Christians would do well to know the difference between the “pivot,” which seeks to navigate a path of least resistance while maintaining a semblance of authority, and true repentance, which ventures down the narrow, humbling road of transformation.
2024 is already shaping up to be a wild one. There will be many issues that Christians need to keep a keen eye out for as another election year rolls around, media lies increase, and the cultural revolution in America continues to accelerate.
But one issue, in particular, is worth paying even closer attention to — and that is any effort to rewrite the disastrous COVID legacy of incalculable harm done to our country by the draconian lockdowns and unproven vaccines forced on people through wicked mandates.
Specifically, that means carefully listening to the words and actions of those who were most responsible for these measures.
Over the next year, many public figures who were horribly wrong on COVID will backtrack. This will include both pastors and public officials. So Christians need to learn to spot the difference between what we call “repentance” and what could be termed a “pivot.”
The art of the pivot is already on full display in the recent comments by Francis Collins, the former director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and one of the chief architects of the waking COVID nightmare we all lived through.
In a video that is going viral on X (formerly Twitter), Collins embodies the “pivot.”
First, I want to share the full transcript from this brief clip, and then explain the important differences between the pivot and repentance. Here’s how the conversation went (italics and boldface type added for emphasis):
Collins: “As a guy living inside the Beltway feeling a sense of crisis, trying to decide what to do in some situation room in the White House with people who had data that was incomplete…we weren’t really thinking about what that would mean to Wilk and his family in Minnesota, a thousand miles away from where the virus was hitting so hard.
We weren’t really considering the consequences in communities that were not New York City or some other big city.
The public health people, we talked about this earlier, and this is a really important point, if you’re a public health person and you’re trying to make a decision, you have this very narrow view of what the right decision I, that that is something that will save a life. It doesn’t matter what else happens.So, you attach infinite value to stopping the disease and saving a life. You attach zero value to whether this actually totally disrupts people’s lies, ruins the economy, and has many kids kept out of school in a way that they never quite recovered.”
Panelist: “Collateral damage.”
Collins: “Yeah, collateral damage. This is a public health mindset. And I think a lot of us involved in trying to make those recommendations had that mindset, and that was really unfortunate. It’s another mistake we made.”
Some may interpret these remarks as what appears to be a change of heart — Collins is admitting a mistake! Not so fast. If you look closely, all you see is a vague admission that things might have been a tad askew. Even worse, he outright admits that he was operating in a very myopic “Beltway” and big city focused mindset with no thought or care given to how the proposed (and ineffective) “mitigation” measures might impact millions and millions of average Americans across the country.
This is the pivot: A crafty attempt to salvage credibility without the burden of true repentance. Let’s compare the art of the pivot to the heart of biblical repentance and see how this manipulative maneuver falls short of what Christians should accept or celebrate.
The Pivot: A Dance of Rhetoric
The pivot is a linguistic pirouette, a choreography of carefully chosen words designed to create an illusion of transformation. It’s a subtle acknowledgment that perhaps the previous narrative was not entirely accurate, but it stops short of a genuine admission of wrongdoing. The pivot is a strategic maneuver, an attempt to save face and retain a semblance of authority without the heavy lifting of repentance.
Pay careful attention to how and what Collins says. For example, he uses the word “we” instead of “I.” He doesn’t admit or confess any personal culpability in the COVID lockdowns and vaccine pushes. Also, spot how he skillfully defends the decision-making calculus by caging his words in the context of “saving lives.”
He never personally admits that the organization under his direct control during the height of COVID, the NIH, led the way in weaponizing and politicizing the response. He doesn’t mention the October 8, 2020, email he sent to Anthony Fauci in which he advocates for attacking and discrediting “the Great Barrington Declaration,” a statement by Harvard’s Martin Kulldorff, Oxford’s Sunetra Gupta, and Stanford’s Jay Bhattacharya to lift the blanket pandemic lockdowns in favor of “focused protection,” as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
In the WSJ article, we read his email, typed with his own hands, in which he said:
“This proposal from the three fringe epidemiologists . . . seems to be getting a lot of attention — and even a co-signature from Nobel Prize winner Mike Leavitt at Stanford. There needs to be a quick and devastating published take down of its premises.”
