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Articles, Education, Prophecy, Teaching

Understanding the American Midterm Elections

The 8th of November 2022 was viewed with great anticipation. Why? It was the date of the United States Midterm with congressional, state, and local elections held across the country. This means that all 435 members of the House of Representatives and one-third of the 100 US Senators are up for election or re-election. During a midterm, the key person not on the ballot is the US President.

The 2022 midterm was meant to be a ‘red wave,’ ‘tsunami,’ and ‘blood bath,’ according to the polls. The Republican Party (the reds), also known as the GOP (Grand Old Party) is the approximate equivalent to the Liberal-National Coalition in Australia and the Conservative Tory Party in the United Kingdom. The GOP was looking to mop up the US Congress. There were predictions of flipping 30, 40, and possibly up to 100 seats in US House of Representatives. Trump-endorsed candidates – he recommended around 235 – known as MAGA (Make America Great Again), were outperforming establishment Republicans in the primaries. 

There were reasons for the GOP’s upbeat assessment. Polls say that 73% of Americans are unhappy with the direction of the country, dominated by Democrats in Congress and the White House. It is not hard to understand why. Inflation is rampant, drugs are proliferating, petrol prices are at an all-time high, there is human trafficking, shortages of baby formula and other necessities, more violence, a confusing and botched government response to Covid, multi-trillion-dollar spending bills, an unsecured southern border, and emboldened international rivals. The open southern border is also the gateway for 96% of fentanyl, killing one hundred thousand Americans annually. Add to that an alarming rise in crime, especially in major American cities and an epidemic of ‘wokery’ and cancel culture. 

Thus it is not surprising that Joe Biden’s approval rating was below 40%. Though the US Presidents are not officially on the ballot during the midterms, it is usually a de facto referendum on his performance. Far more articulate and charismatic presidents like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama got ‘shellacked,’ – to use Obama’s term – when Clinton lost 54  House seats in the 1994 midterms and Obama 63 seats in 2010. Donald Trump lost 41 House seats in the 2018 midterms (which returned Nancy Pelosi to the speakership of the House of Representatives). The House speaker is the third highest-ranking office in the land, after the President and Vice-President). With so many negative indicators and low approval ratings, it is easy to see why the Republicans were ultra-optimistic. A few cautious Republican voices tried to dampen down expectations but to no avail. Many on the right expected a river of red to flow. 

A Mixed Report Card

So what happened? The Democrats (the blue party) did better than expected. 

  • The Democrats increased their majority from 50 to 51 in the one-hundred-member US Senate, though the GOP had more seats to defend. It will be the other way around in the 2024 election.
  • At least three high-profile Covid-crazy lockdown Democrat governors won re-election.
  • The GOP took days to flip the House of Representatives and then it may be between 10-12 majority, hardly a red wave, let alone ‘tsunami.’ Biden, who was barely on the campaign trail, was delighted – this is far less than the dozens of lost seats in Clinton, Obama, and Trump’s midterms.

While some Trump – MAGA candidates did very well but others did not while some narrowly lost their races. One expert estimated that Trump’s endorsement won 90% of their seats.

What’s Going On?

What happened to the red wave?

Here are things to consider:

Spending: Reports say that the Democrats outspent the Republicans three to one. Two of their largest Democrat donors included George Soros, in his early nineties, followed by Sam Bankman-Fried, age 30, who gave $40 million. He founded the now-bankrupt crypto-currency firm called FTX.

Democrat Unity: Another factor is that the Democrats were united – just the thought of a return of Donald Trump gave them nightmares. They also pounded the anti-MAGA message that they are armed white nationalists – in love with guns, God, and American flags. This alarming warning against Trump and the MAGAs has apparently stuck with some voters. 

