Friday, August 18, 2006

The Last Shall Be First and the First Last

Subtitled: The Role of the United States in the History of Israel
(or: Samuel has lost his mind)

To even the least observant among us, world events have, of late, brought one's attention unavoidably to the geographic, political, and eschatological center of the known universe--by that I mean, of course, Israel. It therefore behooves the more observant and productive among us to contribute to the universal discourse his thoughts on the matter. So, with the reader's leave, I beg of you all to allow me to go out on a limb, as it were, and put something to you afresh that you may or may not have yet considered. But first, a brief disclaimer...

ATTN: Anti-Semitic Lefitst reader; Everything I think and say is from the perspective of a God-fearing Christian whose Redeemer, a Jew, was slain by his kin and yet lives; and by Whose Blood I, a descendent of Viking barbarians, am made as one directly from the line of Abraham. So, get in, sit down, shut up, and hold on! (...'cause this is gonna get hairy.)

Now, where was I? Ah, yes, my spiel...(ahem) ...

When did the Enlightenment occur? When were the grand experiments on human liberty commenced in the old and the new worlds? Right, roughly between the beginning of the 17th Century and the end of the 18th century…to put it more broadly, sometime between the Diaspora and the middle of the 20th century. During this time, Israel was comfortably out of the picture and Zionism was under control.

Over the centuries leading up to 1947-1949, the world underwent the growing pains associated with the emergence of Liberty (at least as it is presently manifested in the United States). By this, I mean (and I beg your indulgence on my attempt at cramming hundreds of years of world history into a mustard seed husk) the Wittenberg Theses of Luther sparked the Reformation, giving rise to Protestantism; the Church Universal was toppled as supreme political power, launching nation states, energizing science and learning and industry, vastly expanding the literacy of the common people, thereby endangering monarchy and aristocracy.

The east falls to the left (atheistic communism, the State remains supreme ruler) and the west falls to the right (unalienable rights of man granted by the Creator, the individual rules the State, under God). England is slow to accept this Liberty-of-the-people business, and they pay for it dearly with the loss of America; The United States of America comes into being and grows and grows and grows, in size and in strength--especially in strength. The phoenix of Germany rises again and again and is struck down again.

Finally, after many centuries, with the help of the new United Nations, Israel returns to statehood in the midst of an arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union. Without the Soviet Union, USA is the major power in the UN, thereby becoming the default armorer of Israel. Immediately, Israel is attacked, and they quite convincingly crush their attackers… thanks to whom? The United States. Again and again, Israel is attacked, and each time they reclaim the land they once held without question before Babylon and Assyria came around thousands of years earlier.

The brief point I am making here is that, while Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, wherever they are, history has always been for the benefit of Israel; Liberty thrives for the benefit of Israel.

I surely must have stepped on more than a couple of toes out there, so I am dying to hear the reader's response to all my blarney. Seriously, I'd like this to be discussed honestly; please tell me how you feel and what you think.

Samuel Adams

5 comments:

Michael Tams said...

Samuel,

You make some hard-to-argue with points!

Let me think on it and reserve my comments for a day or so.

Well-said, brother.

-AH

Anonymous said...

"And I will bless them that bless thee,
And curse him that curseth thee:
And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed."
Genesis 12:3 KJV

"For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself above all the nations that are upon the earth."
Deut 14:2 KJV

" I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;"
Isaiah 42:6 KJV

"For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." Romans 11:25 KJV

I don't think any of these verses would be considered out of context as answers to your call for discussion.

Michael Tams said...

Samuel,

I can't disagree with you, but to say that I perhaps take a wider view of the role of America in world affairs. This, I am certain, is no secret to you, dear Friend.

Josiah Quincy said in 1774: "For, under God, we are determined that wheresoever, whensoever, or howsoever we shall be called to make our exit, we will die free men."

I believe it is our Sacred Duty to secure first for ourselves the blessings of Freedom. Our Republic can, by example, be then a beacon of hope to freedom-loving people throughout the world. And, yes, if we're able to secure Freedom and Liberty to ourselves, then we have a secondary duty to provide support, encouragement, and aid to the promotion of Freedom and Liberty outside our borders.

A quote I like from the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts Bay, again in 1774: "Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual... Continue steadfast, and with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us."

-AH

Mr. Light Bulb said...

Mr. Adams, greetings from Texas. Haven't seen much of you until now.

Mom is right. (Man, how many times have we begrudgingly had to say that line?) That is, the verses she quotes lead to this conclusion: our nation has been blessed by God because we bless Israel. Call me hardheaded, but in my mind, that's simply indisputable fact.

Another thread to weave here (especially in paragraph six of your post) is the power model that remained in Europe and the one developed (realized) in America. In Europe, they saw power/rights as handed down from God to the rulers/state. The state would then parcel out what powers it chose to the people. In America, we see power as a gift from God to ALL the people. We the people, then, grant our power temporarily to the government. ("...deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.")

Note: this is NOT a thought original to me, but a memory of a fantastic Newt Gingrich speech I saw on C-SPAN a few years ago.

Mr. Light Bulb

Edmund Schrag said...

Indeed, Mr. Bulb. "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out," saith the Lord, what?