And the bishop, Newel K. Whitney, also should travel round about and among all the churches, searching after the poor to administer to their wants by humbling the rich and the proud.
 
 
  introduction

This passage is one that I include in my list of scriptures that describe a just society. Some might question my inclusion of this passage in such a list. They may reason that this passage addresses behavior and intentions that relate only to those of the LDS faith and that it has no bearing or application to the world at large and how it manages its financial resources. I reject this reasoning. It is too puny a vision. God thinks big, as the prophet Isaiah reminded us over two millennia ago.
 
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
   neither are your ways my ways,
      saith the LORD.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
   so are my ways higher than your ways,
      and my thoughts than your thoughts.”[1]
 
In this homily I hope to expand our vision of the counsel given to Bishop Newell K. Witney in 1832.
 

god’s call to serve

As I have suggested in numerous scripture-based homilies, meditations, and questionaries, God gave the small and insignificant nation of ancient Israel laws, imbedded with principles, by which a secure, just, and enduring society could be established. In doing so, God did more than provide laws and principles for the insular nation. God called Israel to be His servant to be an example to the world by keeping His just laws and forming a “more perfect union.”
 
 Through Israel’s “evangelical” example, God hoped to transform and improve the entire world. Unfortunately, Israel did not live up to its calling. It did not keep God’s laws for a just society and so the world was left without an example. This is not my own estimation of Israel’s failed response to God and His call, but that of the Hebrew prophets.
 
I have also suggested in numerous scripture-based homilies, meditations, and questionaries that I believe that Jesus of Nazareth, through his words and actions during his ministry and through his disciples, intended to transform and improve the world—remake it into the image of the kingdom of God. Unfortunately, through the apostacy of “Christianity”—to be seen not so much in the corruption of doctrine as in the corruption of behavior in yielding to the twisted and unjust values of this world—this hope was shattered. Once more, the world was left without a servant and without an example of a just society. The salt lost its savor, and Christianity found itself trodden under the feet of violent marching armies for centuries.[2]
 
Finally, as I have suggested in numerous scripture-based homilies, meditations, and questionaries, I believe that God intended to transform and improve the world through an insignificant Joseph Smith, the principles that He taught him, and the small institutions that He established through him. The jury is still out on the effectiveness of this latter movement. The signs are not particularly encouraging as this movement seems to have succumbed to the same worldly temptations and twisted values as the earlier evangelists—ancient Israel and emergent Christianity. If so, they are liable to suffer the same tragic ends.
 
It is a sad reality that all these efforts to transform and improve the world have seemingly been for naught—not for the lack of divine inspiration, but for the failure of the called servants and the lack of human response. The world does not seem much changed from what it has been from the dawn of history. Still, that does not mean that we give up the hope of transforming and improving the world that we have inherited.
 
The instruction found in DC 84.112 is an example of God’s efforts to transform and improve the entire world through the example of an insignificant and small portion of the world’s population. This instruction contains principles that are to be applied to the entire world, not only to a small enclave of humanity formerly known as Mormon. Neither Joseph Smith nor God were so myopic as to have anything in mind other than worldwide transformation and improvement.
 
So, what divine principles are found in this passage that might bring about the transformation and improvement of the world and form a cornerstone of a just and enduring society? Here are the principal ones that I identify in this passage.
 


  searching after the poor

Newel K. Whitney was to “travel round about and among all the churches, searching after the poor to administer to their wants.” At that time, the churches were scattered several miles apart. Roads were not great. During parts of the year, they were nearly impassable. The horse was the best and most swift means of travel, the horse-drawn wagon the principal means of transporting goods.
 
This is all preamble to our first point: fulfilling this divine direction required much time and energy. The Lord required leaders of the church to make whatever efforts were necessary to 1) identify the poor, and 2) supply the economic deficiencies of the poor. In fulfilling this divine mandate, the church not only cared for the poor, but served as example to the world. This is what just societies that are consistent with the character of God look like. Just societies actively and energetically and untiringly 1) identify the poor, and 2) supply their economic deficiencies, whatever difficulties that effort might entail. Looking after the poor is not to be a passive activity. Nor is it an afterthought.  Identifying the poor and supplying their economic deficiencies is a high priority for God and is to be a high priority for those in governance and leadership.
 
