Political Gridlock Around the World
There has been a sharp increase in the level of public unrest all around the world. We currently have protests going on in France, Spain, Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Hong Kong, Venezuela, Chile, Ecuador and Bolivia. Not since the protests of the 1970s have there been so many street marches.
It would be logical to conclude that all this fighting and protests would translate to the political worlds. Amazingly, there has been little reaction from most politicians. In key nations like the U.S., Great Britain, Israel, and China in respect of Hong Kong, political gridlock is the rule.
In the U.S., there is an endless battle between President Trump and Republicans on one side and the Democrats and the liberal media on the other side. A massive chasm has formed between the two sides. Nothing is getting done in Washington, DC, because most of the city is fixated on one subject: Donald Trump.
“It seems like Republicans and Democrats are intractable,” said Mark Updegrove, a presidential historian and chairman of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation. “They are both adhering to their own versions of reality, whether they’re based in truth or not.”
Polling conducted by Gallup shows that an average of 86% of Republicans have approved of Trump over the course of his time in office, and no less than 79% have approved in any individual poll. That’s compared with just 7% of Democrats who have approved on average, including no more than 12% in any individual poll.
The anti-Trump crowd has failed time and time again: He will never run for president, he will never be the GOP candidate, he will never be president, the markets will crash if he is elected, he will never make it one year, Stormy & Avenatti will take him out, Robert Mueller will bring him down, and we’ll find something to impeach him on.
Great Britain has been in gridlock over the subject of Brexit, which involved a scheduled withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. Following a June 2016 referendum in which 51.9% voted to leave, the UK government formally announced the country’s withdrawal in March 2017.
The withdrawing has been delayed several times. Every time the British Parliament was presented with a method to deliver Brexit, it would be voted down by the members. Because of the impasse, Prime Minister Boris Johnson found himself forced to call for early elections.
Israel has the most profound level of gridlock. After failing to form a government for the second time in two consecutive elections, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, will likely need to call for a third vote.
Netanyahu is considering the option of holding direct elections for the prime minister if coalition talks fail. It’s not certain that the dysfunctional Knesset could be relied on to pass a law making a direct vote possible.
I find it very odd that China would be gridlocked over what to do with the protest in Hong Kong. In the past, tanks and bullets would be the response to any region protesting authority of the central government. In the Muslim Uighur province, Chinese men have been assigned to monitor the homes of Uighur women whose husbands are sent to prison camps. They were told to sleep in the same bed with the women.
The endless protest in Hong Kong has had a hugely negative impact on the local economy. The latest Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) crashed to 39.3 in October – the lowest since November 2008, with business activity crashing at the fastest pace in the survey’s 21-year history. I know that the leaders of Beijing doesn’t want to violate the agreement that made Hong Kong an autonomous territory because of the economic impact such a move would have. With China already being a brutal dictatorship, it seems odd that monetary concerns would hold back a crackdown.
I think a key reason for the political gridlock is that the stage is being set for the arrival of the Antichrist. When he comes, he will solve all the world’s problems. With the world already in a profound mess, the time seems about right for the arrival of this false messiah.
“And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand” (Daniel 8:25).
“And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev 13:7-8).
–Todd
Discerning Right/Wrong Side of Things
There is talk in every political season of one “litmus test” or another. By this it is meant that in order to get the endorsement of one faction or another, a candidate must show–through a litmus test—that he or she supports the programs, platforms, proposals, or whatsoever of those whose endorsement they seek.
For example, a candidate, to be accepted by today’s Democrat party, must get behind a woman’s right to choose. That is, he or she has to totally embrace abortion at the level the Democrat Party champions. If a prospective candidate goes against this or any other litmus test, they can forget getting anywhere so far as concerns Democrat Party electibility.
The Democrat Party rules committee determines who is “right” or “wrong” in this sense. One is determined to be on the “right” side or the “wrong” side of any given issue by what is considered acceptable ideology or viewpoint by the party’s rules.
By this process, the candidate is accepted or rejected as worthy or not.
The Democrat Party has been shown to support abortion, LGBTQ, open borders, sanctuary cities, anti-Second Amendment right to have and bear arms, anti-law enforcement issues, anti-Israel proposals and actions, and other such propositions that directly oppose conservative Christian views.
Democrat positions are considered on the left side of the political spectrum. That is, they are liberal or progressive in their ideological leanings. In these hyper-charged days in regard to politics, the views held by the Democrat Party are ultra-leftist in the view of most who want to maintain traditional American values–i.e., those generally held sacred since the nation’s founding. Those of us who hold to traditional American values are considered on the political right. The leftists consider us as radical right-wingers.
I agree that we who hold to the common-sense side of things in the world of culture and society are right. And those on the left are wrong.
