ICHABOD! The Glory is Departed
Today, Sept. 21st, Rosh ha-Shanah the Jewish new year 5759, certainly marks a time of a new thing. What that new thing is seems to be already showing its head. This morning President Clinton's deposition to the grand jury was played out on the airwaves for all to see. For four hours technical details of his activities were sought to find if the president had lied under oath. Never before has a president of any country, let alone the United States, been placed in such humiliating circumstances before the people of the world. Never before has
a president been interrogated to this degree and in such a public way before friend and foe, large nations and small. Surely, the decline of this republic is reaching its rock bottom. This is not the beginning of anything really new, but it is the end of a long progression directed at the final collapse of every virtuous and respectful
principle this nation has long cherished. While it is true that this country's history is fraught with many mistakes, there never was a time when such strong determined thrusts were put forth to literally destroy all noble instincts which may have remained in our nation. To publicly humiliate a sitting president is to publicly humiliate the very institution of the presidency and to publicly humiliate the nation as a whole. It seems that a foreboding change has come to us.
THE END OF MONEY
In recent months there has been an overwhelming deluge of scandalous information disseminated worldwide. When reading this information and contemplating its implications, one can become weary, to say the least. One can become disheartened since no believable solutions are forthcoming.
Over the past 100 years the world has undergone a gigantic transformation and it will never be returned to its previous state. The leadership of the country over this time has steadily marched toward the Utopian dream of a single world society. While some of the goals of this class have sounded wonderful and made many in the
world and our own nation hope in a glorious future, what has actually transpired is a degradation few comprehend even now.
In the early part of the century great changes were put into effect regarding our currency. We used to use money in our own country but money was eliminated a generation ago. Now we live on a fiat currency. No real money is used these days. An illustration of this can be seen in a simple illustration. Let us suppose we were using gold for money. We might spend an ounce of gold for a set of new tires for our car. Suppose the president of the country stood up and announced that the economy has collapsed and the money is of no value. One could still take his ounce of gold and trade it for a set of tires if the tire company had a use for gold. While it is true he might not take your gold and want some of the trees you have to trade instead, gold still has some use.
But, suppose you are using our current fiat money and the president stands before the cameras and says your money is now worth nothing. All you have is paper with the picture of dead presidents on it. I suppose one could stuff a pillow with it, but there are other materials more useful for that. The more shocking reality is that
most of the "money" in use today is only recorded on electronic tape. All your savings or stock holdings are no more than some ones and zeros on some computer's storage drive. That can disappear like a puff of smoke. This may have something to do with the low rate of savings in this country since one cannot really save money because there is none. One can only save smoke.
The final death stroke to the money came during the Reagan years when the national debt was driven up to over five trillion dollars. This locked the country into a slavery of debt and on the basis of a fiat system of money. In other words, people have to spend the rest of their lives working to pay back nothing.
It may be helpful to simplify this illustration. When real money was in use, a person might decide to build a house for himself. He may get a friend or two to help. Mom was in the kitchen and everyone was fed while they worked together and the house was built. These folks might also go on to build the homes of the ones who helped them. In a relatively small matter of time all the families had a home and no one owed any money for it.
Today, when one gets a home it is usually from a home seller. He finances the home at the bank. He pays the principle and also about 400% interest over thirty years. He may pay for the principle in a few years and the rest of the time he is paying the interest having become a slave of the bank. That is the reality of going to a system that creates money out of debt rather than using real money. It doesn't cost the bank a thing to loan you money. It is still all in there where it started. You get a loan and the numbers show up on the computer screen. You pay the builder who has some numbers show up on the same computer screen. All the money still stays on the screen. In all of this the bankers make a huge profit on your labor and your transaction and they did nothing to earn it. You promise to work for them for twenty years just for the privilege of having a place to
sleep. Pretty slick!
THE END OF NATIONAL DEFENSE
In the last century there were huge efforts made in international Christian evangelism. Great hope was expressed by all and a feeling that many expressed that God was just and in control. This was the generation of "The Little House on the Prairie." Visions of hardworking people who built their towns on faith and spiritual
purpose was the picture of that age. While abuses did occur, the family moral values were loud and clear.
When World War I arrived the shattering of this image could not be fully comprehended. It was a great blow to the theory that God was in control. This was especially felt since He did not come as men expected. Certainly the prophets all chanted that WWI was the great time of trouble and Jesus would return again. He did not return
as expected and many were led to follow other voices. National despair increased with the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl and other shocks to the national ego. Certainly a great time of trouble had arrived, but few expected it to look as it did and last as long as it did.
World War II seemed such a glorious event for the United States. The country survived a generation after that on the good feelings of beating the bad dictator Adolph Hitler and Admiral Yamamoto. We sure showed them. We carried our flags with pride and sang our national anthem. Still, there were unperceived changes affecting us all. Americans once again had their hopes dashed in all of this that WWI was not the war to end all wars after all. The world was truly unpredictable. World War II revived the economy and the nationalistic pride, but men's minds were turning to money and national power as the source of happiness rather than God since their idea of God was forever altered. Even professed Christians who went to church every week were silently ushered into the theater of mammon. They thought they were still believing in God, but they little suspected
they had changed masters. The war broke forever the awe in which men held women. These ladies trudged off to the bomb factories to make weapons of mass destruction while their men went off to the killing fields. The family would never be the same again.
