Wednesday, December 1, 2021

Disinformation is deadly - Christian Covid-deniers who died

This virus will not obey ideology.

These anti-vaxxers are now dead because they were unable to identify disinformation when they were targeted with it.

1. STEPHEN HARMON, died 24/7/21, aged 34

LA man who mocked Covid-19 vaccines dies of virus

Stephen Harmon, a member of the Hillsong megachurch, had been a vocal opponent of vaccines, making a series of jokes about not having the vaccine.

Stephen Harmon

JOHN EYERS, died 27/7/21, aged 42

The life and tragic death of John Eyers – a fitness fanatic who refused the vaccine

He did triathlons, bodybuilding and mountain climbing and became sceptical of the Covid jab. Then, at 42, he contracted the virus.

2. DR. JIMMY DEYOUNG, died 15/8/21, aged 81

Dr. Jimmy DeYoung Sr.: A Christian radio host and Bible Prophecy Teacher, operated Prophecy Today a Christian radio program that was played on more than 1,500 stations nationwide. He died on August 15th. On a show in February DeYoung questioned whether the COVID vaccine was a form of government control of the people and claimed the vaccine has “potential problems.” In addition to his radio program, DeYoung was a sought-after preacher who preached at churches throughout the United States.

This guy didn't die. He lived to tell the tale. Now, he's preaching something a little different.

Unvaccinated Pastor Who Almost Died Of COVID Now Preaches The Importance Of Vaccines

These people aren't all Christians, but they do share strong views on how Covid isn't dangerous - but vaccines are.

Celebrity anti-vaxxers who died of COVID-19

Anti-vaxxers say they're 'free-thinkers', 'anti-Big Pharma, Big Media, anti-WHO/CDC'

3. DEVORAH SKLAR

A loud voice against vaccines, she and her husband ran Maurice Sklar Ministries in California. Devorah routinely shared on her social media anti-vax content including comparing vaccination rules to the Nazi’s and Josef Mengele’s experiments. She also put out the notion that the Delta Variant was not a mutation but was caused by the vaccine. The ministry has about 10,000 followers on its social media.

 4. CALEB WALLACE, died August 2021, aged 30

 Caleb Wallace addressed a public meeting in the city of San Angelo, Texas, in November.

A Texas anti-mask organizer has died from Covid-19.

 Mrs. Wallace, who is pregnant with the couple’s fourth child, recently told the San Angelo Standard-Times that when her husband first felt ill, he took a mix of vitamin C, zinc, aspirin and ivermectin — a drug typically used to treat parasitic worms in both people and animals that has been touted as a coronavirus treatment but was recently proved to be ineffective against the virus.

Mr. Wallace, 30, who campaigned against mask mandates and other Covid policies.


At least 7 conservative radio hosts and anti-mask advocates have died from COVID-19 after bashing the vaccines

5. Dick Farrel, 65

- referred to the Covid pandemic as the "scam-demic"

6. Phil Valentine, 61

-  compared vaccination status badges worn by medical workers with the yellow badges German Jews were ordered to wear by the Nazis.

7. Marc Bernie, 65,

- self-nicknamed "Mr. Antivax"

8.  Robert David Steele, 

- former CIA officer

9. Pressley Stutts

- conservative leader

10. KERMIT WILSON Jr, died September 2021, aged 43

Greensboro pastor died of COVID. Now his wife is making a way for others to be vaccinated.

He leaves behind three children ages 10, 6 and 2.

They are some of the 140,000 orphans left behind in USA by parents who have died of Covid.

11. BOB ENYART, died 14/9/21, aged 62

Bob Enyart, anti-vaccination pastor and right-wing ‘fanatic,’ dies of COVID

Enyart, who once referred to himself as “America’s most popular self-proclaimed right-wing, religious fanatic, homophobic, anti-choice talk show host,” according to the Los Angeles Blade, was a pastor of the Denver Bible Church.

The conservative firebrand successfully sued Colorado in October over church capacity and mask mandates.

