Bernie Sanders claimed that there is a revolution brewing. There are signs all around that there is a coming American revolution, but is it the one that he is seeking?
Long, long ago there was a white-haired gentleman that made a few bold predictions. Some of them have come to pass, and some of them dead wrong. Yet, whenever he grounded his predictions on the Bible, they have taken shape as he predicted. If anything, what he predicted about the downfall of the United States seems tame compared to what we are witnessing today.
One of the things Herbert W Armstrong (HWA) emphasized during his lifetime ministry was that the United States and Great Britain were given great blessings bestowed upon them by God. These modern empires did nothing to deserve such blessings, yet why would God see to it that such nations existed? Why is it that you can read the Book of Revelation and other biblical prophecies and not see the United States playing a major role in the time just before Christ returns?
Some, like Hal Lindsey, are savvy enough to realize that such a vacuum must mean that the United States will not exist as a major player in the very end times. However, HWA was one of the few to put together enough puzzle pieces to realize that Great Britain and the United States were primarily composed of descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh, sons of Joseph, adopted by their grandfather Israel.
Instead of the Church replacing Israel in prophecy in some sort of lack of integrity on God’s part, He simply postponed their greatest blessings ever because of their continual disobedience. Yet, not only do many mainstream Christians view their leaders as fallible and don’t set the bar very high on human leaders, they portray God as One Who will renege on promises and instead “replace” one entity with another in a sleight of hand worthy of the worst politician one can imagine.
Ironically, while this low bar keeps slipping down, people decry the corruption of leaders and government entities, such as the police, and often make the situation worse.
In comes the white-washing of history, if you will pardon the pun. Beyoncé can give a tribute to Malcolm X, one of the most violent criminals of the supposed civil rights movement, and no one seems to think that is a bad thing. Simply put, it justifies violence and rebellion against authority.
12 And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel.
~ Dt 17:12
Simply put, either obey the government authorities that God has placed over you or suffer the consequences. God will not condone rebellion without cause. It is not for nothing that God says rebellion is “evil”.
13 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval,
~ Ro 13:1-3 (ESV)
Here’s the thing: The Bible is quite clear on what the solutions are, but how many so-called Christians will have the stomach to do what is necessary when the time comes? Very, very few.
14 For many are called, but few are chosen.
~ Mt 22:14
Criminal Lives Matter
What America reveres now is not law and order but criminal activity. If they were honest, it would not be “Black Lives Matter”. It would be “Criminal Lives Matter, and Police Lives Don’t”. However, expecting honesty from hypocrites is always doomed to failure.
Of course, the hypocrisy does not stop there. Political punditry has taken up the Black Lives Matter slogan in an even more extreme hypocrisy that should make the average American sick to their stomachs. The fact that it does not is telling.
Hillary Clinton spoke a lot about the “children” during her concession speech in New Hampshire. She even spoke about her record about the “millions of children” she saved through her healthcare initiatives. Really? That pales into insignificance when you consider the millions of black children killed by Planned Parenthood every year. Black lives matter? By supporting an organization started by a known racist whose goal was to reduce the population of blacks in this country? Is that really what black people want?
Corruption
All the while that Bernie Sanders is starting his “revolution” against corruption, Clinton and the entire DNC are razing barriers for special interest donations.
Just how out of touch are these people? All the while decrying the rich and powerful elite, they are busy shoring up their own rich and powerful elite.
The Ends Justifies the Means
What this means is that as long as “he is our man” or “she is our woman”, it is OK. We justify sports figures who behave badly as long as he or she is “our guy” or “our gal”. This same party spirit envelopes and smothers politics beyond belief.
Why could Donald Trump declare that he could shoot someone and still have his followers? Isn’t that exactly what politics produces?
Is it any wonder that Constitutional Conservatives have sprung up? What used to be known as libertarianism has taken hold among a significant minority. It is the same spirit that produced the Tea Party, which unfortunately got abused and swallowed up by opportunistic politicians to the point it became meaningless. On a side note, the same thing happened to the Occupy Movement.
Is it any wonder that there is such discontent? Politicians don’t really listen. They say what they have to say in order to gain or maintain power and then continue on, business as usual.
And, the so-called Constitutional Conservatives? Funny how that still works there as well. It is inconvenient that Ted Cruz is not a natural born citizen. In grade school, back when they actually taught things rather than filling your head full of propaganda all the time, it was commonly taught that you could not be a naturalized citizen, and you had to be born on US soil. This was common knowledge and taught in the schools. Glenn Beck recently gleefully brushed that all aside in order to support “his guy”. So much for being loyal to the Constitution.
Cruz wants everyone to believe he is the candidate of integrity. Meanwhile, his campaign apparently does not have the scruples to keep them from spreading false rumors about opponent Ben Carson dropping out. In fact, it is quite unusual for a news outfit like CNN to take the initiative and state for the record that the story did not originate with them and even call the rumors “lies”.