They are not wrong because I say so, or because the US Constitution says so. They are wrong because God’s Word confirms they are wrong.
Todd Strandberg and I just released a book with sixteen other authors who laid out the case for discerning right and wrong from God’s unerring perspective. Discerners: Analyzing Converging Prophetic Signs for the End of Days covers much of the wrong issues assaulting our nation and world today.
Discernment is not an option for the Christian. Jesus told every believer who would come down through the ages: “What I say unto one, I say unto all. Watch” (Mark 13:37). He was telling those of today who are in the middle of enduring the wrong being done that we are to observe these things and know how near He is to coming back to rectify that wrong. We are to know the times and seasons. This is a commandment, not a request.
We know what is right and what is wrong by comparing the things going on around us to what the Bible has to say about these things.
In the case of the issues championed by the leftists as given above, we, as Christians–as believers in the veracity of God’s Word—are to be discerning. We are to examine each issue and compare it to God’s Holy Word to discern whether the issue is right or wrong.
Let’s do so to just a few of the things the political left champions.
Abortion
The progressive/left side of the political spectrum has championed this travesty that has killed more than sixty million babies in their mother’s wombs since 1973. They now, by and large, support the killing of a baby who survives the attempted abortion. They have seen to it that the right to carry out this grisly process has legal backing in a growing number of places. God’s Holy Word says that shedding the blood of the innocent is something He hates.
LGBTQ
The progressive/left fully backs the LGBTQ and all that organized anti-God coalition ravenously pursues. They demand that male can love male and female can love female in the romantic or sexual way without consequence or judgment from God or anyone else. They proclaim that marriage between the same sexes is the equivalent in moral legitimacy to heterosexual marriage. They declare that all have the right to become a gender other than that to which they were born. It is their choice, not any religious entity of any sort.
The Bible says it is an abomination for man to lie with a man and woman with a woman. It is a most egregious sin in God’s Holy eyes. His Word says that He created man and woman. He created them male and female. He ordained one man and one woman to be together in marriage for life.
Anti-Israel Proposals and Actions
The most prominent sign that lets the discerning Christian know where this generation stands on God’s prophetic timeline is the nation Israel. That nation–the Jewish people—stands starkly against the darkening backdrop of these last days. Israel and the world’s treatment of that nation demonstrates clearly that the time of Christ’s return must be very near.
First and foremost, in my estimation, is the denial that Israel is the Israel of old–the Jews of which the Bible says God brought from the loins of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
There is a growing denial even in the evangelical church that today’s Israel any longer is a nation blessed of God to be His chosen people. This lie is from the pit. Read Romans chapter 11 to get the absolute truth about God’s heart for this people. That heavenly embrace will never change!
This doesn’t mean that today’s Israel–the Jewish people–are perfect. They are far from it. They are in total spiritual blindness, the Scripture tells us. This is yet another confirmation from Bible prophecy that we are at the end of the Age of Grace. Only a remnant of the nation Israel will ultimately recognize their Messiah–the Lord Jesus Christ—when He returns at Armageddon. Only that remnant will be saved to repopulate the millennial Israel under the throne of David.
Still, they belong to God. Israel is the same Israel of old. God loves them and will move heaven and hell during the Tribulation to bring about a remnant that will believe in His Son Jesus as their Messiah.
And Israel is the chief signal by which we can discern what is right and what is wrong in looking at the political left. Here is a litmus test for you in this political season. There is a disdain for God’s chosen nation at the very heart of the Democrat Party. The following news excerpt tells the story.
Not a single 2020 Democrat candidate from the massive field spoke at AIPAC’s pro-Israel summit in the spring. But 5 of the 2020 Dems, Sanders, Buttigieg, Castro, Klobuchar, and Bennett, were featured at the J Street conference alongside anti-Israel activists, BDS supporters, and terrorists.
Those 2020 Dems who couldn’t attend the anti-Israel hatefest in person sent video messages.
Elizabeth Warren sent in a video message threatening to cut off aid to Israel unless it surrenders to Islamic terrorists. Then she promised to divide Jerusalem, turning half the ancient holy city into a killing ground for the murderous terrorists already occupying Gaza and portions of the West Bank.
Joe Biden, Beto O’Rourke, Marianne Williamson, and even Andrew Yang joined her in sending messages of support and friendship to the anti-Israel group which has featured BDS supporters and terrorists.
The majority of the 2020 Democrat field has aligned with an anti-Israel organization. (“2020 Dems Stand with J Street, Hamas and ISIS Against Israel – Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders declare war on the Jewish State,” Daniel Greenfield, Frontpage Mag, Nov 1, 2019)
Discernment in today’s world is all important. God’s Word is the only measurement that can validate truth. “Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever” (Psalms 119:160).
–Terry