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The Surrender of the West - Part 2
10/16/2008
The Surrender of the West - Part 1
Last May I wrote the first part of this series (above) where I decried the fact that the surrender of the West had begun and called on the American people to repent before God’s judgment fell.
1 Corinthians 10:1,5,11,12 For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea... Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.
Disobedience has consequences...even for Christians. God is full of mercy and slow to anger. Let us repent...while there is still time...”
The Bush Administration
You guessed it, President Bush is the knee-jerk reaction we get all around the world today. He’s blamed for everything from global warming to the instability in Iraq to hurricanes to the global economic meltdown to why no one around the world likes us very much anymore.
It makes me ashamed to call myself an American. Not what President Bush has allegedly done to us, but the vile disrespectful manner in which we have treated our own elected official. The American people should be ashamed of how they have treated the man that we elected twice to lead our country. The man that has gotten us through one of the most difficult times in American history. The man that has thwarted all attempts at another terrorist attack on our country for 8 years.
So life is getting harder and you don’t understand why there are no easy solutions to terrorism and the economy? Instead of acknowledging that the world is simply changing for the worse (something which is prophesized and explained in God’s Word) blame it on President Bush.
George W. Bush didn’t have to run for President. It would have been much easier for him to simply sit back and enjoy being a wealthy businessman and let someone else make the tough decisions. But like impatient children we look for someone to blame and demand “CHANGE” without having any idea of what that means or costs. Like a baby screaming in its crib, we don’t know what we want or need we just know that we don’t like what’s going on now.
Romans 13:1,2 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.
Do you want to know who’s to blame for the situation we’re in? Go look in the mirror. The American people have become such a bunch of whining, spoiled, self-centered, narcissistic, moral relativists denying any responsibility for their own actions that they can’t see beyond their own nose and they richly deserve the coming judgment. Unless we repent, nothing can stop the whirlwind.
The Coming of THE ONE
A few weeks ago just outside of Ocala, Florida I saw something I’ll never forget. An old man with a white beard stood on a busy street corner with a large sign. Painted on it in a hand-written scrawl was the following; “Obama is NOT Jesus. He is NOT coming to save us.” I wish I had taken a picture.
As Sen. Dick Durbin said, “we want to believe”
Never in American history has there been a candidacy like Barack Obama’s. Never has there been such an almost religious zeal and enthusiasm for a political candidate as we have seen here where women pass out during his speeches and everyone from the man on the street to the talking heads on TV consistently describe him in messianic terms. The media has completely given up all pretense at objectivity. The worst offender seems to be CNN (a.k.a., the All Obama All the Time Network). Their “Truth Squad” must have started as an inside joke that got out of hand. They wouldn’t know the truth if it fell out of the sky, landed on their face, and started to wiggle.
I watched Obama’s acceptance speech during the Democratic convention and was amazed as the camera panned from face-to-face where each pilgrim looked upon the countenance of their hopes and dreams with such misty wide-eyed adoration. He told the nation exactly what they wanted to hear. “You the American people are not the problem! The problem is the evil Bush administration and the Republican party! And the answer is ME! Just elect me as your President and I’ll solve all our problems and make everything right with the world!” The faithful responded with regular chants of their positive thinking mantra, “YES, we can!”
After hearing all he promised to do, I almost hope he wins just so I can witness the collision between the expectations he’s setting and reality. America, I hope you paid close attention to what he’s promising (which I think included 15 more minutes of sunshine each day and a 10% reduction in the planet’s gravitational field). And I hope that if he wins, you will remember his words at the end of his Presidency when he has failed miserably to accomplish any of it. Of course, he’ll probably just blame the previous administration for the mess he inherited.