The goal is not merely to meet temporary needs. The goal is to eliminate poverty entirely.
 
“And the Lord called his people ZION, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.”[3]
 
“… The people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another. And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift.” [4]
 
So, God, I contend, called a little group that would come to be known as Mormons to obey God in actively eliminating poverty among them through consecration. In engaging in this righteous work inside their group, they were to serve as examples to the outside world. Outside this movement, these called evangelists were to advocate for laws and policies that were consistent with the divine revelation and that would eliminate poverty in the broader society. These servants to the world were not called for their own glory. Yes, they were, by God’s own testimony, granted the “privilege of organizing themselves according to my laws.”[5] But in being so granted, they were under obligation to stand as an example, a city on a hill, to the rest of the world in hopes that the world would be transformed and improved until there were no poor anywhere on the globe.
 
So, that’s principle number one. Just societies actively and diligently identify those who are economically deficient and help supply the deficiencies of the poor. In today’s world, these deficiencies would include such things as food, housing, healthcare, education, and, where practical and realistic, jobs. Societies broaden these efforts, whatever the cost and effort, with the goal of eliminating the scourge of poverty from the planet.
 
 

  humbling the rich

The question now arises: By what means are the deficiencies of the poor to be supplied? Here is the Lord’s plan for supplying the deficiencies of the poor. The Lord directed Newel K. Whitney to “administer to their wants by humbling the rich and the proud.”
 
Now, as we have so often remarked, modern religious thought too often domesticates the idea of humility, turning it into a pleasant, almost cute and cuddly little character trait. But, in calling for the “humbling” of the rich and proud, God isn’t simply talking about shaping an inner trait in the rich. In this passage the Lord uses the verb, “to humble,” in its participial form. The verb means “to lower in power, dominance, independence, importance, status, or prestige.” The Lord intends to utilize the wealth of the rich to change both the life of the poor and the life of the rich. He intends to raise the poor and lower the rich.
 
Lest I be accused of making stuff up, I would have the reader consider counsel given to Joseph Smith a little more than a year after the counsel given to Newell K. Whitney. In DC 104, The Lord informed Joseph that the community’s economic resources must be utilized and distributed in “mine own way.” That way was consecration and redistribution. Then, he says,
 
“…this is the way that I, the Lord, have decreed to provide for my saints, that the poor shall be exalted, in that the rich are made low.”[6]
The “humbling” of the rich involved something far more than emotional and psychological alteration of the rich. I was about lowering them, lowering their wealth, lowering their power and influence purchased through their wealth. And it was about exalting the poor. Raising their wealth, raising their power and influence restricted by their poverty. All this is entirely in keeping with the intuition Mary had about the work that God intended to do through her son, Jesus.
 
“He hath shewed strength with his arm;
   he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seats,
   and exalted them of low degree.
He hath filled the hungry with good things;
   and the rich he hath sent empty away.”[7]
 
The counsel given to Newell K Whitney evidences the Lord’s assumption that the rich need humbling and that they must be economically lowered. There is an assumption that the status, influence, and dominance of the rich must be diminished if not broken—indeed, one senses in these passages an intensity, almost aggression about humbling and making low the rich.” There is an assumption that the inordinate status, influence, and dominance of the rich is a threat to a well-functioning and enduring society. To be sure, American is currently passing through an era when the danger that the wealthy and the influence that their wealth buys is clear and self-evident. Many a societal ill found in America could be solved by following the direction given in the Doctrine and Covenants to “humble the rich” and “making them low.”
                                                   
As we have said, there is an assumption in this passage and on the part of the Lord that the rich need humbling. I have said this before. I will repeat myself here. With the possible exception of maybe two passages, often misinterpreted, scripture does not record any instance of God leveling criticism against the poor. Rather, God and those who represent Him advocate for the poor hundreds of times in scripture. The poor are never portrayed as violators but as violated. They are not spoken of as those who victimize. They are always the victimized. They are never told to work harder or longer or smarter. The wealthy are told to work harder, longer, and smarter in caring for and lifting the poor There is simply no way around these scripture realities—however inconvenient it may be to those taken in by our twisted economic system and its justifying propaganda.
 
