NOVEMBER 27 2016
WHO IS IN CHARGE OF THIS WORLD?
A Time for Everything
1 There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven—
2 A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
3 A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
4 A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
5 A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
6 A time to search and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
7 A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
8 A time to love and a time to hate;
A time for war and a time for peace.
9. I could add:
A time for the world to begin; A time for the world to end.
A time to pray, but there never is a time for not praying.
“Pray without ceasing” the Bible tells us, and Jesus was a good example.
Picture Jesus, praying perhaps on his knees, praying perhaps lying down, praying perhaps standing up, with his hands raised to heaven, the seat of his father, completely absorbed in this activity.
John 17 sets the scene.
So what is Jesus saying here in his prayer to his Father?
I find it fascinating that we can follow Jesus in his farewell address, when he is getting ready to depart from this world and speaks words of encouragement to those who now have to fend for themselves.
It’s all there, in verse 11, where Jesus tells us that he is leaving his followers. He prays that they now are on their own, totally depending on God’s help for the protection against The Evil One who now calls the shots! Jesus also tells his followers that they no longer belong to this world dominated by God’s great adversary, that they – we – are pilgrims here: preparing to live in our real home: the new earth to come!
Yes, we are on our own: God help us.
Have we really understood this?
Jesus plainly says that the world which Jesus is leaving, is no longer God’s world, but is under the control of the evil one, which, of course, is also clear from John 3: 16, where we are told that his death was the price Jesus paid for buying back the earth from “The Evil One.”
That The Evil One is now in charge is again confirmed in 1 John 5: 19: “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.”
Oh, that text: John 3: 16! It’s so central to the entire Scriptures! “God so loved the world”. The least we can do is try to love it too!
This is something the church still has not fully grasped. Last week I saw an article in the (British) Guardian, asking us to mourn the lost species, animals and plants that have become extinct. We, the human race, have claimed close to half of all that lives and moves and have a being, leaving little room for others, forgetting that God, in addition to loving us, also loves every plant, every animal that ever existed. I am sure God mourns that the Pigeon Dove is lost forever and the Dodo and millions of other creatures, all part of the Grand Harmony that God created ‘in the beginning’.
Proponents of the Heaven Heresy have used Jesus’ prayer in John 17 as proof that “we are not of this world, but will inherit heaven above”, not realizing that Jesus, by sacrificing his life, cancelled out Satan’s claim on the world and restored it to God’s ownership, with Christ taking full possession when he returns.
Yes: “God so loved the world” – John 3: 16 – forms the heart of the gospel. Does God really want us to abandon that world, bought with the blood of Christ, by us going to heaven? That makes no sense whatsoever.
Paul writes – and he should know – “God lives in inapproachable light who nobody has seen or can see,” (1 Tim. 6: 16), or John 3: 13, where it says black on white: “Nobody has gone to heaven except he – Jesus – who came from there.”
But no, the heaven myth persists: the greatest LIE Satan has sold to the church.
So when I ask: “Who is in charge of this world”, the unequivocal answer today is THE EVIL ONE. That’s why those who belong to Christ with heart, mind and soul, do not belong to that world, but look forward to the world to come.
Now more than ever EVIL is rearing its hideous head. And one of the symptoms is Donald Trump, a man who successfully tapped into the anger of white voters and appealed to the lowest inclinations of people in a manner that would have probably impressed Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels himself.
Trump: the man of lawlessness.
2 Thess. 2 describes this man Trump. The heading of that chapter is “The Man of Lawlessness”. Take verse 4 of that chapter: “He will exalt himself over everything that is called God.”
That to me suggests that Trump has elevated himself above Creation, above the law. Now that much of the US church has aligned itself with this man, all restraint is gone and evil has free play.
Events are moving fast and furious in this world.
Here is what also happened on November 8.
On the same day that the American people – actually only 17 percent of the total population – elected Trump as president, November 8, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported that the past five years were the hottest on record. It reported rising sea levels, soon to increase as a result of the unexpectedly rapid melting of polar ice, most ominously the huge Antarctic glaciers. Already, Arctic sea ice over the past five years is 28 percent below the average of the previous 29 years, not only raising sea levels, but also reducing the cooling effect of polar ice reflection of solar rays, thereby accelerating the grim effects of global warming.
With the Republican Party controlling the Executive, Congress, and the Supreme Court, it has become the most dangerous organization in world history, because it denies the existence of Climate Change.
There is no historical precedent for such a stand.
