By Jason Charles on 3/14/2016 (8 years 255 days ago) National News
Authors Note: This article will undoubtedly be hugely controversial, but so was the stand-off making it open to public scrutiny as anticipated
Really Infidels?
"But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." 1 Timothy 5:8
This verse is God's word, not mine. The fact is, LaVoy Finicum according to the Bible is not a hero, he is not a martyr, he is an infidel plain and simple. When Mr. Finicum joined the protestors at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge he left behind a wife and 11 children, and also had social workers remove the foster children under his care as a result of his protest activities. His family has suffered immeasurably due to his choices to protest the BLM alongside the Bundy's these last months.
"That represents an enormous loss of income for the Finicums. According to a 2010 tax filing, Catholic Charities paid the family $115,343 to foster children in 2009. That year, foster parents were compensated between $22.31 and $37.49 per child, per day, meaning if the Finicums were paid at the maximum rate, they cared for, on average, eight children per day in 2009.
“That was my main source of income,” Finicum said. “My ranch, well, the cows just cover the costs of the ranch. If this means rice and beans for the next few years, so be it. We’re going to stay the course.”(OBP.org)
I have no doubt in my mind that LaVoy was a good man, that he loved his wife, his children, those foster kids, and also his ranching lifestyle, but when he threw his lot in with the Bundy's there at the wildlife refuge center he along with the Bundy's knew they were invoking the wrath of government immediately on their family. For the good, bad or whatever they did what they did knowing this.
The Higher Call
The Bible makes it very clear that the caring of children and the family is of the highest priorities. If God entrusted you with a family and children, on the hierarchy of importance the family will always, always come before the ranch. So that means in practical terms even if the government showed up at his ranch, shot all his cows and confiscated all his property and left him and his family homeless on the street he would still need to figure out how he was going to stay alive to provide for those children. That as a father is the over-arching goal given to us by God as the head of the household and provider. They were the greater responsibility in the eyes of God, through his word. This is not my personal opinion, this is God's opinion on this matter. James wrote on this topic in the Bible also,
"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." James 1:27
So now that LaVoy is dead and gone because an erratic decision to speed away from law enforcement serving a legal warrant on Jan. 26th 2016 he has made his wife a widow and his children fatherless. AGAIN according to God's word he defiled his own religion before God as stated in this above verse.
I feel heartbreak for the grieving Finicum family, and his kids, but I imagine if you would sit down with the smallest children and ask each one if they would rather have a big ranch without their beloved father, or no ranch and just their father and family living in a small hotel, I can almost guarantee those kids would really want their father back. Even children know the value of life, and how that life always takes precedent over any protest, cause or material thing. If you look at the persecuted first century church you see that the worst persecution caused Christian men and women to take their families, give up homes, business, and even social prestige and flee to caves and foreign lands. They didn't fight for what they had, they simply understood that God entrusted them with the safety and protection of their family and that was exactly what they did.
Now don't get me wrong, I am the first one to advocate for the 2nd amendment, property rights, and the right to self-defense, these are without question God given rights. What I am trying to get people to understand is that at anytime we can be faced with federal abuse of powers seeking to destroy our livelihood, but our defense of these "material things" should never, ever trump our overarching, universal God given directive of protecting our family. It is better to sacrifice the material assets, instead of sacrificing yourself in these matters. Life and the provision for the family is always more important than any human cause.
Our responsibility, especially the father is to > Obey God > Protect Our Family > Protect Our Material Assets > Protect the Social Order. Everything is set up to protect life in a Biblical model. We must remember this order when properly analyzing situations and determining what we need to do. To make a mistake and place a social cause or a material asset over the immediate caretaking of our family will mean we will be answerable to God for that decision. When Paul called those who abandoned the caretaking of their family he called them an infidel, which is a harsh almost soul-losing critism as defined,
in-fi-del: a person who does not believe in religion or who adheres to a religion other than one's own.
The truth is, the Bundy's and all that rallied to the cause did so in a public way, invited public scrutiny of their faith, their cause, and their methodology especially concerning the actions of LaVoy Finicum given the circumstances. So to analyze the events, outcome, and the longterm impact should be expected considering that is exactly what the refuge protesters wanted, a 24/7 full coverage media blitz.
In a spirit of discernment, and for the national conscience, we discuss these ideas without disrespect, and also in total empathy for the lives impacted presently. But equally important is the fact we are seeking truth for the lives that will undoubtedly be impacted in the future. When fantasy fades and reality sets in, we begin to realize the consequences of this revolt will be felt in terms of limited freedom immediately in the empire and well into the future.
The Lionization of LaVoy Finicum
This is a meme graphic that was pulled directly from the Bundy Ranch Official Page.
Notice the picture chosen in this meme is the very moment in the video Finicum asks, "Do You Want Out?" That is telling considering the message here.
