NOTES ON LOSING NEVERLAND: LAMENTATION FOR AN AMERICAN DREAM GONE ROGUE

SCRIPTURE.  ^“Yet to this very hour My people rise against Me. For you steal the shirts right off the backs of those who trusted you, who walk in peace. You have driven out the widows from their homes and stripped their children of every God-given right. Up! Begone! This is no more your land and home, for you have filled it with sin, and it will vomit you out.” – MICAH 2:8-10, TLB

QUOTATIONS

BONHOEFFER. “Cheap Grace means grace sold on the market like Cheapjacks’ wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of Religion are thrown away at cut prices … Cheap Grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap Grace is grace without Discipleship, grace without the Cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, ‘The Cost of Discipleship [Nachfolge],’ 1937; edited

SAGAN. “One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of The Bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the Truth. The Bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a Charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.” ― Carl Sagan, ‘The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark,’ 1995; edited

CHENEY. “In our country, we don’t swear an oath to an individual, or a political party. We take our oath to defend the United States Constitution. And that oath must mean something. Tonight, I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.” – Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY), Opening Statement January 6th Select Committee’s initial public hearing, June 9, 2022; edited

1. FIRST THOUGHTS

JOHNNY DEPP is much in the news these days as you all know, for reasons both good and bad. The only reason I mention his name is not so much to comment on the Depp-Heard fiasco (though  add I do of course have an opinion), but was reminded in the title of this essay of a movieI enjoyed watching very much that I saw some time ago.

‘Finding Neverland.’

THE STORY OF PETER PAN. “It’s 1904, and successful London playwright J.M. BARRIE has a serious case of writer’s block. While he is working on a new play, he recognizes that there is nothing original about it and the characters and plot are simply recycled from plays he’s already written. Despondent at the potential end of his career, Barrie meets a lovely and caring widow, SYLVIA LLEWELYN DAVIES, and her four sons (George, Peter, Jack, and Michael) in Kensington Park.

They embark on adventures of imagination together – all except Peter, unwilling to play and still reeling from his father’s death. As Barrie helps Peter learn to play again, his writer’s block gives way to a new art form: Children’s theatre. But the adults are skeptical and unsupportive: Who will pay to see a play about children? Who will play these characters? And how will they make Peter Pan fly? Finding Neverland is based on the true events that led J.M. Barrie to create ‘Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up,’ and sings to the child in all of our hearts.” – Adapted from EDITORS of ‘IMDB,’ ‘Stage Agent,’ and ‘Wikipedia,’ ret. Aug. 16, 2022; edited

It turns out that Sylvia contracts a terminal illness of some sort, that drives the story to a bittersweet end. Here’s the way one writer summarized it:

“This enchanting movie will transport you to a realm where ‘Playfulness is revered’ as a Counterpoint to all the tragedy, pain, suffering, and disaster in the world. For Barrie, the key to enduring setbacks is to transform them by the magical powers of the imagination. He aims to show Sylvia’s boys, and the theatre going public as well, that grief and loss, while real, do not have the last word. For all of us, there is ‘A Neverland where things have their own special meaning and charm, a place always accessible to those who believe.’ This, of course, is a profoundly spiritual.” – MARC FORSTER, ‘Spirituality and Practice,’ ret. Aug. 16, 2022; edited

At risk of once again playing the grumpy old Curmudgeon, I see in this otherwise beautifully told story a Downside that is now shaking the very Foundations of the American Church in ways that the vast majority of us do not yet grasp.

THESIS. When human beings in general find themselves engulfed by difficult and even dangerous circumstances, their first resort is to find an ‘Escape from the Pain.’ And that first effort invariably takes the form of PLAY. An ancient Hebrew event shouts to be heard at this point to fortify my thesis.

“Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, ‘Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’

And Aaron said to them, ‘Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.’ So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf.

Then they said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’

So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, ‘Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.’ Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings;and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to PLAY.’” – EXODUS 32:1-6, NKJV

PLAY. Taken from the Hebrew term used uniquely here, ‘Tsachaq’  [צְחַק]: “To laugh outright in merriment or scorn; to mock, play, or make sport; caressing,  entertaining, jesting; to use any exercise for pleasure or recreation; to do something not as a task or for profit, but for amusement; to trifle; to act wantonly and thoughtlessly; ‘to practice an illusion.’”

