Protests

“Hell, no we won’t go!” was the rallying cry of the 1960s-70s Vietnam War protestors. A decade earlier there were the Civil Rights protests. During the Great Depression, World War 1 vets marched on Washington DC demanding their long-promised bonus payments. Before that it was women marching for the right to vote. Previously it was citizens demanding that the US stay out of WW1, calling it, “Europe’s war.” These protests had a couple things in common: they were primarily peaceful and what little violence existed was initiated by the establishment and/or law enforcement, plus the protests were confined to the United States.

Just the opposite is true of protests in America today: they are mostly violent and violence appears to be initiated by the side doing the protesting while the side that’s supposed to protect citizens stands passively by. The other thing different about the protests of today is that they are not confined to the USA but have spread across the globe.

In preparing to write this, I looked at protests across the globe thinking to make a list; South America seemed a good place to start. Virtually EVERY country in South America would make the list. Turns out it would be easier to list countries that have NOT experienced citizen protests in the past twelve months than those that have. This is unprecedented in history. Every ruler who ever existed had the same common fear, the rise of the mob. It’s out-of-control mobs that overthrow governments. Think American Revolution or French Revolution or Russian Revolution. For this very reason, dictators have been quick to put down protests. Currently unfolding on the news is Belarus. An angry, ever-growing mob is trying to bring down 26 year-long dictator Lukashenko and he is desperately trying to contain it.

Jesus told his disciples that among the signs pointing to His soon return were, “Nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.” (Mt 24:7; Mark 13:8; Luke 21:10) In English, “nations” invoke the thought of large swaths of land having definite boundaries and laws while “kingdoms” invoke thoughts of European castles and jousting knights. But in the New Testament the root meaning of the words, “nation” and “kingdom” carry very different connotations.

The New Testament Greek word “nation” is defined as race or tribe; the primary root of this word is ethnos from which we get our word ethnic and refers to custom or manner. This definitely covers black vs white, Sunni vs Shiite, Jewish vs anti-Semitics, Islam vs Christian. Throw in the Kurds in Turkey, the Uyghurs in China, Rohingya in Myanmar, multiple countries experiencing ethnic fighting in Africa plus many more examples not cited here and you have a picture of a world in conflict.

The New Testament Greek word translated in English as “kingdom” means the foundation of power. How about Democrat vs Republican, which has resulted in paralyzation of congress, unending lies and disgusting hate speech spewed across social media platforms and in-person confrontations? When the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis turned into violence, they were immediately mimicked by other cities and countries. It’s as if people were simply waiting for an excuse to vent their violent and destructive natures.

Why does this matter? Obviously, it’s one of the signs Jesus specifically called out as pointing to His soon return. Later, in this same Mount Olivet Discourse (Mt 24), He points out how the times of the end would be like the days of Noah, “The wickedness of the human race had become great on the earth, and every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” (Gen 6: 5)

Also of interest are implications for a future antichrist that is given authority by ten “kings” or foundations of power (Rev 17:12). Since power is rarely given up voluntarily, why would ten heads of power willingly hand over their authority to one entity? The answer could be because these foundations of power are completely unable to control their citizens-turned-mob.

As was discussed before – and will be again – the antichrist doesn’t just show up in the midst of a peaceful world and demand authority. Rather, the global situation is pre-paved and made ready for his arrival and rise to power. The whole world gone nuts is the PERFECT scenario. Along comes a guy who claims to be able to get chaos under control and bring about the “peace and safety” so desperately desired by people would be more than welcomed.

Jesus also pointed out “wars and rumors of war,” as being a warning. Next time we’ll begin looking at recently past and soon-to-be wars in the Middle East that, against all odds, Israel continues to win.

Please, neither offhandedly accept nor reject what is said in this blog. Check it out. Look it up for yourself in the Bible. If you are a child of God, you are in good hands and there is the most wonderful eternity waiting for you. If you are not a Christ follower, now is a really good time to honestly explore the truth claims of the Bible.