The Bread and Circuses Phase of the American Empire
The decline and fall of the Roman Empire has been well documented by many observers of history. Will Luden in “Bread and Circuses for the Masses – Not Just Ancient Rome” describes the Roman government policy as “Emperors, in the later stages of the Empire, used both free bread (and other food) and free entertainment to placate the larger number of people who were otherwise poorly served by their government.”
The Oxford Reference provides the following definition:
“A term referring to the potential of spectator sports and mass spectacle to divert populations or factions of a population away from the weightier business of politics and society.”
The Democrats are currently in a bidding war over who can offer the American people the most goodies in exchange for their vote. It is bread and circuses on a scale that would stump the imagination of the Roman leaders.
Last week, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders presented a plan that would wipe $1.6 trillion in student debt, and offer Fund-Free State College. The massive student-debt jubilee would be financed with a tax on Wall Street: specifically, a 0.5% tax on stock trades, a 0.1% tax on bond trades and a .005% tax on derivatives trades.
The primary problem with this plan is that it would cause the cost of higher education to explode. If Uncle Sam is going to pick up the check, you might as well go to medical school. Colleges would be able to raise the cost of education at will. The average cost of tuition and fees for the 2018–2019 school year was $35,676 at private colleges. Under Bernie’s plan, the cost would easily double in a few years.
Most Democratic presidential candidates support a growing plan to offer reparations for slavery. If we lived in a world of unlimited wealth, there is no amount of money that could satisfy these race hustlers. The price of freedom was paid with the lives of 500,000 people. The H.R. 40 bill would, according to its summary heading, “establish a commission to study and consider a national apology and a proposal for reparations” for the descendants of African American slaves.
A House Judiciary subcommittee held a hearing two weeks ago on the issue of slavery reparations. The Sponsors of this bill seem to think that we are living in 1865. Columnist Coleman Hughes offered stunning testimony against reparations:
“I understand that reparations are about what people are owed, regardless of how well they’re doing. But the people who were owed for slavery are no longer here, and we’re not entitled to collect on their debts. Reparations, by definition, are only given to victims. So the moment you give me reparations, you’ve made me into a victim without my consent. Not just that: you’ve made one-third of black Americans — who consistently poll against reparations — into victims without their consent, and black Americans have fought too long for the right to define themselves to be spoken for in such a condescending manner.
“The question is not what America owes me by virtue of my ancestry; the question is what all Americans owe each other by virtue of being citizens of the same nation. And the obligation of citizenship is not transactional. It’s not contingent on ancestry, it never expires, and it can’t be paid off. For all these reasons, bill H.R. 40 is a moral and political mistake. Thank you.”
Presidential hopeful Senator Elizabeth Warren jumped on the reparations bandwagon with her own crazy idea. She came out in favor of legislation that has been equated to “gay reparations.” Under the Refund Equality Act, same-sex couples would be able to amend their past taxes, readjusting with jointly-filed tax returns and accepting refunds from the IRS. “Our government owes them more than $50M for the years our discriminatory tax code left them out. We must right these wrongs,” said Warren.
Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang has the most straightforward plan. He just wants to hand out cash to everyone who needs it. Yang promotes universal basic income – a modern welfare scheme through which citizens are granted income from the government, without condition. Yang is hosting a Twitter contest whereby he will give away $1,000 per month to 20 lucky people.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is too young to run for the White House, but she holds the record for the most expensive proposal. Her patently insane Green New Deal resolution would cost up to $93 trillion over 10 years, according to the American Action Forum. AOC was all for Sanders’ $1.6 trillion plan. She is currently on track to be our first quadrillion-dollar congressperson.
It is stunning to hear Democrats proposing plans that would bankrupt our nation. I think their insanity is merely a precursor of a coming salesman that will put them all to shame. The Antichrist will be the king of Bread and Circuses ideas. He will use signs and wonders to sell people schemes that will ensure eternal damnation.
“The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie” (2 Thes 2:9 NIV).
“And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name” (Rev 14:11 KJV).
–Todd
Cyrus Prophecy – Trump Embrace
Events in and around the Straits of Hormuz rivet the attention of the international community powers that be. Even more, the goings-on there draw intense interest from those who observe end-times prophetic signs.
The diplomatic elite fear escalation of hostilities that might bring about all-out warfare in the Middle East. Bible prophecy students wonder exactly what the sudden eruption might mean with regard to the denouement of the Church Age.
The Strait of Hormuz is a passage through the Persian Gulf area that is most heavily traversed. One-fifth of the world’s oil moves on tankers through the strait. If the channel was blocked, the world’s supply of oil–particularly that of Europe–would be severely affected.
It has long been feared that a diabolist regime such as that of present-day Iran might precipitate a conflict in the region that would draw all nations into the resultant conflagration.
The United States, we are told, no longer has to worry about its own oil supplies. According to even anti-Trump experts, America is now totally petroleum self-sufficient because of the executive action Trump has taken since becoming president. He was instrumental in opening up much of the production of petroleum in counteracting restrictions placed on U.S. drilling and production by the Obama administration.
Even so, America is the one national agent with naval power strong enough to successfully intervene in the attempts of Iran to control the Strait–thus to help protect supplies needed by allies. Iran is in close proximity and claims much of the body of water in the region as its own territorial waters.
Iran is accused of sabotaging four tankers in the strait last month. The current actions are seen by the Trump administration as deliberate attempts to put pressure on the U.S. to lift the extremely heavy sanctions the president placed on the Iranian regime. Iran is said to be suffering greatly because of the sanctions in their business within the international community. The mullahs’ power to maintain control over the Iranian people, thus, it is thought, might be part of the reason for Iran’s stepped-up assaults.
Japanese oil tankers were interfered with, and in the latest blow-up–as of this writing–the Iranians shot down a U.S. $100-plus-million spy drone charged with keeping watch over Iran’s activities in the region. An attack in retaliation was planned by America’s military, but the president stopped it at the last moment because, according to Mr. Trump, the attack would likely kill 150 people or more and was not “proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone.”
Where this will end is a matter of much conjecture. I’ve read many postulations on what this might all mean, prophetically speaking. None of us know, of course, but I, too, have a bit of cogitation on the matter running through the neuron-to-neuron synapses.
Could it be there’s another reason the Trump administration–the president–did not go through with a retaliatory strike, at least not as of the time of this writing? Might the thinking be centered around a much more profound purpose? Could the strike be delayed because he wants to give the ayatollahs enough rope to hang themselves? That is, might the thinking be that by allowing Iran to show its unbridled hostility, a case might be soon made–and accepted by a to-this-point reluctant international community–that action must be taken to avoid a much greater conflict? One that would be nuclear?
The real object of concern in all this is Iran’s determination to get nuclear weapons. They have broken most all agreements and have gone ahead with their developments of their nuclear program. This was true even before Trump withdrew America from the “nuclear deal” made by American Secretary of State Jon Kerry during the Obama administration.
Trump said it was a disastrous deal and he has repeatedly declared that Iran will not get nuclear weapons. I’m just wondering out loud whether his patience in not retaliating at this time is because there are plans of much more significance. I’m thinking of the complete destruction of Iran’s nuclear program that is supposedly harbored within that nation’s mountainous areas. If so, the whole thing could have prophetic possibilities–considering the Elam prophecies, etc.
Even if there is interim military action against Iran’s aggressiveness–a real possibility–it seems that the Elam prophesies might loom in the near future. I was listening to my friend Phillip Goodman’s latest YouTube offering. He presented some fascinating points about what’s currently going on within that area known in biblical terms as Persia. I recommend that you check it out. Here is the link:
He points out in his lecture that God called Persian leader and King Cyrus by name a couple of centuries before that king came to Israel’s rescue and freed it from Babylonian captivity. God actually named Cyrus! Here is the Scripture. Keep in mind that God is speaking to Israel, then to Cyrus, whom He names more than a century before Cyrus was born!
Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself; That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish; That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof: That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers: That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. (Isaiah 44:24-45:6)
God tells this godless king that there is no other God but the God of Israel. Again, He announces this to Cyrus, by name, more than a century before the Persian leader was born.
Israel was permitted then, through Nehemiah, to later rebuild the Temple and restore Jerusalem, just as this prophecy foretells. What a Mighty God!
The people of modern-day Israel who hold to Jewish traditions and are considered religious Jews have embraced Donald J. Trump as a modern-day Cyrus. They have even minted a coin to that effect. Certainly, this president being brought into prominence on the world stage, considering all stage-setting we see for prophetic fulfillment, must be more than coincidence. Big things are afoot at this late hour!
–Terry