Is The Antichrist's European Confederation Dead???

Not hardly!  God's prophecies must be carried out to the fullest detail, regardless of what we would prefer, or what circumstances seem to indicate.  He has prophecied that the Antichrist will come to power, and that the confederation that he will use to control the world will look like the European Common Market was shaping up to look like.  However, the recent instability of the Common Market would seem to suggest that it is about to collapse under it's own mismanagement.  But, don't hold your breath that it will!

The recent British revolt from the Confederation (referred to as "Brexit", for "British Exit"), and the appearance of other member Nations' desire to follow suit leaves one with the logical assumption that the Common Market is about to implode on itself.  I don't believe that will happen.  I wonder if the "Brexit" movement was meant to separate England from Europe, since God has prophecied that the "young lions of Tarshish" will object to the "Gog/Magog" invasion of Israel (as Europe is not likely to do).  The Biblical reference to "Tarshish" refers to the country that was colonized by the city-state known as "Tyre", which was located just north of Israel, in what is today called "Lebanon".  It was a maritime trading nation, and it colonized a place in northern Africa, which would become known as Carthage,(perhaps the ancient name of "Tarsish" evolved through much mispronunciation to the later name of "Carthage", which sounds phonetically similar), an adversary of Rome, later;which would precipitate the "Punic Wars", with the famous invasion of Rome, by Hannibal, with an army of elephant riders (which almost defeated Rome) and would eventually establish a colony in the ancient Island nation of "Britannia", which was later known as England.  So, the "young lions of Tarshish" probably refers to England, and it's later colonies of America, Canada, Australia, as well as the other members of the "United Kingdom": Scotland, Wales, and Ireland (give or take some of the more rebellious countries, like Ireland).

Remember, Satan is God's devil!  He allows him free reign to work his evil devises on mankind in order to test us all, to see which of us will foolishly follow him, and which of us will choose to turn to God, through faith in Jesus, because God has already told us what will be the end result of following the Devil, and his Antichrist.  The end of the Antichrist's reign of terror will be sudden, and it will not be pretty; but before it ends, he has first got to come to power, and I don't see God allowing his platform to disappear, before he has a chance to claim it.

I suspect that God will allow the Common Market to appear on the brink of collapse, in order for the leaders to realize that they need a stronger leader to manage their system.  Like ...Oh, I dunno..., maybe, the ANTICHRIST!!! (whomever that will be)???  This may be the format he will use to gain control of the Common Market, which Revelation refers to as a Confederation.  Perhaps a world-wide financial collapse (like the one currently touted on television by all the sellers of Gold Bullion)  will set him up to take control of the world's financial markets, with some form of Gold-backed, computer currency (like the "Bitcoin") that all the world will embrace as the only stable currency around. This will probably require the prophecied "Mark of the Beast" which is condemned for Christians, and I suspect that the "Rapture" will have already occurred by the time it becomes totally accepted, world-wide.  The Antichrist could not foister that upon a world full of all those pesky Christians, so they must be removed from interference, to bring it to pass.  I believe God will cooperate to this degree, not because He wants the Antichrist to succeed, but He wants those non-believers who will follow his system to have the opportunity to choose to do so.  Then they will have no excuse when they stand before God's White Throne Judgement!  The Antichrist will have served his purpose, by then, and God will have Judged him accordingly, as well!

This would seem to  be another perfect opportunity for me to extol what is becoming my most common scripture quote, to end my Posts with:  encouraging Christian believers to, "Look up!  For your redemption draweth nigh!!!"

Cabinet Qualifications

After listening to criticism from that bastion of Congressional Wisdom, former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, claiming that Donald Trump's nominee for the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development is poorly qualified, I want to throw up!!!  Dr. Ben Carson is a brilliant neurosurgeon, who developed trend-setting surgical procedures for separating conjoined twins, and as far as I'm concerned he is eminently qualified for any position in the Federal bureaucracy, and then some!!!  If I wanted to challenge someone's qualifications I would look first at Pelosi, and others of her party in Congress, whom God only knows how anyone could actually vote for them, in good conscience.  But since when have "qualifications" (or, rather, the lack thereof) ever hindered a Democrat from seeking political office, or condemning a Republican, in the Democrats' perverse opinions?  So, the bottom line is anyone that Nancy Pelosi condemns has to be a stellar choice to serve in the Trump Administration, if you ask me.  After all, H.U.D. is in the business of loaning money for housing developments, which is not exactly brain surgery.  And, even if it were, Carson could handle that, too.

It's really pathetic to hear all the Liberals trying desperately to find fault with Trump's appointments, and his announced agendas.  Talk about "sour grapes"!!!  You would think they had better ideas, themselves, to offer as an alternative!  Oh wait, I guess the election proved the American people didn't think so!

A Liberal's View Of Trump...

