The Burning Of Notre Dame

BY Herschel Smith
4 years, 11 months ago

I neither listen to the radio nor watch television.  But today while driving my radio had turned on because I had just stopped for petrol and restarted the truck.  Unfortunately, I was listening to Shep Smith with Fox News.

The man is a child, mentally, spiritually and emotionally.  Speaking with the utmost unction and dramatic pauses for effect, he stated something like that even if one is not religious, the Cathedral of Notre Dame was a testament and tribute to “the highest aspirations of man,” and showed what man can accomplish.

Hear me well.  The structure has nothing whatsoever to do with why the Cathedral was built.  The highest aspirations of man built the tower of Babel, an abject failure, not the Notre Dame.  He can speak with personal conviction all he wants about witnessing the Cathedral in person and being astonished at the architecture, art and design.  He entirely missed the point of it all, like an insect flying in the space shuttle or a bird caught inside the dome of a reactor building wondering why he can’t get out rather than how we’ve harnessed the power of the atom (I’ve witnessed such a bird before).  He didn’t even begin to grasp any significant element of the story.

I am not a Roman Catholic.  I am a Protestant, and more specifically, a Calvinist.  My theological hero and the prefect of Rome did historic battle.  Upon Christ’s death on the cross, the veil of the Holy of Holies was torn asunder (Matt 27:51).  I do not confess my sins to another man, and I do not seek forgiveness from them unless I have wronged them.  There is no mediator between God and man (including me) except Christ Jesus.  The entire two millennia history of Roman Catholicism has been an attempt to sew the veil back together again.

With all of that said, there is something unique about the architectural history of the church that is admirable.  Cathedrals aren’t built like stadiums where something man is accomplishing becomes the center of focus (witness the Roman coliseums where Christians perished, or Paul’s sermon on Mars Hill, the Areopagus).  The entire purpose of the design and construction of the Cathedral was to point man higher, to the Almighty, to the only one who is worthy of worship.  Shep Smith and simpletons like him have it exactly backwards.

On the other hand, the so-called body of Christ is His people, those who have received His salvation.  In the early church, they met in homes, and even then were arrested sometimes almost immediately after receiving baptism.  That was the sequence.  Receive Christ, confess His name, receive baptism, and perish.  They were serious about their business, it was no casual affair.

Notre Dame can burn, but the group of His people, the church, the few who are left in France, remains, as it ever will across the world.  It could also be observed that Notre Dame represented a vanquished, defeated, eviscerated church.  There was nothing left.  Today, France belongs to Camus, Sartre and Derrida.  They believe nothing, so it was only a building that burned.  It was even owned by the state and permanently leased to the Roman Catholic Church.

From Wirecutter, we learn that twelve French churches have been attacked and vandalized within one week alone.  That seems more than coincidence.  Also, via WRSA there is a long discussion thread about other incidents, including the fact that on Friday, “Islamic terrorist Inez Madani was jailed for eight years for her attempted car bombing outside of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.”

I don’t know the cause of the blaze.  I suspect that it was either [a] Islamic terrorists, or [b] unintentionally started.  In the first case, I’ll ask the same question I’ve asked before: If you are a member of a church and attend worship regularly, do you have a security plan?  No, having an armed cop on duty isn’t a security plan.  Do you have a number of armed congregants in the building?  Have you trained together as a group?  Do you have overwatch?  Do you have security cameras?  Do you have patrols?  I’m talking about 24/365 security, or a recognition that if you don’t have that kind of security on your building, as the country trends towards Europe, you may lose the building.

If this fire was started inadvertently, it’s malfeasance.  All accidents are preventable.  All accidents are preventable.  Someone didn’t fully think through and implement pre-job briefs, training, fire suppression, fire watch, use of welding blankets and other protective measures, communication of expectations to craft, construction of proper temporary ventilation, and proper safety engineering.  I suspect the Spire became a chimney pulling air into the bottom of the building, with a heat source, heat sink, and the heat sink (the atmosphere) at a higher elevation than the heat source.  All of the elements for natural circulation were there.  A good engineer would have known this and planned for it.

