March 16, 2025

Salem: The Man Who Fought Back

Salem: The Man Who Fought Back

We continue our exploration of the Salem Witch Trials

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We continue our exploration of the Salem Witch Trials

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

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the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good afternoon, everyone.

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Let me ask you a question. Are you a Sunday

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afternoon drive type of person? Do you like a it's

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Sunday afternoon, you just go get in your car and

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you just drive around? Do Do you find that entertaining, relaxing, fun?

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Or you're like, what just get around? Just get in

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a car and drive around for no particular reason with

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no destination. Nope, not not my thing. Or maybe you

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love to do it. Maybe you did it when you

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were a kid because you didn't really have a choice

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that the parents said, hey guys, it's Sunday afternoon, get

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in the car, and they just drove wherever. And you're like,

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and you're sitting in the backseat thinking, what are we doing?

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We're driving it's a Sunday afternoon drive. Learn to love

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it and maybe you loved it, Maybe you who loved

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it then maybe you don't love it so much now. Well,

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I don't know if you love Sunday afternoon drives. I

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don't know if you're a Sunday afternoon drive type of person.

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But well, today we're going to take a Sunday afternoon

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drive back to Salem, and we're going to continue our

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exploration of the Salem Witch Trials and see if we

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can learn a little bit more and see if we

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can well continue the story. We're nowhere close to finishing

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the story, but if we can continue the story and

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hopefully learn a little bit more about what happened in Salem.

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But first I need to say good afternoon everyone. It

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is Sunday, March sixteenth, twenty twenty five. It is currently

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three thirty six pm Central time, and I'm coming to

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you live from the Theology Central Studio located right here

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in Albilene, Texas. And three thirty six pm Central time.

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That's a pretty good I think that's a good time

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for a Sunday afternoon drive, don't you think, right? I

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mean you've had lunch. I mean this is a good

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time for a Sunday afternoon drive. So everyone get in

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the car. We're going to Salem. And well, it always

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sounds more fun than it is, because I mean, when

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we drive to Salem, even though I love the city

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man the Salem Witch Trials, that's not really fun or entertaining.

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But it is very important that we understand them now.

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As we've been looking at the Salem witch trials, we've

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looked at a lot of things, but we've been looking

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specifically recently at the afflicted and the accusers, which typically

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are the same those who were claimed to be afflicted

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by a witch, being tormented by a witch's spirit. They

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turn out to them to be the accuser of whoever,

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the witch, from whomever they're going to point their fingers at,

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saying that's the witch. And first we started with Betty Paris,

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Betty Paris and Abigail Williams. Betty Paris and Abigail Williams,

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if you remember them. Betty Paris, she's the pastor's kid,

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the pastor's daughter, the reverend's daughter. Abigail Williams is the

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reverend's niece. And remember we'll refer to them as not

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only they are the first afflicted and the first accusers,

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they're the two girls well who had a glass of

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water and an egg and did the egg ritual, and well,

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we talked about that story. Then we had Anne Putnam Junior.

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She's the girl who ultimately apologizes and her story is

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somewhat tragic, and definitely she feels very much like the

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victim in some ways. I mean, she accused a lot

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of people, but it really feels like she was being

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kind of manipulated and pushed by her father. Then we

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have Elizabeth Hubbard. She's the drama kid, She's the dramatic one,

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the theatrical accuser. Then we turned to our attention to

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Mary Warren. She's the accuser. Well who becomes the accused

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And well, she's the accuser who recants of her accusations

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to then turn around and make the accusation again. Well,

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her story is all complicated. But when we talk about

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Mary Warren, Now what I wanted to do is I

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wanted to just kind of follow the story of the

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afflicted and the accusers. Right, here are the girls who

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are afflicted, and here's their accusations, and here's who they accuse,

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and just kind of go through them chronologically and then

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talked about the accused, maybe somewhat in chronological order, and

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then what happened. Kind of do it that way. But well,

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we're going to take a detour because we can't talk

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we can't finish the story of Mary Warren until we

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talk about, well, the one person she accused, which just

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happened to be. I guess we will refer to him

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as her employer, and she kind of picks the wrong

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person to accuse. She really does pick the wrong person

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to accuse, because the person she accuses, well, he tries

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to fight back. And so we're going to tell you

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the story of John Proctor, the man who fought back.

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John Proctor, the man in a sense, who stood against Salem,

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the man who fought back, the man who stood against

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the insanity that's going on, and we're going to find

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out what happened to him. Now, as we have been doing,

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I will try to do this more in a narrative way.

