If it were not so serious, so tragic, it would be laughable to look at the leaders of our generation — particularly the geopolitical leadership — while they pridefully deal with the issues and events of the times. They assemble, make plans and proclamations, issue sanctions and institute protocols and resolutions. They tilt with rage in Don Quixote - like fashion against the windmills of the world, determined to establish absolute control over all who would defy them.
It forever reminds me of the famous kids’ story from my childhood, the story from the Uncle Remus series called “Tar Baby.” Br’er Rabbit was a recurring character in the series. He was a quite clever bunny, some readers might remember. Br’er Rabbit was the one Br’er Fox and Br’er Bear was always trying to catch, in order to make a meal of him.
Br’er Rabbit was always the winner – like the time when Br’er Bear, I think it was, was about to make hash of him. Br’er Rabbit begged Br’er Bear to do anything…ANYTHING!…to him rather than throw him in the Briar Patch. The big, dumb Br’er Bear so hated the rabbit because he had eluded the Bear’s clutches so many times that rather than eat him, he fell for the reverse psychological ploy and flung the rabbit into the Briar Patch. This, of course, was not a place Br’er Rabbit feared, but was one in which he was most at home.
Anyway, to get back to the story of Br’er Rabbit and the Tar Baby, Br’er Fox, I believe it was in this one, constructed a doll made of tar and turpentine. Br’er Rabbit came upon the Tar Baby and, when it wouldn’t respond to his speaking, Br’er Rabbit became enraged. Finally, the rabbit hit and kicked the Tar Baby ... and became stuck. The infuriated rabbit began striking the inanimate Tar Baby and, as the writer put it: “The more Br’er Rabbit tried to get unstuckered, the more stuckered up he got.”
We who enjoyed the story laughed at the plight of Br’er Rabbit from our perspectives as children. The danger to the rabbit was great, because Br’er Fox could catch him and make the ever sought-after meal of rabbit stew. But, thankfully, the rabbit always won in those stories. The leadership of the nation states of today’s world have themselves a Tar Baby. God’s Word, the Bible, tells us through Jesus’ words of prophecy about this entrapping that, in my mind, is analogous to Br’er Rabbit and the Tar Baby, even if less humorous because of the dangerous and prophetic potentialities it raises. And, tragically, the nations won’t escape the horrendous trap. Jesus said the following about just such a time as we now see developing:
“And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring” (Luke 21:25).Whether considering wars such as in Afghanistan; considering the rumors of wars such as those involving Israel, Iran, and North Korea; thinking about the global economic meltdown that threatens worldwide depression; or thinking of a dozen other critical matters on the horizon, nations are in great distress with perplexity. The leaders flail about at the “Tar Baby,” and the more they try to get unstuckered, the more stuckered up they get.
A look inside America’s growing confusion involving intelligence services points as one example to the sort of perplexity faced by today’s leadership.
WASHINGTON - The nation's two intelligence chiefs are locked in a turf battle over overseas posts, forcing National Security Adviser James L. Jones to mediate, according to current and former government officials.The humanists elite leave the Creator of the heavens and the earth out of their grandiose plans to save planet earth. God, in His righteousness, watches from His omniscient perspective. He will eventually, His prophetic Word reports in advance, see these self-serving world leaders while they try to dispatch their own version of Tar Baby. Isaiah the prophet reports God’s Word on their futile efforts:
The jockeying between CIA Director Leon Panetta and National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair centers on Blair's effort to choose his own representatives at U.S. embassies instead of relying only on CIA station chiefs. Current and former U.S. officials described the dispute on the condition of anonymity, because of the sensitivity of intelligence issues…
[CIA officials said the shake ups in the nation’s intelligence operations] could confuse or degrade long-standing relationships with foreign intelligence agencies and U.S. ambassadors who would not know whether to rely on the word of the station chiefs or the national intelligence director's representatives (“CIA's Panetta, Intel Director Blair Locked in Spy Turf Battle,” Newsmax.com, 5/27/09).
Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession (Psalm 2:1-8).The world governments, represented in a major way by the G-20, are on a determined course against an enemy – Satan and their own fallen mindsets — that will mire the world ever more deeply in the quicksand of failure. The more they try to get unstuckered, the more stuckered up they get. Unlike in the humorous children’s story, Br’er Rabbit won’t escape the end times Tar Baby and Br’er Fox. All who accept Jesus Christ this side of the Rapture will be kept out of the time of Antichrist and his regime of desolation. Receive Him now and escape the wrath to come (Revelation 6:17).