SONG OF THE ANTI-CHRIST 8 OCT 2013

A fresh look at why evil contains the seed of its own destruction.

The German & Japanese people are intelligent, hard-working, & are expected to perform to high standards. A large share of the credit for their economic miracles after their nations’ total destruction in WW II goes to their industriousness, tenacity & fine work. But what happens when an entire nation gets caught up in pride? Heading into WW II, both peoples were consumed w/ pride. Germany deemed they were the master race for Europe; Japan for Asia. When they conquered territories that had been subjugated by others—for instance, the Baltic states & the Ukraine by Russia, the Philippines, Burma, East Indies, & Pacific Islands by the colonial powers, the natives at first wanted to celebrate their liberation and assist the Axis powers (Ger. & Japan). Filled w/ pride, the Japanese & Germans could not accept other people as equals, only as conquered vassals. Burma’s govt. & troops initially joined Japan, until they saw how the Japanese acted, & then they turned against them. Both axis powers lost a great deal of assistance because of their pride and it contributed to their fall. For instance, large amounts of badly needed near-priceless supplies were lost to Ukrainian partisans, when Ukraine could have been an ally fighting Stalin. The reader has probably heard the proverb “pride goes before the fall”. (PRV 16:18)

History is full of examples of someone’s pride leading to destruction. The Bible has plenty of examples also: Pharaoh (EX 5:2), Uzziah (2 CHR 26:16), Hezekiah (2 CHR 32:25), Haman (EST 3:5), Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 4:30), Herod (Acts 12:22,23) and others. This post is a look at the pattern of false confidence of sinners described in Psalm 10:6.

Text of PSALM 10: 1) Why stand so far, YHWH, hiding thyself in time of need? 2) The wicked man in his pride hunts down the poor, may his crafty schemes be his own undoing! 3) The wicked man is obsessed w/ his own desires, & in his greed gives wickedness his blessing 4) arrogant as he is, he scorns YHWH & leaves no place for God in all his schemes. 5) His ways are always devious; His judgments are beyond his grasp, and he scoffs at all restraints. 6) He says to himself, ‘I shall never be shaken; no misfortune can check my course.’ 7) His mouth is full of lies & violence; mischief & trouble lurk under his tongue. 8) He lies in ambush in the villages…[then it describes all the evil things he does]…11) He says to himself, ‘God has forgotten; he had hidden his face & has seen nothing.’ (I have provided an uncommon trans., you can compare w/ yr. own translation.) [verses 12-18 omitted]

PSALM 10 does such a good job describing powerful evil men that Augustine & Luther concluded (by the way w/out any supportive evidence) that Psalm 10 must describe the AntiChrist! I would say it applies to Satan’s hench men, the big boys that run the world who are steeped in arrogance, pride & power.
LET’S REVIEW, verse by verse…1) God doesn’t hide, but it can seem that way when we are a war casualty hurt by Satan’s dark kingdom. Has He covered His eyes & ears? we ask. He sure is silent. At times, we are also being provided a test or chastisement. At any rate, these things don’t scare us if we fix our heart by trusting in the Lord.(PS 112:7) 2) The poor get persecuted by the rich. For instance, here when the homeless find a place to camp where no one is bothered, soon the cops chase them off. 3) The wicked boasts & brags of his evil life, honors himself & those like himself. His greed is coveting which is idolatry.(EPH 5:5) Mammon is his God. 4) Here we see the attitude of politicians, banksters, corporate elite—all the oppressive elite who see none greater than themselves…they are legends in their own minds. They are enchanted to forget God. God is out of sight & out of mind. Their faces show no fear or care for anything or anyone. 5) The elite appear to succeed even while they oppose God. (PS 37 & 92 remind us that their prosperity is shortlived.) Since YHWH doesn’t immediately punish every sin, the ungodly don’t see any judgment. They only care about no. 1, themselves. 6.) And here was the main verse that inspired me to share Psalm 10, verse 6 where the elite have their false carnal security. The elite’s pride soars, but what goes up will come down into the ground, just like Satan’s pride took him from heaven to hell. They can give themselves all the awards they want, it is not going to save them from the fall stemming from their pride.

Verses 12-15 is the prayer of the oppressed. And the last 3 verses are just confirmation that God is indeed watching as Sovereign over things. At this point, I want to share something. At West Point there were many tough days & in the middle of exhaustion at the end of an impossible day one would wonder if it were possible to continue, but a fresh new beautiful day always arrived. (cf. ISA 21:11) The sun always arose. God says He will change our fasts to feasts.(ZECH 8:19) An anointed messenger will give us the oil of gladness for our mourning (ISA 61:3). The picture of ISA 61:3 is of a black clothed mourner with ashes in the hair having God’s anointed smooth out the ashes w/ a gentle hand and place a garland (lei) around the head or neck, and then anoint the person w/ joyful oil, and hand them festive clothes. The point I am making is that—yes there are hard times and sorrows…after the sorrow is joy…after the difficult day comes a new day for there is never a night so long, that the morning birds don’t have a song. Winter’s ugly soil plowed barren becomes spring’s beautiful garden.

To wrap this all up, a quick true story that illustrates evil destroying itself, & that joy can follow sorrow. A jerk went to a restaurant and demanded that this woman dance w/ him. She refused. He pulled a gun & shot her several times. Believing her dead, he ran, tripped over her body, and died from the fall. She recovered from the gunshot wounds. For thousands of years, the evil elite has been exactly like Psalm 10 describes them: proud that nothing can do anything to them. Mortality will give them a reality check.