Y’all getting the drift of this here? Permit me to take you a little further down this very perilous and distinctly American Road.

1. THE APPLICATION

Ever since I read the riveting account of an America hell bent on having more and more fun in ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death,’ the landmark work by NEIL POSTMAN, the Nation (nor I) have ever been the same.

The following is a brilliant compare and contrast between the presentiments of GEORGE ORWELL’S classic, ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ published in 1949, and ALDOUS HUXLEY’S earlier counterpart, ‘Brave New World, released in 1932. Without exaggeration, prepare to be amazed by Professor Postman’s extraordinary insight.

“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and Egoism. Orwell feared that the Truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the Truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in ‘Brave New World Revisited’ [1958], the Civil Libertarians and Rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny ‘failed to take into account man’s almost infinite ‘appetite for distractions.’

In 1984, Huxley added, ‘People are controlled by inflicting pain. In ‘Brave New World,’ they are controlled by ‘inflicting pleasure.’ In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.”

AN AMERICAN ORGY. “Secret ceremonial rites held in honor of an ancient Greek or Roman deity and usually characterized by ecstatic singing and in honor of Bacchus, the unrestrained Roman god of wine and revelry, religious ecstasy, and frenzied creativity.” – Merriam-Webster, ret. Aug. 16, 2022; edited

Beloved, the ‘Pursuit of Pleasure’ as Pagan substitute Religious Worship for the one true God is as old as Humanity itself. It derives from at least from the Greek god  Dionysius, and before that, Apollyon, known in New Testament as “The Destroyer,” a name given to the Devil himself.

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. Now those words are absolutely sacred to every American citizen. They are drawn of course from a nearly sacred document, the Declaration of Independence of 1776. The full phrase is as follows.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty ‘and the pursuit of Happiness.’”

Seems straightforward enough. Life-That first Natural Right given to man to remain alive and relatively safe in his environment. Liberty-The Right, ‘under God,’ to choose his own course in life. Happiness-The ancillary Right, again ‘under God,’ to pursue that which makes one gratified and fulfilled in life and liberty.

CAVEAT. I cannot find anything our philosophical or foundational literature to confirm that we were ever intended to “just have fun” in the exercise of these Natural Rights. Not a whisper!

But it’s in that third element of our Natural Rights which are God-given, that we get into some trouble. Rightly read, it is the effective Birthplace of the True American Dream. Understood wrongly however, we walk into some very dark waters indeed, which I believe America has done increasingly since about the end of the Second World War.

Permit me to explain it further.

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN DREAM. I came across a superbly researched and written short history of this important American ideal, from the EDITORS of the online journal of that same name. In what follows, I purposely leap from the Origins in the nation’s first overwhelmingly Religious Expectations, straight through to the end of World War II so that you can see the contrast.

“The history of the American Dream can be traced back to 17th century, when the Puritans came to the America and tried to gain their religious freedom. In 1630, a speech known as the ‘City Upon a Hill’ sermon was delivered by JOHN WINTHROP to the other Puritan settlers who traveled with him to Massachusetts. It is true that he didn’t describe his belief as a ‘Dream’, he still talked about an Ideal Nation that gives all the people with equal opportunities to become successful through using their greatest efforts (Patrick J. Kiger, ‘The Origins’).

As time moved forward, the American Dream slowly changed inside the minds of North American people. During the American Revolution, the Founding Fathers of America believed that the American Dream should be described as a Natural Right that everyone should have. So in 1776, THOMAS JEFFERSON and other authors of ‘The Declaration of Independence’ defined the American Dream as “Life, Liberty and pursuit of Happiness” (Jefferson).

In the 20th century, the thriving economy in this new country strengthened the impacts of the American Dream on people’s minds. Both Americans and other foreigners started to view the United States as ‘a land of unparalleled opportunity’ (Kiger, ‘The Origins’) … However, the ‘Great Depression’ crashed the American Dream during early 1930s by taking away Americans’ wealth and making them homeless (Kiger, ‘The Evolution’). Many American people were thrown out of their homes and could only making living by begging …

After World War II, the American Dream fully recovered, because the United States became the strongest and the most flourishing nation in the world. According to a website of American Public Media, ‘By 1960, roughly 60 percent of Americans owned homes, double the percentage in the 1930s. Unemployment was low and the economy was booming’ …

However, the ‘Great Recession’ in 2009 caused enormous troubles to banks and greatly dropped the stock prices (‘American Radioworks’). Thus, the Americans who bet their money on both real estate and financial sectors lost terribly, and morale of the country was once again put at the bottom. At the same time, the belief of the American Dream was also questioned and discussed by people. Does the American Dream still exist? How to revive the American Dream? Those questions have evoked so many discussions, and People are still looking for a way to this American Spirit [of the American Dream].”