At the same time, scripture does not record any instance of God advocating for the wealthy. Indeed, 99.9% of the time when scripture mentions the wealthy it is with an explicit or implied “woe” somewhere nearby. We could fill a book with examples of God “woeing” the wealthy, while we can hardly find 25 words in which he “woes” the poor.[8]
 
These scriptural attitudes and habits are the exact opposite of current attitudes and habits toward the poor found in American society, where the poor are blamed and “woed,” while the rich are exalted and wooed. This is but one of many evidences of how utterly unbiblical and ungodly—ungod-like—American society is. It is indeed tragic that so many who join in the “woeing” of the poor claim to follow God’s word, whether it comes from the Bible or the Doctrine and Covenants.
 
Separating lying propaganda from divine law and principle, we find that administering to (not simply caring for) the poor by “humbling the rich and proud”—“proud” being, in scripture a near synonym of “rich,” the rich being thought of as proud almost by definition[9]—is not only a benefit to the poor. It also benefits the rich who “fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.”[10]
 
So, that’s number two. Just as the Lord sees that the poor need help out of their economic deficiencies, He sees that the wealthy need help out of the spiritual deficiency: the pride, that their wealth almost universally creates. Therefore, he humbles the wealthy by requiring that their wealth be dedicated to lifting up the poor. In addition, the Lord’s counsel is good for society at large. As the wealth of the rich is deduced, so too is the power and influence they buy with their wealth. Few things offer better proof of the Lord’s wisdom, justness, and interest in all His children than this inspired counsel found in DC 84.112.
 


  Conclusion

In the winter of 1830-31, after reading of and being inspired by Enoch’s establishment of Zion, and being moved upon by the Holy Spirit, Joseph Smith’s understanding of his calling underwent a huge and radical transformation.[11] No longer did he simply think in terms of establishing another religion, church, or institution. He began to think of his calling in terms of establishing a whole new type of society. This society was not to be a small, insular, and exclusive society. It was, like the stone cut out of the mountain,[12] to fill the entire world. Joseph and the movement he led were called to transform and improve the human condition the world over.
 
Under the Lord’s tutelage, Joseph began to understand that the world’s economic systems were a principal impediment to improving the human condition. Indeed, much of the blame for the sorry state of this world rested on the world’s economic systems. They were twisted and perverted, permeated with false values and destructive behaviors. A new economic system was needed in the world if it was to be transformed and improved as God intended and demanded it be—as it must be to abide His presence. At the heart of the Lord’s economic system was an awareness of the economic deficiencies under which the poor suffered and the spiritual deficiencies under with the rich suffered. These deficiencies were, in fact, interrelated and codependent. The economic instruction found in DC 84.112 along with much other economic counsel given in the middle third of the Doctrine and Covenants was intended to address and heal these deficiencies.
 
In a moment of inspiration soon after Joseph’s economic/ Zionist epiphany, the Lord informed—or is it “warned”?— “the poor have complained before me, and the rich have I made, and all flesh is mine, and I am no respecter of persons.”[13] With this warning ringing in his ears, Joseph immediately began to newly conceive the rich and poor. Much of the middle third of the Doctrine and Covenants is taken up with instruction concerning a new economic system that would benefit both rich and poor and so transform and improve the world.
 
DC 84.112 is part of that extended instruction on economy that makes up the approximate middle third of the Doctrine and Covenants. Here, the Lord directs that society make a more concerted effort of caring for the poor. Society’s leaders are to actively identify the poor, inventory their financial deficiencies, and provide means to eliminate these deficiencies. The principal means for eliminating the deficiencies under which the poor suffer is the redistribution of wealth.
 
True to the Lord’s early warning, there was no “respect of persons” (the poor over the rich) in this redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor. Both groups benefited. The Lord’s desired economic system could eliminate deficiencies found in both groups—economic deficiencies found among the poor, and spiritual deficiencies found among the rich. As is the case throughout scripture, there was an assumption that the financially rich were rich in pride and required humbling as much as the poor were humiliated and required help to be lifted out of poverty. However, in addition to altering the inner character of the rich, the Lord wanted and intended to reduce their unequal wealth, alter they social status, and reduce the excessive power and influence that purchased their wealth.
 
