December 8, 2017--Evangelicals: When Time Shall Be No More

While struggling to understand the logic and politics of President Trump's decision to move our embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, considering the disruption and violence it is already fostering, virtually all the analysis suggests that it is for religious reasons. 

To woe Jewish voters? To some extent yes, especially the likes of billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and some of Trump's other wealthy, intensely pro-Israel supporters and donors.

To throw a lifeline to about-to-be-indicted ultra-nationalist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has lobbied for this? Yes, as this will firm support for him from the right-wing religious parties in Israel who are a part of his ruling coalition. 

To appeal to Christian evangelicals? Especially yes. This is most mentioned by commentators and connects two dots--between Trump's huge national Evangelical base and Roy Moore's core of voters in the Alabama senatorial race.

But, in regard to why Evangelicals are such passionate supporters of non-Christian Israel, there is barely a word.

Religion can be such a hot-button subject that it is sadly understandable why the mainstream media would shy away from discussing it. For every Evangelical they might attract and thus boost advertiser sales and ratings, at least as many will, they fear, be offended And as they can be easily mobilized by rightwing demagogs, controversy and boycotts will likely follow.

But an understanding of why conservative Christians so universally support Israel, especially when it is governed by Jewish millennialists--those who believe in the imminent coming of their own Messiah and the commencement of a new religious age--to understand them in all their aspirations and nuances is critical right now as Trump rampages across the region where these issues are most intense and are at such a dangerous boiling point. 

I have been talking and writing about this for many years, ever since reading Paul Boyer's brilliant, When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief In Modern American Culture.

If you haven't read it (it is scholarly and readable), I urge you to do so immediately. I feel certain it will reshape your view of the world.

Briefly, it begins with a discussion of prophetic religious belief in the Middle East and the West, particularly America where fully a third of the adult population believe that we are approaching the End Times--the Rapture when the most worthy Christians will be bodily lifted to Heaven (see image below), to the appearance of the AntiChrist, the 1,000-year Times of Tribulation, the Second Coming of Christ, and at the ultimate End--the Last Judgement.

To contribute to bringing this about, essential to the coming of the Millennium, all Jews in the diaspora must return to Israel, actually to Greater Israel, which includes Sinai and Iraq. To some this helps explain why born-again George W. Bush overthrew the government of Iraq and occupied the country.

Jews who do not return will be doomed and those who do emigrate to Greater Israel will be given a final opportunity to convert to Christianity. Thus the Jews for Jesus movement. If we Jews, as dupes, do not avail ourselves of this opportunity, we too will be doomed for all of eternity.

Trump's rock-solid base of supporters who see him as an essential part of this narrative, his 30-33 percent, are mainly Americans who share this apocalyptic prophecy, and almost all of Roy Moore's potential voters are of this persuasion.

From this brief synopsis it is obvious why CNN, the New York Times, and even Fox News would shy away from touching this. They are more concerned about their numbers than the fate of America.

We, I feel, must understand and confront this as the fate of our democracy may be at stake.

In the "Actual" Rapture, Those Raptured Will Be Naked

November 3, 2015--Ben Carson's End Times

It was fair to grill presidential candidate John F. Kennedy about his Catholicism. Especially, if he were to be elected president would he take his orders from the Vatican or the U.S Constitution.

At a meeting with Protestant miniseries he assured them that he wouldn't and that if there was ever an irreconcilable different between Church dogma and his oath to defend the Constitution, he would step down from the presidency.

What he didn't tell them was that he was not that observant. In fact, he went to church more for political reasons than because of faith. And he would never step down and turn the Oval Office over to the Kennedy-family-hated Lyndon Johnson.

And if it was fair to wonder in public about Mitt Romney's Mormon beliefs--he holds them strongly--particularly if as a Mormon he was or was not a Christian (many Christians claim Mormons are not of their faith), then isn't it fair to question Republican front-runner-at-the-moment Ben Carson about his beliefs?

