The article which led to my newswriting demise:
Give Us A King!
It’s unusual to talk about doomsday preparing outside of a religious context. Even those who don’t affiliate with an organized religion, or would classify themselves as “not being a person of faith/belief in God,” feel the dark, brooding cloud which has been settling over our country for the past few years.
The Bible provides clues as to why so many have felt a more urgent need to prepare. The prophets Jeremiah and Job stated that “the word of the Lord came to me (him) saying, before I formed thee in the belly I knew you, and before you came forth out of the womb I sanctified you” (NKJV Jer. 1:5) and “the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, where were you before I laid the foundations of the earth..when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (NKJV Job 38:1,4,7)
The Revelation of St. John the Divine (commonly referred to as the book of Revelations) referred to a “war in heaven,” with casualties in that battle reaching “a third part of the stars of heaven.” (Rev. 12:7).
Ancient Christians, Jewish, and other religionists also taught of a pre-mortal existence: Plato, the Essenes, Philo, the Talmud, the Cabala; all taught that the battle between good and evil was an eternal one, which started before “earth life” and will end with a final apocalyptic winding up scene.
Perhaps the most evidentiary is the feeling which almost universally occurred in the late hours of November 6th and the wee hours of November 7th with 48 percent of Americans. “I felt restless all night,” “I tossed and turned all night,” “I feel like something died,” “I feel like I am in mourning,” were all common sentiments expressed by religious and non-religious voters alike. Did their eternal soul recognize that in the eternal war between good and evil, good had just lost a major battle?
I recently wrote an article on the post-election economic and financial impacts to your household. I wonder if the Maya saw our country heading off a fiscal cliff taking the entire world with us, and interpreted that as the end of the world supposedly happening on December 21, 2012. You can read the article on my Debt page.
Whether you believe the Bible to be the word of God or not, at a minimum it stands as a reminder of those who have gone before us, and the consequences, good and bad, of a people’s decisions and actions. Paul wrote (concerning the time period leading up to the advent of the Messiah) that “in the last days, perilous times shall come. Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good; traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.” When evidence of those traits exists, Paul warned that a change in course was needed, and counseled “from such turn away.” (NKJV 2 Timothy 3:1-5).
But every age could point to things on the Paul checklist and conclude the end of the world was coming…for example, in 1918, 1936, 1944, 486 A.D. (the end of the Roman empire for those who are wondering). What tips the scales in 2012 leading one to conclude that Paul was discussing “our” day, and who cares?
You should care. Regardless of whether one accepts the Bible as the word of God, the Old Testament particularly, provides an historic window of cause and effect, obedience or rebellion, democracy/theocracy or “every man doing right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). In the ‘60s we called that “doing your own thing, baby;” in 2011 we Occupied Wall Street and chanted “I’m the 99%,” and demanded freebies.
In those days, Israel had been governed under a quasi-theocracy, meaning a prophet (who by definition speaks for God) not only served as God’s oracle, but also oversaw the affairs of the people. After the death of the prophet Joshua, Israel went through a 200 year succession of governing Judges, really military leaders, most of which did not claim to speak for or with the Almighty.
Until Samuel. Both a prophet and the last of the Judges, Samuel restored law and order and regular religious worship in the land. Israel lived in relative peace and prosperity under the theo-/democratic leadership of Samuel.
Then the day came when Israel looked around at its neighbors. Neighboring countries had a King ! They didn't have to be responsible for anything, the stringent rules didn't apply to those people like it did to Israel As long as they paid tribute, the King took care of it all. He made all the decisions, apportioned out lands, titles, made sure everyone paid and got their fare share. What a great idea! (Sounds familiar doesn't it?)
The story went like this in NJKV 1 Samuel chapter 8 (editorial analogies in parens.)
“Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel, and said ‘Behold you are old, and your sons walk not in your ways, now make us a King to judge us like all the nations.’ (we want to be more like Europe.) But the thing displeased Samuel when they said Give us a King, so Samuel prayed to the Lord.”
“And the Lord said to Samuel, listen to the voice of the people in all that they say unto you, for they have not rejected you, but have rejected me that I should not reign over them. Therefore listen to their voice, but protest solemnly unto them, and show them the manner (consequences) of the King that shall reign over them.”
“So Samuel said (to the people): This will be the manner of the King that shall reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them for himself, and your daughters also” (then describes how indentured their children will be to the King in return for the King’s goodies);
“He will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants;” (redistribution of wealth)
“He will take a tenth of your seed and vineyards,” (taxes on your income) and give them to his officers and servants (redistribute the wealth); he will take your workers and best men and ability to produce and put them into his work (government dependency.)”
(Then when it’s too late, and you realize the cost of having a king, you’ll change your mind, but you will be too far off the fiscal cliff) and “in that day you will cry out because of the King, but the Lord will not hear you.”
"And the people said," (yeah we know. We get it. But we don’t care.) “GIVE US A KING OVER US” (anyway), “that we also may be like all the (other) nations, (Europe) that our king may judge us” (validate our bad behavior and choices)” and go out before us and fight our battles” (we don’t care what he does, as long as no one makes us be personally responsible or accountable.)
“And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he spoke them back to the Lord. And the Lord said” (let them experience the consequences of giving up freedom and liberty for the sake of free stuff), “and make them a King.”
So Samuel did.
Israel was a free people. But rather than do the hard work (obedience to God and loyalty to country, personal sacrifice and accountability) to maintain that freedom, they voluntarily sold themselves in to political slavery just so they could “be like everyone else.” It didn't work out well for them in the long run. Sure, sometimes they had great kings; more often than not, they had bad ones, and the consequences (taxation, poverty, wars) were severe.
You have to wonder: did everyone in Israel vote for a king or was it just 50%? Did maybe 48% mourn the loss of freedom and the right to choose? Did the 3% who could have voted for freedom and liberty ever regret their apathy? Did anyone look at the handwriting on the wall and take steps to prepare against the tidal wave of oppressive taxation, regulation and servitude?
On November 6th, 50% of Americans spoke for all of us, and voted to give us a King (not kidding. Check out Barack Obama’s speech to the UN on September 25th on youtube: http://youtu.be/Q_ijBilki-I. He is introduced as “His Excellency, Barack Obama, President of the United States.”)
The United States is on a downward spiral financially, spiritually, economically. Most Americans sense this intrinsically, others just do the math. The rights of Americans are being eroded systematically, mostly with just a stroke of the pen (Executive Orders.) We have traded our liberty for a free bowl of rice. Or a free cell phone. Or free birth control.
If you have not taken steps to prepare, you need to get it in gear. It’s a difficult thing to do, being personally responsible, taking responsibility for your own self and your own family. But you need to do it: Staten Islanders, like New Orlean'ers, learned the hard way these past two weeks “there’s no government coming to save you”, no matter how much ‘red tape’ the King promises to cut through. Those neighbors you think are going to give to you, or you demand 'redistribute their wealth', can’t because they didn't prepare either.
Abdicating their self- and God- governance for a King didn't work well for Israel. It is no less disastrous for us. If we refuse to learn from history, we are condemned to repeat it.
