New Year’s Message Of Discernment & Hope
Some of the top concerns this past year have been around land claims, the Israel conflict, rising cost of living, rising government debt, deteriorating health care, and the increasing use of AI.
None of these things have easy answers, other than to let us know there seems to be increasing instability in many areas. World peace is not happening. In fact there are now twice as many armed conflicts compared to fifteen years ago. Recent stats show there are 130 armed conflicts throughout the world.
Things we once thought were secure investments such as owning a home, are no longer certain. Some pundits are predicting financial crisis and banking collapses.
In Canada, for many years we could rely on our health care system. Now there is a sobering realization that we may not be able to get health care at all. At least 30% of people in BC, Canada do not have a family doctor.
For those who go to the ER for health related issues, the wait list can be many hours, even for serious health concerns. People are relying on ER visits for cancer diagnostics. We can no longer rely on the systems we once took for granted.
Instead of health care, people are being offered MAID for chronic pain, terminal illnesses, and a variety of other reasons. I have been following a woman who is documenting her stage 4 cancer diagnosis on YouTube. She is from the US, and travels between New York, Seattle and Alaska.
She has done several videos on being palliative, and gets state of the art treatment in New York. Yet as a palliative patient, she is travelling, driving, and returns to Alaska in the summers to go cycling, hiking, kayaking, and believe it or not – axe throwing.
I have never heard of axe throwing, but that is exactly what it means. You throw an axe at a target, getting it to stick into the wood. I don’t think I could have done that when I was in my twenties, let alone as an end of life cancer patient.
After watching one of her videos about her end of life, palliative cancer situation, I thought she looked very healthy in spite of it all. She talked about doing a lot of strenuous outdoor activities, which is difficult to do if you are sick.
So I skipped ahead eight months to a more recent video, and she looked much the same. She was still doing all the activities she loved to do. Most of her end of life scenarios were based on what could happen, or what might happen. She became very emotional when she talked about the possibility of a painful death. She described all these potential scenarios in graphic detail. But they were not happening “yet”.
Fortunately for her, none of those horrific death stories were on her doorstep. She continues to do well. She also continues to go for multiple diagnostics, and selective treatments. In Canada, this would not be an option.
In the US though, they are likely to keep a person on the hook until their insurance, their money, or their life runs out. I know it sounds cynical, but cancer treatment is big business. It is also filled with uncertainty. Listening to this woman, every nuance is a potential spread of the cancer. In many cases, she goes through several scans that really don’t give any definitive results.
The tumour markers are up one day, and down two weeks later. Every change is monitored and discussed at length. She spends a few months in New York getting the best care, and then goes back to Alaska to enjoy the summer. I really do hope she continues to lead an active life, and maybe even is cured. But I would not describe any of what she is experiencing as being palliative, or end of life care. It is more like ongoing monitoring.
In Canada though, our systems are failing us. Not entirely. Hopefully we will see some improvements, but overall there are some valid concerns. If there is a continuing deterioration of the health care system, we will have to accept that it cannot be relied upon at all. We will have to go back to the days of the wagon train. Pioneers, and pilgrims looking for cures in old fashioned remedies.
Was all the land in Canada really stolen from the Indigenous people? Then why did they sell farms, and properties to people, leading them to believe they were actually purchasing a house or land? Why did they develop land title registries, and mortgages for houses and land, if it was stolen land? How many countries in the world do not have legitimate land, and property ownership? The answer is very few.
How many countries have extremely lax euthanasia laws? Again, the answer is – very few.
All of these negative trajectories are beyond our control. We can lean on certain elements of self care, and home remedies. But we have no control over the systems we once relied upon.
Perhaps the increase in AI is one of the biggest threats. On one hand it is a useful tool. If you want to look up certain stats, or gardening information, or how to clean a certain textile, it is useful. If you need quick information, it beats the old fashioned library research.
If you prefer self check-outs instead of real cashiers, the automation is easily accepted. But when it comes to doctors appointments, how can AI replace human interaction, or in-person examinations?
We need to sharpen our discernment. This applies to everything from phishing emails, to scam phone calls, to what we are seeing in the media, and on YouTube. A high percentage of it is deception, often geared toward creating a subtle change in our perception. It is almost like a test run to ascertain levels of gullibility.
On YouTube there has been a marked rise in AI generated videos. The common ones are of children and babies talking like miniature adults. A one year old might tell an airline stewardess that his dad is single. There are many AI generated videos of small children scolding dogs for eating their snack.
They crop up in batches. Suddenly there is an influx of twins. Twins going to meet newborn siblings who are also twins. Toddlers crying about the arrival of twins. We see toddlers talking about sex education. We also see a disproportionate number of triplets, as if they are commonly seen.
In reality, the chance of having one set of twins is around 3%. Two sets of fraternal twins is less than 1% chance. Two sets of identical twins is very rare. Triplet births are also very rare at around 0.1% So it does not ring true to suddenly see non-stop videos showing twin births, triplets, and double sets of identical twins. Children under the age of two, do not speak like adults. In fact, children do not start using full sentences until they are two or older.
Why are they doing this? Children are cuter without the contrived fictional images of them. Before all of this, there were real kids who gained 80-100 million views over something a parent filmed.
One was a situation where a little girl about three years old, was trying to explain to her dad why she was not a princess. She told him she did not look like a princess, and did not have shoes, bangles or a crown like a princess did. Nor did she have a chariot, or live in a castle.
Basically, she was telling her dad to stop calling her a princess, which was priceless in how she went about it. She was patiently explaining the contradiction as she saw it, with the insight, and candid expressions of an innocent child.
