When I was teaching vocational classes years ago and witnessing the demise of Vo. Ed. in the schools one shop teacher made the astute observation, “If we could put a jockstrap on a lathe we’d be getting all the funding we need.” Unfortunately it wasn’t just the Vo. Ed. classes that were being eviscerated, but music and art classes as well. And no matter how politicians have tried to force the schools to make bricks without straw, demanding the schools to do the impossible without accountability anywhere in sight the enormous amounts of money thrown at education has not been the solution. America no longer values books and learning, real education, and the schools can’t compete against what an entire society, the media and politicians are “teaching” children. Whatever it is, it is certainly not the value of an education.

This came to mind as I was reading an article this morning where a writer made a telling point that politicians seem to be oblivious to science in America; which is one reason the EU built the Large Hadron Collider rather than the U.S. Watching and listening to the present crop of presidential contenders with the cooperation of an inane and supercilious MSM stomp ants while the elephants are rampaging through the village gives me a sense of foreboding. So I conclude these politicians and their MSM allies are either demon possessed or at the least demon influenced, a conclusion based on my belief most of them are sold out to Satan.

Well, that isn’t very scientific. But now that physicists are being forced to reconsider their concept of space-time continuum, a phrase rolling trippingly off the tongue and bandied about as though it were really understood instead of being a handy label in lieu of understanding, I am quite at ease with my thoughts about demons. Physicists are now in a tizzy fearing textbooks will have to be re-written, but I believe demons have been around throughout human history and I don’t think they have changed.

The General Epistle of Jude is very brief, but packed like dynamite with thoughts from antiquity concerning the Devil and his angels among other things. But politicians come immediately to mind when Jude writes “and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.” This is a text which I believe Emerson who was well schooled in the Bible echoed when he called attention to politicians only being a form of “respectable pickpockets” that while welcome in gatherings of polite society there is no less need of counting your spoons when they have left anymore than if a common thief had broken into your house to steal.

As to demons, I’ve been somewhat tardy in coming to the realization I have been battling these all my life. But so long as I am doing battle I take what comfort I can find in not having any need of an exorcist. The Devil doesn’t have me yet. And though the casting out of demons and unclean spirits have a prominent place in the New Testament especially, even if I were suffering such a thing I wouldn’t trust any of the present crop of “exorcists” to do the job. Nor am I inclined to trust our present day witchdoctors in the form of psychologists and psychiatrists. I have a Ph. D. in Human Behavior and too many “respectable witchdoctors” remind me of the shrink in “Silence of the Lambs.”

As a Bible scholar I have many questions concerning the various accounts of things given in the book. There are both the strengths and weaknesses of the book to consider, but you must not only know the book but its history as well to gain any understanding of it. And if you have read and compared the many extracanonical writings you understand why these were excluded for the most part from the canon as well as wondering why some were included, but over time what resulted in the Bible we know today came together as a consensus of opinion for the most part despite some continued disputation.

The account in Jude of the Archangel Michael disputing with Satan over the body of Moses makes the point confirmed elsewhere that the Devil is a dignitary even as he is referred to as the “god of this world.” This is one reason among several others I believe there are monsters among us, the spawn of Satan in the guise of humans that prey on women and children.

However, it should be kept in mind that the Archangel Michael holds a very special relationship to Israel, and in this capacity continues to do battle for Israel and might explain why this tiny nation continues to thrive and prosper though surrounded by enemies seeking its destruction. Since I believe in a spiritual world I have no difficulty accepting God has a hierarchy of angels such as mentioned in the Bible. But there is the problem of demons and the lack of those to be trusted in confronting them today as we find so common in the New Testament.

One explanation for this is the End Times during which the Devil knows his time is short and is busy deceiving many while his ministers multiply as “angels of light.” As Satan’s activities increase against humankind the deceivers multiply and the battle against demons is being fought with greater intensity. But the battle is fought by fewer and fewer as Satan gains ground and overcomes the opposition. Toward the “End of the Age” the world becomes so inured to evil that eventually it is virtually unrecognized as being evil, let alone believing the battle is not against flesh and blood but spiritual wickedness in high places. So it is the Bible cautions faith will be scarce here on earth in the End Times.

As I revel in the 100 degree temp that most quite understandably find uncomfortable I recalled the elderly woman in a desert community I read about some years ago that was found dead in the summer heat. She was wrapped in a blanket with a space heater at her feet in an obvious attempt to keep warm despite the heat of summer. Poor blood circulation causes many of the elderly to feel cold no matter how hot it gets, which is all the more reason to check on the elderly that live alone. Were it not for the fact I was a born desert rat and have always preferred desert temps to the cold of winter I might worry about myself succumbing to such a thing and be found like that elderly woman.

It is one thing for an old desert rat like me thriving in a “Bakersfield Summer” even here in the Kern River Valley without need of either A/C or swamp cooler to look at the thermometer and say to myself “I didn’t know it was that hot,” but you would think our leaders would be sensitive to such a thing. This is the analogy to the world being plunged into the darkness of evil. As sensitivity to the dangers of spiritual wickedness decreases, so does the ability to prepare, confront and deal with it.

While I came to realize my life has been a battle against demons I neither ask nor expect others to believe this. But for those like-minded I want to assure them they are not alone in the battle, and it makes sense of so much of the lunacy we witness here in America and throughout the world in these increasingly dangerous times and perhaps explains why politicians and the MSM are stomping ants while the elephants are rampaging through the village. I believe the Devil has deceived them and they simply don’t feel the heat.