By Richard Allen – September 19, 2022
They say that “art imitates life,” and I think they are right. This week’s blog is based on themes from a 1974 Sci-Fi classic cult movie entitled, Zardoz. Just to let the cat out of the bag, Zardoz is a word play on another film title: The “Wi-Zard-of-Oz!” Let me first give a disclaimer and a caution. I’ve not seen the movie for many years, and since it is “R-rated” because of graphic scenes, I don’t recommend that anyone watch it. The quirky plot apparently left an impression on me, so I’m revisiting its themes in light of our current political climate. As a believer in Jesus Christ for the past 48 years, I have a decidedly Biblical view of the world, culture and the musings of my fellow man. And I’m convinced there’s no place where fallen men and women reveal their real beliefs and fears more honestly than in their “tales of fiction.” Zardoz is such a tale. Written and directed by John Boorman, movie reviewer Roger Ebert explains the main themes in Zardoz as follows:
John Boorman’s “Zardoz” is a genuinely quirky movie, a trip into a future that seems ruled by perpetually stoned set decorators. It’s set in an Ireland of 2293 that looks exactly like the Ireland of today, until you get inside the Vortex. And then suddenly everything is shimmering gowns and futuristic throne rooms and beautiful young people who glide around at an endless debutante ball. These are the Immortals. They will never die. They cannot. Every time they try to, their bodies are relentlessly restored by the all-knowing mystical computer mind that runs the Vortex. There’s a catch, though: They can’t die but they can grow old, and for infractions, they’re sentenced to age a few years. If they don’t watch themselves, they might wind up as Immortal Seniles. Outside the Vortex, a barbaric civilization survives. Slaves till the land and gather the crops, ruled over by sadistic masters who sometimes gallop around killing off the surplus population. One of the barbarians is Zed, played by Sean Connery as a cross between Tarzan and Prince Valiant. But one day, Zed finds a child’s alphabet book. He teaches himself to read and then fanatically devours the contents of whole libraries. Eventually he comes upon The Wizard of Oz and, in a moment of blinding insight, sees through the whole joke of his world’s social structure. Zed has himself smuggled aboard the giant floating head of Zardoz (pictured at the top), which rules hinterlands, and finds himself inside the Vortex. Here he is an object of great interest, because the Immortals, you see, having lost the ability to die have also lost the drive to procreate.https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/zardoz-1974
There are so many crazy themes from Zardoz that resonate with our current political culture that it’s hard to know where to start. So let me state the obvious: Like the Eternals depicted in Zardoz, the Elites that rule the civilized world in the West believe they have conquered most of the ills that have plagued mankind since time began. In the movie, the Eternals are both repulsed, and fascinated by the Barbarians who live outside their gated communities of affluence. That doesn’t stop them from using their own version of a floating boogie-man stone head, to scare the barbaric MAGA masses into obedience. Strange as it may seem, today’s Elites have pleasured themselves to the point where normal sexuality and procreation are passe. Seeking new pleasures – they delight in stirring up the Barbarians without to kill their own surplus population. Does anything sound familiar?
Spoiler alert: If I remember right, at the end of the movie all that is left to the Eternals who live privileged meaningless lives is their own desire to die. Turns out that Eternal Life is a bore to fallen men and women with fleshly appetites. In the final scene they are all begging Zed, leader of the Barbarians (Sean Connery), to kill them. The final scene is weird to say the least, but as I remember the dialogue – one after another of these pitiful yet beautiful young Eternals plead: “Please kill me,” then another says “no, kill me” vying for Zed’s lethal attention. It’s this paradox I want to draw attention to and show how our current Eternals – pleasured and bored with life, are wishing for death!