When the Vietnam War appeared, it ruined the national defense forever. The degrading, demoralizing effect of that war has never been erased nor will it ever be. Out of that conflict came an even more disillusioned populace. A depressed, demoralized society emerged which became mean and vindictive. We will strike back over almost anything without considering the harm that we do. Our movies in the national theaters all show this violence and sexual aggression. Our thrills come from the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator II.
It seems fitting that the subtitle of that film is, "Judgment Day."
The armed services has been transformed into a job or a technological police thrust against international criminals, whether they be presidents or terrorists. The armed services are no longer viewed as the place where patriotic brothers all came together to go out and fight the evil empire. Strangely, it seems if another world war
were held, few Americans would attend. War will never be the same again. It now seems that it will only involve a host of meanspirited people all taking out their revenge on the other. War has never been a good thing but it was at least perceived honestly as necessary. Now war is mob rule and everyone is harmed by it.
THE END OF MORALITY
Over the past fifty years our moral climate has been chipped away--almost imperceptibly at first. In the beginning there were chides of "the Puritan ethic" to make the nation ashamed of being too virtuous. It seems that the wars changed men also. Their morals declined and their expectation of women lowered. They desired
their women to become less strict in keeping themselves until marriage. These dogs in heat were eager to bring down their women to their own low level. They were largely successful.
Of course, morality involves more than sex. It involves basic honesty. Last week President Jimmy Carter asked for an investigation of the Sudan aspirin factory to find out if the place was really a place that manufactured poison gas as the president had said. The crowd at the White House would not hear of it. They launch out and
murder some innocent people and then refuse to look at the evidence that they just murdered some innocent people. Perhaps some individuals don't like Sudanese because some of them will not bow the knee to the U.S., but it must be remembered that they are people too and, yes, God created Sudanese. They have families and children. They want their children to grow up as good, responsible citizens. They have meals around the family table as Americans do. They sing and worship together. Hiding behind the story of poison gas in the parking lot
will not erase the specter of this murderous attack.
Recently, the trumpets blew at the White House announcing the capture of the terrorist who blew up the American Embassy. The Washington crowd were all puffed up so much their buttons were popping off their
chests. They parroted the confession of the terrorist and how he had confessed he was connected with the great terrorist of the desert, Osama Bin Laden. No one said that the confession was obtained after three days of torture. The alleged terrorist was given no sleep, water or food for three days. It may be that this man did commit the crime, but how can we know for sure? One could gather a million Third World individuals and expose them to that sort of treatment and find any number of people who would confess just so they could get a drink. But, then again, when a nation loses its morals, one will never know anything for sure.
The Clinton affairs have ended the morality of this country forever. The Greensburg Tribune-Review reported last week that a Pennsylvania lawyer compared President Clinton's situation to his client while he asked for leniency for a boy blamed in a warehouse fire. Defense attorney Timothy Kinney said the court should take it easy on the boy because like Clinton, he denied any wrongdoing at first, then later cooperated, and that it is only human nature to act that way. This may seem like a small thing, but this will be replayed millions of times
in the lives of Americans and the world.
If when first exposed, the president had repented and resigned, it may have not had such a tragic impact on the country. Instead, the host of lies and false defense thrust upon the nation over years of time has ground the image into our psyche forever. The nation will never go back to what it was. The Clinton scandal is the period at
the end of the immoral sentence of our age. It is finished. Our nation's character will be seen as degraded as Clinton's. His denials and false repentance along with the strong defense of his advisors, friends and lawyers will set the tone and tenor for the future whether or not he stays in office. Lawyers, parents and children will
reflect on the president and other corrupt politicians when they go out to make their moral decisions or yield up to their evil passions. If the president of the United States does it, why should I not do it? Why should I go to jail if the president does not go to jail for the same things?
The greatest impact, however, will be seen in the collapse of the human trust. Despair of honest men in those who lead will be felt in a million ways not fully perceived by most individuals at this time. We are not in a simple crisis but the end of every stable foundation. Our money cannot be trusted. Our armed forces cannot be trusted. Our national leaders and courts of law cannot be trusted. We have all been thrust into a miasma of lies and evil subterfuge. We have been made pawns and slaves in a wicked and despicable plan to ruin humanity.
Our nation did not stay awake and so it has reaped the hurricane.
THE SOLUTION
There are many good-intentioned people who call for national repentance. They want to elect a good man to office and then they think everything will be okay. This simply will never occur. The national end of probation has come. If one has eyes to see, he can clearly see the signs of death and dying everywhere. This is not true
for this nation only, but for the world as well.
There is only one solution now offered for those who have ears to hear and eyes to see. For others there is no solution. People are not going to change now, but for those who hear the voice the Scriptures say, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." How does one
come out? Is it not true that when a building appears to be crumbling the residents will make haste to get out of it? When a building burns, are there not those who race for the exits? When a tree is felled by the cutter, is it not true that those around get out of the way? It is the same today for those who can see the danger.