I was talking, yesterday, to someone who was obviously a Liberal, and probably voted for Clinton, though I didn't bother to ask.  It didn't seem necessary.  She was rattling on about how Trump was seeming to be not so bad, after all.  She liked the fact that he had appointed a woman to the U.N. Ambassadorship ( I didn't bother to mention that the appointment was of a very Conservative, former Governor of South Carolina, and an evangelical Christian.  I didn't want to spoil her enthusiasm, and it seemed that all she cared about was that she was a woman, appointed to a high office in the Trump administration.)

She added that she applauded Trump's consideration  of Mitt Romney for Secretary of State, because he would get the experience in International Relations  to prepare him to be the next President !  I don't think many Conservative Republicans would agree with her on that point, and I suspect Trump will have a change of heart, either voluntarily, or with a whole lot of help, in that regard!!!

But it is interesting to see that at least one Liberal is trying to find something in Trump, and his administration, that they can appreciate.  If she is indicative of others, we may have something like a unified Government, after a few of Trump's plans actually have a positive effect.  If not, then the Democrats will probably find another International Socialist candidate that is even worse than Obama, and Clinton, to move us even closer to the Antichrist's One-World system of Government, that the Bible condemns in the book of Revelation!  I'll bet Bernie Sanders is just biding his time!!!

Will Trump Ever Stop Tweeting?

Will Donald ever develop the capacity to hear criticism without trying, lamely, to defend himself on Twitter?  Recently, he was castigated by Irving Kristol, who said, "Just  when you think a Trump administration might be all right..." Trump voluntarily puts his foot in his mouth, to make us wonder if he is capable of being President, after all.  Someone has got to convince him to stop the Twitter  remarks that he seems determined to use to challenge his critics upon.   He must recognize that criticism comes with the job, and if you continue to try to defend yourself, you will only encourage more of the same.   Shut up, Donald, and let others defend you, who can do a much better job, and will defer the rebuttals upon themselves.

I reiterate my previous opinion that Trump must surround himself with excellent (mostly Conservative) advisers, and counselors.  But mostly, he has got to listen to them, and practice Ronald Reagan's habit of "delegating authority" to them.  Especially since he seems to have such a "thin skin" for criticism.  He should certainly expect it from the Losers of the Left, but his silly defenses encourage criticism from Conservatives as well.

It's nice to have a President who agrees with Conservative values, but if he can't keep his feet out of his mouth, how will that help Conservative values to be accepted by the nation as a whole?

What's Going On At Blogger???

Pleeeeeeeease stop messing with my blog!!!  I suspect Blogger (or it's subsidiary "Blogspot") has just hired some new Geek who thinks he, or she has to establish the worth of their hiring by changing the format of our blogs.  GROW UP IDIOT!!!  Change is not always better.   Please learn the difference between changing what was fine, into something that is less so, and changing something bad into something better!  Apparently you have not figure that out yet!!!

When I have trouble figuring out how to sign-in to my own blog, so I can write my next Post,  I fail to see that as an improvement, which should be the deciding factor in determining the need to "change things". Also, when your blurb touting the wonderful effects of your changes can't seem to be removed from the screen, after we have "got it", and are already sick of it, your blurb makes using your blog that much more difficult.  It is getting to be so bad, that one has to contemplate leaving your service, and finding another service that will be more stable in their procedures!

I wonder if your bosses think your meddling with our abilities to use your advertised service is really an improvement to their system?  I wonder if losing clients is really their intended purpose, too!

[UPDATE--11/30/2016]:
"Blogger's" customer interference continues...
When I first opened this Blog, several years ago, I opened it with my original E-mail address, from Yahoo.com.   This year I also opened a G-mail account, for no particular reason.  Lately I've discovered that someone,  presumably with "Blogger", or their subsidiary at "Blogspot", has decided that my Yahoo address is no longer valid, and that I must sign in with my G-mail address.  ("Coincidentally", G-mail is an account that is owned by Google, as are "Blogger", and "Blogspot".  I wonder if that has anything to do with their decision that only their account would be acceptable in the future???)
This does not create a difficulty for me, but, on principle, it bugs me that someone is making these kinds of decisions for me about my blog, and there is nothing I can do about it!!!  It is not bad enough yet, but if the trend continues, I will be forced to find another Blog Server!!!  I did not give my server permission to edit, or change my Blog as it suits them!  So far, they have not gotten to the point of censoring my Post content, but if it ever does, I will immediately be gone!!!

And Now The Campuses Are Rioting, Too...

What a surprise!!!  The last bastion of overgrown spoiled brats is in turmoil over their favorite candidate losing the election for President.  What a surprise!!!  So, true to form for spoiled brats, they throw the over-grown equivalent of a tantrum, when they don't get their way, like when Hillary Clinton loses the election!  [See update below...]