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I think it works better than just trying to do

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it in a very kind of an academic lecture where

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I'm giving just dates and bullet points. The dates are there,

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and there are specific points I'm making, but I'm still

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going to try to tell the story as a narrative.

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So are you ready, Let's take our Sunday drive to Salem,

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and let's consider the story of the man who fought back. Now,

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in the chaos of the Salem witch trials, there were

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many who accused, many who stood by in silence, and

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a few who dared to resist. One man saw through

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the hysteria, he saw the lies, and he's woke out

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when no one else would. His name was John Proctor,

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and for his defiance he would ultimately pay the ultimate price.

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His story, I believe, I believe this is fair, is

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one of courage and definitely one of tragedy. The courage,

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I believe that's absolutely true, and there's no question about

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the tragedy of his story. A man who refused to

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bow to fear, a man who stood up for the truth,

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reason and justice, and a town consumed by absolute madness. Today,

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this afternoon, I hope that we can learn about the

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story of John Proctor, his rise, his fall, and his

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final stand. Before John Proctor became a symbol of resistance.

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John Proctor was a successful farmer and tavern owner in

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Salem Village. Born in sixteen thirty two, He was a

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man of means, a husband and a father, but Proctor

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was also a man with enemies. He had a reputation

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for speaking his mind, something that in Puritan society could

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be dangerous. He was very outspoken, skeptical, and not easily

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swayed by religious fervor, and a town where faith and

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fear ruled that made him a target. And when the

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first accusations of witchcraft spread through Salem, well he saw

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through the lies immediately. He believed the whole thing was

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a lie, and that the whole thing was fraudulent, and

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he speaks out against it. Well, you don't speak out

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against I mean, if you've been a Christian. You know,

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if you are a Christian and you are in kind

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of a church community, you go along with the church community,

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because if you don't, you're gonna be ostracized and kicked out,

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or who knows what that's going to happen. There is

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a sense of pressure. When the witch trials began in

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early sixteen ninety two, Procter watched as young girls, some

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no older than the age of nine or ten, began

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accusing women of witchcraft. But unlike most of Salem, he

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did not believe them. While others saw signs of the devil,

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John Procter saw children putting on an act. He called

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them out, He accused them of lying. He would even

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mock their afflictions, even saying that if they were truly possessed,

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they should be they should be beaten out of it.

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I mean, you may not agree with that, but the

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point is he didn't believe any of this. He mocked

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their afflictions. He said, hey, even if they're truly possessed,

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just beat it out of them, just beat it out

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of the Like he wasn't for this panic, this paranoia,

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this fear. He was like, let's just face this. And

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again he believed it was all fraudulent and lies. But

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then see it's one thing to be, you know, talking

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about everything that's going on, speaking out against it. But

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it did not take long that his own servant, Mary Warren,

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accused him and his wife. So he's skeptical, he's calling

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it all into question, and then his own servant accuses

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him and his wife of being a witch. That's not good. Now,

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this is where we could have lots of speculation, like

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why would Mary accuse them? No? Is she upset with them.

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She's a servant in this house, she doesn't like the

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way they treat her. Does she have an asta grime?

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Because it doesn't make sense that like, hey, I'm just

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wanting I want to participate in this. Well, why are

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you going to accuse someone who's so skeptical of it?

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That just seems like I don't know, who knows? Maybe

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she thought that it would play into her own hands.

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I mean, again, the motivations in all of this is

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very differentficult sometimes to unravel, and sometimes all we can

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do is is speculate to some level. I'm trying to

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be very careful when I do speculate, and let you

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know that I just wow. But she turns around and

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she accuses both of them. Now, John Proctor employed Mary

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Warren as a servant. At first, she played along with

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the accusations. But Proctor, now this is where it's somewhat disputed.

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Did he pressure her to tell the truth. You know,

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he would have had some confrontation probably with her, since

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he thought the whole thing was a lie. And you know,

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all of a sudden, she starts playing, playing along with

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the accusations. Maybe she gets mad. Maybe he calls her

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aside and he's like, hey, stop this, what are you doing?

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This is ridiculous. Don't fall for it. Maybe she gets mad.

