Every election season
in America brings the same troubling thought: “This is the most critical
election this nation has faced.” The declaration can be validated as
true in the case of each, because the world moves ever deeper into the
end of days, and humanity’s future becomes more precarious with each
decision made within the political process.
Powerful dynamics
impact our present time, and are forcefully shaping our future in ways
that can’t be fully anticipated. End-times politics are
upon this generation, as is understood by those with spiritual eyes and
ears to see and hear. But, to senses caught up in the ephemeral forces
that gush society and culture along at breakneck speed, such matters of
eternal consequence are beyond comprehension.
Internal politics of
each nation of the world move this generation of earth-dwellers
inexorably toward the final seven years of human history that will
culminate with the return of Jesus Christ. Yet the politicians and the
self-iconizing politics the majority of them practice generates hubris
that prevents them from thinking in terms other than those that flow
from humanistic pridefulness.
Love of Money the
Common Thread
Proof of the
man-centered governance that runs throughout the nation-states is
evident in the accumulation of personal wealth almost every head of
state, whether dictator or legitimately elected leader, garners to
himself. Whether considering the Saddam Husseins of the world who build
billion-dollar bank accounts for themselves simply by raiding their
national treasuries at will, or congressmen in the United States who
vote themselves pay increases and special perks in late-hour sessions
away from the glare of public scrutiny, the avarice is there, pulsing
with greed that validates the Word of God: “For the love of money is the
root of all evil…” (1 Tim. 6:10a).
This will be viewed by
some as cynicism of the first order. But, the cynicism is based upon
well-known common practices by the politicians of all stripes, although
the robbery is for the most part accepted without opposition by the
victim-citizenries throughout Planet Earth. Government "of the people,
by the people, and for the people" has never truly been the
case. The concept is impossible to achieve because of the very nature of
both those who govern and those who are governed.
Governing the Heathen
Perfect governance was
established by the Creator of all things upon a pristine planet. Man has
struggled to remove God’s tether of restraint since the first man chose
to do what was right in his own eyes. The planet itself suffers as a
result. Prophecy from God’s Word
foretells the final actions by the rebellious politicians and their
politics, and spells out the tragic result:
“Why do the heathen
rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
The kings of the earth
set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD,
and against his anointed, saying,
Let us break their
bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
He that sitteth in the
heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
Then shall he speak
unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure” (Psa.
2:10-5).
First Political
Superstar
The earliest attempts
by human governors and government to conduct human affairs apart from
God’s authority was recorded by the inspired writer of Genesis. Nimrod
was the first superstar of politics upon Planet Earth following the
great flood of Noah’s day:
“And Cush begat Nimrod:
he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
He was a mighty hunter
before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter
before the LORD.
And the beginning of
his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of
Shinar” (Gen. 10:8-10).
Key Ingredient to
Empire Building
Genesis 11:1-9 tells
the story of this first king who established a powerful kingdom
following the flood. It is more than merely interesting that the same
basic material that gave Nimrod and his government the ability to build
the tower, which was the primary manifestation of his kingdom and its
attempts to usurp God’s authority, is the same material that is so
important today to the building of power bases of governments within
nation-states.
“And they said one to
another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had
brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to,
let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and
let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the
whole earth” (Gen. 11:3-4).
“Slime” is the word in
the King James Version of the Bible to consider here. Oily pitch bubbled
up from the ground in the region even then, and this material was used
in firing the bricks for the construction of that infamous tower of
Babel. God scattered the people who wanted to, in effect, cast off the
bands of the Almighty and build a tower of great height that would,
symbolically, at least, reach into heaven so those rebels could shake
their fists in the face of the Creator. The Lord confused their
language, breaking apart even the continents, apparently, during the
time of Peleg (read subsequent passages in Genesis).
Ancient/Modern Ties to
Mid-East Petroleum
One can’t help but make
the analogy to, and draw the parallels of, those times to this end-times
era. The great industrial nations of the West and new, burgeoning
industrial nations of the Middle East and Far East have and are creating
power bases for governments that seek to put off the bands of the
heavenly authority. This same material–the thing the KJV terms
“slime”--is the geophysical building block that has been used to build
these massive political entities. It is almost certainly this basic
element that we call petroleum today that God will use to bring all of
these anti-God politicians and their kingdoms to man’s final battle:
“And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue
Armageddon” (Rev. 16:16).
God Intervenes
God scattered the
people, who were of one mind and one language. Technologies such as
ever-advancing computers, linked with satellites to bridge continents
and oceans, are swiftly circumventing the Lord’s earliest scattering, as
recorded in those passages just mentioned. There is an effort to go back
to Babel–to again build one world. Antichrist’s kingdom, as forecast in
Daniel, chapters 2, 7, 9, 11, and in Revelation, chapter 13, will be as
close as man will be able to come to rebuilding such a geopolitical
structure as Nimrod attempted to construct.
Return to Babel
We see that drive to
return to the spirit of Babel-building during the present
hour. Most every governing asset wielded by those at the heads of the
nation-states of the world are aimed at globalization.
