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People who take their faith seriously – very seriously – have always intrigued me. What inspires some to follow their beliefs to the ends of Earth, while others refuse to even acknowledge the existence of a higher power?
The latest person to grab my attention is a fellow named James Beeks, who was captured after playing Judas in one of my favorite musicals, Jesus Christ Superstar. After being arrested for his alleged participation in the Jan. 6 riot in Washington, Beeks told the court he had “divine” authority and argued that the government had no jurisdiction over him.
Beeks’ outbursts parroted the “sovereign citizen” movement – a belief that government institutions are fraudulent, and as a result followers do not have to abide by them, according to CNN – though he told the judge the term “sovereign citizen” was an “insult” and an “oxymoron.”
Over the last 30 years, I have met folks in Cherokee County who believed in at least some parts of the sovereign citizen movement. They refused to get a driver’s license or tag their vehicles. They thought the country was a corporation and not following the Constitution. And, in my all-time favorite courtroom diatribe, when an Andrews man’s name was called out in court, he yelled back from the cheap seats, “Who wants to know?”
That fellow was far from the only one who has a belief others might find out of the ordinary. One of those folks is a man from Murphy, who shared with me two letters he wrote to former President Donald Trump asking him – commanding would be a better word – to abolish income taxation in all forms.
Why, you ask? Because the man said if we did so, our country would “unleash a flood of blessings of wealth, health and prosperity from God that would be impossible to calculate.” How, you wonder? Because “God requires and deserves to get the first cut of other peoples’ proceeds, or income, and income taxation interferes with that process.”
As far as prophecies go, that one isn’t too bad. Jesus did say to give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, but some Caesars do take a whole lot more than others.
Another fellow, a friendly retired man with a great smile, shared several research papers on specific Scriptures. Each one is handwritten in all capital letters, using different colored pens to emphasize certain points, which can obscure that he cared enough to go into great detail on each passage he was interpreting.
He also included some drawings with his work, one of which is still on my bulletin board at the office today. Hey, it’s an original 8½- by 11-inch ink-on-student paper, so you never know what it might be worth one day.
Those thoughts aren’t too far out of the norm. Others are a bit more out there.
For example, there’s the idea that everyone who has received the coronavirus vaccine (except for those who got a placebo) is going to die within five years, ostensibly in a leftist plot to cut the global population in half. But since liberals are being vaccinated at more than twice the rate of conservatives, why would the lefties want a world consisting of mostly people leaning far to the right?
Reuters.com has one of the best fact-checks in history on the subject: “False. There is no scientific evidence to suggest most people who get an mRNA vaccine will die in the next five years. Current evidence suggests the opposite: clinical trials have found mRNA vaccines to be safe and effective.”
A few actual doctors have even gone online to espouse this conspiracy theory, which some folks believe nicely ties in with the “mark of the beast” in the biblical Book of Revelation. Several faith-based publications have gone a good job of clearly debunking this claim.
While people are welcome to their own opinions, they are not welcome to their own facts. Alas, in this Age of Misinformation, finding the truth nowadays can be a lot more challenging than just throwing up a Hail Mary.
In review: A man who played Judas is claiming divine authority. He’s not alone, as plenty of people right here at home feel they have received a direct message from God. Whether to believe that, of course, is entirely up to you.
David Brown is publisher of the Cherokee Scout. You can reach him by phone, 837-5122; email, dbrown@cherokeescout.com; or on Twitter @daviddBstroh.