"He had a perfect knowledge of the language of the people; wherefore, he could use much flattery, and much power of speech, according to the power of the devil” (Jacob 7.4) I try to be good. I really do. But, what am I to do? These thoughts and images come to my mind, unbidden. I suppose I could just stay silent. But even the casual reader of this site knows how my past silence torments me. Such a cowardly past. But no more. Just staying silent no longer feels just. And even non-silence is not enough. The masses can no longer hear the “still-small voice. They must be spoken to with thunder. And even then, they resist and dig their heals in further. Back-sliding heifers! Anyway, I saw the happy adoring faces of Caligula’s Hoosier hordes last night as they awaited the arrival of their prophet. Adoration. Yes. Clearly, they adore this awful monster. I saw their upraised hands, holding cell-phones aloft to click a picture of his arrival at the venue. I saw the impure joy on their faces, as they anticipated the spectacle that they were surely about to witness, and enjoy. Happy faces everywhere. Adoration. I could not help myself, it just came. I saw huge spot lights flashing against the clouds of a dark night sky. I saw an eagle. I saw thousands of happy faces, anticipating the looming spectacle. The ugly face of adoration. I saw upraised hands saluting…. No! Don’t do it. Don’t go there! Don’t say it. Bite your tongue. We’re not supposed to use that comparison. Oh, hell! … the fuehrer. “Fuehrer” means “guide.” Where, I wonder, is he taking them, this pied piper? I can only believe that he “doth speedily drag them down to hell” (Alma 30.60). The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips,
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And I do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure. And because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever” (2 Nephi 29.9). Mormons, if such creatures still exist, declare, For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round” (1 Nephi 10.19).
Now it is not common that the voice of the people desireth anything contrary to that which is right; but it is common for the lesser part of the people to desire that which is not right; therefore this shall ye observe and make it your law—to do your business by the voice of the people. And if the time comes that the voice of the people doth choose iniquity, then is the time that the judgments of God will come upon you; yea, then is the time he will visit you with great destruction even as he has hitherto visited this land” (Mosiah 29.26-27). I well remember watching Watergate hearings and realizing that, notwithstanding his protestations, the president was indeed a crook… and then some. Very dark days. Years later, while watching Clinton lie under oath and undergo an impeachment trial, I realized that he was a wicked scoundrel… and then some. Very tragic. Yes, I remember the dark cloud that hung over both these scandals. Very sad. August 21, 2018 reminded me of these two black clouds and left me with similar feelings. It seems clear that Caligula does more than surround himself with criminals. He, himself, is almost certainly a criminal. Very Sad. Ver dark. Very Tragic. More darkly, sadly, and tragically, in all three instances, the electorate had more than enough warning to stay away from such shady characters. In the first two, the party bases stayed with their flawed choices to the bitter end. It appears that Caligula’s base is prepared to repeat history. Most darkly, sadly, and tragically, a large number of those who are prepared to follow Caligula off the cliff call themselves Christian. I hate to harp on this, but it is simply an inescapable fact: Caligula could not today be president--and acting the part of a dictator—without his “Christian” supporters. They enthroned him. They can just stop, already, complaining that they had no choice. In GOP primaries, dominated by base Christians, they had sixteen—count them, sixteen!!—perfectly conservative candidates to choose from. But in one evangelical “Christian” stronghold after another, they rejected these other candidates for a man who was clearly the vilest candidate in recent, and, perhaps, all of U.S. history. Nope. Caligula belongs to American “Christianity.” They made him. They own him. The choice so many “American Christians,” so called, made in November 2016 says all that needs to be said about the state of this apostate and heretical branch of “Christianity.” Based on this choice alone, there is little doubt what a visiting extra-terrestrial—alien, angel, or deity—would conclude concerning American “Christianity.” “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1.6-7) Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. In offering up “reasons” for revoking John Brennen’s security clearance, the emperor and his cabal have offered up several. Like any and every liar, he can’t keep things straight from minute to minute, let alone day to day.
