kimberlysteele | Don't Pray for Ukraine

Prayer has been unfashionable among Davos wannabes and TED Talk hipsters until recently. Memes about the uselessness of prayer used to dominate Facebook along with legions of angry atheists always at the ready to chime in on comment sections of bereaved parents or videos of natural disasters, laughing at the faithful while likely crying inside. Something changed because Facebook/Twitter/Youtube (which will be referred to from now on as Twitboob) started including "Pray for Ukraine" with its buffet of multicolored virtue banners such as "Marked Safe from Whatever Hideous Tragedy Occurred This Week" and "I Got My Covid Vaccine".

Prayer isn't always good. Prayer is non-physical communication between a human and another entity. Usually this prayer is mental but there are some who choose to conjure up the entity they are praying to by force, which is kind of like when an obnoxious drunk friend wants to talk at 3 in the morning, but instead of just calling you, they parachute onto your lawn, break into your house, hog tie you, and drag you back to their basement in order to talk to you. Some prayer is good and some prayer is bad. Some entities are good and some entities are bad. When I was a kid, I confused praying to Santa Claus with praying to Jesus and once I prayed to both in the same night. Anyone can be prayed to. People can pray to Kimberly Steele -- I sincerely hope they don't, but they can. There are several Etsy vendors who make celebrity novena candles. In an episode of Orange is the New Black, two characters fervently pray to Beyoncé. It is my opinion that the MRNA vaccines of various stripe open a direct channel to certain demons of the Goetia, and that is why so many of the vaxxed end up with possession-like symptoms such as tremors and projectile vomiting. To make a long story short, not all prayer is good or consensual, and when prayer is directed at a non-human entity, it is very easy for it to become rude. It is also very easy to pray to a demon when you think you're praying to an angel, or to be praying to a minor spirit when you think you or praying to a god, or to be speaking with a nasty trickster spirit instead of your dead father through a medium or Ouija board.

Backward Christian Soldiers

Christians often pray as a form of war. Their God is often mistaken for a cosmic vending machine as well as a vengeful punisher who inflicts pain like a mafia boss. The sort of Christian who prays for the punishment of others (often in secret but sometimes right in the open) imagines himself and his team as Right and all others as Wrong. Bible literalists take a statement like "preach unto all nations" as a direct imperative to force-infect the rest of humanity with the Yahweh-virus at all costs.

Songwriter Happy Rhodes has a song called "Save Our Souls" that captures it perfectly:

We think that we're superior
To every living thing
It can be lonely at the top
So we look for higher praise to sing
Won't you just say hello
We'll give you a cable show
We have weapons to intimidate
You if you look afright
Come on down and see our
Zoos and refugee camps
Ain't it worth your time

Pity our emptiness

The Gentleman Preacher

A few weeks ago a Christian pastor from a church down the block showed up at our doorstep. I wasn't home. My agnostic/atheist husband was home and he got into a short conversation with the gentleman preacher, who actually asked permission to pray for my husband. My husband said "No thank you", however, he was very moved by the man asking for his consent instead of blanket presuming and steamrolling on through. If more Christians start acting like the Gentleman Preacher of Kimberly's Neighborhood, churches will start filling to the brim and doing the good works of Jesus. I am not holding my breath for that to happen.

Non-Christians and various stripes of Twitboobers have turned to prayer because it has been revealed as a blunt battle axe that can be swung around in the china shops of social media. That is to say prayer can be weaponized as nasty Christians realized long ago. Twitboob has only recently caught on, hence Pray for Ukraine. They espouse Praying for Ukraine because it is the Latest Thing. They want carte blanche to jam the Latest Thing down collective throats with constant reassurance from experts (kind of like a Girlfriend Experience) that they are strong and wonderful. They don't care if the reassurance is fake.

Europeans are in a real pickle right now as they face the prospect of mammoth utility bills this winter while having to get scrappy when it comes to food. I think middle class Americans are more used to scrounging and seeing red rectangles on our late and unpaid utility bills. We already were deplorable Walmart, GoodWill, and Aldi shoppers back in the Obama era. Being demi-poor like me isn't so bad but you do have to get used to it. Going demi-poor or straight up poor is hard to do overnight and the higher they sit, the harder they fall. I don't give a rat's behind about my gym membership, my cable subscription, my Adobe software suite, my hundred dollar restaurant meals, my underground parking, or my museum patronage because I don't have any of those things.

