Interesting world now

We are in an interesting period in the world right now. In Egypt, there are still demonstrations going on asking for freedom. In Tunisia, a new government is being set up. In Bahrain, protesters are getting shot every day now. In Lybia the news are blocked, even from our busybody networks, but what little news leaks out is that there is an increasing death toll between protesters. Algeria has periodic protests. Jordan is also having protests and its entire parliament has been sacked. Days of protest have happened in Yemen, and the president has announced that he will not run for another term in office after three decades in power. But, interestingly enough, uhm, the calls so far are more for a Western style freedom than for any type of Islamic republics. While the Muslim Brotherhood did make a show at the final stages of the Egyptian coup, that seemed to be more a desperate attempt to grab news and a part in the coming government than any real involvement by them.

Well, that is, except for Glenn Beck, who is convinced that this is all a secret conspiracy that will lead to the setting up of an Islamic Caliphate. Ah, he also appears to include President Obama, Communists, and union leadership as part of that group. On the Bill O’Reilly interview above, in response to questioning by Mr. O’Reilly, he charged that there was an organization called One Nation that was plotting to ferment chaos and overthrow in the United States. Mr Beck said:

One nation is a combination of the labor unions, the communist organizations, the green movement, there is about 30 different organizations.

The video I included above, shows that Mr. O’Reilly was not at all convinced of the claims of Mr. Beck, which I find a bit of a relief. Some other conservatives are finally speaking up against this type of talk. William (Bill) Kristol, the founder of The Weekly Standard and a Fox News commentator said:

Hysteria is not a sign of health. When Glenn Beck rants about the caliphate taking over the Middle East from Morocco to the Philippines, and lists (invents?) the connections between caliphate-promoters and the American left, he brings to mind no one so much as Robert Welch and the John Birch Society. He’s marginalizing himself, just as his predecessors did back in the early 1960s.

I am thankful that some conservatives are finally beginning to admit that what is being promoted by the radical right is simply a re-worked version of John Birch thinking in many areas, including its biases, stereotypes, and xenophobia.

The frightening thought is that I did a skim through many blogs which are quite prepared to believe that the uprisings in the Middle East are part of the drive towards a one world government by a secret super-conspiracy that somehow manages to encompass multiple groups and yet be fully hidden from the world. Although, I must say that the more extreme conspiracy theorists argue that the media is in league in this conspiracy which is how the news is kept from leaking out. Given how many news outlets in this, and other, countries the Murdoch organization owns, this appears to be a rather odd claim because it would mean that Mr. Murdoch is deliberately running organizations such as Fox News as a front to appear to provide balance in the media while really helping to bring about the apocalypse that he appears to be opposing with opinion broadcasters such as Mr. Beck.

But I bring this up for a theological reason. Most people do not realize that the Latter Day Saints have a prophecy from the 19th century that has been nicknamed the White Horse Prophecy. It was discussed by more than one of the leaders of the Saints, and is particularly discussed by them in the early 20th century.

The Saints Will Yet Save the Constitution-When the day comes in which the Kingdom of God will bear rule, the flag of the United States will proudly flutter unsullied on the flagstaff of liberty and equal rights, without a spot to sully its fair surface; the glorious flag our fathers have bequeathed to us will then be unfurled to the breeze by those who have power to hoist it aloft and defend its sanctity. (JOD 2:317).

How long will it be before the words of the prophet Joseph will be fulfilled? He said if the Constitution of the United States were saved at all it must be done by this people. It will not be many years before these words come to pass. 12:204.

When the Constitution of the United States hangs, as it were, upon a single thread, they will have to call for the “Mormon” Elders to save it from utter destruction; and they will step forth and do it. 2:182. (Brigham Young, Discourses of Brigham Young, selected and arranged by John A. Widtsoe, p.360, 361)

The Prophet Joseph told us that he saw the day when even the Constitution of the United States would be torn and hang as by a thread. But, thank the Lord, the thread did not break. He saw the day when this people would be a balance of power to come to its defense. (Conference Report, October 1928)

I believe that it is the destiny of the Latter-day Saints to support the Constitution of the United States. The Prophet Joseph Smith is alleged to have said—and I believe he did say it—that the day would come when the Constitution would hang as by a thread. But he saw that the thread did not break, thank the Lord, and that the Latter-day Saints would become a balance of power, with others, to preserve that Constitution.(Conference Report, April 1933)

Many of the Saints have quietly let these prophecies and discourses fade. But, Mr Beck appears to be a strong supporter of these writings, and appears to see this as the time when the prophecies come true. He also sees himself as one chosen by God for this time, to defend this country and its Constitution. (He has said this more than once on his show.) That is, in many ways he sees himself as a modern-day Mormon prophet. Please understand that the White Horse Prophecy sees the Saints as the moral and spiritual leaders of this nation at the time when that prophecy comes true, and as the natural leaders who will do what is necessary to protect the Constitution.

Sadly, all too many politically conservative Christians are not aware of their unwitting support for the fulfillment of a long-standing Mormon prophecy. And, they continue to deny that they are being led down the John Birch path, which like the Yellow Brick Road, appears to lead to something akin to the Land of Oz, a place in which logic is suspended and the little man with no real answers tells us not to look behind the curtain. May they snap out of their stupor.