It is, in my view, a gross misreading of the text to understand the economic principles found in the middle third of the Doctrine and Covenants as applying only to “the Church,” or as containing principles exclusively intended for an exclusive “Zion.” The economic principles would, of necessity, initially be adopted and applied among a small group. But the Lord intended that, increasingly, larger and larger populations adopt and apply those principles because of the example of the first adopters and appliers and the superior society that those principles created. It was the Lord’s hopes and intentions that the economic principles would expand the world over.
 
As ancient Israel and Christianity, the initial latter-day group failed miserably in adopting and applying the Lord’s eternal economic principles. There is no telling how negative an impact this failure has had on the world. Those of us who lay claim to the heritage of this initial latter-day group have done no better. Indeed, we, as a group, actively resist such principles as we succumb to the false values and principles of the world’s economic systems—values and principles that are incessantly justified and propagated by an immense, sophisticated, and uncompromising propaganda machine.  
 
Just like all those that have proceeded (Egypt, Babylon, Rome, et al.), the world’s current twisted economic systems are on life-support, gasping for their last breath of air. It is high time that we who claim to believe that the Doctrine and Covenants contains the word of God—a warning to a dying world—put our money where our mouth is. It is time for us to individually live by the Lord’s economic principles. But this is not enough. We must advocate within our larger society for the Lord’s economic system; one in which the lifting up of the poor and the making low of the rich are given the highest priority and engage our most diligent efforts. This is true discipleship. Such values and practices are foundational to the endurance of human society in this world. Such values are necessary if we hope to abide in a more eternal and enduring society beyond those of this world.
 
“For verily I say unto you, the time has come, and is now at hand; and behold, and lo, it must needs be that there be an organization of my people, in regulating and establishing the affairs of the storehouse for the poor of my people, both in this place and in the land of Zion—for a permanent and everlasting establishment and order unto my church, to advance the cause, which ye have espoused, to the salvation of man, and to the glory of your Father who is in heaven; that you may be equal in the bonds of heavenly things, yea, and earthly things also, for the obtaining of heavenly things. For if ye are not equal in earthly things ye cannot be equal in obtaining heavenly things; for if you will that I give unto you a place in the celestial world, you must prepare yourselves by doing the things which I have commanded you and required of you.”[14]
 
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!


[1] Isaiah 55.8-9
[2] See Matthew 5.13
[3] Moses 7.18
[4] 4 Nephi 1.2-3
[5] DC 51.15
[6] DC 104.16
[7] Luke 1.51-53
[8] Scripture is as clear as clear can be. Wealth breeds pride. This reality is widespread enough to be called universally true. It makes no difference that there might be the occasional exception—these exceptions being more exceptional than is often claimed. The Lord’s solution to the damning pride of the wealthy is to reduce the wealthy’s riches. This is not socialism or communism or any other ism. Rather, it is a ness. It is righteousness, holiness, godliness.
[9] The exceptions to this are just that, exceptions. Historically and globally speaking, they are so rare as to warrant little consideration.
[10] 1 Timothy 6.9
[11] See my meditation on DC 37.
[12] See Daniel 2.35, 44-45
[13] DC 38.16
[14] DC 78.3-7

There are ten of them. They are most often referred to as “The Ten Commandments,” but sometimes as “The Decalogue” (The Ten Words). We all know what they are. American “Christians,” so-called, and especially “Christian Nationalists” want them displayed in courtrooms, schools, etc. Here and there, in Louisiana, for example, some have even convinced gullible and hypocritical lawmakers to mandate their display—I call them hypocritical, in part, due to their professed contempt for mandates.
 
At the same time, this same group of people enthusiastically, zealously, and hypocritically supported an American presidential candidate who repeatedly and unrepentantly has violated most, if all the Ten Commandments to which they so ardently claim allegiance and wish displayed wherever they can find blank wall space.
 
I have said it before, and I say it again now. I will not stop saying it.
 
The man, whose name I refuse to write or utter and who is shamefully to be the next president of the U.S. with huge “Christian” support, is guilty of breaking at least six of the ten commandments—not once, not twice, not in error, but openly and blatantly over and over again over many, many years.
 
He has broken the command, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”
 
He has broken the command, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”
 
He has broken the command, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”
 
He has broken the command, “Thou shalt not steal.”
 
He has broken the command, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.”
 
