A beast rising from the sea. NAJ screen shot

Tales From the MoJo Road –
By Glynn Wilson –

CATOCTIN MOUNTAINS, Md. – Never in all my years in this country and on this planet have I felt less patriotic than on this Fourth of July, 2025. It was always my favorite of our national holidays, celebrating our independence from the tyranny of a British Lord.

Now I’m broke down in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland, but not on the side of the road. When the water pump went out on my Ford media camper van on the way back from Virginia on Thursday after crossing the Potomac River bridge, I managed to keep enough water in the radiator to make it to a campsite in a state park campground with power and cell phone WiFi. That is a testament to the success of my planning to live a mobile, camping life in my retirement years, not a failure of anything but a machine.

My less than patriotic sentiments are not just focused on my personal plight on this day, but the fear and dread of all Americans who are in big trouble because of the selfish, greedy pursuits of some politicians in our nation’s capital who are using their power to disenfranchise even the poor, ill-informed masses who helped put them into power.

Donald Trump will make a show of signing his so-called Big Beautiful Bill on our Independence Day, after it was passed by razor thin majorities in the House and Senate. But there is nothing beautiful about it. It is an abomination against everything our Constitution is supposed to stand for.

As Yale history professor Greg Grandin wrote in a guest op-ed in the New York Times today, “No president in the history of the Republic has used the word ‘America’ as effectively as Donald Trump — not as a symbol to invoke unity but as kerosene to keep the home fires of our culture wars burning.”

“But what does it mean to be an American if armed, masked men can sweep anybody, citizen or not, off the street, forcing people into unmarked S.U.V.s — to be, if Mr. Trump has his way, disappeared to remote Louisiana or taken to a prison camp in El Salvador?” Or for that matter, imprisoned in a Florida swamp surrounded by alligators in what the cruel, racist right is celebrating as “Alligator Alcatraz.”

The people who support this claim to be Christians?

The policies set forth in the bill led by Mike Johnson of Louisiana, one of the most outspoken members of Congress who claims to be in the business of promoting Christianity in his politics, go against everything Jesus supposedly stood for, at least according to his teachings set down in the so-called Holy Bible.

The Beatitudes as they are called on the Sermon on the Mount, a collection of sayings allegedly spoken by Jesus of Nazareth and found in the Gospel of Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7, emphasizes his moral teachings.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,” he said, “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

No one has been more vilified by Lord Trump than American journalists like myself, who were already suffering financially from the decline of the one business most protected in the Constitution, as the First Amendment protects the freedom of the press as a cornerstone of our special creation of democracy, a democratic republican form of government, where the people are supposed to come first, not a god or a king.

We are being forced out of business by the tech oligarchs who support Trump, replaced by stupid memes and sensational little videos of selfish people glorifying themselves on camera on TikTok and YouTube. I realize this is entertaining to many people, even though most of it is pointless and has no effect in public opinion, that is to say, no impact on politics or society and makes no difference at all in the big scheme of things. I am not entertained. The entire enterprise is loathsome to me, almost as loathsome as the new fake videos created from Machine Learning, or Artificial Intelligence (A.I.).

Antichrist

NAJ graphic by Glynn Wilson

In the final book of Revelation, an allegory written by John the Apostle warns of an Antichrist, a false Messiah and a beast of the earth, a man who claims to be for peace but he’s really a man of war. This is also talked about in Daniel 7, 8 and 9; 2 Thessalonians 2; Matthew 24, in Christ’s Olivet Discourse; and Revelation 13.

Biblical scholars describe six characteristics of this antichrist, this “man of sin.” First is his wickedness. The Antichrist will be a wicked, wild beast. In verse 1, John says, “Then I stood on the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea.” He is someone who wants to take the place of Christ.

“He will be handsome, charming, clever.”

“And all the world marveled and followed the beast.”

“And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.”

So this beast will have global power, like the president of the United States. “He will terrify some but entice others. The whole world will follow the Beast, either by intimidation or bribe.”

He will make war with the saints.

Paul spoke of an antichrist who offers a strong delusion, “and people will believe the lie.”

He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. Great big bunker busting bombs like the ones dropped in Iran, after he said he would make peace.

“He deceives those who dwell on the earth.”

Blessed Are the Poor

In Matthew 25:35-40 in the King James Version, Jesus said: “For I was an hungry, and ye gave me food. I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink. I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me. I was sick, and ye visited me. I was in prison, and ye came unto me. … Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

The Big Ugly Bill does that. And if you voted for it, and you believe in Hell, you are going to spend eternity there.

Now I have not been a religious person for much of my adult life, focusing on science since my undergrad days in college, where I was led by some spirit to get an education and somehow found a way to fund it, in spite of my poverty. But I did make a study of this at that time, and concluded that most people who claim to be such big Christians are mostly hypocrites, who use the church as a tool of capitalism.

Many people believe the lies, and take the sign of the beast by going along with it, and we have seen how even common, good people in rural America have turned mean as a result of following this beast.

This can’t be Christianity. It must be something else, the opposite of Christian charity and goodness. If America was founded on the principles of God, and I’m not totally on board with this way of thinking, this can’t be it.

I can only conclude that those who support this are doomed, and those who help us get the accurate word out will be blessed.

Or it’s all a big lie and humanity itself is doomed to suffer the extinct fate of the dinosaurs.

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