PRELUDE. PRÉCIS ON 45 YEARS A CHRISTIAN: FIRST ROYAL COMMISSION FOR ALL TEACHERS OF THE LAW

“Speak the Truth, even if your voice shakes.” – MAGGIE KUHN, The Gray Panthers, n.d.

1980. “But you [Jeremiah], gird up your loins [in preparation]! Get up and tell them all which I command you. Do not be distraught and break down at the sight of their [hostile] faces, or I will bewilder you before them and allow you to be overcome.” – JEREMIAH 1:17, AMP

KEY TERM: “SPEAK!” (ALL THAT I COMMAND). ‘Dabar’ [דָבַר]: “Primitive word meaning, literally, ‘To arrange words in order to subdue;’ to declare, to pronounce, to destroy, to promise; to rehearse in order to teach (become a spokesman for the Law); ‘to speak in the name or by the hand of (Yahweh).”

QUOTATION. “When God Speaks, He does not give new revelation about Himself that contradicts what he has already revealed in Scripture. ‘Rather, God Speaks to give Application of His Word to the specific circumstances in your life.’ When God Speaks to you, He is not writing a new book of Scripture; rather, He is ‘applying’ to your life what He has already said in His Word.” ― HENRY T. BLACKABY, Hearing God’s Voice, 2002; edited

COMMENTARY. “‘Gird up thy loins.’—Be as the Messenger who prepares to be swift on his errand, and to go whithersoever he is sent (1Kings 18:46; 2Kings 4:29; 2Kings 9:1). The vivid image of ‘intense activity’ re-appears in the New Testament (Luke 12:35; 1Peter 1:13), and has become proverbial in the speech of Christendom.

‘Be not dismayed.’—The repeated calls to ‘Courage’ appear to indicate—like St. Paul’s exhortations to Timothy (1Timothy 4:12; 1Timothy 6:13; 2Timothy 2:3)—‘A constitutional timidity.’ We must remember, as some excuse for this, that the Reign of Manasseh had shown that the work of the Prophet might easily lead to the fate of the Martyr (2Kings 21:16). Even Ezekiel, among the Remnant of Exiles on the banks of Chebar, needed a like encouragement (Ezekiel 2:6).

‘Lest I confound thee.’—The Hebrew emphasises the command by repeating the same words: ‘Be not dismayed, lest I dismay thee.’” – CHARLES ELLICOTT, An Old and New Testament Commentary for English Readers, 1878, 1897; edited

DK’S TAKE. I post this brief Testimony in recognition of the most important Day in my then much younger life, aged 35 years. Dying rapidly of all the weights that Alcoholism brings to a man, I stumbled into a little ramshackle church in Stockton, California, and grabbed for ‘The Last Branch’ before committing suicide on Halloween 1979.

Then all the rest. Gradually, agonizingly, wonderfully, miraculously, to this Present Hour, in which I operate on a SINGLE COMMAND: “Tell them My Truth, and no other!” This I try to do every day of my life, until The Mission is done.

CODA. This then, beloved, is Why and How I am the way that I am. May God help me! Selah.

NOTES ON AMERICAN EMPIRE AS THE PRIDE OF EDOM: THE IMMINENT DENOUEMENT OF THE LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE

THEOLOGY

SCRIPTURE. “The Vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom: ‘We have heard tidings from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent forth among the nations [saying], “Arise, and let us rise up against [Edom] for battle!” Behold, I will make you small among the nations [Edom]; you shall be despised exceedingly. The pride of your heart has deceived you, you dwell in the refuges of the rock [Petra, Edom’s capital], whose habitation is high, who says in his heart, “Who can bring me down to the ground?’” Though you mount on high as the eagle and though you set your nest among the stars, I will bring you down from there,’ says the Lord.” – OBADIAH 1:1-4, AMPC

KEY TERM: “I WILL BRING YOU DOWN FROM THERE!” ‘Yarad’ [יָרַד]: A primitive root: “To descend’ (literally, ‘To go downwards to the Lower Region’); to fall, to cast down; to hang or run down; to sink, subdue or take down; to be brought down low, prostrated.” WEBSTER (1828): “The act of abasing pride; or the state of being reduced to lowliness of mind, meekness, penitence and submission.”