He has broken the command, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.”
 
Those are the ones we know of; the ones we are absolutely 100% sure of. Who knows if he is guilty of having broken the command, “Thou shalt not kill.” It is highly likely that people have died because of his practiced wickedness. But, as he himself has confessed on more than one occasion, he could kill someone publicly and in broad daylight and his supporters wouldn’t give a damn.
 
The rationalization of these so-called Christians for supporting such a fatally and irredeemably flawed man is that, well, you know, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”[1] They like to remind those that criticize them and their idolatrous politician that it is only he or she who is without sin that can throw rocks—counsel that they, themselves are as far from keeping as the east is from the west.
 
But I am here to tell you, dear reader, that there have been few sinners more skilled in the dark arts of wickedness than this vile man. His wickedness is bottomless. Paranormal. Devilish. He is by a wide, wide margin the most wicked individual to run for public office in U.S. history. He is by a wide, wide margin the most openly and obviously wicked individual to be elected to public office in U.S. history.
 
We who are sinners cannot compare, compete, or keep up with his wickedness. He is out of our league when it comes to wickedness. Furthermore, he is deserving of every rock thrown at him and no one can be censored for joining in the fray of rock throwing.
 
And while we are throwing rocks, we ought to heave a few American “Christianity’s” way. To be sure, many non-confessing Christians joined in their wicked support of a fatally and irredeemably flawed man. Perhaps we cannot expect our secular society to care about things so archaic as morality. But, in supporting a demon, American “Christianity” has shown itself more than worthy of the divine criticism that God, Himself, threw at it two hundred and twenty years ago in a Colonial era spring forest. American "Christianity's" behavior is not merely hypocritical. Not merely blasphemous. Not merely a stain on its collective character. It is corrupt and an abomination before God.[2]
 
With its support of this vile, lurid, vulgar, profane, cruel, dishonest, wicked, evil, and demonic sociopath, American “Christianity” has shown itself to be in violation of the very first command to have no other gods before the Only, the One, and True God. If it has not already done so, how long can it be before it makes of this man, who utters great and blasphemous things, an idolatrous image and thus breaks the second commandment, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them…”
 
I, for one, will not bow the knee to such a beast.
 
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!


[1] Romans 3.23
[2] See JSH 1.19

  introduction

Those not familiar with current American Evangelical political thought might be unaware of a new, detailed theology concerning the former American president and 2024 GOP presidential candidate. In this theology, evangelicals have drawn a parallel between the ancient Persian Emperor, Cyrus, and the wicked man whose name I refuse to utter or write. Just as God used Cyrus, a godless man, to restore Judah to its ancestral home in the promised land, the theory goes, God is using the wicked New York playboy turned politician to lead American Christians back to their rightful place of dominance over American culture and government
 
This is not the place to examine all that is wrong with this theology or the questionable historical claim that founders of America intended Christianity to dominate American culture or government. Indeed, there is good reason to believe that Jesus, whose kingdom was not of this world, never intended his disciples to participate in flawed and immoral human governments, let along control them.
 
It is perhaps foolishness to draw parallels between Biblical and modern American characters. That said, God, Himself, is not above using what is foolish to accomplish good.
 
“For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.[1]
 
I have suggested elsewhere that if there is a parallel to be found between a Biblical character and the unnamed American scoundrel, it is most likely the Antichrist of Revelation 13.[2] This is especially so if he is reelected. American Christians would be well advised to forget about Cyrus as a Biblical parallel with the New York playboy and give serious thought to the beast of Revelation 13.
 
But, in this homily, I will engage in my own bit of foolishness and participate in a little Biblical parallelomania. In doing so, I will utilize a different Biblical character as a parallel to the godless New York playboy turned politician. That character is Judah’s king Manasseh. If nothing else, this homily promises to be a fun and informative romp through the Old Testament. Who knows but what in the course of our foolishness and fun, we might learn a thing or two that can serve as a warning about our current trajectory and mad state of rebellion against God.
 

  a call to leave the world to serve and evangelize

God saw Israel’s suffering under the heavy hand of Egyptian servitude. He delivered the Israelites from their servitude. This is the central story of the Old Testament and allows its authors to draw out the Book’s central theological insight: God is an emancipator of the weak and powerless.
 
