In contemporary politics, the pendulum is now swinging away from the Left. The pendulum's vector points in the direction of an ideology being advertised as liberty. This vector could not be more dangerous, as the direction we're going is not in that of liberty at all, but slavery. For an individual typifying this swing, look at Elon Musk. The claims of "free speech" behind his Twitter acquisition were quickly proven disingenuous by no less than Ye, the man once known as Kanye West. In Canadian politics, we see both Max Bernier and Pierre Poilievre claiming this. Liberty is their excuse for promoting both the sodomite agenda and the abortion agenda.
What is currently killing society is what is killing the Left: divergence from society's tradition, adherence to the plain teachings of Scripture. When I say society, I mean what was once referred to as Christendom. The fact that we no longer refer to it as such is a symptom of the overarching problem. A lot of non-religious people express concern about this, but it is not a concern for a simple reason: should we maintain a republic as government, we define that. The status quo is broken. After we reach consensus on how to approach fixing it, then we can begin to hammer out those details. The scope of this article within its timing is one of identifying the problem, enabling people to perceive things as I have identified them, and open dialogue about details, as I have many blindspots. Historically, the only nations that have ever manifested what humanists call "liberty" (often referred to as "classical liberalism", but those words are deceptive) were all founded either explicitly Christian (eg. Canada) or implicitly (eg. USA). If you've ever read The Picture of Dorian Gray, you'll understand that today's ills were no less present in Victorian England! The cultural context of them, however, has gone from one of scandalous things done in dark rooms to parades of naked people proudly engaging publicly in all kinds of debauchery. To support explicitly Christian efforts in this vein is to make the most historical argument that you want things to return to a semblance of how they once were.
The shift to the Right is obvious and intentional. Whatever the issues with Leftist thought, one place where it is on the mark is in its (theoretical) disdain for the corporate power wielded by the largest multinational corporations. Let me be clear: treating the global corporate power bloc without interference will lead to the bad fake liberty outcome. The poor discernment on the Left in economic matters derives from ignorance. Where they are economically literate, they are of Keynesian thought. There are many economic illiterates among them as is witnessed by the outright Marxist policy of their extremist faction. Keynesianism is one of those sets of policy common to both left and right. Such common policy is rarely to the benefit of the people. Monetary support for Israel is another such common policy that is wrongheaded. The Right also contains Austrian economists like Ron Paul. Austrian economics--which is the correct branch of the school of thought--reaches its apex in Gary North's lifetime-spanning economic commentary on the Bible. Unfortunately, Austrian economic thought also correlates with a focus on fake liberty. What needs to happen on a theory level is to decouple Austrian economic thought from the humanist trappings. Gary North's work is closer to achieving this than anyone else's, but is all deeply and explicitly Christian. Having non-Christians grapple with this and generate theory that they find persuasive is important for getting them on board.
Pollution and the abuse of our natural resources is another pressing issue. The "centrist global" interests that spearhead current efforts against them are not intended to help. These efforts are intended to centralize global power in the hands of the few. Most of the policy we see governments implement, such as the abhorrent nitrogen policy in the Netherlands, are worse than the problems they intend to solve. Real, legitimate concern for pollution and abuse of natural resources must begin in the places where their abuse is most egregious. China and India must be where any real reform begins. The Canadian North and Alaska ought to be canaries in coal mines: society here developed around having cheap energy to heat homes during the 9 or 10 months of the year where it is needed and to provide food and resources that do not exist here. If there is no explicit accommodation for these citizens, increase in energy cost will cause societal collapse in these regions.
A recurring theme here is that of centralizing power in fewer hands. This is one of the underlying pathologies that needs to be reversed. These power brokers must be stripped of their liberty, that it may be returned to the people that they stole it from.
There is but one liberty: liberty from sin. Only Jesus provides this. If we focus on what is politically being referred to as liberty, we lose. We lose because "liberty" is a platitude that certain politicians are advancing for their own ends, not for its sake. Our victory must come from political reference to Jesus. If it does not, we're talking end-of-the-world-tier consequence. An author at the website Market Ticker documents why he is no longer voting and what he expects to come of it.
The pattern is not locked in yet, but we may be getting close. The set up looks like this: Elon Musk is the False Prophet. Trump is the Beast. I have my evidence, but it needs development before release. This version of this text was primarily written to be emailed to a few people, namely folks whom I have mentioned my concern about Trump matching the White Horseman, which is the first seal. "...he went forth conquering, and to conquer" is how the King James reads. The term translated as "conquer" here could also be translated as "win". Greek is "nike". Compare with Trump's commentary about "winning so much you're gonna get tired of winning".
Musk maps onto the False Prophet in part because he is able to (and already has) called down fire from heaven in everyone's sight. The company he does this with is called SpaceX. His current false prophecy is "free speech".
Even if these parallels come to be false, the forthcoming interplay between Trump and Musk in the 2024 election cycle is worth observing. They both act like they are for the people, only their position in terms of wealth belies absence of membership in that group.
Peace is being taken away from the earth, which is the second seal. The third seal is economic. We can plainly see where this sits on the horizon. The fourth seal is death for a quarter of the Earth. You can see from this sequence how things are lined up, I'm sure.
The fifth seal is the voices of the saints crying out to God for justice. Finally, He is moved. The sixth seal is where the truly apocalyptic events begin. As Jesus prophesied that He will come as a thief in the night, we may expect Him before the events of the sixth seal. As far as the sixth seal goes, there's an interesting and coherent theory that Scripture describes a micronova and its consequence.
The contemporary political milieu bears much resemblance to that of the Weimar Republic. Transgenderism and other forms of sexual perversion feature prominently in both. Things are arguably worse. Neither the Weimar Republic nor Nazi Germany ever had the temerity to outlaw a church as Ukraine is currently acting to prohibit a branch of the Russian Orthodox Church from the nation.
I have not lost hope. I believe that we make it through by the skin of our teeth without seeing the events associated with the fifth or sixth seals. The third seal events can be softened. The fourth seal events can still be avoided. When I say these things, I am using anaphor. A reading of Revelation 5 and 6 consistent with what I am teaching here is that the events described do not necessarily imply the loosing of the seals, but are the indicators of what will cause the seals to break.
We can resolve this through prayer and national return to the Biblical faith. I don't think we need as big a proportion of true repentance to be saved. In particular, pray for Trump, and pray for Elon Musk. Pray for opportunities to share the message of the gift of God's grace with the people around you. Pray for an abundant harvest of souls and for the will to preach. Remember, the good news is that the wage of sin has been paid through the death of Jesus. Salvation is assured through belief in Jesus. Give the Spirit room to work sanctification.
This has diverged a fair bit from the intended central theme of being against liberty, contra libertas. I expect to separate out the Scriptural content and make two articles, one for general reading, and one for the Christians. I do need to develop the arguments against "liberty" as a political value here. But first, presentation and discussion of what is here. The nudging of the Spirit tells me that I need to publish this sooner than later.
Be sure to read this Market Ticker article as the cultural context and insight is profound. Without the assurance of the Lord, the article is how things look. We as Christians can offer so much more!
Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. -- Luke 21:36
Contact me with commentary and I'll address concerns and points.