Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.~Romans 1:22-25
So, I saw this earlier this afternoon (the pictured Tweet, not the Bible verse) and I felt the need to write something about it, though first I had to clean the ferret cages and put the weasels up for the day. That being, let's get one thing straight, people. GOD is not stupid. You cannot bullshit God, God cannot be manipulated or coerced in any way whatsoever. God does not care about earthly politics, and God is not, ever, going to act according to Man's timeline...let alone time-frame...because God is eternal, omnipotent, knows all, sees all, and you'd do yourself a favor if you at least assume for the sake of argument that God is smarter than you are. I mean, come on, we're only talking about the Creator of the Universe here, He who created all those physical laws (up to and including evolution, I'd assume) and who, until Man screwed it up a couple thousand years ago...was content to let things be once He sent His Son to set them right...and so far as I know, God has left things pretty much alone since then as well...
Granted, while there are multiple potential Apocalyptic scenarios staring us right in the face, they're all Man-made. God created the laws of Physics, and all the things that led to the ideas and technology that drive our modern world...what we've done with all that, that's on us.
Yes, that's hard, that's supposed to be the point. People are supposed to take responsibility.
That said, God is not going to use Trump to bring about the End of Days. Let's get that out of the way right now. God is not going to use an Unbeliever for His purposes, at least not that way. This is especially considering (and I say this as a former member of the End Times Prophecy movement) that the "popular" End Times narrative is popular because it's bullshit. The Anti-Christ is not a Biblical personage. The Rapture is not a Biblical concept or event. Instead. these ideas came from two different guys, each from different eras, early 19th Century English preacher John Nelson Darby and a bit later, preacher (and former Confederate Soldier) Cyrus Ingersoll Schofield in the later half of that century. Their various theologies were knitted together by others in the first couple of decades of the 20th Century to form the basis of modern End Times dogma...also around this same time the basis of modern Fundamentalism and Pentecostalism were both started. This hot mess got a big assist later from Hal Lindsey in 1973 with his book "The Late, Great Planet Earth" which became popular because it got picked up by a bunch of drugged out ex-hippies *Cough* a good-sized chunk of the Baby Boom generation *Cough* who all made the switch from getting high on drugs to getting high on Jesus in the early 1970's.
None of this is true, or based on the Bible, and according to what I learned later on, from debating this stuff with a pastor (and custodian at my work) the popular idea of a seven-year Apocalypse narrative is basically deception, intended to lull people into thinking they'll have that long to get it right.
No, really, it'll be like this:
For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.~Matthew 24:27
And there will be no warning. That's what all that "Thief in the night" stuff back in the day was about. Also, That's the point. Do you really think the Omnipotent Creator of the Universe is going to catch you at your best, by design? Oh HELL NO. He's gonna show up at some random time and what you're doing in that moment is what you're doing, whether you're praying the Rosary or smoking a blunt. Think of God as that supervisor at the job that likes to show up at inconvenient times, just as a start. If you think
But, it's also important to remember that a majority of people in the world, hell, even a majority of Christians don't believe in all that or have differing interpretations. Revelation and the rest of the Bible describe plenty of events (in a Prophetic sense) that have already happened. One could make the argument that Revelation has been ongoing since the First Century, I think, and in looking at the Bible and history as much as I have, I'd have a hard time disagreeing.
In any case, the point of the Apocalypse as an idea was to give hope to an oppressed people, not to serve as revenge-porn for a privileged one...and don't you dare forget that.
It's not only that, though; Right above it in my Twitter feed there was also this:
"Feminist witches are placing hexes on Trump?"
(Sounds like a Monty Python skit if you ask me. Maybe somebody will turn Trump into an orange Newt?)
Hold on. Let me freshen my drink, this one is gonna take a minute.
Now, according to what I was taught (based on Scripture, not superstition) such things as magic, witches, wizards etc. may exist but are unproven at best, fanciful ideas at worst...and such are perfectly alright on an entertainment level, so long as you understand that this stuff is fantasy and myth and leave it at that. I personally think there had to be some basis to all these legends...but clearly in our own world that time has passed...if it ever was real. However, even if there's ghosts, goblins, monsters under the bed, warlocks, witches, wizards...what have you...the whole damned point is that the name of Jesus is supposed to be more powerful than all that, and if a person truly has faith in Christ then they would be protected from such things in the unlikely event that it ever came up.
I have in fact, as I've detailed elsewhere, used this superstitious tendency of some religious nuts to believe in magical woo woo to my advantage. There's nothing magical about it. Not only that, but I'm a gamer, I do varying degrees of unreality for fun, which makes it not so appealing in real life. Murlocs are enough of a pain in the ass to deal with in World of Warcraft, I don't want to live in a world where monsters like that are real and neither do you. Our own real world has enough problems and enough monsters who are just as human as the rest of us...and that, in any case, should be more scary than dragons or giant robots or zombies.
The real world is hard enough, and an often-harsh test of the faith of the Believer or the logic of the Atheist all by itself. I do not understand or care for the clamor on the part of some to end it, nor the desire to dream up ghosts and goblins or witches and werewolves where none exist...and to attempt to do so to cover the real-world faults of shitty leaders strikes me as both dangerous and irresponsible.
And then of course, there's a lot of gullible fools and out and out liars out there.
I've been paying attention for a long time, and so far as I know, Barack Obama and his family participated in plenty of religious observances including Christian ones, Christmas was never "banned" at the white house, and the Obamas apparently celebrate it themselves and are from what they've said and by their actions I would accept at face value the statement that they are Christians. Now, granted, conduct-wise...like many mainstream Christians of every tribe and nation...they conduct themselves as normal, regular, secular people...and I was always perfectly damned well fine with that. So far as I know, every President we've ever had in my lifetime has been the same way.
Try telling that to the FOX News comment sections, though...
Seriously, where do these people come up with this crap?
One doesn't have to be a fire-breathing Fundamentalist...or a white person...to be a Christian.
I started out as a non-Fundamentalist Baptist, I was taught to check what people said against what the Bible said, and to check what they said against basic facts as well.
Knowledge is power, why else do you think all these fools are trying to make knowledge so hard to get? Truth is important, too. Without a baseline of Truth (both literal and spiritual) he who has the brightest lights and the biggest wallet gets his way, and what can anyone say about it? That's exactly why all these liars don't like the truth.
If you want a better country, you have to be a better citizen, if you want a better world then you have to be a better person. If you want to get people to do things your way...then you have to go out there and be a leader and show them that you're right...if you are.
Yes, that's hard, none of this was supposed to be easy and people stewing in hate and resentment and superstition and being told what they want to hear won't make it any easier.
...And that, gentle readers, is the truth.
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