Lyndon Johnson has a legacy.  Of course “progressivism” (read: liberalism, socialism, Marxism, Hegelianism) didn’t start with him.  It didn’t even start in the United States with him.  Woodrow Wilson (under whom the federal income tax was established) was the first true progressive (read: liberal Democrat) president in US history.  FDR is probably the most well known of the liberal Democrat presidents, under whose watch much of the current nanny state was established.

Johnson’s term was a tipping point in that the already pervasive nanny state collided with the civil rights movement (which began, like women’s suffrage, as a noble cause) and the decay of traditional morality and ethics in society. 1968’s “war on poverty” continues on, but poverty marches on as if there had never been any sort of meaningful battle waged against it.  If one follows the trillions of dollars extorted from American taxpayers, one will find that precious little of it, save for in the Gucci purse of the occasional welfare queen who has learned how to put the screws to Uncle Sam, has ever found its way to the poor. There are, however, many suspiciously wealthy career politicians. They are suspiciously prominent on the blue side of the aisle…

Today in 2019, civil rights have morphed into an irrational, untamed and ravenous monster.  Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King have given way to such fools as Rashida Tlaib

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In the name of civil rights there are endless taxpayer sponsored entitlements for everyone under the sun, especially for illegal immigrants and pet minority groups- but nothing but a big middle finger for those who are legal citizens who work and pay taxes.

In the name of civil rights there is discrimination- but only for those of northern European descent.

In the name of civil rights what was for thousands of years considered to be perversion and debauchery is celebrated and given legal preference over heterosexual marriage and family.

In the name of civil rights wicked people “celebrate their abortions” and encourage and promote abortion on demand.  Let’s call “abortion” what it is, murdering a human being-in spite of scientific proof that human life begins at conception.  Never mind that “a woman’s right to choose” begins with the word NO, unless she is willing to accept the potential consequences of her sexual behavior.

The definition of civil rights has transformed from the essential right of a human being to be regarded as equal to other human beings to that pithy dictum from Orwell’s Animal Farm: “Some pigs are more equal than others.”

We shouldn’t be surprised by what’s happening.  Even the framers’ best attempts to keep our government honest and balanced haven’t been entirely effective, and they won’t be, because there is no such thing as a 100% honest person. I am not a Calvinist, but I agree, John Calvin was completely correct in his assessment of the total depravity of man.  The current corruption and debauchery of those in American government at all levels are living proof that Calvin was right on that point. (I would argue with him on limited atonement and irresistible grace, but I am a Lutheran and that is a whole different issue.)

We have been warned.  I will give a brief disclaimer before I get into what I’m going to say.  I am a Christian.  I am a confessional (meaning I accept the teachings of the Book of Concord, i.e. the Lutheran Confessions, as being a true witness to the veracity of Scripture) Lutheran Christian which is not a popular form of Christianity here in the US.  Confessional Lutherans do not adhere to the “Left Behind” style of eschatology(eschatology is the study of end times) that is popular in apocalyptic action movies.   Rather, I hold to the confessional Lutheran stance of sola scriptura, which means: Scripture alone.  My eschatology (amillennialism)is derived from what the Holy Scriptures have to say about the days leading up to the return of the Lord and the end of days.

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Isaiah 5:20 (ESV)

I am not going to presume to set dates for the end of the world.  I think it’s funny when people try.  Jesus told us pretty much what we need to know about the end of the world in Matthew 24:36-51.