What If Jesus Was Appointed to Trump's Cabinet?

Jesus as Secretary of Defense Obviously, this is absurd. But my purpose here is to outline what would be said about Jesus if he was nominated for a cabinet position. 

• Jesus' parents were forced to get married.
• Jesus was a troubled youth that ran away from home. 
• Even though Jesus was a professional man, he relied on women for his livelihood. He did not work. 
• One of men closest to Jesus was a known terrorist. Another associate committed suicide. Another associate betrayed him at the end. 
• Jesus compared people of a different ethic background than himself to dogs.
• Jesus never married. You know what that means. 
• His supporters burnt Rome.
• His supporters refused to show allegiance to our nation (by burning incense to the emperor). 
• Jesus is a Jew. 
• Jesus is a phony faith healer. 
• Jesus supported a law that condemned homosexuality. 
• Jesus told stories rather than use plain language in order to deceive his listeners. 

Jesus would never be confirmed to Trump's cabinet. 

My point is not to say that Trump's picks are great. My point is that the quality, or lack of it, to Trump's picks don't matter. He is Trump. The same kind of thing took place with Obama, Bush and Clinton. It just depends on the political orientation of a particular media outlet. 

Don't be deceived. 

90% Failure Rate

If a Biblical preacher makes 10 predictions, and one of them comes true, is that a reason to shout from the housetops? I have talked about how the prophecy biz works before. The successes are trumpeted, and the failures ignored.

One particular theory of prophecy has the EU becoming the beast of Revelation. Since us English speaking types could never be a part of the beast power, as we are the true Israel, Great Britain had to leave the EU. But these same prophetic wannabes had some absolute epic failures over the years. In the 50's and 60's the Worldwide Church of God expected Hitler to return to Germany from his secret U-boat bases in Antartica . As it became more and more obvious that this was absurd, the meme changed to a Hitler-like figure would emerge. Names were suggested. Of course all of these suggestions have died now, so new suggestions must be made. Like the famous scene in 1984 where IngSoc switches allegiance from one competing "rival" superpower to another. History has to be changed retroactively. "We were never at war with EastAsia." In the same way, prophetic failures are conveniently swept under the rug.

I first ran across this when I started to collect religious colporteur literature, books and pamphlets sold door to door at the beginning of the last century. One in particular went on and on about the prophetic importance of the Ottoman Empire, which self-destructed, with help from the West, just a few years after the book was published.

Since Jesus said that even he didn't know the timing of his return, the underlying assumption that Jesus will return soon may be flawed. Don't get me wrong--it will happen. We just can't know when. But to point this out reduces book sales. The reason we have so much odd prophetic speculation is that is what people want.

So no, Great Britain leaving the EU does not have anything to do with Bible prophecy. Rather than strengthen the EU, it may end it. It may also be the end of Great Britain as it splits into three parts. Instead of a coming Superpower, the EU is more likely to experience civil war and race riots.

It is a mistake to look at current events and twist them to fit Bible prophecy. It will almost always eventually be proven wrong, as was the 19th/early 20th century claim of the prophetic significance of the Ottoman Empire

Do Not Follow the Crowd

As a general rule, following the crowd will get you into trouble. There is even a biblical principle involved. In the NKJV Exodus 23:2 tells us: 

You shall not follow a crowd to do evil.

The context is the common tendency to favor one group over another, in this case favoring the poor over the rich or the rich over the poor in a lawsuit. However this is also a good general principle. 

So if, by your own words, you are doing something evil, you are violating this scripture. What is the evil, popular activity I am referencing?  

"I will just hold my nose and vote for the lesser of the two evils."  

Do not follow the crowd, do not do this. If you have to vote, vote for some candidate that can't win.  No, wait, that won't work, as Donald Trump can't win and I am not saying you should vote for him! I have regretted not voting for Roseanne Barr of the Peace and Freedom Party last presidential election. Her platform of bringing back the guillotine for bankers was at least interesting.  

