Things I Think…
1. The things I’m thinking these days are so dark that I probably shouldn’t write them.
The end is coming…more precisely, the ends are coming.
The ends began way back when we all rejoiced at the marvel of cable tv…many of us went from 3 channels to hundreds overnight.
What we didn’t understand was that was also the beginning of the end of a shared world, of common experiences, and of any sense of national or local identity.
The internet magnified the division by a million until today all we share is a common connection to a world that can end with the pull of a plug or the failing of a power grid.
We have achieved autonomy and we will die alone.
2. Congress passed a bill that will authorize the hiring of 10,000 more ICE agents, ostensibly to rid God’s country of non-white folk. What will they do when their task is completed? Rid the nation of any of those who opposed the first mission…the little civil wars that follow will be the greatest bloodletting on American soil since the Civil War…
3. Millions will also lose their health insurance and food subsidies…they will suffer and die for the cause…which is the complete takeover of the world’s resources by the oligarchy class…
4. The church, utterly ignorant or uninterested in the social justice ethos of the Bible and the heart of Jesus, has already been compromised (duped) into believing that supporting this regime is the will of God. Their reward is sure and already smoking.
5. I write all of this because if it resonates with anyone, then surely you understand that we must immediately and fervently set ourselves to gathering together and to prayer.
There is no other answer.
6. Yes, we will have to share our resources, but unless God provides supernaturally, we don’t have the resources to help all those who will be in need…we will have to pray in provision…
7. We are in the end times, but those times have nothing to do with Israel…and everything to do with Babylon…
8. Rebecca Reynolds notes correctly that Trump chose “Alligator Alcatraz” as a name for his new concentration camp for a reason…my southern grandfather called black people “alligator bait”…Reynolds further says “He’s trusting that you still think the brutalization of non-white people is funny. He’s trusting that old demons still run in your family blood.”
Reynolds has spoken well.
9. Now is when we discover the size of the remnant…
10. I might be wrong…
Alligator Alcatraz?
How about an American Dachau.
Comment from Fr. James Martin, Catholic author.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220452173
The bill has not passed the house yet. This is the one time I’ve ever agreed with Marjorie TG!
And, I continue to pray. ICE has been quiet in my part of the world, but we had a news piece yesterday regarding a gentleman being picked up in a part of town on the way to work. He has been here 40 years (came as a teen), no priors, good wage earner, home owner with a family…so sad.
And I pray some more!
Alcatraz might not have been a great place, but it was a prison that held only 300 or so inmates. The camp about to open in Florida — which was built in a matter of weeks and so of course must be very shoddy construction that will not keep out the elements — will hold thousands in cages. Call it what it is: a concentration camp — Alligator Auschwitz.
10,000 ICE agents = 10,000 secret police operating beyond the pale of normal police accountability as a result of fact that its creation by the Patriot Act gave ICE widespread ability to operate outside most laws and regulations. The groundwork for a police state is being laid before our eyes as we watch. We definitely need to pray, but we also need to be willing to put our bodies in the way of injustice. It is a Barmen Declaration moment, and it is a Dietrich Bonhoeffer moment.
I continue to be disgusted by the sell-out GOP whose principles of days gone by vented into the ether as quickly as a fart in an F5 twister. The mid-term elections are too far away to be a reasonable source of relief, so your warnings and recommendations must be taken to heart. I’m discouraged by the lack of response by the large majority of Americans except their luke-cold disapprovals to poll questions. The various news agencies are too busy trying to avoid conflict with the white house (never so aptly named) so it’ll have to be grass-roots efforts. It’s like the Psalm that speaks of looking to the hills for help and recognizing my help (only) comes from the Lord.
“The groundwork for a police state is being laid before our eyes as we watch.”
Exactly.
“The mid-term elections are too far away to be a reasonable source of relief, so your warnings and recommendations must be taken to heart”
That dawned on me last night…and thus, I wrote this morning.
“It’s like the Psalm that speaks of looking to the hills for help and recognizing my help (only) comes from the Lord.”
Yes and amen…but will we engage in prayer enough to merit that help?
bob1,
Fr. Martin spoke well…
Alligator Auschwitz.
Perfect description.
“Trump’s ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ compared to Auschwitz camps in terrifyingly similar pictures”
https://www.irishstar.com/news/us-news/trumps-alligator-alcatraz-compared-auschwitz-35484995
Those who have ears to hear and a spirit that will listen are being told “My Kingdom is not of this world”.