Winners – Infirmed & Deceased: A small but sure blue stream meandered through the body politic were candidates like John Fetterman, the winner of the Pennsylvania senate race against celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz. Fetterman had a stroke a few months ago and it has markedly affected his speed and coherence, yet he won anyway. Could this be thanks to the ‘early voting option’ in Pennsylvania, which is often favoured by the Democrats?

Have you heard of Tony Delucca of Pennsylvania; Barbara Cooper of Tennessee, and Simon Filbert of California? All three of them have something in common. All are Democrats. All three of them are deceased. And all three won their respective races despite being dead at the time of the election. Again, could ‘early voting’ hold the key to a stone-cold victory?

Divided Republicans: Then there’s the GOP – they are divided as the Democrats are united. Different sects include the establishment ‘country club’ Washington-insider Republicans, the RINO Republicans (Republicans In Name Only), neo-con Republicans (former leftists who believe in international intervention, even war, to impose western liberal values and democracy), and the ever-never-Trumpper Republicans. An emerging group is the ‘I like Trump’s policies but prefer Ron DeSantis’ Republicans. Then there are the MAGA people and they are the growing block in the party. 

GOP Party leaders like Mitch McConnell in the Senate, Kevin McCarthy in the House, and Ronna McDaniels, GOP chair, are being blamed for the disappointing results and are being challenged for their positions. Some have suggested that these leaders may have gone further – either neglecting or sabotaging the election of MAGA Republicans.

Fraud: A couple of other points: there was widespread scepticism on the integrity of the 2022 midterms, just like there was with the 2020 presidential elections. Eyes are especially on the state of Arizona, which also was in the eye of the storm in 2020. This time there were widespread reports of voting machine malfunction – upwards to 60%; turning voters away; mixing ballots, and taking over two weeks to count ballots – all lead to the conclusion that this situation, at the very least, should be investigated. The Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs, is Arizona’s Secretary of State. She refused to recuse herself from the election process, though it meant she was counting her opponent’s votes. Arizona’s election may be easily described as a verifiable case of voter suppression.

Finally, the reasons for mixed election results have to do with the voting bloc of younger people ages 18-29 (31% turnout). Two-thirds of them voted Democrat – the potential of student loan forgiveness, temporary petrol price reduction due to the releasing of reserve oil, and ‘threats to our democracy,’ the overturning of ‘Roe v. Wade,’ got them off the couch on into the ballot box (or mailbox or dropbox). Unmarried women voted Democrat by 37 points, though there is probably overlap between this group and younger people.

In summary, the GOP is disappointed because they didn’t win more while Democrats are delighted that they lost less.

GOP Wins

The GOP did have some important wins. They captured the House of Representatives and thus Nancy Pelosi will not be wielding the gavel anymore. Many red state legislatures now have GOP ‘supermajorities’ which means that if they pass legislation and the governor vetoes it, they can override it his or her veto. In other words, supermajorities are veto-proof. 

Less pronounced but no less significant that blue courts and school boards were flipped to red, especially with the emergence of a new voting bloc: Parents. They are alarmed and motivated to stop what they believe to be the indoctrination of their children in the public schools. Democrat Terry McAuliffe, who ran again for Governor of Virginia in 2021, said publicly that parents should have no say in how their children are educated – it cost him the election. His challenger, Glen Youngkin, championed the parents’ concerns and won the election. Lesson: Don’t cross the parents. 

Rising stars in the Democrat party – ones who would be considered candidates for high-profile leadership, lost their respective governor’s races, namely Beto O’Rourke in Texas and Stacey Abrams in Georgia. This is not their first loss and it could possibly be their last election.’ All in all, the Republicans won three million more votes nationwide than the Democrats.

What can the GOP majority in the House of Representatives do? Without bi-partisan support in the Senate – which is in the Democrat’s hands – and the White House is also Democrat – it will be impossible to pass legislation. What they can do is investigate the weighty yet unanswered issues of the day. They are promising to be robust in their investigative power. 

