Totalitarian controls getting closer–The Guardian pushing internet censorship

Front Cover of the First (1949) Edition of ‘1984’

We are seeing more and more that academia and the mainstream media are supporting positions that are consistent with totalitarianism. Notice the following which ties that in with warnings from George Orwell’s book, nineteen eighty-four:

August 24, 2017

Authored by A.Z.Mohamed via The Gatestone Institute,

The attempt in the West to impose a strict set of rules about what one is allowed to think and express in academia and in the media — to the point that anyone who disobeys is discredited, demonized, intimidated and in danger of losing his or her livelihood — is just as toxic and just as reminiscent of Orwell’s diseased society.

The main facet of this PC tyranny, so perfectly predicted by George Orwell, is the inversion of good and evil — of victim and victimizer. In such a universe, radical Muslims are victimized by the West, and not the other way around. This has led to a slanted teaching of the history of Islam and its conquests, both as a justification of the distortion and as a reflection of it.

Thought-control is necessary for the repression of populations ruled by despotic regimes. That it is proudly and openly being used by self-described liberals and human-rights advocates in free societies is not only hypocritical and shocking; it is a form of aiding and abetting regimes whose ultimate goal is to eradicate Western ideals.

Political correctness (PC) has been bolstering radical Islamism. This influence was most recently shown again in an extensive exposé by the Clarion Project in July 2017, which demonstrates the practice of telling “deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them in order to forget any fact that has become inconvenient” — or, as George Orwell called it in his novel, 1984, “Doublespeak.” …

The attempt in the West, however, to impose a strict set of rules about what one is allowed to think and express in academia and in the media — to the point that anyone who disobeys is discredited, demonized, intimidated and in danger of losing his or her livelihood — is just as toxic and just as reminiscent of Orwell’s view of a diseased society.

These rules are not merely unspoken ones. Quoting a Fox News interview with American columnist Rachel Alexander, the Clarion Project points out that the Associated Press — whose stylebook is used as a key reference by a majority of English-language newspapers worldwide for uniformity of grammar, punctuation and spelling — is now directing writers to avoid certain words and terms that are now deemed unacceptable to putative liberals.

Alexander recently wrote:

“Even when individual authors do not adhere to the bias of AP Style, it often doesn’t matter. If they submit an article to a mainstream media outlet, they will likely see their words edited to conform. A pro-life author who submits a piece taking a position against abortion will see the words ‘pro-life’ changed to ‘anti-abortion,’ because the AP Stylebook instructs, ‘Use anti-abortion instead of pro-life and pro-abortion rights instead of pro-abortion or pro-choice.’ It goes on, ‘Avoid abortionist,’ saying the term ‘connotes a person who performs clandestine abortions.’

“Words related to terrorism are sanitized in the AP Stylebook…”

To be sure, the AP Stylebook … does constitute, however, a cultural decree that has turned religious in its fervor. It gives a glimpse, as well, into the intellectual tyranny that has pervaded liberal Western thought and institutions.

The main facet of this PC tyranny, so perfectly predicted by Orwell, is the inversion of good and evil — of victim and victimizer. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-23/two-new-totalitarian-movements-radical-islam-and-political-correctness

The Bible warns of the following:

20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
And prudent in their own sight! (Isaiah 5:20-21)

Much of academia and the mainstream media do now wish to call evil good. From supporting abortion, same-sex “marriage,” legalized stealing (to insure “equity), and pushing false protest narratives, we are seeing those who are wise in their own eyes promoting evil and denouncing those who denounce evil.

The New Testament also warned about the ‘wise’ promoting evil:

22 Professing to be wise, they became fools (Romans 1:22)

26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:26-32)

Note: Even various ones in the government in Canada do not want people to quote or teach those passages in Romans (see Anti-biblical censorship in Canada).

Currently, in many parts of the world, governments are collecting the massive amounts of data on their people like that which is also alluded to in Orwell’s novel.