12. R.LOREN SANFORD, died 18/9/21, aged 70

R. Loren Sanford: A pastor at the New Song Church and Ministries in Denver Colorado, Sanford was 70 when he died on September 18th. Over the past 18 months he has downplayed the virus and shared out false facts on social media to make the pandemic seem not as deadly as it is. When asked about the COVID vaccine, he said that he isn’t anti-vax, but that the COVID shot isn’t a vaccine (it is), but that rather it messes with your RNA. His anti-mask and anti-vaccine policies hit his church hard with an outbreak occurring in late August. This outbreak appears to have gotten Sanford sick as well, ultimately killing him.

13. ROB SKIBA, died 13/10/21, aged 44

Anti-Vax Flat Earth Preacher Dies of COVID-19

Rob Skiba, an influential figure in flat earth and Christian circles, has died of COVID-19, colleagues announced on Thursday. He had been fighting the virus since at least late August, when he began exhibiting symptoms after “Take On The World,” a biblical flat earth conference.

14. MARCUS LAMB, died 1/12/21, aged 64

Another prominent Christian influencer, Marcus Lamb, has died of Covid today after his outspoken opposition to COVID-19 vaccines. He was 64.
He was the co-founder and CEO of the Daystar Television Network, a network popular with evangelical and charismatic Christians.
In recent weeks, friends and supporters had been praying for his recovery from the virus, seeing it as a spiritual attack because of his advocacy against vaccines and push for alternate treatments.
Daystar has broadcast a series of programs featuring vaccine skeptics such as Robert Kennedy Jr., Sherri Tenpenny and Del Bigtree as well as a group of physicians known as America’s Frontline Doctors, who support the use of hydroxychloroquine and other alternative treatments for dealing with COVID-19.
An episode featuring Bigtree, best known for his anti-vaccine film “Vaxxed,” and Kennedy began with Marcus and Joni Lamb sitting with their young granddaughter and defending their efforts to help people do their own research about vaccines.
 
 May be an image of 1 person and standing

Anti-vaccine Christian broadcaster Marcus Lamb dies at 64 after contracting Covid

Lamb's Daystar Television Network had asked viewers in recent days to pray for his recovery.
 
15. Herman Cain, died July 2020, aged 74
Former US presidential hopeful Herman Cain dies of coronavirus

16. Olavo de Carvalho, aged 74
- Brazilian COVID-19 vaccine critic, journalist, and conspiracy theorist, was reported by his daughter to have died of COVID-19 after testing positive.

17. Hai Shaulian, died September 2021
- a prominent Israeli opponent of vaccination who died from Covid. His supporters "claimed that he was murdered by government authorities... so that he would not disclose the truth about what they claim is a fictitious pandemic and a dangerous vaccine", a response characterized by Israeli newspaper Haaretz as a cult-like refusal to acknowledge reality.

18. Vachik Mangassarian
- actor

19. Robert LaMay
- Ex-Washington State Trooper

20. Kelly Ernby
-California Deputy District Attorney

21. Tod Tucker, died August 11, 2021
- conservative talk show host from Oklahoma City, OK. He died after an onset of viral pneumonia as the result of COVID-19.
 
SORRY ANTIVAXXER.COM
 
With few exceptions, everyone listed at the above site is, or was, an anti-vaxxer activist, helping spread COVID-19 misinformation on social media. 
 
Notable Anti-Vaxxers Who Died From COVID-19

Pro-Trump counties now have far higher COVID death rates. Misinformation is to blame

Friday, October 8, 2021

To Vax or Not to Vax? That is definitely a question ...

I get it, it's complicated.

Remember, I was a non-vaxxing mother before all this started!

On one hand, people have good reason to be leery of forced consumption of monopoly product in a capitalist system marked by greed and corruption.

On the other hand, deliberately deployed disinformation mass delusion campaigns via troll farms and AI algorithms have completely muddied the issues and polarized people.

I have written HERE about conspiracy theories and disinformation during other pandemics.