QUOTATION. “‘Empires in decay’, blinded by their Hubris and unable to accept their diminishing power, refuse to confront hard and unpleasant facts. They replace diplomacy, multilateralism, and politics with unilateral threats and the blunt instrument of War.” ― CHRIS HEDGES, America: The Farewell Tour, 2018; Pulitzer Prize winner, Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School, author of American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America, 2008; edited

COMMENTARY. “This Prophecy is against Edom. Its Destruction seems to have been typical, as their father Esau’s Rejection [for Despising His Birthright]; and to refer to the Destruction of the Enemies of the Gospel Church … Edom shall be spoiled, and brought down. All the Enemies of God’s Church shall be disappointed in the things they stay themselves on. God can easily lay those low who magnify and exalt themselves; and will do it! Carnal security ripens men for Ruin and makes the Ruin worse when it comes. Treasures on earth cannot be so safely laid up but that thieves may break through and steal; it is therefore our wisdom to lay up for ourselves treasures in Heaven. Those that make flesh their trust, arm it against themselves.

‘The God of our Covenant will never deceive us.’ But if we trust men with whom we join ourselves, it may prove to us a [Fatal] Wound of Dishonour. God will justly deny those understanding to keep out of danger, who will not use their understandings to keep out of sin. All violence, all unrighteousness, is sin; but it makes the violence far worse, if it be done against any of God’s people …

In reflecting on ourselves, it is good to consider what we should have done; to compare our practice with the Scripture rule. Sin, thus looked upon in the Glass of The Commandment, will appear exceedingly sinful. Those have a great deal to answer for, who are idle spectators of the troubles of their neighbours, when able to be active helpers. Those make themselves poor, who think to make themselves rich by the ruin of the people of God. And those deceive themselves, who call all that their own on which they can lay their hands in a Day of Calamity. Though Judgment begins at the House of God, it shall not end there. Let sorrowful believers and insolent oppressors know this: The troubles of the righteous will soon end, but those of the Wicked will be Eternal.” – MATTHEW HENRY, Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, 6 vols., 1708-1710; edited

II. TEACHING

The United States of America has, nearly inarguably, been the most prosperous, blessed, and influential Nation in the very History of Nations. It exploded onto the international scene in the 18^th Century after three somewhat tremulous Landings at St. Augustine, Florida in 1565, Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, and Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620.

Since that time, America has become THE WORLD HEGEMON (i.e.,‘Dominating Force over all global political, economic, and military affairs’), casting its Long Shadow across all Seven Continents as no other political entity ever has.

Or shall ever again.

THESIS. America’s undeniably Violent Conquest of the Land and all its Native peoples under the humanly contrived Narratives of “Manifest Destiny,” and later, “The American Dream,” have earned both the admiration of the World and, tragically, the Promised Wrath of the God who she has for centuries claimed she has served.

What triggered my intense and frankly severe Reexamination of The American Experience has been, quite singularly, the explosive Rise of Donald Trump’s distinctively ‘White’ Christian Nationalism Movement since the Year 2016. As I watched, for example, the deeply Racist and Nativist conduct at Trump’s Madison Square Garden Rally in New York on October 27, 2024, I was compelled, obsessed if you will, to find out more about how and why this Daemonic, Violence-Promoting Behavior is not only approved by, but celebrated by so many Americans.

Including Christians!

ROOTS OF AMERICAN VIOLENCE. For this important Redux, I turn to noted scholar and author of several books on the Black Civil Rights Movement in the United States, DR. HOWARD SMEAD. Associate Professor Smead teaches courses in 20^th Century American Social History at University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

As always, I shall Bullet Point his main observations for an efficient review, taken from his superb essay, “The Deep Roots of American Violence” (Blog, 2020; edited). WARNING: Some historical profanity and graphic descriptions are quoted for accuracy of conditions.

INTRODUCTION. “Contrary to conventional wisdom, neither the excesses of the 1960s nor the proliferation of firearms is responsible for America’s violent ways. Rather, the causes are many and so deeply embedded in our history and culture they can be difficult to extract. But they amount to an odd combination of factors particular to the British North American colonies lying south of Canada, with active new factors and diminished older ones working hand in hand from the first boots on the East Coast to the latest mass murder on the six o’clock news.”