I don't know about you, but equating the death of LaVoy Finicum to that of Jesus Christ is from a strictly New Testament Christian point of view a blasphemy to the nth degree, and it sets hair on my neck on edge. This kind of rhetoric and immortalizing of LaVoy is being used to force a narrative of the events in almost a messianic kind of way by the family members themselves. Here is a revealing article that explains a bit about the Mormon worldview and it's prominence in this standoff.
The Wildlife refuge, armed publicity stunt dragged the entire national spotlight onto this scene. By doing so they invited the national attention on their convictions, their plight as ranchers, their faith and cause. The best place to understand why this lionization has occurred is because the Mormon faith compels them to, and by them, I mean immediately the family platforms and pages that are pushing this narrative of sacrifice into the conscience of the liberty and conservative movement watching on.
Ammon Bundy made reference to the "White Horse Prophecy" as recently as January right before the shootout a week or so later.
The phrase “hanging by a thread” is taken from accounts of the so-called “White Horse Prophecy,” attributed to LDS church founder Joseph Smith Jr.
Although unsubstantiated, the vision attributed to Smith talks about the U.S. Constitution, saying it would “hang like a thread as fine as a silk fiber” and only be rescued by a “white horse,” a reference to Revelation 6:1-8.
“There’s a strain of Mormonism that’s very strongly right-wing,” said Boyd Jay Petersen, program coordinator for Mormon studies at Utah Valley University in Orem. “Joseph Smith claimed the U.S. Constitution was inspired and a lot of people think it’s Scripture.” (ReligiousNews.com)
So the prophetic, and fanatical vision was there leading up to this incident without question, and it still is being encouraged by living family members via their official Facebook pages. To what effect and what purpose is the question? A group of people taking over federal buildings, with liberty as its banner, but lawlessness, death, and messianic appeal as its fruits is going to be questioned hard as to their true intentions. Rightfully so. Given the obsession with religious terrorism in this country and the resulting police state that we get straddle with each new event, you better believe scrutiny is in order. I analyzed the death of Jesus Christ and became His follower, when I analyze the death of LaVoy Finicum I am deeply troubled, and do not want to follow.
Who Wants to Stay in That Truck?
Now a good defense attorney will center and pivot every argument as to the guilt of police on what happened when he jumped out of the vehicle, they will never make mention of what happened in the vehicle prior to that moment. Why? Because it shows the belligerent last moments of a man in full cooperation of two adults in that vehicle place themselves and a child at risk of imminent and immediate harm. Right, wrong, indifferent, fleeing a police stop ups your chance of death 100 fold, fact. So with that being said, despite the nobility of cause, the legality or the morality involved in fleeing a police stop, ask yourself would you have stayed in that vehicle if LaVoy asked, "Do you want out?"
In the 5 minutes of the opening of the cell phone footage, from Shuana Cox's phone you hear LaVoy issue a slurry of inflammatory statements, he yelled,
"Put the Laser Right Here" x 2
"My Blood on the Pavement" x 1
"Just Shoot Me" x 8
"You Do As You Damn Well Please" x 2
"Back Down or Kill Me Now" x 2
"Put the Bullet Through Me" x 2
and more,
But he only just barely asked if anyone wanted out, to which most not only denied, but encouraged the flight of the vehicle.
Now Ryan Payne is the only one with the presence of mind to know he was safer in police custody than to be in that truck with LaVoy Finicum talking the way he talked to those officers who were serving arrest warrants for felony charges. This simple fact kills the assassination theory, Ryan Payne and the occupants of the other car stopped, and were all arrested without incident. Life goes on for them.
Creating a Hero
LaVoy is being made out to be a hero by patriots everywhere. How does a man make statements to CNN that he won't be taken into custody alive, yell suicidal slogans when stopped by police, speed off from a check point, crash into a police barrier, nearly kill an officer with his car, jump out suddenly as if in attack mode, yell, "just shoot me" 8 times, and die by the hand of two different officers believing him to be reaching for a gun become a hero? Is LaVoy's cause so great that normal definitions of heroic have changed? Suicide is not heroic, recklessness is not heroic, belligerent behavior is not heroic, lawless is not heroic. None of these things are heroic, nor are they constitutional, and nor are they messianic in nature. Why does he suddenly get a pass, when terrorists that fly planes on behalf of their religion into buildings don't? Are patriots viewing this whole drama with the proverbial rose colored glasses, simply because they hate government? My analysis is yes, that is all they care about hate for government with no regard to the means in which they get there. They have and will continue to use the testimony of the victims and LaVoy Finicums life as a bloody flag, with out thought towards his actions.
The officer involved with the shooting said these statements I thought was of particular note in this formal incident report and investigation.
