Running to Gomorrah

Resisting the Spirit of the World

By J. Jeff Toler for Shenandoah Christian Alliance  j.toler@sca4christ.org

Turning and turning in the widening gyre   

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere   

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst   

Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;

Surely the Second Coming is at hand.   

The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out   

When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi*

Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert   

A shape with lion body and the head of a man,   

A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,   

Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it   

Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.   

The darkness drops again; but now I know   

That twenty centuries of stony sleep

Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,   

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,   

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? —WB Yeats, “The Second Coming”

Not many thought Donald J. Trump was serious when he announced his candidacy for president June 16, 2015. Not many thought he had any real chance of winning—certainly not many in the media or the Democratic Party, which of course, are one and the same. Both made the mistake of not taking him seriously. This, it turned out was a strategic blunder, an unforced error, a really big mistake. In their effort to ridicule, malign, and mock him, something interesting happened. As they devoted an enormous amount of time and coverage of him and his remarks, usually delivered during his campaign rallies, people—the real people—began to take him very seriously. In spite of his course speech and the fierce rejoinders to his critics. 

His rallies drew crowds of unprecedented numbers. The people were cheering and shouting. They hadn’t seen anything quite like this. The media thought they knew this man—the way they always “know” people—strictly by their identity. But of course, they didn’t really know him at all. Worse, they didn’t know the people who would vote for him. And so, two things happened for which they were fully unprepared. He spoke his mind without the typical tailored campaign rhetoric, and he spoke about the genuine, unvarnished pride he took in the country he loved.

He wanted to make America great again. And soon enough, it would become very clear that more than half of America wanted that too.

It turns out the man who wrote the book on the art of the deal, who made a fortune in one of the most cynical places on earth—New York City—actually knew how to preside over a nation. Trump managed to accomplish something all other politicians usually fail to do: he kept most of his campaign promises. We can prove this just by reading the official historical record. Just as soon as we discover where it’s been hidden.

What took place this past Thursday, however, is no small matter. To say it’s outrageous and unprecedented are understatements. It’s a seismic event never witnessed before in this nation’s history. There are some who are saying these days presage the return of Christ. Well, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, we ought to be reminded that the United States of America can make no claim that its God-blessed power and might is all that has prevented this denouement from taking place already.

What is true is that America has suffered something only a handful of countries can claim: it has attempted political and societal suicide. Only emergency resuscitation can revive her now, because “anarchy is loosed and innocence is drowned.”

It’s unnecessary to recount the details, present the timeline, or bemoan the travesty of the New York City trial of a former president, whose only real crime is running for re-election. Legal experts will tell you the verdict will be overturned. The judge was conflicted and utterly biased. The jury instructions were perverted… and so on, and so forth. 

Well, so what? If all anyone can do is object, albeit passionately, what difference does it make? So far, up to this point, this is how we have been implementing resistance to the takedown of America. Objecting. Up to this point it amounts to little more than whining. Being stripped of jurisprudence, due process, and liberty in this drama does not fall solely on the protagonist. 

No. It falls on us. We are the real victims here, and we will pay the penalty of having no one to keep us out of prison ourselves one day. Unless… we try a different script and subject the forces of evil, masquerading as one of only two political parties in this country, to their own game. We start by playing—not by their rules—but by better rules, and abandoning the norm that we’ve convinced ourselves will one day, someday, save the day.

Matt Walsh, (pictured) writing in the “Daily Wire” summed up his feelings this way:

“Frankly, I don’t want to hear elected Republicans complaining about this verdict. I don’t need to see their tweets and statements condemning it. The only thing I want to hear from these people is which Democrats they will have arrested. Don’t tell us that you’re sad about the verdict. We don’t give a damn about your feelings. We want to see corrupt Democrat criminals frog marched on camera in handcuffs. Don’t whine about the double standard. Force the Democrats’ own standards upon them. Drag them there kicking and screaming. If you won’t do that, then just shut up.”

Harsh? Yes, but even though it’s hard to argue against that, we must be careful. If for no other reason, the enemies of liberty are preparing for just such a contingency. 

For us, “the rough beast” of decadence, long in incubation, has fully reached maturity. Things have fallen apart, because predictably, the “center failed to hold” against the hour that has finally arrived. We are not so much slouching toward Bethlehem as are at this moment full out running toward Gomorrah.  

Yes, we must consider the return of Christ. It’s well that we do. He will keep His promise, but what will He find? In His Kingdom on this earth—Christendom—will he see us still negotiating with Spiritus Mundi? God forbid. For those believers like myself, Jesus expects us to participate—yes even lead—in the government we were given as a blessing, and charged with upholding it, in its hard responsibility. We can do that and still worship what our eternal enemy hates…

• For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6)

* The spirit of the world