Especially since as a Seventh Day Adventist he may hold some views that voters should know about before voting.

The Seventh Day sect is derived from the apocalyptic beliefs and preaching of William Miller, who as founder of the Adventists attracted a large following toward the middle of the 19th century when he prophesied that the end of the world would be coming in 1843, ushering in not just the end in a fiery conflagration but the Second Coming of Christ and ultimately the Last Judgement.

His followers, Millerites, in 1843 gave up all their worldly possessions and moved to high ground so they could have a front row seat for the apocalypse.

1843 came and went, even 1844 came and went and so, in turn, did the good reverend.

A few years later Miller's Adventist Church morphed into what we now know as Seventh Day Adventists. The "seventh day" refers to that aspect of Carson's church's doctrine that most of us know--the fact that they celebrate the Sabbath on Saturday, not Sunday.

But, informed voters may want to know that at the heart of the Seventh Day Adventist belief system is still the apocalyptical teaching, the eschatology, and prophecies of Reverend Miller. Adventists are still waiting for, looking forward to the end, the destruction of the world.

I would want to know what Doctor Carson thinks about this.

This is important to me as many Adventists think, believe the literal End is near, not centuries or millennia in the future.

If the End is that imminent what are the political policy implications?

Why bother fixing the infrastructure if it all will soon go up in smoke. Why set policy to improve schools as soon there will be no need for schools? Why provide health care coverage when we're all about to die in a global conflagration? Why worry about the proliferation of nuclear weapons when God has something much more explosive in mind?

A friend sent me a link to the October 28th Borowitz Report that appears regularly in the New Yorker.

This one is a satirical piece about a debate between Ben Carson and Ted Cruz, also a millennialist, about whose presidential policies would be more effective in bringing about the End Times.

According to Borowitz, the doctor promised he would end the world during his first term. Cruz one-upped him, pledging to do so on "day one." The same day he would rid us of Obamacare and tear up our nuclear agreement with Iran.

This is all very amusing, we can joke about not having to worry about the fact that half our highway bridges are about to collapse or the Social Security Trust running out of money. But it is also scary since they both really believe this stuff!

Too bad the CNBC moderators who so botched the last debate didn't ask Cruz and Carson to talk about  this rather than seek their views on on-line sports betting.

April 23, 2015--The Rapture

Here's why we have to hope Michele Bachmann has a seat in the Republican clown car. Yes, we'll have The Donald and perhaps Herman Cain, but without her things will not be the same.

Here's why.

The Huffington Post reported the other day that in a radio interview with Jan Markell, host of End Times, the former congresswoman predicted that the Rapture is very near and it's all Barack Obama's fault.

The Rapture, as you know, is something many messianic Christians believe will mark the beginning of the End Times, Armageddon, the rule of the Antichrist, the destruction of nonbelievers, and after 1,000 years of violent suffering, the Second Coming of Christ, the Last Judgement, and God's eternal kingdom.

All this is Obama's fault?

I know some on the delusional fringe have called him the Antichrist, though with Hillary Clinton emerging as a possible president, some are now seeing her in that role. (Ironically, on these eschatological matters they appear to be able to view things in more gender neutral ways than most other issues.)

Bachmann laid out the case against Obama--it is all about his Middle East policies, especially his alleged mistreatment of Israel. She said: "If you look at the president's rhetoric, and if you look at his actions, everything he has done has been to cut the legs out of Israel and lift up the agenda of radical Islam." And thus because of him, “We need to realize how close this [countdown to End Time] clock is getting to the midnight hour.”

What she didn't spell out, but which is understood by Millennialists, is the requirement that all Jews return to Greater Israel, convert to Christianity, and through those actions set in motion the events that will lead to the Rapture and all that follows.

Those Jews who do not convert, alas, will be slaughtered. This unique role assigned to the Jews is why those who believe this are such strong supporters of Israel. It is not because Israel is the lone western democracy in the region. It is because of what the Jews and Israel must do to help bring about the ultimate Second Coming.