I remember watching the 1956 movie version of the book ‘1984’ in the 1970s. Even though it did not anticipate all the modern technologies, it had some related to surveillance and the movie was haunting. And while what was shown did not happen in 1984, world events suggest that George Orwell was just several decades premature.

With the rise of technology we have seen the rise of governmental monitoring and censorship.

Ukrainian poster on side of an industrial building (Борис У.)

The most famous line I remember related to ‘1984’ was “Big Brother is Watching You.”

In more and more ways now, that is possible.

Yet, even places that are supposed to be bastions of free speech, are succumbing to the notion that speech on the internet needs to be monitored and censored. Notice something from the UK publication the Guardian:

The Guardian view on censoring the internet: necessary, but not easy

The internet can be a vile place, and the instinct to enforce some standards there is not misplaced. …

The questions are: who should set these limits and who then should police them? Both governments and private companies have a part to play, even if government action often takes the form of demanding that private companies execute government policies. …

Google and Facebook have both responded to pressure to remove politically extremist content. …

In authoritarian countries the censorship of the net is far more complete, and often impossible to justify. The Trump regime may be moving in that direction, as is shown by its recent attempt to get the IP addresses of every visitor to a site organising demonstrations against him. The effort by the Chinese government to censor the output of the Cambridge University Press is more worrying. … there is no single benevolent world authority to set the rules for the internet. Different countries will have different regulatory regimes, some better, some worse, and private companies will have varying ethical standards. That is inevitable. The central distinction that applies to governments is not the act of censorship itself, but the extent to which the rules are openly and democratically made, and fairly applied through an independent judiciary.

Yes, the internet can be a vile place. But there are not calls to really take pornography off of it.

If the calls were to remove pornography, terrorists, and those that advocate violence off the internet, that would be one thing.

But it is more than standing against terrorism that the mainstream wants censored.

There are calls to censor views that are not in line with the changing views of the mainstream. Calling those who hold to biblical views “extremists” lumps those who stand for the truth in with those who do not.

An “independent judiciary” that does not accept biblical values cannot be trusted to censor the internet. Places like Facebook and Google have already proven that they cannot be trusted as have many governments.

As far as China goes, it has been working to eliminate VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) to stop people from seeing what they want on the internet. Furthermore, China has even recently held drills to see how quickly it can block and/or take down content it does not want on the internet (see China’s internet censorship drills: Another prelude to the coming famine of the word?).

Sadly, this interest in increased internet surveillance and censorship is not unexpected. Notice, for example, something posted on this page back in 2011:

I have long expected government censorship (including the internet and perhaps other forms of social media) in the USA as well. (Thiel B. UK’s Cameron May Call Out the Troops and Restrict Social Media. COGwriter.com, August 11, 2011)

Sadly, we are seeing this come to pass. Every year we are seeing more and more calls and actions to do so.

The USA no longer has the type of ‘freedom of religion’ or ‘freedom of speech’ its founders envisioned. Many, in and out of the governments (including the UK and Canada), are watching the internet with plans to deal with materials that they someday hope to silence. Their views are hauntingly like George Orwell’s book.

And while George Orwell did not write about private companies like Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube, they do not support the agenda or the morality of the Bible and have repeatedly been involved in surveillance and censorship. Europe and China have also been heavily involved in pushing internet monitoring, and sadly have learned some techniques on how to do that from the US government as well as from US companies.

The world is getting less tolerant of speech that does not conform to what governments find ‘acceptable’ or believes is ‘truth.’ Plus, it seems to place precious little value on the truth.

More surveillance and more censorship is expected–and it will get really bad in Babylonian Europe according to Bible prophecy:

15 He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666. (Revelation 13:15-18)

It was not possible to monitor all buying and selling when George Orwell wrote his novel. But as many societies head towards cashlessness , that is becoming more possible.

With the internet and the rise of cellular telephones we are moving to a situation even beyond what George Orwell wrote about.