I guess that was just another “mistake.”
Collins’s pivot reminds me of Proverbs 14:9, “Fools mock at the guilt offering, but the upright enjoy acceptance.” The pivot often resembles the behavior of these fools, scoffing at the idea of a guilt offering — or, in modern parlance, a genuine admission of fault. It tiptoes around accountability, seeking acceptance without the requisite humility that true repentance demands.
True Repentance: A Humble Admission
Contrast the pivot with the biblical concept of repentance — an act that involves more than a change in rhetoric but a genuine transformation of the heart. Repentance is not a strategic maneuver but a humble admission of personal fault, an acknowledgment that one has strayed from the path of truth.
Psalm 51:17, ESV, teaches us that “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
A broken and contrite heart is an essential element of true repentance. This humility recognizes the gravity of one’s actions, leading to a genuine desire for change. Repentance is not a calculated move to save face but a sincere plea for forgiveness, both from God and those who may have been wronged.
Nowhere in this video clip can we find genuine repentance from Collins. He doesn’t ask for forgiveness. He doesn’t confess his lies. He just waves a hand at the millions of lives destroyed, all direct consequences of his actions, as stemming from a “public health mindset.”
Collins claims to be a Christian. He has been praised by many in the evangelical world as a model of a Christian public official. But apparently when it comes to genuine Christian repentance, Collins missed those passages in the Bible.
The Pivot’s Preservation of Leadership: A Telltale Sign
One of the glaring distinctions between a pivot and repentance lies in their aftermath. The one who pivots often clings to the trappings of leadership, unwilling to relinquish the authority they once wielded. This preservation of position is a red flag — a sign that the heart has not truly turned.
Even though Collins has retired from his role as the director of the NIH, he clearly still wants a seat at the table and a microphone on a stage. Repentance, in its biblical essence, is not a mere acknowledgment of wrongdoing but a willingness to follow those who have walked in the light of truth. The one who repents recognizes the error of his ways and is eager to align himself with the path of righteousness, regardless of who leads the way.
If Collins was really repenting, and not just pivoting, he would yield the COVID conversation over to those who got it right from the drop, scientists like Stanford’s Jay Bhattacharya, cardiologist Peter A. McCullough, vaccine experts like Robert Malone, and others.
Matthew 23:12 reminds us that “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” True repentance necessitates a humbling of oneself. Those who genuinely repent recognize the need to step back, to follow those who were right when they were wrong. The effort to preserve a leadership position is a key telltale of someone attempting a pivot, revealing a lack of humility and a failure to grasp the essence of repentance.
True repentance embraces humility to the extent of considering others more significant. It is a selfless act that involves a willingness to follow the guidance of those who have held fast to the truth.
Conclusion: The Narrow Path of Redemption
The art of the pivot and the heart of repentance stand as contrasting, even opposed, postures. Christians need to learn to spot the difference in 2024 — because the pivot won’t just happen on COVID issues, it is happening in the Church as well. As an example, for many years, leading evangelical figures pushed Critical Race Theory as a “useful analytical tool,” but they are now starting to denounce the excesses of the woke movement — without acknowledging their role in advancing it when it was trendy.
The pivot seeks to navigate a path of least resistance, maintaining a semblance of authority, while repentance ventures down the narrow, humbling road of transformation.
The pivot may impress with its linguistic acrobatics, but it is ultimately meaningless and morally hollow. True repentance, marked by humility, real admission of personal wrongdoing, a request for forgiveness from God and man, and a willingness to follow the path of righteousness, stands as a testament to genuine transformation — a transformation that goes beyond words, penetrating the depths of the human heart.
Don’t be fooled by the pivot. As Christians and Americans, we should demand real repentance from failed leaders. And in 2024, make sure to follow those who were right when it counted — because the stakes are only going to get higher.
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