There is a teeming class of people who are not ready for what they gleefully signed up for in 2020. Neither can they handle the responsibility for what they've done to Western civilization in general nor can they cope with the physical demands of poverty after quaxxing themselves and their children. The shots are in the process of establishing an underclass of handicapped, dependent, and mostly infertile adults whose families face bankruptcy or homelessness because of repeated trips to ERs and medical clinics for the rest of their lives. When they land in those ERs and clinics, they will be gaslighted that it couldn't possibly be the MRNA vaccines. Throwing money at the Ukraine is yet another mask to hide the emerging truth of what they have done to themselves and everyone else. Feel-good, "We're All in This Together" rhetoric is a favorite shield for karma-avoiders.

Pray for Ukraine is a veiled ask to support the US's current proxy war with Russia. It took me way too long in my life to understand how leaders of countries quibble for resources and dress up their resource grabs with a thick frosting of ideology. Don't pray for Ukraine. Pray for yourself and for those whom you've asked their express permission to pray for. Pray to the spirit of the land where you are and give thanks compulsively. Pray to the real gods and don't broadcast your private conversations with them; we wouldn't understand anyway.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

methylethyl

Being Orthodox, we pray for "those suffering from the war in Ukraine" generally, and a list of people in Ukraine who are friends and family members of parishioners. My son's godmother has a cousin trapped in Mariupol, for example. No matter what's going on in the broader political world, hiding out in basement bomb shelters with your kid is no picnic.

I don't pretend to know what's going on over there, or who are the good guys or bad guys. But there's a lot of suffering, and many (on both sides of the conflict!) are our fellow Orthodox. So of course we ask for God's mercy on them.

From:

kimberlysteele

Ugh, I'm so sorry for that relative of yours. May he survive it and have a much better life soon.

I think it's the presumption of knowing what's going on and taking a side that gets people in trouble with prayer. A general "please help them" is fairly innocuous unless it comes burdened with "please help them to see the light of You, One True God". Then it is back in cacomagical territory once again.

From:

methylethyl

"relative" is a... well, relative term. But still. Last I heard they were still alive, at least.

For what it's worth, I include the Russians involved in the conflict as well, as everything I've heard about how Russia treats its soldiers is pretty execrable. Their strategy seems to be largely "we can afford to lose more men than any smaller country, so why not?" Cannon fodder doesn't begin to cover it.

The fact that both countries involved in the conflict are traditionally Orthodox is deeply sad and wrong. It's just not supposed to happen. At all. But it seems to shed some light on the Russian church's break with the ecumenical patriarchate a few years ago-- the invasion was already in the works, I guess. Not rooting for either side-- in both cases you have soldiers and civilians being treated like disposable trash by corrupt governments. I see no good way out for anybody, really. All one can pray for is God's mercy on everyone affected, His particular help for those whose names we know who have reached out, and for the relief work of the church. I'm not sure I want any of the bastards to win, but it's also not my country and I'm the last person on earth who knows what's best for anybody there.

From:

kimberlysteele

That seems perfectly reasonable. I wish more Christians took a similar attitude by simply praying for God's mercy.

From: (Anonymous)

Knowing nothing while still taking a side while reflecting on the thought that "Orthodox should not be killing orthodox" reminded me of something.

Probably one of the sanest and most self-consistent takes in the immediate days after the invasion I saw was from a random video i clicked on BitChute that turned out to be a literal white nationalist who was exasperatedly asking his tiny audience:

"How many of you people out there have ever said 'no more brother wars' and yet you're cheering for Putin slaughtering literal slavic brothers because you think he's 'based?' He has the same no-jab/no-job policies as your countries. And in Russia its illegal to speak out against the jews. We'd all be in prison in Russia saying the things we say. So why are you taking sides when nobody here is your friend?"