The time will come when the truth of the Bible and the good news of the Kingdom of God will not be allowed on the internet!

11 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God,
“That I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine of bread,
Nor a thirst for water,
But of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 They shall wander from sea to sea,
And from north to east;
They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord,
But shall not find it. (Amos 8:11-12)

Notice that the Bible tells of a time that will come when the word of God will not be found. I do not believe that this means that there will be no more Bibles–but that those wanting to better understand it will have trouble finding explanations.

Amos is referring to something as dramatic as having truth being scarce. In the 21st century that logically would point to it being taken off the internet. In the 21st century, the internet is accessed by people in every country, and thus some type of internet restriction/suspension/site removal is coming–more than what we have seen thus far. Various governmental and other leaders will find certain Church of God explanations of scripture too “extreme” and work to remove explanations from the internet.

But before that happens, the following prophecy from Jesus will be fulfilled:

14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)

So, the world will get a witness, THEN the end–meaning the Great Tribulation and the ‘famine of the word’ (Amos 8:11-12)–will come. Anticipating this, we in the Continuing Church of God have had our free booklet, The Gospel of the Kingdom of God, translated into about 100 languages (see listing at www.ccog.org) to get this witness out BEFORE it is censored off the internet.

We continue to see steps towards totalitarian censorship being promoted.

It is getting bad now. How bad will it be in seven years?

Sadly, the type of society that George Orwell wrote about is taking shape. Maybe George Orwell was just off by four or so decades. Could we see 1984 by 2024 or 2034? We are getting closer to find out.

Although more and more realize censorship and totalitarian controls are being implemented, most do not know what do to about it. But many can be called now–and should respond to that calling (see What Did Christ Mean – Many Are Called, But Few Are Chosen?). Christians need to “be even more diligent to make your call and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10) and to “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36) “and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).

Furthermore, let us conclude that there is good news AFTER the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord, the Kingdom of God will come and replace the Orwellian (Revelation 13:16-18) system that we see being put together today.

UPDATE 08/31/17: We now have a video related to this: Orwell’s 1984 by 2024?

Some items of possibly related interest may include:

