When someone uses the idiom in conversation....we all get the gist of it....(another idiom)....of what they are trying to get across....that idiom being....The emperor has no clothes....but let's go beyond the gist of the folktale.
There is an emperor that spends more money than his kingdom can afford for lavish and royal clothes. Is that and has not that been our government? Now there appears on the scene a scammer....(two in the actual folktale....but one in this post)....who sees how vain this emperor is....and concocts a scheme. He pretends to be a weaver....who can weave clothes so beautiful that stupid people cannot even see them to appreciate them. Well that suits....(no pun intended)....the emperor just fine....so he contracts the fake weaver to weave him this magnificent royal clothing.
So....applying this to America....who might the king be....and the fake weaver? Is Trump the emperor or the fake con man weaver? Well I think that he is the fake weaver who keeps telling the emperor and the people what a great royal robe he is making....for Trump told us that he made America the greatest nation....the greatest this and the greatest that....in the history of the world. Anyone who did not agree with him was stupid! And all the people said....'Yeah....it sure must be great....I don't see it....but I'm not going to admit it." We were torn in two....pagan on one side....(Israel)....and rebellious to God on the other....(Judah)....with priests that offer unworthy sacrifices....and prophets that give false prophecies....but we were the greatest?
So in the folktale the ministers of the emperor weren't about to criticize him....so they just played along with the scam. Republicans in Congress right now are doing the same thing....playing along with this con artist in order to keep their jobs!
Donald Trump weaved this imaginary royal regalia of purple and scarlet....covering it with equally imaginative shining armor....and all of his ministers and podcasters and radio and television hosts and court jesters....and even the people....lavished and lavish praise and honor and glory upon him....throwing palm branches as he enters the new Jerusalem!
In Hans Christian Andersen's fable....The Emperor's New Clothes....the scam succeeds for only so long....until a child blurts during a royal procession that the emperor has no clothes on! Then one by one all the people see that the emperor is not wearing any clothes.
Matthew describes in chapter 21 the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem....as the children were crying out in the temple...."Hosanna to the Son of David." The chief priests and teachers of the law were indignant....but Jesus rebuked them....referring to Psalm 8:2...."Have you never read...'Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have perfected praise'?"
I posted this paragraph very recently...."We are very confident in ourselves today....and there is a lot of pride in there. It is just not us to actually be humbled....and ask....or even agree....to listen to some lesser human being give us advice on how to be....saved. Even the word 'saved' doesn't sit well with us today. We have our preferred choice on the gospel of Jesus Christ. It suits us well...and we actually take offense at even discourse on the topic! And man are we stubborn! We are going to go to our grave before we admit that we may have made a huge mistake. This is one of the reasons that Jesus told His disciples to let the little children come to Him...."for of such is the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 19:14) Jesus planned it this way folks. He specifically designed it so that the rich and powerful would have too much pride to come to Him...."But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are." (1 Corinthians 1:27, 28) Well...they don't come more weak and low and probably despised than me....and I thank God for that....for I know it is not me....but the Word of God....through the power of the Holy Spirit....and that alone....that can break that pride and stubbornness that
keeps man from humbling himself before God."