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I don't know, and at first she does, she does

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stop it. In fact, she were cants saying that everything

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was a lie, there were no witches in Salem, and

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that it all was hysteria. So she's like, you know what,

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you're You're right, guys, this is this, this is all

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this is all foolish. Now does she is she doing

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this because she's a servant, she's being told to? Does

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she really believe it? I mean, there's it's really hard

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to unravel because of her position, right, So so what happens, Well,

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the fact that now she comes out telling it's all

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a lie, this could have possibly ended the trials, but instead,

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in kind of a weird twist of fate kind of thing,

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it actually seals John Proctor's fate because the moment Mary

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Warren recanted, she was then accused herself. The court turned

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on her. She panicked, and in order to save herself,

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she did the only thing she could do. She accused

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John Proctor and his wife of witchcraft. Now that may

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explain why she accused John Proctor because on one and

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you can look at it like why would you accuse

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the man who's so skeptical, But now she makes accusations.

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Then she's like no, no, no, no, no, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

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I didn't do this. Clearly, I think it's pretty fair

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that John Proctor confronted her, then she she recants, then

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they turn around they accused her of being a witch

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and she's like, wait, wait, wait, wait, I recan't of

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my recanting, No, no, no, there are witches here and

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oh oh right here John Proctor, he's the witch and

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his wife because now she's being accused, so now her

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own life is in danger, so she tries to then

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accuse John Proctor to save her own life. So now

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I think, now, I think that's a more clear motivation, right,

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I mean, when you're looking at the story, you could

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be like, well, why would she accuse John Proctor? Well,

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I think there's the reason she gets accused. Right, She

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makes accusations, she recants, then she goes back to me

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make I guess the actual chronologie order she's afflicted, make

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her accusations, then gets pressured were cans of her accusations.

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Then she gets accused, and then she comes back with, well,

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a new accusation. I think that's the correct way of

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understanding this as to the best of our ability. So

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now John Proctor, the man who had fought against all

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of this nonsense, well now he's going to be on

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trial himself. John Proctor was dragged before the court on

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August fifth, sixteen ninety two. His wife, Elizabeth Proctor, was

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also accused and arrested, despite petitions from fifty one people,

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not just in Salem and neighboring towns. They attested Procter's

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upstanding character. Both John and Elizabeth, though, are found guilty

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of witchcraft. They have fifty one people saying no, no, no.

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They petitioned the court, well, what are you doing. John's

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not a whitch. This is wrong. They're like, no, no,

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he's guilty of witchcraft. And guess what. The court relied

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on spectral evidence, a controversial and intangible form of testimony,

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played a pivotal role in their convictions. This spectral evidence nonsense.

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You can blame Cotton Mather for a lot of this,

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even though Christians want to defend him. There's no defending

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Cotton Mather. But he gets I mean, this is crazy.

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Mary is afflicted, makes accusations, recance of her accusations, then

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makes new accusations, and she blames John Proctor and his wife.

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They're taking the court and found guilty. There was no

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physical evidence. There was nothing but praise for his being

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an upstanding person in the community. Proctor was found guilty.

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Now what does he do? What can he do here?

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How can he save himself? Well? His only hope is

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to confess. If he will confess, he may be able

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to spare himself. His only if he has to confess.

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I mean, it's kind of weird. If you confess, maybe

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you will save yourself. If you don't confess, well you're

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going to die. What is he going to do? You see,

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if he admitted to being a witch, he would most

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likely live. But if he refused, if he would not

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lie to save himself well, On August nineteenth, sixteen ninety two,

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John Proctor was hanged on Gallows Hill along with four others.

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He doesn't confess. He refused to admit that he is

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a witch. Now I cannot verify the following statement. I

248
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cannot verify the following statement according to some and I

249
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only specify some. I can't even tell you for sure

250
00:16:15.039 --> 00:16:17.960
how many. In some ways, some may this may seem

251
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to be a legend. Some may say it's accurate. I

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don't think we ever know. But according to some reports

253
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has basically his final words were and I quote and

254
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again I can't say that this is what is quoted,

255
00:16:33.039 --> 00:16:36.399
but there's no I don't think there's any document documented

256
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proof that this is his final words. But it is

257
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said that His final words were, God knows I am innocent.

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God knows I am innocent. Now, Elizabeth Procter's story doesn't

259
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end there. John's proc ins and Gallows Hill, he gets

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a news tied around his neck. He dies. It's over.

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The man who tries to stand against this, the man

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who tries to fight against it is he's accused by

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his own servant girl, and he's dead. He's dead. But

264
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what about Elizabeth Proctor? Her story doesn't end with her

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husband being hung and killed. Now she is sentenced to die,

266
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but she was pregnant at the time of her trial,

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So this is going to add a little something to

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her story. Right, So she's sentenced to die, but she

269
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is pregnant at the time of her trial. The court ruled,

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you're gonna give birth, then we're going to kill you.

