For we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7)
If there is one thing I learned during the past 30 months, it is that faith is a very powerful thing and should neither be underestimated, nor ridiculed. This blog is all about faith and the impact it can have on someone’s life; including that of the person this entire website is dedicated to.
I wasn’t sure if I should write this blog, because I know it will again fuel suspicions about my intentions, and I will probably again be a subject of ridicule for some, but then I thought: who cares? It never stopped me from writing about any of the subjects I wrote in the past, why would it stop me now?
The reason I write this blog is because I want to explain to people why I think the religious topics on the forum DO matter for the sake of investigating this hoax. As most of you know, I created the new forum on www.michaelsarmyoflove.com to discuss subjects not directly related to the hoax, but that doesn’t mean in any way that I do not allow religious topics at all on the forum, quite the contrary because I think we might miss some important things by ignoring it.
I have no intention whatsoever to tell people what they should believe, nor do I want to offend anyone. I respect everyone’s beliefs and I would be the last person to judge people who do not believe at all, because when this hoax started I was agnostic myself and there was a time I was a hardcore atheist. In both cases I thought the Bible was written by evil men who wanted to control the masses, I thought Jesus never really existed and I thought the Catholic Church was one big evil scam that had too much power and too much money. I changed my opinion on 2 of the above; please allow me to explain why.
When I first learned of the possibility of the hoax, just a few days after Michael’s ‘death’, my first thought was that it was purely a PR stunt. As most of you know, I have never been a fan and knew close to zero about Michael. I did know he was a genius, and I did like his music, but I never understood what all the fuss was about. A huge PR stunt in the form of a giant real-life movie sounded reasonable to me and I was confident that he would reveal himself in the movie, or shortly before or after. But October 28 came and went, and no MJ… I was a little disappointed and I didn’t really understand why BAM didn’t happen. At that time I had lengthy chats with someone I will call ‘Bob’ for now (some of you might already have heard about him after last year’s forum drama) and Bob was a great help during the time we wrote the mind control and trial blogs. Both subjects that were pretty depressing and heavy and he always knew how to put a smile back on our faces. I know it was implied back then that he made us write about certain subjects and that he probably had an evil agenda or that the blogs were all his information but that’s a lie. Bob told us to look in certain directions and said we shouldn’t simply dismiss subjects like we did in the beginning. All he did was make us read the stuff for ourselves before judging. He opened my eyes and made me see the bigger picture of the hoax. Without him, I would probably have quit hoaxing shortly after This Is It premiered. Was he an insider? Yes, I absolutely believe he was. Whether Michael or someone close to him I do not know, but he showed me enough to convince me, and I am not easily convinced as you all will know by now. Besides that, he never contacted me; I decided to contact him when I thought he had some interesting information. Is it possible he was just another believer who liked to troll around? Sure, anything is possible, but in that case he would have been one lucky troll to say the least but still, everything that validated him could have been a coincidence if you believe in coincidences. That is where faith comes in. Faith doesn’t mean just believing everything you are being told or shown, faith always has a solid foundation. I had a solid foundation for my faith in Bob, and still have, even though I have never seen him in my life and cannot say for sure who he was. I haven’t spoken to him in nearly two years now, and I hope that if he reads this, he will contact me so that I can thank him for all the hours he has spent with us, which I know must have been frustrating at times.
