"Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people" (Proverbs 28:15 NRSV)
At the bottom of this post, a few more remarks re the CofE situation may be found.
Trump. What are we going to do about this man (ditto Putin, Xi, etc)? Trump's weakness as a leader (already known from his first Presidency, 2016-2020) is poverty of wisdom. This has already been displayed in his proposals for key offices of state. One has already fallen on his sword, Matt Gaetz. Another is very alarming not only for the health of the USA but also the world: Robert F. Kennedy Jnr seems ideal if you are against vaccinations and if you are for vaccinations then ... well, let me not say words unbecoming to such a fine blog as this one!
Something I have been pondering about what I consider to be the utter madness of Trump being re-elected to be President of the USA is what light the Bible might shed on this moment in US and global history.
I have been drawn - somewhat expectedly - to the Book of Revelation in my pondering.
To be clear, I do not see Trump specifically identifiable as a figure within that book (e.g.) the beast or the dragon. Nor do I see the USA as identifiable with, say, Babylon - though the USA has features (and has had them for a long time) in respect of trade which resonate with the fallen city of later chapters in Revelation.
Funnily enough, reading Daniel 5, the story of the fall of Belshazzar, for a sermon yesterday (Christ the King Evensong lectionary reading), I realise there is something of a closer fit between Belshazzar and Trump (focusing on hubris, not on imminent removal and replacement) than between Trump and any figure in Revelation.
No, my pondering has yielded this thought - set of thoughts. In Revelation there is (literally) revelation or disclosure of what is hidden from usual sight. Through John the seer, we, readers, see that behind the appearance of normal life (civic authorities making decisions about sacred life, wars and threats of wars, other kinds of disaster, commercial life driven by a dominant commercial power) there may lurk the most monstrous evil, including the spilling over onto earth the heavenly warfare between the angels and demons). Now, we can argue (as Christians have done) over whether Revelation (and similar apocalypses/disclosures such as Daniel) are an insight into life "all the time/all through time", or some of the time, or just at the end of time.
Nevertheless we can note that Daniel seems to arise from the particular pressure on Israel of the Greek Empire, especially under the rule in that region of Antiochus Epiphanes, and Revelation seems to have been generated by a real fear of imminent (or, possibly, actual) persecution, with the horror of Neronian persecution in the background, from some 30+ years earlier. And, further, interest by Christians through the centuries in Revelation (and Daniel etc) has been sparked periodically by extreme conditions of life. Is it possible that Daniel and Revelation are not guides to everyday life (albeit evil lurks everywhere) but to specific, but recurring periods in history?
Furthermore, might this era be one such period, the hint being given by the evil we can see in the world today, including the unholy character of Trump (let's never forget he is a convicted felon, etc) and of the people he surrounds himself with or wishes to surround himself with?
Incidentally, a close read of Revelation highlights the deceptive character of the evil figures within it. To wonder and worry about Trump as a manifestation of evil in the world today does not mean we see no good in his policies and promises. It does mean we see the good he might get done as deceptive - masking the imminent danger the world is in as the leader of the democratic world pals around with dictators, with vaccination deniers and tariff imposers.
What then are we to do, as readers of Revelation? Pretty simple really: we heed the several calls within this book to remain faithful witnesses to Jesus Christ.
We are not called to defeat the Trumps of this world through worldly means. We are called to trust that God is on his throne (Revelation 4) and the Lamb has won all the victory we need (Revelation 5, 7, 14, 19). Filled with such faith we are to be faithful to Jesus, bearing testimony to him - and none other. We worship neither gods, nor emperors, nor angels.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The situation in the Church of England: I have nothing to add to my very few words last week. Not least, this is because a very good set of links has been posted in comments to last week's post (thank you to the "linkers"!).
Clearly the CofE has a lot of work to do, at least at the top, in order to give confidence to insiders and outsiders that the CofE is "safe." The same can be said of many other churches, including my own, in which we have made progress and are not yet perfect.
No comments:
Post a Comment