Freedom and a Civil Society 

There have been many times in America history where political battles have become  very heated. When plantation owner, Charles Dickinson, accused future president, Andrew Jackson, of cheating on a horserace bet and committing adultery by marrying Rachel Jackson (who had been abandoned by her previous husband), the matter was resolved by a duel to the death. Another example of violence is when Preston Brooks severely beat Charles Sumner with a cane on the floor of the U.S. Senate.

We may be living in a time of little bloodshed in politics, but the verbal strife is clearly  at an all-time-high. In the last exchange between Jackson and Dickinson one was called a poltroon (a spiritless coward), while the other a blackguard (the lowest kitchen servant of a household).

Today, we have people willing to say any form of profanity their minds can conceive about President Trump. So-called comedians have saturated their public venues with crude remarks about our president, which include having sexual relations with his daughter; that his son is mentally challenged, and he is Putin’s homosexual lover.

What is stunning is how once sophisticated news organizations have stooped to the low   standards of tabloid publications. The endless cycle of printing anything that is negative about President Trump has resulted in headlines that read like schoolyard taunts:

Germany Can’t Stop Marveling at How Dumb Donald Trump Is

Even Trump Senior Staff Believes He’s a “Complete Moron”

Bernie Sanders: Trump’s Budget Is Immoral

President Trump Is Thought to be an Idiot

George R. R. Martin Likens Donald Trump To His Most Sadistic ‘Game Of Thrones’ Character

Robert Reich: Our European Allies Are Appalled by Trump

Taran Killam Says Trump was a “Moron” as SNL Host

Members of the media are not allowed to be pacifists in the war against President Trump. The Tonight Show’s host, Jimmy Fallon, had Trump on his show last year. After a very long period of contemplation, the press decided that Fallon made a horrible mistake in not being confrontational with Trump. Network  executives have badgered Fallon into apologizing for his past sin. If you tune into the program and hear the president being mocked in the monologue, that is the result of Jimmy doing penance to save his job.

There are times when someone is scolded for going too far in mocking President Trump.  Third-rate comedian, Kathy Griffin, was rebuked when she posed for a photo shoot holding an effigy of Donald Trump’s bloody and detached head. During the photo shoot, Kathy joked that she would need to move to Mexico once the picture was released, for fear she would be thrown in prison.

Griffin lost a New Years Eve gig on CNN over the photo, but I doubt there will be any lasting impact on her career. She was rebuked for cursing at Jesus during the 2007 Emmy Awards ceremony, but within a few months the blasphemy issue was totally forgotten.

I think these occasional outrages are used to try to maintain credibility with the public. The media will throw someone like Griffin under the bus as a convenient scapegoat, and then continue their attacks.

It is a very dangerous thing to have open hostility between the media and the head of state. When you have a battle between the media and government, the politicians always win because they have the guns, and federal prosecution power. The effectiveness of the hostile tactics of the press fall completely flat when opposition reporters are rotting in jail.

The press has the attitude that President Trump does not have any power to ward off their attacks against him. If they already have him pegged as the new Hitler, things can hardly get any worse for him. When you have a country become totally polarized, media harassment can emerge from many sources. In most South American nations, upsetting the police, the military, local politicians, or drug lords can be hazardous to a reporter’s health.

There are signs that the verbal warfare between the right and left are veering toward physical clashes. A Republican leader in Oregon says the party may use private militias to protect GOP officials. The newly elected representative of Montana triggered outrage when he body slammed a reporter. In the Texas state capital, a shoving match nearly turned into a fistfight over a sanctuary cities ban.

You can’t have freedom without a civil society. Without mutual respect you end up with a vicious struggle for power by any means. There is such a strong level of delusion in the media today, I fear we are about to find out how quickly are first amendment rights can vanish.

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Timothy 2).

