Tag: lindsey graham

God! What Do I Do Now?

Roger Mitchell3 Comments

This is a recent photo taken at the White House which has been spread far and wide in the also-recent revelation that members of the military have been subjected to “religious” persuasions and pressures from superior officers, presumably following the example and advice of the Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth. It reminded me of the painting which showed George Washington and Abraham Lincoln praying over George W. Bush while laying their hands on him. But, I guess that’s what warmongers do for each other.

The controversy began after an anonymous non-commissioned officer contacted the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) on behalf of several soldiers in a unit stationed outside the Iran combat zone. The individual wrote that a commander urged personnel to view the war as “all part of God’s divine plan,” while citing passages from the Book of Revelation. According to the complaint, the officer told troops that “President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.” — The Cradle

I am not concerned whether this is true, although it certainly would be in keeping with the character of the head honchos who have visited the latest military destruction on Iran. Understanding so-called Biblical “prophecy”1 from a Zionist, evangelical, and dispensational point of view, it is not hard to believe that Earth is indeed “in the last days” as foretold by Revelation, just prior to the return of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, who will rule and reign from Jerusalem for 1000 years, forcing everyone to bow and scrape to His authority on pain of being bopped by a Rod of Iron for disobedience, rebellion, and disbelief. Days of peace, indeed!

If, a big IF, Donald Trump has been set up in the Presidency by God Himself to usher in Armageddon and “light the signal fire” so that Jesus can find His way here, then he is certainly holding up his end of the responsibility. It makes me wonder, however, if this isn’t the wrong way to look at the situation. More than likely, instead of showing Jesus the way, Trump, his coterie of sycophantic yes-men and women, Lindsey Graham and his neoconservative ilk, and the world’s foremost arch-criminal, James Moriarty Benjamin Netanyahu and the entire leadership structure of Israel, are manipulating the actual sequence of events, literally forcing an appearance by Jesus to put an end to the fighting lest all mankind be killed and the Earth destroyed forever. And, if Jesus should somehow not show up, well, they win by default and take His place.

Shall we do evil so that good may come? Yeah, for sure, as long as the good comes to me.

Of course, that might be a little too far-fetched, so I’ll rescind the assertion and apologize to anyone whose feelings were hurt and whose beliefs were bruised. It is far more plausible to see things as Alexander Dugin explains in a well-written expose of Zionist thought.

“…Zionism is Judaism’s heretical rebellion where Jews declare themselves God, seize the Holy Land by force, and plunge tradition into apocalyptic upheaval.“

Well, Donald Trump hasn’t yet declared himself God, but he thinks of himself as The Supreme One. It wasn’t long ago that, in answer to a question about restraints on his behavior, he replied,

“…Trump insisted, just “one thing” that can curtail his desire for global supremacy: “My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.” — from an article on People

Add to that, his statement that, as President of the US, he can do whatever he wants, and you get the idea that he really thinks he is above the law, not just international law, but the Law Itself. The Highest Law. The one which says, “Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not lie, unless you’re on the campaign trail or at war.”

All this is to raise a question, however. Who or what were those people, including Donald Trump, praying to as shown in the photo above? If he cannot be stopped by anyone once his mind is made up and if he can act in any manner he wants, then why does he feel the need to seek guidance from a “higher” authority? Considering that he also is rumored to have said that he is not a Christian, that he hates his enemies, and that he has no compunction nor regrets about destroying others for his own sake (unarmed, hard-working fishermen in the Caribbean, e.g.), I am confident in stating2 that he does not worship the same Prince of Peace that I (and millions of other Americans) do. Maybe he recognizes and serves some other nefarious character who encourages him to indulge his god-like powers, you know, kill, steal, and destroy. I’d be willing to bet that all of the people in that photo think of only one thing–power and how to gain more of it, which is about as far from true Christianity, selfless sacrifice in the service of others, as anyone can get.

One of the ironies of the American War between the States, the War of Northern Aggression, the Civil War as some call it, is that the people on both sides of the conflict, both Union and Confederacy, believed that they were right, that their cause was just, and they prayed to the same God to give them victory over their enemies–the others, those over there. The same god, the same religion, the same belief structure, yet they expected God to pick and choose sides, to favor one while hurling lightening bolts at the other. Kind of like the internecine wars the Greek gods on Mount Olympus would involve themselves in and with just about the same results–a lot of dead people and widespread destruction.

Since, as human beings created in the Image of God, aren’t we all one big family? Brothers and sisters? Related to each other? Yet, in this current war which Trump and Netanyahu deliberately started, whose god is going to triumph? The stronger side? The more resilient force? The ones who don’t run out of ammunition first? The one who punched first or the other who punched back? Far be it from me to predict how God is going to act, but I am sure of this.

“God resists the proud…” (James 4:6)

Interestingly, I typed this exact phrase into my Brave browser which produced this response.

God resists the proud — a declaration rooted in Scripture, most directly found in James 4:6, which states, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” The Greek word used, antitasso, conveys a military image of deliberate, strategic opposition — God actively arranges circumstances to confront and humble those who exalt themselves. 

This resistance is not arbitrary but a response to pride rooted in self-reliance, arrogance, and a refusal to acknowledge God’s sovereignty.  As seen in Proverbs 3:34 (quoted in James), pride leads to divine opposition because it excludes God from one’s life. Psalm 10:4 describes the proud as those who “make no room for God,” and their self-sufficiency blocks true relationship with Him. 

