Kevin Ott's Blog: Kevin Ott

To the Author of Life, the Author of the only True Love -- the Uncaused Cause of All Stories:

Set me as a seal upon your heart, Lord, as a seal upon your arm,

For love is as strong as death, jealousy as cruel as the grave,

A most vehement flame -- the colorless white of the hottest grief, when all emotion and thought suspends in mid-air and freezes,

To the Breaker of Time, Author of the only True Clock -- the Womb of All Noon Bell Chimes,

Set me ever before Your Face; my hope-bled, frayed pulse, it dies, it grows faint with Your Many Tolling Tests, it withers before Your Latter Rains can rescue, so let it die then if that be Your will, or let it live forever, in service to keeping Your time,

For love is as patient as death, heartsickness as restless as the blue depths that swallow glaciers and continents,

To the Earth-Builder, the World-Maker, the One Who Breathes Upon the Dust in His Hands and Births Civilizations,

Set Your Name as a seal on my heart,

When the winter is past,

The rain is over and gone,

When the flowers appear on the earth,

And the smell of jasmine fills the valleys and lingers in the morning mist,

When the time of singing has come, Lord, when deep calls to deep,

When all Your waves and breakers have swept over me, when Time has taken my life and all its cares away forever,

Hear my cry, Lord,

And set me as a seal upon your heart -- a seal upon your arm.

There’s been some weird stuff happening on Twitter.

Awhile ago I became an active participant in a Twitter community that was a subset of a broader geopolitical topic/entity called “Q” or “Qanon.” Some of the subset theories loosely connected to the Q topic were very wild and hard for most people to believe, yet intriguing in the same way a good story is intriguing, and admittedly I was convinced at one point.

The weirdness happened when one of the Twitter users somehow knew my last name even though I had created an anonymous account. They were friendly and seemed to be at the center of this intriguing community corner on Twitter, so that added to the intrigue, though I just figured they had done some general sleuthing.

But still it was weird, and now that I look back on it, it was unsettling.

And things just got weirder. They would do these puzzle games where you try to solve riddles to receive interesting info about a subject, but they got increasingly strange and arbitrary. They also used coded communication and wanted you to do the same.

Eventually I just couldn’t take it anymore. It was too much. I had to stop. I have no interest in social media anymore at this point (at least Twitter), and certainly not with those kind of cryptic conversations that felt manipulative at a certain point. Even if the theories do have truth in them, at this point they’ve lost their intrigue and fun.

I seemed to catch their attention when I posted some amateur stargazing research I did with my software called Starry Pro 7. I was trying to solve one of their riddles using the software and find some things that were interesting using a system of Biblical allegories to “tell a story in the sky,” as people have called it (see this link for more info on what Christians mean by “The Story in the Stars”) but frankly anyone could have found the same thing with the software.

And then the riddles turned into commands. They were commanding me to research certain things. I was trying to be polite about it and continue the fun, but it was off-putting, and eventually I just had to stop.

Since leaving Twitter, I’ve received comments on other sites I manage and text messages that seem related to that community (as if someone from the community was following me around the internet) because the comment shares the same cryptic tone and writing qualities. I even got a text message from a random number with a similar feeling to it.

And then this evening my computer started doing very odd things (certain things that are possible to do when a hacker tries to control your computer remotely).

It’s all been very weird. At this point, it has felt like online harassment. I am 100% over any of those subject matters, and have no interest in doing any research of that kind.

For a long time I’ve been growing weary of the digital age in general (all the constant web browsing and screens, etc.) and this just pushes me over the edge.

Bottom-line: strange things happening on Twitter. (Oh, and don’t talk to strangers!)

This article is dedicated to John F. Kennedy, Jr. and his family. May their new lives--and may the new life of America--be "the house, awakened from its long sleep, like the sleeping beauty in the wood," that "lives, sings, and blooms like the houses we have long cherished..." (Dumas, Count of Monte, Cristo, Ch. 62). Many Americans have long cherished the house of JFK as the nation once knew it—a vision for our nation and the world that his father JFK wanted to achieve. Now that dream is awakening from its long sleep and stepping into daylight.

***

You may be wondering, "Why is this article dedicated to JFK, Jr. as if he were still alive?”

You may be scratching your head trying to reach back in your memory to the 1990s when people wore denim overalls and asked for the latest CD by The Cranberries for Christmas, and you think, “But JFK, Jr. died in a plane crash in the '90s. I remember hearing about it on the news. It was really depressing. Has this Kevin Ott guy completely lost his mind?"

While this may come as a shock to people (especially to people who know me personally but haven't heard me talk about this before), the reason why I wrote the dedication this way is very simple.

I believe JFK, Jr. is alive.

Please don’t slam your laptop shut and walk away. Hear me out.

To be more specific, I believe that JFK, Jr., his wife Carolyn, and his step-sister Lauren--with the aid of very capable allies--staged their deaths on July 16, 1999 and have been living in a witness protection-type arrangement for almost 20 years.

This is not a cautious, “Well, I’m fairly certain of it,” kind of belief. I am 100 percent certain of it.

Not a shadow of a doubt.

Now, before you contact me asking about my mental health, please take a few days (or weeks) to comb through the evidence yourself.

You may also want to keep your eyes wide open between 11/11/18 and 12/25/18, particularly the time period between 11/11/18 and 11/22/18. And my guess is you should probably resist the need to take a post-turkey nap on Thanksgiving Day, 11/22/18. Stay alert to national events on that day (and during the whole November-December holiday season, frankly). Watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. Watch the Dallas Cowboys football game.

Keep your eyes open. This is no time for sleeping.

This is a time to be alert to happenings in the outside world.

To be clear: the purpose of this article is not to lay the evidence out, though I will point you to a few places where that has been done with a collection of links at the bottom of this article.

The truth will work its way out to the general public soon enough. Most importantly, at a time of their choosing, JFK, Jr. and his family will return to the public eye in what will likely be one of the most momentous and emotional days in American history. I believe that day is coming soon.

How do I know this?