Technological wonders,
again involving the computer-satellite linkages around the globe, makes
this effort at one world a possibility in one aspect in particular:
economics. It is the trading in one specific commodity that binds all
together...you guessed it: petroleum.
Oil has brought the
Middle East into the world as a major center for global economic
interaction. The riches beneath the sands of that vast region has made
Dubai the wealth center of the world. The money powers-that-be gravitate
to that newly born metropolis as to no other place on earth at present,
including New York, London, and Paris. It shouldn’t go without due
notice that the tallest tower in the world is being constructed there,
with an even taller one planned. Some are talking in terms of a building
one mile high. Shades of Nimrod and the Tower of Babel!
Islamic Plague
No matter which
direction one looks in consideration of where the love of
money is driving mankind, the spokes from every financial center on
earth lead back to the Middle East hub. The oil sheiks are rapidly
becoming the holders of American assets, as well as holders
of the wealth of many other western nations. Politicians and their
politics, therefore, must more and more pay homage to Middle Eastern
realities. Great Britain, for example, is moving toward becoming steeped
in Mid-East Islamic cultural and religious demands. Church buildings and
massive cathedrals that were once the homes to Christian worship now are
turned into mosques.
Increasingly, Europe
moves toward Islamic domination while the politicians and politics of
the continent and England seek to appear friendly to the oil-rich
monarchs of Saudi Arabia and other Arabian potentates. Even the United
States' local, state, and national politicians in some cases seem to
want to placate Islam, for example–in the name of cultural
assimilation-- by allowing Islamic studies within some public schools,
where Bible reading and prayer in the name of Christ are held as
illegal.
End-Times Politics
Dominate
End-times politics
pervade every aspect of life in the United States today. We are all
aware of the commercialism that drives the American psyche. Media,
whether news or entertainment, hold up the wealthy and the glitzy before
the bedazzled eyes of the celebrity-worshiping segments of our
citizenry.
Paris Hilton, Britney
Spears, and many other of the youthful celebs of the hour are the focus
of the young, while sports heroes and entertainment celebrities hold the
attention of many of the older viewers. We are a nation that is
entertainment mad. This is, itself, a form of strange politics because
we vote with our remotes on the celebrities we worship, giving the
networks the ratings that make them commercially viable. The more votes,
the higher they can charge for advertisements aired during commercial
breaks.
Politics of the Church
However, as worrisome
as politics of the hedonistic entertainment industry is, it is the
politics of the churches within Christianity in America today that
is most troubling...and, at the same time, most indicative of where this
generation likely stands on the end-times timeline.
Deadly Politics
Politics of a dangerous
sort now runs rampant throughout Christianity. The danger comes from
the fact that the politics involve poking God himself in the
“apple” of his eye: “For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory
hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth
you toucheth the apple of his eye” (Zech. 2:8).
The Almighty speaks
somberly about any dealings with the “Daughter of Zion”–Jerusalem in
particular, and Israel in general. The Lord God will not tolerate those
who would try to force His chosen into molds that don’t conform to His
plan for Israel. And, Israel is the whole house of Israel, the progeny
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Pressuring Israel
We witness the daily
reports of American and European efforts to pressure the leaders of
modern Israel into giving up land in order to convince its Islamic
neighbors to live peaceably. And, presently, we see concerted pressure
to get the Israeli leaders to allow the dividing of Jerusalem, thus
permitting the eastern part of that city to become the capital of the
new Palestinian state they plan to create.
America is in a most
precarious position, because of the Bush administration’s part in all of
this. And those of the Democrat Party are, in some cases, even more
culpable. It would behoove America’s leaders to read carefully God’s
Word on matters involving the people He calls His chosen.
Those through history
who have failed to take into account the Lord’s will concerning
Israel–the Jews—lie scattered in the desolation of the dark past. As
serious as is the matter of human governmental politics being played
against Israel, there is a more egregious such political sword jabbing
and slicing at the apple of God’s eye. The political doctrine is also
theological in its constituency. "Replacement theology" is the term.
Much of “Christianity” today holds to the luciferic doctrine that
the Church, Christians, have now replaced Israel –the physical progeny
of Israel’s patriarchs. The politics of the false belief system comes
into play when human governing bodies infer from church leaders’ holding
to replacement theology that there is nothing
biblically prophetic about this tiny, though powerfully “disruptive to
world peace” nation. Modern Israel has nothing to do with ancient
Israel, thus Bible prophecy isn’t to be considered in dealing with the
dangerous problems swirling around Jerusalem.
The political entities
dealing with the problems of the Middle East thus cannot see, or won’t
acknowledge where forcing man-made peace on Israel and
dividing Jerusalem is leading.
Here is God’s Word on
where it is leading: “I will also gather all nations, and will bring
them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there
for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among
the nations, and parted my land” (Joel 3:2).
Human Government
Forewarned!
No matter the outcome
of the presidential elections, let the American president and the
leaders of other nation-states who deal with Israel take heed. God,
because of the touching of the apple of His eye, Jerusalem and Israel,
will banish the perpetrators to shame and desolation. End-times politics
was predicted to bring--and is in the process of bringing--all offenders
to Armageddon.
