SABBATH

God's Gift to Us

Commentary: The Remaking of America

#1525c

Given 18-Jan-20; 17 minutes

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description: The frightening accumulation of wealth by globalist leftists (e.g., George Soros, Levi Strauss, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos) may be part of God's overall purpose to bring modern Israel to her knees. In his June 2010 book, Fortunes of Change: The rise of the Liberal Rich and the Remaking of America, David Callahan predicts that a new wave of billionaires, having rejected the conservative and religious values of their elders, embrace multiculturalism, homosexuality, open borders, climate change and collectivism. These individuals enjoy a disproportionate amount of power, controlling and funding as they do liberal politicians, Silicon Valley, the media, the film industry—and the Democratic Party itself. Even though a perfect storm of godless, liberal secularism is on the horizon, the sovereign God continues to control events to ensure the working-out of His divine purpose. As God's called-out ones (whose citizenship is in Heaven), we need to understand that, although Satan's plans may temporarily appear to have gained ascendancy, the new rich have not shortened the hand of the Almighty God


transcript:

Before getting into the body of this commentary, I would like us to keep a few scriptures in mind from Genesis that are important for us to consider as we go through this commentary, which may very possibly be very distressing unless we keep focused on Who is really in charge.

Following Joseph’s rise to power in Egypt and his preparations for the 7 year famine that lay ahead, we see God remaking Egypt to suit His purposes through Joseph. Genesis 47:13-26 is the record of this change. Verse 13 says, "Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine."

In verses 14 thru 18, the people in Egypt, at Joseph’s command, turned all their money and livestock—horses, flocks, cattle and donkeys—over to Pharaoh in exchange for grain until all they had left was themselves and their lands.

Picking it up in verse 19:

Genesis 47:19-26 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants of Pharaoh; give us seed, that we may live and not die, that the land may not be desolate.” Then Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh’s. And as for the people, he moved them into the cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other end. Only the land of the priests he did not buy; for the priests had rations allotted to them by Pharaoh, and they ate their rations which Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their lands. Then Joseph said to the people, “Indeed I have bought you and your land this day for Pharaoh. Look, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. And it shall come to pass in the harvest that you shall give one-fifth to Pharaoh. Four-fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and for your food, for those of your households and as food for your little ones.” So they said, “You have saved our lives; let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.” And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have one-fifth, except for the land of the priests only, which did not become Pharaoh’s.

Please keep in mind this pivotal moment in the Egyptian society that would have it’s most significant impact 400 years down the road, as God purposed it for His glory! God moved all the wealth and power of Egypt from the people to the Pharaoh.

Now on to the body of the commentary.

On December 31, 2019 the website Inside Philanthropy published its annual "Philanthropy Awards" for the outgoing year. The "Philanthropist of the Year" for 2019 was George Soros. The website cites the impact of the Open Society Foundations, which they say is likely the "largest philanthropic organization ever built, with branches in 37 countries." In 2019 the total pledged amount by the Foundations network exceeded 1 billion dollars!

Inside Philanthropy also called attention to Soros' son, the 35-year-old Alexander, whom they named "Most Intriguing Heir." Alongside the Soros empire, the website also praised their "Best Corporate Donor," the Levi Strauss Foundation, for its work "supporting LGBTQ communities."

Everyone is familiar to some extent by this time with George Soros, Bill Gates, and all those who are driving to fund their progressive agenda for social change in the name of philanthropy. But I would like us to look at the online site that proclaimed George Soros as Philanthropist of the Year for 2019.

I will first be reading a small section of a 2014 Forbes feature article about Inside Philanthropy, written soon after site was launched. Following that we will look at summary of comments from a question and answer session with the founder of the site, David Callahan, which was part of an interview he gave following the publishing of one of his books entitled, Fortunes of Change: The Rise of the Liberal Rich and the Remaking of America.

I hope this will add another layer of insight for us into the perfect storm of progressive liberalism that John Ritenbaugh pointed to in his series of commentaries on the philosophers and his series on the secular liberalization of the universities.

Citing from the Inside Philanthropy article written in the July 20, 2014 issue of Forbes Magazine, contributing writer Tom Watson wrote,

At the top end, philanthropy is a disproportionate business. The largest funders, the big foundations, the massive fortunes and their grant officers, enjoy a position of power over nonprofits and social entrepreneurs that's similar—if not more dominant—to the venture capital and startup equation. And while that's not likely to change any time soon, one new player on the U.S. philanthropy scene is aiming to level the playing field just a bit, with reporting on how foundations give their money away—and ratings on how well (or poorly) they do so.

Inside Philanthropy is the brainchild of David Callahan. A serial social entrepreneur himself, Callahan is convinced that the huge fortunes still mainly on the sidelines of American philanthropy will change the size of the pot available to nonprofits and social entrepreneurs in coming years. "The philanthropy we've seen in recent years is nothing compared to what's coming," he says.

Mr. Watson then went on with the 2014 Forbes article explaining how David Callahan hoped to become a major resource in the philanthropic industry.

However, I think an interview David Callaghan gave following the release of his book—Fortunes of Change: The Rise of the Liberal Rich and the Remaking of America—is more germane to this commentary and the startling polls that show Millennials are more in line with socialism than the individual efforts that have been the backbone of America for centuries.

A reviewer of his book at the time of publication wrote,

David Callahan contends that something big is happening among the rich in America: They’re drifting to the left. He claims that While many of the rich still back a GOP that stands against taxes and regulation, liberalism is spreading fast among the wealthy.