When I look around its definitely true that there's a crazy amount of side-taking going on and largely its around whatever people think of the Democrat party. What a thing to use war in Ukraine as a proxy to signal allegiance over.

From:

kimberlysteele

Well said! It used to be the Republicans who wanted all the wars (at least on the surface) and the Democrats who fought them on that, for example "Hanoi" Jane Fonda attempting to be an ad hoc diplomat to stop the US from further intervention.

I find alt-media sites like Bitchute tiresome for their anti-Semitism. I swear they have anti-Semite bots that randomly pepper the same 30 algorithmic slurs against Jews on every video.

From: (Anonymous)

Jane Fonda was only slightly before my time. And you're right, all the anti-war posturing from the Democrats has really been borne out to reveal it was nothing more than that: posturing. Every single time they had been handed the reins they promptly forgot every anti-war statement or sentiment from their base, and quickly set about making their captured media lackeys spin up justifications for why the war is good now that "the adults in the room" are in charge.

I think the only real solution for the remnants of the alt right on alt-media comment sections is to not engage the comments. BitChute particularly has a lot of them just because it just happened to exist right at the time the old wave of alt right was set out on a trek through the desert.

But also I have a theory that about 33% of the anti-jewish comments are bots operated by Democrats/Left Globalists just to keep the embers stoked and to make sure the alt-media sites always have something to point at on a slow news day.

From:

mr_nobody1967

When I pray, I pray to Father God and Mother Goddess, Whom I conceptualize to be the masculine and feminine polarities of the Universal Spirit (Whom one might also refer to as "the Holy Spirit"). That is a bit more nebulous than invoking a specific deity, but it is less intrusive because the Universe is always listening, and so prayer to the Universal Spirit is simply a way of indicating a priority communication. When praying for other people, I don't believe you need to ask their permission just as long the only thing you are petitioning for is positive, healing energy being sent their way. Just as it is always wrong to curse somebody, it is always right to bless somebody. Based on cases where I know there was either failure or success, my approach seems to work fairly well.

From:

kimberlysteele

I disagree. Some people truly do not want to be helped, no matter what. Cursing does seem universally wrong but I don't know about blessing always being right. When I cannot help the urge to wish blessings on someone, I usually ask the god to whom I am praying to bless them only if he or she sees fit.

From: (Anonymous)

Another one hit clear out of the park!

The thing to remember about the powerful interests that espouse The Latest Thing (TM) is that they care for it and believe in it to about the same extent that they care for and believe in the Easter Bunny. They do, however, espouse it - no matter what it is - wholeheartedly, but only because of what it offers them: to wit, leverage to escalate demands so outrageous no people in their right minds would consent to otherwise. Think about it: what sane person would ever agree to go get murdered out in the desert were it not for 'The Threat Of Islamic Terrorism'?

And the 'Pray For Ukraine' latest thing is particularly blasphemous. The God I love and worship is my mentor, not my servant. The purpose and power of prayer is that it helps guide my own spiritual growth; leveraging material or political gain - whether for myself or for others (as would be the case in Prayer For Ukraine) - only serves to undermine that purpose. What sense does that make? Why should I use prayer to undermine the power and purpose of prayer?

There's an obscure little story in the Old Testament about misuse of Divine things. One day when the Israelites were out fighting the Philistines and seeing that they weren't doing so well against them, they decided to bring out the Ark of the Covenant into the battlefield - as though their God could be used as The Ultimate Secret Weapon. The result, of course, was rather a lot of Israelite casualties and the Ark taking an extended stay on Philistine soil. Don't expect anything different for anyone who follows along with the 'Pray For Ukraine' Latest Thing (TM).

From:

kimberlysteele

Thank you.

That is fascinating! I never knew that about the Ark story. It makes a great deal of sense. Pray for Ukraine seems like the next logical step in the Hex Trump cycle now that Hex Trump has failed. Curses don't work, clearly, so the blasphemers are trying out prayer as a weapon. They should probably look at the current (hemorrhaging) state of Evangelical Christianity if they want to see how well that works...

