2016: The Year of Liberty and Justice for All

I don’t do election politics. I do little with prophecy and nothing with Pokémon. When Christians – through a contorted process of hermeneutical gymnastics – feel the need to combine contemporary political and world events with prophetic scriptural passages, it grinds me. I like history, as many do. But most people don’t learn anything from history, and even fewer learn from politics, amidst the screams of sanity being a rare commodity. I'm not sure where the Pokémon go. I'm also not sure what the plural is for Pokémon. 

As with most civilizations preceding us, all hit their strides, eventually began a decline (some quicker than others, and with or without outside help) and ceased as a civilization or recognizable entity. Undoubtedly, ours will someday follow a similar pattern. There will be a strong competent leader at the podium making grand speeches (or at least plagiarized ones), promises (meant to be broken) and waxing eloquent or shooting from the hip. But more than likely it will not be the election and subsequent administration of that individual alone to cause the decline and fall of the American Empire any more than one emperor of Rome was to blame.

By now, I’m sure everyone is aware that Obama was definitely the anti-christ or the messiah who was assuredly destined to usher in the age of desolation, culminating with the rapture of the saints or bring redemption and everlasting peace to this land. Yeah. Guess what, I still put my pants on the same way - most mornings. The point being, regardless which candidate is elected to this year’s puppet post, it will not be the single contributing factor to bringing our civilization to its knees or less likely, to usher in a new golden era. 

While the American public is entertained by this monstrosity of reality show (which once again highlights our pathetic outlook of reality), we are convinced once more (by some magical madness I can’t understand) that reform from Washington is even possible by any one candidate. Even if the perfect candidate did somehow make it to the Oval Office, it wouldn’t fix everyone’s problems any more than Bush’s or Obama’s administration did.

I am always encouraged with the progression of our species when I visit social media. Social media has become a central hub for the knowledgeable and savvy on any given situation or scenario. These wonders of the web serve up facts by the page-full, along with pointed YouTube links which bring otherwise productive internet discussions to an abrupt halt, refuting once and for all those who seek to overthrow their personal lack of self-confidence. If the Church, all branches of government and the academic world (including the sciences) could get their hands on these internet eggheads, perhaps we could see some real improvement in the world.

Of course my candidate is the best and the only hope for the world. Certainly my particular strand of religion and interpretation schema of the Bible is the only truth known to man. And who could doubt my view of the sciences, which are built on the right set facts and are in complete biblical harmony against the godless scientists and scholars. Why else would God favor me and my candidate?

Illusion dominates our culture. We spend a great deal of time trying to convince everyone else of many things and yet live with daunting reality that we have not convinced ourselves (or God). But we still try somehow to persuade ourselves that the illusion we are promoting is the truth, because the illusion has become much more appealing than the truth ever was. For what other reason has social media become so popular?

Note: This post is full of sarcasm.