This world is not our home. The current ‘kingdom’ is not the Kingdom of God, no more or less than whatever kingdom would have replaced it had the November election gone the other way.
I have looked for Jesus in most ministries I’ve come across. I’ve usually been disappointed, be it left, right, or in between.
We may be better off because of the current kingdom…but that’s not saying much.
Again, His Kingdom is not of this world. If you don’t see Jesus, run back to the Cross.
BrianD,
His kingdom is not of this world, but as a representative of the Kingdom to come we’re called to speak truth to power and the Jesus way to the world.
This administration is as anti-Christ as any this nation has ever seen…humans are being treated as animals and disposed of as if they were trash.
The poor, the sick and the elderly are being treated as the same.
We are staring straight into the face of evil…and I do not want to have to explain to Jesus why I turned away in silence.
Michael, thank you for doing what you do.
You’re the reason I open my mind and heart and am not a strict Fox News conservative. You make me think about news from a different, and Christ-like, perspective. Thank you.
I am no friend or sympathizer of the far left…but the far right in its own way is equally Christless. Left and right both offer sensible and attractive points to me…again, because they’re of the world they’re without Christ.
We desperately need to follow Jesus and to see the world through His eyes and heart, starting with those who claim Him (put me smack dab in that crowd).
“We desperately need to follow Jesus and to see the world through His eyes and heart, starting with those who claim Him”
Exactly…and thank you.
“We are staring straight into the face of evil…and I do not want to have to explain to Jesus why I turned away in silence.”
Thank you for this Michael…very convicting words. Hard words.
I do not claim Jesus and I walked away from all of it years ago. But I do respect Michael, Duane, and others who are at least consistent and principled in the faith, and are not posers like the vast majority of “Christians” in the US (especially the MAGA ones. I may not believe, follow, or trust your faith beliefs, but I can respect you for your authenticity.
Total disregard for the rule of law (to say the least) continues.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia said he suffered severe beatings, severe sleep deprivation and psychological torture in the notorious El Salvador prison the Trump administration had deported him to in March, according to court documents filed Wednesday.
He said he was kicked and hit so often after arrival that by the following day, he had visible bruises and lumps all over his body. He said he and 20 others were forced to kneel all night long and guards hit anyone who fell.
https://apnews.com/article/kilmar-abrego-garcia-deportation-mistake-salvadoran-prison-40ce4ab7e93517e018715943afa0464e
bob1 @ 9:35 pm:
How did this happen to us?
Our Nation descending into a fascist dictatorship.
Muff Potter,
This didn’t just happen to us, not all of us; as a people we chose it, some malevolently, others through negligence and apathy. The crisis has been building for a long time now, building upon the failures and sins of our history — extermination of native populations, enslavement of imported populations, official and unofficial Jim Crow and other institutionalization of racism and oppression — all wrapped up with the most materialistic greedy civilization the world has ever seen, Babylon. It certainly is happening to some of us, yes, most obviously migrants, and others as well. But as a whole, we pulled this demonic crisis down on ourselves. We will have to pay a price to free ourselves of it, if it’s possible for us to free ourselves (with God’s help). There’s no getting free of this unscathed.
The hideous bill just passed by the Congress gives ICE a bigger budget than the militaries of most countries around the world. Think about that. That’s what we’re up against — that is, if we are in the fight.
“There’s no getting free of this unscathed.”
This is true…and to say I’m concerned is an understatement…
I tried, I made hundreds of phone calls, wrote hundreds of emails, went to offices, and then repeated. I spent 100 + hours writing detailed reports as to what to expect given all the data I had access to concerning this bill. The immigration issues, The Tariffs, the foreign policy etc. I was told I am a demon, I hate Jesus, I am a communist, a fascist, etc. I am not stupid enough to think anything I wrote, said, or did made any difference. It didn’t, wont and never will because it never has. That is from both sides of the isle. Another vile sin I committed is that in all those interactions I never raised my voice, never accused always just pointed out what I saw as facts backed up by data. Of course I have always done this from both sides for decades about important bills, policies etc. It never made any difference then in my opinion. I deeply care about the people I work, worked with so much I still do it. This time with no pay and I work even harder, which also makes utterly no difference, at least that is what I get from the evangelicultists I run into.
brian, It made a difference. The good things we do always last far beyond our ability, or anyone else’s ability, to see the results. Hang in; keep the faith. Keep doing good, in whatever way you can. God makes use of every good deed; nothing good is lost. Peace, brother.