Tag: Babylon

With a Flick of the Wrist

Roger Mitchell3 Comments

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.

  1. I wrote about this just a few days ago. See here. ↩︎
  2. 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 ↩︎
  3. Used in conjunction, this is one of the most profound and powerful phrases in the English language. ↩︎
  4. 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.

Political Factions and the Impotence of Christianity

Roger Mitchell1 Comment

there is an old joke, best told by monty python, about revolutionary movements. everyone agrees on the enemy. everyone agrees on the objective. and yet the room is full of factions who despise one another far more than they fear the empire they claim to oppose. the people’s front, the popular front, the other front that split off last year after a disagreement about principles. the comedy works because it is painfully familiar. shared goals are easy. shared coordination is not. — Hugh Hendry1 https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/modern-money-only-works-cheating-if-youre-long-bitcoin-or-not-long-bitcoin-read

Sounds like modern-day politics in America, doesn’t it? Except that there is no revolutionary movement, no one agrees on the common enemy, they can’t agree on the objective nor how to reach it. They just know they can’t get along. America is full of factions who despise each other and fight with each other, almost always to the point that they forget about opposing the empire they claim they fear. The Republicans, the Democrats, the socialists, the libertarians, the progressives, the communists, the right-wingers, the blue-haired lesbian land whales with nose rings, the anarchists, the Covidians, the white, male, cis-gender Christian, et al. And, while shared goals are easy when the goal is to make money and everyone is in tune with that, the usual pattern of action is that a few make a lot of money, most make enough to get by, and some starve in the face of plenty. The difference is in which group has the power to make and enforce the rules. If the shared goals are to get what you want at somebody else’s expense, well…, that’s called politics, the law of the jungle, theft by majority rule, and the groups generally split along the same lines.

“The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.” — Thucydides2

Everyone, it seems, has their own favorite pet whipping boy which they can point to and condemn him for causing all the trouble we have today. And, yet, in the midst of all the uproar, the furor, and the confusion, very few of them pause to consider that they might be adding to the problem instead of contributing to the solution. This, however, is nothing new and it hearkens all the way back to The Beginning, the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve.

“Then the man said, ‘The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.’ And the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.'” — Genesis 3: 12-13

Whenever there is a problem between people, the initial temptation is to point the finger, exactly as Adam and Eve did. “This woman…” “That snake…” It is so easy to do that we often fall into it automatically, without ever thinking about it or acting contrary to our fallen human nature. C’mon, now, be honest. Isn’t this the tendency within the human soul? If I can get someone else to shoulder the blame and pay the price, then perhaps, just maybe, I won’t be liable for it at all. Or, if I am found guilty, my punishment might be reduced from the level it would have been if I was found responsible in the first place.

When it comes to doing and saying what is right, it is easier to align with those you most identify with than to stand alone. Yet, we are called to speak the truth even if it means that we must stand alone against the churning, moiling mob of dissent and chaos. We are called to speak the truth even it it means standing alone against the beliefs, preferences, and wishes of our own comrades and close associates.

This is one of the most difficult things in life to do as it runs the risk of alienation and separation from the society we are part of. The Covid farce, still in our very recent rear-view mirrors, brought this out in a real way and the stories are manifold of close, loving relationships being broken irreparably because someone dared to speak the truth and those who heard would not accept it, choosing instead to believe the lie. Believing a lie requires no effort or suffering, but breaking free from that is costly and painful.

The most modern lie of all (which is also the most ancient) is that power, for the sake of power, is the highest goal we can work for. Incidentally, this is also relevant to the Garden of Eden, in which the Serpent promised Eve that she could be like God if she wanted to be, determining what was good and what was evil.

“For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” — Genesis 3:5

If we, and the group we represent, can gain power over those others who are in opposition to us, then we can make things right. We can advance proper legislation and administer proper justice. We can usher in an era of peace, prosperity, and the pursuit of happiness. Utopia, in other words. Heaven on Earth can (and will) be accomplished if, but only if, our mode of thinking becomes the dominant force and all others are subjugated to it. Is this not an accurate description of modern (and ancient) political life? Hasn’t this line of thought been the guiding principle throughout human history, from the very first tribal battles all the way to the present day, resulting in death and destruction everywhere and always? Isn’t this desire, often spoken verbally, more often harbored silently, the reason why we cannot get along with those around us, our fellow man? We want power, they want power, our wants are at odds with their wants, therefore, we must go to war and kill or be killed.

And, in the process of wreaking havoc on our enemies, we bring it on ourselves!

“Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” — Luke 6:38

This promise from the lips of Jesus is generally taken (at least in so-called Christian circles, IMO) to mean that the more money you contribute to “charity” or drop into the “offering plate” on Sunday morning, the greater your reward. ROI. Return on investment and, if we were entirely honest with ourselves, we would have to admit that this perception might very well be lurking in the back of our minds. However, context, context, context. The verse quoted is taken from a passage (Luke 6:20-42) which is not so much about money as it is with doing what is necessary to live and get along peacefully with our enemies.