As for his qualifications, he is a smooth talker and he...er...give me a minute (furiously clicking through websites)...AH, yes! He was a community organizer for several years and a Senator in the state of Illinois from 1998-2004. After failing to get elected to the House of Representatives, he easily won a position in U.S. Senate in 2004. The Republican candidate that year (Jack Ryan – no relation to the Tom Clancy character of the same name) was forced to withdraw after the release of sensational details from his divorce. His replacement (Alan Keyes) entered the race only 3 months prior to the election. Since his election to the Senate, he hasn’t passed a significant piece of legislation (but he has introduced several including the “Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007” which was intended to stop the troop surge in Iraq which has since been acknowledged by all parties involved as a resounding success). Then, of course, he announced his candidacy for the Presidency in February of 2007. In an attempt to makeup for his lack of experience, Obama asked Joe Biden to be his running mate (who has been in the U.S. Senate since 1972 has twice failed in his bid for the Presidency.) You may remember Joe Biden’s remark concerning Obama during the campaign: “I think he can be ready, but right now I don't believe he is. The Presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.” But remember the most important part of Obama’s qualifications...he hates Bush and wants to implement something called “CHANGE.”
Religious Background
Concerning Christianity, his father and stepfather were both Muslims. Obama attend a Catholic school at first in Jakarta, Indonesia but then transferred to a Muslim school. Here’s an excerpt from Obama’s book “The Audacity of Hope:”
“Theologically, Malcolm X was not far wrong when he called the white man "the devil." The white structure of this American society, personified in every racist, must be at least part of what the New Testament meant by the demonic forces.”
“We cannot solve ethical questions of the twentieth century by looking at what Jesus did in the first. Our choices are not the same as his. Being Christians does not mean following ‘in his steps.’”
“If there is any contemporary meaning of the Antichrist (or ‘the principalities and powers’), the white church seems to be a manifestation of it.”
“Black Power seeks not understanding but conflict; addresses blacks and not whites; seeks to develop black support, but not white good will.”
Obama distanced himself from Rev Wright after the following quotes from his sermons appeared in the media:
Concerning 9/11 – “We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost. We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye.”
Concerning AIDS – “The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color. The government lied.”
Concerning Israel – “The Israelis have illegally occupied Palestinian territories for over 40 years now. Divestment has now hit the table again as a strategy to wake the business community and wake up Americans concerning the injustice and the racism under which the Palestinians have lived because of Zionism.”
Now for a pop quiz:
1. Lenin
It’s a trick question...they all did! But Obama just repeated it this week.
On the other side of the aisle we have John McCain who is slightly more conservative than Obama (for that matter, I don’t know of ANYONE more liberal than Obama - and the National Journal considers him the most liberal Senator currently serving based on his voting record). But John McCain is a former Vietnam POW and retired Navy Captain who served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and four terms as a U.S. Senator and has hovered around the fringes of the Presidency since 1988 (having failed to win the Presidency in 2000.) He has made it his trademark to be a Republican that is willing to defy his own party when he feels that they are on the wrong side of an issue. He obviously has the experience to be both President and Commander-In-Chief. He surprised everyone by choosing Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate in an attempt to court disgruntled Hillary Clinton supporters and to offset questions about his age. The majority of questions concerning McCain seem to be concerning his age and willingness to implement “CHANGE” (whatever that means).
Religious Background
As to his views on Christianity, he was raised an Episcopalian but now attends a Baptist church although he doesn’t consider himself to be “born again” and has never been baptized. He credits his faith for his ability to endure while a POW in Vietnam. He considers the United States to be, in a broad and general sense, a “Christian nation.” However, he is a little vague concerning abortion and gay marriage. He feels that his greatest moral failure was how he handled his first marriage.
As you have probably surmised, I will be voting for McCain. Not because I’m overly enthusiastic about him but because the alternative is Obama. It’s sort of like the scene in “Master and Commander” with Russell Crowe...“one must always choose the lesser of two weevils.”
The Issues – Do They Matter?
The particulars of what each candidate is promising concerning the issues really doesn’t matter very much. They’re election fodder and we all pretend to believe that they can actually implement the things they’re proposing. But the fact of the matter is that no candidate can deliver what he promises during the election. It’s the congress that controls the purse strings and nothing will get funded without their approval.