DK. It is vital to understand from this short history that the American Dream began in Religious Liberty and what we refer to as ‘the joy of the Lord in obedience.’ Following the turn of the 20th century, around the year 1900, it rapidly degraded into a nearly naked pursuit of material gain and success. Today in 2022, I will argue that it has further degraded into a form of Nation Worship built upon the backs of what I call Predatory Capitalists like DONALD TRUMP, who seek “HAPPINESS” through the acquisition of great wealth and its power by whatever means necessary.

This of course is a New American Vision that stands light years away from our Original Ideals of Religious Liberty and a Free Market, morally driven economy of scale. One that today closely resembles MACHIAVELLI rather than MONTESQUIEU.

1. TRUMP’S ‘CHRISTIAN’ NATIONALISM

The final iteration of the American Dream has taken the hideous form of  Christian Nationalism, spawned from the arcane and brutal politics of Donald John Trump’s special brand Right Wing Authoritarianism. Associate Professor SAMUEL PERRY of Baylor University holds forth here, pulling few punches about this seduction of America’s religious roots and political order.

Quoted at length from the online journal, ‘The Conversation,’ August 5, 2022; edited

“In the run-up to the U.S. midterm elections, some politicians continue to ride the wave of what’s known as ‘Christian Nationalism’ in ways that are increasingly vocal and direct.

GOP Rep. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE, a far-right Donald Trump loyalist from Georgia, told an interviewer on July 23, 2022, that the Republican Party ‘need[s] to be the Party of Nationalism. And I’m a Christian, and I say it proudly, we should be Christian Nationalists.’ Similarly, Rep. LAUREN BOEBERT, a Republican from Colorado, recently said, ‘The Church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the Church.’ Boebert called the separation of church and state ‘junk.’

Many Christian Nationalists repeat conservative activist DAVID BARTON’S argument that the Founding Fathers did not intend to keep Religion out of Government.

As a scholar of racism and communication who has written about ‘White Nationalism’ during the Trump presidency, I find the amplification of Christian Nationalism unsurprising. Christian Nationalism is prevalent among Trump supporters, as religion scholars ANDREW WHITEHEAD and SAMUEL L. PERRY argue in their book ‘Taking Back America for God’ (2022).

Perry and Whitehead describe the Christian Nationalist Movement as being ‘as ethnic and political as it is religious,’ noting that it relies on the assumption of White Supremacy.

Christian Nationalism combines belief in a particular form of Christianity with nativist and populist political platforms. American Christian Nationalism is a worldview based on the belief that America is superior to other countries, and that that superiority is Divinely established. In this mindset:

‘Only Christians are true Americans.’

Parts of the Movement fit into a broader right-wing extremist history of violence, which has been on the rise over the past few decades and was particularly on display during the Capitol Attack on Jan. 6, 2021.

The vast majority of Christian Nationalists never engage in violence. Nonetheless, Christian Nationalist thinking suggests that ‘unless Christians control the State, the State will suppress Christianity.’”

IT’S ALL ABOUT POWER. And there you have it, beloved, the New Vision for American politics is straight out the annals of FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE:– ‘The Will to Power,’ 1910, § 302; edited

Whether or not Christian Nationalists realize these seditious philosophical roots, it remains indisputable that such contemporary false doctrines as LANCE WALLNAU’S Seven Mountain Dominion model, the NAR (New Apostolic Reformation) vision, and the entire pantheon of the avaricious Prosperity Gospel is part and parcel of this rancid infection of the Canon run amok in just the last five years

And it is killing what is left of the American Church. Donald Trump comes along at just the right time to finish the job. Selah.

UPDATE. And just in case you were wondering about whether or not Donald Trump still has political clout and virtual control over the entire GOP and White American Christianity, consider the following results just in from America’s midterm elections.