No, friends don't let friends vote. Nor do friends let friends drive drunk. So if you have to vote do so under the influence and call a taxi. In this election especially, voting drunk is the only way one can do it. 

Bernie Trump

With the convincing victory by both Sanders and Trump in the New Hampshire primary, it actually seems possible that the election this fall will be Trump versus Sanders. I still think that it will be "Carpet Bomb Them" Cruz against "What Difference Does it Make" Clinton, but that possibility has dropped considerably in probability. Of particular interest is the unexpected rise of Governor Kasich. It seems that the anti-Trump vote is solidifying around him, but Kasich is not polling well in the South. Rubio just looks too young, and for "the powers that be," Cruz is a madman.

I disagree with Madeline Albright. You won't go to hell if you decide not to vote for Clinton.



Nor do I think God wants you to vote for Cruz:



Or not just from Cruz's father, also from the horse's mouth.



Cruz's comment about executive orders certainly fell on my receptive ears, but other parts of this I thought dumb. I found his promise to tear up the Iranian agreement troubling. If he does this, no one in the world will go along with him, and the net result will be Iran will get all the benefits of the agreement, no more sanctions, while from their perspective have none of the obligations they undertook in the treaty. It might be emotionally satisfying to tear up the treaty, but it is very immature and will lead to many asking the question, "What other treaties will America tear up?"

The main point I have in this post is not political. Instead I want to comment on the messianic nature of modern politics. This is why the title of the post is Bernie Trump. Both candidates are messianic pretenders of the worst sort. Oh, if only we elect the right person America will become that promised "City on the Hill."

Nonsense.

American has never been, nor ever will be that city. Do you doubt this? I suggest you look at the treatment of the Cherokee by President Jackson--talk about a special place in hell! I suggest you look at the history of this at Pam Dewey's, the beloved editor of this blog, website. 

I can just hear some responses to this. "But we are not as bad as those other guys! We're Americans!" Paul (you know, the Bible Paul) had an interesting comment about this attitude in 2 Cor10:12:

Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.

Yes, modern American politics can easily be described as being without understanding. Any measuring we do needs to have a higher standard of measurement.

So if as an evangelical I am supposed to vote my values, why does Ted "Carpet Bomb" Cruz think that means voting for him would accomplish this? 

This is a basic misunderstanding of government and religion. This is not God's world, it belongs to another god. While selecting which demon will rule over me does have a certain appeal--I like the Trump demon best--ultimately picking a demon is what I am doing. I think I will pass. The only way to change America is to change the hearts of Americans. I have blogged on this before. You might also look at what has been my second most viewed blog post where I talk about the rah-rah nature of politics from the last election. Have I really been blogging that long?!

I thought that in conclusion I would actually have a clip by Rubio I agree with, no politician is a savior. The beginning of the clip is all I am referencing, the end is more political nonsense, I turned it off. I suggest you turn off all the messianic pretenders on your television. There is a better savior.

Century of the Self Part 3: A Jesus Shaped Hole

Part three of the Century of the Self  BBC series discusses the various human attempts to understand and remove our cultural programming and replace it with something new. These attempts failed. Often all they succeeded in removing was the conscience. 

There is a Jesus-shaped hole in our lives. Even Christians have this hole. Hopefully they have filled it properly. It is a life-long process. Jesus talked about demons and the care needed after their casting out as something worse might replace it. Part III highlights this issue by showing what happens when one tries to fill a God shaped hole with something else. Matthew 12 (The Message) tells us:

^43-45"When a defiling evil spirit is expelled from someone, it drifts along through the desert looking for an oasis, some unsuspecting soul it can bedevil. When it doesn't find anyone, it says, 'I'll go back to my old haunt.' On return it finds the person spotlessly clean, but vacant. It then runs out and rounds up seven other spirits more evil than itself and they all move in, whooping it up. That person ends up far worse off than if he'd never gotten cleaned up in the first place. "That's what this generation is like: You may think you have cleaned out the junk from your lives and gotten ready for God, but you weren't hospitable to my kingdom message, and now all the devils are moving back in." 