It is past time, I think, for us to despair of the gods in which we have trusted. The first god is money in which we have been shown has no support. While we use money, it cannot be trusted because men who manipulate it cannot be trusted. The slavery of debt should be a plague word to us. The stock market speculation should be abandoned. We know what will come of it. "For in one hour so great riches is come to naught." Rev 18:17.
Secondly, we should abandon politics. What have the elected gods of this nation done other than totally demoralize the people? They talk the talk but do not walk the walk. The schemers in politics have spun a tale that we have hungrily gobbled up, but we should eat no more of their words. We should come away from them. Leave the voting to those who love a lie and love to partake of fables.
In the most recent election, State Representative Charles Key of Oklahoma was not reelected. He fell out of favor when he proceeded to get to the real causes of the Oklahoma bombing. He wanted to find out who else was involved and how government played a part in it. He was at the receiving end of the rage of those in high places who wanted nothing to do with finding out the truth of the matter. I am glad he was not reelected. Good men need to come out of that so that they might save themselves. The politicians will die in the holocaust.
Their benefactors will see to that. They will then see how they have trusted in smoke, but it will be too late for them.
We should no longer pay for the abuses of power. Let fornicators pay for their own fornication. Let liars pay for their liars. Let those who practice extortion in the departments of taxation extort someone else. While this may be impossible to fulfill in every particular, if we are not chasing money, it can be fulfilled sufficiently.
Let us not fight in their wars of conquest. Let us no longer defend the harlot from her enemies. Let us free ourselves from the chains of oppression. Let those who have eyes to see believe in God and trust in His provision and protection. Men should leave those churches where puffed up preachers preach for an hour and say nothing. We should leave congregations who preach their doctrines but have no fire. They do not hear the voice or see the way. They say, but they do not do what they say. Religion has become a thing to be avoided. One should follow God instead.
Finally, let us leave the cities. I once lived in a very fine house in a city in California. I also had a very respectable mortgage. As I sat in my fine house one day, I thought, what would happen to this house if the water was turned off? It would be of no value whatever. What if the trucks failed to bring food to the cities? I would be in the midst of a crazed mob seeking something to eat. What if the electricity was turned off? My furnace, radio and TV would not work. I left behind my fine house. Soon our cities will be filled with terrified and crazed citizens who are seeking food and water. All of this love and peace one hears these days will be out the window. Men will see what men are truly made of.
Those who accuse someone of sexual harassment will be a laughing stock. Women will be freely raped, murder will be common. Looting the goods of the neighbors will be the new national sport. The terror of a
society when the controls and safeguards are gone has been seen in some underdeveloped countries, but now will be exported worldwide. Everyone will then see how their gods have been no help to them.
Some have the idea of stocking food up and piling up a number of guns. I must say at this point that guns beget guns. Shooting people is not what God means when He says come out of her. Shooting people only creates a larger terror. Piling up food is of no help either. Your enemies will simply come and steal it from you. If you have a gun, they will kill you first and then steal it from you. If you think you will hold off the mob with your hunting rifle, you deceive yourself. Their tanks will be much more efficient than your Uzi. For those who hear the voice and take the warning their bread and water will be sure. Their safety will be guaranteed.
What is it that makes a people strong? It is the family first. Secondly, there must be trust in the medium of exchange in the commerce of that family. After that, there must be trust in the national leaders of that family. All of these things must be founded on an unmovable rule. In our case it was the Bible in our early beginning. Now they claim that unmovable rule is national law. It has been revealed that the immovable rule of law is movable whenever it suits the movers, whether judge or politician. When the truly unmovable rule is removed, you have uncertainty in what is right. That leads to the breakdown of commerce and national leadership. The
family is discarded. This day this is fulfilled in your hearing. Every wall has been torn down, every support has been removed. It may certainly be said now, Ichabod! The glory is departed from the nation: because the ark of God was taken.
I know the feelings about prophets of doom and gloom. It is not a happy thing to hear bad news but those who take warning may be benefitted and saved from that evil day. The world does not know how far it has come. The modern conditions have stealthily approached and few recognize their danger. There is a text of Scripture that
clearly speaks to our situation. It will be well if we take heed.
"Thus says the Lord GOD: Disaster after disaster! Behold, it comes. An end has come, the end has come; it has awakened against you. Behold, it comes. Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land; the time has come, the day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting upon the mountains. Now I will soon pour out my wrath upon you, and spend my anger against you, and judge you according to your ways; and I will punish you for all your abominations. And my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity; I will punish you according
to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. Then you will know that I am the LORD, who smite. Behold, the day! Behold, it comes! Your doom has come, injustice has blossomed, pride has budded. Violence has grown up into a rod of wickedness; none of them shall remain, nor their abundance, nor their wealth; neither shall there be preeminence among them. The time has come, the day draws near. Let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn, for wrath is upon all their multitude." (Ezekiel 7:5-12, RSV). |