In Fortunes of Change, we meet an upper class increasingly filled with super-educated professionals and entrepreneurs who work in “knowledge” industries and live in the bluest parts of America. This cosmopolitan elite takes for granted such key liberal ideas as multiculturalism and active government, and have ever less in common with a GOP based in small-town America and dominated by Tea Party activists and the likes of Sarah Palin.

Fortunes of Change explores:

  • Why some of America’s wealthiest people backed Barack Obama’s presidential bid and are pouring record sums into the Democratic Party and liberal organizations, even though they stand to see their taxes go up.
  • How a few big donors have spent millions to create the modern gay rights movement and how environmental activists have tapped a river of new liberal cash.
  • Why Hollywood, rolling in new profits thanks to globalization, has more money than ever to back Democratic candidates and push politics to the left.
  • Why Silicon Valley is turning more liberal and how tech money—including Bill Gates’s vast fortune—is funding a growing array of liberal groups and politicians.
  • How the upper class is likely to get more liberal as young heirs are inculcated with liberal ideas in America’s most elite prep schools and universities.

Now, for lack of time in this commentary, I am going to combine a number of answers David Callahan gave in a question and answer session into a statement in his own words, regarding what he calls the "remaking of America." Many of you may find this disheartening, but please keep in mind that our citizenship is in the Kingdom of God and the end result is what God is looking at—for His power and glory!

David Callahan begins the session with his response to the following question:

“We have long heard the term “limousine liberal.” Why are you writing a book about rich liberals now? What’s changed?”

David Callahan: It’s true, wealthy liberals are not new. Franklin Delano Roosevelt is probably the most famous rich liberal of all time. And the Kennedy brothers were wealthy and liberal, too. What is different now is that liberalism has spread far more deeply through the ranks of the upper class thanks to economic changes. With the rise of the knowledge economy, more of the people getting rich these days are super-educated and that trait often correlates with liberal values such as tolerance. In addition, a lot of the big money these days is being made in blue state America. Most of the new rich live in places like New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Seattle, and the suburbs of Washington, D.C. - all Democratic strongholds. Barack Obama won eight out of ten of the wealthiest counties in the U.S. in 2008.

David Callahan: When the Forbes 400 was first published in 1982, it was dominated by oil money and heirs from families like the DuPonts. Since then, the make-up of the list has steadily shifted as more people have gotten rich in the new economy. There are four billionaires on the current list who made their fortune on Google alone, a company that didn’t even exist until the late 1990s. Finance billionaires also heavily populate the list, and many of these people - like the hedge fund whiz James Simons - are people with advanced degrees who got rich by applying sophisticated models to investing.

David Callahan: There has been a huge westward shift in wealth thanks to the new economy. California now has many more billionaires than New York and more millionaires than the entire East Coast, from Maine to Georgia.

King County, which includes Seattle, has more millionaires than Manhattan. Since the culture and politics of the west coast - or “left coast” - tend to be more liberal, it’s not surprising that many of these new rich would lean left. West Coast money has played a major role in the revival of the Democratic Party and the creation of a stronger “progressive infrastructure” of think tanks and advocacy groups. Obama raised more money in California than any other state by far. Particularly striking is all the new wealth in Hollywood. The entertainment industry has long been a bastion of liberalism; the difference now is that there is a lot more money in that industry as a result of globalization and other trends.

David Callahan: Republicans have lost the political fundraising contest in recent election cycles. The GOP has alienated the new economy rich with its extreme right-wing turn and, more generally, I point out that the GOP and the upper class are moving in very different directions: the Republican Party is becoming more religious, more based in the rural heartland, and more intolerant on issues like immigration and gay rights. Meanwhile, the upper class is ever more based in cosmopolitan metro centers and is becoming more secular and more embracing of multiculturalism.

The influx of new money from rich supporters has definitely been a boon for the Democratic Party and progressive organizations.

David Callahan: The shift to a new economy is ongoing and the “old economy rich” make up a smaller percentage of the upper class with each passing year. So, for structural reasons, the rich are increasingly well-educated and based in cosmopolitan metro areas where liberal norms are dominant. My book also explores how the nation’s top private schools - where many of the rich send their kids - are increasingly inculcating progressive values like multiculturalism, global citizenship, and sustainability.

Another factor at work is the huge inter-generational transfer of wealth that is coming our way as the great wealth made during recent boom decades are passed down to heirs. For various reasons, heirs tend to be more liberal than their parents or grandparents who made the family fortune, and we’re going to see a huge number of these heirs running around with a lot of cash to pump into politics or advocacy groups. That will have a big effect

As we look into the future, we know that vast amounts of new money will come on line as high-tech billionaire Democrats finally turn their attention away from business.

Finally, in response to this last question, "So for all the new liberal money sloshing around these days, there is more where that came from?” David Callahan answers: "MUCH more!”

So what does this all mean to us? First of all, brethren, do not be surprised if this turn toward socialism—Bernie Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, Elizabeth Warren, et. al.is the future of the United States sooner rather than later, and this year’s election takes a turn in a direction we never imagined, a direction made possible because of incredible wealth that is suddenly in the hands of the new liberal elite minted by this country’s secular, misotheistic universities and the so called knowledge economy. There is a perfect storm of destruction well on it’s way.

But more importantly, we need to know, and know that we know, that God, who declares the end from the beginning, is absolutely in control and sees what we do not. Our job now is to watch and wait as His faithful witnesses!

We have the privilege to patiently wait in sure hope regardless of the situation. The same Great God that set up the centrally-controlled power and wealth in Egypt 400 years before He actually used the circumstances to develop His servant Moses and liberate His people for His glory; under His power over the greatest nation of men, is still absolutely in control today!

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