 


 

HERE is the story of the swarming tactics I saw in an on-line anti-vax group.

So what to do?

Jab or no jab?

Honestly ... even though I deplore politicization and disinformation , can I just admit to being a little ... *reluctant* myself?

On the other hand ... my Mum, brother and two daughters have had the jab so far, with no negative effects.

My default setting is to go natural and avoid medical intervention unless truly warranted. That is how I approached childbirth, and most things to do with my health.

But - having been through SARS previously, while we lived in Hong Kong, I know Covid is real and that even the most robust immune system doesn't always deal well with a novel virus. I got the 'Russian' Flu when I was 12 and was so sick, I would not have known or cared if I died, I was so out of it.

And there is a time and a place to accept medical intervention. There is a risk:benefit equation to consider with *any* intervention, and there is with this also.

Friends in USA who've had Covid and recovered have shared how awful the air hunger was and how they truly thought they were *going* to die (but thank heavens, they recovered). 

I do personally know of one person who had a negative reaction, affecting her sight. OK so that's concerning.

But I also know of three people personally, right here in Melbourne - two who very nearly died, and one who sadly did. The first two - are the parents of someone who went to a protest and brought home Covid to her parents. She was fine. She watched both of her parents very nearly die. The third person was strongly religious and into all the ideology and vert anti-vax. He's now dead, his pregnant wife is on a ventilator, and their four children all have Covid (I don't know if they are unwell or not).

Right here in Melbourne. So that's concerning too.

Update: my husband and I are now double vaxxed. We experienced no adverse effects.

But anecdotal perspectives aside, to really make a reasonable decision, we have to look beyond the subjectives of anectodes and personal experience and look at the bigger picture:

GLOBALLY:

5 million Covid deaths 
250 million cases
7 billion Covid vaccine doses administered
 
USA:  

700,000 Covid deaths in USA so far - higher than the Spanish Flu death toll
386 million vaccine doses administered in USA
7899 deaths suspected to be vaccine related in USA (only 3 definitely confirmed as vaccine related)
Percentage of people hospitalized with Covid in USA who are unvaccinated: 95 - 98%
 
AUSTRALIA: 

2200 Covid deaths
19 million vaccine doses administered
495 adverse reactions following Covid vaccination reported to date
9 deaths suspected to be vaccine related so far
Percentage of people hospitalized with Covid who are unvaccinated in Australia: 95%

Now for some resources that I have found reliable and helpful, in making these complex and sometimes fraught decisions:

Sarah Stogryn of Canada - doula and herbalist like myself:

100+ sources I've found helpful when learning about the COVID-19 vaccines

Well known Melbourne doctor who has been covering Covid information (and disinformation) assiduously:

Dr Sara Marzouk's Facebook page

This not-for-profit has done a lot of work on COVID disinformation, including identifying the key players at the top of that entire MLM, how COVID vaccine disinformation benefits them financiall etc, and the key "master narratives" that almost all COVID and vaccine misinformation reflect:

- Exposing anti-vaxxers' deadly plan to disrupt Covid vaccines, and how we can stop them

Unbiased Science Podcast

Sincere Christians should also examine and be aware that the same Russian troll farm disinformation campaigns that deliberately targeted the Christian faith community have likewise targeted the Muslim, Jewish, New Age, Spanish-speaking and other minority communities.

Russia’s Anti-Vaccine Propaganda is Tantamount to a Declaration of War

"Moreover, the source of much of the misinformation about vaccines comes from an unobvious source: the Russian government’s propaganda apparatus, which cultivates and exploits foreign anti-vaccine “useful idiots,” causing palpable harm to Americans and citizens of other Western countries.

This is part of a much broader and long-standing pattern of attacks by Russia."

‘It’s almost like grooming’: how anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theorists, and the far-right came together over COVID

6 month safety and efficacy data of the Pfizer vaccine confirm that it remains both safe and effective.
Protection against severe disease is maintained at very high levels (despite some waning and a decrease in antibody levels noted in some studies).