It was not, however, only out of a divine hatred for captivity, violence, and oppression that God delivered Israel. He delivered an oppressed people so that He might create a people, a nation, that rejected captivity, violence, and oppression—a nation that would be the mirror opposite of Egypt. In creating such a nation, God hoped to provide an example, a beacon for all the world. With this beacon shining in a darkened world, God hoped to change the world. Israel, then, was God’s servant and messenger to the world; His exemplar of a better world.
 
Isaiah speaks often of Israel’s call.
 
“All nations will come streaming to it;
   many peoples will come, saying:
Come! Let’s go up to Yahweh’s mountain;
   to the temple of the God of Ya‘qōb.
He will teach us his ways,
   and we shall walk in his paths.
For Torah will come out of Ṣîyôn,
   and the word of Yahweh from Yerûšālāyim.”[3]
 
“Just look at My servant, whom I take hold of,
   My chosen, in whom I was pleased.
I placed My spirit upon him
   that he should generate justice among the nations…
I, Yahweh, called you, as is right,
   and will empower you and watch over you
and present you as a promise to peoples
   and an example to nations,
to open eyes that are blind,
   to lead captives out of prison;
      from imprisonment those who abide in darkness.”[4]
 
Because of the law of God that Israel lived and taught, God hoped that the nations would
 
“retool their swords into plow blades
   and their spears into pruning instruments.
One nation will no longer lift the sword against another,
   nor will they any longer train for warfare.”[5]
 
The Psalmist, too, knows and speaks of Israel’s call as servant and evangelist to the world.
 
“’ĕlohîm! May you show us grace, and bless us!
   May you lighten us with your presence
that how you conduct yourself might be known throughout the earth;
   made known to all peoples the victory you can bring.
That the nations might acknowledge you,
   all peoples yield to you;
that hosts of people might raise a shout of joy
   when you govern the nations justly,
      when you supply direction to the peoples of the earth;
that the nations might acknowledge you,
   every people yield to you.
Earth will then yield its bounty.
   ’ĕlohîm, our God, will bless us.
’ĕlohîm will bless us
   because every corner of the earth reveres him.”[6]
 
Unfortunately, Israel rejected its call and refused to make any effort to fulfill its call.
 
“He won’t call out, or lift
   or make his voice heard in public.
He doesn’t so much as trample a crushed blade of grass,
   or an already sputtering wick
      to faithfully generate justice.
 
He was not to grow feint or discouraged
   until he establish justice on earth;
      for the ends of the earth await his instruction.”[7]
 
Israel not only failed to be a light to the world, but it set a bad example in the world by mirroring such rogue states as Egypt, Babylon, and Sodom.
 
“Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom;
   give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.”[8]
 
Israel, in fact, became worse than any other rogue nation, being less faithful to the one and only true God than they had been to all their false gods.
 
“For pass over the isles of Chittim, and see;
   and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently,
      and see if there be such a thing.
11Hath a nation changed their gods,
   which are yet no gods? 
but my people have changed their glory
   for that which doth not profit.”[9]
 
“As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.”[10]
 
“Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.”[11]
 
This last quote brings us, finally, to Manasseh.
 

  manasseh, final nail in judah’s coffin

Israel’s rebellion against God and its refusal to act as God’s servant in the world began right from the start and continued year after year, decade after decade, century after century. Acting in the role of mediator, Jeremiah offered a confession for the nation that it stubbornly refused to make for itself.
 
“We have sinned against the LORD our God,
   we and our fathers,
from our youth even unto this day,
   and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”[12]
 
Still, for hundreds of years, God stuck with the nation. God’s longsuffering patience with Israel is a remarkable testimony to the largess of His character. The rebellion continued until the nation’s final days, as the chroniclers of 2 Kings witness.
 
“They have done that which was evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt, even unto this day.”[13]
 
This final notice comes during the reign of King Manasseh.  As we have already observed,
 
“Manasseh seduced them [Judah’s citizens] to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel.”
 