You do not accomplish much if you take out Babylon from your life and then allow it to reenter by inventing a Babylon of your own choosing. Vacuums will be filled. This part of the documentary tells of the human attempts to replace the vacuum of our lives without God. (Warning: Some of these attempts involve images of naked people.) 

There was a book I read decades ago that I should have paid more attention to. Not necessarily the book itself, as it was somewhat unhelpful. But the title said it all—More of Jesus, Less of Me. 

God does not see us as we are, he sees us as He will make us. There are parts of us that do not fit the Potter's vision of us. Isaiah 29 talks about our desire to be self-designed, as this episode of the documentary focused on. 

^15-16Doom to you! You pretend to have the inside track. 

   You shut God out and work behind the scenes,

Plotting the future as if you knew everything, 

   acting mysterious, never showing your hand.

You have everything backward! 

   You treat the potter as a lump of clay.

Does a book say to its author, 

   "He didn't write a word of me"?

Does a meal say to the woman who cooked it, 

   "She had nothing to do with this"?

Imagine that you are a feeling lump of clay. It would be painfully to have your parts molded. A Christian wants to be the kind of pot God envisions for them, but there is pain involved. 

Part of this process is to "leave" Babylon the Great. But we are happy there, and we do not want to leave, like Lot's wife. Revelation 18 tell us. 

Do You See The "Handwriting On The Wall?"Get out, my people, as fast as you can, 

      so you don't get mixed up in her sins, 

      so you don't get caught in her doom. 

   Her sins stink to high Heaven; 

      God has remembered every evil she's done. 

   Give her back what she's given, 

      double what she's doubled in her works, 

      double the recipe in the cup she mixed; 

   Bring her flaunting and wild ways 

      to torment and tears. 

   Because she gloated, "I'm queen over all, 

      and no widow, never a tear on my face," 

   In one day, disasters will crush her— 

      death, heartbreak, and famine— 

   Then she'll be burned by fire, because God, 

      the Strong God who judges her, 

      has had enough.

Lot's wife did not want to leave, and suffered the consequences. If you stay in Babylon, you will suffer the consequences. If one is not careful as one leaves, what fills up the recently-vacated space will be just as bad as what has been removed. 

Those of my religious tradition every year have a period where leaven is removed from the diet as outlined in Leviticus 23. The analogy is that just as one removes leaven one should remove sin.

This is a good analogy, a Biblical analogy, but the analogy is not enough. 1 Corinthians 5 tell us this: 

^6-8Your flip and callous arrogance in these things bothers me. You pass it off as a small thing, but it's anything but that. Yeast, too, is a "small thing," but it works its way through a whole batch of bread dough pretty fast. So get rid of this "yeast." Our true identity is flat and plain, not puffed up with the wrong kind of ingredient. The Messiah, our Passover Lamb, has already been sacrificed for the Passover meal, and we are the Unraised Bread part of the Feast. So let's live out our part in the Feast, not as raised bread swollen with the yeast of evil, but as flat bread—simple, genuine, unpretentious.

We have to let God makes us into the kind of pot He sees us as. The imperfections have to go. We need to be filled with something new. We cannot just put out the old. We need something new. 

^1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

I also like what the Phillips translation says. "Do not let this world squeeze you into its mold." This world wants you as a part of its consuming, angry, but docile masses—not as an individual "pot," but as a part of a whole morass of the system. The system wants you as a slave. God wants you as a child. We have to live in the Babylonish system, but we do not have to be of that system. 

This is why I think this whole series is important as it shows what soceity is doing to keep each of us in bondage. 

God has a better plan. As the apostle Paul says we do not see exactly what this means, we see it darkly in furtive glimpses. We know that God will make us into the image of His Son—gods and goddesses of His devising.  

I felt I needed a longer introduction to part three as I disagree with attempts to fill the Jesus-shaped hole with something besides Jesus. Part three of the documentary can stand alone, but it will make a lot more sense if you watch part I and part II.

Part III here