LYING LIPS AND THE APOCALYPSE - by Steve Schmutzer -
I'm in no mood to mince words here, nor is there good reason to. The truth about our nation's political and cultural upheavals needs to be plainly stated, so I'll start with the burner on low and turn up the heat as I go.
There are various ways to approach these issues, but I want to look at "the good, the bad, and the ugly." With my nod to Clint Eastwood, that's an easy outline to follow. First - the "good."
President Trump has achieved an amazing feat with our nation's economy, and even the Washington Compost, The Associated Depress, and The New York Slimes reluctantly admit this. The President's brand new NAFTA deal is the latest of his promises he's performed on, and it remedies a massive $500 billion trade deficit that has burdened America's manufacturers. It infuses fresh oxygen into an economy that's already roaring back under his leadership.
The unemployment rates for African Americans and Hispanics have fallen to their lowest levels on record, and our nation's overall unemployment rate is at a 50-year low. Consequently, consumer sentiments are at their most favorable levels in 18 years, and U.S. small business optimism has just hit its highest point in history.
The United States economy grew at a rate of 4.2 percent in the second quarter of 2018, and the stock market has jumped 27 percent since President Trump began slashing regulations, implementing sensible tariff policies, and cutting taxes. Various environmental and economic policies that President Obama put in place to hamstring this country have been repealed, and now all the right arrows are going up.
The good news permeates other fronts in our nation's affairs too. Kim Jong "Goon" hasn't fired any more missiles over Japan since President Trump told him whose red button was bigger and better. Instead, America received back the remains of its Korean War heroes without airlifting pallets of illegal cash in a covert nighttime operation. "Little rocket man" has pledged to disarm his atomic arsenal in North Korea, and the Iranian Nuclear Accord has been exposed for being the shameful house of cards it always was.
President Trump has also unshackled his military leaders so they can do their job. They no longer have to get permission to "shoot back." The result is ISIS has been crushed in Iraq and Syria and they are in full retreat. President Trump has actually followed through on his "red line" promises. He has dropped massive bombs on terrorist hideouts, unleashed cruise missiles on chemical warfare perpetrators, and required our NATO allies to pay their fair share of the defense account.
In the 20 months or so since the world's most recognized comb-over has rebranded The White House, many young conservative judges have been appointed to the federal appeals courts and constitutional judges have been appointed to The Supreme Court. President Trump's greatest legacy may end up being his forward-thinking stamp on the U.S. judicial system. The benefits are likely to be felt for decades to come.
Under President Trump's leadership, it's OK again to say "Merry Christmas" and to claim we are "one nation under God." We may not be a truly "Christian" nation at this point in time, but at least we now have a President who is supporting the basic expressions of our faith.
The obvious truth that Jerusalem is Israel's capital is finally official, and relations between Israel and America have never been better. It's also proper now to screen folks coming into the US from countries which have openly pledged to harm American citizens. It always was proper to do this, but President Trump had to contend with lawless ideals in order to make common sense a rule.
Much more could be said here that qualifies as "good," but the bottom line is President Trump has made our nation stronger and safer. By rejecting a fanatical socialist-globalist agenda, he has pointed our country back towards sanity.
Enter Maxine "Mad Max" Waters. Like a pull-string doll in a rumpled James Brown wig, her reaction to all this good news is, "Impeach! Impeach! Impeach!" Her talking points are mostly two-syllable squawks that contribute as much to a productive discussion as a trained parrot.
"Maxine, what do you think of the historically-low unemployment figures within the African American community?"
"Impeach!!!"
"Maxine, how do you feel about getting proven constitutionalists on the judiciary instead of activist judges that want to change the laws?"
"Impeach!!!"
"Maxine, isn't it great that we've managed to beat back ISIS?"
"Impeach!!!"
"Maxine, have you...."
"IMPEACH!!!"
