Could Donald Trump be for the USA what Michael Gorbachov was for Russia? That’s a popular view in Russia currently. While Trump’s election was greeted warmly in Moscow, digging a little deeper we find that all is not as benign as it seems.

It turns out that many in the Kremlin feel that a Trump presidency might bring about the collapse of America. That the USA is in the final stage of its history is not a new idea in Russia.

Nikolai Patrushev, one of Mr. Putin’s key advisers, said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, that he expected the United States would split into North and South, with the South moving “toward Mexico, whose lands were seized by Americans in 1848,” he said.

That might sound laughable to us in the USA. But you have to admit that, viewed from afar, the fractures in American society can easily be seen to be beyond the point of no return. And many Russian advisers and officials see the recent American film “Civil War,” which depicts California and Texas seceding, with bloodshed erupting across the nation, as a reflection of how Americans see their near future.

The movie was released in Russia under the title “The Fall of the Empire”. Dmitri Medvedev, former president of Russia, remarked on his Telegram channel that he took it as proof that civil war in the United States is inevitable. “Hollywood doesn’t make films about it for no reason”, he said.

Let’s not forget how close to home this can hit for Russians and their leadership. In the lifetime of many of us, Russia was the head of a vast empire, the USSR. But it collapsed in the 1990’s and that’s seen by much of the leadership there as the greatest failure ever to hit their motherland. Putin is fully known to see it that way.

And who immediately preceded the collapse of the USSR? Michael Gorbachov. I lived for a year in Moscow in the mid 90’s and it struck me as strange how many Russians viewed Gorbachov back then. It was a common belief there that he may have been a CIA plant. For one, friends said, the way Gorbachov spoke Russian was suspicious; it didn’t sound right, they said. And the end result of his rule is seen by so many as a vast failure and catastrophe for the nation.

But he rose to power through the ranks of the Soviet government, having what was a good track record and he intended to shake things up. Glasnost and Perestoika it was called. However, the end result was far from what those in power were intending. The shake ups and radical reforms turned into a death knell and collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Russian empire. In the corridors of power in the Kremlin now, Trump is seen as a likely Gorbachov for the declining empire of America.

As the good Lord said, “A nation divided against itself cannot stand” (Mark 3:24). And nothing pleases a predator more than to find potential meals fighting amongst themselves. Reflecting on these current views of America, it’s hard not to feel the Russians have a point.

To officials in the Kremlin, Gorbachev was a self-absorbed narcissist who loved to talk — a man without a plan, a strategy or any clear understanding of his goals, a politician who undermined core institutions that supported the state and left only chaos in his wake. And they see the current president-elect here as playing a similar role.

Well, it’s an interesting viewpoint and it all remains to be seen. But it just helps sometimes to see ourselves as others see us. Particularly in this time of hyper-partisanship, when we are forced at every turn to choose between the hard right and the extreme left. Is the American dream and empire about to fall? We’ve heard that before and still, here we are.

I’m glad that my identity is rooted in Christian discipleship which should make it possible to rise above the chaos that is so enveloping here currently. I’m a providentialist, I believe I can and should accept what has transpired with the recent election while continuing to keep my foundation on the rock of Christ and God’s truth, rather than the roaring confusion that is so strong now.

[I should mention that some of the information and views expressed in this article come from an editorial  in the New York Times, written by Mikhail Zygar, a Russian journalist.]

Love for (and from) our families turns out to be one of the biggest things of all. At times in our lives, it hasn’t always seemed that way. “They get on my nerves”, as the saying goes. You’re fortunate and rare if you’ve been close and dear to your family and they to you throughout your life.

It’s just plain tough being a parent. Let’s face it, kids get in the way of our career path. You really love your wife and want her time and attention, but then that demanding little kid really gets in the way. And they cost money. And they have their own ideas and opinions about everything. So unless you are pretty smart… oh wait, we’re all sure that we’re pretty smart. So let’s say, if you are not pretty wise and mature, then you are going to end up losing your patience with your kids. Or just not find time for them when they really need you.

Before long, there is a division between you and your kids. And if you don’t recognize it and have (again) the wisdom to change and to try to fix things, then soon you have a real big, long-term chasm in your family.

“Time heals all wounds”, right? Actually, lots of people have found that not to be true. You hardly talk to your kids and they don’t talk to you. Someone says “I hate you!” and that becomes the new state of affairs. And as things flash forward 20 or 30 years, you find that you basically hardly even have a family but  just a permanent state of extreme estrangement.

Brethren, these things ought not so to be. And as most of us know, this kind of thing is found prevalent basically everywhere but specially in “advanced” Western and Northern countries. They say, “You can always tell when you are in Third World countries. Children are respectful to their parents there.” Ha!

I know a lot of people who are in this situation. Folks now in their 60’s and 70’s, with their estranged kids in their 30’s and 40’s. And I think many of us are strongly finding out that loneliness is one of the most discouraging, soul-sapping, life-draining existences there is. If there’s anything we mostly all hope to do, it’s to love someone. And the most natural people to love are our own children and parents. Yes, we should love the whole world. We should love strangers, the oppressed and downtrodden. And often we feel we try and want to do that.

But that doesn’t always take the place of our children, grandchildren and our parents and family. Frankly, it is a real touch of hell, real hell to have hatred and discord with those who we should love, and be loved by, the most. Perhaps even more when we are along in life and that animosity and separation that’s been there so long still has predominance in our family circles.

Well, maybe that’s not you. Maybe your family has been one that’s never really had the roots of bitterness and hatred ever get real domination of your lives and loved ones. But, I’ll tell you, those evil roots do exist and they seem to specially prey upon families, if they can.