But here's what I do not understand--

Why, if these events are foretold and, to these believers, will intimately lead to Christ's return, the Last Judgement, their salvation, and the eternal Kingdom of God, why are Obama's polices, which are supposedly advancing their unfolding, a bad thing? Shouldn't Bachmann and those like her feel hopeful and thankful about what Obama is helping to bring about? Is the Rapture, which his policies are supposedly advancing, a bad thing or a good thing?

As I understand the Millennialists, the Rapture is a very much a good thing since it not only is the initial indication that End Times are coming but also true believers (and I assume this includes Michele and her pray-away-the-gay husband) would be Raptured. That is, at the very beginning of The End, they will be whisked up to heaven, leaving all and everything behind, including their neatly-stacked clothing and jewlery.

So I am confused--if Obama is playing such a crucial role in all of this, instead of excoriating him, shouldn't Bachmann and her co-believers be expressing their appreciation for all he is doing?

You see, then, why I am so eager for her to make another run at the presidency. It is only during the debates that all of this will get straightened out. Minimally, it would also be good for a few laughs.

April 8, 2014--Preppers

Spending most of the year in Florida and Maine, it is not surprising to run into Preppers. People who believe that in one way or another, for one reason or another, the world will soon come to the end.

I mean END.

Some, following what they claim to be the vision of Isaiah see this to be part of the process that will lead to the Second Coming of Christ and then, after another millennium, the Apocalypse and Last Judgement. Others say the END will be the result of some cataclysmic environmental disaster or economic collapse--2008 times ten.

Even staid NASA last month financed a study that concluded the industrial world, because of financial inequality and environmental problems, within just decades will suffer "a precipitous collapse."

Up in Maine, for example, we hear from some about how climate change will make the Pine State about the only place that a super-heated environment will make habitable.

"So," Survivalist friends say, "Make sure you know your beans."

"What? Beans?" I asked the first time I heard this.

"Your beans. How to grow 'em and how to prepare 'em. They're the best form of protein, you know." And they added, "Be sure you have a gun and lots of ammo. A whole slew of your New York friends will be seeking you out and banging on your door once they know you got a cellar full of beans."

All Preppers say that no matter what happens, or why, one will need to be READY.

What they mean by READY varies and comes with different price tags. Inevitably not far behind there are those seeking ways to make a buck from people's concerns and fears. And thus there are even trade shows that appeal to the Prepper market. The New York Times the other day reported on one--the National Prepper & Survivalist Expo. It was held in Tulsa, a place that knows from natural disasters in a state that knows about religious fanaticism and mass terrorism.

Ray McCreary, the organizer said, "We tried to gear our event to the ordinary person who wants to be ready for any situation." Another words, you and I and not just the crazies. Prepping going mainstream.

One of the attendees at the expo, Alvin Jasckson, said, "People think that Preppers  . . . are guys in beards who live in bunkers and bury ammunition in their yards. But I went through Katrina, and I'm not crazy."

But in case you do want a bunker to hide or live in, at the expo they had some on display, along with filtered drinking straws that allow you to sort of safely drink wanter from muddy puddles and solar-powered generators ($4,299) and even "mass casualty bags" ($250). Fifteen bucks gets you vacuum packs of alligator jerky.

You can grow beans in all weather in the $50,000 self-heating greenhouse and for those seeking a prefab safe room, Staying Home Corporation offers a variety of tornado- and bulletproof Hide-Away shelters.

According to the Hide-Away specs--

Hide-Away shelters/safe rooms provide two levels of protection from armed intruders. The standard units (folding and stationary) are made of 1/4” thick steel to provide NIJ Level IIIA protection against hand guns and shotguns, which make up 90% of violent crimes, according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report. If you want protection from high caliber and armor piercing rounds, you can order the Ballistic Option, which uses military grade steel that is used in combat vehicles to provide NIJ Level III protection up to 7.62 NATO rounds (.308 caliber).

That should get the job done.