  1. v. 27: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.”
  2. v. 29: “To him who strikes you on one cheek, turn the other also.”
  3. v. 31: “And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.”3
  4. v. 36: “Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.”
  5. v. 37: Judge not…”

Judge not. Ahhhh! Now we’re getting somewhere. Isn’t it true that, in our interactions with others, we make judgments about them and attempt to correct the error of their ways, the way we perceive the error of their ways to be? And, isn’t it also true that the primary way we attempt to correct the error of their ways is to gain power over them politically, socially, and/or financially, usually through the democratic process known as voting to elect “our” representative to a seat in the halls of the government who will perform according to our wishes? Don’t like what is happening around you? Can’t exercise sufficient influence to change it on your own? Then, appoint a proxy to do it for you, who will also do it to you when it is convenient for him.

Ultimately, this boils down to one thing: pride, which begets arrogance. “I am. I am right. I am something to behold. My word is to be taken as truth. Listen to me, you knot-headed, hard-headed people, none of whom are as intelligent as I am! In other words, I am a substitute for God Himself.”

“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation, on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.'” — Isaiah 14:12-14

Allow me to be explicit here. If you refuse to live according to the pattern set in Luke 6, as shown above, then you are acting out the lie brought out in Isaiah. These two passages are diametrically opposed and, to the extent that you practice the one, you are not practicing the other. You can live after the manner of Jesus, humble, loving, seeking God’s will AND the greatest benefit to others, or you can live after the manner of the king of Babylon, proud, arrogant, condemning, judgmental, vindictive, hateful. There is a third way, of course, which is to ride the rail, straddle the fence between these two options, which works until someone like the prophet Elijah comes along. “How long halt ye between two opinions?”, which was immediately followed by calling down fire from heaven. Not good for the priests of Baal nor the fence sitters who refused to make up their minds.

Yes, as Hendry said in the beginning quote, the comedy works and it really would be comedic if it wasn’t so serious. The question is, however, would it continue to work if Christians everywhere, those who call themselves disciples of Jesus the Christ, quit playing The Game as it is currently framed and simply stopped fighting tooth and nail with those who have a different viewpoint? How long would this continual struggle for supremacy go on if you and I just abandoned the battle with each other and started living life as it was meant to be–to love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds, and to love our neighbors at least as much as we love ourselves?

I think I’m right. You got an issue with that???

  1. You can read the entire article by clicking the link above, however, it is quite long-winded and I think repetitive when it doesn’t need to be. Quite interesting, though, as Hendry summarizes an unassailable distinction between gold and Bitcoin. ↩︎
  2. Melian Dialogue ↩︎
  3. “Do unto them, except do it first. Before they act, show them how it’s done.” The world understands this, why can’t Christians? ↩︎

Wishing for the Good Old Days: An Act of Futility

Roger MitchellLeave a comment

“By the rivers of Babylon…”–Psalms 137:1

When all this corona panic pandemic hysteria and craziness is over, everything about our lives will be different. It may be that we’ll be using our thumbprints, retina scans, or tattoos to pay for purchases instead of dollar bills or credit cards. Who knows?

It’s funny, though, that every generation looks back on earlier times and remembers them as ‘the good old days’. My guess is that within a few short years, the people who are still alive will look back on the time just prior to the Corona outbreak (and the accompanying financial and economic breakdown) and wish they were back there. Just like the Jews did after they had been carried off to Babylon. Well, all right, they weren’t actually carried, they had to walk the entire distance. Any who couldn’t keep up were promptly dispatched or left to die by themselves, somewhere in the desert without pity.

Every generation blames the one before, as the song says. In this case, the coming generations will have ample reason to blame ours, that is, mine—the baby boomers, who thought nothing of borrowing trillions and trillions of dollars to finance a lifestyle which was unsustainable—and putting the burden of paying that unbearable debt squarely on the shoulders of their children and grandchildren. Oh, yes, the ones who were “unlucky” enough to be born, not aborted, will have the grand pleasure of picking up the pieces from our selfish, irresponsible, immature, society and trying to make something out of it. They will have the opportunity to change the system in such a way so that something similar to what we are just beginning to experience will never, and I mean, never happen again. The only question is this. Will they remember what it was like and make the necessary adjustments or will they have to learn the lesson all over again. Time will tell.

Ah, yes! Nostalgia is a wonderful thing. It allows us the luxury of remembering a time when our lives were, at least in our minds, so much better. Our childhoods, adolescence, teen-age years, young adult-hood were clearly superior to what we are living with now. Heck, even the music we grew up with is better than what is being created and distributed today—if you can call it music. To one who listened to Classic Rock from the 60’s, it is impossible to have appreciation for the noise of today. And so on…

Yet, life goes on and the taste in music changes. So does economic thinking and I am willing to bet that an indebted life for the sake of keeping up with the Joneses will go out of style, although it will probably take years of intense hardship to convince people of that. It is far preferable to live within our ability to pay, even if that means that we do without, rather than mortgaging our future (and our children’s futures) so that we can live the good life today. It really will be a great day when that attitude has played itself out and we can all remember how good we had it before it was taken away.

Oh, and to make sure that it never happens again. This is the best thing we could leave our children.

“By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, Yeah, yeah, we wept, When we remembered Zion…” —Boney-M.

Note: Please understand that much of this has been written from a tongue-in-cheek perspective. Do not attempt to read more into it than is intended.