The winning candidate, now the president-elect, calls for rapid increase in use of fossil fuels, including coal; dismantling of regulations; rejection of help to developing countries that are seeking to move to sustainable energy; and in general, racing to the cliff as fast as possible. This is exactly what The Evil One would want, because his sole aim is to destroy God’s precious earth, for which He gave his son as a sacrifice.
Trump has already taken steps to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by placing in charge of the EPA transition a notorious (and proud) climate change denier, Myron Ebell. Trump’s top adviser on energy, billionaire oil executive Harold Hamm, a fracking friend, announced his expectations, which were predictable: dismantling regulations, tax cuts for the industry (and the wealthy and corporate sector generally), more fossil fuel production, lifting Obama’s temporary block on the Dakota Access pipeline.
Evil is now emerging stronger than ever. “He will exalt himself over everything that is called God.” It’s Trump against creation!
Guess who will win. Prepare yourself for catastrophic events.
One of the difficulties in raising public concern over the very severe threats of global warming is that 40 percent of the US population does not see why it is a problem, since Christ is returning in a few decades.
There are definite similarities to Brexit, and also to the rise of the ultranationalist far-right parties in Europe — whose leaders were quick to congratulate Trump on his victory, perceiving him as one of their own: [Nigel] Farage, [Marine] Le Pen, [Viktor] Orban, [Geert] Wilders and others like them. And these developments are quite frightening. A look at the polls in Austria and Germany — Austria and Germany! — cannot fail to evoke unpleasant memories for those familiar with the 1930s, even more so for those who watched directly, as I did as a child. I can still recall listening to Hitler’s speeches, not understanding the words, though the tone and audience reaction were chilling enough.
The RIGHT is now in charge, just as it was in Nazi Germany. Be afraid, be very much afraid. With the Republicans in the White House, but also controlling both houses and the future shape of the Supreme Court, what will the US look like for at least the next four years?
The Supreme Court will be in the hands of reactionaries for many years, with predictable consequences. If Trump follows through on his Paul Ryan-style fiscal programs, there will be huge benefits for the very rich — estimated by the Tax Policy Center as a tax cut of over 14 percent for the top 0.1 percent and a substantial cut more generally at the upper end of the income scale, but with virtually no tax relief for others, who will also face major new burdens.
A time to love and a time to hate,
A time for war and a time for peace.
What this passage of Ecclesiastes is suggesting is that there are ups and downs, times of prosperity and time of great need.
That fits in with the times we live in: We’ve had the fat years, plucked the low-hanging fruits, took the easy to grab treasures, and now, now it is time to forget about love and prepare for hate, forget about peace and prepare for war. By ‘hate’ I don’t mean that we start hating people. No, never, as the old Christian adage goes: we hate sin but love the sinner. And the war? It’s full-out against creation.
This ‘time’ thing reminds me of a book I have: THE FOURTH TURNING. It points to a phenomenon where history runs into cycles of 80 -100 years, divided into four equal periods. Each time the Grey Champion appeared marked the arrival of a moment of “darkness, and adversity, and peril,” the climax of the Fourth Turning of the saeculum.
Is that Grey Champion Donald Trump?
Today, in 2016, it was 80 years ago, 1936, that was the depth of the Depression. Another 80 years before that, 1856, was the time of the terrible US Civic War: both Fourth Turning events.
Here’s what the FOURTH TURNING said (page 330): “The next Fourth Turning (and that is now!) could mark the end of man. It could be an omnicidal Armageddon, destroying everything, leaving nothing.” (That’s what ‘omnicidal’ means.)
The two writers of the book, William Strauss and Neil Howe, published the book in 1997, thus 20 years ago, not having knowledge of, say, the state of the Arctic today, where even in November, this month!!, when there is almost total darkness there, the region is 20 degrees C above normal. That signals death. The part ‘cidal’ in omnicidal means ‘death’ as in ‘suicidal’, something which we, as a human race, are stupidly engaged in, knowing full-well that in the Far North are buried billions of tons of methane, waiting for stupid people like us, to unlock and unleash them on us, making us the last generation of humanity.
There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven.
A time to live, a time to die;
A time to act wisely; a time to act stupidly;
A time of birth and a time of death.
A time for the world to begin; a time for the world to end.
Who is in charge of this world?
Today, more than ever, it is the evil one who is in charge, whose sole aim is to destroy God’s creation.
Fortunately the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, has paid the ransom and God, the Father, has guaranteed that a new earth under a new heaven is the result.