WHY? “There are as many Theories about the causes of Human Violence as there are disciplines in the sciences and social sciences. People are violent, communities are violent, societies are violent, nations are violent. Violence is perhaps the main subtext of human history, violence with an extravagant helping of sex. But this tells us next to nothing about why some societies and cultures are violent and others are not. MY GOAL: ‘Is to explain why America has such a violent history. And why that history makes us such a violent country today.’”

“LAND!” “‘Tierra!’ came the excited cry from the crow’s nest of the Santa Maria … And what Land it was: ‘Fair meadows and goodly, tall trees, with such fresh waters running through woods as I was almost ravished with the first sight thereof.’ Although this description came from an Englishmen describing the Chesapeake region to the north of Columbus’s first landfall, it easily applies to the entirety of the Atlantic Seaboard of the Americas, as they would come to be called. The Land was breathtakingly rich and welcoming. The people, according to [Christopher] Columbus, were naked: ‘Very well made, of very handsome bodies and very good faces.’ They were generous and peaceable. ‘They invite you to share anything they possess, and show as much love as if their hearts went with it.’ Yet, Columbus did not hesitate to add, ‘With fifty men they could all be subjugated and compelled to do anything one wishes.’ Why would he dare say such a thing? One Spanish soldier, possibly under Hernan Cortes, told it all, ‘We came here to serve God and the King, and also to get rich.’That is precisely what happened. When Cortes showed up in the Aztec area of central Mexico with his 600 men, he conquered his friendly hosts with a thorough-going violence that would serve as a model for future generations.

TABULA RASA. “Only the Spanish had the temerity to call themselves ‘Conquistadores’ when the Word described perfectly the outlook of all the original European settlers of this Hemisphere. Whether the Portuguese in Brazil, the Spanish in Mexico, the Dutch in New Amsterdam (New York), the French in the Mississippi River Valley or Haiti, or the English along the Atlantic seaboard. Many of whom called themselves ‘Adventurers.’ For Europeans the Americas were Lands to be conquered. Whether it was for gold, God or national glory, the Wilderness and the Indigenous peoples were opportunities to be exploited. To the people who settled here, the New World was more than a Virgin Land offering the promise of a better life. The New World was an ‘Empty Slate,’ ready to be molded in any way the European Colonists and their African slaves could shape it. Only the vast Wilderness and the Native people offered any pre-existing structure. The Indians for the most part were swept aside by disease and conquest. In fact, the unformed nature of civilized life in the New World, the absence of governmental and institutional structure, actually encouraged ruthless violence.”

LAWLESSNESS. “The ‘Unstructured Nature of Life’ in the Wilderness allowed many Colonists, the Irish and Scots from various Borderlands in Great Britain, for example, to maintain many aspects of their culture. These Borderlanders from Northern England, Scotland and transplanted Irish, made up the last waves of British migration (1717-1775). Collectively, they were disrespectful of hierarchy and suspicious of authority unless they could control it, and once on the Frontier leavened by conditions of near-constant Warfare. The Scots-Irish were known at home for being sexually freer, ruggedly independent, and violent. Settling in the backcountry, from Western Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia down through the Carolinas and south, they established Clan-based communities long on blood-ties, Clan feuds, sexual promiscuity (one minister claimed 94% of his brides the previous year had been pregnant), rough and tumble fighting and other aspects of their culture. (Settlers in one area of the Virginia backcountry named two streams Tickle Cunt Branch and Fucking Creek until the horrified Cavaliers that dominated the Colony re-named them).”