Anyway, my faith in Bob renewed my faith in the hoax and in Michael, because I now saw that this was most likely not just for PR reasons, but Michael had bigger and more serious reasons for this, besides the entertaining part which of course is also a reason, he’s an entertainer after all. At the beginning the illuminati subjects weren’t received very positively, the reactions we got were Dave Dave reactions to the power ten and some people viciously attacked us for it and even sent death threats. That is when you know you have hit a nerve and that you are probably on the right track, whether or not every piece of information was accurate. Researching the illuminati, mind control and the trial made me look at the world we live in through different glasses. I don’t know why I rejected it so much early in the hoax, maybe because I thought ‘illuminati’ sounded too much like a Dan Brown thriller, and not a real life thriller. I am glad I changed my attitude and researched it for myself, because so many things in the hoax (and real life!) made so much more sense. But again time went by and no BAM. It turned very quiet at times and it seemed like the hoax had died. I spent those weeks and sometimes even months reading up on NWO subjects, the hoax and Michael’s life. I knew he is a religious man, but while researching his life I understood that he has way more religious than I thought. At first I couldn’t understand how a man who is so intelligent could even consider the Bible to be true, most definitely not because I thought it was written by the kind of occult groups he was so against. I decided to ignore the religious aspects of the hoax, until a few months had passed and I was still stuck on my hoax investigation. Every time I read something, something religious came up and I had zero knowledge of the Bible (yet still condemning it, talking about prejudice…). Even if I would have tried to read up on the Bible, I am sure I wouldn’t have understood a single thing because the OT is usually where you start reading, and I had a hard time even struggling through the first chapter, even more because I wanted to read it in English and not in my own language. I wanted to understand what Michael’s beliefs are, and why this mysterious Bible played such a big role in his life even though I was not religious myself at all, but I had no idea how. I did feel it was important to research, because I understood that if God played such a big role in his life, He definitely must have a big role in the hoax as well.
As if God had heard me, I met someone that turned my world upside down. I don’t think there is anyone walking this earth having more understanding of the Bible than he has. I know that seems like a big statement to make, but if you can explain even the most advanced Bible subjects in a way it even makes huge sense to me, then you are extremely gifted. After a few weeks of emailing, I again had the same question popping up because just like Michael, my Bible teacher is very intelligent and is against secret societies, NWO etc. How could he have so much faith in a book written by man and in an invisible man in the clouds? But then I realized that I was having the exact same kind of faith in Michael and in this hoax. Believing Michael hoaxed his death and will BAM one day, is absolutely no different from the Christian faith that Jesus will BAM in the near future. Christians have the Bible as their source; hoaxers have the media and the forum. Christians did the math on the ‘coincidences’ in the Bible and realized that there were way too many to be a coincidence; us hoaxers did the same with everything we have read and heard. Christians have faith in Jesus’ ‘BAM’ because of the evidence collected in the Bible; we hoaxers have faith in MJ’s BAM because of the evidence collected on the forum. The only differences are that Michael never died and that he isn’t God. Michael will have to BAM before he really dies; Jesus has eternity for His BAM. And I know that sounds crazy and impossible for an atheist, but after studying Bible prophecies and seeing the clear fulfillments of them to the exact year, then all I can say now is that there are things that go beyond our imagination and that we simply cannot wrap our pea-brains (of which we only use 10 to 15%) around certain things. Some people will never open up to the possibility, some might start studying the Bible themselves one day and see it, some people need a sign. I needed a sign and I got more than one. The first being my Bible teacher showing up, who is the reason why I have been pretty much absent from the forum the past couple of months. I wonder if there is anyone who has ever received so much Bible information in such a short period of time as I have. It fried my brain many times, but made me see that the foundation for the Christian faith is actually much stronger than the foundation for the faith we all have in Michael and the hoax. Like I said, I have no intention to convert anyone but if you are atheistic or agnostic, and you believe with 100% certainty, like me, that Michael is alive and will be back, then just consider studying the Bible. It won’t hurt you.
Anyway, of course I haven’t studied the complete Bible yet, that would be impossible in only a few months, but I mostly studied the EOW (end of world) subject. And even though my Bible teacher has some knowledge of the Jehova’s Witnesses beliefs about that, he isn’t one and never has been one and therefore is not able to answer all my questions. But God has a solution for everything and in the very beginning of my study my doorbell rang one morning. A Jehova’s Witness was at my door for the first time in years. Normally some of my JW family members go door to door and they avoid me because we are not really on good terms anymore, since they never hid their disgust for me because I would not be converted to their religion. The guy was amazed I let him in, since he has had doors slammed in his face for more than a year. I told him from the start that I was interested in his story, but that he would not be able to convert me. After we talked for about an hour or so, he said he had to go and I gave him some questions, asking him to study it and come back with answers. I never expected him to really return after I was so clear that he would not be able to convert me, but he did. The second visit we talked about the questions I gave him, but this time I was prepared and I was able to make him scratch his head more than once. Coincidentally, he had been studying the book of Daniel recently, just as I had been doing in between our meetings. He tried to distract me from the subject I asked about by trying to baffle me with his study on Daniel, but he ended up scratching his head even more when I started challenging him on that. I might have told him one or two things that triggered his interest, because believe it or not: he will be back a third time next week for another study. When I wanted to understand the Bible, I coincidentally met my Bible teacher and when I wanted to learn more about the JW beliefs, a JW turned up on my doorstep. Coincidence or another sign? I guess it depends on how strong the foundation of your faith is. There have been more signs like this, but I will keep it short.