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We're gonna let you give birth, and then we're going

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to put a noose around your neck and kill you.

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I mean, what a good Christian society, this is, right?

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I mean, hey, don't we all want Christian nationalism? Okay,

275
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all right, but hey, this is what happens when church

276
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and state merges. Okay, I say this all the time.

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So they're like hey, we're gonna let you. We're gonna

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let you give birth, and then we're going to kill you.

279
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But by the time she has her child, the trials

280
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are over, the hysteria had ended, and Elizabeth was spared.

281
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But wait, does the story have a happy ending. She's

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gonna ride off into the sunset. Well, obviously she's not

283
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gonna do that with her husband because her husband is dead.

284
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But her suffering does not end there. The government, remember

285
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John Proctor was well pretty well to do. They seize

286
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all of his property, and they leave her destitute with children.

287
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They sees all of his property. She had to fight

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to reclaim her home, living in poverty for years. Eventually

289
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she remarried in sixteen ninety nine, rebuilding her life as

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best as she could. But the scars of Salem they

291
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never truly faded. I mean, what and just this seizing

292
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of property, this was I think there's a lot more

293
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to the seizing of property to the story of Salem,

294
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because remember Anne Putnam Junior. When she was making all

295
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of her accusations, her father was in a lot of

296
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land disputes, and some of the people she accused, I mean,

297
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it felt like she was accusing all of her father's enemies. Well,

298
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once you were accused of witchcraft, it seems, and I

299
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cannot one thousand percent verify this at this very moment,

300
00:19:43.039 --> 00:19:45.119
at this very time, in this very broadcast, but I

301
00:19:45.160 --> 00:19:47.359
do remember hearing discussions about this in one of my

302
00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:50.440
visits to Salem, that if you were accused, basically they

303
00:19:50.480 --> 00:19:54.119
took your property, they took your land. Well, if you

304
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were in a position, hey accuse that person and then

305
00:19:57.200 --> 00:19:59.880
you were able to be based off your political state

306
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or who you knew, you could possibly obtain said property. Yeah,

307
00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:07.000
you can see that there could be some really very

308
00:20:08.039 --> 00:20:14.200
ungodly motives going on here, very ungodly motives. Now, John

309
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Proctor obviously was not a perfect man, because well nobody is.

310
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He definitely had flaws, because we all do. He definitely

311
00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:26.440
had enemies, and he had a reputation for speaking his mind.

312
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But when this town, when his town, when Salem, when

313
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Salem Village fell into madness, when his neighbors turned on

314
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each other, he stood for the truth and he paid

315
00:20:39.319 --> 00:20:46.160
for it with his life more than three hundred years later,

316
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three hundred and thirty three, to be pretty close to exact,

317
00:20:49.720 --> 00:20:52.720
three hundred and thirty three. His story reminds us of

318
00:20:52.759 --> 00:20:56.599
the dangers of hysteria, the power of fear, and the

319
00:20:56.640 --> 00:20:59.960
importance of standing for what's right even when the cause

320
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is high. John Proctor didn't just die in sixteen ninety two.

321
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Became a symbol, a symbol of reason in the face

322
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of madness, a symbol of truth and a world of lies.

323
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But I think it's very important to remember this. It's

324
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very romantic to say, Hey, I'm going to stand up

325
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in the face of the lies. I'm gonna stand up

326
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in the face of this madness. It's very romantic. But

327
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just remember it didn't really work out so good for

328
00:21:29.240 --> 00:21:31.920
him because he didn't stop the Salem It would have

329
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been one thing if his death stopped the Salem witch trials.

330
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His death did not stop the Salem witch trials did not. Ultimately,

331
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what stops the Salem witch trials is when someone in

332
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governmental authority, they're a loved one, gets accused and they're like, okay,

333
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the end stop it. That's is done. John Proctor didn't

334
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stop it. John Proctor was just another person hung and killed.

335
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As far as what how things played out history, we

336
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may look back at John Procter and go man that

337
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man stood for truth. So sometimes what it means is

338
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you can stand for truth, you can stand against fear,

339
00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:10.680
you can stand against paranoia, you can stand against conspiracy,

340
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and you just get run over by the mob. They

341
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don't care. They silence you, they remove you, and they

342
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move right off. And most of the time, I think

343
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a lot of times that's the way it works. We

344
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always like that idea that one man stands against the mob,

345
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stands against the masses, and can put an end to it.

