We hear a lot about cults and bizarre subcultures of belief, such a Q-Anon and the Unification Church, to which the Former Guy just made a sycophantic speech. But what we hear very little about, strangely, is a mass delusion to which about half of the population subscribes. It depends somewhat on how you ask the question, but in the poll reported here, 35% of respondents agreed that "We are very likely entering the prophesied End Times," and 28% more weren't sure.
As I assume you know, this refers to the prophecies of Revelation, with a little bit of Exekiel and Daniel thrown in. Revelation, the last book of the Christian Bible, draws heavily on Ezekiel and Daniel. Revelation is a bizarre sequence of dream images and people have interpreted in many ways, but the current popular flavor is called pre-millenial dispensation. This is the version in which many people who are already in a state of grace will suddenly disappear in "the Rapture," ascending bodily into heaven while unpiloted airplanes and motor vehicles crash. Then there will be a time of tribulation, the emergence of the Antichrist as a European emperor, and finally the battle of Armageddon after which Jesus will reign for 1,000 year and then shut down the universe for good.
I assure you, this will not happen. However, Ronald Reagan and many of his cabinet officers, Mike Pompeo and many other prominent Republicans, not to mention the Evangelical pastors who are the main organizers for the Republican party, were or are all believers.
There are many unfortunate political consequences of this epidemic of insanity, but one of the strangest is that it is the main source of the unquestioning and uncritical support the U.S. gives to the Israeli government. The return of the Jews to the Holy Land is one of the pre-requisites for the apocalypse, but more than that is still required, specifically rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. This is a problem because the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosque sit on top of the temple site, which means any attempt to actually rebuild the temple would set off a horrific regional conflagration. The Israeli government has happily accepted the support of the American Christian evangelical movement even though the conclusion of the prophecy is that 2/3 of the Jews will die and be condemned to eternal damnation while the other 1/3 will be converted to Christianity. Doesn't seem to bother Bibi however.
As one can readily see, there are other unpleasant consequences. Who cares about climate change or any other environmental crisis? Why should we rebuild infrastructure or even bother to educate our children?
The New York Times and CNN don't want you to know this. It isn't even worth mentioning.
5 comments:
I think a large part of the problem is that this country has been based on mass delusion from the start. Hypocritical, puritanical people killed natives and put them to work, and then proceeded to import brown-skinned people from Africa so that they could own them, treat them like animals, kill them, rape them, etc. Fourteen million Africans are estimated to have died on the voyage over here alone. Any group of people who can subscribe to this kind of behavior, and who were already Christian on top of it, can pretty much believe any bullshit, no matter how great the order of magnitude. As for the Gray Lady, well, she moves at the speed of sludge. And CNN — isn’t the hobbit known as Wolf Blitzer employed by them? Or Anderson Cooper, as well? Morons, talking heads, transcriptionists, idiots. It’s all business.
Why american evangelicals believe this nonsense is a much longer topic but as for the likudniks, it's pretty simple. To wit: the aforementioned evangelicals are useful idiots whose help they will accept in furthering their own theo-ideological goals. Being the only regional power with nukes, pushing the conflict and grabbing all the marbles is perfectly rational - assuming no one outside intervenes.
Yes, Mo, The same thought has crossed my mind more than once. If there is one thing the Israeli government is NOT, it is stupid.
Yes, but if the Rapture is immanent why set up trust funds so your kids can inherit your entire stash? (As if they did anything to deserve it.)
For that matter, why does it matter who is President?
Crazy isn't necessarily stupid, Chucky. Being Calvinists they believe that wealth and power are signs of god's favor, something they obviously want for themselves and their progeny. They're not waiting for an imminent rapture, they're in a multi-generational campaign to bring it about.
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