What’s more important is their world view and their values. These are the presuppositions which color their understanding and which form the foundation for their decision-making. Whoever is elected, you can rest assured that they are not the answer to our problems. They are just another (albeit larger and more powerful) cog in the wheel.
I encourage you to vote. But do not vote for someone just because of the color of their skin or their sex. Do not vote for someone just because you don’t like what the world is becoming and you don’t know what needs to be done but you do know that you want something different. As with all major decisions, pray for God’s discernment and use sound and consistent principles from His Word to guide you.
Oh, for the days before speech writers and opinion polls where men spoke their convictions from their heart and made decisions based on what they thought was right instead of what will sell! Oh, for the days when the American people knew Whom they spoke of when they used the word God and they honored His name, the honored their leaders, and they honored their country!
The Global Economic Meltdown
Revelation 6:5,6 When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.”
Revelation 18:11 And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargoes any more
From the AFP 10/11/08:
Following a gathering of rich nations on Friday, leading emerging nations came to Washington for vital G20 talks on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the 185-member IMF.
The G20 grouping of countries which collectively account for 85 percent of the global economy said they had agreed to use “all financial and economic tools” to stabilize the system.
US President George W. Bush said Saturday that the world's richest economies in the Group of Seven were united on a “serious global response” to the financial meltdown.
Announcing that all 27 of the EU's leaders were behind measures taken by members of the single currency eurozone to safeguard banks, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Wednesday there was also a unanimous demand for a world summit to be held by the end of the year on reforming global financial institutions.
“The system must be completely overhauled, an overhaul that must be global,” he said.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the international summit could be held as soon as November and should involve the United States, European nations and emerging economies such as China and India. It would also aim to relaunch stalled global trade talks.
“I believe there is scope for agreement in the next few days that we will have an international meeting to take common action ... for very large and very radical changes,” he told reporters before meeting with other EU leaders for talks on the financial crisis.
Brown said creating a new international financial architecture should be “an immediate task” to restore confidence in markets.
With this newfound fear of God, they started announcing radical policy actions: the G7 statement; the European Union leaders agreement to bail out European banks; the British plan to rescue--and partially nationalize--its banks; the European countries' plans along the same lines; and the Treasury plan to ditch the initial TARP that was aimed only at buying toxic assets in favor of a plan to partially nationalize (aka recapitalize) U.S. banks and broker-dealers.
One thing born out of the Great Depression was the rise of Nazism and fascism. When people are cold, hungry, afraid, and without hope they are more susceptible to those who promise to make things better for them and the means by which those promises are kept become irrelevant.
Setting the Stage
All of these events are setting the stage for what will become the obvious solution; one world economic system. The logic of it is undeniable and it makes perfect sense. It was technically impossible in the Great Depression...but no longer. The problem is that it will be one the foundation stones upon which the Antichrist will build his global empire. And with it he will bend the citizens of this planet to his will and destroy all those who oppose him.
Do you think this is overreaction and religious paranoia speaking? Read today’s (10/16/08) news from Reuters:
“Another subject in tomorrow's world is that of the great currencies. How many should there be? What should the agreement between these great currencies be? Should we organize a discussion? Should a country like India one day have a global currency?” Sarkozy told a news conference.
“These are subjects that should be discussed ... I strongly believe that all these subjects should be on the table, that we should prepare an ambitious agenda, that we should equip ourselves with initial conclusions for a first summit that I would like to be held in November,” he said.
Revelation 13:16,17 And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.