"Officer: In particular, I had watched videos with Ammon Bundy and with mr. Finicum, and in particular, Mr Finicum I had seen videos in which he stated that he wasn't going to go to prison, and didn't plan on being taken alive.
Q: Do you know anything about the occupiers' specific stance towards law enforcement?
Officer: Not -- only Mr. Payne. I had read articles in which he had come to a conclusion that based upon his interpretation of the law, that he believed it was acceptable to, if you are being arrested by a police officer and you felt that it was unlawful, that it was acceptable to resist even to the point of killing the police officer."
READ FULL OFFICER STATEMENTS HERE
Let's not pretend that the officers involved dreamed up this kill scenario, no this was something that has been discussed ad nauseam publically during the whole occupation drama. It was expected by the protestors and also the police involved. So in that light, the death of LaVoy Finicum was not surprising, nor did the police go unprepared for combat, why because the death narrative was always there from the beginning and that didn't originate with the Federal Government, that death narrative was deliberately seeded by the occupiers. Nobody in the federal government put a hot coal under LaVoy and made him act the way he did, his actions are his own, and as result of the public nature and implications open to intense scrutiny.
So in that sense, this has all been manipulated and contrived. Have you been manipulated?
Preventing Copycat Killers
Something stinks about this whole thing, it smells of false religion with a freedomist veneer. And if that isn't the case then the families facebook pages shouldn't be pushing exactly that. The rhetoric making LaVoy a hero is absolutely dangerous for America. Especially considering the tension between citizens and police. We can see the tension manipulated with black lives matters, but we are blind when some ranchers do it as long as they shroud it with messianic undertones, and wrap it in a constitutionalist veneer. But what is even more dangerous is the fact the Liberty movement is full of militant half-wits that see how the patriot movement will lionize anyone who dares get violent and unlawful with law enforcement. Seems it is easy to go down in history as a hero, just shoot 'em all, the movement will work to whitewash your sacrifice right?
Who is next? That is the question of the decade? This question needs to be answered, because you can count on it, there are people in some log cabin somewhere plotting the next armed protest. They feel justified because they have bought into the rhetoric that this was a government conspiracy to assassinate everyone in those cars. To augment this point, listen to what the investigator had to say as to why they are not releasing officer names involved in this incident. He said it was because militants have made death threats against officers and their families. To the point of putting bounties on their heads. Yikes! Who wants to be apart of the freedom movement when it is populated with these kind of radicals?
Watch Full Press Conference
So the only way to prevent these inevitable copycat type killers that are out there without question is to tell the truth about the less than heroic actions of LaVoy Finicum. Placing his own life, his occupants lives, and officers lives needlessly on the line is not praise worthy and should never be. The world knows about the BLM, let it be worked out in the courts.
What is noteworthy is how the victims who testified prior to release of the police video about the events, were passed around by radio hosts and this movement, all propping them up as victims of the state, but when they asked the movement for defense funds nothing but a few hundred dollars came in. This should tell you what the liberty movement is really like, they will use someone for the anti-government rhetoric but fail to come to their aid when given the chance. That is sad, but a reality those still stuck in the middle of this thing must realize, and the sooner the better.
In Conclusion
You can be assured that this whole affair has been a net loss for liberty. In the mind of law enforcement the fight for liberty has now been equated with targeting law enforcement and families. This is the lasting impression they will have, and as for the movement their lasting impression will be that revenge will be welcomed and celebrated. Sounds like a recipe for national disaster. These videos of LaVoy's death will be used for years to come to give law enforcement the further excuse to militarize. The children LaVoy left behind will not be thanking him for his sacrifice when they are neck deep in more police state.
As for the FBI, who fired two shots, I hope they get fired for lying. But for shooting AFTER the truck was used as a weapon, who knows? He jumped out so fast maybe they thought he was going to start shooting one of the many guns in the car and their finger slipped. When someone jumps out of a car that just ran a police line like that, yelling to be shot by police, adrenaline spikes justifiably so.
I really do take issue with the religious overtones, I take issue with the unlawful nature of this protest, I take issue with the cult like zeal the family has stirred up on the internet. The last thing we need in this country is more violence, more division, and more religious zealots stirring up strife. The only logical conclusion anyone can make from all this is. LaVoy Finicum wanted to die, he stated it multiple times, and die he did at the hands of law enforcement. Was it a courageous act, was it a attempt to fulfill a Mormon prophecy, or was it a stupid move that jeopardized lives? Maybe all three, but if the results just create more copycats, and police state mobilization then it was wholly unworthy as a cause.
If there was a message to be had in all this it was lost long ago. The new message is act recklessly and the movement will reward you for it. I personally always go back to scripture seeking wisdom on such incidents. Along with the condemnation of infidels, the Bible has something to say about sending ill thought-out foolish messages.
"He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off the feet, and drinketh damage." Proverbs 26: 6
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