This also has vast implications for congregants in American churches today.  If you do something like this, you’ll go bankrupt paying settlements for damage, lose your building, possibly cause injury or death, and get shut down by OSHA.

I won’t worship where I’m not allowed to carry the weapon of my choice, not because I won’t carry non-permissively (I do at times), but because that shows a reflexive reversion to the “Jesus was a Bohemian peacenik, pacifist, hippie, flower child” cult.  And if I see something unsafe, I’ll say something or even do what it takes to stop work, regardless of what that entails.

Times are changing.  Times have already changed.  Change with the times.


Comments

  1. On April 15, 2019 at 9:54 pm, 15Fixer said:

    Quite possibly your best post ever. Ever.

  2. On April 15, 2019 at 10:50 pm, BRVTVS said:

    My sense is that it was Islam at work, but there are other groups that could be at work.
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2019/04/02/satanic-symbols-shattered-statues-several-catholic-churches-have-been-under-attack-france/

  3. On April 16, 2019 at 1:00 am, B Wade said:

    Amen!

  4. On April 16, 2019 at 7:20 am, Cincinnatus said:

    “Unfortunately, I was listening to Shep Smith with Fox News.”

    I used to watch Fox until I realized it isn’t a conservative source of news – it is just less liberal then CNN. Sheppard Smith is an idiot and is there for one reason and one reason only. Being a New York liberal himself he doesn’t get the concept of Notre Dame or religion – he can only frame it in terms he understands – putting people first, not God.

    Since then I cut the cable and don’t have an antenna so I don’t pay attention to these fools.

  5. On April 16, 2019 at 7:21 am, Bram said:

    France doesn’t have cheap Mexican labor for these kinds of jobs. They have Algerians, Syrians, and Tunisians. So they had the roof of Norte Dame literally crawling with Muslims and it burned down.

    We’ll see if the French have the guts to gt to the bottom of it. Heartsie has a picture of a Muslim guy making his way out of the Cathedral as the fire gets going.
    https://heartiste.wordpress.com/2019/04/15/a-warning-but-from-whom/

  6. On April 16, 2019 at 7:46 am, Carl B. said:

    Outstanding article.

    BTW, i despise the ground Shep Smith walks on.

  7. On April 16, 2019 at 7:57 am, Henry Lee said:

    Speaking of Mexicans on the roof: the small, 150 year-old church I grew up in in suburban Atlanta was burned to the bricks by a Mexican on the roof with a torch. I say Mexican because roofing in the Atlanta area is one of the jobs Americans won’t do. A tough, old, long-time member of the church was in charge of the restoration and got the insurance company to source stained glass windows from France to replace the beautiful originals. The interior was restored to its original configuration, not the ugly changes of the ’60’s. Ironically, a few years later, the church was de-consecrated in moving, once-in-a-lifetime service due to changed demographics in the area.

    Not to compare my hometown church to Notre Dame, but the current situation has resonance with me.

  8. On April 16, 2019 at 8:16 am, Fred said:

    Watching CNBC at the gym last afternoon/evening I knew immediately that it was Islamic Terror. They ran a little footage, talked about containment and then they didn’t say what is ALWAYS said when there is a large or significant fire. They didn’t say that the cause was unknown or under investigation or will be investigated or anything relating to cause. They know who burned it and being submitted to the House of Saud for the loot it provides through their Sovereign Wealth Fund the French leadership will cover it up.

    Burning churches and attacking Christians and Christian symbols is a centuries old tactic of Islam but the ‘news’ will breathlessly ‘report’ that there must be some other explanation. Wu…wu…wut could possibly be the cause with these young men that seem disgruntled and angst filled? Yes, it’s a psychological problem they proclaim, a war for the right to rule men by their civilizational standards being a consideration that’s simply off the table.