I don’t care what you’ve accomplished, how big your house or bank account is, how famous you are or what kind of car you drive. If your family has little or no accord, if the times you come together don’t have warmth and love, if there are no hugs and kisses, even tears, then I think it’s hard to have real peace and joy in your heart. Something will be eating away at your soul that you didn’t really handle things so well, you didn’t come through it all with the kind of accomplishments in life that matter the most.

Well, here’s some good news. I think it is pretty much true that “While there’s life, there’s hope.” I won’t mention names here but I certainly could. I’ve personally know some families for 40 years and they are almost utterly estranged. And it’s so very rough on at least some of the members.

But that can change. I’ve known families which, after decades, have had some kind of event or catalyst so that there is reconciliation, or at least the beginnings of a real desire for that.

And can I say, if you see anything like that around, fan that little flame of love, that attempt at a turning towards love, forgiveness and coming together. You may look back ultimately and feel that the biggest, best thing you ever did in your life was when you began to try at least to forgive your parents, or your children or whoever it was that has created such loneliness and despair in either you or someone in your family.

Restoration is just one of the most beautiful things in this world. And if you even make an attempt towards that, the forces of Love, which are the forces of God, will swing in to your aid and make it all the more possible for it to happen.

Love your family. Forgive your parents, or children. Let restoration happen, while there’s still time. It might easily turn out to be the most important thing you ever did.

Sometimes you just feel like, “Every man to his tents”. You’ve had enough. What’s in front of you is overwhelming. You’re taken aback by the events of the times and just feel you have to get away from it all.

Of course, “Every man to his tents” was expressed close to 3000 years ago by commoners in ancient Israel after their utter disillusionment with “the house of David” which had ruled them with the blessing of God for so long.

King David’s grandson, Rehoboam, had neither the heart of his grandfather David or the wisdom of his father Solomon. He exposed himself as a shallow, heartless neophyte and the people of Israel came to say “What have we to do with the house of David?” “Every man to his tents!” That’s how it is now, in many ways.

The institutions, individuals, symbols and beliefs that so many have held fundamental for generations are now often crumbling to dust. The political parties that held the allegiance of millions, even many of the denominations that were the hitching posts of millions, have morphed into some new, strange, alien thing.

So, “Every man to his tents”. And is this all bad? Maybe not. For those sincerely seeking truth, this is a time of turning away from the images and forms of the present day and turning back to “your tents”, to a time with your family and a time to reassess in your heart “What the heck is going on!” And also asking ourselves profoundly “What should we be holding on to?” is actually an act and mercy of God, when that question becomes paramount.

I think millions are turning to their tents, away from the confusion of present debates and the cacophony of media disputations. It looks like a defeat to turn away to your tents. But maybe there you’ll find, as you pause, ponder and move away from the din and discord of the present, that there you’ll actually be better able to hear the “still, small voice” of God, like Elijah did when he fled alone to a mountain and there heard God’s voice. (I King 18:36).

That period of time just after King Solomon was actually a very significant time. It was at the end of God’s mighty blessings on a united Israel, which reached its zenith in King David and then continued with his son Solomon afterwards.

But there’s much truth in the statement that the influence of one mighty man of God seems seldom to reach beyond the second generation of his followers. In King David’s case, God actually gave him a son, Solomon, who did very much to follow in the footsteps of his father David. And the reign of Solomon, after David, was pretty much the zenith of Israel’s power, close to 3000 years ago.

But God has no grandchildren. Solomon’s sons were far from the sample they’d seen in their dad and grandfather. The commoners of Israel soon sensed it and there comes the phrase, “ever man to his tents.” The music wasn’t playing anymore. Those who’d spoken to them the Word of God for several generations were now, in their children, no longer doing that.

So, “Every man to his tents”. It turned out that the individuals of Israel had to each themselves sort out the new situation and find for themselves a new, personal channel of truth as the former channels, their Godly kings, had ceased to be the oracles and shepherds of God.

But was God dead? No, of course not. And this time of each individual withdrawing to his tent was the way and hand of God to draw His people back closer to Himself. The time of the united kingdom of Israel was at its end. What actually was happening was a huge transition in the nature and composition of the believers in the God of Abraham. Had He abandoned them? No. But there was fundamentally no longer a truly Godly king to be led by, as there had been for 80 years in the realms of David and Solomon.

But the Lord was still there. And perhaps in the lowly individual tents of the Jews back then multitudes were drawn closer to the Lord than they’d ever been.

There were really no prophets yet, as there later came to be. But they had the words of David and Solomon to feast upon and to grow in as they adjusted to the new times they were living in, after Israel broke up into the 10 tribes of the north and the tiny rump remnant in the south, the 2 tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

Does this mean anything for today? Very many in these times are feeling the same, “Every man to his tents!” They find no affinity with the divisions and the shenanigans of the present because they find no underlying truth or direction in it, compared to times just a few years back.

So they abandon social media, abandon denominations and/or political parties and they come to the same conclusions folks did after King Solomon. “What have we to do with the house of David?!” Or in our times, “What have we to do with the political parties or even denominations that formerly spoke the truth and led the way forward but now are overtaken by darkness?”

Head to the hills! Go off grid! Or for some, just really withdrawing from all the tumult and shallowness of the present evil world and seeing if you can’t at least find some peace and sanity in your heart by withdrawing to “your tent”.

I say, “More power to them.” There are certainly times for this. Pulling back, turning away from the frolicking, foaming, foolish, frivolous present and searching alone in your tent and in your heart to find that still small voice which can cause you to rise above the confusion of this present world.

Feel you need to withdraw to your tents? Could be a good idea. Maybe you’ll come back a much better person for it, with a clearer vision of the present realities of God as He speaks to you, away from the battle. We certainly all need tent time, especially when those we followed and looked to turn out to no longer be the instruments of God and truth.