America’s “Stonehedge” destroyed by vandals. But WHO is the vandal? (Copy)
Two weeks ago, The Georgia Guidestones were partially destroyed by an explosive device set-off by unknown vandals. Later that day, in the proclaimed interest of public safety, the enigmatic monument was demolished. It was private property, willfully attacked and vandalized by somebody.
I first learned of the Georgia Guidestones back in the 90’s. In the early years of the world wide web, some of the main conspiracy theory topics found in message boards included Bob Lazar (who coincidentally was trending high on Twitter last week) and his tales of secret bases in the Nevada desert that housed recovered extraterrestrial spacecraft, secret FEMA camps, the mysterious HAARP project and a centuries-old secret global cabal of the global powerful and wealthy who controlled humanity’s destiny called…the Illuminati. The Georgia Guidestones have long been associated with Illuminati-oriented conspiracies. The pseudonym of the Guidestones’ benefactor and concept creator - R. C. (Robert) Christian - has even been speculated as a play on Rosicrucian. Rosicrucianism was spiritual mysticism movement started in the early 17th century whose goal was to usher in a universal reformation of mankind through the lost insights and ancient truths regarding nature, the physical universe and spiritual realm. Rosicrucianism shared many tenants with the Illuminati and other mystic societies and enlightenment thinking of the time.
The monument was funded through a local bank in rural Elberton, GA by R.C. Christian where the construction monies were held until the commissioned local Elberton Granite Finishing Co. completed and installed the structure. It was unveiled to the public on the Spring Equinox in 1980. Each of the four outer monoliths contained 10 precepts. The list was displayed in eight different languages: English, Russian, Hindi, Swahili, Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic and Hebrew, The capstone connecting the four pillars read “Let these be the guidestones to an Age of Reason.” Here are the chiseled suggestions the Guidestones contained…
Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
Guide reproduction wisely – improving fitness and diversity.
Unite humanity with a living new language.
Rule passion – faith – tradition – and all things with tempered reason.
Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
Balance personal rights with social duties.
Prize truth – beauty – love – seeking harmony with the infinite.
10. Be not a cancer on the Earth – Leave room for nature – Leave room for nature.
While 5-10 are innocuous and imbibed with general New Agey messages at home in the general pop culture coming out of the 1960’s and 70’s, it was the wording found in 1-4 that likely alarmed some, if not terrified some people. Namely, those people being Christians and Conservatives, and especially Conservative Christians. A portion of the American population found in ample numbers in the South. Number 1, specifically suggests an optimal global population size. I imagine that many Christians might find what Genesis 1:26 and1:28 say about humans being fruitful, multiplying and having dominion over all of Earth’s other creatures as being in direct conflict with this first precept on the Guidestones. This precept doesn’t state the means by which this suggested population size should be achieved, nor does it state any mechanism to enforce it, The message clearly implies that humanity should live in harmony with nature and suggests a physical number as to how to do so. How the Guidestones’ benefactors devised this particular number is not explained.
With the current world population about to hit 8 billion people this year, 500 million may seem unusually low by today’s standards, However, in 1980 when the Guidestones were erected, the global population was under 4.5 billion. In the past 42 years, the global human population has nearly doubled! How has that impacted our environment? How have we impacted nature in the time between? Look around. Look at the trash that lines our roadways. Look at the forests we’ve clear-cut to make habitats and commerce. Look at the concrete veins we’ve paved over soil and earth. Not to mention, all the emissions from the devices and machines used to power all this extra human activity and impact thereof for over the past 100+ years. Human activity does impact our environment and thus our climate. This is now definitive.
In the 42 years since the Georgia Guidestones suggested a smaller human population globally so that we can better live in harmony with nature, how much have we experienced the negative environmental and resource-use impacts of the world’s population almost doubling? Just yesterday, the UK reached its highest recorded temperature ever at 102 degrees fahrenheit, and London and its suburbs are burning due to numerous fires. The world’s first coal-fired, electricity-generating power plant - the Edison Electric Light Station - started operations in 1882…in London, at a time when Earth’s population was 1.5 billion. Just let those bookends consume your thoughts for moment. Darkly poetic, right?