Safety and Efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine through 6 Months

IIVVEERRMMEECCTTIINN!

You'll be seeing a fair bit of mention about a common drug called Ivermectin as a treatment for Covid about the place.
 
So just some basics:
 
1. Not livestock doses. Use human doses, properly prescribed, don't self-medicate. This stuff is great for parasites, lice and scabies.
 
2. Avoid drawing conclusions based on cherry-picking a few smaller studies out of context. Look further up the hierarchy of evidence:
 
 
Authors' conclusions
Based on the current very low‐ to low‐certainty evidence, we are uncertain about the efficacy and safety of ivermectin used to treat or prevent COVID‐19. The completed studies are small and few are considered high quality. Several studies are underway that may produce clearer answers in review updates. Overall, the reliable evidence available does not support the use of ivermectin for treatment or prevention of COVID‐19 outside of well‐designed randomized trials.
 

3. At the very least, wait for the Principle trial.

 
The most robust summary of the evidence for ivermectin in COVID-19, published in June, goes one step further. It found available evidence showed ivermectin didn’t work.
This review carefully examined 10 higher-quality (randomised-controlled) clinical trials, which involved more than 1100 patients with COVID-19 being treated with ivermectin.
...
Researchers at the University of Oxford announced in June they would be starting another ivermectin trial, called PRINCIPLE.
This high-quality trial will involve investigating treatments for people at more risk of serious COVID-19. So far, the trial has recruited more than 5000 volunteers from across the UK. Another part of the trial (into another potential COVID-19 therapy) has already reported results.
This new Ivermectin trial is just starting and will compare a three-day treatment of ivermectin in people within the first 14 days of COVID-19 symptoms, or having a positive test, with those having usual care. The trial is expected to report its results in the coming months.
 
More on ivermection:
 
Here is an extremely comprehensive overview of Ivermection.

Ivermectin: Much More Than You Wanted To Know

You could say it "opens a can of worms". Because as you'll know, Ivermection has been used for decades to treat lice, scabies, and intestinal parasites.

Check out this snippet:

"As several doctors and researchers have pointed out (h/t especially Avi Bitterman and David Boulware), the most impressive studies come from places that are teeming with worms. Mahmud from Bangladesh, Ravakirti from East India, Lopez-Medina from Colombia, etc."

and:

"Here’s the prevalence of roundworm infections by country (source). But alongside roundworms, there are threadworms, hookworms, blood flukes, liver flukes, nematodes, trematodes, all sorts of worms. Add them all up and somewhere between half and a quarter of people in the developing world have at least one parasitic worm in their body."

Being full of worms may impact your ability to fight coronavirus ..."
 
In natural health circles, it's been long held that the gut is the seat of the immune system and that improving gut health is  useful in promoting optimal immunity.
 
The author continues:
 
"Treatment of worm infections might reduce the negative effect of COVID-19! And ivermectin is a deworming drug! You can see where this is going…"
 
In the end, he says in summary:
 
 
  • Ivermectin doesn’t reduce mortality in COVID a significant amount (let’s say d > 0.3) in the absence of co-morbid parasites

  • Parasitic worms are a significant confounder in some Ivermectin studies, such that they made them get a positive result even when honest and methodologically sound.

Interesting eh?

The only thing it doesn't mention is the Principle Trial, because results haven't been published yet - but it's good to know about it and keep an eye out.

Debunking Ivermectin: A Complete Guide

by Nick Mark, 30 September 2021

And this from Dr Sara Marzouk:

Below are the abstracts from two published meta-analyses looking at randomised controlled trials of ivermectin to treat SARS-CoV-2 infection.
In the first abstract, the authors conclude that ivermectin treatment results in a 56% reduction in mortality, with favourable clinical recovery and reduced hospitalisation. They also conclude faster viral clearance in the ivermectin group.
In the second abstract, the authors conclude that there is NO significant effect on mortality. There is no significant effect on clinical recovery time or hospitalisation. They also conclude inconsistent conclusions regarding viral clearance in the ivermectin group, with more favourable outcomes only seen in studies at high risk of bias.
Two abstracts, two completely opposite findings.
Now look closer.
Same authors.
Same title.
SAME PAPER.
How can this be?
It’s quite simple, really.
In the first abstract, the authors had included two discredited studies that have since been retracted due to falsified data or unethical methodology. The authors retracted this version due to this.
In the second abstract, the authors revised their findings without the two discredited studies, and were more stringent in their analysis. They then updated their findings.
Ivermectin quickly goes from hero to zero when fake, false, fabricated data is taken out of the equation.
This is why peer-review matters.
This is why meta-analyses and systematic reviews are only as good as the data that goes into them.
This is why scientific integrity matters.
But the antivaxxers who misinform the vulnerable by sharing the former version have, not surprisingly, remained silent about the current version.
Just in case anyone reading this thought that ivermectin was a good substitute for vaccination.
 
 

 No photo description available.

 This Systematic Review of Ivermection (June 2021) led by Andrew Bryant looked promising ... but was dogged by dodgy data and corruption involving one of the studies they included:

Ivermectin for Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19 Infection: A Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, and Trial Sequential Analysis to Inform Clinical Guidelines

as explained here:

Flawed ivermectin preprint highlights challenges of COVID drug studies

I recommend the work of Denise Murphy Plichta as a reliable source of accurate information:

Covid-19: The Delta Variant

As well as vaccines, there are positive developments with certain therapeutics. Watch this space:

Have Australian researchers developed an effective COVID-19 treatment? Potentially, but we need to wait for human trials 

and this:

COVID: 90% of patients treated with new Israeli drug discharged in 5 days

Q: How does the risk of blood clots after covid vaccinations compare with the risk of blood clots after getting covid? 
 
A: You’re MUCH more likely to have a clotting event with Covid than you are after a vaccine.
And your risk of getting a clot goes on for much longer with Covid than after a vaccine.
The choice is not between “risk vs no risk”. The choice is between “high risk and low risk”. Vaccines carry the lower risk.
 
This data is the result of an analysis of 29 million people in the UK, and includes all sorts of different clots, and the AZ and Pfizer vaccines.
 
Original paper is here
 
Plain English summary from the Guardian here
 
 

To vaxx or not to vaxx? Is this really the question?

August 2021

An open letter to all the agnostic fence sitters out there.

I am sure a lot of people could relate to this bit:

But Big Pharma are greedy and out to get us

I can understand and completely empathise with your skepticism of big pharma, big profits  and the shortcomings of capitalism. Totally get that. Having worked in the world's largest pharmaceutical company in oncology, I experienced first hand how greedy and manipulative they can be - yet I also witnessed the rigor and pedantry of the drug approval process and how these medications save lives. I ask you this, is a pandemic the right time to tear down the system, to fundamentally rewrite the governance of the free market and world economics? Is this the right way forward, now? Or should we maybe all get vaccinated first and make sure our elderly, sick and compromised friends and family are okay and then work out how to tackle greed and the inequities of free market capitalism and this twisted system?

Because I agree with you, the system sucks and needs to be overhauled - yet timing is also everything.

For Christians who have been led to believe that governments/health agencies/ the vaccines are evil/have a bad agenda/are the mark of the beast, this is a vital read:

"Whatever your opinion is of COVID and the vaccine, you’re totally entitled to it. I’m not bashing anyone who doesn’t want the vaccine. What I am bashing is being controlled by fear and buying into fake news and garbage conversations that do nothing but produce anger toward people who differ with you on this topic.Make your decision by educating yourself with credible sources and stand by it. No matter your choice, we can still love Jesus together. But don’t spread fear. Don’t spread anger. Don’t forget that Christ is still King."

Saturday, September 11, 2021

Healthy Communication? Or insubordinate women?

 


In this post, Sheila Wray Gregoire of To Love, Honor and Vacuum, points out that

" ... direct communication is of Jesus, because Jesus is TRUTH. Being passive aggressive is not of Jesus."