Here, we are reminded of King Mosiah’s observation,
 
“For behold, how much iniquity doth one wicked king cause to be committed, yea, and what great destruction!”[14]

Manasseh’s wickedness, greater than any Israelite or Jewish king before him, and his people’s wickedness, equal to that of any nation before them, is catalogued in 2 Kings 21. It is a cornucopia of transgressive behavior. And, after hundreds of years of national rebellion, Manasseh’s wickedness and concerted efforts to destroy and reverse centuries of established norms is finally simply too much for God. His patience finally runs out.
 
“And the Lord spake by his servants the prophets, saying, ‘Because Manasseh king of Judah hath done these abominations, and hath done wickedly above all that the Amorites did, which were before him, and hath made Judah also to sin with his idols: therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies…’”[15]
 
When the text finally gets around to recording Judah’s final collapse, we read,
 
“And the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servants the prophets. Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did; and also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the Lord would not pardon.”[16]
the man i refuse to name is more Manasseh than cyrus

As we mentioned in the introduction, in a vain attempt to justify their support for a wicked man, American Christians developed a theology that views Persia’s wicked Cyrus and America’s wicked 2024 GOP candidate for president in parallel. In this theology, God works through both men to accomplish some good, however ignorant of God and His works the men proved to be.
 
Of course, I offer a wholehearted and full-throated, “Amen,” to American Christians’ evaluation concerning the wicked nature of the man I have variously called, “Caligula,” “tRUMP,” “Legion,” “The Beast,” and “Antichrist.” While all power elites in American and world history have been and are flawed in common and predictable ways, this man, whose name I refuse to utter or write, is uniquely, bottomlessly, and perhaps paranormally wicked. Hence all excuses of supporting him because “they are all the same,” flounder on the brutal reality of this man’s unparalleled, unbounded, and bottomless wickedness.
 
Here, I add yet another name to his list of shameful monikers: Manasseh. If we are to look outside of Revelation 13 for Biblical characters who might be seen in some manner parallel to the vile American man, it seems to us that Manasseh, king of Judah is better than Cyrus, king of Persia.
 
Most agree, even many of his supports, that, the American playboy turned politician is a deeply flawed man. America’s Manasseh is wicked beyond words. Like Manasseh of old, he has transgressed every sacred norm. Like Manasseh of old, this depraved American version of Manasseh has seduced American citizens to engage in vile wickedness. His acolytes love the man for his transgressive behavior and speech. At no time do they cheer him more than when he is at his most vulgar. The more vulgar he becomes, the more their love for him grows, bearing witness to the previously concealed vulgarity of his hordes.
 
America’s Manasseh has indicated that if elected, those deems his enemies—his enemies becoming “enemies of the state,” as he becomes the state—can expect harassment, prosecution, and death.[17] If elected, it is very possible, indeed, likely, that he will oversee the shedding of innocent blood just as the Manasseh of old.
 
We could go on. I have no doubt that many books will be written over the next many years and decades cataloguing the wickedness of America’s Manasseh and the wonder that such wickedness could attract such numbers of admirers. There is no telling what wickedness he and his wicked hordes might do if given the unchecked power after which he and they lust.
 

  conclusion

As bottomless as is the man’s wickedness, and as wondrous as is the attraction of so many millions of American to him and his wickedness, what should give us greatest pause is the possible divine response to America’s Manasseh and his torrent of wickedness. We remember God’s response to Judah’s Manasseh.
 
“Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. And I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies; and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies…’”
 
Now, let me be clear. I reject a violent God and the idea that He caused or causes societal or national collapse such as the Old Testament authors credited Him. But I do believe in a God who knows and warns about attitudes and behaviors that necessarily bring societal and national collapse. And I do believe in societal collapse under the weight of national wickedness that reflects rebellion against God and His wise counsel and warnings. I do believe that America’s Manasseh could bring about the end of America just as Judah’s Manasseh brought an end to Judah.
 
To some, of course, this sounds like hysteria and hyperbole. Every nation in history has considered itself exceptional, essential, and inevitable. Every nation, when faced with warnings of its demise, has responded with the same false reasoning and vain and arrogant boasts as those spoken by Laman and Lemuel when they heard the inspired warning of national catastrophe and collapse.
 
“And we know that the people who were in the land of Jerusalem were a righteous people; for they kept the statutes and judgments of the Lord, and all his commandments, according to the law of Moses; wherefore, we know that they are a righteous people; and our father hath judged them...”[18]
 
“Neither did they believe that Jerusalem, that great city, could be destroyed.”[19]
 
We hear much the same propaganda and false security among the Book of Mormon peoples of wicked king Noah.
 