  9. On April 16, 2019 at 8:20 am, snuffy said:

    Macron claims it will be restored and rebuilt. Anyone else think the rebuild will include a dome somewhere, in the name of diversity and inclusiveness? Honestly, I think it was deliberate, by izzies. If so, the gov. will never let the truth become public, although, even if it did, I don’t think it would change the path that France has chosen. They are too far gone.

  10. On April 16, 2019 at 9:35 am, BoyDownTheLane said:

    April 15th, 2019

    Posted one day ago on Reddit:
    We are entering the season of occult sacrifice by fire: Here’s your annual reminder to be wary of false flag events and occult rituals from mid-April to May 1st.

    History of the church:
    The Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris was built on a site which in Roman Lutetia is believed to have been occupied by a pagan temple…
    Via: Daily Mail:
    Firefighters are battling a massive blaze which broke out at the world-famous Notre Dame cathedral in Paris this evening.
    Pictures posted on social media showed enormous plumes of smoke billowing into the city’s skyline and flames engulfing large sections of the historic building.
    According to French newspaper Le Monde, the fire broke out in the attic of the monument before spreading across the roof.
    A spokesperson for the cathedral said the blaze was first reported at 5.50pm (GMT) and the building was evacuated soon after.

    Posted in [???], Coincidence?, Religion

    http://aanirfan.blogspot.com/2019/04/notre-dame-false-flag.html

    “… what I have been told by a ranking source in France….”

    https://phibetaiota.net/2019/04/robert-steele-notre-dame-cathedral-burning-a-false-flag-with-complicity-of-the-pope-organized-by-macron-merkel-and-may-each-a-satanist/

    “sub-text is Frankfurt School / Tavestock Institute fundamental”

    [Ed.: Powerful stuff from known experts in psy op, false flag, et al]
    [See esp. the charts at the end.]

    Bernard Arnault and François-Henri Pinault, French billionaires, have pledged 300 million euros for the rebuilding of the cathedral

  11. On April 16, 2019 at 6:55 pm, Gryphon said:

    Extremely Unlikely this Wasn’t Arson – Easy to Blame the musloid Invaders, but I see it as Far More Likely a French/E.U. “government” Operation, to draw Attention Away from the “Yellowjackets” anti-government protests. Some of these protests have included Anti-Immigrant and Pro-Nationalist elements, much to the Terror of the Satanic/Homo/Pedo/Moneychanger ‘leadership’ in France.
    It is an Obvious, Symbolic Target, and it is already being Used by the French government as a 9/11(tm) Style propaganda ‘event’.

    As for the many Articles about the Occult/Satanic/Catholic ‘connections’, I’ll leave them to those who find it Interesting…. “Operation Gladio” is All one needs to Know about ‘Terrorism” in Europe.

  12. On April 16, 2019 at 8:12 pm, TheOtherGeorge said:

    “Do you have a number of armed congregants in the building?”

    – Is this realistically a possibility in France for White Christian congregants who are not politically connected? I am not trying to be “smart” with this question, just trying to be realistic. Somehow, it just seems to me that if gun ownership were a possibility for the masses in France, those guns would be showing up on the streets and getting aimed at cops by yellow jackets who are getting grenades thrown at them by .gov thugs.

  13. On April 16, 2019 at 8:39 pm, Herschel Smith said:

    @George,

    Of course you’re right. I’m referring here to Americans who are reading my post and thinking through this for their own churches.

  14. On April 17, 2019 at 1:27 pm, Gryphon said:

    The Notre Dame Fire is not an “Outlier” in terms of Anti-Christian acts….

    https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-15/notre-dame-burns-european-churches-are-vandalized-defecated-torched-every-day

    No reporting of this in the (((corporate))) Media, just like with all the “Yellow Jackets” Protests.

  15. On April 17, 2019 at 5:04 pm, JoeFour said:

    Looks like Notre Dame is just the latest example of French churches being attacked:

    https://www.winterwatch.net/2019/04/what-the-media-officials-wouldnt-reveal-during-the-notre-dame-cathedral-fire/

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This article is filed under the category(s) Religion and was published April 15th, 2019 by Herschel Smith.

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