So many women in the evangelical church have been taught, as John Piper does, that

 " ... if a man asks them for directions to the freeway, they must be sure not to be "direct and personal" or they would undermine her femininity and his masculinity."

Well! A lively discussion ensued.

And I contributed:

" ... When I was a missionary in Hong Kong, I met American Christian men who were flabbergasted and insulted that women like me existed. I spoke to them exactly the same as I spoke to my peers growing up in New Zealand, to my nursing colleagues, and to all the boys and men I'd ever interacted with up til that point. I spoke clearly, confidently and respectfully. I asserted my opinion quietly and backed my views up with evidence when required. I confidently supplied directions sufficient to provide any listener with the information they needed to get the job done. I gave orders, commands and instructions. I spoke the way my capable mother had educated and equipped me to communicate. If I knew, I said I knew. If I didn't, I said I don't know. I looked them in the eye. I spoke up.

They hated it.

"TOO DIRECTIVE"

I gave one guy a guided tour around a Chinese city and showed him how to use a map with no English and landmarks to orient himself, and tips on how to avoid getting arrested while carrying Bibles.

He reported me and complained that I had been "too directive" and thus, insulted him. I was so confused! I had tried hard to give him a really good orientation.

A female American colleague tried to explain to me how I was going to have to learn to talk to men in a "special" way. She seemed quite gleeful that she had this special knowledge about how to handle men, that set her at an advantage over non-Americans like me who hadn't been taught and trained properly in "godliness", like her compatriots. The Americans did tend to have this superiority, that they really knew the proper way to 'Christian', and were there to provide an example to the rest of us.

There was nothing wrong with my orientation. I came to realise that American men, brought up in this church culture, cannot stand to be TOLD by a woman.

I watched in amazement while a woman would tentatively say or suggest something, and the men would interrupt, scoff and dismiss her. Then a person with a male voice would say literally the very same thing, and they would praise the idea. I would say, "That's literally what she just said." And they'd look confused and offended.

As well as being unable to accept the testimony of a woman as valid about anything, I also noticed that they were unable to hear what a woman was saying. They only heard what she wasn't saying. There was a pattern of deliberately misconstruing anything their wives said, and then alleging that she said something quite different to what she'd actually said. It was crazy-making.

She might say, " I'd really rather not ..." and the man would say, "See? She doesn't mind!"

And the woman would look confused and upset, but if she opened her mouth to protest, the guy would just talk louder and faster, and her objection would just be quelled.

I would say, "No. That won't work." Blunt, specific disagreement. Not suggesting. Stating.

They HATED it!

The problem was, I acted and spoke as if I was their equal. Which I was.

They HATED it.

I have always, and will always, communicate directly. I grew up in New Zealand, then on the mission field, met American evangelicals ... who, suffused with this kind of teaching, then shamed me for communicating directly and protesting openly. I was then "excommunicated" for being "a bad influence on the wives" ... most of whom later ended up divorced (which is really sad, I am really grieved over the trauma in these stories) ... but I am still "communicating directly" - and demanding that my husband do likewise.

The long story here if anyone is curious.

"THAT'S YOUR JOB!"

Another time, my husband was pushing a big flat trolley along the concrete paths of the village. (No one had cars, we did everything on foot and public transport). On the trolley he had all kinds of boxes and luggage filled with vegetables and groceries. We bumped into one of the missionary couples. In response to their queries, my husband explained that he would haul Bibles into China in those suitcases in the morning, then visit a local wet market where food prices were much cheaper than supermarkets in Hong Kong, load up his suitcases and haul the veges home. Between the train station and our village was paved, so he could use his flat trolley to make the hauling easier.

The wife got a thoughtful expression on her face, and opened her mouth to say something.

The husband cut her off and yelled, "No! No! We are NOT doing that! I'm not carrying groceries for you! That's YOUR job".

Apparently, the fact that my husband hauled home groceries and helped me carry the babies when we were out and about (he would often be sporting a baby or toddler in a front or back pack - like me) was "proof" that I was an over-bearing and domineering (read: un-submissive) woman not elevating my husband the way I should.