The second Guidestone precept suggesting to “guide reproduction wisely - improving fitness and diversity” likely also incites the skepticism of some of the devout as it can conjure up thoughts of selective breeding, euthanasia or even abortion. But are those things really what this precept is proposing? Likely, the definition of fitness being expressed here relates to biological fitness, which means an organism’s ability to successfully pass along its genetic material (DNA) to offspring. Biological fitness is a key component in the survivability of a species. Diversity in mating/procreation is also a positive as it limits the proliferation of mutations and creates a larger, healthier gene pool. This second Guidestones precept might actually be at odds with some Conservative Christians in a different way. Amazingly, Biblical Scripture does NOT prohibit 1st Cousins from marrying and procreating. Leviticus 18 later in the Old Testament covers what marriages and procreation partners are allowed by “God.” Pope Gregory I banned 1st Cousin marriage in the 6th century, but that only applies to practicing Catholics. Presumably for Protestant Christians, it’s still fair game. The Old Testament has several instances of cousin marriage (Rachel, Jacob, Leah, et al). Let’s not even get into who Cain actually married in the Land of Nod and procreated with to bear their son Enoch. Some Biblical Scholars suggest it was his niece or even his sister! In scripture, Adam and Eve had many other children after Cain and Abel, but there’s no reference of children born to Adam and Eve before Cain and Abel. Pre-Leviticus, marriages between brothers and sisters and other close relatives was game. 1st cousin procreation STILL is according to the Christian Bible. Thankfully, in current times it’s rarely practiced as per secular laws or just plain common sense. Cousin marriage would not be good for biological fitness or diversity.
According to the Bible, humans all across the Earth initially shared the same language. But so it says, humans traveled eastward and began building a huge tower rising out of a new city presumably so that they would have a high place of refuge in the event of a great second flood and also gain prestige. Apparently, God didn’t dig on this and saw it as a threat proclaiming “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them” (Genesis 11:6, NIV). So in response, God confused the tower builders and inhabitants by infusing them with a myriad of different languages. The tower building project came to a grinding halt as the builders couldn’t communicate effectively, babbling amongst one another. They all scattered across Earth, destined to form new nations with new languages. The big G done showed them whippersnappers, didn’t he? Like Eve before them, the tower builders of Babel got too big for their britches and had to be checked. And the ghost of Icarus sighed. I suppose some Conservative Christians might think that to “unite humanity with a living new language” (Guidestone precept #3) is to be flippant to God. As maybe an act of human hubris to put back together that which God deliberately dismantled. Or possibly, because it sounds too much like a unified Earth through a cultural binder. Can’t be having that now can we?
Number 4 might cause a little unease among the Conservative Christian faithful because it could be seen as placing faith and tradition underneath reason. However, maybe this suggestion is more about maintaining a stoic posture in regard to the often emotional topics of sin, religion, politics and culture. Who can reasonably argue that we wouldn’t be served well by more “tempered reason” in today’s heated civic climate?
Number 5 and 6 seem downright nationalistic. Number 5 calls for protections for all people and nations through fair laws and just courts. Numerous Biblical verses talk about the importance of fairness, justice and equality. Number 6 speaks to sovereign nations handling their own internal disputes, but there being a world court to handle disputes between nations. Again, this supports nationalism - a concept generally paraded by modern-day American Christian Conservatives. We do have an International Court of Justice at The Hague in the Netherlands led by the U.N. That could be a bit of a rub (more on that below), Number 7 is basically a conservative or libertarian rallying call. Number 8 is covered pretty well by Jeremiah 29:7 (“Seek the welfare of the city, for in its welfare you will find your own welfare) and pretty much all of James, Chapter 2. Number 9 is all peace and love baby! JC would certainly be down. That leaves us with Number 10 which is essentially a plead to be stewards of the Earth and cherish its life-giving bounty. In Genesis 2:15, God tells us to take care of Eden. Later, in Leviticus 25: 23-24, the commandment mirrors almost exactly what Guidestone precept #10 expresses with the words “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For you are strangers and sojourners with me. And in all the country you possess, you shall allow a redemption of the land.”
The Georgia Guidestones stood erect in the flowing rural Georgian foothills for nearly a half century. Fundamentalists, Christian Conservatives and Conspiracy Theorists have long expressed their ire and condemnation over the monument’s existence. The Guidestones were vandalized before. Once back in 2008, when the pillars were defaced with painted graffiti reading slogans such as “Death to the New World Order.” But that was then, and now is now.