It's obvious by now I've shifted over to the "bad" point of my outline, but I wouldn't be writing this article if the rabid rantings of "Mad Max" were isolated to her. They're not. She's just one of the most transparent individuals about her party's real intentions.
We hear that the left is "unhinged" in their reactions to President Trump and his supporters, but that description hardly comes close to telling the truth.
Although the right was deeply distraught with the elections of President Obama, and with his "Make America Weak" policies, they never rioted in the streets, torched cars, beat up bystanders, threatened to kill electors, shot cops, formed filthy communes in public places, encouraged assassinations, promoted anarchy, planned hit squads against homes, bankrolled mobs, shut down free speech, nor asked for safe rooms, teddy bears, pet therapy, and Play-Doh.
When conservatives disagree with the liberal-socialist agenda, they don't flood Twitter with murder threats or roundhouse kick peaceful protesters. They don't menace the left with threats of rape, and they don't shoot democrat lawmakers at baseball games.
Conservatives clean up after themselves at their own (peaceful) rallies and they don't chase administration staff from restaurants. They don't talk about blowing up the White House and they don't pose with severed heads of the President. Conservatives are not out there shouting at folks in elevators, stabbing opposition candidates, encouraging supporters to harass liberal lawmakers wherever they find them, or burning the left's campaign headquarters to the ground.
The right has not compared Obama's supporters to segregationists or Nazis, and they have not claimed that a democratic President is worse than the 9/11 terrorists. Conservatives don't scream that the left has placed a madman in The White House, and they don't publicly appeal for drastic action and violence in the streets. Conservatives don't attack and berate Christians for their beliefs and values at the same time as they are protecting and aiding Sharia law.
Conservatives don't call for impeachment just because they don't like someone, and they don't protect a two-tiered system of justice at all costs. They don't turn venerated proceedings for Supreme Court picks into chaotic protest rallies, and they don't stonewall cabinet nominees for over a year. The right does not register illegal immigrants in a dishonest effort to create sympathetic voters, and conservatives do not go on national television to protect criminals from that group over the rights of their unfortunate - and legal - victims!
Sure, the right is imperfect. Nobody is going to argue with that one, and I'll be first to say I'm very unhappy with many of the "reds." No one disagrees that far too many Republicans are really "Republicrats" under their tailored suits. The "never-Trumpers" behave like "blues," and we can look at who the Bush family voted for as a case in point.
All those things said, we have much bigger problems here. The conduct of the left is now commonly unlawful, routinely deceptive, habitually self-serving, frankly phony, and - on so many points - outrageously wrong!
It's not that the left doesn't understand the virtues of common sense, law, due process, and faith - but rather, they don't want them! This is why committed liberals are engaged in a war against all things reasonable, righteous, and respectable. Their actions prove they're agents of hate.
All that leads me to "ugly," and maybe it feels like we're already there. We naturally wonder, "Can it get any worse?" Unfortunately, it will.
I'm becoming more and more convinced that these rapidly-eroding cultural and political trends we see within our nation represent a prototype that will reach full expression in the Tribulation. If the Lord returns soon, many hardened liberals will be the antichrist's strongest allies.
"GASP!!!! Whaaaaat?!? How can you say that? That's so intolerant, so racist, so totally, uh....white male! You're creating division! You are not promoting healing. Shame on you!"
Whatever.
The left doesn't want healing! They want their way - and they're playing by whatever rules they need to play by to get it. They govern by mob rule, and if they can smear and move the goalposts in the process, that's just fine. Disruptions and crises are useful to them. It's patently obvious.
Think about it. My points are not an issue of partisan labels, but rather an assessment of the plain facts. Those who most despise God, His gospel, His values, His followers, and His systems of law and order which are based on His Word - are those who are most likely to be left behind in the Rapture. It's these hateful postures that routinely marinate the passions of the left.
In the past ten years we've seen many examples of liberals ignoring the laws to advance their agenda, and that's because they could care less about laws. Laws remind responsible people how to color inside the lines and so laws are an inconvenient factor for the left. If laws are in their way, the left ignores or attacks them.
