The Corona Virus: 2020-2022
By the beginning of 2020, I felt I had a good understanding of the ancient Hebrew writing method, and I was ready to use it to write my own modern story. If successful, this would be the first story to employ the writing method since John wrote The Book of Revelation two thousand years ago.
Little did I know, I was running out of time...
The Circle Club
Gay Vampires
Some time between 2015 and 2017, while searching through Reddit groups to find information about ancient writing structures, I stumbled upon a group that call themselves The Circle.
The Circle was an invite-only community, and although they let me listen to their conversations, only moderators could speak. However, as I listened, I realized that the individuals in this group were suffering from experiences that were similar to mine.
Many members had dreams wherein they were told that the end of the world was near. Some were given instructions to do certain things to prevent the destruction of mankind. There was debate as to whether they were crazy, but the similarities among member stories seemed to validate the strange occurrences.
Many members of the group were gay, and they theorized that, perhaps, the gay movement is supposed to serve some kind of higher purpose. What if the reason the LGBT community has been silenced for thousands of years is because we have an important message that we are supposed to share at this critical moment in human history.
The Circle was originally called The Octopus Club. Its logo was adopted from the hydra symbol used in Marvel movies. As the organization evolved from a fringe conspiracy group into a reputable community, some of the more juvenile sentiments were replaced.
Where's John?
Many members of the community debated whether the events described in John's Book of Revelation were coming to pass or whether the Bible was just fiction. Then, during the debate, someone noticed that Revelation seems to have been written in a peculiar way.
In time, more members agreed that there is a unique structure to the narrative, and they began racing to solve the mystery of how the structure worked and why it was created.
They also noticed that the Bible predicts that the apostle John will show himself in the last days and teach the people of the world (John 21:22-23; Rev. 10:11). This led to a great debate about where John was located and what method he used to write the Bible.
Meanwhile, I had a full understanding of how the method worked. But, as stated, I was not permitted to speak within the community because I was not a moderator. When I saw the requirements for becoming a moderator, they said I have to be a credible published author.
This frustrated me because we approached truth from opposite directions. To them, the power to speak made them feel that their words were important. But to me, the importance of my words is what should have given me power to speak.
Many people agree that the Bible seems to have been written using a peculiar writing structure. But no one has published a book that successfully explains how this writing method works.
Nonetheless, I found great comfort in listening to their stories. For the first time, I felt that I was not alone. I was not out of my mind. I was experiencing a phenomenon that other people were witnessing. They were asking the same questions that I had asked. But they had a voice but no answers, and I had the answers but no voice.
Furthermore, in case our echo chamber was not enough to validate our crazy theories, the events of the world really did seem to indicate that something strange was happening...
The end of the world
Global Warming
The first obvious sign that the world was ending happened in 2018, when the United Nations issued a warning that if humans do not change our behavior by 2040, climate change will take the lives of millions, and we could enter an era wherein the extinction of mankind is inevitable. Many scientists used the words "tipping point" to describe the threshold that our species is approaching.
Coronavirus
Then in 2020, the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), created a global pandemic that threatened the survival of the human race. Governments all over the world raced to shut down businesses, schools, and churches in an attempt to slow the virus from overtaking our species.
Never before, in my life time, had the world changed so abruptly. Over a million people died, world wide, with the virus taking the heaviest toll on the elderly.
Riots
The Coronavirus caused a chain reaction that led to high unemployment rates, curfews, strict law enforcement, protests, and eventually, riots.
All across America, people were rebelling against government regulations and police brutality. This led to people looting businesses, burning police stations, and destroying statues and other symbols of the country.
Wildfires
In the midst of the pandemic and riots were a slew of wildfires across the country. The fires were attributed to global warming. They caused the sky to turn crimson. Ash fell like snow. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. If the events of the year were not enough to convince someone that the world was ending, the photographs might. Visually speaking, the world had turned apocalyptic.
Media Abuse
Police Brutality
The straw that kicked off the 2020 riots happened in May when a police officer killed a man named George Floyd for using a fake twenty dollar bill instead of a real one.
