Return of the Spirit of Empire - the Struggle against Whom?

'The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.' - F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Most people grow up with the idea that their world is dominated by a 'them and us' situation, a black and white scenario in which, depending on who they are, they see themselves as the innocent victim; Communist against Capitalism, Socialist against Fascism, Zionist against fundamentalist Islam, Muslim against Americanism, Republican against Democrat, Liberal against Conservatism, Gentile against Jew, Atheist against belief in God. Formed and strengthened by upbringing and the mainstream media and/or Hollywood, and cemented by working within and for the various systems which pay our wages, these opinions are rarely shaken. There is ideological, social, and financial security to be found in the system, whether that system is a religion or none, or a political ideology or a social institution.
I believe that the ability to countenance, let alone hold two opposing views in tension - to see the truth in both, takes courage, more than intelligence. I also think that it's not just two opposing ideas which we have to hold in tension, but several.

There seems to be an over-simplification of current events in the mainstream media (so I season what I hear and read of the MSM with alternative news), which nonetheless leads to confusion. With so many conflicting ideas, how can anyone form any clear picture of what is really happening? The opinions put out by the MSM are those of those who own the papers, the TV channels. Obviously they have a vested interest in seeing their own views and opinions presented, their own interests represented. Reading the alternative news gives a different perspective.
There are not just two opposing viewpoints, but many. The enemy has his servants in every man-made system, many of which oppose each other. The spirit behind the violence and bloodshed of fundamentalist Islam is just as evil as the spirit behind the hatred in Ultra-Orthodox Judaism, or the spirit of bigotry in many so called 'Christian' sects.

In Putin's Russia, people are seeing their country turning again into a totalitarian dictatorship, just as much as people in the USA are concerned that their freedoms are being taken away and replaced with a dictatorship in all but name.
The spirit of Empire is on the loose, wherever we look.
For example: the reason the USA and Europe vilified Russia for 'invading' Georgia in August was because the US wanted to use Georgia as a military outpost for a possible war against Iran and the EU wanted a secure South Caucasus gas line. The US had already bought Georgia for her own purposes.
And in Germany no-one thinks twice about having to carry ID with them all the time - they've done it for years. When I told someone this when I was in the UK last weekend, they were horrified. For an Englishman who has been used to freedom from governmental tyranny, the thought that the police can stop you any time and ask to see your ID, is anathema. Europeans are used to tyranny. They experienced it under the Popes, the Holy Roman Emperor, the French Monarchy, the Napoleons, the Kaiserreich, Hitler, and now, incrementally, stealthily, under the EU.

In the end, the Imperial Spirit seeks to divide men so that it may rule them. It divides by spreading fear, hatred, the thought of an enemy, so that we will abandon our freedoms for the sake of security and fight the supposed enemy. Those pushing the New World Order in the West have made terrorism and the fear of it, the collapse of the planet, climate change (which used to be called global warming), over-population; modern day enemies. This was their intention from the begining. They have said so themselves. They seek to fight them by imposing increasingly stringent rules on their nationals, under a post-modern, humanistic dictatorship.

In Russia, the government is seeking to increase control over its people by limiting press freedom by violence and locking up journalists (in the West they just buy the press).
The world seems to be becoming more and more polarised - one dictatorial/or religious system against another.
We saw the collapse of the British Empire after the Depression of 1929 and the subsequent 2nd World War; into which vacuum the EU began to creep; I think we are beginning to see, through the present world finance crisis, the collapse of the American Empire. Perhaps through this we will then see Russia allying itself with Iran against Israel. America will no longer be there as the lone protector of Israel. (Where Britain will be - sucked fully into the EU, or woken up to the danger of her position, depends on whether the nation repents and gets out.)

Hitler talked about 'Mein Kampf' - fundamentalist Muslims talk about 'Jihad'. It's the same word - 'struggle'. I actually believe that when Hitler met the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, the spirit behind Nazism was transferred between them as they talked about the elimination of the Jews. It is interesting that fundamentalist Muslims raise their arms in salute to their leaders, Muhammed or Allah, just as the German masses did to their Führer. Nazism was a political ideology with religious undertones (the occult views of the NS Elite were only exposed later on) - fundamentalist Islam is a religious ideology with political overtones.

We need to be able to see the opposing ideas on all sides and hold them all in tension, without assuming that the perspective put across by our own government is necessarily the truth.

Ultimately, the simplest picture is that... "Our STRUGGLE is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:12). The closer one looks at the opposing systems and the people behind them, whether it's the Ultra-Orthodox, the Islamic, Churchianity, Hinduism, Chinese Communist, South American Fascist, New Age-United Nations-Luciferian-One World Religionist, the more one sees people who are themselves controlled by forces which they do not understand.

When man ceases to believe in hate and be ruled by fear, then he will be free. And that will only happen when he himself believes in and is indwelt by the God who is love.