None of their behaviors are about making a cogent case; the left will elevate the absurd to achieve their goals. Over and over we've seen the left praise anything which calls sound reason into question. It's why liberals are the ones to most exalt the senseless premise of climate change, and it's why they celebrate economic policies which are not supported by third grade math.
It's predominately the left that attacks national boundaries, pushes for government dependence, expands welfare, riots against free speech, hates Israel, promotes violence as a means of expression, plots lies to gain an advantage, puts down Christians, and believes in redistribution of wealth. None of these positions hold water, but they are the left's identity.
So again, let me be blunt. The kind of folks that are going to rally behind the antichrist and his depraved policies are exactly the kind of people the progressive-liberal-socialists are today.
For any of my readers which are offended by my assertions, take a deep breath. Let's all be honest here - politics have changed!
The democrats today are not the party of your mother or your grandmother! The left is not the party of John F. Kennedy anymore. His past speeches ring with more conservative fervor than an entire apple-pie-eating Republican congress can muster today. The left of our times has morphed into an anarchist movement that wants to constrain freedom, create chaos, control power, and change the responsible order of things. Like it or not, that's the plain truth.
Let's assess my conclusions from another point of view. Let's see what the Bible says about the antichrist and his style of leadership. I believe that will help us imagine the sort of people his supporters will be like.
A pithy portion of Scripture that lays out a series of bullet points about these matters is found in Daniel 8:23-25. Here, Gabriel explains some details about the antichrist to Daniel, and the picture that emerges is a telling one.
He throws truth to the ground. This is an over-arching condition that is stated back in Daniel 8:12, and it reinforces that the end times will be upside down.
Lying lips will be the foundation of the apocalypse. Good will be bad and bad will be good. Right will be wrong and wrong will be right. Gabriel elaborates on this matter more in Daniel 8:25 where he says of the antichrist, "He will cause deceit to prosper."
The antichrist's political system and the people he will set up to advance his globalist agenda will actively promote deception. His efforts will be strategic, ruthless, and unapologetic.
Lies of all kinds will infuse the antichrist's brand, and his supporters will approve of his ruses the same way those tactics are defended by the ranks of the left today. For unprincipled liberal-socialist-globalists then and now, "the end justifies the means."
Various other translations state the antichrist's deceit will come by way of his "cunning," and "policies." This is simple to understand. He's intentional about his shams. If someone wants to advance law and order, promote accountability, and fight for justice during the antichrist's rise to power, they're not going to be welcome. He'll see to that.
Deception is key to the end times at every turn and level. The antichrist's agenda will promote "hope and change," but that's part of his deception. His real goal is a godless one-world government with himself at the top. He wants to be seen as God and he wants to be worshipped as God (2 Thess. 2:3-4), and to achieve this he must control the minds of the masses. His supporters will believe things which are not true, and they will be this way because he has "....caused deceit to prosper."
He destroys mighty men and the holy ones. This phrase closes out Daniel 8:24, and it emphasizes the theme of destruction which marks the antichrist throughout the Scriptures. But here, every translation states he will destroy two specific groups of people, and I think there are details we should take note of.
"Mighty men" is the most commonly-used term for the first group, but other translations call them "powerful leaders" or "powerful people." These are folks with resources and networks, and they are probably wealthy. They are powerful, prominent, and privileged. In other words, they have the potential to resist the antichrist and to influence others.
Despots throughout human history have always destroyed this class of people in their own rise to power. Rich people, scientists, scholars, politicians, and businesspeople have always been a threat to narcissistic dictators, and so they are eliminated. The antichrist will do the same thing.
Many of these "mighty men" in Daniel 8:24 will be self-made. Many of them will be independent - not in the political sense, but in terms of shaping their destinies. They are likely to be suspicious of the antichrist's plans, and they'll hesitate to give up what they've worked hard to achieve.
