Behind the Scenes, Fires of November, a Few Squibs, and More Pictures Than Usual

Behind the Scenes

Consider this as something of an inaugural round-up of sorts.

So this last October, we here in Moscow had a little bit more excitement in the build up to November, more than other years at any rate. It turns out that our local intoleristas were far more wound up about our annual event than we knew, and so one false report that went off in their midst resulted in all eleven of their players lurching off sides.

It appears to have come about in this way. A week ago last Saturday there was an unfortunate accident that resulted in a shop south of town burning down, and a young man in our congregation was seriously burned. Nancy and I heard about that accident on Sunday morning when we prayed for him at worship the next morning (he is recovering well now). Later that day, we headed off to Louisiana for a gathering of the broader assemblies of the CREC—our presbyteries and Council—and so we were consequently out of town all week.

But before we left, earlier that same Saturday, we had filmed a portion of our NQN trailer, and some behind the scenes photos from that shoot were posted on Facebook. Some enterprising soul among the intoleristas used a favorite device of theirs called “a wild guess,” and started up a rumor that the shop fire had been part of our NQN shoot, which it wasn’t, and that I had been burned in the fire also, which I hadn’t been, and that was why I was not around. But I was not around because I was in Louisiana.

The first I heard of the rumor was near the end of the week. That was when I got a text from one of our adversaries here in town wishing me a good recovery from the fire, which was nice, but when I expressed bafflement, she then proceeded to say that I was a liar and the truth was not in me.

After we got home, and our family was marveling at the tenacity of the rumor, one of my daughters suggested that we could post a picture of me from right after my cancer surgery a couple years ago (there, to the right), but we decided that this would be giving way to what one friend of mine would call “bad Voddie.”

InstaBan

So the first NQN post went up Monday morning, and the NQN trailer went up Tuesday morning. So far that trailer is outpacing our previous years that dealt with couches, fields, and trucks, which is great, but I have already told the artistes at Canon Press that I would rather not deal with helicopters next year.

But then, adding to the general excitement, Instagram took down our NQN trailer for a brief period of time before they reevaluated, or reviewed, or repented, or whatever it is they do at Instagram. Here was their stated reason for taking it down, helpfully displayed to the immediate right here.

Coordinating harm or promoting crime, eh?

Thankfully they changed their minds, but still. For those of you who are concerned about us, and what we are up to, you can at least know that we are not coordinating harm or promoting crime. You can take it from Instagram.

Incidentally, since I don’t want this teachable moment to pass by, on things like rigged elections, and CDC guidelines, and what it means to follow the science, and all of that, some might say that it is all too complicated, and we don’t know “which position is the correct one.” Right. But we do know which side censors..

Enter The Guardian

And then came The Guardian article. This piece was written by a gent named Jason Wilson, no relation that I know of, who is just finishing up his stint at that newspaper. He is heading off to browner pastures, where he will serve as a senior investigative journalist for Hatewatch at the Southern Poverty Law Center, the world’s richest civil rights organization. If you are going to be investigating other organizations for hatred, harassment, and sexual misdoings, where better to work than the SPLC? It is really convenient because you can just go out in the hallway and practice your gotcha questions on fellow staff members. You are bound to get somebody eventually.

As already mentioned, the NQN video, which dropped on Tuesday, is proceeding briskly down the cyber road, well ahead of the trailers from previous years, those trailers being slackers. So I would be remiss if I did not thank Jason of The Guardian for his possible contribution to the excitement. They ran their hit piece, one that described us as an “ultra-conservative” group of Christians who tithe, and evangelize, and stuff. Now normally ultra is only used in a complimentary way if you are talking about something like a type of make-up for supermodels. Ultra in combination with conservative or Christian is supposed to be skeery and frightening, but thanks to The Guardian, now when people all over the world google my name in response to the article, up pops the NQN video.

And then the Drudge Report picked up The Guardian article, which means that somebody is continuing to violate the cardinal rule of making sure certain unsavory people keep getting ignored. Conservative Christians? Resisting mask mandates? Continuing to worship freely? What are the housing prices like out there?

In that video (if you haven’t seen it), I make the point that we are not being incendiary, but rather the world has gotten really flammable, and that people ought not to get those two things confused. The Guardian article made a point of saying that one of our elders is behind a housing development here, which is true enough, as though keeping the rain off families new to the community were a bad thing. To this I would only add that if you progressives don’t want conservative Christians congregating in Moscow, you should stop chasing them here. I merely suggest this, in a spirit of brotherly admonition.

Stop thinking of Australia as an aspirational goal. Or North Korea for that matter.

Memes That Go Haltingly

I generally go through my days blissfully unaware of how the local left is interacting with my presence, but sometimes awareness sort of breaks in.

I refer of course to those times when a well-informed parishioner or friend emails me stuff. I don’t where these memes come from, but taking in all the available evidence, my suspicions would run along the lines of lame.com.

Over the years, I have had occasion to thank the Lord for the caliber of my friends. But I would be ungrateful in the extreme if I did not also acknowledge His kindness to me in the caliber of my adversaries

These are humorless secular pharisees who have gotten themselves whizzed up into a state that Carl Jung once called “a tizzy,” and that Freud identified as being more of “a swizzle.” They are claiming that numerous Christ Church husbands rape their wives “every night,” that Janice McGeachin, candidate for governor in Idaho, dines at my house when she is in Moscow, that they have to sleep with 9mm pistols under their pillows because of us, and that my son murdered a gay guy back in the 90’s. Other than that, they are sober and responsible, contributing to healthy banter in the spirit of give and take.

I refer you back to the source I mentioned earlier, that old reliable called “wild guessing.” I think that all the energy they use in guessing is what leaves them drained when it comes to trying to come up with zinger memes.

All in Good Fun

In the aftermath of the Vice article, a parishioner brought this by a couple weeks ago. This, and the still of the couch video, and the boat video, and the field video, and the truck video, and all the rest of the high jinks that go on around here, reminded me of something I heard recently from Chesterton’s Ballad of the White Horse. But first the pictures.

What King Alfred said to the pagans was this. You are victorious, and we are defeated, but you are miserable in your victory, and we are joyful in defeat.

So what are we attempting to do? We are seeking to save our nation from a terrible destruction. And we intend to have a good time doing it.