Be Everything They don't want us to be
Former Telegraph cartoonist Bob Moran on the events of recent years and his spiritual journey
Dear Church Leaders (and everyone else)
In this post reflecting on my experience on Sunday 5th December 2021…
I wrote that (emphasis added):
I find it interesting when I encounter people who, prior to 2020 at least, would not have called themselves Christians, and yet are able to discern a spiritual dimension to the events of recent years. In contrast, many church leaders seem extraordinarily reluctant even to discuss such things.
For me, one of the most poignant ironies about this is that I see and hear credible reports that God is at work in the lives of non-Christians who are choosing to engage with what is going on, with some ultimately coming to faith. Meanwhile, my own church leaders — and many others — show little or no interest in engaging with calls to repentance… and instead seem intent on helping to protect the lies that they have endorsed.
It is in that context that I have put together this article, which features the recent podcast interview with former Telegraph cartoonist Bob Moran mentioned in this cross-post:
The discussion, which can be watched here in two parts, is based around some of Moran’s cartoons:
The subjects covered range widely and would, I suspect, stretch the Overton windows of most people. But the video is, I think, well worth anyone’s time. Both Moran and his interviewer Alex Kriel have a strong track record of calling out the truth early in recent years.
I found the discussion in relation to this cartoon — from 37:30 in the second part — particularly interesting:
As with many of Moran’s cartoons, it is worth looking at the details carefully. Even the capital letters in the title.
In the discussion he explains that, when drawing Be Everything, he was in two minds about including a couple of things: the father with the rabbit and the shotgun, and the cross on the wall.
And in relation to the latter, he says, from 41:14:
…this whole Christian concept is difficult sometimes… I think the whole point is to strive upwards… to acknowledge that we were created as something much better than what we are. We were corrupted. We were put into this situation where we have fallen, and we are being dragged down further. And we are trying to be separated from God, the source of creation. And the whole point is: can you withstand that, and can you try and gradually move back up to somewhere near where you originally were.
Now that is in some way all to do with this conflict between light and dark and good and evil. And… I think we are some integral part of trying to address this problem that occurred at some point where evil appeared, which, interestingly, is when Lucifer tried to again reach for something higher than what he could have, which was to usurp God. It’s that, “I want to be at the top.”
And I think… that is then mirrored… in the Garden of Eden, and the interesting thing about that is that it is not really a case of “No, you’re not allowed to have this, because I have decided it’s the rule.” It’s more the idea that you aren’t capable of being here, because you aren’t made in such a way that you can have this… for the same reason I don’t let my 10-year-old son use my chainsaw. It’s not just because I like giving you rules… it’s because… you can’t handle it… It’s that… thing of reaching for something that is beyond your reach, which is in my mind what the apple represents. You’re not supposed to reach up here, because you’ve been given this perfect thing here.
It’s got nothing to do with trapping people in ignorance or wanting people to feel lonely… It’s very much… the opposite thing. If we have been placed in this situation as a sort of trial to see how much we can withstand… I think to an extent God believes in us as much as we need to believe in him. And that means we should believe in ourselves because he obviously knows that we do have it within us to resist this incredible force of evil and darkness that is going to come after us with everything it’s got. But that is a counterbalance… Yes, you have humility, because you understand that here is something above you. But you also have immense belief in yourself and your own value and power.
In terms of explaining the bigger picture, I would take a somewhat different approach, along the lines of this book that I wrote during a time between jobs several years ago:
But I can identify with much of what Moran says above. And all of it comes in the context of the remarkable spiritual journey he speaks about next.
By the way, I didn’t used to buy into any of this [Christian] stuff. I was raised as a Christian. I went to church when I was younger, and did have a fairly strong faith until about 18 or 19. And then basically went to university, and read Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, and it all went. I became a fairly militant atheist — for years. It wasn’t until all of this started that I… totally re-evaluated all those ideas and looked at it, and it suddenly made sense to me…
I realised that a lot of people were against me, and that I was going to have to sacrifice an awful lot and just trust that it would be okay. And I had a feeling that I’d been given the skills that I have and the kind of mind that I have so I could be here now and make some kind of difference. So I thought I want to really push this… I don’t want to be half-arsed about this. If I’m going to do it, I want to do it to the best of my ability.
I find Moran’s talent extraordinary, as exemplified by the many paintings here. This is one of my favourites:
I am reminded somewhat of what Stephen Fry once said about Rowan Atkinson: “It is as if God had an extra jar of comic talent and for a joke gave it to a nerdy, anoraked, northern chemist.”1
I recommend Moran’s live show, Art-pocalypse:
A recording can be viewed here:
Highlights for me include 26:09-27:10, 29:33-31:15, and especially 44:29-50:24 and 1:06:37-1:07:27.