Other Key Elections

Brazil: Yet it wasn’t just the Americans who went to the polls in November. Two other elections had major global implications. In Brazil, there was a high-profile and controversial election. The incumbent president was Jair Bolsonaro, a Brazilian populist leader called the ‘Trump of the tropics,’ who ran for re-election. The other was former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who served from 2003 to 2010. Lula went to prison for corruption, then was acquitted, released, and ran in the 2022 Brazilian presidential election. It was reported that Lula narrowly won over Bolsonaro, yet there were reports, perhaps widespread, of large-scale corruption in the election process. Mass protests, perhaps in the millions, have occurred and apparently are unreported by the mainstream media.

Israel: Another important election held on 1 November 2022 was in Israel, the nation’s fifth election in less than four years. While other recent elections failed to reveal a clear winner, this time was different. Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu performed reasonably well, netting 64 seats in the 120-member Israeli parliament, the Knesset. This may not seem like a lot but it is clearly sufficient to mandate Netanyahu to form a coalition (the proliferation of political parties makes a ‘hung parliament’ a certainty with every Israeli election). Why the different outcome? Netanyahu, the longest-serving prime minister in Israel’s history, was out of office in the previous government. This dovish, left-of-centre, coalition with Naftali Bennett as prime minister, was unwieldy, diverse, weak and destined to experience an early death. It lasted a little over a year. People decided to stay with the man they knew. 

What’s even more remarkable is that the left-of-centre parties polled poorly. The Israeli Labor Party, which was the political home to David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, and Yitzhak Rabin, was reduced to a rump of a mere four seats. Ouch! And two strongly leftist parties who were in the Knesset for many years – Meretz and Balad –  failed to win even one seat. 

Could it be that the red wave flowed, not out of DC, but Jerusalem?

Articles, Education, Prophecy, Teaching

Victorious Christian Living: Triumph in Trials

 

Testings, trials, and tribulations: these are things we would prefer to avoid. Yet, in a fallen world – where bad things can happen to good people and good things to bad people – we need to face realities. Tests, trials, tribulations, and offences will come; Jesus said that in this present world we will have tribulation (John 6:33).  

Since the Covid-19 onslaught, God’s people have been under heavy pressure with bizarre things happening to the best among us. Sometimes trials comes through our own foolishness and become a self-inflicted wound; other times we are doing all the right things and yet trouble comes. 

What are we to make of all these things? And how can we triumphantly move forward?

While it is easy to fall into platitudes, this article seeks to present Biblical principles. Platitudes don’t work but principles do. While there are no formulas or recipes, application of these divine principles applied to life’s challenges will receive a divine reward. Here are some principles you can count on:

  1. Immediate download: If you walk with God and trouble hits, expect an immediate download of divine grace and peace in your heart and mine. Isaiah 59:19: When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him. When the devil works, you can expect God to work even harder. Since God promises never to leave you or forsake you, expect an extra measure of His presence and grace in when trials come (Hebrews 13:5). The Lord becomes a very present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1
  2. Know where you stand in God: It is easy to become disorientated in times of trouble, yet it is imperative to know your true Biblical standing in God – and keep standing. You have the perpetual promise of His presence (Matthew 28:20), that all things will work together for your good (Genesis 50:20; Romans 8:28), and that if you persevere in trouble, God will put you in a large place of promotion (Psalm 4:1; 75:6-7). Pass the test, win the prize.
  3. Patient endurance: When the trial is on-going, understand that God is developing in you the grace of patient endurance. Immature people are impatient people, yet patient people are mature, strong, and exceedingly wise. The Book of Revelation speaks of the patience of the saints and how they honour God in the process. You are being strengthened in the process (2 Corinthians 12:10).
  4. Mileposts: In an on-going trial, God graciously gives ‘mileposts’ along the way. Like natural ones, mileposts highlight that you are heading in the right direction and getting closer to your destination. During a trial, this author temporarily lost his wallet in the main hallway of a shopping centre. He was not even aware the wallet was missing. Five minutes after the loss, he heard his name being paged. As he walked out of the cafe, a kind man handed him back his wallet. The Lord then said: ‘Just as I am watching after you in this matter, so I am in all matters.’ This was a welcome milepost. Recognise the grace mileposts and thank God for them. You are on the right track.
  5. Under control: Often times, when you have done everything you humanely can and there is no more to do at present, let the Holy Spirit remind you that the current crisis is ‘under control.’ Rest and rejoice in this fact – God is at work even while you sleep.
  6. Be strong and courageous: Nobody is organically born strong and courageous. These things come by making a decision to obey the clear commands of God, just as He gave to Joshua (1:6, 7, 9). Paul exhorted the Ephesian church to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might (Ephesians 6:10). When you are both strong and courageous, you will be able to do things that would otherwise be impossible for the cowardly and weak.
  7. See the ‘big picture’: It is easy to be focused on the single tree even though God wants you to look on the forest. Hebrews 12:11: Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Learn the divine lessons on offer and you can graduate to the next level. 
  8. Praise and thanksgiving: It is high time that God is glorified, even in and especially during times of testing. We are commanded to give thanks in everything and at every time (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Praise God regularly and liberally (Psalm 150:6), since it and thanksgiving are part of the language of faith. And faith moves mountains. Learn what it means to ‘Sow praises to the heavens and God will rain down blessing on earth.’ Praise and thanksgiving are proven spiritual weapons that will defeat the enemy (2 Chronicles 20:22).
  9. When all is said and done, keep trusting God: We were made for this. Trusting God is wisest and best thing you can do, even when it does not make sense to the natural mind. Proverbs 3:5-6 are the classic verses on this subject – Trust God with all your heart, don’t rely solely on your rational mind, acknowledge Him at all times and He will direct your path.
  10. As has been aptly said, tough times don’t last but thought people do. Your perseverance will be richly rewarded. 

Trials happen to everyone but those who love and trust God are guaranteed to come out on top. 

Articles, Education, Prophecy, Teaching

The Silver Lining: Lessons from Lockdown – Part 01

 

From the 2022 Understanding the Times Australia Wide Tour: ‘Turning the Corner: Bringing Clarity in Confusing Times’

Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation 

— 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8

It was perhaps the most difficult period of our collective lives. Beginning with the Covid-19 pandemic, then the mandates and lockdowns that became all too common around the world. It was like a mighty earthquake that had repeated and unwelcome aftershocks. When was all this going to end?

People of Biblical faith need to see that God has not forsaken them in the midst of the madness. Furthermore, He takes that which is evil and turns it for our good (Genesis 50:20; Romans 8:28). During lockdown, there were some invaluable lessons that we learned – but there’s a caveat. Lessons were learned by those who were ‘watching’ and ‘sober.’ 

The above passage from 1 Thessalonians 5 describes the last days scenario with three types of people. 

One – The Sleepers: These are they who are alive and awake to the things of the world but asleep to the things of God’s kingdom.

Two – The Drunkards: This simply means a person detached from reality. They live under deception, denial, delusion, and practice escapism at the very time they need to stand and fight. 

Three – Children of the light and the day: The first two categories are to be avoided at all costs since the end result is that they will not escape (1 Thessalonians 5:3). 

Do everything in your power to become the third category – a child of the light and the day. God is light (1 John 1:5) and Christ is light (John 8:12), those who follow Him at all times are also in the light (Matthew 5:14). 

Children of the light are watchman on the walls. Like weighing oneself after a calorie-busting Christmas season, we may not like what we see, but we need to see it if we are going to resolve the issues. After all, when you understand that there is a problem – and why – you are halfway towards a solution.

For those who ‘watch,’ ‘pray,’ and are ‘sober,’ here are some of the lessons we learned during the pandemic and lockdown period.

