Donald Trump’s America

There are a few positive things that one may take away from Donald Trump’s speech at the RNC last night.

He seems to hold something of a familial view of the American people, with himself as a father figure, which is a step, however small, toward a restoration of hierarchy and monarchy. 

He wants to tear up the globalists so-called free trade agreements from NAFTA to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which only serve to destroy nationhood and empower transnational banks and corporations.

He wants to bring an end to the policy of regime change and nation-building.

He didn’t saber-rattle against Russia like some of the other RNC speakers before him did.

It was pretty much downhill from there, however.  Most disturbing was the total lack of any mention of strengthening the Church at home or abroad, except for one strange remark near the end, in which he promised to stop the IRS’s policing of political speech coming from the pulpits of evangelical churches.  There was no mention of this applying to any other Christians, whether Orthodox or non-Orthodox.  One assumes that they would be included as well should such a law be passed, but the fact that he singled out evangelicals seems to point to an effort to pander to them for their votes rather than any real desire to strengthen Christianity in the States.

This suspicion is only strengthened by his promise to protect ‘LGBTQ citizens’ from Islamic terrorists, a promise he did not see fit to make to Christians in the States or abroad in Syria, Iraq, Libya, etc.

Besides all this is the effect his ideology of American nationalism will have on anything resembling local cultures in the various States and regions of the union.  His brand of super-concentrated secular Puritanism/American exceptionalism will unleash a wave of greed and materialism and pride so corrosive that one should expect little of the history and traditions of the South and the other regions (save parts of New England) to come through it in reasonably good health.

Sadly, one sees the further drift of the States from faith in the Most Holy Trinity to faith in themselves, in the idea of America as the perfecter of humanity.

But, these things notwithstanding, let us suppose that Mr Trump did ‘make America great again’ as he defines that phrase.  What would it profit them in the long run?  There are a couple of ensamples from the Holy Scriptures that they ought to pay special heed to.

First is the northern kingdom of Israel under King Jeroboam II.  We read in II Kings 14 (http://christiananswers.net/bible/2ki14.html),

23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty and one years.

24 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.

25 He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher.

26 For the LORD saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel.

27 And the LORD said not that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven: but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.

28 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he warred, and how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath, which belonged to Judah, for Israel, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

29 And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel; and Zachariah his son reigned in his stead.

Jeroboam II ‘made Israel great again’, increasing her territory and worldly glory.  Yet less than 30 years later, the northern tribes of Israel were led into captivity by Assyria because they forsook the worship of the true God.

Second is the southern kingdom of Judah under King Hezekiah.  We read in II Chronicles 32 (http://christiananswers.net/bible/2chr32.html),

22 Thus the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all other, and guided them on every side.

23 And many brought gifts unto the LORD to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth.

 . . .

27 And Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honour: and he made himself treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all manner of pleasant jewels;

28 Storehouses also for the increase of corn, and wine, and oil; and stalls for all manner of beasts, and cotes for flocks.

29 Moreover he provided him cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance: for God had given him substance very much.

30 This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works.

King Hezekiah likewise ‘made Judah great again’ in the Trumpish sense.  But because of her stiff-necked idol worship, Judah lasted only about 100 years more before Babylon came and desolated her land.

What awaits Americans if they sell their souls for Donald Trump’s vision of worldly greatness? 

* * * * *

Do not go a-whoring after the earthly riches and glory held out to you by Donald Trump, dear Southron.  There are other fathers--better fathers--Holy Fathers, and Holy Mothers, too, waiting to embrace you, to show you the path to true greatness by lowliness, and the path to true riches by poorness; who nurtured your Southern forebears of England, Ireland, and so on with the good things of Heaven and earth, and earnestly desire to do the same for you, their kinsmen.

King Ælfred the Great of England, the South’s holy patron saint, who spared no effort to rebuild Orthodox Christianity in England after defeating and converting the Danish invaders, and who desired the discomfort of a disease of the bowels that he might enjoy rest in Heaven rather than an easy life here on the earth--he wishes to be a father to you, to impart wisdom to you, to pray for you, to help you bear your burdens during your sojourn here on the earth.

St Andrew the Holy Apostle, Scotland’s patron saint, who endured hardships of many kinds and finally crucifixion for his burning love of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose X-shaped cross adorns the Scottish and Southern flags--he wishes to be a father to you, to pour into your heart the warmth of God’s love.

St Hilda, abbess of Whitby, and St Audrey (Etheldreda), abbess of Ely, whose monasteries helped to bring many heathen Anglo-Saxons into the Church and to strengthen the Faith in the English lands--they wish to be mothers to you, to purify your heart of the stench of the disordered passions that the sweet fragrance of the Holy Ghost may dwell there, that He might be united with you.

St Ninian of Whithorn and his mother St Theneva, St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, St Moses the Ethiopian, St Patrick of Ireland, St Martin of Tours, St Leander of Seville, and all of our kinfolk in the Heavenly Southland--they are waiting.  They are waiting for you to rest in the tenderness of their love, which will help you in all the circumstances of your life.

Upheld by their prayers, guided by their hands, may all Southerners be freed from the tyranny of the passions and healed of their sinfulness, that we might be made worthy of political independence (which will only be squandered on sinful living if we are not first cleansed), that we might use it to honor the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost at all times, and all those Saints the Lord has honored as His friends.

This is true blessedness for a people, the stuff from which a Christian nation may be formed.

But that no one will think such things exist only in our imaginations--May God grant that soon we too may honor St Ælfred and all our Dear Ones as Georgia and other Orthodox countries honor theirs:

Tbilisi, November 24, 2014

On November 23 the Georgian Orthodox Church celebrated the St. George’s (Giorgob) Day. Great Martyr George the Victory-Bearer is venerated as patron-saint of the Georgian people and is particularly loved in Georgia, reports Gruzia Online.

On this day His Holiness Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II of All Georgia celebrated a festal service at the Holy Trinity Cathedral.

The Georgian president and prime minister were present at the service. They came to the cathedral together with their families.

The day before it was reported that on the occasion of St. George’s Day, Georgian president Georgy Margvelashvili had granted presidential pardons to 121 convicts.

According to the presidential order, 93 prisoners were to be released on that day, and punishment was mitigated for 28 more convicts. In addition to this, the prison sentence was reduced by half to one felon convict.

There were three women and three minors among those pardoned.

In Georgia, St. George the Victory-Bearer is commemorated twice a year: on November 23 (the Breaking on the Wheel of Holy Greatmartyr George) and May 6 (the Beheading of St. George).

Source:  http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/75417.htm, accessed 22 July 2016