Writing for ‘Newsweek’ magazine, the very title of this piece by SETH MOSKOWITZ speaks political volumes: “Liz Cheney’s Defeat Confirms It: The GOP Belongs to Trump” (Aug. 17, 2022; edited).

“Republican Liz Cheney was crushed in her primary election on Tuesday. Final results are still trickling in, but the Wyoming representative looks on track to lose by 37 percent, a catastrophic defeat for an incumbent. It’s hardly surprising, though; leading up to election day, polls forecast Cheney losing by 20 to 30 percent against her Trump-endorsed challenger. Her leadership on the January 6 Committee and outspoken resistance to the former president had made her a pariah within the Republican Party and all but sealed her fate.”

This level of political power in America is virtually unprecedented in our entire history. Even though Trump’s compound has been raided by the FBI and there is a media firestorm predicting his complete political annihilation and possible indictment and prison time, I disagree wholeheartedly!

Until close theological scrutiny leads me to another conclusion, I will continue to declare that Donald Trump is very likely the Antichrist, and therefore draws his political will and barbaric clout directly from the ‘Power of the Dragon.’ If I am correct, such a leader has never been seen on the American or world political stage ever before.

Not ever.

CHURCH TREACHERY. The fact that over 80% of the White American Evangelical, Charismatic and Pentecostal Church zealously supports and defends this bestial man, is for me at least the most terrifying event in Church history since the Protestants landed on our eastern shores in 1607 and 1620 over 400 years ago. I tell you the brutal truth: America is in for the most terrifying times in all of her existence over that span of four centuries. 

Count on it. Then get ready for it.

1. THE TEACHING

SCRIPTURE.  ^“Yet to this very hour My people rise against Me. For you steal the shirts right off the backs of those who trusted you, who walk in peace. You have driven out the widows from their homes and stripped their children of every God-given right. Up! Begone! This is no more your land and home, for you have filled it with sin, and it will vomit you out.” – MICAH 2:8-10, TLB

In dramatic contrast so the entire notion of an America experiencing favored status from the Almighty, I tell you the opposite: Not only is the Lord not pleased with us, but I am convinced He is furious with where the Church has dared to tread these last five years or so. Further, He is about to respond to our Betrayal in no uncertain terms.

Now to a closer look at THREE KEY TERMS from this fiery passage to that very point.

• RISE AGAINST. In a frankly shocking, chilling Declaration by God, He observes that His very own people have risen up against Him, though they likely think they are somehow serving Him by their treachery. From the Hebrew word, ‘Oyeb’ [אֹיֵב]: “To become an enemy or foe; hating [the things of God] as His adversary; operating in a hostile or violent manner against righteousness; to be in opposition, noting contrariety, contradiction, or repugnance.”

• DEPART! Here then is additional Fire from Yahweh I write about so frequently, in a direct Command to His people to leave the city. From the Hebrew, ‘Yalak’ [יָלַךְ]: “To walk or carry or bear; to go away from; to march toward; to flow as with a procession; to run or make haste;  to vanish or disappear; to desist; to leave; to abandon; to be lost; to perish; to die; to decease; to leave this world.” In the common vernacular of today, it would sound very much like this: “Get out of here, right now!”

• VOMIT YOU OUT!  Fiercer still is His Divine epithet and promise: For those who have participated in sustained disobedience and rebellion, this is their lot. From  and unusual Hebrew word, ‘Chebel’ [חֶבֶל], translated variously as: “A cord or band signifying travail or pain; destruction; a snare or something twisted; implies captivity or subjection; to hurt, to ruin, or to injure; links directly to the Kingdom of God; a simile of the distress of exiles [become castaways from the Lord].” – cf. Mt. 7:23; Rev. 3:16 (“I never knew you”). Selah.