From:

kimberlysteele

https://youtu.be/OBsCHDdi_O4

From: (Anonymous)

Well said, Kimberly! I can understand Methylethyl's side of the story too, though -- I think it is fair to pray for the safety of a particular loved one. I think it's also fair to pray that the highest good be done for all parties involved, because that approach has the humility to realize that maybe you don't know what the highest good is.

I think there is a clear difference between what

methylethyl is describing and prayer as bullying.

What prayer as bullying looks like in a domestic context: My mom and her friend have a lot of loud conversations on speakerphone, and a frequent topic of conversation is their adult children and grandchildren. I often overhear prayers that this or that child or grandchild will repent of having the wrong vaccination status, the wrong sexual orientation, the wrong profession, the wrong religion, and on and on.

My mom and her friend are both opposed to the COVID vaccines, and I am unvaccinated, so I don't get prayed for on that count. However, I get prayed for on some of the other counts. I know I am the topic of prayers of disappointment, and it hurts. Like any unvaccinated person, I made some social and professional sacrifices on account of that; my primary motivation for being unvaccinated, at least early on, was not wanting to send my mother into an emotional meltdown, and the thanks I get for backing her up on that is getting crapped all over by her and her friend regarding every other part of my life.

I never overhear prayers along the lines of, "Thank you, God, for giving us all these children and grandchildren who are a blessing just the way they are."

Angry Oregonian

From:

methylethyl

One thinks of the tale of the Publican and the Pharisee!

From:

mr_nobody1967

Wow, your mother and her friend really sound like a special kind of passive-aggressive!

From:

kimberlysteele

Totally what I was thinking! Methylethyl's reference to the Publican and the Pharisee is spot on as usual, though I have come to expect nothing less from her!

From: (Anonymous)

Haha yeah, don't even get those two started on the potential for passive-aggressive wackiness involving thank-you notes, either.

All of this does bring up a question I have had since becoming aware of the JMG forum and associated acts about a year ago, though. I am from a Protestant background, am now mostly in the spiritual but not religious category, and had never heard of the practice of asking people's permission to pray for them before I saw it done on the JMG forum. Is this specifically any sort of Pagan doctrine, or is it simply a human courtesy to humans who have been burned by prayer chains turned gossipy and the like?

The latter makes sense to me because I think we as humans have pretty much the same problems whether we call ourselves Christian or Pagan or anything else, and I can imagine someone who was on the receiving end of praybullying finally flipping out and going to the absolute opposite extreme of saying you MUST ask for consent for every little thing. Whatever anyone's label, that's understandable! I'd be curious to know the official story, though.

Angry Oregonian

From:

kimberlysteele

Of course I could be wrong, but I think it's the second one, the "humans who have been burned by prayer chains". And I agree, asking consent for every little thing is just as bad in a different way. At some point, I'll be writing an essay about the key differences between a wish and a prayer. I think it might clear up some confusion (for me as well as others) if I can delve into the subject a bit.

From: (Anonymous)

Dear Angry,

Just a data point -- my ex-wife was Wiccan, and the first time I ever heard the idea that you shouldn't pray for someone without their permission was from her High Priestess. (My own family covered the spectrum from Atheist to It's-polite-if-we-call-ourselves-Protestant-so-long-as-you-don't-actually-ask-us-to-believe-anything, so I never got any training about prayer at home.)

Hosea Tanatu

From: (Anonymous)

Haven't been around your Blog for awhile, Kimberly. Hope all is well here. Have come across a fascinating discussion that pulls a lot of the "goings on" together. This, to some degree, jives with some of what Ed Dowd has talked about. Not guaranteed to be 100% right, but interesting hypothesis.
Here's a synopsis of this interview with Tom Luongo: https://meaninginhistory.substack.com/p/tom-luongos-theory-of-everything And the interview itself: https://tomluongo.me/2022/08/02/media-davos-losing-europe-over/

I'd continue to recommend checking in with John Paul on twitter and his substack. His covid substacks could probably use more explanation as to what the various papers say, as most are over my head, but they're worth checking out. He continues to forecast a rough year or two coming up, even if things "go well."
https://twitter.com/ThingsHiddenn/with_replies

Lots of good stuff on Karl Denninger's Market-Ticker, too.

Maxxy