On Monday December 5, 2016, the fifth prime minister of Italy in 10 years tendered his resignation. It was consequent upon a big defeat in a referendum on constitutional changes. At 41, Matteo Renzi was Italy’s youngest-ever prime minister. Unfortunately, he staked his ministership on the referendum and the vote sent him out of office.
The vote followed a familiar hue. On June 23, 2016, 52% of British people voted for Brexit. That was the outcome of the referendum on UK membership of the European Union. A stay vote had seemed unassailable and Brexit unimaginable, yet the people voted for it. That vote sent shockwaves into the EU jeopardizing the entire project. Would there be Frexit? Would France follow suit?
On the surface, the people seem to be voting against their own economic interest. But as Rachel Kleinfield of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace observed, “People are not Marxists. They don’t only have material interests. They have identities. They have a sense of understanding of the world.” Dubbed “populism,” Brexit and the like have been interpreted as a people protest against political elitism. Yet on closer look these “protest votes” are a pushback against “the agenda” – the agenda to rob people of their national identity and redefine society significantly. A new world order. Being authors of the agenda this generation of politicians cannot accept the pushback. And so they have come up with all sorts of explanation as to why elections are being lost. The new culture of “political correctness” fostered on the world disdains acknowledgement of truth. We’re in the age of “post-truth.” That is Oxford’s Dictionary Word of the Year 2016.
In France the incumbent president, Francois Hollande of the Socialist Party though eligible to run for a second term announced he would not contest the election. This was the first time since 1958 when France’s fifth republic was created, that an incumbent president would not seek reelection. In announcing he would not run again, Hollande spoke as follows: “The far right calls us to retreat, to exit Europe and the world. They’re taking as reference what happened in the United States of America.”
In the West African nation of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama nobly conceded defeat in the 2016 presidential election. Contrast with Sheikh Prof. Alh. Dr. Yahya Jammeh who famously retracted his electoral defeat concession days after the result. That decision has the potential to plunge the poor West African nation into civil war.
In Germany the prime minister, Angela Merkel whose polls still seem so strong was confronted by an unwelcome development. A 24-year-old Tunisian migrant and asylum seeker ran a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin killing 12 and wounding 48 others. She had been the chief champion of open borders, letting in 1.1 million migrants from war torn Syria. Incidentally she was attending an award ceremony to celebrate the International Day of Migrants. But on a Facebook posting of a poignant photo of herself, David Cameron, President Barrack Obama of America, Francois Hollande and Matteo Renzi someone had captioned, “And then there was one. Merkel next?” Obama was of course finishing his term in office. On Friday, January 20, 2017 he would cease to be president of America, handing over to his nemesis, Donald Trump. Obama had sworn in several public fora Trump would never be voted president. He staked his legacy on the outcome of the election. But Obama’s real legacy is removal of the ancient boundary marks the fathers had set. (Proverbs 22:28)
Yet Donald Trump is no ordinary politician. Indeed he is not a politician. He’s a real estate mogul with improbable hair who ran an improbable campaign. He’s like that battering ram in Daniel’s vision with two huge uneven horns of disdain for the establishment and political incorrectness. The ram charged west, north and south. No beasts could stand up to him. He did just as he pleased, strutting as if he were king of the beasts, magnifying himself. (Daniel 8:3-4)
Unlike his opponent Hillary Clinton, he presented no detailed plan of action. Just programme bullet points and a marketing slogan – Make America Great Again! Here are the bullet points: Build a wall between America and Mexico which Mexico will pay for; temporarily ban Moslems from entering America to stem the tide of terrorism (He’s now ambivalent on this); bring jobs back to America; renegotiate extant agreements like the North American Free trade Agreement and Trans Pacific Partnership; repeal Obamacare; cut taxes, and deal with the apocalyptic constellation ISIS. As candidates go, this was the most flawed candidate. He is thrice married and was caught on tape using very crude and vulgar terms. The tape was strategically released a month to the election yet it didn’t sink him! It would have sunk the Titanic.
Trump’s opponent on the other hand was described by Obama as the most qualified candidate in American history. She is an experienced stateswoman, wife of a former president and 67th United States Secretary of State. She spent a staggering $1.4 billion to prosecute the campaign and she still lost. (Trump spent $932.3 million). She was backed by the presidency, a powerful liberal media coalition, well-resourced non-governmental organisations, and big donors. And yet she lost.