I started writing this on Thursday, October 25, 2018. But I don’t have inside info gained in private communications that no one else can access. This is not any one person's exclusive news story (certainly not mine). I had to stand on the shoulders of giants—of many brilliant researchers and sleuths—to get tangled up in this wild but immensely joyful ride that is, quite frankly, more mind-blowing than any movie plot or novel I’ve ever come across.

And this is real life. I’m not dreaming. Neither are you.

I have been overwhelmed daily with a sense of wonder and joy at the miracles that God has performed--all during a time when America was facing the most dangerous, lethal moment in its history and wasn’t even aware of it.

JFK, Jr. himself is the one who took the first step to place bread crumbs out there for people to follow. He started it. And then many brilliant, hard-working, generous people did open research (like this person) and began to share it with the rest of us.

It is a lot to take in. Once you’ve gone through the stages of looking at the evidence and you’re no longer in doubt, the inevitable questions come:

What does this mean for America?

What does this mean for you and me?

How do we process this and how should we respond?

I believe one of my favorite novels of all time can provide some assistance in answering those questions.

It might also shed some light on JFK, Jr. himself and maybe give a few small hints about what his journey has been like since that fateful summer of 1999.

Wait and Hope: How Certain Elements of 'The Count of Monte Cristo' Capture the Essence of JFK, Jr. and His Journey

***

"We must have felt what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of living." —Edmond Dantes, The Count of Monte Cristo

***

In the classic Alexandre Dumas novel The Count of Monte Cristo, a dashing, successful young man named Edmond Dantes has a promising future. He has a generous heart and lives by a code of honesty and honor.

But then he is framed and plotted against by three conspirators. Not only do they interrupt and ruin the happiest day of Edmond’s life (his wedding day), their actions result in Edmond being sentenced to life in prison (even though he was innocent) and locked away on an island fortress. Edmond's father also dies as a result of the wickedness of the conspirators.

By a miracle of God and the help of an old priest, he escapes the prison and makes his way to a secret island where he finds hordes of treasure. After much preparation and time, he uses his treasure to re-enter society in disguise as the Count of Monte Cristo (and other disguises), all the while executing an intricately designed plan to bring justice to the wicked people who wronged him and his family.

Besides bringing a justly deserved punishment to the wicked for their cruelty and violent depravity, the Count of Monte Cristo restores the lives and fortunes of his allies who also fell into ruin. He plans and fights for the justice and prosperity of others, not just himself.

A Glimpse of JFK, Jr.’s Journey

Of course, 'The Count of Monte Cristo' is not a direct parallel to JFK, Jr.'s situation on every point, but there are some remarkable points of common ground (so remarkable that I believe the entire book is a God nod that His divine Hand orchestrated in 1844 for something He knew would happen 174 years later):

JFK, Jr.'s father died as a result of the plotting of wicked people.

This same network of wicked people eventually forced JFK, Jr. and his family into a situation where they had to be cut off from society and go into hiding without any guarantee that they could return.

From this place of isolation and secrecy, JFK, Jr. and his allies crafted an intricate plan to bring justice to the wicked people for what they had done to his family, the nation, and the world.

Many miracles of God, probably far more than any of us realize, then happened (i.e. in the same spirit as Edmond's miraculous escape and discovery of treasure) that allowed JFK, Jr.'s plans to finally move forward into reality.

JFK, Jr., after the full maturation of these plans to bring justice to the criminals, has returned in various disguises and done other things in The Plan to gradually introduce himself back into the public's awareness (and also into the awareness of his enemies, just as the Count of Monte Cristo strategically and dramatically revealed himself to those who had wronged him).

So who are these ‘wicked people?’

To be clear, JFK, Jr.'s father was not murdered by a lone "deluded gunman" as the official Kennedy assassination narrative and its proponents have claimed, but by a large criminal entity (which was spearheaded by a few very evil individuals). They plotted against the President and enacted their wicked plan on November 22, 1963.

This same criminal entity, like the three wicked characters in the novel, have carried out many other horrific plans in secret and have done mind-boggling damage to the United States and the world in recent decades.

At some point, JFK, Jr. learned the truth about who murdered his father. I can’t help but think of this conversation from The Count of Monte Cristo between Edmond Dantes and a friend:

“Upon my word," said Dantes, "you make me shudder. Is the world filled with tigers and crocodiles?" 

"Yes; and remember that two legged tigers and crocodiles are more dangerous than the others.”

JFK, Jr. eventually learned firsthand about the very worst of the two legged tigers and crocodiles that walk the earth. He learned about the trans-generational criminal network responsible for his father’s death, and he learned who was in it. He learned, as the public will soon learn, that it goes far deeper than anyone could have possibly imagined. He knew too much, as the saying goes. He began to have a louder voice in the 1990s (i.e. his magazine George that addressed political topics). There was talk of him running for office, even running against Hillary Clinton for the Senate seat in New York.

This criminal cabal perceived JFK, Jr. as a threat and intended to kill him. To protect himself and his family, and with the aid of allies, JFK, Jr. successfully staged his death and went into hiding. (What hits me in the gut is the thought of going into hiding without any guarantee that I’d be able to return to a public life. In their minds it probably felt like an indefinite “life sentence” at times just as Edmond Dantes experienced on the island fortress when he got discouraged.)

But by God’s help, he and his family survived all of that.

And now, almost 20 years later, here we are in glorious 2018.

Why glorious?

Because according to information given by JFK, Jr. and his allies, this criminal cabal is very close to being completely destroyed. Pockets of “resistance,” peripheral skirmishes, and the process of trials may go on for many years, but the cabal has lost the war. They are no longer in control as they once were.

And JFK, Jr.'s imminent return to public life is a major sign of that in itself. (He would never return unless it was safe to do so.)

A Glimpse of JFK, Jr. the Man

My understanding of JFK, Jr.—and I think this specific understanding/interpretation has been directly corroborated and approved by qualified, shall we say, sources—is that his exit from public life was more than just a strategic disappearance. “The fame and fortune of being a President’s son is not all it’s cracked up to be,” as he mentioned to some of us recently online (on 10/24/18, to be exact). He and his wife were very weary of the paparazzi bubble with all the invasive, twisted lies it weaves around its targets.