Other common recent AI themes, are of wild animals attacking people. You know these are AI generated because they will show a woman loading groceries into a hatchback car. A lion, pack of wolves, tiger, or a bear shows up out of nowhere, and the woman, at the last second jumps into the open hatchback, and closes the door in the nick of time.
We know these are memes because they show the same hatchback idea, with attacks by various different animals. In one of them it is a tiger. The next one is an elephant, then a pack of wolves. It is like the hatchback urban jungle horror series of AI clickbait.
If something like that actually happened, it would be a one time event, not the same event depicting attacks by a variety of animals.
These videos themes also centre around the elderly, and infants encountering wild animals. Why so much focus on animal encounters? I think most of it could be viewed as innocuous entertainment. Or it could be fear mongering, because people who are fearful, are easier to control.
But overall, it could mean we are being prepared to accept false imagery, and memes as reality. Even more disturbing, is the blurring of lines between what is real, and what is fiction. Did that really happen? Who knows?
Will they start showing miraculous wonders from the sky? Or massive AI generated sink holes? Or riots, fires, and war images that are totally fake? It is certainly possible.
If you transfer these same concepts to what we are being told about many other topics, the need for discernment is even more obvious. It is almost at the point where we have to filter everything we see, or read. Deception is rising faster than inflation.
Do we really believe the ultra rich became rich because they never went to Starbucks for a coffee? Or that Warren Buffet bought a forty acre farm at the age of fourteen by selling chewing gum during the Great Depression?
I just don’t buy it. After listening to many of his videos, I do agree that he has a vast amount of knowledge about investing in the stock market. In some of those videos, he spoke of his father losing his job as a stockbroker during the depression. However, his father was a US Congressman until 1952, and started his own brokerage firm. So it does not make sense to me that Warren Buffet went through hard times as a child.
Not all people have a mind, or the motivation to seek riches. Some try for years, and lose it all. Others make great gains. The stock market is volatile. Timing is everything. Those who built large portfolios in the eighties, compared to those who are starting to invest now, face very different circumstances.
In fact, some of the large portfolios so carefully constructed in previous decades, may not be safe in today’s markets. I listened to a famous Canadian investment adviser, and wondered. He starts his videos with scathing comments toward the poor. He goes on to make grandiose claims about his prowess, brilliance, wisdom, and all knowing scope of financial planning. The arrogance is so beyond the pale, it is impossible to listen to.
We have to be discerning, skeptical and downright cynical of some of this hubris. The lessons to take away may not be what people truly want to hear.
As Christians, we are told about the perils surrounding the love of money, and pride.
1 Timothy 6:10
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Notice it says it is the love of money, not money itself, or the accumulation of wealth, that is the root of all evil. Not only do we see examples of this around us in the present day, but history is full of examples to reinforce this concept.
We are also instructed to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.
Matthew 10:16
16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
We are all guilty of having pride, myself included. We can only examine ourselves honestly, repent, and ask for forgiveness. Pride comes in many forms, to include the way we treat others. It is human nature to seek superiority, often as a defensive measure, or to cover feelings of inferiority.
If we think this way, there is always someone above us, and someone else who is below us. We envy those who we perceive to be above us, and look down upon the lesser human beings.
Yet the bible warns us about pride. Pride will cause our downfall if we do not repent and change our attitudes.
Proverbs 16:18-19
18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
19 Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.
James 4:5-6
5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
Some of the most damning hierarchies are found within prisons. The drug dealer sees himself as superior to the murderer. The murderer is above the child molester. Those with more muscle and brawn, can dominate, and protect their peers. Weakness is a trait that no one wants to achieve.
The bible, in the words of Jesus, tells us the opposite of what our carnal world has conditioned us to believe.
Matthew 5:3-9
3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
When we read the words “the meek shall inherit the earth” it is almost incomprehensible. Here we are with a government that is claiming the Indigenous people own most of the land.
The 1% of the corporate elite own more than 40% of the world’s wealth. Yet God is telling us the meek shall inherit the earth! He is also telling us the last shall be first.
Matthew 20:16
16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
Matthew 19:30
30 But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.
Just as the bible warns us about pride, it also has a great deal to say about deception and lying.
Proverbs 6:16-19
16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
According to these instructions we are to forsake the love of money, pride, and deception. We are to pray for, and exercise discernment. The bible contains many warnings about being deceived.
Once we recognize all these things, and repent of our own false pride, deception and whatever else drags us down, we have hope. Not just for the upcoming year, but hope for all eternity, and a foundation of faith to take us through whatever troubled waters are ahead of us.
The just shall live by faith. Every time I feel uncertain or anxious, I remind myself of these words.
Romans 1:17
17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
Hebrews 10:38
It seems to be increasingly obvious that we cannot place our faith, or hope in what is happening in the world. Nor do we know the full extent of God’s plan, and how the events will unfold. Faith is believing in what we cannot see, or even prove.
As a result of our faith in God’s word, and in our belief in what Jesus did when He came to save us from our sin, we have hope. We do not have hope based on tangible things or wealth. We have hope based upon our faith.
Hebrews 11:1
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Jeremiah 29:11-13
12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Isaiah 40:31
31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Romans 15:13
13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Romans 5:2-6
3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
For believers, these are just some of the amazing promises of God. We are recipients of these promises based on God’s grace, not anything we can do to deserve His grace.
We do not need to strive for money, prestige, dominance, or even justice. We just need to humble ourselves, believe in Jesus, repent, and forgive others as we have been forgiven.
The harms arising from the complexities and deceptions of this world, is not our battle to fight, other than what God gives to us to do, as humble servants. His word is far more valuable than any earthly treasure.
Copyright Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West (2026). Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.