Beyond the obvious fascination with death from our Abortion and Assisted-Suicide culture, our own Eternals are convinced that they have to kill 2 Billion of the Barbarians around the world – just so they can save the climate for their own future pleasure. And through the floating stone head Media / Entertainment / Social-Media / News Cabal, they repeat nihilistic falsehoods of death to a generation of young people, who are now convinced that “life on the planet is close to extinction.” How ironic: Young Western Adults, with their iPhones, and full-bellies living in a society of adults promoting their continuous pleasure – like the Eternals inside the Vortex are all given to despair, hate of what is common, virtuous and good. And like the Eternals – they give full obedience to the Elites they long to be a part of. So what is the response that these Elites are prompting today’s youths to follow: “Don’t pro-create, don’t marry, kill any children that you might conceive, stop the engines of progress (fossil fuel) that keeps the world fed, be devoted to the State that can alone save you and wage endless wars against the latest Barbarians we’ve taught you to hate – for no apparent reason other than to kill off as many MAGA Barbarians as possible! Welcome to the world of 2022! The irony of all this is that THESE ELITE-ETERNALS THEMSELVES HAVE MADE A PACT WITH DEATH. Like the unbelieving Israelites of Jesus’ day, the Prophet Isaiah warned the Elite Rulers who ruled Israel:
“Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers, Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem, Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have made a pact. The overwhelming flood will not reach us when it passes by, Because we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception” (Isaiah 28: 14-15).
That generation rejected the Word made flesh, who had spoken to them the Words of Life. Believing the lie their Rulers had told them, they now faced certain destruction for rejecting the truth. Here’s what Isaiah also promised them:
“Therefore this is what the Lord God says: ‘Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion, a tested stone, A precious cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. The one who believes in it will not be disturbed. I will make justice the measuring line And righteousness the level; Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the secret place. Your covenant with death will be canceled, And your pact with Sheol will not stand’” (Isaiah 28:16-18).
My point in all this is, Western “Post-Christian Societies” have made a covenant with death. Failed ideologies and the propaganda of Socialism has convinced Western Societies to seek their own annihilation and demise! In the years prior to last century’s two world wars, the Universities of Western Europe, especially in Germany taught the false philosophies of Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Charles Darwin, Freud and others. These men caused the murder and starvation of millions. Today, our own Eternals here in the West, living in the safety of their own “Vortex” want to give it another go. And they have convinced an entire generation that their “anti-Christian ideology” hasn’t caused enough death and destruction yet. So, Western societies will just have to give it another try. The New World Order – being pushed by the Elite-Eternals in the West, especially in the Universities of North America and Europe, are championing this covenant with death. They plan to kill Billions, all in the name of “saving mankind, the planet and all animal life from extinction.” Like the Eternals in Zardoz, they are actually pleading for themselves to be killed and eradicated from society. This death wish is evidenced in several ways. Let me share a brief list that should shock us, but doesn’t any longer. As a Society:
We in the West, like the pagans of old, have turned back to animistic beliefs, worshipping the creation and not our Creator (Romans 1:25). Modern Environmentalism is just the latest version of this false religion.
We in the West have abandoned any philosophy of or respect for life. We’re definitely a Post-Christian culture.
We in the West feel it’s our right to play God with all life on the planet. And we feel it’s out duty to export these “tried and failed beliefs” to other cultures – whether they want them or not!
We in the West, through aberrant sexual practices are laying the foundations for a coming birth dearth. What’s ironic is, that other non-Christian cultures (where Barbarians know their place), have high rates of birth.
We in the West profess to love mankind, but in practice hate people, promoting division and hatred everywhere.
We in the West are prosperous, pleasure-filled, yet unhappy and bored to death. We have a culture of death.
I’m not sure how to rank these six, but I can tell you – they’re all inter-related to: “Man’s unbelief and hatred for the Creator God who made and sustains all our lives. For centuries, the evil one has continued to spread his deception across the earth. In the modern world these deceptions are especially pernicious in the West, where even with an abundance of stuff and mostly peaceful safe places to live, we still desire and embrace death. The same people who claim to want to save the planet are willing to kill Billions with man-made viruses and engineered starvation. They call it “The Global Reset,” but those in Christ call it what it is, a Death Wish! The West no longer values life. Life is just a choice granted by the State. In a few short years they’ll not have enough Barbarians to man the factories and farms that Elite-Eternals rely on for their stuff. And while we in the West should be enjoying a life of plenty with our abundance – and great healthcare to boot, the Elite-Eternals seek to engineer death to the masses – just to keep them from voting their fellow Elite-Eternals out of power. It seems like some of these Barbarians are just starting to understand what the Church has always known: Without faith in a transcendent God, the West has no reason to exist. So why not just embrace death?
My prayer is that God would grant them all life by faith in Jesus Christ, and return righteousness and justice to our land!
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