These "powerful people" missed the Rapture so we can assume most of them by this point will still be godless - but like many of their classic type, they will be self-reliant. They will "march to the beat of their own drummer, and this will mark these non-conformists as a lingering threat to the antichrist's agenda. The Bible says he will eliminate them when they least expect it (Daniel 8:25).
Believe me - the antichrist will find strong support for destroying this influential group. We already see the basis of this argument today. Millennials form the bedrock of the liberal activists and mobs. They constitute the majority population of "Occupy Wall Street," "Black Lives Matter," and "Antifa." Millennials are proving you only need two things to succeed: ignorance and confidence.
Because they fail to understand basic economic principles, and because they lack a strong work ethic, millennials distrust capitalism and they deeply resent those who are successful. They constantly demand entitlements, even if it means others need to give up what they've legitimately earned and acquired. Newsweek called the millennials "The Me Me Me" generation in 2013, and it's one of the few times this publication has stated the truth.
I'm painting with a broad brush here, but if many millennial's' brains were taxed, they'd get a refund. Several studies reiterate that most Millennials want socialism which proves this group has learned nothing from history. Modern political and economic failures like Venezuela, South Africa, and most of the European continent are shrugged off. Millennials still want everything for nothing.
In defense of the Millennials, it's impossible to be informed when your news source is SNL and The Comedy Network. It's hard to find the truth when CNN admits they're pushing lies, but they push them anyways. It's challenging to gain a responsible perspective of the world when you're still supported by your parents as an adult.
This entire state-of-affairs is a convenient situation for the globalists! At a recent campaign-style rally in Las Vegas, Michelle Obama encouraged folks who "know nothing about nothing" to get out and vote. It is the "low information voter-type" that will endorse the antichrist's destruction of "powerful people." This plan will appeal to their ignorance, to their progressive-socialist ideals, and to their warped sense of justice.
There's a second group the antichrist will target, and it's also going to suffer more of the same biases we already see from the ranks of the left today. The antichrist, in Daniel 8:24, will also destroy the "holy people." Other translations call them "God's people," "saints," and "Holy ones."
These are folks which have come to saving faith after the Rapture. They didn't have a right relationship with God before that point, but they do now! "Seeing is believing" I guess.
But these people are the real deal! Revelation defines them as those who will be killed "....for the Word of God and the testimony they had maintained" (Rev. 6:9; 12:11). It's pretty clear from Revelation and related passages that the antichrist does all he can to get rid of them.
This is also the point of Daniel 8:24. The followers of God during the antichrist's reign share something in common with the "powerful people," though they may differ in most other ways. This second group also resists the antichrist and his system. They are also a threat to his plans.
Now, the motives of "God's people" will be much different than the motives of the "powerful people." Since the saints are marked by a right relationship with God, their stance is a righteous one. But it's the same net end result for the antichrist.
This second group will not conform to the antichrist's godless, deceptive, and self-serving ideals because these things are in violation of a Holy God and His standards. They will not yield to the antichrist's economic policies and his corrupt governance. In fact, we know the saints will speak out against all of this. Again, Revelation makes that clear.
This second group will be reviled, attacked, persecuted, and killed for placing their faith in Jesus Christ and for living according to God's Word. They will refuse to conform to the sham of a one-world system. Put another way, "God's people" of Daniel 8:24 will be square pegs in a new world order where all the holes are round.
It's that way for "God's people" right now, so it's easy to see this dynamic becoming much worse. The seeds of hate against "God's people" are already flourishing in the left today, and nobody set that prejudice in motion more effectively than our nation's first Muslim President, Barak Hussein Obama.
It was B.O. who showed up at the National Prayer Breakfast to remind attendees about the terrible deeds done in the name of Christ. He was the one who mocked folks for "clinging to God." His White House asked Georgetown University to cover a symbol of Jesus' name before he spoke there. He tried to implement a non-religious Christmas. It was President Obama who said in 2006, "....we are no longer a Christian nation," and it was him who said it again to his Turkish buddies in 2009. Finally, it was President Obama who decided against recognizing the National Day of Prayer, but who chose to host a Ramadan dinner instead.
