american possession

“…The heart of the sons of men
is full of evil,
and madness is in their heart
while they live…”
(Ecclesiastes 9.3)
 
Wherewith shall I come before the LORD,
and bow myself before the high God?
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good;
and what doth the LORD require of thee,
but to do justly, and to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with thy God?
 (Micah 6.6, 8)
​

american possession
​

  from bad to worse

In the beginning, America’s political right was free. It could freely choose. It had a choice in 2016. In 2016, tRUMP was anything but inevitable. 
 
Consider Ohio, for example. Ohio has a population of 12,000,000 of which 42% or 5,000,000 are registered republican or republican leaning voters. In the 2016 Ohio republican primary the sociopathic New York playboy and mobster received 725,000 or 35% of republican primary votes casted. This means that roughly 15% of all registered republicans/ republican leaning voters cast a primary vote for him in 2016.
 
Or, consider Virginia with its population of 8,700,000 of which 38% or 3,300,000 are registered republican or republican leaning voters. In the 2016 Virginia republican primary the sociopathic New York playboy and mobster received 350,000 or 35% of republican primary votes casted. This means that roughly 11% of all registered republicans/ republican leaning voters cast a primary vote for him in 2016.
 
Then there is Vermont with its population of 650,000 of which 30% or 195,000 are registered republican or republican leaning voters. In the 2016 Vermont republican primary the sociopathic New York playboy and mobster received 20,000 or 35% of republican primary votes casted. This means that roughly 10% of all registered republicans/ republican leaning voters cast a primary vote for him in 2016.
 
Ruby red Texas has a population of 30,000,000 of which 39% or 11,500,000 are registered republican or republican leaning voters. In the 2016 Texas republican primary the sociopathic New York playboy and mobster received 758,000 or 27% of republican primary votes casted. This means that roughly 6% of all registered republicans/ republican leaning voters cast a primary vote for him in 2016.
 
Blood red Idaho has a population of 1,9000,000 of which 40% or 760,000 are registered republican or republican leaning voters. In the 2016 Idaho republican primary the sociopathic New York playboy and mobster received 62,500 or 28% of republican primary votes casted. This means that roughly 8% of all registered republicans/ republican leaning voters cast a primary vote for him in 2016.
 
The evidence is clear. Republican and republican leaning primary voters were anything but enthralled by tRUMP or thoughts of a tRUMP presidency. His election was anything but inevitable. The party could easily have gone another way. 
 
However, by the 2016 general election, the die was cast. Nationwide, roughly 88% of republican and republican leaning voters voted for the sociopathic New York playboy and mobster. This reflects the well-known aspect of American politics: partisanship. Partisanship rules. Controls. Reduces choice. Stifles freedom. 
 
This is sad and dangerous enough. But, then, something even more troubling surfaced. Notwithstanding his grift, his ineptitude, his corruption, his wickedness, and the danger he posed to American democracy, by the end of the sociopathic New York playboy and mobster’s term as 45th president, he had moved from instilling little enthusiasm to being a partisan puppet, to becoming a cult leader. His widened base was adamant. He was its savior. There is no other way to understand the unreasoned and self-destructive support his followers offer him. They lost their minds.
 
We all watched him commit treason and inspire an insurrection. Many who had uncomfortably supported him had had enough and condemned him. He was impeached for a second time. He left the White House on the wave of a crime spree. Many of those who worked closely with him in his administration announced their belief that he was morally, temperamentally, and intellectually unfit to hold office again, let along be president.
 
“Unfit.” “Unfit.” “Unfit.” They said it over and over again. Still, even since becoming a 37 times indicted criminal—surely only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his unbounded criminality—these same witnesses proclaim without apparent shame that they will vote for him again. !!!!!!!!!!! Within days of being convicted of his peers of being a criminal 37 times over, his grift brought in tens of millions of dollars, donors, essentially, paying him a million dollars per crime. !!!!!!!!!! The party has lined up behind him to have the sociopathic criminal’s back. The rabble glories in his transgressions. And his voter base widens.
 
This has convinced me that we have arrived at a state that is something far worse than partisanship. Something far more wicked and powerful than cult. Trump is something more, something far worse and more powerful than a cult leader. His followers are something more, something far worse than duped cult members. 



  from worse to worst

At one point in his Galilean mission, Jesus crossed to the southeastern shores of Galilee’s sea and entered the region of the gentile Gadarenes. Here, he encountered a man who “had devils long time.”[1] Indeed, the man was possessed by a legion of demons, some 6,000 of them. The man’s behavior was wild, violent, and self-destructive. After coming to understand the man’s plight, Jesus casted the demons out. Six thousand of them rushed over a cliff and drowned in the sea.[2]
 
I think of this possessed man and the legions of demons when I think of tRUMP and witness the wild, violent, and self-destructive discipleship of his followers. In him and them, we are dealing with something more than politics. More than partisanship. More than cultism. We are dealing possession.
 
Now, however, we are not dealing with legions of devils. Now we are dealing with only one demon. tRUMP. tRUMP is the demon. One, sole demon, however many minions he has. Yet this one demon is powerful enough to possess and enslave millions. Now we have not one possessed man, but millions of possessed Americans. They are wild, violent, and self-destructive. They have lost all freedom and agency. They and the demon that possesses them are a danger to all that is good and right and holy. The captivity in which they are enslaved can only grow unless there is a thorough exorcism.
 


  conclusion and benediction

tRUMP is a demon. His followers are possessed. America is in as dire a need for divine intervention as it has ever been. It needs Jesus to come and exorcise the demon, shut the mouth that spews blasphemy, and cast him back into the bottomless pit from whence he slithered and from whence he draws his power.
 
In this, we are not asking so much, I think. If Jesus really could and did handle something as serious and difficult as 6,000 demons, surely he can handle this one demon named, not legion, but tRUMP. If Jesus was willing to help just one possessed man, whose influence upon his world was paltry, surely, he must help millions of possessed, whose influence has the potential of being world shattering.
 
I do not understand Jesus’ inaction. I, for one, have been screaming at him for nearly a decade now. It is past time for him to act.
 
 
“O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth;
   O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself.
Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth:
   render a reward to the proud.
LORD, how long shall the wicked,
   how long shall the wicked triumph?
How long shall they utter and speak hard things? 
   and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?
They break in pieces thy people, O LORD,
   and afflict thine heritage.
They slay the widow and the stranger,
   and murder the fatherless.
Yet they say, “The LORD shall not see,
   neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.”
Understand, ye brutish among the people:
   and ye fools, when will ye be wise?
He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? 
   he that formed the eye, shall he not see?
He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? 
   he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?
 
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!


[1] See Matthew 8.28-33; Mark 5.1-20; Luke 8.26-39
[2] The reader can review my handling and understanding of this narrative elsewhere on this site. ​