I’ve done some journalism in the film industry over the years and I occasionally interview film directors and actors. (I really love watching films and writing about filmmaking—one of my passions. Though, frankly, the horrid revelations about Hollywood’s evil has killed my appetite for movies lately.) The sense I’ve gotten from many celebrities is this: they crave anonymity and need rest from the publicity machine as divers crave oxygen when they’ve been under water too long.

But then there’s the deeper complication of being the son of a President—and of JFK, one of America’s legendary presidents—which must enhance these suffocating pressures ten-fold.

Frankly, the Count of Monte Cristo’s problems seem nowhere near as complicated as what JFK, Jr. inherited.

For that reason, I suspect God used what was a very difficult situation (having to fake their own deaths and disappear) for not only the greater good of America, but also for the personal good of JFK, Jr. and his family. They were (hopefully) able to live life in the carefree spaciousness that non-celebrity anonymity provides, which we all take for granted. (And someday I’d like to hear about their lives during those “missing” years and see a picture or two from that period to get a sense of what it was like.)

They were finally free from the Matrix, and I suspect there was great joy for them at certain times because of that.

What Does This Mean For America?

JFK, Jr.’s return—and the many other significant events (both known and unknown) that have preceded and surrounded it—means the end of the old guard and the old order of vitriol and division wherein massive chunks of American society are polarized into a Right vs. Left, Republican vs. Democrat paradigm.

Why?

As JFK, Jr.’s story (and all the related stories surrounding it) become known and told in greater detail by him and others who witnessed it, American citizens will finally see the wicked minds behind what they all thought was reality in America, but was really an insipid Matrix.

The neighbors they saw as enemies will become allies and friends.

They’ll see the true dichotomy, the true battle we’ve been in all along without realizing it:

A)    Normal American citizens of all backgrounds (both Republicans and Democrats) who value human life and want to live in freedom and peace (which is the vast majority of American society)

Versus

B)    Corrupt sociopaths and criminals (both Republicans and Democrats) who do not value human life, who have trained their wills to the purposed domination of others, and have fought dirty to keep their hands on the most elite levels of power for far far too long.

The return of JFK, Jr. will bring healing to a nation that has been pushed and harassed into tearing itself apart with fabricated narratives.

And I believe this is something God Himself has decreed and orchestrated. God has raised up JFK, Jr. and his family for “such a time as this,” as the Bible says.

The New American Story: What Does This Mean For You and Me?

This will mean a great deal of reflection and soul searching across every level of society in America.

It will be a time of re-evaluating what we’ve been fed in our so-called “culture” (which has largely been fabricated).

It will be a time of grieving and grappling with deeply troubling revelations as the truth about the corruption and brazen, stomach-turning wickedness comes out.

It will be a time of waking up from The Matrix. (If you’ve seen that film, you know the “waking up” process is not exactly pleasant or comfortable.)

We will realize many public figures we admired are not who they portrayed themselves to be.

But it will also be a time of incredible joy and celebration. There will be many things to celebrate. The return of JFK, Jr. to the land of living will be enough to celebrate on its own, yet his return will be an outward sign of huge invisible transformations that have been occurring behind the scenes of the world—all for our benefit. On a scale never before experienced, America will finally be free of chains that many people did not know were there. But now that the chains are gone, they will suddenly realize how light and free their steps feel.

As many patriots emerge from the shadows to reveal their true roles in America’s own Count of Monte Cristo story, the public will have to unlearn many old things and absorb and digest many new things—a laborious process.

We will learn about ourselves. We may even feel embarrassed about who we let ourselves become when we were trapped in the Matrix. We will learn about many new heroes.

And, together as a nation, we will be grateful again for what it means to be free.

The unsung heroes are people who have executed The Plan against the global criminal cabal in the shadows with the same patient diligence as the Count of Monte Cristo. Many will be made known, but I’m sure many will remain anonymous. In this tale there will likely be many Unknown Soldiers whose deeds were valiant but never seen or praised.

As many pieces of the puzzle are brought into public view, a new American story will emerge.

Recognizing the Hand of God in History: What Should Be Our Response?

When the American public finally sees the miraculous, one-in-a-trillion, utterly astonishing story that has been taking place invisibly for decades, people who never believed in God will suddenly look up and say, “Only You could have orchestrated this. You are truly amazing.”

People who believe in God will discover a new hunger to know Him more deeply. A new desire will stir in their spirits to investigate things they’ve come to take for granted, such as how Christ, the true and ultimate Savior of all saviors, has changed history through the Cross and Resurrection and how His hand is still working in history today.

What God has done for America, and what God has done through the life of John F. Kennedy, Jr. and his family—and the way Heaven is redeeming JFK’s story, his son’s story, and our nation’s story (and the world’s)—is perhaps the greatest miracle God has done in modern history. (And I only know a sliver of what has happened.)

When all of this hits you—I mean really sinks in—well, it’s hard to explain. It’s a transformative, emotional experience, and it’s been marked with a childlike joy and wonder I haven’t known for a long time.

Frankly, it has melted the bitterness, cynicism, and roughness that this world has thrown on my heart in recent years leading up to 2017. When my dad passed away unexpectedly in January 2017 (and my mom had already died in 2010 by that point), the hardness had really set in. It’s not easy to keep a soft heart or maintain childlike joy when things like that happen.

But miracles like this melt the ice.

The Trial of Patience

Of course, JFK, Jr. has not yet formally revealed himself and his family to the world, and there’s plenty of room for you to doubt everything in this article if you haven’t taken the time to look at the evidence. I wouldn’t necessarily blame you. And I know some of you may think I’m crazy or badly misled.

Even so, my message to you is this: investigate further, take heart, and be ready for huge developments in the world, but also be ready for the most amazing, celebratory time this nation has ever experienced. We may need a “sequel” holiday to the Fourth of July added to our calendars, a second Independence Day, to do all of these history-changing events justice.

And to those who already agree with me: until those days of public celebration, newfound national unity, and celebratory fireworks, we will need to be patient. JFK, Jr. and his family (and others allied with them) have been waiting, planning, and hoping for almost 20 years. We should emulate that patience.

Amazing things are ahead, and it is a wonderful time to be alive.