This is just a sampling of all the ways President Barak Hussein Obama rejected Christians and their faith during his eight years in office. Under his carnal leadership, the left found energy and justification for disparaging Christians, and their bigotries have only grown since.
We've truly reached a point where the left is anti-God. The Democrat party has veered so far in the pro-choice, anti-family, pro-gay, anti-Israel, pro-transgender, anti-prayer (etc.) directions that former 2013 nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, E. W. Jackson, stated, "Christians should leave it." He added in a radio interview that he thinks believing in God and voting Democratic are fundamentally incompatible. I think he's much more right than he is wrong.
The "demon-crats" today attacks the tenets of Christian faith with a venom that is truly other-worldly. Their angst against the Bible and against those that rightly believe it is the inspired Word of God boils down to one basic reason: liberals are anti-God!
Pick your poison - call them what you will: "liberals," "the left," "democrats," "progressives," "socialists," "globalists," "fascists," - define them anyway you choose. It's clear the lines between these terms are heavily blurred.
All these groups despise conservatives, Christians, and constitutionalists, and they all hate God. Members of one group are active in the next. Labels mean very little when the depraved behaviors are the same across the spectrum.
Because liberals are anti-God, they are an intellectually dishonest and unprincipled people. They've checked their brains at the door because they are always in search of a world without moral consequences, and that's not the way God designed things. This situation renders the left as "fools" because they refuse to admit the obvious facts and to "give God glory" (Rom. 1:21-22).
The truth about God is an unrelenting accountability to the left's corrupt desires (Rom. 1:18-19). Liberals don't want the Gospel because that implies their choices are wrong. A liberal cannot stand the fact that their own conscience is supernaturally wired to remind them of their sin. This is a key reason why so many liberals are angry people. They are constantly at war within themselves against their own need for God's grace.
It is also a key reason why the left makes "the State" their god. Liberals worship "the State" and the one-world community they desperately want it to become. The left attempts to use their god (big government and absolute control) to achieve their globalist ideals and to eliminate all consequences for their immoral behavior.
This is why the left despises Christians now, and it's why liberals make every effort to shut down all expressions and standards of the Christian faith. It's why liberals scream bloody murder against any warnings about the true Islamic agenda while they turn a blind eye and deaf ear to those who persecute Christians and mock The One True God. Their double standard is evident to all.
The Tribulation Scriptures plainly lay out the loathsome behaviors directed against God and His followers by those who support the antichrist. A number of passages provide startling parallels between the vile behaviors that are prominent in liberals today and the abhorrent deeds that qualify the globalists during the end times.
For example, the antichrist will oversee and orchestrate the relentless persecution and killing of the Tribulation saints (Daniel 7:21, 25; Dan. 11:33; Rev. 12:11; 20:4; et. al.). He cannot tolerate their resistance, but more importantly, he absolutely hates God.
In exact imitation of the antichrist's hatred of God's followers, his supporters will rage en masse against God's truth and against those who dare to speak it. The mobs will react in unspeakable ways as a result. A particularly-grotesque example of this is when the two witnesses of God are killed in Jerusalem (Rev. 11:5-10).
This text says the world will applaud the death of these two witnesses and will refuse their burial. They will even "send each other gifts" to celebrate this occasion. It'll be party time for the real "deplorables."
This occasion will be a big deal to the unsaved world because these two witnesses will have had a strong "testimony" (vs. 7) and they will have backed up their words with evidence of God's power (vss. 5-6). The world that will reject Christ at that time will want no reminders of who they have rejected - in the very same way the world that has rejected Christ today is obsessed with ridding our culture of His values.