JAMESTOWN. “When Chief Opechancanough had enough of the land-hungry, food-stealing ways of the Jamestown Colonists, he attacked their settlements in 1622, killing 347 of them and again in 1644. The Colonists reacted with such ferocity that the Indian population in that area was decimated and it never again challenged the English Conquest. This was not an isolated event. Conditions were so raw and tenuous in Virginia that Captain John Smith wrote in his Diary of one man who murdered his wife and ‘had eaten part of her before it was known; for which he was executed. Now, whether she was better roasted, broiled, or carbonadoed, I know not, but such a dish as powdered [salted] wife I never heard of.’ To prevent such things from happening again, he issued his Famous Dictum: “He that will not work shall not eat,’ threatening forceful expulsion or execution of anyone who disobeyed. As the years passed the continued absence of institutional structure on the Frontier such as law enforcement, courts, judges or police officers, and the distinctly slow response of Colonial Governments in sending militia from the coast, meant Frontiersmen originated their own agencies of ‘Law Enforcement’ outside legal bounds. Living in isolation, armed to the teeth—a necessity at the time—and beholden to no one but Mother Nature, Frontier Settlers developed their own law and order. From this grew a distinctly American form of group (or social or collective) violence known as ‘Vigilantism,’ which was organized, extra-legal (or extra-judicial) action designed to uphold law, mores, and tradition: the local way of doing things.”

SLAVERY. “‘Slavery is inherently violent!’ It depends upon violence; it breeds violence. It is one of the most violent institutions ever created. No one—No One—ever voluntarily becomes a slave. People are forced into Bondage against their will and kept there against their will—through violence or threat of violence. Violence lies at the core of Slavery. All Slave-Holding Societies are violent societies. There are no exceptions. A Slave Society must be armed and vigilant and willing to use ruthless violence against its Slaves or their Allies upon a moment’s notice. Failure to do so is to invite rebellion. And even then, vigilance might not be enough. Resistance in one form or another is the natural attitude of the Enslaved. Often the only way to cope with resistance is through forced deportation, the lash, branding, maiming, or death. The prospect of Slave Revolt was a fact of day-to-day life in a Slave-Holding Society.”

RACISM. “‘Slavery may have died but Racism reigned supreme.’ When Slavery died, SEGREGATIONreplaced it. When the Civil War ended, racial violence did not diminish. In fact, it grew worse. Whites used violence to keep Blacks from exercising their rights of citizenship guaranteed by the newly adopted 13^th, 14^th and 15^th Amendments. No other country in this Hemisphere experienced anything similar to Jim Crow. Throughout the world, only South Africa established the same type of Racial System. There the White minority government enforced White Supremacy rather than private citizens. In 1900 South Carolina Senator Pitchfork Ben Tillman said this from the floor of the United States Senate: ‘It was generally believed that nothing but bloodshed and a good deal of it could answer the purpose of redeeming the State from Negro rule and carpetbag rule.’ Referring to the Hamburg Massacre in Edgefield County in 1876, he added, ‘The Purpose of our visit was to strike terror, and the next morning when the Negroes who had fled to the swamp returned to the town the ghastly sight which met their gaze of seven dead negroes lying stark and stiff certainly had its effect … The State of South Carolina has disenfranchised all of the colored race that it could under the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. We have done our level best, we have scratched our heads to find out how we could eliminate the last one of them, and we would have done it if we could, we took the government away. We stuffed ballot boxes. We shot them. We are not ashamed of it.’”

DK’S TAKE. Beloved, for several years now in the Trump Era of Antichrist, I have been forced as both a Christian and a research scholar achieve One Goal: ‘Uncover the Truth of “The Christian American Idea.’” This is a large step forward in that unapologetically harsh Reexamination.

III. LAST THOUGHTS: SLOUCHING TOWARD BABYLON

AMERICAN MYTHOS. When I first read RUSSELL KIRK, the “Father of American Conservatism,” in his classic, Roots of American Order published in 1974, I was awestruck by the magnitude of his towering analysis. Wikipedia neatly sums up his Central Idea:

“In the book, Kirk traces the basic theories that underpin American Civilization to Ancient Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, and London and suggests that the Ideas on which Modern America has been built have their Roots in these Ancient Civilizations, passed down through the Greek, Roman, Early Christian and British civilizations through to the Founding Fathers of the United State” (June 18, 2024 edited).

That much is historically accurate. But now take a look at the undeniably sanguine description of this view published by LEE EDWARDS, Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought at the Heritage Foundation. NOTE: That same Heritage Foundation that fifteen years later penned the infamous ‘Project 2025’ Sedition of the American Constitutional Order. Selah.

