Reading the Signs?
In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch of David sprout; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth. Jeremiah 33:15 NASB
In those days – We’ll take a break from Luzzatto and Mesillat Yesharim for a moment. This message came to me by email. I want to comment on it since it seems to be so prevalent these days. Here’s part of what I received:
What I mean is, back in 1997 when we finished publishing our last book, Pastoring By Elders, our Father told us, “When a woman becomes President will be the sign that the Dark Days of Chastisement are almost upon this nation because so many men have ducked their responsibilities in all dimensions.” Whether a woman does become President or this next election leads us into national chaos and rebellion as the Russians and Chinese are counting on, I need to use this window of time to help you older women lead your family into the righteous way of our Lord — something the men in this nation have failed to do. (I should add here that Mike has labored since 1986 to try to rouse men to take up their God-given roles in their families and faith communities as our Lord Jesus would have them. But there seems to have been so little response in men, so now it’s an opportunity for me to speak to women’s hearts from the Spirit.)
Ah, the signs of the times. We all want to know what’s going to happen, and isn’t it convenient that God accommodates our penchant for knowing the future by revealing to His present day prophets the political pointers we need. How convenient! And parochial. I’m sure (sarcasm intended) God’s most important message is, “Don’t elect a woman as President of the United States. If you do, the end is near.” Really?
When did we decide that American politics was the expression of the divine plan, and in particular, the sign of the end times? Perhaps we bought the lie that America is God’s chosen land and that American Christians are the earthly examples of heavenly citizens. How could it be otherwise? Just look at all the blessings poured out on America. God must have chosen us. I wonder if it ever crossed the minds of the Protestant Evangelical world just how arrogant that entire conception of God’s goodness really is? Oh, and by the way, if it is in fact true that God somehow chose America as the latest representative of the Kingdom, I wonder what sort of responsibility that entails. To evangelize the world? That’s the typical answer. But what about the incredible disproportionate wealth of America? The squandering of resources? The lack of compassion? The preoccupation with “American” values, politics, and way of life? Sounds a lot more like Rome than Jeremiah’s Jerusalem.
But, hey, prophecy is so useful—and malleable. “When a woman becomes President,” she writes. Notice there isn’t any “if.” That a woman will become President is inevitable. And when that occurs it will inevitably be followed by the dark days of chastisement. Help us all! The end is coming! God has decreed it. I guess we’ve forgotten that Hebrew “prophecy” is intended not to come true. Its primary purpose is to cause change. It’s conditional. That idea didn’t fit the Church very well and sometime around the third century prophecy became predictive. It’s so much more exciting to think you have a corner on the future. Prophecy becomes your special secret insight, right? Just don’t elect a woman!
Topical Index: prophecy, future, responsibility, contingency, Jeremiah 33:15
Can I therefore presume that since I no longer participate in politics or vote that this automatically means that I will be one of those who are counted worthy to escape the wrath of the Lamb upon this future led female governed rebellious nation? Whew, I’m rapturously rapture ready! Come quickly…Hillary, Elizabeth or Kamala.
If it is true, as Marie de Gournay stated, that “ignorance is the mother of presumption” then perhaps stupidity is its father.
😉
Yes, Skip… as a Protestant Evangelical (in the descriptive, not categorical sense) it has crossed my mind just how arrogant that entire conception of God’s goodness actually is. And where, or to whom must I turn to find understanding as to why that is so, and, moreover, what (as a Protestant Evangelical) I am to do in response? It is certainly NOT from the ground of any vain attempt to gain some special secret insight from the variety of choices available from any number of particularly applied predictive interpretations, whether that is drawn from the cesspool of humanity’s history of failure, or even claimed as derived from the written testimony of Israel’s witness to her experience of a divine work. Rather, I must seek conformity only with the Divine person and work of Christ that is found revealed within the very same Scriptures that comprise the written testimony of Israel’s witness to a Divine work, yet which is only possible for me to apprehend and do in conformity with the unique person and work of Jesus Christ! Only then is my own soul’s conformity to that person and his work comprehended with the sensibility of relationship with and responsibility to that Divine mercy and grace shown that (even in these incredibly “Dark Days of Chastisement”) such realization may serve to shake me/us so as to respond with a responsible and accountable awareness and active responsive engagement for the good—the very “goodness” of God. Tragically, it is all too often true that we (far too many) “Christians” deny the majority of humans by assuming we that we have a corner on the future.