First: The Fourth Branch of Government

Constitutionally there are three branches of government:  the executive branch, legislative branch, and judicial branch. Thanks to lockdown, we learned that there is a de facto fourth branch that has developed over the years though this was never constitutionally mandated. The ‘fourth branch’ has legislative power, though not subject to a vote of the people. It can also stymie the will of the people and other branches of government. 

Who is that man behind the curtain? 

It is known as the ‘administrative state,’ the ‘bureaucracy,’ the ‘rule of experts.’ Common nicknames are ‘the swamp,’ ‘the deep state,’ and ‘the blob.’ This ‘fourth branch’ is found in the Anglo-sphere and the European Union. In the United States alone, there are 432 federal agencies that employ three million people. Bureaucrats craft regulations which have the force of law.

Remember the American constitution explicitly proscribed a large federal government, since minimal government means maximum freedom. Big government is bossy government; furthermore, it is can be costly and inefficient.

During lockdown we saw ‘the experts’ give pronouncements which influenced, if not dictated, government policy. These statements could change on a whim, contradict other statements, be accurate, partially accurate, or wholly inaccurate. The bottom line is that 100s of millions of people were affected by bureaucrats who are unelected and often unaccountable. This is not healthy for democracy.

Two: Indoctrination in Schools

Cultural Marxists have cleverly targeted the public school system for decades, dating back to the 1930s. They knew that he that controls the classroom controls the future. Teachers are the ‘dangerous people,’ who can influence an entire generation – for better or for worse. If the latter, the effects of their influence may be hidden for years until it finally bursts at the surface. For example, heretics infiltrated theological schools and then years later the unwanted crop of ‘post-biblical Christianity’ came into being. This has been a problem throughout church history.

During lockdown parents could not go to work and children to school. So school instruction happened online. Some prudent parents seized this rare opportunity to listen to what their children were learning. To their horror, it wasn’t ‘reading, writing, and arithmetic,’ but ‘woke,’ wretched and radical ideology in areas like race and gender. This unveiling – made possible by lockdown – led to an ‘awakening’ of parents, who decided to do something about their children’s education. School board meetings have not been the same since.

Three: An Authoritarian Streak

It is no secret that leftist ideology, whether cultural Marxism, secular progressivism, socialism, and related beliefs, seek to care for the people by controlling them. In order to take care of their constituents, these leaders demand complete compliance. Individualism and freedom are the price. There can be no deviation from the plan of action. In summary, leftism is coercive and demanding by nature.

For those who understood this and watched, it should have come as no surprise that there was a strong authoritarian streak from some of our democratically elected politicians, especially from the aforementioned Anglo-sphere. The Covid-crisis could not go to waste and a legislative power grab ensued in some jurisdictions, with sweeping edicts that had little to do with the pandemic. Though the politician is the ‘face’ of authoritarianism, the instigation could be from the bureaucracy, special interests, or another hidden party.

These are only three of the major takeaways of what the children of the light and day discovered during the bizarre period of pandemic and lockdown. There are more, which we will learn in the next article.

TO BE CONTINUED

Articles, Education, Prophecy, Teaching

ELIZABETH II 1926-2022

It was the day that Britain and the Commonwealth dreaded. She was last photographed at Balmoral, her holiday home in Scotland, with a beautiful smile but with obvious frailty and a bruised hand, greeting the new prime minister of the United Kingdom, Liz Truss. Then in less than forty eight hours, she was gone. 


Arguably the most and photographed famous woman in the world, with a ubiquitous presence: the image Elizabeth II graced postage stamps, coins, and banknotes. Though most never met her in person, many also felt a familiarity. Now that she belongs to the ages, there was something reassuring as the transition finalised between the reigns of Elizabeth II and Charles III occurred with velvet smoothness. While there is understandably great sorrow at the passing of a long-term and beloved monarch, there was reassurance that her legacy of dedication, diligence and duty, will continue on.