346
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In many cases, you're just a note in a history

347
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book somewhere. Nobody cares. Someone trying to say, wait a minute, guys,

348
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I think this is all nonsense. Nope, no, no, fear paranoia,

349
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and the same kind of thing happens time and time

350
00:22:45.119 --> 00:22:49.480
again in Christianity. You have the fear paranoia of the

351
00:22:49.519 --> 00:22:52.160
great Satanic scare. And then the next thing, you know,

352
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we have this fear and this fear and this fear.

353
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I mean, dare I say, everyone will yell and scream

354
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about the LGBTQ community, the LGBTQ community, Oh my goodness,

355
00:23:01.079 --> 00:23:02.720
they're taking over everything. What are we going to do?

356
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We got to stop it, We got to stop it.

357
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Where are all the programs about children being molested inside churches.

358
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Just look at the Roys report, one restory after another

359
00:23:14.759 --> 00:23:18.799
of another of sexual assault, a child, child pornography, crazy

360
00:23:18.799 --> 00:23:21.720
stuff going on in churches. Where's the fear and panic

361
00:23:21.759 --> 00:23:28.559
about that? Oh if there's a you know, a drag

362
00:23:28.640 --> 00:23:31.000
show in the town somewhere. Oh no, it's the end

363
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of the world. Oh we're being overrun by you know,

364
00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:37.000
transgender It's the end of the world. Oh what are

365
00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:39.960
we going to do? Nobody worries about how many kids

366
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have been molested in the church in the last twelve months. See,

367
00:23:50.359 --> 00:23:53.240
all you gotta do is whoever control? All you got

368
00:23:53.279 --> 00:23:56.559
to do is it's not it's I guess the best

369
00:23:56.559 --> 00:23:59.759
way to explain it is, once a narrative is established,

370
00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:02.160
this is what you need to be afraid of, and

371
00:24:02.240 --> 00:24:10.559
here's your enemy, rationality, thought, thinking facts. Nobody cares about. You.

372
00:24:10.680 --> 00:24:12.480
Just say here's what you need to be afraid of.

373
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And then it's just insane. I remember, I don't have

374
00:24:16.160 --> 00:24:18.880
the book here in front of me. It's downstairs in

375
00:24:18.880 --> 00:24:20.799
my closet. I need to find it. It's called The

376
00:24:20.920 --> 00:24:23.519
Last Pope. And I remember, and this was all over

377
00:24:23.559 --> 00:24:27.359
Sermonadio at the time. People making these predictions that I

378
00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:29.480
wasn't Pope. I don't know if it was Pope Francis.

379
00:24:29.480 --> 00:24:31.720
It may have been Pope Benedict. I don't remember which one.

380
00:24:31.799 --> 00:24:33.559
But this entire book is a big book, like four

381
00:24:33.599 --> 00:24:38.160
hundred pages, that there's an ancient prophecy and that the

382
00:24:38.200 --> 00:24:40.680
Pope at this particular time and then he's going to

383
00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:43.079
basically be like the Antichrist, and all this stuff was

384
00:24:43.119 --> 00:24:45.839
going to happen. And I kept telling people, this is nonsense,

385
00:24:45.960 --> 00:24:49.720
this is nonsense, This is nonsense, This is nonsense. Oh,

386
00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:52.359
you don't know what you're talking about. You're blinded by Satan.

387
00:24:52.440 --> 00:24:55.839
Well here we are now. Pope Francis is close to dying,

388
00:24:56.039 --> 00:24:58.400
and there'll be another pope after that. And none of

389
00:24:58.400 --> 00:25:00.880
the stuff that was supposed to happen happened. It was

390
00:25:00.960 --> 00:25:03.480
all lie. It was. But to all the people who

391
00:25:03.519 --> 00:25:05.599
fought with me, do they come back and apologize. Of

392
00:25:05.680 --> 00:25:09.039
course not. They're onto their next conspiracy, all the people

393
00:25:09.079 --> 00:25:12.359
with the QAnon conspiracy theories, all the people even there

394
00:25:12.440 --> 00:25:14.720
was even some of it going around, just maybe a

395
00:25:14.799 --> 00:25:19.079
little bit on Sermonadio about Sandy Hook being all all

396
00:25:19.119 --> 00:25:21.480
a lie and that that no kids really died and

397
00:25:21.559 --> 00:25:24.079
crisis actors, and then I just I mean, there was

398
00:25:24.160 --> 00:25:25.759
there was, There was a time there were a lot

399
00:25:25.759 --> 00:25:27.720
of people on sermonadio who sounded like that they were

400
00:25:27.759 --> 00:25:30.839
Alex Jones. And then, uh, some of those people finally

401
00:25:30.920 --> 00:25:33.640
left or got removed. But the point is is it

402
00:25:33.680 --> 00:25:37.559
was alive and well within Christianity that the flu vaccine

403
00:25:37.680 --> 00:25:40.039
was actually a way to get the mark of the beast.