To be fair, Cruz did apologize to Carson, but why wasn’t this stopped before it happened? Integrity is more about avoiding such situations than it is about trying to make up for them.
Cruz also seems to be fact challenged when it comes to when the last time a lame duck president appointed a Supreme Court justice. Again, it might be an inconvenient truth, but truth is truth.
In the end, Cruz is just as political as the rest of the bunch, and may be even more so.
A Strong Man
Whenever chaos and confusion reigns, people seek out a strong man. Richard Nixon came to power promising to rid America of protests and riots, not to mention ending the war. Whenever political turmoil is afoot, opportunists are ready and willing to take the reigns with all sorts of promises.
You know, that is how Adolf Hitler came to power. He wrote an entire manifesto outlining what he proposed to do, and he did it! Germans wanted a strong Germany. They were tired of the worthless money and poverty, and they wanted a strongman to take control.
Such people ride the tide of personality. They are strong people, they promise greatness, and they actually will go about to fill those promises. They carry out their plans, often much to the horror of the very people who supported them in the first place.
Such is Donald Trump. No, he might not be a Hitler, but then again who knows? He obviously has little regard for the Constitution. He obviously knows what people want to hear and says it. He has tapped into a segment of society that feels disenfranchised and alienated by a political process that ignores them.
Ironically, this is in large part a reaction to dealing with eight years of bigoted narcissism and arrogance. Instead of choosing something different, however, some are catering to the notion of fighting fire with fire.
The Living Documents
Of course, no one running really cares about the Constitution. Marco Rubio wants to give the government even more power for surveillance, even justifying the violation of the Fourth Amendment by saying, “These are different times.” Are they really? Interestingly, the American Revolution was viewed by the other side as a rebellion. Our founding fathers were the terrorists of their day. Let’s do a reality check here!
It is very similar to the arguments some make about the Bible: It is a living document. IOW, it changes. It can be reinterpreted and whatever portions of it that are inconvenient can be ignored at will.
“Rule of law” used to be a very real concept. Now, however, it has become “rule of man”, meaning that whatever the dictator dictates is the law, no matter what is written.
Governance in the Church
Unfortunately, the Church is not immune to all of this politicking. In fact, there was a time when “God’s Apostle” handed down decisions from on high, and those decisions were often contrary to the Bible.
God does not reveal in the Bible the precise origin of the different races. It is evident that Adam and Eve were created white. God’s chosen nation Israel was white. Jesus was white….
~ Herbert W Armstrong, Mystery of the Ages, Chapter 4: Mystery of Civilization
Pure BS! And, no, I will not apologize for calling it what it is! Anyone who believes that Adam (which is the same word “red” in Hebrew) was white needs to repent!
Jesus was Jewish. Clearly, Jews are not “white”. Of course, I always thought “white” was a stupid designation in the first place, for only albinos are really white.
Even so-called white Americans are descended from Joseph. Joseph married an Egyptian (Ge 46:20). Egypt came from Ham (Ps 105:23,17; 106:22; 78:51), one of Noah’s black grandsons.
It is just further proof that absolute power corrupts absolutely — even in the Church.
In fact, the Church has been more shaped by the world than the other way around. The world argues over forms of government, and there are actual morons who teach that the form of government is the important thing. They make it a pillar of their devilish doctrine! Nowhere does the Bible endorse a specific form of human governance — nowhere.
It is interesting that God’s children would also seek out a strong man to lead them, just like the devil’s children do. It is just like the end of the Book of Judges.
5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
~ 1Sa 8:5
Make no mistake about it! They wanted to be like the rest of the world!
20 That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.
~ v20
The sad fact is that our church organizations are a result of wanting to be like the rest of the world.
HWA looked at the rich and powerful of his day. He reasoned that their methods worked. Since they worked, they must’ve been a godly model to work from.
Well, of course they worked — in Satan’s world. The entire corporate culture is built upon the same foundation of sand that the rest of the world rests upon — all while pretending it does not!
It is time to be for real. It is time to repent. It is time to look to God and quit looking for strongmen to lead us by the nose into destruction.
The sad truth is that the average pew warmer in our church organizations could not prove a thing if they had to. Just like 1995, they think they proved it once and that is all that is necessary. Meanwhile, all sorts of garbage can be fed to them, and they will swallow it!
The time is now for the Bride to make herself ready. Revolution is in the air, but it won’t be the revolution everyone thinks they want. It will be the fall of America, and it is high time we proclaimed it!
Furthermore, that won’t be the end. God Himself will put down all warfare and revolution, and true renewal will finally take place. We need to get the word out about it as well.
Or, we can sit around playing politics and proclaiming that “our group” or “our man” is the one we rally behind, all the while bickering over what should be obvious most of the time rather than deceiving ourselves.
It is not a little irony that the main agitators will decry groups cooperating together. Imagine churches cooperating instead of competing! Of course, without strife and competition, the Church’s critics have far less to complain about, which is the real reason they will criticize any and all cooperation, real or imagined.