One of the biggest players in the concluded election is 85 year-old Hungarian-American of Jewish descent. His name is George Soros. He qualifies as curious George. He neither believes in God nor identifies with his heritage. As a 14 year-old he had gone round his native Hungary with a Nazi officer seizing the assets of his fellow Jews. He expresses no remorse about this portion of his personal history. If not him it would have been someone else is his justification.
But George Soros is not your average magnate. In July 2014 Forbes listed him as the 27th richest man in the world, the world’s richest hedge-fund manager and 7th on the list of the 400 wealthiest Americans. He’s worth $24.9 billion. He is accused of using his money to destabilize nations. He bets against national currencies. Thailand labeled him an “economic war criminal.” His bet against the Thai Baht is said to have triggered the Asian financial crisis. With his extraordinary wealth he has funded revolutions in dozens of European countries, including Czechoslovakia, Croatia and Yugoslavia. He is fingered in the crisis in Ukraine. Russia declared his NGO a security threat. There’s a lot more to the refugee crisis in Europe than meets the eye. Google “Merkel Plan Soros Connection”
Soros’ political philosophy evokes eschatology. He has a globalist vision. His agenda is the destruction of national borders. He sees national borders as obstacles to his peculiar vision. He pushes his agenda through his appropriately named Open Society Foundations. Between 1979 and 2011 Soros donated more than $11 billion to his causes. This is a man who sees himself as supra sovereign. Says he’s fancied himself “as some kind of god” and carried potent “messianic fantasies” since childhood. He aims to curtail America’s sovereignty. And not just America, nations in general. He believes in subordination of nations. In 1998 he wrote, “The sovereignty of states must be subordinated to international law and international institutions.” He spent or committed to spend over $13million to support Hillary Clinton and other Democrats in the last election cycle.
What was most intriguing about the Hillary Clinton loss however is that poll after poll predicted victory for her. Of the ten leading polls only IBD/TPP gave Trump a chance of winning as at November 7, a day before the election. These poll experts have successfully called elections in the past, some using powerful and sophisticated algorithms. Yet they all got it wrong. By some estimates some 200 polls got it wrong. The polls remind one of that story in the Bible in which 400 prophets prophesied victory for the military partnership of two kings. (1 Kings 22) All prophesied success except a rebel prophet. He was implored to make the yes vote unanimous but he balked. He was branded an ancient equivalence of a non-progressive alt–right individual. There was ironically a prophecy-performance by one of those prophets of old, not unlike the nightly performances of pundits on CNN. He made a set of iron horns, brandishing them in demonstration of how the royal partnership would gore the enemy. Alas the battle turned out like Hillary Clinton’s prophesied victory. And so did Trump win. A spirit of delusion seemed to have descended on the pollsters, pundits and prophets on an industrial scale.
Why did such a flawed candidate win? Truth is, God never uses a moral prism for installation of people in power. Of the 42 kings who ruled ancient Israel and Judah, all except 8 did evil in the sight of God. A notable was Jeroboam. Those 34 kings spent a total of 359 years in power. God has been known to use kings who didn’t even know him. Cyrus the Great didn’t know God. (Isaiah 45:4) When it comes to political power, what is of essence to God is his programme. God will install whoever fits the bill. Note that God’s political programme includes “contra programmes.” It’s the Judas paradox. It accommodates the Antichrist. As it is written, “None of the rulers of this age understood this wisdom; for if they had they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” (1 Corinthians 2:8) The elevation of kings is not denominated in human righteousness. It is rooted in the sovereignty of God. “The most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.” (Daniel 4:17 KJV) And God has political signature flourishes. He’s a political artist who likes to sign his work with improbabilities. When the ordinary course of political ablution devolves into the improbable, God must necessarily become a suspect. As implausible as it seemed the Watchers installed an African as the president of America. The Watchers are an executive class of angels responsible for political installations and executive outcomes. (Daniel 4:17)
The spiritual man judges all things. (1 Corinthians 2:15) Sons of Issachar understand the times. (1 Chronicles 12:32) When the whole earth begins to speak the same vocabulary, and men begin to journey eastward, and they say one to another let us build a tower institution whose top will reach the heavens to challenge the suzerainty of God, and let us make a name for ourselves as a community of humans so we cannot be scattered…Then man has found his way back to Babel. Babel is Babylon. (Genesis 11:1-9) May the Lord grant you understanding this New Year!
© #Illuminare Leke Alder / talk2me@lekealder.com