They were sensitive to wives not being "helped" too much. Things had to be HARD for the wives, so they would "keep their place".

This type of mentality came straight from books like Larry Christensen's "The Christian Family" which taught that men must never change babies nappies or bath/feed babies, because if the wife didn't do all the care-work herself, or if she asked for help, she would be "REDUCING her husband to the role of nursemaid."

My husband and I tag-teamed through all ministry work, housework and parenting. We got varying degrees of censure from the proponents of these doctrines, first because my husband helped with all domestic and parenting work, and also because I was equally involved in all ministry work and leadership decisions. We just did what worked for us, but our failure to observe prescribed gender roles was not well approved of.

I had another friend there in Hong Kong who just happened to be from Melbourne Australia, like me.

We were young Australian girls with a heart for missions. We spent years doing the very heavy work of physically hauling Bibles to the underground church in China and other Communist countries. We needed to be brave and strong-minded to "smuggle" the Bibles past scanners and Customs Guards and to avoid being arrested and detained by the Chinese police. We also spent time in remote outback regions of China. We both got married in China, both to American men.

We came from church communities where women served as equals right alongside men as worthy compatriots. We actually used to joke that the "Aussie grannies" were the toughest Bible couriers of all. Older women who had put in the hard yards, had mental toughness, had raised a family and were no-nonsense. We used to tell our teams of volunteers. "When you see an Aussie granny coming, do not patronisingly ask if she can manage her heavy trolley of Bibles OK. Instead, SALUTE! and say SIR!!"

Honestly? Nobody whined about the hardships and created more "my ego needs more stroking" drama than the American men. We finally had to have a question in our application form: "Do you have any problem with being instructed by, told what to do or given commands by a woman leader?" - because we had so many tanties-in-his-panties from American men.

Renee and I operated from an assumption of equality, who presumed and expected equal inclusion, opportunity and respect, and who knew we were as tough and fearless as any of the men. It really seemed like the fundamentalist men wished we didn't exist, because we interfered with the programming their wives were under. 

We weren't submissive, obsequious and ingratiating like their wives were required to be. We didn't flutter and stammer and "suggest". We stated. 

We didn't flip our hair and flutter our eye-lashes and lower our gaze. We made direct eye contact and didn't look away. 

We didn't swish our skirts in a "feminine way". We stuck our hands in our pockets (don't get me started on POCKETS, there should be a feminist tome just on POCKETS) and just stood there. 

Being. Occupying space. Unapologetically. Not seeking permission. Just because.

"TOO MANY WOMEN AND GIRLS!"

One day, one of the missionary wives came up to me, as I rode around town on my bike with my shopping in the front basket and my toddler in the bike seat behind me. She said, "You're amazing, Julie - you ... you still have some LIFE left in you!"

I felt so sad. What a horrible indictment of what being married to a godly missionary man was supposed to be about.

Walking with her children one day, that woman's eldest son burst out with: "MY DAD SAYS THE WORLD IS OVERPOPULATED WITH WOMEN AND GIRLS!" - right in front of his younger sisters. This teenage boy was aghast, because in his role as self-appointed policeman of female subordination, he "reported" by daughter to me for constantly walking ahead and failing to allow him to lead the way. I abjectly ignored him. I refused to correct my daughter. He was astounded, and annoyed.

We saw women who were afraid to spend more than a few seconds greeting us in the street before scuttling away. 

We saw women who had complete mental breakdowns. 

We saw women who physically attacked their children with excessive corporal punishment because of the horrible stress they were under. 

We saw women whose health would collapse whenever their husband dragged them back into China, because that's the only way they could get their husbands to HEAR them. 

One woman whose husband locked her outside all night when she was 7 months pregnant because she questioned his missions trip travel plans. 

"DOES HE LET YOU OUT MUCH?"

