Brexit - on the countdown with Mel

Not being a Pom, I don't get a vote. But I do have an opinion, as does COGservative blogger Melvin Rhodes.

Earlier James McBride of COGM issued his encyclical on the matter. To give James fair credit, he is a Brit and has a right to express an opinion, however misguided.

Melvin begins his June 21 commentary thusly:

The street murder of Jo Cox, a British Member of Parliament (M.P.), a few days ago, is having a big impact on the Brexit vote due on Thursday.

Until the murder, the “Leave” campaign was winning in the polls; now the “Remain” vote is gaining steam.

The killer, a middle aged white man, was motivated by politics, making this an assassination. He shouted out “Put Britain First” as he was killing her.

That's a fair and accurate introduction. But look where he goes next.

His action showed the frustration of many people his age who are concerned that they are losing their country, that England is being taken over by migrants and its independence seriously threatened by the European Union.

Jo Cox was in favor of Britain remaining in the EU; she was also very supportive of Britain taking in more Syrian refugees. At the same time, she seemed oblivious to the grooming of young white girls by older Muslim males in her own backyard, a scandal that has received a great deal of coverage in the press.

This is a classic example of “The Dream and the Nightmare,” the dream being the social engineering of the liberal-leftist Establishment; the nightmare the frightening consequences that ordinary people have to live through as they try to cope. The politicians behind these decisions live in their affluent suburbs away from those consequences and never have to face the reality.

I know Mel will bridle at the suggestion, but this is clearly blaming the victim. This neo-fascist creep had - according to Mel - justification for his loathsome act. Jo Cox was to blame for holding views that both the murderer and Mel share in common. It's then a cheap shot at the "liberal-leftish Establishment", and the inference that Jo Cox was living a sheltered existence far from the realities that are so obvious to insightful geniuses such as Mel.

Reality check: the current "establishment" in Britain is Conservative (both with and without the capital letter) to the core. British PM David Cameron is anything but "liberal leftish".

And Jo Cox was a Labour MP, not traditionally associated with the affluent, entitled classes. Her constituency is quite a diverse one. A sheltered existence you say? She spent time working for Oxfam before entering Parliament, which is no country-walk, and was something of an authority with lots of real-world experience on the Syrian refugee situation. She certainly knew a lot more about it than Mel. All of that Mel dismisses in favour of a few parroted armchair talking points.

Now Mel is naturally entitled to his view, but it's a blatantly one-sided one. He goes on to blather about largely irrelevant historical matters ranging from Charlemagne to the Treaty of Rome, then delivers the coup de grace.

These revivals of the Roman Empire were actually prophesied in the Bible. Students of the Bible are aware that there is to be a final resurrection of the Roman Empire. You can read about it in Revelation 17:12-14. This passage shows that ten kings, or nations, will come together to form this final version of the ancient Roman Empire. It will clearly be the final revival as the Kingdom of God is established shortly after it. Also note, it’s not going to be the 28 countries that form the EU.

In the event of a Brexit on Thursday, perhaps we will start to see the EU unravel, to be replaced by the ten-nation union that the Bible talks about.

No, the EU is not a resurrection of the Roman Empire. Revelation 17 is not about modern Europe. There is no ten-nation union "prophesied" in Europe. Mel would know this if he invested in a decent academic commentary on Revelation, or sat down with a book that explained the genre of ancient apocalyptic literature. Seems he could never be bothered. His views on Brexit haven't been fashioned through sober, objective analysis; too much like hard work and conducive to headaches in the noodle. No, they've been predetermined by his fundamental (it's tempting to add lazy) misunderstanding of the Bible.

Which is not to say that Mel isn't a fine fellow, generous to small children and kind to companion animals. I've been informed by private email that Mel is in fact a good listener and can be a compassionate counselor. That's commendable. Politically though he's a danger to anyone who takes his views at face value or assumes they're based on fact rather than lurid exegetical fantasy. His "weak tea apologetic" for the brutal murder of a remarkable woman is simply vile. His dragging in of eighteenth-century biblical interpretation to pontificate on these events is deplorable.

However people vote tomorrow in Britain, one can only hope (and perhaps pray) that they don't take fanatical prophecy peddlers seriously when reaching their decision.