The surrender of the West will continue. Our influence in the world will continue to decline and although there are sure to be fluctuations our economy will continue its slide and our moral blindness and rebellion against God will continue to increase. The enemies of God will grow and prosper and the servants of Jesus will become fewer and more hated. Religion’s that tickle men’s ears will flourish and Word of the Lord will become rarer and rarer. It has been foretold (Mark 13, Matthew 24, Luke 21, 2 Timothy 3). I don’t know whether America is not mentioned in the last days because we have been destroyed, become insignificant, have had so many people raptured, or because we have become the government of the Antichrist. There is still time to repent, but not much. However, I do know this, God will care for His people if we will trust and obey Him.
Matthew 6:25-33 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
These are troubled times but the children of the Alpha and Omega can rest in His provision. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
The Election and the Economy
“The days are growing short, my brothers. Despite what you may have heard from many pulpits and televangelists, God will judge and discipline His people. And His discipline can be very severe. I don’t know why the United States isn’t mentioned in the end times, but I fear the explanation. Take a glance at the many times in the Old Testament where God used war, enslavement, disease, and starvation to punish His own people Israel. And Israel usually refused to believe that God would do it to them until the day it actually happened. These accounts were passed on to us for a reason...
So much has happened since then. God has continued to ratchet up the level of punishment hoping that we’ll listen but we continue to go our merry way. When something cataclysmic happens the first thing we do is try to find someone to hang for it. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a weather event, a seismic event, a war, an airplane crash, or an economic crisis. SOMEONE should have seen this coming and SOMEONE should have done something to stop it so SOMEONE is going to pay! And who is the scapegoat du jour?
1 Timothy 2:1-3 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior
How many times have you prayed for President Bush? Now how many times have you have you said disrespectful and insulting things about him? And you wonder why things are going the way they are? Perhaps you need to read the verse above one more time.
Daniel 7:8,25 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and A MOUTH SPEAKING GREAT THINGS. And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to CHANGE times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
In the same way that President Bush is blamed for everything with a blind rabid hatred, Barack Hussein Obama is worshipped with a blind rabid enthusiasm as the solution to all the world’s problems.
“During the five years that we would live with my stepfather in Indonesia, I was sent first to a neighborhood Catholic school and then to a predominantly Muslim school; in both cases, my mother was less concerned with me learning the catechism or puzzling out the meaning of the muezzin's call to evening prayer than she was with whether I was properly learning my multiplication tables.”
Obama has been a member for 20 years of Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ. Rev. Wright led him to Christ some 16 years ago and also officiated at his marriage. Rev. Wright is an adherent of “black liberation theology” which is a belief system founded by James Cone in 1950s. It is focused on political liberation from white oppression and symbolically sees black people as the people of Israel who are enslaved by the United States (playing the role of Egypt). Here are some quotes from James Cone’s book “Black Theology and Black Power:”
“It is important to make a further distinction here among black hatred, black racism, and Black Power. Black hatred is the black man's strong aversion to white society. No black man living in white America can escape it...But the charge of black racism cannot be reconciled with the facts. While it is true that blacks do hate whites, black hatred is not racism.”
As you can see, black liberation theology holds very little in common with Biblical Christianity and many of its critics consider it to be a thinly veiled form of Marxism.
Concerning blacks - “The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America.’ No, no, no, G@d d%$# America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. G@d d%$# America for treating our citizens as less than human. G@d d%$# America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme.”
Here’s a quote from Obama concerning the Bible:
“Which passages of scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is OK and that eating shellfish is an abomination? Or we could go with Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount?”
Obama concerning America being a Christian nation:
“Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers. And even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools? Would we go with James Dobson's, or Al Sharpton's?”
Obama concerning the Sermon on the Mount:
“a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our Defense Department would survive its application.”
What is amazing, is that everyone who brings up these facts (not opinions or unfounded suppositions) are automatically branded as racists! Again, the facts listed here about Obama are not lies but verifiable information and they are not in dispute by either side. The only dispute is concerning their implications. To put things in perspective, put the shoe on the other foot and let’s say that a white candidate had been going to a church for 20 years where the same sort of things were believed, preached, and taught except the black race are the culprits and he never would have even made it into the primaries because of the screams of racism.