I am reminded of “apocalypse” in the sense of the removal of concealment, or the lifting of the veil, as discussed here:
Back to the interview:
And so I did begin to ask for help, basically. I started asking God for help: “Can you just let me know that if I put myself out there and really go for this that it’s the right thing to do, and that I’m going to be okay and be able to keep going.”
And I got a lot of help. It’s been okay, and there’s lots of times when on paper I shouldn’t really have a career any more. No-one should know about me. I should have disappeared. But it’s been fantastic. And all these people have come from all over the place to support me and help me, and it’s been really wonderful. And that is evidence to me that there is a real force of good that exists, and if you trust it and pledge yourself to it, and take that side, then yes, it’s not easy, it’s not like everything’s gravy all the time. It’s still very worrying and frightening, but things are okay. Things work out okay. And obviously it was important for me to put a cross on the wall there [in that cartoon].
Because to me that’s what Christ represents really… Be the thing that all these people around you are telling you you shouldn’t be. Everything he said, more or less, was extremely controversial at the time, in the same way that, now, in the last few years, when people who’ve stood up and reminded anyone of these basic values… protect children, don’t lie, don’t be corrupt… love thy neighbour… You’re a nutcase. The same thing was happening with him.
I am reminded of John 10:20:
Many of them said, ‘He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?’
In John 10 we have the man who claimed to be the truth telling the truth to religious people who cannot comprehend what he is saying. And, rather than take time to think more about it, they accuse him of being demon-possessed and raving mad, and ask, apparently oblivious to the inversion, “Why listen to him?”
I readily acknowledge that I offer nothing more than a poor imitation of God Incarnate even at the best of times, but the response of the religious leaders to Jesus in John 10 has at least some parallels to the way in which my own church leaders have responded to me during the past few years.
Not everyone in John 10 responded to Jesus in the same way though. In v21, we read:
But others said, ‘These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?’
Then as now:
Some see; some see when shown; some cannot — or will not — see
Moran continues:
The symbol of the cross, I think, aside from anything else… even if you just want to see it as a story… you don’t have to believe that it even happened necessarily… but that story, the core thing about that for me is that a good man can be born into a world that’s totally infected with corruption in a very similar way that our world is now. And he can do nothing but good and be persecuted and tortured in the most horrific way.
And it’s that triumph of evil, that situation where all the forces are against you, and evil claims this final victory. And… he just sticks to the good. He wills the good. And he does it without raising an army, without killing anybody, without becoming violent, just through love and endurance and belief. He defeats this evil, and when it’s all over, and evil thinks it’s won, is exactly when it loses. So I think, in short, I’m glad I put the cross on the wall.
For the record, I think the historicity of Jesus’ death on the cross is important. But what particularly strikes me is Moran’s extraordinary journey from an atheist position to where he is now in the context of the past few years. And the fact that he is far from alone in that experience.
Interestingly, the interviewer Alex Kriel responds:
I think I’ve been through a similar trajectory. And maybe this is all about giving our generation a good shake… you can’t just… have Christianity in childhood and then go off and forget it for 30 years without consequence. Maybe that’s what’s happening.
Moran replies:
Yeah, I think so. I appreciate it’s difficult because I’ve not really been to church since I came back to it, because I don’t know what church I would go to. The few times I have been, I end up leaving in a strop, or very cross, because something has been mentioned about Ukraine, or… at the Communion they say, “You don’t have to come up if you’re vulnerable” or “Please wear a mask” or whatever it is. Aargh, I can’t…
Kriel’s advice is:
You have to go to Jamie Franklin...2 Somewhere on his website they have a… proper list of churches so that you can avoid woke stuff… and find bona fide churches that do proper church stuff.
Here is (I suspect) the page on the Irreverend website to which he refers:3
Though I wonder how many of the featured churches that endorsed the covid deception in 2020 and 2021 have yet said anything about it publicly, e.g. along these lines:
Finally here, and as a New Year dawns, it occurs to me that — if I wanted a New Year’s resolution — the title of the cartoon discussed above would make a strong contender:
Be Everything They don’t want you to be
Related:
Dear Church Leaders most-read articles
Some posts can also be found on Unexpected Turns
The Big Reveal: Christianity carefully considered as the solution to a problem
NB according to Wikipedia, Atkinson received a BSc degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Newcastle University in 1975
Who hosts the Irreverend: Faith and Current Affairs podcast
The Irreverend website also offers the option to recommend a church