404
00:25:40.240 --> 00:25:43.279
I can go on. Obamacare was going to uh put

405
00:25:43.359 --> 00:25:45.599
us all in THEEMA camps and we were all going

406
00:25:45.640 --> 00:25:48.039
to die. I can just go on and on and

407
00:25:48.119 --> 00:25:50.039
on and on, and this is going to happen, and

408
00:25:50.079 --> 00:25:54.079
this is going to happen, and this and then fear fear, fear, fear, paranoia,

409
00:25:54.160 --> 00:25:58.440
fear fear, fear, paranoia, fear, fear, fear, paranoia. And if

410
00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:00.519
you say stop it, what do you Well, you don't

411
00:26:00.519 --> 00:26:03.880
see the danger? What is wrong with your satan is?

412
00:26:04.160 --> 00:26:07.799
And it's always you're blinded by Satan, You're you're you're well,

413
00:26:07.880 --> 00:26:10.799
now it's forget being blinded by Satan. That's no longer

414
00:26:10.839 --> 00:26:13.920
an insult anymore. Now you're woke. You're a liberal. That's

415
00:26:13.960 --> 00:26:16.240
worse than being a Satanist. Okay, But I mean, it's

416
00:26:16.319 --> 00:26:19.319
always the same concept. Here, here's what you need to

417
00:26:19.319 --> 00:26:21.960
be afraid of, here's the enemy, and then you just

418
00:26:21.960 --> 00:26:24.200
go along with the crowd. If you stand against the crowd,

419
00:26:24.559 --> 00:26:26.960
then you just get ran over and the crowd never

420
00:26:27.000 --> 00:26:28.920
comes back going. You know what, I got caught up

421
00:26:28.920 --> 00:26:31.240
in all of that fear and that paranoia, and that

422
00:26:31.319 --> 00:26:34.480
conspiracy theory, and that conspiracy theory, and that can no,

423
00:26:34.559 --> 00:26:36.319
they just keep going on to the next one, and

424
00:26:36.359 --> 00:26:37.960
then they go on to the next one, and then

425
00:26:37.960 --> 00:26:39.880
they go on to the next one, and they can't

426
00:26:39.920 --> 00:26:47.160
get out of it. The Celing witch trials is exactly

427
00:26:47.240 --> 00:27:03.519
what happened. It was paranoia fear. Now I wish, you know,

428
00:27:03.599 --> 00:27:05.400
in some ways you kind of wish John Proctor could

429
00:27:05.440 --> 00:27:08.160
have stopped it, but he didn't. On one hand, I mean,

430
00:27:08.200 --> 00:27:10.920
if you look at it from a very pragmatic standpoint,

431
00:27:11.160 --> 00:27:13.240
I don't Once he got accused, there was no real

432
00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:15.880
going back. I guess he could have confessed. I don't

433
00:27:15.920 --> 00:27:17.799
know how it would have played out for him. Maybe

434
00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:19.880
if he would have confessed. I mean, what basically the

435
00:27:19.880 --> 00:27:21.559
way if the only way you were going to survive

436
00:27:22.599 --> 00:27:24.319
is basically you had to play the game. This way,

437
00:27:24.920 --> 00:27:27.440
I'm a witch. But but but and I will confess,

438
00:27:27.599 --> 00:27:30.400
but I know who the other witches are. Really, the

439
00:27:30.440 --> 00:27:33.839
way it was set up, your your confession would keep

440
00:27:33.880 --> 00:27:37.319
you alive. But with that confession, you better have some

441
00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:40.400
secret knowledge of You saw the Devil's Book, remember when

442
00:27:40.400 --> 00:27:42.359
we still need to talk about the Devil's Book, And

443
00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:44.200
you saw the names in it, and if you could

444
00:27:44.200 --> 00:27:47.319
point out so basically, the only way he could have