While many have, likely correctly, suggested that Caligula’s decision—he being the illusionist that he is— is an attempt to distract the public from other challenges he is facing, and to slow an investigation that closes in on him more threateningly with each passing day, However, a couple of his “reasons” caught my attention ("reasons” has and will appear in this post in quotes whenever it is spoken in associated with the naked and insane emperor. Caligula does not operate on “reason.” He is the single most unreasonable and irrational man to ever occupy the Nuthou… I meant Whitehouse). Check out these precious gems. Caligula has become worried by Brennen’s “erratic conduct and behavior.” Brennen and others of the intelligence community who challenge Caligula’s dictatorship have “politicized, and in some cases, monetized their public service and security clearances." Speaking with the Wall Street Journal, the dunce complained, "I don't trust many of those people on that list. I think that they're very duplicitous. I think they're not good people.” Could you… huh… eh… ahem… ark... sputter…. cough… give me… sputter… choke…. just a moment…. sputter… cough… sniffle… to recover, ark…sniff… sniff… sniff…. and compose myself? Whoop, Whoop, Whoop, Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk[i] Whew! Thank you. I’m all better now. Are you kidding me!! This has got to be some type of elaborate joke, doesn’t it? Caligula, worried about another’s “erratic conduct and behavior”? Caligula, saving us from someone who is “monetizing their public service’? Caligula, accusing another of being “duplicitous.” Caligula, judging another of not being “good people”? Are we being punked? That’s it, isn’t it. We’re being punked. That has to be it… doesn’t it? We are on some TV reality show: “Stupid America Punked.” Maybe the little man with the orangutan hair is just punking us? Maybe it’s the Russians... maybe they’re the ones punking us? Oh, wait, its all the same thing: Reality TV presidency, Caligula, the man with the orangutan hair, the Russians. They are all one and the same. I sure am relieved to know that there was no collusion. [i] To quote Curly, great scholar of “Three Stoogesdom,” As the thief is ashamed when he is found, I read recently that according to a 2017 poll of gun owners, “Half of all gun owners say that ownership is essential to their identity.”[i] That’s one of the saddest things of the many sad things I have heard lately. And more than a little creepy. Quite possibly dangerous. It is also a near perfect illustration of the sneaky idolatry—finding meaning, purpose, and a sense of self-- both individual and societal, that is rampant in today’s world, and that has twisted our society into its present delirious madness. How can any right-minded individual or society substitute a hunk of metal and wood—or plastic if one possesses the right type of copier—for the only true and living God? Of course, there are plenty of other idols out there. Why, there’s a veritable smorgasbord of gods to choose from. A cornucopia of false delights, producing false and mad identities. No one captures the madness of idolatry, the madness of finding meaning and identify in someone or something other than God, better than Isaiah. If it weren’t so tragic, it would be almost laugh-out-loud hilarious. “The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint. The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house. He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god” (Isaiah 44.12-17). But, no matter how many god’s mankind ingeniously creates, it will always be God—not metal, wood, marble, granite, gems, etc., etc.—from whom only we can find our true purpose and identity. [i] See “Gunrunning USA,” tomdispatrch.com But let him that glorieth glory in this, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4.3-4) One of today’s Just Reporting pieces concerns the ‘QAnon’ phenomenon that is running rampant among Caligula’s most ardent and, apparently, stupid disciples. One can be excused for wondering what such an absurd phenomenon has to do with the just society, or if such imbecilic doings should even be dignified by being reported and commented on. It is such a joke. Why not laugh rather than rant? It is certainly true, one-thousand times true, that the phenomenon is beyond absurd. There are simply no words that can adequately describe the moronic phenomenon. Perhaps the best we can do is simply pile up as many derogatory adjectives as we can think of—I have just gotten started with my “stupid,” “absurd,” “imbecilic,” and “moronic;” there will be more to follow. Nevertheless, inadequate as it is, we must declare the phenomenon to be the latest sign, in a long series of signs, pointing to the mad state or rebellion into which Caligula and his hordes have plunged our poor, weakened, and vulnerable nation. Truly, “madness is in their heart.” Yet, after all these adjectives--“stupid,” “absurd,” “imbecilic,” “moronic,” and “mad”—we would be remiss if we did not at least add this modifier: evil. It is with this adjective that we come to the phenomenon’s intersection with the just society. After promising Moses that after his, Moses’ departure, he would, from time to time, appoint prophets in Israel, Yahweh issued a stern warning. “But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?’ When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him” (Deuteronomy 18.20–22). Whether a simple punker, a delusional sociopath, an AI parlor trick, or another cleaver and conspiring Russian agent, ‘QAnon’ is being treated seriously by a not un-sizable portion of Caligula’s mad hordes—looky there, I can use double negatives too! No doubt, many of them call themselves “Christian.” To their way of thinking, ‘QAnon’ is what scripture would call a prophet. We agree. He, she, or it is a prophet. If the sheer absurdity of his, her, or its “doctrine” were not enough to expose him, her, or it as a fake prophet, certainly his, her, or its now numerous false prophesies should have given away the game—which prophet was it that uttered their false prophecy that Obama would take away all our guns and set African Americas on a rampage through white America? How’d that work out? But the radical and rabid right was undeterred and undisturbed when such false prophecy failed to come to fruition. Clearly, we are not dealing with rational beings. ‘QAnon’s’ genius, however, is not to be found in prophesies declared in riddle. Rather, it is in his, her, its knowledge of his, her, its irrational audience. He, she, it perfectly understands that millions, tens of millions of Americans cannot endure sound doctrine. They are, as the true prophet, Paul, said so long ago, drawn by their own lusts to receive any one who confirms the madness that has already infected their poisoned hearts and delusional minds. Any fable will do as long as it confirms their twisted and demented logic. I believe that most of them are not stupid. Most of them are simply evil (I know, I know, I ping pong back and forth on this. That’s what madness does). In the final analysis, they know, I have to believe, that ‘QAnon’ is full of gibberish, mumbo jumbo, and that stuff that comes out the rear end. Yet, in their madness they prefer, as Paul witnesses, a fable to the truth. Caligula’s election confirmed it. The support he continues to garner seals it. ‘QAnon’ simply feeds the hordes whose appetite for madness is insatiable to yet a new level of delirious and delicious madness. The truth, if they could discern it, would not set them free. It would damn them to hell. They know this, even if they will not know it. This is evidence enough of their willful madness. So, you see, no society can be called a just society that has so many of its citizens adore and follow the latest version of the tried and true false prophet who offers madness. No society can be called “just,” or long endure, that has so many of its citizens crave fable over truth. For it is not only the false and presumptuous false prophet that “shall die.” Sadly, it is also his, her, its mad adherents that “shall die.” Can we say that our hope is not vain if we hope and pray that “the day of grace” has not passed them by, “both temporally and spiritually”? (See Mormon 2.15). I don’t know. I am no prophet. Just a simple preacher. So, I’ll leave it to the prophets to decide if the madness is terminal; whether “the day of grace” has passed; or whether “their damnation slumbereth” or has been fully wakened. But, as for me, my prayer will be, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God” (Psalm 42.11) “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies… And many shall follow their pernicious ways… And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not” (2 Peter 2:1-3). |
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