I will leave you with the words of Edmond Dantes that he wrote in a letter to his friends at the end of The Count of Monte Cristo:

"Live, then, and be happy, beloved children of my heart, and never forget that until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is summed up in these two words, -- `Wait and hope.'

***

Links to sources of research:

Kelli Ann Hub News channel on YouTube - an incredibly in-depth but personable/conversational video series made by one of the original “anons” on 8chan who was among those who discovered JFK, Jr.’s first post on their board and began researching and following his subsequent activities online as he began to drop “crumbs” and clues through a variety of mediums and methods (some obvious, some coded).

She goes into great detail with other proofs, such as finding footage of JFK, Jr. in disguise at President Trump’s inauguration. Word of advice: make sure you watch her videos in order starting with #1. Each video builds on the next, and you will miss out on a lot if you skip. Also, if you go in without any knowledge about the whole “Q” phenomenon, you will want to start there.

You can read more about “Q” in this article I wrote and more about the JFK, JR. info in this article I wrote for Rocking God’s House that provides a very quick sketch of the way JFK, Jr. first introduced himself to the public and how this theory (and then widespread belief) that he was still alive emerged.

The Mile High City Podcast and channel on YouTube - another video/podcast by one of the original 8chan “anons” who was among the first who was convinced JFK, Jr. was alive and began researching the “R” drops and other clues and collaborating with Kelli Ann who is mentioned above.

The links above are hubs to other links as well. They will branch off into many other sources of research.

Enjoy.

Image credit: The image used in the title was taken from WikiCommons. It shows JFK, Jr.’s mother carrying him out of the White House.

Cecil (Cecil William) Stoughton, 1920-2008, Photographer ( NARA record: 4538278 )

Record Creator:

President (1963-1969 : Johnson). White House Photograph Office. (1963 - 1969) (Most Recent)
President (1961-1963 : Kennedy). Office of the Military Aide. (01/20/1961 - 11/22/1963 (Predecessor)

First Lady and Son. Mrs. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, Jr. White House, South Portico Entrance.

30 November 1962

The picture of JFK, Jr. as an adult was from his Wikipedia page.

This article is dedicated to the patriots in the United States military. They have done more to secure the freedoms of our nation and for the world than people give them credit for, and I am extremely thankful for them. I’d like to especially dedicate this to my brother Ian who served as a captain in the USAF and who served our nation in other amazing ways after his tenure as a captain. I’d also like to dedicate this to my late friend, Ricky Barraza, who was an Army Ranger who died in Baghdad in the early 2000s during the War in Iraq.

You might be asking: why am I dedicating this article about JFK, Jr. to our nation’s military?

You might also be wondering: why did I write that JFK, Jr. “returns”—isn’t JFK, Jr. dead?

The answers to the questions above are bound together.

If you were a teenager in the 1990s like me, you may remember (after all the conflagrations of grunge music, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg videos on MTV, Full House episodes, and cool denim overalls) hearing the tragic news in 1999 about the untimely deaths of JFK, Jr., his wife Carolyn, and her sister Lauren. You may remember reading how JFK, Jr. was an avid pilot who loved to fly, but whose plane crashed in the ocean one evening shortly after takeoff. You may remember seeing (in horror) alleged pictures of their recovered bodies in the newspaper a few days after the crash.

Well, what if I told you they were still alive?

What if I told you their deaths were faked in a sophisticated plan to place them in a witness protection program—all completed with the aid of patriotic elements of the military and powerful friends in the government and private sector?

Not only that, but what if I told you that the purpose of this plan was one strategic step in an extremely complicated, lengthy plan to expose a powerful criminal network that had infiltrated the United States government for decades?

And what if I told you this criminal network was a generations-old criminal cabal that was responsible for the assassination of JFK and that this cabal had also been planning to assassinate JFK, Jr.?

In other words, JFK, Jr. faked his death not only to protect himself and his family, but to secretly plan and enact a just revenge on criminals who have done incalculable damage to the United States.

Does all of this sound familiar to you?

How about a certain character who goes by the name “The Count of Monte Cristo”?

As I have discussed at great length in various places throughout this site, the similarities between JFK, Jr. and the Count are striking. It’s not a perfect analogy, but it fits in key ways. And I thanked the military in the beginning because they—as a whole—have been one huge metaphorical Count of Monte Cristo and have been executing a massive plan to bring very dangerous criminals and shadowy enemies of America to justice.

In one sense, JFK, Jr. is also a spokesperson—a symbolic Count of Monte Cristo, if you will—who embodies on an individual scale what the military has done on a massive global scale in operations that have involved countless patriots and soldiers.

Everything I have just described to you is a current geopolitical theory held by many.

Although I can’t prove it all to you in one fell swoop, I’ve seen enough evidence from open, public sources in recent months to conclude the following: this theory is not only plausible, it is very likely true.

The purpose of this article (or this website) is not to lay out all the proof. For now you can just take it all with a grain of salt. That’s fine. Besides, it will be very easy to tell if I’m right or wrong: either JFK, Jr. eventually re-appears on the world stage or he doesn’t. It’s fairly simple.

I personally believe he will finally be “revealed” to the world in 2019 or 2020. He has already made public appearances in disguise, and those will likely increase as we get closer to his big reveal.

But any success and preservation that the Kennedy family has enjoyed has been made possible by the US military.

In October 2018, I wrote an older version of this article and published at this URL. I won’t explain how or why, but I have good reason to believe that JFK, Jr. himself read the original version of this article.

And then something happened to me on November 4, 2018. I won’t get into those details here. It’s too personal, frankly. But it was traumatic. (There was much spiritual warfare.) I retreated from any and all online activity and removed many of my social media accounts and took down my website entirely.

Two months later to the day, I am finally getting back on my feet and rebuilding everything I had torn down. Although it was quite disruptive (and my apologies to those friends in the social media communities who were abruptly cut off from me), but these two months in the “wilderness” have proved instructive and fruitful, and it resulted in an entirely new approach (and a better one, in my opinion) to this whole topic.

A re-constructed version of that original article was placed in the Prologue of my new story Huios 2030. The character Gordon is a journalist and columnist in the story, and I decided to lend my re-constructed version of that original article to Gordon in his debut appearance to the reader. You can read it to get a sense of what my original article was like.