On May 2nd, nascent 2022 Gubernatorial Republican candidate for Governor - Dr. Kandiss Taylor - said in video posted to Twitter “I am the only candidate bold enough to stand up to the Luciferian Cabal. Elect me Governor of Georgia, and I will bring the Satanic Regime to its knees and demolish the Georgia Guidestones.” Her campaign had been centered around the phrase “Jesus, Guns & Babies.” After the Primary election results were tallied on June 21st, Dr. Taylor was in a distant third place. Now with over 99% of the votes tallied, Taylor has 3.4%, behind David Perdue (21.8%) and thus losing to Brian Kemp (73.7%). A week after the Primary election day, on June 28th , she spoke at the Flashpoint event in Atlanta. A few days later at this event, on July 1st, the thousands of attendees chanted along with fundamentalist preacher Dutch Sheets in announcing the “Watchman Decree.” If you want to be chilled to the bone, you may watch it here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXMZ_CoUU14 On July 4th, Taylor tweeted that she had just filmed her 1st episode of The Dr. Kandiss Taylor Show for her new Voice of the People Network. Two days later, on July 6th, the Guidestones were bombed and Taylor tweeted “God is God all by himself. He can do ANYTHING He wants to do. That includes striking down the Satanic Guidestones.” On July 8th, the pilot episode of the Dr. Kandiss Taylor Show aired on the right-wing media outlet Rumble.
On the early morning of July 12th, after midnight, numerous Law Enforcement arrive to Dr. Taylor’s residence. After learning from her children that Baxley, Georgia law enforcement are outside their home, Taylor said she called 911 and that the Dispatcher told her that a female had “voice to text” (via the app TextNow) messaged the department said “I’ve shot my husband five times and I’m gonna shot myself” while apparently giving Dr. Taylor’s address. In a video post to Twitter after the event, further explains that she was the victim of a “swatting” attack. Swatting is a term that applies to someone anonymously calling into a 911 dispatch and falsely claiming there’s a life-and-death emergency (usually a murder) that’s been committed at a specific residence. Presumably, this is done maliciously in an attempt to create a “murder by police” situation where a heavy-handed police (often SWAT) response arrives to a location expecting to encounter an armed murderer. Included in her written statement in response to the incident, Taylor included the following comments focused on the TextNow app and its owner:
”"‘TextNow’ is being weaponized by extremists to target and harass American Christians and their families. Since TextNow’s Owner, Derek Ting, and the ‘TextNow’ App refuses to cooperate with law enforcement on this matter, I am calling for an investigation into Derek Ting and ‘TextNow’. I am also calling for a corporate shut down of the app company until they can identify and prosecute the extremist terrorists that they are currently harboring.
We will not waiver or be afraid. Instead, I am calling for an investigation into Text Now, who is aiding and abetting Demonic Left Wing Extremists who are committing acts of terrorism against Christian Americans.”
A couple of days later, on July 14th, Dr. Taylor unveiled the first official episode of her Dr. Kandiss Taylor Show. On July 16th, Kandiss Taylor tweeted “Jesus & Politics. There is NO separation of the church (people) and the state (government). The government rests on the shoulders of the Lord.” The GBI is assisting in the investigation of the swatting incident. Whoever is responsible for the swatting call needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Political violence and illegal intimidation cannot be tolerated in the United States. This is nefarious any way it’s sliced and I’ll be following where this investigation leads.
Back in the summer of 2020, I personally attended several rallies and protests in the wake of the George Floyd murder. While these protests were overwhelmingly peaceful nationwide, there were notable instances of personal and public property destruction and violence. As I did when the 2014 Ferguson, Missouri riots exploded after the Michael Brown killing, I again publicly denounced the property destruction, looting and violence. Regarding both these events, the utter frustration was understandable and the anger justified, but destruction and violence cannot be the response to systemic injustice and malfeasance. The “good trouble” that the late John Lewis encouraged us to pursue, gets overshadowed when bad actors muddy the waters of righteousness. Thessalonians 5:15 calls us to “See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.” which pairs with Leviticus 19:18 which commands Christians with “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”
When our ideologies, causes or religious passions lead us to destructive behaviors armed with the banners of our convictions, we cease to not only be American citizens as will idealize ourselves, but we become the most base representations of our sordid legacy as animalistic tribalists devoid of the higher calling of humanity’s promised future.
Fear and opportunism drove the destruction of the Georgia Guidestones. Fear and opportunism drove the “swatting” of Kandiss Taylor. Fear and opportunism drives looting and the burning destruction sometimes surrounding otherwise peaceful protests. Destruction of property is NEVER the answer when trying to prove your “side” is the morally just one. On the contrary, it just makes your “side” look like a den of cowering assholes.
As of today, the GBI have given no information regarding any suspects who may have blown up the Georgia Guidestones. Somehow, I get the feeling, this story is far from over.