Yet, the message is not only warning — it is an invitation. God’s resistance is not final rejection, but a call to humility.  Those who humble themselves, acknowledging their dependence on God, receive His grace. As James 4:7-10 urges: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” 

In essence, God opposes the proud to bring them to humility, so they may receive His grace and be restored.

Not bad for AI. Wouldn’t it be ironic if Iran was playing the role of antitasso?

  1. I have a close friend who calls it profit-cy, which, for those who make money off other’s misery, fits far better. ↩︎
  2. “By their fruits you will know them.” — Jesus Christ (Matthew 7:20) ↩︎

America loves war. Just admit it.

Roger Mitchell2 Comments

“The Constitution gives Congress the sole power to declare war. Congress, representing the weakest of the three branches of government, has refused to follow its obligation since WWII. The Senate has shown a bit of backbone here, with the Democrats (and five Republicans) voting on a War Powers resolution to limit what Trump can do in Venezuela. Trump will undoubtedly veto it. Congress loves war as much as the people who keep voting them back in office do.” — https://donaldjeffries.substack.com/p/the-gangsters-of-manifest-destiny

Hoo, boy! Isn’t that the truth? But, just to make sure everyone understands the statement clearly, let me rephrase it.

The people who keep voting the politicians into office love war as much as Congress does!

Ahhhhh! Now we’re getting somewhere. And there is no better example of that assertion than the continual and long-standing re-election of uber-hawk Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, who has never seen heard about a war he didn’t love, especially those which wreak havoc, death, and destruction on people and societies which are, supposedly, the “enemies” of the self-righteous, so-called Christian community of the state he hails from and the “national interests of the US. Whatever that means.

Compassion for the poor, down-trodden, hungry masses of foreign peoples outside the “respectable” circles of the Pharisaical confines of the most-segregated community in America today, the Christian church1, is not considered. What is more important is the constant and constantly increasing flow of “blessings”, read dollars, to the industries and services which are a large part of the economy of South Carolina (and every other state as well), from the bellicose machine known as MICIMATT, of which the US Department of War is its very public face, and for which the president (Donald Trump being the latest example) is the main cheerleader.

Hip, hip, hooray! Let’s go kill some despicables today! Kill them over there so we don’t have to kill them over here! Yeah, you know, because we’re a Christian nation and they’re not, except for Venezuela, of course, which is also Christian, but just happens to be full of oil which it was selling to “our” adversary, China. Thank God that “our” modern-day Herculean hero, Mr. Donald John Trump, was given power to put a stop to that bullshit. If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can read this in English, thank the President!

War is the health of the State, Randolph Bourne told us a century ago, and that is no less true today than it was when he penned the words.

“…the nation in war-time attains a uniformity of feeling, a hierarchy of values, culminated at the undisputed apex of the State ideal, which could not possibly be produced through any other agency than war. Other values such [as] artistic creation, knowledge, reason, beauty, the enhancement of life, are instantly and almost unanimously sacrificed and the significant classes who have constituted themselves the amateur agents of the State are engaged not only in sacrificing these values for themselves but in coercing all other persons into sacrificing them.” — https://www.panarchy.org/bourne/state.1918.html

Sadly, this prevailing attitude is directly opposed to the teachings of another famous person, who may or may have never written anything down for posterity to read, but who fundamentally changed the world–Jesus Christ.

  1. “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you.” — Luke 6:27
  2. “Blessed are the peacemakers2, for they shall be called the sons of God.” — Matthew 5:9
  3. “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” — Matthew 26:52
  4. “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.” — Luke 23:34

Etc., among many others, and there is also this order from the Ten Commandments, which bears repeating: “Thou shalt not steal.” — Exodus 20:15. Stealing, of course, is an involuntary taking of something, anything, from someone else which belongs to them, whether by force, fraud, or law. Taking the life of someone else would fall into this category.

Donald Trump, at the very least, is honest with his principles. He has stated that he is NOT a Christian, which can be seen in his actions,3 which he makes no excuses for, and which he does not try to hide. (Except for anything which might be exposed in the full and complete release of the Epstein files, if there’s anything there.) Not so for the millions upon millions of skin-deep Christians who claim to worship the Prince of Peace as the King of Kings, but who harbor a deep reverence and love toward the militant State which constantly practices deceit, theft, and murder on a world-wide scale.

“There is a moral order. Beware of unintended consequences when it it violated.”4

    1. Segregation of churches according to skin color is a prominent part of Christianity in the Christian church today, especially in the South. This is a dirty shame and may be a reason why the Church in America has no power today. ↩︎
    2. Peacekeepers, as commonly understood today, are not identical to peacemakers. Peacekeepers use the threat of violent force to maintain an artificial truce between warring factions while they discuss and negotiate the methods by which they might live in a state without overt war. On the other hand, peacemaking is the process by which war itself, is completely eliminated from the community of individuals/nations and is accomplished by voluntarily submitting to the will of the Prince of Peace Himself and loving your neighbor (enemy) as you love yourself. ↩︎
    3. “By their works you will know them.” — Matthew 7:16 ↩︎
    4. Jordan Peterson, We Who Wrestle with God, Penguin Random House, 2024, chapter 3.8. ↩︎