Christ, Our Fellowship, Part 13

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

Due to the chatter on a social network recently, we decided to start watching the Amazon TV series Man in the High Castle. If you haven’t seen it – but may want to – please note that this will contain some spoilers. Look away. You’ve been warned

Interestingly enough, the show is based on the 1962 book by the same name, authored by Philip K. Dick. It’s an interesting (and fairly depressing) take on a “what-if” scenario in which the Axis powers actually won WWII against the Allied powers. Consequently, the United States is no longer the United States, but has been broken up into three sections: the west coast is controlled by Japan, the east coast is controlled by the Nazis and a small middle section is simply the neutral zone.

What is fascinating to see is how things are so controlled. Of course, there is a resistance, people who want their freedom back – some of whom never really had it in the first place but want it nonetheless. In this scenario, Hitler is still alive though suffers from Parkinson’s and many believe will die soon. When that happens, it is very likely another war will occur, this time between Japan and the Nazis to gain control of the entire United States, including the neutral zone.

Throughout the streets of either the west or east coast, Hitler’s brown shirts and Japanese military control what happens. It’s very much like the many descriptions of life under Hitler with the SS running things and ruining people’s lives all for the sake of the “state.”

It is also very interesting to see how people are forced into a type of sanguine “I’ll do whatever you say if you spare my life” daily routine. Though living is actually little more than existing inside a political hell, people put up with it because they just want to be left alone. For that, most are willing to shut up and go along. It’s all a bit unnerving to watch in reality because in many ways, though this particular scenario is fake, the Bible indicates that there will come a day when the world will be as one. Over this coming new world order will be one individual – the Antichrist – who will be fully in charge.

For the average person today who is so caught up in their own life that they fail to see where we are going, Man in the High Castle is simply a science-fiction thriller with no real basis in reality. It’s merely entertainment for entertainment’s sake. This is the problem. Like the Roman Empire of old, that kept people focused and satisfied on “bread and circuses” so that they wouldn’t worry about serious things like politics and how political decisions affected the average person’s life or livelihood, people today are under the same deception. As long as they have their cell phones, their “free” stuff, and plenty of ways to be entertained, they are happy and satisfied. Of course, what they fail to see because of it is the fact that rights and liberties are being incrementally taken from them on a near-daily basis. They don’t notice this, so they have no worries. That is, until they wake one day to notice it.

It’s reminiscent of West and East Berlin, which became divided after WWII. Eventually, it was decided to physically divide the two areas by erecting a “Antifascistischer Schutzwall,” or “antifascist bulwark” which were controlled by two different governments. “The official purpose of this Berlin Wall was to keep Western ‘fascists’ from entering East Germany and undermining the socialist state, but it primarily served the objective of stemming mass defections from East to West.”

Overnight, a physical barrier went up and no one was allowed to leave East Berlin. Imagine what that would feel like. You go to sleep to wake up the next morning to find that you are essentially a prisoner in your own city. Though people woke up to that reality quickly, they had little choice but to make the best of things. Twenty-eight years later, the wall came down, but in between, many people tried to escape with most being shot to death by guards who constantly patrolled the area near the wall that surrounded East Berlin.

Man in the High Castle plays up the fears of being part of a regime that continues to hate Jews and has no difficulty in eradicating those Jews or others they deem “undesirable” or “enemies of the state.” Funny how the “state,” which is made up of people, always takes precedence over individuals, isn’t it?

The resistance in this series has their hands on film reels (the series itself takes place in the 1960s before computers, the Internet, and cell phones), when reels were the main way people got their news from an earlier time, aside from printed news. These film reels labeled, “The Grasshopper Lies Heavy,” are a window into an alternate universe, purportedly showing the world as it could be had Hitler and other Axis powers lost the war. They are intended to bring hope to those within the world now and people risk their lives to carry them to neutral zones. From there, I’m not yet sure what’s supposed to happen.

The sad thing about this series is how realistic it is. It’s like being a fly on the wall watching Hitler’s minions ride roughshod over Jews and other “undesirables.” In one scene, Frank Frink (a Jew) is taken into custody because of the connection with his wife/girlfriend (Juliana, portrayed by Alexa Davalos). She takes off with the “grasshopper” news reel after switching it out with a cartoon reel. She heads to Canon City, CO because that’s where her sister Trudy was headed with the reel, but was gunned down as a subversive by Japanese agents in the streets of San Francisco. Wanting to finish what Trudy started, Juliana adopts Trudy’s identity and heads out to finish Trudy’s job. While attempting to get information out of Frink, his sister and two children are “gassed” and Frink is almost killed by firing squad, though he is saved as it turns out the “reel” they were able to locate was not the actual reel so they assumed that was that. End of story…for now as far as Frank Frink was concerned.