–Todd

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Restrainer Working Overtime

Over the past year, I have received email castigating me for writing on politics and matters surrounding government and things of the world. The main irritation with me seems to come from those who believe I’m paying too much attention to this world and not thinking enough on the spiritual. That is, I should, in their opinion, drop supporting one political position or the other and just dwell on strictly biblical/spiritual issues–no politics or support for politicians. That I should support and dwell on only what God’s Word has to say about the end times is foundational to these critics’ primary exhortation.

Problem is, the two are not mutually exclusive to my way of thinking. Politics and the machinations of politicians these days are, in my estimation, linked to Bible prophecy in ways I cannot ignore. To do so would be to neglect the watchman commission I believe I’ve been given.

It is thus with this admission to you that I begin yet another rant–as my critics would have it–on what is going on in the political world as connected to the spiritual. I make no apologies that I come down on one side of the issue that I wish to address. Actually, the “rant” involves a number of issues under the wider problem of the evil that pervades our nation’s capitol and other power centers here and abroad.

Satan has always worked, and continues to do so, in the power centers of the world. His record of success can’t be denied for the most part. Every man-made government that has ever existed has harbored evil at every level. The fallen one has brought every empire to destruction in one way or the other through his seduction and deception. The masses of people under the various regimes throughout history have suffered by the billions. They have died by the multiplied millions.

Purists among the scholars who observe the rise and fall of great nations and empires would, if they are biblical in their analysis, say God brings those entities down. But, it is Satan who has led them–and continues to do so–to their demise as they get farther and farther away from God in comportment.

In getting back to my dwelling on present political realities and the media and politicians who have created this incendiary atmosphere of hatred for America’s current president, I would like to offer the following.

As stated above, Lucifer the fallen one has managed through corruption, seduction, and every other way of his evil methodologies to bring down great nations and even empires. Anyone who has the good sensibility to admit the in-our-faces truth of things going on in opposition to President Donald Trump can testify to the hatred at its center. Washington, D.C., is the greatest power center, perhaps, of all of history. The evil doings there are staggering.

I find myself agreeing with the president’s words when he said recently that no president has been subjected to the degree of hateful treatment to which he has been subjected. Not even Richard Nixon had media so blatantly arrayed against him during the time of Watergate. It is an assault of unprecedented virulence we are witnessing. It is going to get much worse, and I’ve pointed out before why that is the case.

Satan’s plan to install a one-world order has been disrupted. He is as determined as ever to put his man–the son of perdition–into power. The American electorate voted the anti-globalist Mr. Trump into office, and the end-times war began in earnest.

The minions, both demonic and human, are looking for any crime and anything else that might rise to the level of impeachable offense so that they can carry out another Watergate–type coup-d’état. Short of that, they obviously intend to keep the vitriol flowing, even if there is no offense to be found. They have proven capable of creating charges–lies, out of whole cloth.

Trump’s election has brought on the observable manifestation of a specific end-times signal. The Restrainer, I am convinced, can almost visibly be seen going about His office of holding back the evil onslaught.

The Restrainer and His work in this Age of Grace  (Church Age) are explained by my good friend, Ron Graham, in an excellent article posted a couple of years ago. Ron, before he died in 2013, partially wrote the following, and his wife, Nathele, completed it in 2015. The article is in relationship to prophecy Paul the apostle gave in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2.

“For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way” (2 Thessalonians 2:7).

The Greek word translated into English for “letteth” is katechō and the definition of this Greek word is somewhat different than the definition of our English word “let,” which means “to allow or permit.” The Greek word is actually just the opposite; it means “to restrain, to hold back, detain, retain.” What we must ask ourselves is “Who is the ‘He’ that Paul is referring to in this verse?”

First of all we find the apostle referring to the “who now letteth” as a “He” and secondly that this “He” is currently holding back a flood of wickedness which is straining at the bit to be loosed. Who could be so powerful to be able to hold back worldwide wickedness but the Holy Spirit?  (“Restrainer,” by Ron and Nathele Graham, raptureready.com, 2015)

One, if spiritually attuned to the current political climate, senses the constant surge of anger and hatred trying to excise the president from office. This will not happen so long as God the Holy Spirit says otherwise. Christians must pray as diligently as when praying before the 2016 election that the Restrainer continues to hold back the evil that is intended to bring about the installation of human history’s final dictator.

(And, yes…I’ve gotten the notes that say those writing them think Donald Trump could be that man–a thing his actions thus far refute in my view.)

Soon, Christ will call His Church to Himself. The Restrainer will at the same time remove from acting on the consciences of mankind. Meanwhile–thankfully–He is working overtime.

–Terry

Intelligence Meltdown

No other nation on earth spends more money on intelligence agencies than the United States. The Department of Homeland Security and its related departments boast a budget of $80 billion; which is more than what Russia spends on its entire military.

The current state of our intelligence gathering can only be described as total chaos. The CIA is riddled with people who constantly leak information for economic or political gain. The Russians and Chinese have broken into most key databases. (The personal information of 40 million people was stolen under Obama’s watch.)

Today, a foreign national has virtually signed his own death warrant whenever he provides secret information to the U.S. The New York Times recently reported that our spying operations in China have been systematically dismantled by the killing or imprisoning of more than a dozen sources. It will now take us decades to restore confidence in the CIA.

Beijing is obviously proud of its intelligence triumph. China’s Global Times, gave a “Thank you comrades” reply to the NYT article when it said in an editorial that, if the report was true, it was a victory for China. The paper stated:

“If this article is telling the truth, we would like to applaud China’s anti-espionage activities. Not only was the CIA’s spy network dismantled, but Washington had no idea what happened and which part of the spy network had gone wrong.”

Some people think that a mole within the CIA has betrayed the United States. Others believe that the Chinese hacked the covert system used to communicate with its foreign sources. Our spy agencies have so many problems we may never know what went wrong.

Our allies are quickly learning that we cannot be trusted with any amount of sensitive information. After the Islamic terrorist bombing in Manchester, the American media leaked the number of dead, the name of the bomber, and the country he last visited. The UK’s home secretary rebuked the U.S. for leaking information that was vital to the ongoing investigation.

The liberal media is a huge part of the problem. The press is hypocritical about the leaking of classified information. The Washington Post condemned President Trump for divulging secrets to the Russia, while at the same time it cited Israel as a source of information about ISIS trying to use laptops to smuggle bombs onto airplanes.

Where in the Constitution or U.S. law did the press get the right to reveal state secrets which every U.S. citizen is duty bound to protect? If during the World War II era we had the same problem with intelligence leaks as we have today, all the papers on the eve of  D-Day would have screamed, “We’re Going Ashore at Normandy.”

The damage from faulty intelligence is not always easy to spot. It’s not until we realize that China’s new stealth fighter looks a lot like ours that it becomes clear that our secrets are leaking out.

The quickest way to fix our intelligence problem is to severely punish anyone who is found to have shared classified information. If a dozen people get the electric chair or life in prison, the leaks will quickly dry up.

The only thing positive about these agencies is that they produce such a large amount of information that  the Russians and Chinese have to spend vast amounts of time sorting through this data to find something useful.

I see little chance of reform coming to the intelligence services. Just like the military industrial complex, a government agency only grows in size. But the intelligence industrial complex is more dangerous because it will come after our liberties.

The National Security Agency under former President Barack Hussein Obama routinely violated the rights of Americans. Thanks to some of the leaked top-secret documents, some of the most serious constitutional abuses by the U.S. intelligence community are only now being revealed.

By the time our intelligence agencies straighten out their problems, these same agencies will likely be used to aid the Antichrist in creating his one world police state. The good news for all believers is that we will soon be in a place that is beyond Big Brother’s reach.

”For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thess. 4:16-18).

–Todd

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Trump and the Wall

There is another wall much more critical, in my view, than the one the new president promised to build during his campaign.

President Donald J. Trump reportedly asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to let him approach the Western Wall unaccompanied. Whether a signal to the world that he, representing America the lone superpower, was showing support for Israel, or whether Mr. Trump just wanted a moment alone at this most solemn place, the gesture was profound–and touching.

He was the first president of the United States to visit the so-called Wailing Wall while in office. A number of presidents either before they became such or after they had held the office have visited the site. But, never had a current president done so.

The action was profound in geopolitical, diplomatic terms. This visit, most observers of that world seem to believe, indicated the president’s–thus America’s–support of Israel as rightful heir to the wall and to the Temple Mount. This is because the visit to the wall was made as part of the president’s official trip to Israel.

Whether that’s the case or Trump handled it in that way for other reasons, the effect was dramatic. The optics of the gesture, as the news-speak types like to say, presented a picture of a president who was in charge and who was making a statement. The Temple Mount is a subject of great contention and Trump seemed to be saying it is Israel’s, based upon biblical history.

The statement might be one open to conjecture as to what it means, but that Donald J. Trump is fully in charge of the presidency of the United States of America was made unmistakably clear.

The entire trip, for the moment at least, trampled underfoot the American mainstream news conglomerate’s incessant portrayal of Trump as a dunce who doesn’t belong in the office. A picture, as is said, is worth a thousand words–or, in the case of the hate-filled news conglomerate–millions of words.

But, even that’s not the real importance of this president visiting the wall. It’s not that he, by doing so, negated a lot of the negative press he has gotten and will, guaranteed, get in the future. It’s the recognition of Israel as a special people that is all-important, here. Even if Trump didn’t say it in direct verbiage, he gave validation that Israel is the modern incarnation–the same people–as in ancient, biblical times.

Unspoken is the truth represented by the president’s action. The Jews are still God’s chosen people.

I heard President Trump come close to saying as much during his touching remarks at the Jewish Holocaust Museum on Tuesday of the past week. His affirmation that America was bonded to Israel as friend and ally could not have been given more strongly. Netanyahu’s words in response were emotional with gratitude and relief that Israel and America had again consummated the relationship that was established in 1948 at Israel’s rebirth into modernity.

I’m aware that any attempt at man-made peace involving Israel and its enemy neighbors has prophetic implications that bode evil for the Jewish people and nation. I am reminded of that by daily email received as of late. These often state that Trump’s and his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s involvement in the peace process puts them in unsavory company, prophetically speaking.

While it is certainly true that there will come, according to God’s infallible Word, a peace that will bring about holocaust far worse than that of the Nazi era, I think it not evil to work at lessening hostilities that have raged for millennia. I agree that Mr. Trump and his point man, the young Mr. Kushner, should not engage in trying to arrange peace based upon the international community’s demand that Israel, the occupier, as the diplomats put it, give up God-given land.

However, any interim step of lessening hostilities between now and the time when the man of sin makes that death-dealing “peace” seems to me not necessarily evil. That is, if it doesn’t require Israel to give up land or make other anti-God accessions as part of any such interim agreement.

My own thinking is that there will be no such agreement concluded until the Antichrist steps onto the scene sometime following the Church leaving the planet. But, the process of making such peace is already in progress, and some constituent parts of that final, deadly contract could be negotiated sooner rather than later. America certainly should not be a part of any such negotiation, again, if there are elements within any such document forcing Israel to go against God’s directives for that people and nation.

At this point, the president’s main thrust seems to me to be getting Israel and less hostile Muslim nations, such as Saudi, to come together to eliminate radical Islamic terrorism. That is a peace effort of sorts. I’ve found nothing wicked about it so far. But, let’s keep watching…

These are strange times, and the times do not yet shed light on exactly what the president’s visit to the Middle East and to the Western Wall portends for the near future. However, Mr. Trump gave the Jewish state America’s blessings on this trip and that is good news–for the moment, at least.

Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 12: 1-3)

–Terry