445
00:27:47.359 --> 00:27:49.799
survived he would have had to confess, and then he

446
00:27:49.799 --> 00:27:56.079
would have had to accuse, just like Mary Warren. She accused,

447
00:27:56.240 --> 00:27:59.079
then she recanted, Then she's accused. Then what she what

448
00:27:59.119 --> 00:28:01.400
does she do? Then she has to immediately start blaming

449
00:28:01.400 --> 00:28:09.680
someone else. That that's the the game was. So the

450
00:28:09.759 --> 00:28:14.799
game was rigged. If you were accused, you you better

451
00:28:14.880 --> 00:28:17.960
confess and you better accuse others. You better look like

452
00:28:18.279 --> 00:28:21.200
a good informant. You've got good information as long as

453
00:28:21.200 --> 00:28:23.599
you can keep perfect. And that was just just adds

454
00:28:23.640 --> 00:28:26.160
more people to the list, adds more people to the list,

455
00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:28.400
and the more people you add to the list, then

456
00:28:28.599 --> 00:28:32.000
you're safer and safer, and then while other people then die,

457
00:28:35.599 --> 00:28:40.720
they lose all everything he worked for, gone, everything gone.

458
00:28:40.920 --> 00:28:43.640
Now Elizabeth is able to finally, I think get their

459
00:28:43.680 --> 00:28:46.039
home back. I think she does get that back. But

460
00:28:46.119 --> 00:28:50.119
most of their property is gone, most of their assets

461
00:28:50.119 --> 00:28:55.079
are gone, just taken because someone accuses you of no

462
00:28:55.119 --> 00:28:57.680
physical accuses you of being a witch, no physical proof,

463
00:28:58.400 --> 00:29:03.119
don't need any spectral evidence used all day. He dies.

464
00:29:08.039 --> 00:29:15.880
So Betty Paris and Abigail Williams, they make their accusations,

465
00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:22.200
and Putnam Junior makes what sixty over sixty accusations, Elizabeth

466
00:29:22.279 --> 00:29:24.359
over forty? I don't can't remember the total number of

467
00:29:24.400 --> 00:29:30.799
Mary's accusations. And one man stands against the dog. He

468
00:29:30.839 --> 00:29:34.119
calls all of those girls liars, and he's dead. He dies.

469
00:29:44.160 --> 00:29:58.599
Christianity needs reasonable, rational, logical, factual individuals who care more

470
00:29:58.640 --> 00:30:06.480
about re in logic, facts, thinking, not bearing false witness,

471
00:30:06.640 --> 00:30:10.039
not fear paranoia. We need those kinds of people. Now

472
00:30:10.079 --> 00:30:12.480
that the thing is, you're and you know what you

473
00:30:12.519 --> 00:30:13.960
have to care more about. You need to care more

474
00:30:13.960 --> 00:30:18.519
about facts, more about reason, logic and truth than you

475
00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:24.519
do about your philological team or your church's team, whatever

476
00:30:24.599 --> 00:30:27.079
philological team you're placed on. You don't care about that.

477
00:30:27.759 --> 00:30:30.880
You don't care. And if you get run over by

478
00:30:30.920 --> 00:30:32.359
the mob, you get run over by the mob. Now

479
00:30:32.440 --> 00:30:36.359
it's easy to say, it's easy to say. It's easy

480
00:30:36.400 --> 00:30:38.759
to say that, but it doesn't always work in your favor.

481
00:30:38.799 --> 00:30:42.039
It doesn't always work in your favor because Christians will

482
00:30:42.039 --> 00:30:45.680
get furious at you. You've gotta go, You gotta go

483
00:30:45.759 --> 00:30:48.160
along with the mob, because the minute you stand against

484
00:30:48.160 --> 00:30:49.920
the mob, they run you over and then there's no

485
00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:56.480
place for you in Christianity. Christianity does not like dissenting voices.

486
00:30:56.880 --> 00:31:00.359
Christianity does not like to be challenged. Christianity does not

487
00:31:00.519 --> 00:31:03.759
like to be critiqued. Christianity does not like to be reviewed.

488
00:31:09.359 --> 00:31:12.319
You sign up, you pick a team, you wear the jersey,

489
00:31:12.519 --> 00:31:16.480
and you go along with everything they do, or you

490
00:31:16.519 --> 00:31:26.359
will be silenced. That's the story of John Proctor. He

491
00:31:26.480 --> 00:31:31.559
stood against it all and didn't really matter. I mean,

492
00:31:31.839 --> 00:31:34.640
I hate to be seeing it from a pragmatic standpoint.

