In the movie, The Three Musketeers (1993), starring Chris O’Donnell as D’Artagnan, there is a scene in which Cardinal Richelieu (Tim Curry) made a pass at his beautiful, but seductive spy, Milady de Winter (Rebecca de Mornay) and, when she responded by pressing a dagger point into his ample girth, he made a comment. “With a snap of my fingers, I could put you back where you were before I rescued you.” Or something to that effect. Her immediate response, which he nervously laughed off, was far more sinister. “With a flick of my wrist, I can change your religion.”
Ah, yes. A simple flick of the wrist. In an instant.
“Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.” (Revelation 18:10b)
Did you get that? Flick of the wrist! In one hour the entire world system has been overturned. How close are we to that actually happening?
I am American, born and raised in the United States of America. Most of the people who read this article will be in the same situation. We are Americans. I have lived my entire life in the dominance and sway of the American way and, if I believed the narrative pumped into everyone from nursery school onward, I would not understand why things are as they are. WTF is the matter with the rest of the world anyway? Can’t they see that our way, the American way, is so much more superior than everything else? And, why do they not embrace it wholeheartedly as an improvement on what they now hold to be true? How in the world can anything be any better? WTF is the matter with them, those heathens, those unbelievers, anyway?
Unfortunately, this attitude is prideful and arrogant and goes against the Spirit of God, which stresses humility before God and service to others as the only proper method of operation. America is not good at this, no matter the propaganda. God opposes the proud (James 4:6)1 and is the REAL kingmaker (Daniel 2:21, Daniel 4:17, Psalm 75:7, Romans 13:1). Donald Trump, contrary to his opinions and beliefs, is nothing more than a tool in His hand.
I look at Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu as modern-day, real life clones of the villainous cardinal in Alexandre Dumas’ novel, The Three Musketeers. Out of pure hubris, arrogance, and a lifetime of exercising power to get whatever they want, they are basically saying to anyone who opposes them, “We can send you back where you came from, back to the Stone Age2, or, even better for us, to Hell itself.”
Iran is basically saying, “With a flick of my wrist…”
Now, if only it were that simple. We laugh at the incident and move on to the next scene. But God…3 God is the one who decides how the situation works out and it is quite possible, increasingly likely, that events unfold in which we see the current political and financial world system upended and destroyed almost instantly, virtually overnight, in one day, so to speak. If that happens, there will be millions and billions of people who will be shocked and in despair at the speed of the implosion.4
“Alas! Alas! Oh, Babylon, Babylon, where art thou?”
And many will have to change their religion because the Beast they worshipped is no more.
- I wrote about this just a few days ago. See here. ↩︎
- Without saying so, they are following the example set by Richard Armitage, a top official at the State Dept. during George W. Bush’s run-up to the Afghanistan invasion. Armitage is alleged to have told Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf, that the country would be “bombed back to the Stone Age” if Musharraf didn’t get with the program and allow the US access. Armitage, of course, denied that he ever made the threat. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2006/09/paki-s27.html ↩︎
- Used in conjunction, this is one of the most profound and powerful phrases in the English language. ↩︎
- To get the full impact of this, read Revelation 18: 9-24, then use your wildest imagination. ↩︎
Note to readers: I have reached a milestone at Poor Roger’s Almanac. This article is #300 in a line of posts stretching back to 2012. I have made a lot of progress–spiritual, emotional, and literary in that time. Nothing is denied, held back, nor paywalled. It never will be. This is my mission in life and I am grateful to have the opportunity to share it with you.
Poor Roger's Almanac 
What if what Trump has been doing over the last year is the only way to turn back the American Empire, given the enemies within the gates, if you will?
Conversely, what if this is just the way all empires die? Sadly for us, I think there is only one example in history of en empire dying peacefully, and that being the Soviet Union.
What a mess.
Congratulations on 300!
The first thought which popped into my mind on reading your opening paragraph was one of confusion. Trump is acting the way he does out of an ulterior motive to overcome the Empire? Killing, stealing, destroying, and lying prodigiously to save the world? Like the Director of Rhodia who feigned harmless insanity in public to maintain his position but worked with full mental clarity behind the scenes to successfully destroy the Tyrann Empire? (Isaac Asimov, The Stars Like Dust)
Naaaah! Can’t be. That would be giving the man too much credit, so there must be another interpretation. Trump is being used by someone else (Someone else) to bring about the end of the American Empire, regardless what it costs or who is destroyed in the process. I can agree with this.
Now, what if Jesus the Christ is manipulating, directing, and orchestrating the world puppet show in such a way that the Empire AND its expected successor, world-wide Satanic domination, is wrecked completely, but we are too blind to see it and do not have sufficient imagination to envision it? What if Trump is clearing the way for a totalitarian world dictatorship, AI driven and controlled, but Jesus has greater plans in mind? What if God really does work in marvelous ways?
Near the end of my life, hope in His future is all I have left…and it is a glorious thing.
I think you’re right about the end of empires. The Soviet Union was an anomaly. The American one is following the same path as its predecessor, the British Empire, but on a much larger scale.
What a mess.
Thanks for the compliment.
I’ve made the point before that America today resembles pre-revolution Tsarist Russia in at least one way: the populace is decisively split into numerous factions and, while relatively calm, the situation could easily explode into an all-out battle for control. The Roman Empire was attacked and sacked by outside foreign forces, but the US Empire may very well be destroyed by its own people, which puts an ominously different take on the phrase, “Power to the People”.
Roger, you are right to point out many possible “what ifs” in trying to read what is happening. It is a reminder to me: whatever Trump is or isn’t doing, you cannot achieve good ends through evil means. And the means he has deployed are evil.
Yet, what if God, as He did with Pharaoh, is just allowing Trump to do what Trump would do – and that this fits God’s plan?
The king’s heart is like a river of water in the Lord’s hand. He turns it whichever way He wants.