By D Thomas

“‘Don’t  you know that I could call on my Father for help, and at once He would send me more than twelve armies of angels…?'” [ MATTHEW 26:53].

“While he was still speaking, suddenly a crowd came, and the one called Judas one of the twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him; but Jesus said to him, ‘Judas, is it with a kiss that you are betraying the Son of Man?’ When those who were around him saw what was coming, they asked, ‘Lord, should we strike with the sword?’ Then one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, ‘No more of this!’ And he touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple police, and the elders who had come for him, ‘Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a bandit? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness!’ Then they seized him and led him away;” [LUKE 22: 47-54a ].

“But this is your hour, and the power of darkness!”

There probably is not a lot to add.

When the so-called government of the richest, most powerful nation in the history of the planet turns the Keys To All Data in the federal computers over to an un-elected so-called businessman and his tech staff, and uses said businessman’s own company’s satellites and awards him astronomical contracts for federal space and tech; and the minions cut and slash programs and funds which help assure food and water, air and land, shelter and health care to orphans and widows, mothers and fathers and babies and grandparents in the nation and around the world; ignores the Courts declaring the orders and actions unconstitutional and illegal; fires or threatens physical harm or imprisonment for anyone who disagrees with them; and deports people without criminal records and who hold legal visas to foreign prisons notoriously foul as any Nazi prison camp–

It is hard not to go all Revelation, and say, Yes, this must be it.

“And the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority [to the beast] . One of its heads seemed to have received a death-blow, but its mortal wound had been healed. In amazement the whole earth followed the beast. They worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, ‘who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?’ The beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming His name and His dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them…

“Then I saw another beast that rose out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and it makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound had been healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of all…” [REVELATION 13: 2b-7, 11-13].

These surely sound like trump and Musk, but I do not believe that vision and prophecy can ever be related point by point, or that any one event is the one spoken of. God being eternal means being outside of or other than or including all time; some foretold destruction did happen in 70 C.E. when Rome destroyed Jerusalem and its Temple, but the destruction has happened again and again.

In many kingdoms, Beasts have raised their horned, marked, blasphemous heads, and have committed atrocities. Revelation perhaps shows us: in every era or generation, the dragon, evil, seeks to rise, or does ascend to power, building itself up on the fears of the people, fears easily blown into hate, and hate into violence. It is not hard to create The Enemy, the group which threatens “Us,” “Our Money, Our Position, Our Lives”. Always there is hardship causing citizens to suffer, as in Germany after World War I, but inflaming fear and hatred is the ploy of the dictators and would-be emperors and kings, who offer no solutions to improve general well-being, but add fear to fear, create crises, accuse Them, and turn people’s unease and fury against people who are weaker, who are threatening no one, who have little or nothing themselves, and no power.

“..No one can buy or sell who does not have the brand, that is, the name of the beast or the number for its  name;” [REV.  13:17].

As the Chief Priests and Officers of the Law enacted evil, those still supporting evil leaders are like the Friday crowds who called for the murderer and insurrectionist Barabbas to be pardoned instead of the healer, Jesus.

By stating that I do not think trump and Musk are the actual beasts envisioned by John in the Book of Revelation, I do say that they are beasts in the pattern of the blasphemous, worship-demanding beasts in Revelation. trump may not be The Anti-Christ, but he and his have been showing themselves anti-Christ in heart and mouth and mind.

This  short Good Friday essay is being written for the purpose of making my public statement:

I believe and know to the depths of my being that trump and DOGE speak and do evil. The actions and executive orders of this administration are inhumane, unconstitutional, and illegal. trump should be impeached and arrested, Vance impeached, Elon fired, and DOGE dismantled.

We must resist. We must refuse to comply, we must record and speak truth, we must protect the vulnerable, make phone calls, insist on due processes, and perform all the services and acts of kindness and love that we can. Use our signatures, signs, dollars, voices, and better vision as we can.

Take rests– the horrible, despicable daily events can debilitate us; as a group, a resistance, we must practice stagger breathing- not all taking a break at the same time-.

And, if possible, remember that Easter, too, happens; Jesus who was executed for blasphemy, rose from death, and the movement of Loving One Another grew and spread, over almost the whole earth. Most of the gains in human and environmental rights and safeguards of European or Western culture have grown out of loving our neighbors, being generous to the strangers and aliens among us, and stewarding the earth– quietly beside the power-seeking explorations, invasions, colonizations, exploitations, and mass-productions.

” Now have come the salvation  and power and the kingdom of God and the authority  of His Messiah,  for the accuser of our brothers  and  sisters  has been thrown  down…they have conquered  him by the blood of the Lamb. Rejoice,  then, you heavens and those who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and sea, for the  devil  has come down  to you with great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” [REV. 12: 10-12].