THE COMMENTARY. “‘Arise ye, and depart’ — Ye Israelites prepare for your departure out of this land, for it shall be no longer yours; ‘It is not your rest, because it is polluted’ — Though it was given to the posterity of Jacob for a place of rest, under [His] protection, yet this was on condition of their continued obedience. ‘And because you have polluted it by your sins’ — You shall be cast out of it, or shall be destroyed in it; ‘Even with a sore destruction’ — This threatening is to the same effect with the Declaration made by Moses concerning the Canaanites whom God drove out before Israel. ‘The land is defiled, therefore do I visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.’ And it accords with the solemn Caution which God then gave His people, saying, ‘Ye shall therefore keep My statutes, and shall not commit any of these abominations; that the land spew not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spewed out the nations that were before you’ (Leviticus 18:25-28).” – JOSEPH BENSON, ‘Notes on the Old and New Testaments,’ 5 vols., 1811-1815; edited

IN SUM. First, do not for one moment mistake the vehemence and the fury of the speaker, that is Yahweh. ‘He means business’ here in a most intense or even severe manner. Second, there are TWO GROUPS implied that are commanded to depart. One, the Unrighteous who have betrayed the Covenant, and whether they remain or leave they shall be completely and utterly destroyed. Third however, are the Faithful Remnant, who shall leave because this city has become so polluted and they have no place there any longer.

The implications for those of us living in a shattered and divided America between Two Types of Christians, the Righteous and the Unrighteous, are far reaching indeed. That’s right, I said “Christians” – the one group ‘Genuine’ and the other, ‘False.’

Therefore, to both Groups the Voice of the Lord shouts at full volume for different reasons:

“And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, so that you will not be a partner in her sins and receive her plagues; for her sins (crimes, transgressions) have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her wickedness and crimes [for judgment].’” – REVELATION 18:4-5, AMP; cf. Zechariah 4:7

DK. Now about here I speculate but I promise you it is prayerful, reasonable speculation. After years of intense study and careful listening I believe that ‘Something imminent’ is on the Horizon for the United States of America. I don’t know what it is or when, but the word “IMMINENT” is uppermost in my thinking.

“Literally, shooting over; hence, hanging over; impending; threatening; near; appearing as if about to fall on; used of evils; has imminent danger; Imminent judgments, evils or death.” – NOAH WEBSTER, 1828; edited

Or as I have it stated on my business cards at the top left in reference to JOHN 9:4 – “Something’s coming.” And soon.

• LAST THOUGHTS

TRUMP SPEAKS. “This is a wonderful result for America, and a complete rebuke of the Unselect Committee of political hacks and thugs … LIZ CHENEY should be ashamed of herself, the way she acted, and her spiteful, sanctimonious words and actions towards others. Now she can finally disappear into the depths of political oblivion where, I am sure, she will be much happier than she is right now. Thank you, Wyoming! …

Liz Cheney’s uninspiring concession speech, in front of a ‘tiny’ crowd in the Great State of Wyoming, focused on her belief that the 2020 Presidential Election was not, despite massive and conclusive evidence to the contrary, Rigged & Stolen. It was, and that’s not even counting the fact that many election changes, in numerous States, were not approved by State Legislatures, an absolute must. Liz Cheney is a fool who played right into the hands of those who want to destroy our Country!” – Former President Donald Trump, on Rep. Lynn Cheney’s primary election loss to his hand-picked candidate, Wyoming attorney Harriet Hageman; Aug. 17, 2022; edited

Sigh.

INFLECTION POINT. “A point of a curve at which a change in the direction of curvature occurs; (in business) a time of significant change in a situation; ‘a Turning Point.A Moment’ when significant change occurs or may occur.”

While confessing a personal flair for the dramatic at times, a throwback to my beloved old grad school poetry professor, the late and wise DR. RICHARD LEE, I offer not a hint to exaggeration as I propose this, in the words of a better writer than I.

“Rep. Liz Cheney’s loss in Tuesday’s Wyoming primary was a staggering setback for what exists of the anti-Trump movement in the Republican Party. She was defeated by more than 2-1 by Trump-backed Harriet Hageman, short-circuiting a once-promising political career and serving notice that, however much or little direct control the former president exercises over the Party, running afoul of him remains perilous.” – AARON BLAKE, ‘Washington Post,’ Aug. 17, 2022; edited

I don’t want us to lose the terrible, determinative impact of this Epochal Moment in American political and spiritual history. I believe it’s beyond an Inflection Point. Indeed, in my studied perspective, it was a DECISION POINT by which America has fixed her Future Course, and nothing less.

RISE OF AN AMERICAN REICH. A Nobel Prize winning author and playwright was alleged to have said this during America’s pre-War era in the 1930s: “When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” whether or not SINCLAIR LEWIS actually wrote that prediction, it would be true to his reputation as a razor sharp critic of Western culture.

And, by the way, he would prove accurate.

