For one brief moment, it appears that Israel has finally realized that they’ve been at war for the past several years. Yesterday, Israel invaded Gaza in response to a Palestinian raid into Israel that killed two soldiers and kidnapped a third (never mind the hundreds of homemade rockets that Hamas lobs into Israeli towns). Meanwhile, the Palestinians are crying foul for Israel finally acting like any sovereign nation would when they are attacked by a foreign power.
If a company from the Mexican Army drove over the border and killed national guardsmen in Arizona and took hostages back to Mexico and had fellow Mexican companies firing rockets into the adjoining towns in Arizona, I don’t image that the Federal government’s response would be to say everything is okay and let’s talk. It would probably be a race to see if a portion of the US Army or the rest of the Arizona National Guard invaded Mexico first. Given our previous experience with Mexico, I’m not sure we would stop until we had Mexico City at full surrender and then we would demand concessions (most likely Mexican territory).
Yet in all this, the rest of the world acts as though Israel is the warmonger and the Palestinians are these weak, helpless individuals that never did anything wrong. Its very sad and also very insulting to treat an adult population that is fully capable of making its own decisions like two-year olds. The Palestinian people, fully cognizant of their actions, elected a terrorist group to be their government and elements of that government have committed acts of war on a country that this same government refuses even the right to exist. Israel is fully justified in whatever force they chose to use to get their soldier back.
In fact, I fully believe that there will be a time in the near future where the light bulb will go on in the minds of the Israelis and when they go to war again, they will not stop with attacking Hamas elements. They will not even stop with occupying Gaza and Judah. They will physically expel the Palestinians, forcing them out to Iran, Egypt, Iraq, and any other country that will take them. Of course the world will scream about the barbarity of this act and anti-Semitism will reach a fever pitch around the world (even in havens like the US and Australia), forcing an even greater exodus of Jews to Israel. Of course, Israel will have all this new land to colonize, so they’ll have lots of room for the refugees.
Crisis is coming and it is coming by a people finally picking themselves off the mat and just saying “enough.”
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Friday, June 23, 2006
Waiting for the End
I’ve been reading the Left Behind series lately. It’s actually been pretty good with a fairly well engaging plot. It’s a little preachy but I think that’s hard to avoid given the subject matter. I’m on the sixth book right now and I think I have a good chance of polishing that off by this weekend. But reading this series and some of the other things that I’ve noticed while reading my blogs amuse me with how much people are hoping/expecting for the end of man’s dominion of Earth.
Of course, Christians have been doing that for a long time, but it seems that the whole society has been even twitchier about it for nearly 15 years now. I would place the principle portion of blame on three distinct events. The first is the refounding of Israel in 1948. The second is the calculations of Bishop Usher, in which he calculated that God created the Earth in 4004 BC. The third is a book published by Hal Lindsey called The Late, Great Planet Earth that postulated that the rapture would occur in 1988. Obviously, Mr. Lindsey was incorrect, but that began stirring up a lot of things.
People began to note things like President Bush (the first) talking about a New World Order and an alliance of nations. The various religions of the world began having discussions with each other in the Council of Churches. New Age thought began hitting mainstream. People began to sit up and take notice of them and there was a natural Christian blowback.
I remember another book that was published discussing the possible end in 1994. Although, surprisingly, there was very little discussion about it in 1997, which would have been the actual year 6000 if Bishop Usher’s chronology had been correct. Then there was all the hype around the year 2000, plus the recent publishing of both the Left Behind series and Joel Rosenberg’s Ezekiel series (Rosenberg has interesting insight, but his narrative style is a bit tedious for me).
As I have stated in earlier posts, I think additional events happening in Israel and around other areas of the Middle East are going to continue to feed into this trend and End Times predictions. There might even be a non-Christian tie in, as we get closer to the end of 2012 (which is where the Mayan calendar stops). But, in the end, I think all these events will pass and nothing will happen. I personally believe that the rapture and the return of Christ is still quite a few years away and that everything will happen when people are least expecting it. Not that I wouldn’t mind being wrong, but quite frankly, there is too much in the Bible talking about how things will happen when we are least expecting it (and least prepared for it).
