Stuart Schwartz's recent article "
In Praise of Michael Savage, Bible Thumper," made me reflect on just how unpopular and un-chic Michael Savage is among the "sniffy elites" [from the Right and Left]. Mr. Schwartz is spot on. It must just bug the dickens out of these folks to realize that despite their deep snobbery to the contrary, Michael Savage makes valid points and has something worthwhile to say. It must doubly irk them that he also has a large listening audience. Whether we agree with Michael Savage fully or only to a degree, his message is rarely warm and fuzzy. We discover from Michael Savage that certain behaviors define us as "unthinking Sheeple" [you definitely do not want to be this]. This is much worse than Jeff Foxworthy telling us that we might be a "Redneck."
Michael Savage tells it like it is. He hits us in the guts of our secret existence. Sometimes it hurts. Whether one wants to concede this point, or not, does not alter it. He makes many people angry, I suspect, because he hits us in our wallow-and-slop. He calls us out from where we don't like being called. He beckons us to come out in the open and take a stand. He reiterates hard truths that have throughout history gotten many messengers killed. These harder truths are always difficult to hear. So, when he speaks, we hear and react through slander, puffery, and feigned insult. Most folks react because we have forgotten how to think and interact. Savage brings us back to that oft uncomfortable place where we must think and interact.
Is Savage a Prophet? No. His readings and comments are restatements of facts, and quotes of existing Scripture. Is he judgmental? No. The judgment has already been announced by God. Do we get out of this mess alive? It all depends. If you are a Believer: Yes! If you are a non-Believer or a scoffer: Pay your money and take your chances, Pal. But somehow when he says this, some folks become apoplectic.
The Old Testament Prophets were often cursed, despised, ignored, driven into the wilderness, stoned, imprisoned, banished, and killed. The same applied to Paul of Tarsus in the New Testament. Paul, the Christian Evangelist and Missionary to the Gentiles, burned with a similar zeal to deliver God's offer of Grace and Salvation. Paul was often beaten, imprisoned, stoned, and driven from towns because of his message. Paul's unlikely conversion from Pharisee to follower of The Way began during a vision, an encounter, he said, with the risen Jesus Christ. Paul says he was blinded and knocked from his horse. The Messiah asked Paul, in this vision, why he was persecuting Him. Paul spent an undetermined time in a coma/trance until he said that saw and understood clearly God's Economy of Salvation [through spiritual eyes]. Saint Paul did not begin his active Ministry for many years after [seven, according to tradition]. Paul learned to Worship God in Spirit and in Truth and came to believe that the Truth is a Person.
Furthermore, according to Christian Tradition, there were more than a few Pharisees and Scribes, like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimethea, who considered and pondered whether Jesus was indeed the Messiah. Many listened, but kept it in their hearts for fear of the scoffers and mockers, politicians, and powerbrokers of the day. The Messianic Jews, followers of Jesus' Way, held beliefs that talked about warnings and prophecy fulfilled. This would have put them in a not-all-together different circumstance than Savage and Believers today. Many centuries have passed since these times. But the more time passes the more Jewish and Christian believers share the Truth of God's Plan. This sounds like a Plan! The Truth for Believers is this: Take away titles and names and dogma and we are all Messianic Jews. Simply put: We await the Messiah. Some await His first appearance. Others await His Second Coming. Some believe there will be a great Rapture prior to a great tribulation. Others believe there will be a 1000 year reign on earth by this Messiah. Still others a great Apocalypse when the Messiah comes. But what is becoming manifest for Jews and Christians alike is that our two faiths have always been on the same road searching for and worshiping the same God. Not so for any other world religion.
So, back to the big brouhaha and hubbub over Michael Savage. He is no prophet. He merely restates what is in the Book. Ask yourself some questions. Are you are the kind of person who only accepts the beautiful Psalms of David, or the Proverbs of Solomon, or Prophecies of Isaiah that strike your fancy? Or, do you accept the imprecatory Psalms and Prophecies as well? Do you eschew those Prophets, like Jeremiah, who warned his people of woes to come. Or, do you skip over the parts of Paul's letters to the early Christian Churches that proscribe proper behaviors becoming the service to the Lord God and our fellow man with which you personally disagree? Does it offend you, for example, to read Chapter 1 of Saint Paul's Letter to the Romans? These are points worth pondering. Savage offers them up. It rattles our comfort zone.
It is the same old story is it not? It is about the human condition, the sad fact of Original Sin. It whispers in our ear and tells us that the Plan is fiction. But we know better. The messages are about sin and repentance, forgiveness and salvation, death and life. They challenge us to be better than we are. But most of us do not want to change. It is easier to find fault with the message and to resent the messages and the messengers. God has give us a wonderful Owners Manual. If we never read it or hear from it then how can we hope to understand it? There is a lot of room for discussion and thought. We are all companions on this journey Home. It is easy to discard a message we don't like and then call the messenger a "hater." I think the "sniffy elites" need to look in the mirror and see who the real "haters" are. So hang in there, Michael Savage, and keep quoting that Bible. Stand tall and unashamed, all of you "Savage Nation" listeners.
As my favorite Priest [mentor and friend] tells me often about his daily work in God's Kingdom: "The pay ain't much, but the benefits are out of this world."
William R. Mann——
Bio and Archives
William R. Mann, is a retired Lt. Colonel, US Army. He is a now a political observer, analyst, activist and writer for Conservative causes. He was educated at West Point [Bachelor of Science, 1971 ]and the Naval Postgraduate School [Masters, National Security Affairs, 1982].