I’d like to use a portion of that piece to summarize the spirit of this topic and to answer the following question:

What Does JFK, Jr.’s Return Mean For America?

Maybe this whole thing, and my headline at top, sounds a little too dramatic or Andy-Griffith-patriotic for the ears of many readers.

Well, here is a prediction to consider:

The depraved acts of the corrupt, powerful elite mentioned above will begin to come to light in shocking ways in 2019-2020. The headlines will begin to match the premise of the general theory above (that there has been a huge network of criminals who, over many decades, have infiltrated the highest levels of government and the private sector—even past presidential administrations and corporate CEOs).

My prediction: America’s own prince of Camelot—whom I’ve nicknamed the “son of America”—will return to public life soon, along with his family.

Maybe I’m crazy, but that’s where the evidence leads me. If I’m wrong, I will be quick to admit it. At the end of the day, it’s all just a theory until the guy shows up. And if he doesn’t show up in 2019 (or 2020 at the latest), I will promptly and humbly toss my theory into the garbage can.

If the theory is true, what does it mean for America?

It means the following:

Everything will change.

JFK, Jr. will be a marker for a new major pivot point in American history (on par with major world-changing pivot points such as the American Revolution, the end of the Civil War, etc.).

There will be a history-changing ripple-effect throughout our culture as a result, and it will dwarf the transformative wave of the ‘60s. Unlike the Sixties Revolution, which alienated most conservative Christians, this cultural revolution will in some ways include and partner with certain portions of the Christian community at the very epicenter of its inception and growth.

JFK, Jr. will show a great deal of respect and personal warmth to the conservative Christian communities, and he will win them over in ways no other political public figure has accomplished (not even Reagan or Trump). He will also win the hearts of many liberals for the way he “walks” the walk in the realm of social justice.

I say “political figure” because JFK, Jr. will be our next President of the United States after Trump finishes (whenever that is).

JFK, Jr.’s leadership style will be such a contrast to Trump’s aggressive, combative approach that many on the Left and Right will support him in numbers that are astonishing.

He will realize his father’s vision for America.

Unprecedented unity between Right and Left will occur—not just among politicians but at the grassroots level in culture.

As President, JFK, Jr. will achieve things that no one else in modern history has been able to achieve.

The nation—across the entire political and cultural spectrum—will adore him and hang on his every word before he’s finished the first two years of his Presidency.

His Presidency will be unlike anything our nation has experienced in its history.

It will be unlike anything the world has experienced in modern history.

I know, depending on who you talk to, there is a wide range of opinion in our country about the Kennedy clan. Everything I’ve described above is a tall order, of course, if you can’t see clearly what I’m seeing. Many will laugh at me. (And I understand, if you do.)

Regardless of what happens in the future, in the near-term if this theory proves to be correct it will be an event that Americans should celebrate, at least from a general goodwill-toward-others spirit—whether or not you like the Kennedy family.

If the theory is true, then a man and his family whom the nation thought was dead will have been found to be alive and well.

That is a happy event—just as happy as when the world watched with breathlessness as the boys trapped in the flooded cave in Thailand were rescued.

We did not stop to evaluate their grand motives in life or weigh every element of their character before celebrating their rescue.

We simply celebrated.

For the most part the general public looks back on the days of Kennedy, Jr. and his father JFK with nostalgia and affection.

Our hearts still hurt from the terrible travesty of 1963. That’s a wound that’s never really healed for America.

As it says in The Count of Monte Cristo: “Moral wounds have this peculiarity - they may be hidden, but they never close; always painful, always ready to bleed when touched, they remain fresh and open in the heart.” 

Well, maybe it’s finally time for that wound to start healing.

Maybe it’s time for a lot of other wounds to start healing too.

Maybe it’s time for America to come together a little more and start treating each other like human beings again.

(That would sure be nice for a change.)

Some of my audience on both sides of the political aisle will undoubtedly look down their noses at my article.

That’s okay.

I’m not here to promote some kind of personality cult. Frankly, if this theory is true and you don’t give a hoot about the news about Kennedy, that’s fine. It’s a free country. No one has to like anybody if they don’t want to. This isn’t imperial Rome with an imperial cult, and hopefully it never will be.

And I’m not necessarily falling apart at the feet of the Kennedy family like a crazed fan at a Beatles concert. I’m simply saying this: if JFK, Jr. really is alive, then what has happened is historical. It’s very significant. It’s not something you see every day.

We should be paying attention.

We should be sober-minded and very alert.

And we should celebrate for all the reasons mentioned above.

In that spirit, I’d like to wish my best to the house of Kennedy as I perceive it to be standing (assuming all my hopes are true). May their house be like a “house, awakened from its long sleep, like the sleeping beauty in the wood,” as it “lives, sings, and blooms like the houses we long cherished.”

I write all these things on good faith that this family will step on the world stage not to serve some hidden agenda kept away from the eyes of the public (like the previous elite of America who proved to be wickedly corrupt) but to simply help others, honor God and the sanctity of human life and liberty, and maintain earnest humility.

That’s something we will desperately need as the ugly truth begins to come out about some of our most famous, beloved political leaders from the past.

No more hidden agendas.

No more secret fallen angels behind the scenes. Please. The hope of getting honest, selfless leaders in government again was the exciting, glorious hope that welled up in my heart when I first learned about JFK, Jr. and this grand plan.

It really is the Count of Monte Cristo story come to life, it seems, and it’s difficult to look away once you realize what’s happening. One thing is certain: it will be interesting to see how things develop from here. There is much joy ahead for our wonderful nation, but very great storms to come too.

Our nation will need the hope of the Gospel (the victory that Jesus achieved on the Cross and in the Tomb about 2,000 years ago) and the redemption of Yeshua more than ever during the storms that might envelope the Land of the Free in the years to come after this monumental cultural transformation takes place.

And we must be strong and bold. It’s much easier to write slogans like that than it is to actually be strong, bold, and brave. In the middle of a great storm, sometimes it takes all the courage we can muster just to endure the slow passing of time and the strife of tongues.

But for now let’s just celebrate and enjoy the present.