Another who tentatively asked Renee, "Does he (Renee's husband) let you out much??" because she needed the permission of her husband to be able to leave the small, concrete, walk-up apartment an outback town in China, where she home-schooled her many bio and adoptive children.

"DO YOU SUBMIT?"

Another whose husband took complete control of the family's meagre finances to gamble on a high-risk investment. She was a highly educated Chinese woman with degrees in business. She pleaded with him over he phone - he cut her off, repeatedly demanding, "Do you submit? Do you submit?" ... and left her struggling in abject poverty, with 5 children who were "home-schooled", with inadequate clothing and food, and not enough to placate the irate landlord ... while he went on constant "ministry trips". 

Another wife who stood in church to testify that her husband was "such a gentleman". Because he held the automatic train door open for her. How nice. Except that he let it go just at the last minute so that it slammed shut on her and broke her arm. And we knew. We knew.  

Another prominent American man used his control over the supply of Bibles to build his personal empire. And complained about the pastor, and ultimately got the pastor chucked out of the church ... because that pastor (Australian) wanted the American missionary's wife to lead a Bible study. This was a sensible choice, because the wife had theological degrees and was a natural Bible teacher and group leader, and the husband was busy and often away doing his Bible work. This American insisted that ONLY the man in a marriage could lead a home Bible study, and that is was disrespectful and degrading for a man to have his wife in such a leadership role.

"THE KIDS STAY WITH YOU!"

When I visited a family in an even more remote town than the one we were in, the husband decided to take us around to show us the town and take us to a restaurant. The wife put her head out the window and called to her husband. Before she could say a word, the husband shouted, "NO! No kids. Keep them all with you! They're not coming with me." I was newly married and childless then. Now, I understand her desperation. If I could go back in time, I would yell, "You sexist, insensitive jerk!" and my husband and I would have gone straight to her apartment to fellowship with HER instead of her Big Man Mission Leader husband, and given her a hand with her 8 kids.

So yeah. Renee and I, and other liberated women like us, kinda interfered with the fundamentalist doctrinal programming, just a tad.

Note: all the above examples were American.

It is amazing to think that I said this stuff back in the1990s in Hong Kong, and now, finally, more people are publicly speaking up about these issues:

"I looked at my pastor's wife directly and said, “I am not against these people. I care about them very much and I am sad that they are hurting. But I want to stand in my generation and state for the record that I am AGAINST this doctrine, with its cut-and-paste theology and “Emperor’s New Clothes-style manipulation. I believe it is deception and that it leads people who mean well into bondage. They think they are on a road that is sign-posted “Holiness” but the road only leads to a religious counterfeit of it. It makes people strive harder at being righteous instead of leading them to the cross. It covers up abuse and sin. It actually instructs husbands and wives in how to be co-dependent and dysfunctional. It emphasizes rules and rigid roles instead of relationships and intimacy – with God, and with each other – which is the purpose for which we were created.

The chain-of-command, male-headship, unilateral submission doctrine is not from God and its fruits are rotten. If God allowed all this to happen just so that I would finally come to my senses and accept the extreme submission doctrine, then I have to say, His advertising stinks! Why on earth would I want to sign up for what I see happening to my friends?

But maybe God has allowed this to happen so that seeing this happen to my friends would prompt me to raise the alarm and, at the risk of being branded a heretic, speak out against this false doctrine and speak up for mutual submission and team marriage – and the authentic submission and surrender of both marriage partners being led by the Spirit.”

The only time I ever had a man actually try to hit on me was the one time I was in USA *without* my husband (I went there to support a missionary colleague during her birth, as her doula). It was a church service. He was smooging up to me and then tried to snake an arm around me. He stopped when he saw the look on his face. I was astounded that due to my lack of a male "protector" he saw me as fair game.

I never even think about such things in Australia. I have many male friends and never think about the "Billy Graham rule". Same for my huz, he has loads of platonic extended interactions with friends who are women. It never gives me a moments pause. I'd be really sad if my life were not enriched by the male friends I have, because of these weird ideas about "biblical" manhood & womanhood.