What sets this event apart from others is that the death was captured on film and uploaded to social media. For years, people have been saying that the police are out of control, but now, there was a video to prove it.
When I saw the video, I was reminded of when I was arrested in 2014 and the officer told me I did not have my Miranda rights. Likewise, I think one reason the George Floyd video was so powerful is because, in fact, police have been abusing their authority and the people of America were tiered of it.
In Minneapolis, protesters burn down a police station after the death of George Floyd at the hands of law enforcement officers.
As a homeless person, I saw many examples of when law enforcement officers overstepped their bounds. As an eyewitness to police corruption, it seemed to me that the men in blue felt they were above the law. Even the cops who might be considered innocent turned a blind eye to the behavior of their colleagues, meaning the whole basket is rotten and the system is corrupt.
It seems to me that there are no measures in place to keep law enforcement in check. Therefore, in my opinion, although the riots of 2020 may not be legally justified, they're not outrageous either. If corruption exists within the system, people might be right to rebel the system.
The hero is the media
In my opinion, the riots of 2020 symbolize the voice of the public saying, 'If the people who enforce the law don't keep the law, why should anyone else?'
Inasmuch, because the spark that caused the fire was the George Floyd video, it suggests that the media can act as a balance against dictators and other systems of authority.
For this reason, people all over the country began filming police officer for the purpose of putting law enforcement in check.
Trevor Noah with a police brutality compilation. This is one of the best news commentaries I have ever seen.
Media brutality
However, while watching the footage of police brutality, I started noticing that many journalists and commentators were taken things out of context. In some reports, the police were framed for doing things they hadn't actually done. Sometimes reporters omitted important details about the story to fit their agenda. Instead of reporting real news, media makers were reporting fake news and representing people falsely.
Plus, the new coverage of police brutality far outweighed any arguments in support of law enforcement. It was as though the police were not allowed to tell their side of the story. And even if they were, why would they? Editors were manipulating their image to be something it was not. For this reason, police officers began attacking the media.
At first, I was outraged by the behavior of the police. The right of a free press is part of the first amendment. But then, I wondered if there was any justification for it. If the media can act as a check against power, then what check is there against the media when they become abusive? If no power is free from regulation, why do we insist on maintaining a free press?
Don't misunderstand me. I'm not suggesting that the press should be censored. I'm saying that, for communication to work, the speaker and the listener must obey certain universal rules. If these rules are not obeyed, the system they use to communicate will naturally shut down.
And I believe that is what we are witnessing in the world, right now: the destruction of our system of communication.
Gradually, our ability to describe things is weakening. Words like man and woman, which use to be clearly defined, have become ambiguous in meaning.
In this video, Trevor Noah compares the police actions of two events to suggest that U.S. law enforcement is racist. However, he completely ignores the fact that in one event the man was resisting arrest and in the other he was cooperating with officers. This is the worst example of journalism (or news commentary) I have ever seen.
In this news report, a journalist gets arrested just for filming. Were these officers justified for denying the reporter his first amendment rights?
The right to represent myself
At this same time, actors in Hollywood began quitting roles where they played actors of other races. This was so people of those races could portray themselves.
In some ways, this is ridiculous because the definition of an actor is someone who pretends to be something they are not. Yet, at this moment in history, when false representation is raging unchecked, it seems wise to allow people to represent themselves.
The Bible says that in the final days of mankind, Jesus is suppose to show himself to the people of earth. As of now, Christian organizations are representing him in his absence. But maybe Christians should learn from Hollywood and let Christ represent himself.
Jewish comedian Jenny Slate quit her voice acting role on Big Mouth because she was of a different race than her character.
Replicating the Method
In the spirit of true self representation, I decided it was time for me to fulfill the promise I made to God on my death bed when I was a teenager. It was time for me to write my story. And now that I knew how the Hebrew method worked, I could use it to tell the story of the end of the world.
The Book of Epimetheus
My first attempt to use the method to write a story occurred in 2019, with The Book of Epimetheus.