As it says in The Count of Monte Cristo, “…wisdom is contained in these two words: Wait and Hope.”

And whether or not these theories are true, we can always heed the advice of the Psalmist in Psalm 27:14: “…be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.”

If the theories turn out to be true and someday we’re talking about a presidential race that includes the name “JFK, Jr.,” my heart’s true north and motto will still be the same: wait and hope for the Lord.

No matter what happens, good or bad, God is in control. In the end, all of this is debating the doings of humanity, yet behind the scenes something bigger is happening.

Behind the scenes God is moving too, and His great love is better than life itself (Psalm 63:3).

***

The picture at top is entitled First Lady and Son and can be found here along with photo credits: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_Lady_and_Son._Mrs._Kennedy,_John_F._Kennedy,_Jr._White_House,_South_Portico_Entrance._-_NARA_-_194240.jpg

Originally published at Rocking God's House.

The new live-action Winnie the Pooh #Disney film Christopher Robin tells the story of an adult Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor) living in midcentury London when suddenly he comes face-to-face with his past from Hundred Acre Wood.

The film releases in theaters nationwide this weekend. Like many Winnie the Pooh fans young and old, I'm looking forward to seeing it, especially after my intriguing conversation with the film's producer Brigham Taylor.

Directed by , the film also stars  and  along with Jim Cummings reprising his beloved role as the voice of Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, roles he has played for several decades. There are quite a few other high caliber actors in this film--see full cast here. In fact, , the daughter of Ewan McGregor, also has a few scenes in the film in what looks to be her first film with her father.

After such a heavy, rather contentious two years in American culture, a movie like this is both welcome and refreshing. I had the opportunity to discuss the film with Brigham Taylor, who produced Christopher Robin with Kristin Burr of Burr! Productions. Taylor has a long and fruitful history in Hollywood, recently producing under TaylorMade Productions such notable features as "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales," the live action version of "Jungle Book," and "Tomorrowland." When he was an executive vice president at Disney, he oversaw the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, “Tron: Legacy,” “The Chronicles of Narnia” and “Oz: The Great and Powerful.” (I was especially interested to see his Narnia credit as I am a huge Narnia fan and published a book about C. S. Lewis.)

And as a long-time fan of Winnie the Pooh ("Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day" is still my favorite), I was quite curious about "Christopher Robin." I had a number of questions about the film, including how Ewan McGregor became interested in the project. After speaking with Brigham, I'm convinced that "Christopher Robin" will eventually become one of Disney's all-time classics. It seems to have all the right elements in play--even a powerful theme of redemption:

I know it took you many years to see it come to life. Can you share a little how that journey started for you and how it's evolved into the film we have today?

It's been an idea that I was thinking about years ago. We got as far as writing some scripts, but we set it aside because at the time [early 2000s] the animation group was still doing wonderful things with the character and the stories and putting films out. So we didn't really want to compete with ourselves, and so we set it aside. The years went by, and honestly for a stretch of that time I wasn't thinking that much about it just because of preoccupation with everything else we were doing. And then as we [Disney] were slowly coming back as we have in recent years to this idea of utilizing some of these classic stories, re-telling some of these fairy tales and featuring characters we love--to utilize old stories in new ways--it made more and more sense to pitch this. We had a whole new group at the studio, Alan Horn is now the Chairman and Sean Bailey is now President of Production, and none of them were around when we pitched this 15 years ago. So it's kind of like doing it all over again from the start. I was now stepping into my producing role at the studio, and my old friend and colleague Kristin Burr was still in an executive role and she's the one who said, "Now is the time to dig up that old idea of yours because this is really want they are leaning into." And she's definitely right, this was perfect, and so we found a new writer and we pitched it again. The concept was very similar. We had new details I think that we improved, in terms of certain ideas we put into it, but it was really about waiting for the right time, and it finally came out.

It sounds like the delay was a blessing in disguise.

I think so. We were able to not compete with other projects we were making. Also, we were able to benefit from the advancement and wonderful animation techniques that we can utilize with the visual effects team in bringing these characters to life. It's gotten ever more sophisticated. And the funny thing here is that we're trying to do the most rudimentary thing: we're trying to basically present vintage stuffed toys and have them only move in ways that they could realistically move. So we're trying to do the most low-fi possible presentation but it takes wonderful technology to do that. So hopefully the effect is that of a very low tech even though it's using state-of-the-art techniques.

Interesting contradiction there. I'm excited to see the animation. The trailer looks extraordinary. I write for a Christian website, and I'm a Christian. Obviously not every movie talks about faith, but just about every good movie in Hollywood has some theme of redemption in it, where something lost is found again. I was curious what kind of themes of redemption do you see in this project?

I think this is all about finding the things you've lost, and specifically the things that Christopher has left behind in childhood. So that is, I think, the universal challenge that everyone faces: how to hold on to the best things from youth, assuming we were privileged enough to have a happy childhood. But there are these wonderful lessons about friendship, about kindness, about taking time to be completely present with your friends and with your family. That gets ever more challenging as you get older and you take on your education and eventually your career. We wanted to tell a story and have Christopher Robin be very much the "everyman" who stands in for all of us, all the men and women who grow old and get weighed down with responsibilities and distractions that can absolutely pull you away from things that are important. And so what better way to remind you of that than the embodiment of your childhood--in this case Winnie the Pooh arriving at your doorstep needing your help. Christopher has to tend to someone else's needs, which is always a great way to get outside of your own issues. And in doing so, to see yourself even more clearly for what you're doing and more for what you're not doing. In the case of Christopher, he's really not attending to his most important relationships, which are his wife and daughter. And so hopefully in the story you will get a feeling that he corrects that and puts his life back in balance. We can't all quit our jobs and go play in the woods all day [laughs], but we can find time to do that and put life in balance, and that's hopefully the message that comes through.

Was Winnie the Pooh a part of your childhood? What's your history with that character?