I wonder how many of these people actually bothered to vote?  I strongly suspect that many of them didn't bother, because the mainstream media (see previous Post) had convinced them that Hillary was going to win, even without their votes.  If so, it's another fine job of propaganda backfiring against their proponents, and again I say, "Does anyone, besides me,  sense God's fingerprints all over  this???"The Bible is replete with accounts of God making those who resist Him, and especially those who attack His people, do something stupid, in order to  cause them to negate their overwhelming advantage, and bring about a shocking defeat.   It's called, "God delights in using the foolishness of man to confound the wisdom of the 'wise'"(quotation marks added).   If I close my eyes, I think I can almost hear God chuckling to Himself!  (Does God  "chuckle"???)

But, I find it hard to believe this will continue long.  Look at the demographics, here.  We have what I strongly believe to be paid professional  protesters rioting in the streets of California, and now we have our overgrown spoiled brats imitating them on college campuses.  The difference is one of measurable self interest here.  One is paid to riot, and the other pays a huge fee to get an education so they can earn an acceptable living upon graduation.   I don't think the Campus rioting will continue long.

Having lived through the rioting on Kent State's Campus 45 years ago, I sense a totally different attitude now.  We were a largely politically apathetic campus, then, and it took off-campus agitators (paid professionals???) to stir up enough  angst to bring about  the killing of four students, and wounding of 9 others.  The issue then was the expansion of the fighting in the Viet Nam war,  which the students knew they were a large part of the feeding grounds for military recruitment.  They carefully protected their "student deferment" status, but they knew that expansion meant they might be drafted after graduation, if the war continued to escalate.

Today, students don't fear being drafted (we have an, "all volunteer military") and they are probably merely "acting out" their foolish fantasies (probably stimulated by my generation of leftist professors), before they calm down, and get back to studying, and attending classes.  So, I expect this will calm down, soon.  But the Secret Service, is really going to have their hands full protecting Trump, over the next four years.  I wonder how many of those professional rioters are capable of following John Hinckley's  example, with, or without Jodie Foster!

[Update:  (Wed., 11/16/2016):  Today I heard on FOX NEWS that, "112  protesters were arrested in Portland, Ore., by the police.  During interviews it was discovered that 70% of them either didn't register to vote in the election, or didn't bother to vote." How about that, for my hunch turning out to be true!!!  (Refer above to the second paragraph.)]

On Mainstream Media Bias...

I can't tell you how much I respect the mainstream media news outlets for their decades of "unbiased news reporting", especially leading up to this past Presidential election.  "I can't tell you", at least not without using an outburst of profane expletives.

It was on October 17th (check the "Archive" list to the right of this column) that I bemoaned a report that I think was seen on an N.B.C. News broadcast, that said the "polls" indicated that "the Evangelical vote was apparently split evenly between Trump and Clinton".  I followed that statement up by saying that I didn't "automatically trust any report heard on one of the 'mainstream media' news outlets", because they were well reputed to use their networks for the dissemination of propaganda, rather than accurrate news reporting, on a scale not seen since Hitler's Nazi Germany!  I admit that the mere possibility that the story was accurate caused me quite a bit of concern, since it would render the influence of the Evangelical vote to zero; those for one candidate effectively cancelling out those for the other.

As it turns out, N.B.C. missed it by just "a little bit"!!!  Results of the election indicate that Evangelicals voted about 81% for Trump, and 19% (or less?) for Hillary!  And, their votes made up around 26% of the total vote!!!  Way to go N.B.C. News!  You've raised new standards for unfair-media-biased reporting, and your candidate lost, anyway!  Does anybody sense God's "fingerprints" on these election results, besides me???  I've noted before that God delights in making fools of those who claim to be "wise",  as many media pundits would have us believe they are.  Perhaps the reporting of how effectively Hillary was supposed to be winning, against Trump, in spite of all the charges of illegal use of her position as Secretary of State, may have caused some Democrats to feel that voting was unnecessary for her to win the election, so they may not have bothered to go to the polls??? (I wonder how many Democrats remember  [was it a New York Paper?] that proudly proclaimed, "Dewey Wins!!!" for their early morning edition.  They apparently didn't ask Harry Truman's campaign about that!) If that's so, it would be a perfect case of  lying propaganda having a completely reverse effect, from it's intent!  I wonder how many of those outraged "Millennials", especially those who are showing their displeasure by rioting in the streets out on the "Left Coast",  put half as much energy into going to the polls???

I  said before that, "God delights in making fools of those who would be considered wise".  Well, the converse is also true.  He delights in using the "foolishness of man to confound the wisdom of the wise"!  If  only Trump will recognize that his election victory was not a "plus" for his ego, but a resounding repudiation of Hillary Clinton, and her lackeys, he could be remembered as a great President.  If he can keep from philandering with other women, he might even get re-elected in four years!