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God and Government Glue

Sometimes the line between religion and pure madness is pretty thin.

A religious group in Michigan was arrested a couple of days ago.  They planned to ambush police officers and kill them, and then go to the funeral and kill some more officers.  They described themselves as acting on behalf of God, getting ready for the battle at the end of the world, when the forces of God and the forces of government would wage what the Book of Revelation calls, "Armageddon".  

Inside their murderous heads, they took God's side against government evil.

A long time ago, in a previous life, I had a sermon published in a volume of young promising preachers.  I recall the title of the sermon was, "God and Government Glue".  Other than licking stamps, I do not remember what it was about.  I do not think it had to do with killing policemen for God. 

Other than the pure madness of planning murder, those people saw a world in which the end times was near, in which God and all his angels and all his murderous militia would be waging a battle for good against the evil of police officers, and health care, and paying taxes to build bridges.  They live in a world that is so primitive and outrageous that a sane person can hardly imagine it:  a cosmic battle between angels and demons, between God and government, between armed 21st century savages and people who aren't Christian! 

Have we all gone mad?  How can a nation proceed sensibly when there are people like that, carring guns out in the woods, reading the Book of Revelation?  They are lunatics! 

And, apparently, about a quarter of the population believes something almost like that:  Armageddon, a war between good and evil, God on that side, government glue on the other.  I listen to a gathering of men, poring over their Bibles, talking about the end times, and who is going to be saved, and who will be damned to eternal perdition, and I hope they are harmless; just lost souls, and not from Michigan, or Idaho, or Montana.

And I also hope they are not registered to vote.

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