Yes, he was a part of my childhood, and the stories I remember were read to me by my mom who remains a huge fan of A.A. Milne. Even now, I just came from a family reunion where there are four generations and 95 people all sort of springing out of my parents' family and we are inevitably all forced to recite one of the poems from A. A. Milne's "When We Were Very Young." I gave my parents--they have sitting outside their cabin--a wood carving of Pooh and Piglet. He's always been kind of a key character in childhood and even adulthood, which made it all the more exciting to try to add a new chapter and to re-introduce these characters to this generation in a way that no one has ever quite seen them before, as these very real and approachable characters. The characters were very meaningful and I really fell in love with the early animation of those three featurettes they produced, especially between '66 and '74. Just amazing voices that they found to embody these characters and the most charming animation. They were very adept at portraying these characters as stuffed animals, even their drawings and the wonderful charm and kindness that permeates these stories. They have a certain kind of tone all to themselves, and we really tried to keep that in the movie. We didn't try to put a weird edge on it or hip it up, we tried to keep it very approachable and keep the tone more of the sort of quiet communication of these characters. Though there's Tigger who's very energetic and there's a little bit of lunacy there, but by and large it's a movie that gets by on its charm.

That's fantastic. And we would expect that from Tigger definitely [laughs]. Ewan McGregor, I just saw him in "Last Days in the Desert," and he has such an amazing range of roles: I was just curious how he got involved in this particular project.

We had a script and a director and we sat down and of course the most important decision at that point is "who is our Christopher?" You look around in the landscape of who is out there in the right age range and one guy just popped out to all of us as number one on our wish list, and that was Ewan. Mark, our director, had made a film with Ewan, so they were friendly and he was able to approach him with a positive past relationship. But still it comes down to him reading the script, wrapping his head around it and wanting to do it or not. Lucky for us, he embraced and jumped into it. I remember, just a week into filming, we felt like we had the right guy, but we were really blown away. He was incredibly prepared, he takes his craft super seriously. There was not a moment where he was thinking, oh I'm just making a family film. He was making a dramatic film in the best way because him being very grounded in that role both I think accentuates the drama and the emotion but also heightens the humor in the movie because there's a very real tension between the adult Christopher Robin trying to maintain all the issues that are on his plate and also deal with this friend who has seemingly very frivolous problems. That was always to me going to be a wonderful source of comedy in this movie and I think it's in there. And I love those scenes where he's having to suppress his own frustration, which eventually turns around into understanding. With Ewan we couldn't have been happier. He's one of our best actors working in this industry. And he's the guy who brought to us both this amazing sort of gravitas and emotional depth but also has this tremendous charm and can remind you of the six year old boy he used to be and the kid who used to play in these woods. He has just one of the most magnetic smiles that you're ever going to see, and when you get to employ that it's an amazing sort of jolt. His range is tremendous and I can't imagine it without him now.

That's awesome. It was surprising to see him there, but then the more I thought about it, I thought "That's going to be amazing!" [laughs] How do you hope this movie will contribute to the overall legacy of Winnie the Pooh in our culture?

I hope it serves as a wonderful refresher course in the value of these characters and what they represent. I think a lot of people don't have to be reminded. But I think there's a lot of people who maybe grew up with it and haven't re-engaged with one of the movies or with the books recently and I think this is a gateway back into that and it reminds you about the value of this kind of friendship, the value of doing nothing with people that you love, and that means just being present and being together doing your favorite things. As Christopher Robin asks Pooh, "How do you do nothing?" He says, "That's when someone says, 'What are you going to do?' and you say, 'Nothing,' and then you go and do it," [laughs] which means you go and do something you enjoy. That's a timeless value and I'm hoping this keeps those lessons firmly etched in people's minds and imaginations and has them going back to re-read these books, which are amazing. Every time I've read them, now multiple times in the course of making the film, they're never notenjoyable. That's my hope.

***

To view theater listings and purchase tickets for "Christopher Robin," click here.

Kevin Ott is a movie reviewer, entertainment journalist and the author of the C. S. Lewis, music-themed inspirational book Shadowlands and Songs of Light.

The following are notes and reflections on a Tim Keller sermon I listened to recently about the meaning of "justification."

***

"I don't care what other people think about me."

We have all said that or, probably more accurately, wanted to say that.

Becoming enslaved to what other people think about you is painful and maddening, and it's a vicious cycle. The more you want people to approve of you, the more you keep your "radar" on for any hint of disapproval--along with great rejoicing when you are a smash-hit with the world--but each cycle, good or bad, makes you want it even more.

You become obsessed with other people's thoughts and opinions and actions as they pertain to you. (This can also make you extremely self-absorbed.)

Of course, there's the opposite extreme. You might become so anti-other-people's-opinions and so detached from humanity that you turn into a sociopath. That's not so good either.

In truth, we seek a healthy balance--a malleable but firm, secure state of confidence and freedom from people-pleasing. We want to be good listeners and attentive and mindful of other's preferences and needs--not self-absorbed and self-serving--but we want to be free from always needing to be needed, liked and accepted. We don't look to others to define our foundations or our identity in Christ, and we want to freely speak our mind and our true feelings, thoughts, beliefs without fear when we need to.

The Gospel is extremely relevant here--unbelievably relevant--and that might sound odd to some. But it's true. The Gospel--yes, the simple message in the little "four laws" booklet that college kids pass out at the beach during summer outreaches or the Roman Road or the "sinner's prayer," as some call it--is not just Christianity 101. The Gospel is the Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Course of everything that healthy, fruitful Christianity is all about. There is no doctrine that is more advanced, complex, or bottomless than the Gospel. You can never spend too much time on the Gospel from the platform or the pulpit.

And it's not just for "saving" people. The Gospel--i.e. what Jesus did on the cross for us--is the giant suitcase that can hold everything you need theologically for your Christian journey from beginning to end. And it can truly--and I'm not using hyperbole here--be applied to just about any problem or situation.

The Gospel Applied to the Problem of People-Pleasing

The people-pleasing problem is a serious thing.

When we have this problem, our identities, our lives, and even our security in Christ can become utterly controlled by the opinions, wants, whims, and moods of other fallen, imperfect, manipulative human beings (even other Christians) who, as Isaiah says, are as frail and impermanent on this earth as dead grass caught in a gust of wind.

The Gospel can help with this, but only if we clear up a common misconception: we read the Bible and we think the words "forgiven" and "justified" are synonymous, referring to the same thing.

