Tim Barry

It’s official. According to ‘the science’, masks (cloth, surgical and N95 / P2 types) do very little in terms of stopping or slowing down the spread of respiratory viruses.

Some have been saying this for a very long time now, arriving early at this conclusion through the willingness to apply critical thinking, common sense and logic but also in realising the dangers that come with submitting to mask tyranny. They did not need ‘science’ to show the way. For the majority however, a concerning casual compliance led to the masking of a nation. This has had profound effects in so many areas of life from small children to the elderly. In 2023 it’s borderline tragic to see an elderly person walking down the street wearing a surgical mask – a sight never seen before 2020. What we have unwittingly allowed through our casual compliance has not only served to increase fear and paranoia, but has deeply affected how people live day to day.

“…many still consider MSM as being the only valid, reliable and impartial source of information.”

Further perils of such casual compliance are illustrated through the sideshow of Hancock’s WhatsApp message ‘leaks’. These messages not only highlight the contempt in which the people of the UK are held by the political elite, but prove that coercive measures were intentionally taken at the expense of people’s lives, health and well-being. For example, Isabel Oakeshott recounts support for leaking these messages, such as: “Dear Isabel, my son committed suicide after lockdown as he missed school and gained a lot of weight. He died in December 2021 and was an indirect victim of lockdowns. This government is criminal. Good on you, keep going!” However, what is truly revealing is that this leak is little more than a sideshow, a distraction from where our attention should be focused – for example, investigating the tragedy of excess deaths.

Hancock and Co’s WhatsApp messages also serve as an example of the extent to which we have become conditioned to only believe something if the MSM (Mainstream Media, including so called ‘fact-checkers’) validate it as ‘truth’. Take the ‘lab leak theory’ * which was passed off as ‘conspiracy’ back in 2020, but now that MSM has bought into it, suddenly it’s legitimate. Despite this partial revealing of the narrative, there are many who still consider MSM as being the only valid, reliable and impartial source of information.

Compliance through mask wearing alone would have been bad enough, but the hostility emanating from mask ideologues towards those who chose to resist; the critical thinkers, the truth seekers, the ones not wanting to be cowed by tyranny was deeply saddening and, in some cases, shocking.

“Tacking on a bible verse to justify ‘COVID measures’ had the effect of reducing God’s Word to a supporting document for governmental health policy.”

The message that by wearing a mask we were ‘protecting others’ or ‘showing we care’ was nothing more than manipulative coercion based on lies that was unwittingly bought into by so many. The face mask became the most overt signal of differentiation between the compliant and the dissenter. Yet through all this, little attention was paid to why the dissenters were prepared to take a stand, often at cost to themselves. Reasons for dissent included the fact of masks not preventing transmission or infection, but also the very real physical impacts; growth of infection inside the mask, reduced oxygen intake, increased CO2, skin infections, anxiety, headaches, stress, dizziness, and effects on those unable to see facial expressions and lip read. Less obvious but even more pressing were the spiritual implications of covering the face.

Perhaps saddest of all was how many churches were largely filled with (albeit well meaning) compliant, non-singing, masked up, individuals professing faith, yet not really demonstrating it. Tacking on a bible verse to justify ‘COVID measures’ had the effect of reducing God’s Word to a supporting document for governmental health policy.

All said and done, this was not our finest hour. The propagation of fear and the ‘othering’ of the dissenting unmasked few, has left a scar (this is before we even touch on the ‘vaccine’…).

The truth is that the spiritual implications of covering the face are significant, yet scant thought or regard was given to this. Many church leaders at the time (myself included) were ‘caught out’ by the events of March 2020, due in part to years of drifting into a relaxed understanding as to what church is. This meant that doors were closed and measures were put in place all too enthusiastically, the church becoming a willing tool of the state. Perhaps many church leaders lacked the courage to speak up on this issue (to go against the narrative was hard and costly), but thankfully there were a few that did speak up and we should be grateful for them. We have an opportunity to learn from these brave individuals so that we don’t make the same mistakes again.

The question is, will we?

Next time, it might not be masks. But for sure, there will be significant outside pressure exerted on the church to force us to conform to the world at the expense of our faith.

It’s coming and we need to be better prepared.

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* Not implying that the lab leak theory is necessarily the truth.

N.B. It appears that the mask ideologues are not giving up just yet. Apparently, the linked review will be “updated” as “wearing a mask may make little to no difference in how many people caught a flu‐like illness/COVID‐like illness” is “open to misinterpretation”! Of course, this does not alter the fact that masks “make little to no difference…”