On with the hoax and the religious aspects of it. Many people have rejected TS and TIAI because of the redirects to Bible passages or discussion about the EOW subject. Although I can understand why people want to dismiss the religious aspects, I would like to point out that this hoax was set up by Michael, who does believe in God, and in the Bible. Therefore, if we truly want to understand all the aspects of the hoax, we should not ignore that and research it. Even if you don’t feel like researching it, let others at least research it and just read their posts. Do not dismiss things solely for the reason that you don’t believe in God or in the Bible. Michael believes in God and in the Bible and that should be enough. I remember how my post about Dave Dave being Michael in disguise was attacked and ridiculed back at MJHD.com; now Dave Dave is accepted as a part of the hoax even by those who still don’t believe it was Michael. I remember how the illuminati and mind control blogs were viciously attacked and ridiculed; now this subject is widely discussed and accepted on the forum. History repeats itself and although most of the people who are still hanging on and are keeping the faith are the ones with manners and can at least complain with respect most of the time, again a subject of which I believe is important to at least investigate, is being ridiculed and dismissed. If you believe Michael hoaxed his death and if you believe he is trying to expose the evil side of our world, you should at least accept that Michael’s belief in God has influence on the hoax. And not just his belief in God, because believing in God and in the Bible automatically means a belief in the devil. Knowledge of the Bible is also of use when you believe in the illuminati, the powers that be, the men behind the curtain or whatever you want to call it to make it sound less like a Dan Brown book, simply because it is all linked. ‘Antichrist’ and ‘Satanism’ are not used that much in articles and books about the subject for nothing. You don’t have to believe in God or Satan yourself, all you have to understand is that those who pull the strings do and that alone should be enough to educate yourself to make sure you will not be deceived.
Here are some quotes on Michael and his beliefs. I do not know which beliefs he still shares with JW’s, but my guess is that there are still a lot of them. But his interest in other religions clearly shows that he was ever searching, looking for answers.
From Jermaine’s book ‘You are not alone’ about Michael’s faith:
Michael always said he was raised biblically. In fact, he was the only one of the Jackson 5 to be baptised. Michael prayed, I did not. Michael learned the Bible, I did not. I didn’t appreciate that Jehovah was the ultimate Father because we were made to believe that He can disown you if you don’t behave. The threat of abandonment – of being ‘de-fellowshipped’ – was ever-present. Michael would learn all about Jehovah’s threat of banishment in later life but in his childhood, the threat of it was a whip in itself.
Michael lifts his eyes from the floor. He looks the saddest I have ever seen him, but I can tell he just wants to talk. Up until now, he has rarely released his emotions in front of us. He has been controlled and resolute, speaking about his faith, how he trusts the judge of God, not the judge in a robe. But his controlled demeanour is now undone, no doubt triggered by yesterday’s testimony, and compounded by the frustration of this back injury.
Michael was dedicated to walking the higher path. I know that he confided in God and felt He was a presence you could never fool or hide anything from. In later life, he once told me he still felt a twinge of guilt for celebrating Christmas and birthdays.
Michael talked a lot about God with Rose. He was the only brother still attending the local Kingdom Hall and doing field service with Mother, La Toya and Janet, tour dates permitting. But different faiths and others’ relationship with God fascinated him, and Rose was Jewish.
For example, ‘I Just Can’t Stop Loving You’ came to him one morning when he was in bed. He grabbed his tape recorder and laid it down there and then. These flashes of inspiration were ‘God’s work,’ he said.
In the end, after allowing three weeks to pass, he followed his instinct and flew up. As photographer Harrison Funk tells it, he wanted to make his visit as low-profile as possible and was sneaked into the school in a detective’s car. When he arrived, he walked into an assembly of children in a large classroom and gave a passionate talk about hope, comfort and God.