“And now, O king, what great evil hast thou done, or what great sins have thy people committed, that we should be condemned of God or judged of this man? And now, O king, behold, we are guiltless, and thou, O king, hast not sinned; therefore, this man has lied concerning you, and he has prophesied in vain. And behold, we are strong, we shall not come into bondage, or be taken captive by our enemies; yea, and thou hast prospered in the land, and thou shalt also prosper.”[20]
 
Let America beware of such false, vain, arrogant, and destructive bluster.
 
Perhaps God intended America, like ancient Israel, to be a light to the world. I don’t know. But if so, the nation has often stumbled in its call just as ancient Israel. Like ancient Israel, it has at times been the worst of nations. In its love affair with it American Manasseh, it is reaching the nadir of wickedness.
 
 God has been incredibly patient with America and its mad state of rebellion against Him. We should all be concerned that if America’s Manasseh is reelected—a greater offense than the reign of Judah’s Manasseh, as, unlike the people then, we have free voice in his selection and rule—God’s undeserved patience will finally come to an end, and He leave us to suffer the natural consequences of our wicked choices and behavior. Perhaps America’s Manasseh will be the one to break the hourglass and allow the sands of time to finally run out on the great American experiment.
 
I, for one, will not be found playing advocate for a wicked and vulgar nation. America’s Manasseh and the America he leads to wickedness and perversion will deserve every bit of the hell it suffers. One hopes it is not too late, and that the day for repentance has not passed. But one sees reasons to fear that Isaiah’s insight into Israel’s mad state of rebellion against God might very well apply to America in 2024.
 
“And He said, “Go, and say this to the people:
   ‘Listen carefully! But you won’t pay attention.
     Understand rightly! But you won’t even consider.
Pronounce this people’s heart impenetrable,
   their ears deaf,
     and their eyes blind
lest they see with their eyes,
   hear with their ears,
understand with their heart,
   return, and be healed.’”
 
“Then I asked, ‘How long, my Lord?’
   He answered,
‘Until cities are desolate without inhabitant,
   houses are without a single occupant,
     the land is ruined, a desolate waste,
and YHWH has removed everyone--
   the desolation being tremendous throughout the land.’”[21]

 
  benediction

“Lord, how long shall the wicked,
how long shall the wicked triumph?”[22]
 
“O Lord God, how long wilt thou suffer that such wickedness and infidelity shall be among this people?
O Lord, wilt thou give me strength, that I may bear with mine infirmities.
For I am infirm, and such wickedness among this people doth pain my soul.
O Lord, my heart is exceedingly sorrowful;
wilt thou comfort my soul in Christ.
O Lord, wilt thou grant unto me that I may have strength,
that I may suffer with patience these afflictions which shall come upon me,
because of the iniquity of this people.”[23]
 
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!


[1] 1 Corinthians 1.21
[2] See my homily on Revelation 13, entitled, “My Confessions and the Beast.”
[3] Isaiah 2.2-3, author’s translation
[4] Isaiah 42.1, 6-7, author’s translation
[5] Isaiah 2.4, author’s translation
[6] Psalm 67.1-6, author’s translation
[7] Isaiah 42.2-4
[8] Isaiah 1.10
[9] Jeremiah 2.10-11
[10] Ezekiel 16.48
[11] 2 Kings 21.9
[12] Jeremiah 3.25
[13] 2 Kings 21.15
[14] Mosiah 29.17
[15] 2 Kings 21.10-14
[16] 2 Kings 24.2-4. We do not accept that God pushed the destruction button on his divine console. Such language is rhetorical. Nevertheless, God knows the consequence of all human behavior, and always warns of them
[17] Liz Cheney is the vile man’s latest target of violent rhetoric as he threatens her with a firing squad. There is no reason, zero, to disbelieve the man’s intensions to persecute, arrest, and kill those who oppose him.
[18] 1 Nephi 17.22
[19] 1 Nephi 2.13
[20] Mosiah 12.13-15
[21] Isaiah 6.9-12, author’s translation
[22] Psalm 94.3
[23] Alma 31.30-31