Galatians 1:9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!
Obama is no more Christian than chalk is cheese. Is he a Muslim? No, but I can definitely see that he would certainly empathize with their causes more than most of us. But according to Islamic law, if you’re father is a Muslim then you are a Muslim by definition. Most of the Islamic world considers Obama to be a Muslim. Is he the Antichrist? The question would be ridiculous if it weren’t for the fact that so many of his proponents are consistently describing him in unprecedented messianic terms. But no, I don’t think so. But he certainly has a lot in common with him.
Who said “when you spread the wealth around it’s good for everybody?”
The Maverick
2. Karl Marx
3. Chairman Mao
4. Hugo Chavez
5. Obama
Ezekiel 7:10-13, 19 “Behold, the day! Behold, it is coming! Your doom has gone forth; the rod has budded, arrogance has blossomed. Violence has grown into a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain, none of their people, none of their wealth, nor anything eminent among them. The time has come, the day has arrived. Let not the buyer rejoice or the seller mourn; for wrath is against all their multitude. Indeed, the seller will not regain what he sold as long as they both live; for the vision regarding all their multitude will not be averted, nor will any of them maintain his life by his iniquity. They will fling their silver into the streets and their gold will become an abhorrent thing; their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD. They cannot satisfy their appetite nor can they fill their stomachs, for their iniquity has become an occasion of stumbling.”
In order to get a feel for the scope and gravity of the problem, let’s look at a few miscellaneous facts concerning the economic crisis over the past month:
Here’s how world leaders have responded to the problem:
The head of the International Monetary Fund said, “Intensifying solvency concerns about a number of the largest US-based and European financial institutions have pushed the global financial system to the brink of systemic meltdown.”
From the AFP 10/16/08:
European Union leaders pushed for rapid moves to overhaul global finance, demanding a world summit be convened for a complete rethink of the system in the wake of the banking crisis.
From the AP 10/16/08:
The world's top economies should hold a global summit this year on reforming the world's financial system, British and French leaders declared Wednesday.
From Forbes 10/16/08:
After last week's crash in stock markets and financial markets--and it was, indeed, a crash, as during the week equity prices fell as much as the two-day crash of 1929--policy makers finally realized the risk of a systemic financial meltdown. They peered into the abyss a few steps in front of them and finally got religion.
As you can see, we are experiencing an unprecedented global economic event which exceeds even the Great Depression in its scope and rapidity. The Great Depression started with the US stock market crash of 1929 where the market fell almost 25% over 2 days. However, the Great Depression itself lasted almost a decade and there is much debate even to this day as to what caused it. However, by the end of 1931 the US stock market had dropped by 89%. But there are substantial differences between the Great Depression and the event which we are experiencing today. Firstly, this crisis is broader in scope and is affecting even Japan, Russia, and China which were for the most part untouched by the Great Depression. Secondly, thanks to our ability to transmit data and financial transactions almost instantaneously around the world, this crisis has rippled across the planet much faster than in 1929. Is this the beginning of another global depression? That remains to be seen. How should the governments of the world respond? We don’t even know what the problem is yet. For that matter, we still don’t know for sure what caused the Great Depression. All of these measures that world leaders are taking are merely triage to try and stop the bleeding and shock the global financial system back to life.
Relationships between major world currencies should be studied as part of a global overhaul of the financial system in the wake of the financial market crisis, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Thursday.
Epilogue
Psalm 37:25 I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread.
Notice there is a disclaimer there...you have to put His kingdom and His righteousness first in your life. If you’re playing church or you’ve just been coasting along with your nose barely in the door of Christianity while you live your life the way you want to, then that promise doesn’t apply to you. But if you have surrendered ownership of your life to Jesus and He is the first and foremost consideration in your life, then He promises to provide your needs. I encourage you to do that today if you haven’t and not wait until disaster knocks at your door and you suddenly realize your need for God.
Luke 21:28 “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”