Rabbi’s Reflections – Sunday, January 29, 2023
Shavuah Tov,
“A Republic, If You Can Keep It” (Part 3 of 3)
by Dr. Raymond Finney
INTRODUCTION: Is the republic we call home– the United States of America– on the verge of collapse? The title of this RR series reflects the uncertainty (pessimism?) of one of America’s Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin, as explained in an earlier RR.
Are we “keeping” our republic? I suggest that we Americans are dong little to keep it. Many Americans are astonishingly casual or indifferent in whether our nation survives under the foundation of Constitutional principles. Some Americans are even actively working to destroy the nation. Powerful geopolitical enemies are waiting in the wings to take over our country, when it fails, and these enemies are ruthless and patient.
Alexander Tytler analyzed past democratic governments, and concluded: “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”
The United States has exceeded the two-hundred year average Tytler thought self-governing, democratic nations could exist.
BAD NEWS– AMERICA IS COLLAPSING: I had planned to write the many ways America surely is displeasing God, but I thought better of it for at least one reason:
To do so would imply that I know God’s thoughts. We are clearly told that His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). I am reminded of the cause for the Babylonian exile. Because B’nei Yisrael failed to observe seventy sabbatical cycles of rest for farmland, Adonai sent Nebuchadnezzar to enslave people living at that time and destroy the First Temple. This act of carelessness or rebellion might seem to us like a minor infraction– more of an agricultural problem, than a religious problem– but to Adonai it was a major and grievous act of disobedience. In this RR, I will let God be God. And, God is quite capable without the need for my trying to interfere with or psychoanalyze His actions.
I would suggest, however, that there are things in American life that might displease God. Is God pleased that America, as a nation, and many Americans, as a people, kill by abortion each year hundreds of thousands of unborn babies “made in His image?” Is God pleased that Americans cannot understand the formula in both the Tanakh and the B’rit Chadashah that He created humans as male and female, intended to marry and populate the Earth, instead choosing various aberrations such as transgender identifications and homosexuality? Is God pleased that Americans who are called by his name fail to humble themselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from their wicked ways? Is God pleased that Americans are becoming apostate and refusing to follow or acknowledge the Triune God? Is God pleased that America has been so dissolute in managing her finances that the nation is drowning in debt?
And so forth. There are many signs that America is in decline and America’s leaders are clueless about ways to stop that decline. Many articles about this impeding decline can be obtained through use of a search engine (e.g., Google).
To be sure, America has done much good in the world and most Americans are good people. I only make the point that we live in a flawed nation and we are a flawed people t make a point– a much better home awaits us!
GOOD NEWS– AMERICA IS COLLAPSING: I have a tiny, makeshift office in the second floor of our home. As I started to go upstairs to write this RR, I told my wife where I was going.
She lightheartedly said, “Make it a happy RR. We need good news.” We never argue (I am blessed in marriage), and I know what she meant. The RRs I write deal in large part with end-time prophecy. The last days, which I believe are the “now days,” are frightening (wars, famines, rise of the Antichrist and False Prophet, natural catastrophes, and so forth). I find little happiness in the Bible’s description of the Tribulation and days leading to that time.
The Bible is a Book of warning and call to preparation. I believe “happy talk” pastors are not preparing their congregations properly. We will know true joy only when we Believers see Yeshua split the eastern sky and we and other saints rise to meet Him and the Heavenly Host. Until that Great Hope promised throughout the B’rit Chadashah is realized, life on Earth will become increasingly Hell on Earth.
In 2023, America’s future is a classic” good news, bad news” future. While all true Americans want the best for America, that is not prophetically sound.
SIDELIGHT: In the preceding paragraph, I wrote “all Americans want the best for America.” That statement is incorrect. We have a large number of Americans, many strategically placed in the highest echelons of government and other important positions, who want America destroyed. I will not create headaches for Rabbi Weiner by violating the Johnson Amendment (if it still exists and if it is ever enforced) by naming traitorous elected officials who are doing everything in their power to weaken or destroy our nation. If you watch the news, you know some of whom they are.
A well-known quotation applies: “A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.”
This preceding quotation may be attributed to Taylor Caldwell (A Pillar of Iron), but it is more commonly misattributed to the Roman orator Cicero. America has many traitors within our nation’s gate– traitors who have infected government, the media, the education system, and all facets of life. Scriptures warn against a divided nation (Mark 3:24-25): [Yeshua said] “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.”
America is a classically divided nation. Americans squabble over everything and remain an unhappy, quarrelsome lot. It is inconceivable to me that citizens of this nation, a nation truly blessed by God Himself, can be so unhappy and dissatisfied with every facet of life. Yeshua warned a divided nation, such as ours, “cannot stand.” END sidelight.
Why do I write that America’s collapse is good news? God has something far better for Believers in Heaven throughout eternity than our “three score and ten years” (Psalm 90:10) on Planet Earth.
Multiple Scriptures assure us that New Jerusalem (Heaven) is the reward for faithful Believers, and the wonder of this place exceeds a human’s vocabulary to describe.
AGAIN, GOOD NEWS– THE WORLD’S NATIONS ARE COLLAPSING! My wife asked me to write some “good news” in today’s RR. Here is the best news any of us can possibly hear:
● The United States– and other nations of the world– are collapsing! Human governments– established under the Noahic Covenant (Genesis 9:8-16) – have failed. It is time to look to God as our Ruler, as God originally planned.
● As nations collapse, a one-world government (ruled by the Unholy Trinity– Satan, Antichrist, and False Prophet) will rise to power briefly. Nonbelievers of the world will endure the horrendous Tribulation, while Believers will reside safely in Paradise (pretribulation rapture theory).
● Yeshua and the Heavenly Host will return to Earth (Yeshua’s Second Coming) to defeat the Unholy Trinity and their followers at Armageddon.
● Yeshua will establish His Millennial (Thousand-Year) Kingdom. Believers will administer this Kingdom and serve as mentors to humans left behind (“sheep” in the Parable of the Sheep and Goats– Matthew 25:31-46).
● The present Earth will be destroyed, removing all vestiges of sin. The Unholy Trinity will be cast eternally into the Lake of Fire (Hell) for eternity to be punished for their sins against God and humans
● New Jerusalem will descend to Earth. Believers will enter this City of God (Heaven) to be evermore rewarded for their faith. Read Revelation, chapters 21 and 22, to benefit from the Apostle John’s glimpse of this place, which will surpass anything we can imagine.
Yes, our future is bright and wonderful. The America we love will be destroyed, but a far, far grander home awaits us. We Believers should anticipate our new home with excitement. Nothing bad in this world should detract from our dream of a home in New Jerusalem. Until next Sunday, Shalom and Maranatha.
Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Sun 29-Jan-2023 7th of Sh’vat, 5783
Ex 13:17-14:8 1 Ki 16 Ps 119:1-24 Jn 1:1-28 (Col 4)