There has been much heated discussion and debate over how it would be possible for Donald Trump to rise to power again with all of the legal entanglements plus the FBI raid on his Mar-a-Lago compound last week.

Let me refresh your memory a little bit about one of Trump’s favorite Mentors who found himself in similar circumstances almost a century ago in Germany.

“In the aftermath of the failed ‘Putsch‘ or coup d’etat [Nov.8-9, 1923], [Adolf] Hitler was convicted of treason and sentenced to five years in prison. He spent less than a year behind bars, during which time he dictated ‘Mein Kampf’, his political autobiography … By January 1933, less than 10 years later, Hitler had become Prime Minister and began his rule over the Third Reich.” – JAANEZUTTO, “Trump and the Rise of an American Reich,” ‘Daily Kos,’ Dec. 11, 2020; edited

I could say the same for over 50 Russian revolutionary leaders who were sent to Siberia and held there without trial in 1905 but were to return in force by the 1917 Revolution. Similar cases could be made for the leaders of the French Revolution of 1789.

The historic lesson hopefully becoming obvious at this point:

I wouldn’t get your hopes too high that even a prison sentence for Donald Trump could stop his White Christian Nationalist Juggernaut to seize power one more time in 2024. My personal view is that that he will never see jail time.

A FOURTH TURNING. To complete my admittedly dark assessment of where a troubled American Order is headed, I turn to a brilliant but unapologetically acerbic Jewish author who frankly sums it up for me in no uncertain and in your face terms.

Listen carefully to what he has to say, since I believe he has the tightest grip on where the Republic is headed in just the next very few years. It is beyond chilling.

“I hate to talk about the pseudoscience of The Fourth Turning, but it’s a handy way to talk about what I fear will happen between now and January 2025. All systems are go for ‘a significant change’ in the lives of everyday Americans, we just don’t know if it will be a final descent into Autocracy or if it will be something akin to a Civil War – WW3.

The chief reason why I believe this to be the case is the absolute fidelity that Dingus Trump continues to have over the MAGA Base. No good can come of this situation. I say this because it seems as though alot of Twitter Liberals, who should know better, continue to assume that just because they ‘hope’ that ‘Something Will Change’ in regards to Trump should he be indicted, doesn’t mean it will …

And, welp, I just don’t think that’s the case.

I think Trump, in his own very stupid way, is prepared to literally destroy the United States rather than personally either have to move aside for DeSantis or to go to jail. Have we learned nothing from what happened around January 6th? As such, we are primed and ready as a Nation for a Historic Catastrophe. The likes we haven’t seen domestically since the First American Civil War and internationally since WW2 …

Trump isn’t going anywhere, though, most likely and we’re all going to have to deal with the consequences of that. It’s going to get very, very messy, very, very quickly. Millions — even billions — of people could die, depending on the specifics of any supposed ‘Great Reset’ or ‘Fourth Turning.’” – SHELTON BUMGARNER, “The MAGA New Right Catastrophe of 2022 – 2025 (& Beyond),” ‘Trumplandia,’ Aug. 18, 2022; edited

CODA. This my beloved friends, is the most accurate report of the current state of the American Crisis I have ever read. It is harsh. It is gritty. It is at times profane. As is our rapidly failing Republic.

From the Plymouth Landing of 1620 by the Puritan Separatists, to the seditious MAGA Christians of 2020, we see this ‘Sweep of 400 years of steady Decline’ straight into what LEON TROTSKY described as the Bolsheviks overthrew the Russian Christian Monarchy in 1917:

“You are pitiful, isolated individuals! You are bankrupt. Your role is played out. Go where you belong from now on – into ‘the Dustbin of history!’”

We are headed there my friends, I promise you that on my life as a scholar and as a Christian. We are headed there! So would our Sovereign commend the following in preparation for what seems inevitable at this Late Stage of American history.

“Come into the Ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation … Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil … Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the Day of the Lord’s anger.” – GENESIS 7:11; 1 THESSALONIANS 5:20-22; ZEPHANIAH 2:3; NKJV

TO RESTATE IT. I cannot shake the increasing ‘sense of urgency’ as I prepare these analyses, toward the expectation that something extraordinary is going to occur in the months ahead. I don’t know how many, but I am convinced that God continues to thunder His Last Warnings for people in the Church to get their spiritual houses in order. Stat!

Ever your servant, DK

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