Of quakes and politics and lightning
While we always watch for major things to occur in the way of disturbances in nature (for example, storms and quakes), sometimes seismic events arrive not from the ground but from the people on it: within the societies of men, and especially in the realm, these days, of politics (into which we do not choose to venture).
There is Republican front-runner Donald Trump: not in recent memory has politics taken on such magnetism (and mesmerism) -- spiritually as well as politically, economic and otherwise. Nor has there been an election as galvanizing since the 1960s (Kennedy-Nixon).
So unusual is what currently transpires (some roar their approval, others are afraid and have actually sought counseling) that it is all but impossible to guess what this or that person feels about him -- whatever their political leanings, no matter affiliation.
There are "seismic faults" -- fissures, clefts, and sinkholes -- across the societal landscape, perhaps soon to become a tectonic shift. It is of spiritual import.
The division and confusion are rampant, especially the division: among Republicans, conservatives, "tea-party" types, moderates, Catholics, evangelicals, and even Democrats. The earth cracks around us. This -- a shaking up -- can be for good or it can be cataclysmic.
The certainty: something is developing here that could become momentous. The whole world watches, with people in many nations feeling just as those supporting Trump do -- forgotten, marginalized -- and so it has the interesting capability of gaining more momentum. It will either fizzle out (too many already have been wrong predicting this) or rattle not just America but the entire, wired world.
"The reason why his message has struck such a chord with a large swath of the electorate is deep-seated frustration with the current political system," notes a newspaper, The Globalist. "What's more, fear about the risks of international trade, globalization and an increasingly stratified society are not unique to the United States. Thus, the Trump phenomenon could easily go global."
In many circles there is excitement -- glee -- while in others there is panic. Screams a headline in the Sydney Daily Telegraph this week (3/17/16): "President Donald Trump would be a disaster for Australia, analysts warn."
That's one side of it.
On the other, a bit lower key, are even evangelical pastors who defend him. There will be great upset if he is stopped and if he is not stopped.
To stay on the spiritual side of it: The extreme of reactions to this particular candidate are astounding. Some see him as saving the West from a New World Order while others see him as sort of an anti-christ, the potential leader of a one-world dictatorship. Some worry even about a delegate count, flashing across television, of "666" the other night, during the Tuesday primaries. (We tend to give the benefit to the doubt: doesn't everyone who reaches a certain point have to at one point tally that number?).
We report. You discern. Of course, other presidents have been likewise labeled as possible personages of evil. Many believe President Obama is an anti-christ; others pointed to the Bushes, reminding us of the elder Bush's curiously loud use of the term "new world order"; there was Bill Clinton, who besides personal indiscretions (to be polite), was once pictured on TIME Magazine with the two peaks of the "M" looking like horns on his head; and Ronald Reagan, whose full name, when counted letter by letter (Ronald Wilson Reagan), tallied to "666."
It is a matter, as we see, of interpretation.
A typical type "message" that comes across our e-mails: "Given the imminent arrival of the impostor, I alert each of you so that the yearning for My House will lead you to remain conscious and alert in order not to be deceived. The impostor arrives to usurp what is Mine, and you are called to be responsible regarding your personal acts and works without allowing confusion to stop you, without allowing anguish to sway you. This is called faith."
But -- may we ask -- who is the "impostor"? And: might not an anti-christ come quietly (after chastisements, caused by current decisions, and upheaval)? Is it not possible that we are only seeing the beginning , the first rising of a curtain?
There is the glimmering, the scent, of upheaval at many levels. A "revolt" can be a sign of the times the same as can be a large quake along the San Andreas (or the Cascadian, or beneath areas like New York and the Mississippi).
Vibrations everywhere. In recent years, tremors have even damaged the Washington Monument (while 9/11 caused cracks in the Federal Building, where George Washington was inaugurated; Hurricane Sandy shut down the State of Liberty for a year).
It storms out there. It rocks. Cracks, breaches, sinkholes. Everyone seems agitated. Times they are changing, as a folk singer sang back in the 1960s -- that other decade with an appetite for uprising. Potentially, a revolution (albeit a mostly non-violent one, for the moment) germinates in these United States. Revolutions can be good -- see 1776 -- or bad (see Russia circa 1917).
Much good can come from a shakedown, depending on who is in charge.
There are quakes and also lightning: Just as bolt from the sky struck the Vatican (twice) on February 11, 2013, the day Benedict XVI announced his resignation, and as lightning blipped out the microphones another Republican candidate, Rudy Giuliani, was using in a previous Republican primary (just as he was criticizing a bishop for a pro-life stand), so now, on the very night, at the very time, that polls close in the Illinois primary on March 15, 2016, does a bolt of lightning strike Trump Tower in Chicago [see here].
What, if anything, do such lightning strikes mean? (The owner of the skyscraper, prone as skyscrapers are to lightning, won.) Does it mean major coming shifts -- change?
This is all interesting stuff upon which to cogitate, although intellection brings few -- perhaps no -- answers. Such comes only in the spirit.
Upheaval watch indeed! No telling how long or where it all goes.
A blogger notes: "It is clear that lightning is part of God's vocabulary. He looks like lightning, He causes lightning, and He hurls lightning. He uses it to vanquish enemies, to inspire awe, and to announce His coming." Of course, perhaps as "prince of the power of the air," Satan also hurls lightning; he fell as a bolt of it.
Signs and more: they will come with greater frequency, now.
What we can say is that we humans all can radiate light or darkness (either of which can generate charisma).
We can also know this: all of us are called to be signs of God's Love. We are all signs. A focus on that is more important than the latest tweet, blog, Facebook post, or report on cable news.
In special times, at a time of blindness, just hold up the Light. That's all. Just hold up the Light in the darkness.
-- Michael H. Brown
[resources: Retreat, Michael Brown in St-Louis-southern-Illinois, April 23 and Retreat announced for Cherry Hill, New Jersey]
[Note: Spirit Daily pilgrimage announced for Guadalupe]
[see also: The theology of Donald Trump, Can a Catholic vote for him?, Who'll get Rubio delegates?, Democrats in 'panic' over Trump, and Will he go global?]
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