‘Whatever the failings of America in the eighth decade of the Twentieth Century,’ Russell Kirk wrote thirty years ago in The Roots of American Order, ‘the American Order has been a conspicuous success in the perspective of human history.’ As he summed up: ‘Under God, a large measure of Justice has been achieved; the State is strong and energetic; personal freedom is protected by laws and customs; and a sense of community endures’” (The Kirk Center, Mar. 2, 2009; edited).

AMERICAN REALITY. Now given the Standard American Narrative we have all be taught all our lives, compared to the brief sampling of what I consider to be a more Objective rendering of the American Experiment, I propose a SECOND THESIS:

‘America’s undeniably Syncretistic Blend of Judeo-Christian and Pagan Roots undergirded by her Spirit of Conquest projects her Ultimate Telos as that of Babylon the Great more than the New Jerusalem of American Mythology.’

THE PROPHECY OF THE FOURTH KINGDOM. “Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay.” – DANIEL 2:41, NKJV

As I reflect on these grave matters more and more in recent months and years, it comes clearer to me than ever before why God’s Judgment of the Biblical Babylon of the Last Days is so uniquely severe. To the extend of calling that Dark Entity, “A Spiritual Prostitute” (Revelation 17:5).

I turn to the EDITORS of the Got Questions online Bible Commentary for some background (ret. Oct. 29, 2024; edited).

“‘Babylon’s First Mention in the Bible was as a Place of Rebellion Against God (Genesis 11). The Ancient Nation of Babylon was a Dominating Power [i.e., a World Hegemon] throughout the later centuries of the Old Testament.’ Babylon was the nation God used to judge Israel, sending them into exile beginning in 605 BC and destroying the Temple in 586 BC. Babylon was arguably the First Kingdom to have a Global Influence. Even after its Fall in roughly 539 BC, Babylon continued to be seen as a Place of Evil (see Zechariah 5:5–11) …

[Much later] The angel who speaks to John [on the Island of Patmos] identifies Babylon the Great as ‘The Great City that rules over the kings of the earth’ (Revelation 17:18). The angel also provides some detail of the events leading up to the Fall of Babylon the Great (Revelation 17:1–5).”

CONCLUSIONS. Here are several of what I call the Biblical Markers of the Last Days Superpower, as summarized by the Editor staff of Got Questions. It points to only ONE NATION, beloved: The United States of America.

• Babylon in the End Times will have influence over all “peoples, multitudes, nations and languages” (Revelation 17:15).

• Babylon the Great will promote Religious Heresy, indicated by its association with Blasphemy (Revelation 17:3) and its depiction as a Prostitute (see Psalm 106:39; Leviticus 17:7; Judges 2:17).

• Babylon will kill the true followers of God: The Woman is “drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus” (Revelation 17:6; cf. 18:24).

• Babylon in the End Times will once again be a place of luxury, wealth, and opulence (Revelation 18:7, 11–17).

• Babylon the Great will be a center of worldwide merchandising (Revelation 18:19, 23).

• Babylon will actively lead people astray into corruption (Revelation 18:23; 19:2).

• Babylon the Great will be associated with a Federation of Ten Kings, plus The Beast (Revelation 17:12; cf. 13:4).

• End-Times Babylon will thrive for a time, but then the Beast and the Ten Kings will conclude that such a financial, religious, and political system is no longer needed. They will proceed to dispose of it: “They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire” (Revelation 17:16).

• The Fall of Babylon the Great is the result of God’s Judgment as He works through the Ten Kings to accomplish His will (Revelation 17:17).

CODA. My dear friends, there is simply no other nation on the planet that comes close to America as this Last Days Totalitarian State under the Leadership of The Beast of Babylon and the Ten Kings. ‘¡Somos nosotros!’ IT’S US, BELOVED! And this is our Future Estate so long as we follow Donald Trump back into the White House for the World’s Final Dictatorship.

Conclusion. So as we have been taught to regale her, “The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave,” I believe we are more accurately labeled: THE FOURTH REICH.

Selah.

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/FxUQn5S4DJE