least four strong lines of religious-conscience arguments against vaccination requirements that most people can embrace: my conscience simply does not allow me to participate in: (1) unethical and criminal behavior related to fetal cell use; (2) unethical and criminal approach to rapid approval of novel-experimental treatments; (3) leading to the great potential for personal debasement and self-harm; and (4) unethical and criminal mandates to participate in treatment.

The French word for doctor is medicin. The first gift of the healing arts is the Hippocratic healer himself. Let’s bring back a personal and individualized approach to medicine.

My pastor Duane Garner writes:

The Church has utterly failed to disciple this nation, and the chaos and calamity around us is the fruit of our failures. While I’m thankful for the bravery and fortitude of the airline pilots presently, that opportunity to stand strong was first presented to pastors who failed miserably. Rather than leading with a bold faith, they catechized their congregations in fear and capitulation, and we are still reaping the consequences. I’m thankful for deliverance from wherever the Lord chooses to send it, but boy did the Church drop the ball.

Reading through Leviticus this week, I’m struck by a few thoughts:

• Leviticus 24 — I’ve held in my mind the thought that bread, beer, wine used at the tabernacle were the work of Israel’s hands. But the oil and light being fruit of their labor strikes me here. We are to live lives of continual light-giving.
• Leviticus 25 — The rite of purification from death (Numbers 19) has a third day and a seventh day baptism. Back in Leviticus 19 we saw the land had three years of rest, and now there is a seventh year rest. Perhaps God is purging the land of the Canaanite death-filth. It’s also striking to me that God’s miraculous provision of manna (six days on, one day off) now continues in the fruitfulness of the land (six years on, one year of rest). As God’s people mature, his provision for them involves no less faith on their part, but more faith-filled work. Yet it is still His doing.
• Leviticus 26 — maybe we can make an argument for firstborn infant baptism here, which of course we extend to all of our children.

Numbers 10:35 is what happens when God’s people march out from his table:

So it was, whenever the ark set out, that Moses said:​​​
“Rise up, O LORD!
​​Let Your enemies be scattered,
​​And let those who hate You flee before You.”

It’s interesting to me that, at least in the TR, Jude 1 speaks of the Father sanctifying us.

The Pugcast crew talked about pilgrimage recently. They missed a great opportunity to highlight the centrality of worship: the Lord’s weekly service is the great pilgrimage; the great fulfillment of the feasts; and the great time when the firmament does not merely grow thinnest, but we actually ascend up into it. This is all made possible because worship is in the Spirit. “You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,” &c.

I got a kick out of this XKCD. But isn’t this true of most disciplines, for example, Tolkien studies and the Bible? To be honest, until today I did not know that the cats of Queen Beruthiel were not a cursed problem anymore. But I have just now discovered the vexed problem of knowing exactly how it was significant that there were nine black cats.

Too many good tweets to share this week. Instead I’ll simply say insist that, if you are reading this, you follow Jack Posobiec, Michael O’Fallon, and Boniface Option.