While many tributes have been paid to the late queen, this one will focus on three key things. The first is that the Queen served as a living link to history. She was related by blood to historical figures like Henry VIII, George III, and Queen Victoria. The mind whirls at the events she witnessed during her ninety-six years on this earth. At the age of ten, she watched – perhaps with bemusement – how her uncle Edward VIII forsook the crown to marry an American divorcee, Wallis Simpson, thus catapulting her father to the throne as George VI. This meant that she now became the first in line to the succession. At the age of fourteen, she witnessed the Nazi blitz of London, when even Buckingham Palace was hit. She participated in the war effort as a driver and mechanic. And who can forget the euphoric moment when the royal family stepped out onto the balcony of the Palace as the crowds gathered to celebrate V-E Day, May 8th 1945, the end of the second world war. The British people weathered the war and came out on top. She was there for it all. 


The array of political leaders with whom she interacted is staggering: Churchill, Truman, Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy – the list goes on. Elizabeth II was more than an observer of history – she made it; a young woman in a geo-political man’s world, she held her ground and earned the respect of all. 


A leading figure in the United Kingdom and the West, Elizabeth embodied the best of all these worlds. Remember that the ‘West’ embodies reason, scientific breakthrough, technology, the industrial revolution, renaissance, reformation, the market economy, abolition of slavery, the formation of parliamentary democracy with its balance of powers, separation of powers, and recognition of human rights. All these important things find their powerful symbolism in the Crown, which embodies history, heritage, governance, and way of life.


As the British Empire began its peaceful dismantling, it was wonderfully reconstituted into the Commonwealth of Nations, which even includes countries that were not under British colonial rule. Elizabeth II skilfully and successfully navigated this entire process; she proved to be a very popular uniter. 


While most sang her praises, there was a few noisy cultural Marxist voices who wished her ill. It’s not that she had personally done anything egregious against anyone – she had not and they know it. They were attacking the civilisation which she so ably represented.


Finally, as noted in the third and final instalment of the Crown Chronicles, Queen Elizabeth II was a conspicuous and vocal Christian. She faithfully attended the local church where she was located at any particular occasion, even on her holidays. Prayer given and received was an important part of her life. Of course, she was famous for her annual address to the Commonwealth on Christmas Day, where regular mention was made of her faith in Jesus Christ. In her one and only ‘Easter Address,’ of April 2020 during the beginning of the Covid lockdown, she famously said that while other things had been cancelled, Easter would never be – it was un-cancellable.


While it is technically possible for a non-Christian to exhibit good character traits, the Queen led the way in sterling qualities: integrity, loyalty, honesty, truthfulness, consistency, faithfulness, and, let’s not forget, her unflinching dedication to duty. In seventy years on the throne, she could be counted upon to fulfil her obligations, without a loss of temper, control, or coarse language. It is concerning that the Queen’s character, bolstered by her Christian faith, seemed to be something unique, relegated to a museum, rather than the mainstream in a ‘Christian society.’ For sure, these qualities were far more plentiful in 1952, when she came to the throne, than in 2022. Yet, the outstanding and consistent example she set is an opportunity for others to walk in her footsteps. When you follow Christ, the light of the world, you will be a reflection of that light.


The symbols of her coronation on June 2, 1953, were all of the Christian vintage: the orb, sceptre, crown, holy oil. For all practical purposes, the monarch’s coronation is a Bible-based anointing service. And the coronation vow itself is powerful. The monarch swears “To maintain the laws of God and the profession of the Gospel.” It was a recognition that Her Majesty’s kingdom is a Christian realm and that she as monarch, and the government she leads must maintain it. Even the monarch is subject to the King of kings and Lord of lords.


As we celebrate the life and memory of Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, other realms and the Commonwealth, let us remember to pray for her successor, King Charles III. He has a tough act to follow, but he has also had seventy-three years to prepare for it. By God’s grace and our prayers, he will do just fine.