One of the clearest displays in The Tribulation of behaviors we see in the left today is the way the followers of the antichrist will choose to remain in their sin. Their depravity will persist even when they are presented with the truth and when they face consequences for it (Rev. 9:20-21). All around them, the evil ranks of humanity will have been killed by God's judgments. There will be constant evidence of God's sovereignty, power, and truth. It will all be on plain display like no other time in history.
It seems none of this will matter to the antichrist's followers. They will choose to remain in their sin and they will curse God instead of repenting (Rev. 16:9). They will do whatever it takes to protect and continue in their depravity the same way the left today does whatever it takes to protect their wicked ideals.
One only needs to look at the violent behaviors of liberals today who defend abortion and gay rights to see this egg has been let out of the shell - and it's not going back in. There is no doubt the unsaved masses today have chosen darkness rather than light (John 3:19).
The antichrist will be the ultimate socialist. One of the hallmark qualities of the left today is their desire to control the flow of money, to redistribute wealth, and to implement a global system of economics. This highly-regulated situation defines the socialists' utopia, and the antichrist will succeed at accomplishing what other before him have been unable to do.
I believe it may all start matter-of-factly enough. The Rapture will take out millions of people and this will result in abandoned properties and resources being left for everyone who remains. There will be plenty of money and other "goodies" to redistribute for a while, and this will further cement within the future masses the socialist ideals they are already conditioned to want.
Eventually, these resources will run slim. There will be too many takers and not enough givers to keep the corrupt process going. The practical bottom line is socialism never works. Former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, said, "The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." This dilemma will inevitably arise in The Tribulation as it has with every socialist experiment before it.
There's no doubt that the "mark of the beast" (Rev. 13:16-17) is strategically-designed to cause further persecution of the Jews and Christians during The Tribulation. It is also designed to promote worship of "the beast." But - given that the antichrist is also the maximum expression of a socialist dictator, it is no surprise his mark is also a tool to institute global economic control.
Quite simply, this worldwide fiscal rule is the ultimate objective of liberal-socialist-progressives today. If they can control the flow of money and resources and place themselves at the top of the food chain, then they can acquire everything else they most covet. It all follows from there.
Other facets of the antichrist's socialist constitution emerge elsewhere in the Scriptures. He redistributes land and wealth (Dan. 11:39), his policies become the economic ruin of many (Dan. 8:25), he accumulates vast amounts of resources for himself (Dan. 11:43), and he will speak out against God throughout the entire process (Dan. 7:25; Rev. 13:5-6).
Stride for stride, these things are the hallmarks of every socialist despot in human history, and sadly - they are also the passionate bent of the left today. The antichrist will emerge to become the ultimate "show and tell" of the left's agenda, and the entire world will suffer unfathomable traumas as a result.
In closing, the title of this article is one which focuses on end times' deception. It is blatant deception the antichrist will employ to achieve his goals, and it is lies of every sort that the left advances in our times to achieve theirs.
The socialist ideals of liberals cannot succeed where truth is given priority and virtue is encouraged. And so it will be during The Tribulation as it is now - an atmosphere of crisis and a thick stew of lies will be fostered by the depraved world to justify a collectivist oppression.
We see many examples in our time of the left calling evil "good" and calling good "evil." Daily, we see law and order being rejected by the violent and ignorant masses. Every evening we are saturated with news stories that feature the blatant corruption and injustice of those who have rejected God's standards. We see the mounting hatred of God and His people. We see physical attacks and calls for assassination against people just for their political views.
There are so many examples like these - even 15 years ago, we would have marveled to think we'd be where we are now..... but it has happened! The world is preparing itself for their false Messiah, the antichrist, and he'll find favor from many people the likes of many around us today.
There is no remedy for this grievous situation except the Gospel. That is true now and it will be then too. Those who are truly in Christ do not need to be afraid. Jesus knows what we are facing now, and He knows what is coming. In John 14:27-31 He reminds us of this:
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. You heard me say, 'I am going away and I am coming back to you.' If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
Come now, let us leave."
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