Nanny Grace had already explained to me that the current security set-up wasn’t working for him and I suggested to him that he needed people who were not afraid of anyone and shared his trust in God.
People forgot that Michael’s faith in God was too strong to be swayed by any movement and the Nation was there for its
effective security, not any kind of ideology.
He left behind so many great deeds, far bigger than the superstar he was, and he did what every one of us should do: he lived his truth, undeterred by what anyone said and, forever kind, trusted God.
Mother ensured we made time for Bible study. The Old and New Testaments and the faith’s main publications, the Watchtower and Paradise Lost magazines, were always on the living-room table.
Michael always said, ‘My wife is my music and I’m married to my craft’ – and that was why he achieved greatness. But he was also a devout Jehovah’s Witness who lived his life in accordance with the Bible.
We ran to the main house and grabbed our jackets. Everyone was climbing into the convoy of vehicles. Michael, wearing his sunglasses, was already in the car. He was sitting next to Rebbie, who had the Bible in her hand: she was reading from the scriptures. As he listened, he rocked in his seat. ‘Why? Why? Why?’ he kept repeating, beating a fist into his right knee, ‘Why does it have to come to this?’ Rebbie went on reading as Randy climbed in beside her – and she continued to read all the way to court. During the previous weeks, Michael had privately attended two meetings at the local Kingdom Hall, returning to his Jehovah’s Witness roots in his darkest hour.
About Michael’s interest in the end of the world, also from Jermaine’s book:
I watched curtains twitching and used to count how many seconds it would be before the door was slammed in Mother’s face. Rejection didn’t faze her – she was serving Jehovah. Bless her, she’s still blazing a trail in His name in California to this day. The one lesson imprinted on our minds from our own Bible study was that we’d take a fast trip to Hell if we didn’t serve Jehovah and attend the Kingdom Hall. Our Judgement Day was Armageddon, when all evil life would be destroyed and a new world created for the chosen 144,000. Salvation hinged on our devotion to Jehovah. Just in case our young minds were not imaginative enough, the Watchtower illustrated what Armageddon would look like. I remember reading it with Michael, scanning vivid illustrations of buildings imploding and people falling into cavernous cracks in the earth, arms reaching out to be saved. The anxiety spread as we pondered the questions that would decide our fate. Do we honour Jehovah enough? Are we good enough for eternal life? Will we survive Armageddon? If we get into trouble with Joseph, does that mean we’re in trouble with Jehovah, too? ‘I want to go to Paradise!’ I said, more out of fear than enthusiasm. ‘Mother, are we going to be saved?’ asked Michael. The most important thing in life, she said, was to be good and be good to others: salvation is granted to those who keep the faith, do field service and live according to the scriptures. As an adult, Michael would later accept the Watchtower illustrations as ‘symbolism’, but as boys, it was still scary to wonder how Jehovah noticed the difference between us being good and, say, the mailman. What about the times Michael gave kids in the neighbourhood candy and I didn’t? Mother’s stock answer was the same: Don’t worry, He sees everything. And then there was the proximity of Armageddon. When was it going to happen? Next week? How long have we got? An inquisitive mind like Michael’s never could stop thinking about it. I can see him now looking up to an elder to ask some earnest question, only to be patted on the head and humoured. But witnesses seemed forever braced for the end of the world. The first Armageddon was estimated to be 1914. When that didn’t happen, it was changed to 1915 … And they’re still waiting. I distinctly remember when the Jackson family was convinced it was coming: 1963. The Russians seemed sure to bomb the US, JFK was assassinated, and then the suspected gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, was shot – an event we watched on our black-and-white TV. Our household was sure all this was a prelude to the end of the world – and we brothers had never been so keen to get to the Kingdom Hall to honour Jehovah.
Michael’s own words in ‘Moonwalk’:
Every one of my albums or the group’s albums has been dedicated to our mother, Katherine Jackson, since we took over our own careers and began to produce our own music. My first memories are of her holding me and singing songs like “You Are My Sunshine” and “Cotton Fields.” She sang to me and to my brothers and sisters often. Even though she had lived in Indiana for some time, my mother grew up in Alabama, and in that part of the country it was just as common for black people to be raised with country and western music on the radio as it was for them to hear spirituals in church. She likes Willie Nelson to this day. She has always had a beautiful voice and I suppose I got my singing ability from my mother and, of course, from God.