Of course, Christians have been doing that for a long time, but it seems that the whole society has been even twitchier about it for nearly 15 years now. I would place the principle portion of blame on three distinct events. The first is the refounding of Israel in 1948. The second is the calculations of Bishop Usher, in which he calculated that God created the Earth in 4004 BC. The third is a book published by Hal Lindsey called The Late, Great Planet Earth that postulated that the rapture would occur in 1988. Obviously, Mr. Lindsey was incorrect, but that began stirring up a lot of things.
People began to note things like President Bush (the first) talking about a New World Order and an alliance of nations. The various religions of the world began having discussions with each other in the Council of Churches. New Age thought began hitting mainstream. People began to sit up and take notice of them and there was a natural Christian blowback.
I remember another book that was published discussing the possible end in 1994. Although, surprisingly, there was very little discussion about it in 1997, which would have been the actual year 6000 if Bishop Usher’s chronology had been correct. Then there was all the hype around the year 2000, plus the recent publishing of both the Left Behind series and Joel Rosenberg’s Ezekiel series (Rosenberg has interesting insight, but his narrative style is a bit tedious for me).
As I have stated in earlier posts, I think additional events happening in Israel and around other areas of the Middle East are going to continue to feed into this trend and End Times predictions. There might even be a non-Christian tie in, as we get closer to the end of 2012 (which is where the Mayan calendar stops). But, in the end, I think all these events will pass and nothing will happen. I personally believe that the rapture and the return of Christ is still quite a few years away and that everything will happen when people are least expecting it. Not that I wouldn’t mind being wrong, but quite frankly, there is too much in the Bible talking about how things will happen when we are least expecting it (and least prepared for it).
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Ohio Confusion
I recently read a post on Real Clear Politics that accused RFK Jr. of reviving the Democratic shriek of how Ohio was stolen in 2004 to discredit Ken Blackwell, who is now running for Governor. If this truly is what was on RFK Jr.'s mind, or any other outside Democratic operatives mind, they are the most stupid people on the face of this Earth.
Anyone who has spent any time in the this state for the past few years knows that the group of Republicans who control the top offices in the state are a group of lazy fat cats, who swap jobs every four years with each other to avoid the appearance of individual kingdoms. Then, on top of that, the current Republican governor (Bob Taft) is the least liked governor in the entire country (polling between 12 -20% approval). Taft is corrupt and the reek of scandal has tainted all those around him. All Ted Strickland needs to do to defeat Blackwell is keep his mouth shut (except to remind people of the corruption in Columbus) and breathe.
Yet, we see the possibility of the DNC coming in and screwing things up by reviving the "we was robbed" hysteria. Why? The prevailing theory is that its because Ken Blackwell is black and that he might peel off enough of the 90% African-American voters who normally vote Democratic to push him over the top and make further GOP inroads into the African-American community. Except that it won't happen and if Democrats continue to think in this racial manner, rather than appreciate the ability of the voters to think for themselves, they will start losing their block voters. Mr. Blackwell is extremely conservative and I highly doubt that any of his ideas will play well in the African-American community.
So the 90% is safe, assuming the Democrats don't push them into a state of disgust with them that they just stay at home. Discression is the better part of valor. Sometimes the donkeys need that whispered in their ears from time to time.
Anyone who has spent any time in the this state for the past few years knows that the group of Republicans who control the top offices in the state are a group of lazy fat cats, who swap jobs every four years with each other to avoid the appearance of individual kingdoms. Then, on top of that, the current Republican governor (Bob Taft) is the least liked governor in the entire country (polling between 12 -20% approval). Taft is corrupt and the reek of scandal has tainted all those around him. All Ted Strickland needs to do to defeat Blackwell is keep his mouth shut (except to remind people of the corruption in Columbus) and breathe.
Yet, we see the possibility of the DNC coming in and screwing things up by reviving the "we was robbed" hysteria. Why? The prevailing theory is that its because Ken Blackwell is black and that he might peel off enough of the 90% African-American voters who normally vote Democratic to push him over the top and make further GOP inroads into the African-American community. Except that it won't happen and if Democrats continue to think in this racial manner, rather than appreciate the ability of the voters to think for themselves, they will start losing their block voters. Mr. Blackwell is extremely conservative and I highly doubt that any of his ideas will play well in the African-American community.
So the 90% is safe, assuming the Democrats don't push them into a state of disgust with them that they just stay at home. Discression is the better part of valor. Sometimes the donkeys need that whispered in their ears from time to time.
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