493
00:31:34.799 --> 00:31:36.599
I mean, I guess his I mean, most people don't

494
00:31:36.599 --> 00:31:38.480
even talk about John Proctor. I think if you go

495
00:31:38.519 --> 00:31:41.079
to Salem, I mean, I think John Procter gets talked

496
00:31:41.119 --> 00:31:43.599
about some, but I think for the most part, he's

497
00:31:43.640 --> 00:31:49.200
not like a big part of the story. A lot

498
00:31:49.240 --> 00:31:51.079
of people don't even know the story of John Proctor.

499
00:31:52.160 --> 00:31:56.119
Because he stands against it, but he just gets swallowed

500
00:31:56.200 --> 00:32:00.759
up by it and forgotten they And it would have

501
00:32:00.759 --> 00:32:03.319
been so great if you could have stood against it,

502
00:32:03.359 --> 00:32:06.440
and people start going, wait, what are we doing? Wake up?

503
00:32:06.640 --> 00:32:09.519
But you can't when it's just like with conspiratorial thinking.

504
00:32:09.559 --> 00:32:11.160
You can't get people to wake up out of their

505
00:32:11.160 --> 00:32:14.960
conspiracy right because you bring the evidence that disproves their conspiracy,

506
00:32:15.039 --> 00:32:17.680
but they'll just tell you that your evidence comes from

507
00:32:17.759 --> 00:32:20.759
the people within the conspiracy, so therefore it's they'll just

508
00:32:20.759 --> 00:32:24.359
say it's fake news, fraudulent, and so then what you

509
00:32:24.400 --> 00:32:27.359
can't any evidence you present is a part of the conspiracy.

510
00:32:27.519 --> 00:32:29.559
So you can never get them to stop thinking in

511
00:32:29.599 --> 00:32:34.000
their conspiratorial way, because that's the way. It's a psychological disease.

512
00:32:34.720 --> 00:32:37.680
They believe a conspiracy and nothing can convince them the

513
00:32:37.680 --> 00:32:40.839
conspiracy is not true because any evidence that contradicts the

514
00:32:40.880 --> 00:32:44.799
conspiracy is a part of the conspiracy. So then it's over,

515
00:32:45.200 --> 00:32:53.640
doesn't matter. And when fear and panic man people lose

516
00:32:53.759 --> 00:32:57.640
all sense of right and wrong. Fear and panic can

517
00:32:57.680 --> 00:33:00.599
get people to just forget right wrong and Mara and

518
00:33:00.640 --> 00:33:04.640
God and anything. And it also just demonstrates people can

519
00:33:04.759 --> 00:33:09.119
use God as a way to literally put a rope

520
00:33:09.160 --> 00:33:13.519
around someone's neck and kill them. Don't ever think the

521
00:33:13.559 --> 00:33:16.880
Bible and God cannot be used as a weapon by people,

522
00:33:16.920 --> 00:33:18.799
because it's been used as a weapon over and over.

523
00:33:18.880 --> 00:33:20.640
As long as you've got a couple of Bible verses,

524
00:33:20.720 --> 00:33:23.599
the concept of God and God is supposedly on your side,

525
00:33:23.720 --> 00:33:26.359
you can justify pretty much anything, even putting a rope

526
00:33:26.359 --> 00:33:37.880
around someone's neck and killing them. All right, thanks for listening.

527
00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:43.079
That concludes our Sunday drive. I know we came to

528
00:33:43.119 --> 00:33:46.319
Salem and kind of a very depressing story that not

529
00:33:46.440 --> 00:33:49.359
a lot of happy stories in the Salem witch trials.

530
00:33:50.119 --> 00:33:52.319
But these are lessons we all need to hear, especially

531
00:33:52.359 --> 00:33:56.039
those of us within Christianity. It's a part of Church history.

532
00:33:56.160 --> 00:33:58.720
It's a part of Christian history. You can't you can

533
00:33:58.720 --> 00:34:00.759
try to escape it, you can try to ignore it,

534
00:34:00.799 --> 00:34:03.200
but it's there. You can try to talk about how

535
00:34:03.200 --> 00:34:05.599
wonderful the Puritans were all day, but you can't forget

536
00:34:05.599 --> 00:34:11.079
this part of history because it's horrible and it serves

537
00:34:11.119 --> 00:34:13.239
as a warning. Thanks for listening. God bless