My mother knew her polio was not a curse but a test that God gave her to triumph over, and she instilled in me a love of Him that I will always have. She taught me that my talent for singing and dancing was as much God’s work as a beautiful sunset or a storm that left snow for children to play in. Despite all the time we spent rehearsing and traveling, Mom would find time to take me to the Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, usually with Rebbie and LaToya.
Ed Sullivan may have been thinking of all this when he told me, “Never forget where your talent came from, that your talent is a gift from God.” I was grateful for his kindness, but I could have told him that my mother had never let me forget. I never had polio, which is a frightening thing for a dancer to think about, but I knew God had tested me and my brothers and sisters in other ways – our large family, our tiny house, the small amount of money we had to make ends meet, even the jealous kids in the neighborhood who threw rocks at our windows while we rehearsed, yelling that we’d never make it.
I’ve always joked that I didn’t ask to sing and dance, but it’s true. When I open my mouth, music comes out. I’m honored that I have this ability. I thank God for it every day. I try to cultivate what He gave me. I feel I’m compelled to do what I do.
I had always shouldered a lot of responsibility, but it suddenly seemed that everyone wanted a piece of me. There wasn’t that much to go around, and I needed to be responsible to myself. I had to take stock of my life and figure out what people wanted from me and to whom I was going to give wholly. It was a hard thing for me to do, but I had to learn to be wary of some of the people around me. God was at the top of my list of priorities, and my mother and father and brothers and sisters followed.
That last quote speaks volumes about Michael’s love for and faith in God. Why wouldn’t God be a part of this hoax as well? I will stop the quotes now to keep it as short as possible, but anyone who has seen or heard speeches from him, interviews with him etc., knows how strong and present his faith is in his life. Who is anyone to boot God out of the hoax?
The point I want to make is that I think that we should review the hoax again with this in mind. I absolutely believe there are religious references everywhere that might give us information we have overlooked. The new Thriller clip in This Is It for example has religious references, the rosary found on the death bed, the TMZ articles with biblical references that seeingclues once blogged about to name just a few of (in my opinion) many things that might be understood better if we would just look into it more than we have, whether you are a religious person yourself or not. We are still here after more than 2.5 years because we want to know the truth. That means we should investigate every single clue Michael is giving us, including the religious ones. So please keep an open mind and if you don’t want to discuss it then that is okay, but please do not complain when others do. Michael clearly had, and in my opinion still has, an interest for Armageddon, THE ultimate battle between good and evil. Looking at the lyrics of Thriller now, I believe this is about more than just a scary movie and Thriller happens to be the main theme for the hoax.
Also, is it a coincidence that the three (possibly just two) so called informers that are discussed the most on the forum, all three seem to have a clear religious background as well? And I know some people reading this will attack me again for defending any of them, but I want to say to them: go ahead! These verses say it all:
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as [they were] from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: (2 Peter 3:3-6)
But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. (Jude 1:17,18)
It doesn’t matter whether any of them is Michael himself, all that matters is that they share the same trust in God and have Michael’s best interest at heart. Those with a solid foundation for their faith in any or all of them are not being deceived or brainwashed, they see what is obvious; they have important information to share. The foundation for my faith in those three (or two) is solid for many reasons. Back clearly verified himself with his prophetic messages years ago, TS validated himself with his posts throughout the years and I trust Front for other reasons. If you have a problem with that, then I can’t help you because as long as no one can destroy the foundation of my faith with valid arguments instead of mumbo jumbo, they will have a platform for their messages on the forum. But most of all I have faith in Michael, and in his mission. May God protect him and guide him (and tell him to BAM soon before we all go completely insane! Lol).
Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great. (Luke 6:47-49)
“It’s all for love”
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. (1 John 4:8)
After all the things we tried to make out of the L.O.V.E., maybe it’s that simple: Michael does this for God, it’s all for God. And I am sure God has a hand in it all.
Michael wouldn’t appreciate the religious discussions on the forum? I think that assumption has no foundation at all. And to quote TS: Keep the faith, no matter what happens! We might not have seen Michael back in the flesh yet, but that should not be a problem, for we walk by faith, not by sight…