Epimetheus is about a pirate named John who has the combination to a box that no one else can open. Then, he gets framed for a murder and uses the lock box to prove his innocence.
Because it was my first time using the method, I made some mistakes. Although the mistakes were corrected, the final product was sloppy. For this reason, I chose not to publish.
This is a visual representation of the matrix structure that I created for The Book of Epimetheus.
The Book of Epimetheus (2019) is about a pirate who gets framed for murder.
Music of the Spheres
Music of the Spheres, is a 120 page (50,000 word) anthology about the ancient Hebrew writing method.
Half of the book shows illustrations of matrix spheres that were produced when applying the Hebrew method to several books of the Bible. These illustrations suggest that the writers of the Bible used the matrix method when creating their stories.
The second half of the book consists of twelve short stories, written by me, using the matrix writing method. This is the first time this method has been used since the apostle John wrote The Book of Revelation two thousand years ago.
The book took me six months to write, but it is the product of a six year journey.
Music of the Spheres by Jonny Lekrib (2020).
BOOK OF REVELATION matrix
MUSIC OF THE SPHERES matrix
These are visual representations of the story structures of The Book of Revelation and Music of the Spheres. One reason it took me six years to replicate the method was because I had to adapt a computer program that was capable of illustrating story structure in this way (which was no easy task).
In Search of Selena Gomez
It had been over six years since I had my dream about the end of the world, and now it seemed to be coming true. But if the dream was truly prophetic, how come I had not been able to contact Selena? I reasoned that there might be a timing factor involved. After all, had I met with her six years ago, I wouldn't have had much to say. But by 2020, I felt prepared to teach the writing method and answer any question regarding its existence. Therefore, that year, I returned to YouTube for another swing at first contact.
Pandora's Box
Selena Gomez and Pandora's Box (2020) is about a fireman named Frank who receives a mysterious package with 13 cassette tapes.
On the tapes are recordings from John the Revelator explaining how the events described in The Book of Revelation are the events that are happening in the world right now.
The show is designed to be an invitation to Selena to learn about the biblical writing method. However, after creating the first episode, I realized that this endeavor was just as unlikely to reach Selena as my other failed attempts. Therefore, I quickly abandoned the project, finally realizing that YouTube was not going to be the way to reach Selena.
But what else is there?
Poster for Selena Gomez and Pandora's Box (2020). Only the first episode was created. The episode will probably never be released to the public.
2020 marks the year of TikTok's rise in popularity. Similar to YouTube, TikTok is a social media platform that lets users to upload videos. However, with TikTok, the videos must be short (within three minutes).
When I first heard of TikTok, I failed to recognize it how I could use it. As stated, my projects tend to be complex and, therefore, long. Also, the caliber of people within this community seemed to be from the bottom of the barrel of intelligence.
However, a second look at the platform gave me hope. Unlike YouTube, which has become dominated by mainstream media, TikTok appears to be a place for regular people. Also, because videos are shorter, it gives creators more of an opportunity to be seen and go viral.
TikTok
This is Fermi. He is one of the original puppets I hand-crafted for my new show on Tik Tok.
In Search of Selena Gomez
In Search of Selena Gomez is a show about a time traveler named John who is trying to reach the celebrity Selena Gomez to prevent the world from ending (sound familiar?). But unlike my YouTube show, which was created to teach viewers about the complexities of communication, the only purpose of the TikTok show is gain an audience so I might be seen by Selena. This allowed me to have much more fun in with the material I'm working with.
Each episode is from 20 to 60 seconds long. To boost the quality of my show, I hand-crafted several original puppets. The only goal of each episode is to make the viewer laugh. It's nice to be able to take my life's work and just have some fun with it.
In Search of Selena Gomez, a new series on TikTok
TO BE CONTINUED
My story is not finished. However, this is where I'm at, in this moment.
The year is 2020. I am currently living in San Francisco. The city has been shut down as the virus continues to wreak havoc on the world.
I have been pursuing the Quixote-esk quest of contacting Selena for six years. Despite my many failures, I have learned many things about God and mankind. I have hope that this is all going somewhere important. But only time will tell.