The Gospel of the Kingdom of God This free online pdf booklet has answers many questions people have about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and explains why it is the solution to the issues the world is facing. Here are links to three related sermons: The World’s False Gospel, The Gospel of the Kingdom: From the New and Old Testaments, and The Kingdom of God is the Solution.
The Final Phase of the Work What is the final phase of the work? Who will lead it? Do you have the courage to support it? Here is a related YouTube video titled The Final Phase of the Work. The written article has been translated into Spanish La Fase Final de la Obra.
Preparing for the ‘Short Work’ and The Famine of the Word What is the ‘short work’ of Romans 9:28? Who is preparing for it? Here is a link to a related video sermon titled: The Short Work.
When Will the Great Tribulation Begin? 2017, 2018, or 2019? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before the Great Tribulation in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? Is this the time of the Gentiles? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord? Who are the 144,000? Here is a version of the article in the Spanish language: ¿Puede comenzar la Gran Tribulación en 2016 o 2017? ¿Es el Tiempo de los Gentiles? You can also see the English language sermon videos: The Great Tribulation from the Mount of Olives and Can the Great Tribulation begin before 2020? A shorter video is: Will the Great Tribulation Start in 2017?
Is God’s Existence Logical? Some say it is not logical to believe in God. Is that true? Here is a link to a YouTube sermon titled Is it logical to believe in God?
Is Evolution Probable or Impossible or Is God’s Existence Logical? Part II This short article clearly answers what ‘pseudo-scientists’ refuse to acknowledge. Here is a link to a YouTube video titled Is There Another View of Evolution? and another titled Quickly Disprove Evolution as the Origin of Life.
Are You Being Called by God? Norman Shoaf wrote various points to consider.
Is God Calling You? Alfred E Carrozzo wrote this.
What Did Christ Mean – Many Are Called, But Few Are Chosen? This article was by Raymond McNair.
Christian Repentance Do you know what repentance is? Is it really necessary for salvation? A related sermon is also available titled: Real Christian Repentance.
Two Horned Beast of Revelation and 666 Who is 666? This article explains how the COG views this, and compares this to Ellen White. Here is a link to a prophetic video Six Financial Steps Leading to 666?
Anglo – America in Prophecy & the Lost Tribes of Israel Are the Americans, Canadians, English, Scottish, Welsh, Australians, Anglo-Saxon (non-Dutch) Southern Africans, and New Zealanders descendants of Joseph? Where are the lost ten-tribes of Israel? Who are the lost tribes of Israel? What will happen to Jerusalem and the Jews in Israel? Will God punish the U.S.A., Canada, United Kingdom, and other Anglo-Saxon nations? Why might God allow them to be punished first? Here is a link to the Spanish version of this article: Anglo-América & las Tribus Perdidas de Israel. A video of possible interest may be Will Will USA Spying Help the Beast Power?
Leading the Final Phase of the Work Matthew 24:14 teaches “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come ” will be fulfilled and RCG is not the group doing this. Who is leading the final phase of the work? What did Herbert Armstrong and the old WCG teach about that and about prophets? Does Bob Thiel meet the criteria that the Bible and the old WCG set? What is the proof? What has the Continuing Church of God been doing? This is a sermonette length video.
Who is the King of the North? Is there one? Do biblical and Roman Catholic prophecies for the Great Monarch point to the same leader? Should he be followed? Who will be the King of the North discussed in Daniel 11? Is a nuclear attack prophesied to happen to the English-speaking peoples of the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand? When do the 1335 days, 1290 days, and 1260 days (the time, times, and half a time) of Daniel 12 begin? When does the Bible show that economic collapse will affect the United States? In the Spanish language check out ¿Quién es el Rey del Norte? Here is a link to a video titled: The Future King of the North.
Internet Control, Famine of the Word, and 666 On October 1, 2016, the USA officially relinquished control over the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), despite objections from certain political leaders and former military officials. Might this lead to more censorship, imposition on non-biblical ‘community standards,’ and loss of first amendment rights? Could this transfer of control have any prophetic ramifications? Will the internet be a factor in the ‘short work’ of Romans 9:28 and the coming ‘famine of the word’ that the Prophet Amos warned about? Will internet control be something that the 666 power will have? Dr. Thiel addresses these matters and more in this video.
USA in Prophecy: The Strongest Fortresses Can you point to scriptures, like Daniel 11:39, that point to the USA in the 21st century? This article does. A related sermon is titled: Do these 7 prophesies point to the end of the USA?
Who is the King of the West? Why is there no Final End-Time King of the West in Bible Prophecy? Is the United States the King of the West? Here is a version in the Spanish language: ¿Quién es el Rey del Occidente? ¿Por qué no hay un Rey del Occidente en la profecía del tiempo del fin?
Donald Trump in Prophecy Prophecy, Donald Trump? Are there prophecies that Donald Trump may fulfill? Are there any prophecies that he has already helped fulfill? Could a Donald Trump presidency be apocalyptic? A related video is titled: Donald: ‘Trump of God’ or Apocalyptic?
Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse This 188 page book is for people truly interested in prophecies related to Donald Trump and the United States, including learning about several that have already been fulfilled and those that will be fulfilled in the future. The physical book can be purchased at Amazon for $12.99 from the following link: Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse.
Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse-Kindle Edition This electronic version of the 188 page print edition is available for only US$3.99. And you do not need an actual Kindle device to read it. Why? Amazon will allow you to download it to almost any device: Please click HERE to download one of Amazon s Free Reader Apps. After you go to for your free Kindle reader and then go to Donald Trump and America’s Apocalypse-Kindle Edition.