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\nIt was evening when the band of pilgrims arrived at Megiddo. The guide, a bronzed \u2018sabra\u2019 with the pretty-but-deadly looks of a veteran of the Israeli Defence Force (IDF), stood at the edge of the enclosure and pointed to the valley below. That, she said, was the valley of Megiddo. Prophecy had it that in \u2018The Last Days\u2019, the battle of Armageddon would be fought in that valley. All the world would be ranged against the children of Israel. The children of Israel would prevail. There were no military siloes or battlements as far as the eye could see, just a vast lush valley filled with greenery.
\nA few years ago, historical events brought to world attention a different religion\u2019s prophecy and a different scenario concerning \u2018The Last Days\u2019, also referred to as \u2018Endtimes\u2019. Dabiq, a town in Northern Syria, not far from the border with Turkey, would, so the \u2018Islamic\u2019 prophecy said, be the site of the final battle between \u2018The Faithful\u2019 and an invading force of \u2018Infidels\u2019. \u2018The Faithful\u2019 would, of course, triumph.
\nSo convinced were the terror group known as \u2018IS\u2019 about the prophecy that they named their online magazine after the town and fought some of their most desperate battles to capture and control Dabiq, presumably to keep it till the final battle. When it was finally wrested from them, it spelled the beginning of the end for their movement.
\nOntologic anxiety, creating a need to \u2018see round the corner\u2019 and tell what is going to happen in the future, is embedded in the collective psychology of human society. A desire to read the mind of God and divine His intentions forms part of every religion.
\nThe evolution of \u2018Democracy\u2019 within the ambience of a predominantly Christian culture in the Western World has had, as one of its aspirational pillars, the \u2018separation of Church and State\u2019. The principle, only partially implemented at best, has guided the governance structure and political practice in some European countries, as well as, nominally, in the United States of America.
\nAnd yet a few short weeks ago, just before the American Presidential elections where Donald Trump was seeking a second term in office, video clips of \u2018divine prophecies\u2019 from some of the most revered names in Pentecostal Christianity went viral all over the world. They had heard, so they said, the voice of God. Donald Trump would win the elections.
\nPastor Sid Roth, quoting the Bible from Amos chapter 3, verse 7, declaimed that God would not do ANYTHING without revealing his purpose to his prophets. Veteran and universally venerated Pat Robertson proclaimed \u2018\u2026I want to say without question- Trump is going to win the election\u2026\u2019. Prophet Sadhu Selvaraj from India chimed in \u2018 \u2026Three powerful prince angels are stationed with President Trump..\u2019. And Pastor Denise Goulet declared \u2018\u2026at 4.30 am God said to me\u2026I\u2019m going to give you a win\u2026\u2019 Pastor Chris Oyakhilome from Nigeria was not to be left out \u2018\u2026If he can get through this, if he doesn\u2019t give up, he wins\u2026\u2019. Michelle Bachmann declared \u2018\u2026Church bells will ring\u2026\u2019 Prophetess Kat Kerr was most colourful \u2018\u2026around the white house a hundred thousand angels are stationed about Trump.\u2019 And Paula White capped it all \u2018\u2026I hear a sound of victory. The Lord says it is done.\u2019
\nShortly after the release of these \u2018prophetic\u2019 messages, Donald Trump resoundingly lost the election, by seven million votes.
\nSo \u2013 what happened?
\nSurely God could not lie! Did the \u2018prophets\u2019 lie?
\nThe relationship between Donald Trump and the Pentecostals \u2013 a right-wing, mostly white, domineering tendency within American Christianity is a subject for future discussion. It is difficult, on the surface, to see how a morally bankrupt, unscrupulous human being could be seen as champion and flagbearer of a cause bearing the name of Jesus Christ. But the gritty, merciless, \u2018prosperity\u2019 message that forms the core preaching of the \u2018Pentecostals\u2019, without an ounce of love for fellow man or compassion for the downtrodden is a giveaway to how the affinity with Donald Trump arose. They lifted him to victory in the first election, preying on the fears and hopes of many \u2018white\u2019 Americans who felt \u2018unheard\u2019.
\nTo their minds, he should be a shoo-in for a second term. But perhaps not to the mind of God?
\nThe reality today is that DJT has been voted out, and that he and some of \u00a0his enablers run a significant risk of ending up in prison.
\nIt is an unacceptable reality to many.
\nNo, God did not lie. Sadly, the \u2018prophets\u2019 did.
\nSome of them are digging deeper into delusion, getting farther and farther away from reality, instead of walking back and apologizing to God and man.
\nVeteran Pat Robertson has walked back, although without apology. Biden will be President, he accepts, and Trump is amoral and unworthy.
\nOne other \u2018prophet\u2019, Loren Sandford has sent out a message titled \u2018An Open Apology: How and Why I Got It Wrong\u2019. He now sees the failed prophecy as a rebuke from God for allowing himself to be caught up \u2018in a prevailing mood\u2019. He quotes 1st Kings 22 and gives the example of Micaiah who alone stood against four hundred false prophets who were telling lies to prophesy doom for the king of Israel. He is seeking forgiveness from God, and from his flock.
\nSadly, his peers are not likely to follow suit.
\nThese \u2018Men of God\u2019, in so deeply involving themselves in the political affairs of men and carrying the banner of a particularly flawed human being and a particularly virulent racist ideology, have done injury to the Christian religion of Love and Compassion which they purport to proclaim. They have falsely claimed to know the mind of God and gone on to mix their message with an industry of lies, half-truths and conspiracy theories. It may not be out of place to ask the mainstream of Christianity \u2013 the Catholics, the Anglicans, the Methodists and other not to stand by wringing their hands in distress but to stand up, define their Faith, and reclaim credibility for all Christianity.
\nEven if it is truly close to \u2018Endtimes\u2019 \u2013 whether in Megiddo or Dabiq, or Washington, it is a time that calls for soul-searching from all human beings. There is an urgent \u00a0need to reassert common human values about what is right and what is wrong.
\nSource: synthesiz<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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