On the way to Canon City, Juliana as Trudy meets several characters – at least one of whom turns out to be working undercover for the Nazis and another turns out to be another bad guy who tries to kill her – and manages to stay alive along the way because of her Akido skills.

As can be expected, Man in the High Castle is fairly dark, violent, and shows a very despotic side to people in general. All the trappings of brainwashing exist in this alternate reality where the Third Reich’s outlook on life is held high and something to be chased after and embraced. In essence, for one reason or another and whether they do so willingly or because they feel they must, people in this TV series go along with the crowd. Those who stand out are eliminated.

Sadly, I believe this is what the final years of these last days prior to Jesus’ return will be like. Of course, the reality on earth will be worse than what any TV show can project. During the Tribulation, the world will also experience God’s wrath throughout those upcoming seven years. That, along with the emergence of the final man of sin (2 Thessalonians 2) will make for a very real hell on earth.

Compared to that, there are certain freedoms that those living in society in Man in the High Castle have and certainly appreciate, but it’s all for a price. What they lack is their freedom and that is what is being systematically drained from society now.

I noticed with interest the new laws, rules, and regulations going into effect in the state of California beginning January 1, 2016. Soon, in California, if you don’t want your child vaccinated, too bad. If you don’t want them participating in sex ed studies at school, too bad. You’ve been outvoted and overruled. You have no say in these matters even though you are the parent. Our society is moving toward a totalitarian system where all will be done for the benefit of the “state,” which supposedly implies all the people living in that society. Unfortunately, it ultimately means all the people who simply make and enforce the rules. By the way, those people making and enforcing the rules usually have tremendous privileges that most of the rest in society do not enjoy.

Certainly, I’m not saying that all laws are bad. Many of them are necessary and even good. The problem is that they never really speak to the criminal element at all. They simply provide a reason why law enforcement can detain, arrest, and/or charge someone when they break those laws. In the end, many to most laws exist only to speak to law-abiding citizens.

Even though the Allied powers won WWII and Man in the High Castle is a complete work of fiction, we need to understand that what is coming is much worse than that. It will be real and tremendously protective of the coming one-world ruler. Satan will see to that. What’s coming will make Man in the High Castle look like a Three Stooges short.

The time is now to draw close to God in fellowship. The chick that strays from its mother is the one that is picked off by predators. The weaker animal of any herd is the one that lags behind and is killed. Christians need to move closer to God in fellowship and obedience. We are in the world but we are not to participate in the world’s activities. Everything we do must be done with the understanding that there are people who need salvation. We are supposed to be the example of what it truly means to be a Christian in this lost world.

As things darken, we need to continue to see the goal before us which is to fulfill the Great Commission. Too often, we’re too comfortable. Understand that this world is coming to an end. It is on a timetable that leads to God’s judgment. It will happen. In the meantime, what are you doing? How are you living? Do people see Christ in you? Does He draw them to Himself through your life? You can enjoy life while you are here if God puts you in the position to enjoy things, but you must never forget that as a Christian, your highest calling is to preach the gospel in life and word.

A society like the one in Man in the High Castle does not normally happen overnight, though that one did. That society is dark, foreboding, something to be disdained and hated. However, most of the time, societies change over time with the incremental removal of rights and privileges. This has been happening in earnest for the past six or seven decades and has picked up the pace to an alarming degree within the last few. We seem to have reached the point of no return, where movement in society has created change under its own power and continues to do so.

We cannot change what’s coming. We can simply be prepared for it and we do so by drawing close to God in fellowship. Those who remain in fellowship with God until the end are the “faithful” ones who will receive greater reward than those who stopped fellowship, choosing to live for themselves. We cannot have it both ways. We can life our lives the way we want to live them or we can submit ourselves to Him for His will and purposes to be volitionally done in and through us. In the process, we will also enjoy a greater degree of fellowship with God.

It’s your choice really and you will be held accountable for the choice you make.

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective