DRESS REHEARSAL for the Anti-Christ 

Donald Trump is not the anti-Christ, nor is he Hitler, nor is he the devil, but he is probably a shadow of all those things -- what he IS is his own unique kind of trouble. 

He reminds me of the horrific paintings by two painters, Fransisco Goya and Peter Paul Reuben of "Saturn devouring his son."   

* These are depictions of the "Greek myth of the Titan Cronus, whom the Romans called Saturn, eating one of his children out of fear of a prophecy by Gaea that one of his children would overthrow him." Wikipedia

What disturbs me most is that it was so called "good people," "church-goers," "moral citizens," "those outraged" by the sins of America, that have put Trump into power. 

He promised them that he would go after "their enemies." What they didn't figure on is that he would go after HIS enemies. 

I do not believe he cares one bit about "THEIR" enemies, but he does care about personal opposition to himself. 

The problem here is that there are hundreds of millions of Americans who he regards as his enemies because they voted against him, and they speak out against him. His first attack against them is to DE-FUND them by shutting down federal funding to them. He WILL find a way to do it. Even now, the reports are, that Elon Musk and his crew are in the government computer systems enacting the mechanisms needed to do just that. God help America. We have been hacked from within.

 As a President of this nation, Trump ought to be acting like a gracious "father" (metaphorically speaking). He should be caring for ALL the people of this nation. He ought to show heartfelt concern for EVERY citizen in this country, but instead he, like the Saturn of the Greek myth, fears one of his children will rise up to overthrow him, hence he devours his own. This is an apt depiction of what Trump is doing with his EOs. 

But, back to the churches:
Historically there have been many "rebellions" in the "Church", but there is a rebellion coming that will take your breath away, and it is this that should seriously concern those religious supporters of this president. In their desire to "FIX" the problems of the nation, they have released extremely malevolent forces they cannot control. Forces that will certainly roll back against them. Of that I have no doubt. They have been unwise, foolish, even reckless. They have unleashed powers about which they have no understanding.

Why does this concern me? Because it is a defection from the Historical Faith. THIS IS NOT CHRISTIANITY, and this is what I, as a minister and believer in Jesus Christ, am convince is what has happened in the churches of America. To the degree they have embraced Trump, they have fallen into a great deception and are in the process of falling way from their true Master.

To me -- it is frightening. 

So many of my ultra-conservative brethren have become Trump devotees -- to the nth degree. They have replaced Christ with this imposter. There is no dissuading their fervor or loyalty. To them, he is the savior of American -- but it is an America of their own imaginings, not the America of the Constitution, but a religious state -- a supposed manifestation of God's Kingdom on earth. Such imaginings are not only false and foolish, they are downright UN-American. 

What these religious folks are demanding is a coup, and they are getting it. There is just one problem. Their "savior" will, if they ever "twitch" and have reservations about him, their savior will turn and devour them too. This is how paranoid pathological mentalities work. Everyone is a potential rival. Everyone who resists is an enemy that must be either nullified or obliterated.

So, what we are seeing is a kind of DRESS REHEARSAL for the coming of the anti-Christ mentioned in Second Thessalonians chapter 2. 

Lots of people scoff at the idea of an actual anti-Christ, a person who will end up controlling all the nations of the world, through technology, brute military force, lies and deception, but the idea is no longer remote - it is literally possible in our own time. 

Eschatology is important. Do not discount its value in  understanding the times in which we live, and in the many other truths it illuminates. We are not in darkness. The scriptures tell us much about how the world will morph as we approach The Day of The Lord. 

This election - in my view - is a kind of rebellion against the ways, the teachings and the rule of Jesus Christ in his Church, and it foreshadows one coming that will be even worse.

2 Thessalonians 2 - chapter one
Read it all. There is much instruction in this chapter, worthy of understanding in light of our current national crisis.

Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as first-fruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.