Most Christians understand the forgiveness part of the Gospel. Our debt has been paid by God's grace. We've been given a "get out of jail free" card, etc. even though we've broken God's perfect law and done things we shouldn't have done in our lives.

But that's not what "justified" is referring to here. We are both forgiven and justified by Christ. In the Gospel, "justified" does not mean "forgiven." The difference reveals a vital clue.

God's Gift of a Perfect Record: A Part of the Roman Road We've Overlooked

In Romans 3:24 it says that we have been "justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."*

This verse, admittedly, is stacked with Christianeze and insider jargon that might sound alien to the non-religious reader. But it is relevant for everyone because, truly, everyone is trying to be "justified" in some way or another, whether he or she is religious or not.

Before we go any further, let's clear away all the religious clap-trap for a moment and take a look at the profound meaning behind an Oscar-winning movie.

In the film "Chariots of Fire," we find an astonishing subtext below the action and plot. It tells the stories of two runners in the Olympics, and one of them, Harold Abrams, runs the 100-yard dash and says that, in every race, he "has 10 seconds to justify his existence." In the film, Abrams strives and strives for the gold medal, yet even a gold medal is not enough to satisfy his need for that justification. The work never ends for him. His good deeds are never enough. (In contrast, his fellow runner Eric Liddell is presented as a symbol of God's grace. You'll have to watch the movie to see what I mean.)

We have all been Harold Abrams at one point. We have all pinned our hopes on some person or thing or outcome--even on seemingly good things like our ministries or the impressiveness of our spiritual fruit--to "justify" our existence and give us the validating performance record that wins the admiration, warm approval and good opinions from people around us.

That's exactly what this Greek word translated as "justified" means in the New Testament: our validating performance record--the thing that shows others that we're worth something and worth their attention and admiration.

Our society is crazy about getting the many kinds of validating performance records that "justify" us in whatever context we're in at the time--i.e. they show us worthy to get the job we want or the college admission we crave or the significant other we wish we could marry. (It's true, even in the courtship rituals, we strut our stuff and act on our best behavior in hopes that the beloved will accept us.) I'm referring to resumes, diplomas, referrals, letters of endorsement, good reviews, attendance records in school, grade reports, good social skills that earn us friends, second dates, and popularity. All of those things are spoken and unspoken records of validation, and we desperately need them to get anywhere in this society.

But Christ freely gives us the ultimate validating performance record--the one that will outlast any of the records listed above.

As Dr. Keller says: "Justification is far more than forgiveness and pardon but distinctly different than moral goodness. Forgiveness is 'you may go, I'm not going to punish you,' but justification is 'you may come.' It's not just getting a pardon, it's getting the Congressional medal of honor bestowed upon you."

And God gives us this medal of honor that Christ earned. He gives it "freely" as Romans says, and it has nothing to do with our moral goodness. We cannot earn this justification any more than we can earn God's forgiveness.

The Gospel is not just an act of negation, of removing sin, in other words. The cross of Christ is an act of addition, of putting something on us that changes how God views us. It does not, of course, magically change how everyone else views us, but it changes how the Creator sees us from that moment on--the very moment we put our faith in Christ and open our hearts to Him.

It really is a miracle worth contemplating for the rest of our lives: God gives us Christ's "perfect record of validation"--His perfect resume--as a gift. He "justifies" us. He doesn't just pay our sin debt and remove the stains; He goes and pins the medals that Christ earned on us as if we had earned them.

He gives us the Lord Jesus Christ's perfect record.

So what is our motivation for doing good? Once God removes the scampering, selfish panic we feel to do good for the sole sake of earning a good record, we can finally start doing good works for God's sake and for the sake of others. We can finally stop doing good works for ourselves. If we think our goodness is what earns us God's love and approval, then every good thing we do will always be tinged with a selfish agenda. But if God has begins by justifying us and settling the whole question from the outset by giving us His perfect record, there our motivation for loving others changes to unselfishness. And if we meditate deeply on what Christ has done for us, the gratitude and wonder will become so intense and overflow so that it spills out into good works. We're doing good things out of genuine love and gratitude, not out of fear, pride or self-preservation.

The Gospel is utterly scandalous and unique because it does something that no other philosophy, religion, or societal system does: it gives us a perfect validation record as a gift. It clothes imperfect humans in the shining virtue of God--at least, it does so in God's view of us, maybe not always (or ever) in people's view of us.

But, thankfully, His view of us is the only view that will matter in the end.

Life has taken some wild turns the past couple years (some of them quite grievous) and I've found it difficult to do a large amount of posting as of late. I recently attended the U2 Conference in Belfast, Ireland, and I shall publish a report on it this fall. It was a life-changing event on so many levels.

Stay tuned!

For now here is a picture I took of St. Mark's where C. S. Lewis went to church when he was growing up in Belfast.

If this happens to be seen and read, I’ll view it as God’s will that He led you to see it to move you to pray about this when you’re able.

Please keep my older brother in prayer.

He’s a veteran and a patriot facing a difficult battle of his own. (He’s only 47, but he’s facing end-stage kidney failure, has been doing dialysis three times a week, and doesn’t qualify for a kidney transplant apparently.)

He was an officer in the Air Force who served in Los Angeles. His work was related to space. (That’s all I’ll say about that. I don’t know much about what he did, frankly.)

He went to Oxford University, conducted briefings at the Pentagon, and has always loved America. (He’s a massive Dodgers and Cowboys fan.) And he’s always loved Jesus.

But please keep him in prayer the best you’re able. That’s all I’m asking. These have been hard times on his spirit and mental stamina.

Thanks everyone and God bless you for reading this,

Kevin

Went on a road trip this summer across the country. Here are some of the rock formations of Utah, which was one of the most stunning parts of the road trip.

It's hard to believe it's already come, but I'm leaving for the U2 Conference tomorrow. I'm nervous, excited and still in wonder it's finally happening (it's been a long time coming). I am a speaker at the conference, and I'll be speaking about the U2 song "Gone."

I will be sure to publish a report when I get back.

In the meantime here is the link to the U2 Conference website:

http://u2conference.com