As If
*
IN READING THE HISTORY OF NATIONS, we find that, like individuals, they have their whims and their peculiarities; their seasons of excitement and recklessness, when they care not what they do. We find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object, and go mad in its pursuit; that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it, till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first. We see one nation suddenly seized, from its highest to its lowest members, with a fierce desire of military glory; another as suddenly becoming crazed upon a religious scruple; and neither of them recovering its senses until it has shed rivers of blood and sowed a harvest of groans and tears, to be reaped by its posterity. At an early age in the annals of Europe its population lost their wits about the sepulchre of Jesus, and crowded in frenzied multitudes to the Holy Land; another age went mad for fear of the devil, and offered up hundreds of thousands of victims to the delusion of witchcraft. At another time, the many became crazed on the subject of the philosopher's stone, and committed follies till then unheard of in the pursuit. It was once thought a venial offence, in very many countries of Europe, to destroy an enemy by slow poison. Persons who would have revolted at the idea of stabbing a man to the heart, drugged his pottage without scruple. Ladies of gentle birth and manners caught the contagion of murder, until poisoning, under their auspices, became quite fashionable. Some delusions, though notorious to all the world, have subsisted for ages, flourishing as widely among civilised and polished nations as among the early barbarians with whom they originated,—that of duelling, for instance, and the belief in omens and divination of the future, which seem to defy the progress of knowledge to eradicate them entirely from the popular mind. Money, again, has often been a cause of the delusion of multitudes. Sober nations have all at once become desperate gamblers, and risked almost their existence upon the turn of a piece of paper. To trace the history of the most prominent of these delusions is the object of the present pages. Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.
Charles Mackay Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.
There were times when he was a different person. When, rather than being the hapless victim to whatever circumstance had overwhelmed him, he was confident and bold, angry in narrow focus, the thrower of bricks. There had always been strings of discontent to lead to these peak points, peak experiences, deadline after deadline met, crowds and chaos, multiple unfairnesses, injustices which niggled away at him, stoked his outrage, forced strong measures. The world was so damn unfair. We're coming to get you. Nothing will be solved. All out, we're going to make this a better world, we're going to fix the things that are wrong, we're going to eliminate injustice.
As if. There were too many memories crowding in. The points that he remembered were so obscure. Was there any narrative thread? When he worked, briefly, as the music writer for a gay magazine, thirty years ago, he attended a press conference for Roy Orbison, the American singer of great fame, whether his songs had any special appeal for gay people. Only The Lonely. He had his dark glasses and he was from a different, more historic world. Here, on the outskirts of civilisation, anything American seemed to have more authenticity, because we had grown up with American landscapes on our televisions, American stories, American accents. Walking through Ameican redwood forests seemed more real than walking through the gum trees of Australia, the eucalypt forests towering above.
My songs appeal to everyone, I hope, he said, what else could he say, and there was a prickling shock and uncomfortability that spread around the room at the oddness of the question. He was all bold, all social pioneer, all furious in his determination. He let everything wash over him. As luck would have it he found himself standing next to a very uncomfortable Orbison at the urinal, men going about their business, determined not to look. He wore his dark shades, even in that dimly lit room.
There was that day; there were press releases and records and a tour to promote, and he mixed as if he belonged with all the other music writers from the major papers, and he made a trickle of a living writing for obscure little magazines who were always desperate for copy, who basically would publish anything. It hadn't started well, this music writing thing. He basically knew nothing about it, had no natural aptitude, didn't understand rock. He was awed by everyone around him. He lived with Stuart Coupe, the music writer for the Sun Herald for a while, the walls lined with records, hundreds, thousands of records; and he was perpetually in awe of his knowledge, his talent, his taste, everything about him. He was just a pretender on the outskirts.
He rented the room at the front of Stuart's house; and was amazed by everything about him. The value of that massive record collection; an astonishingly full collection of the history of rock and roll. His impeccable taste. The astonishing number of people he knew. His fame. Everything. Drunk one night, huh, drunk most nights, he told a taxi driver he was living with the music writer for the Sun Herald, boasting. It was his connection to a different world, a real world, where people made money out of writing, where their opinions were respected, where fame was the source of all the bubbles of credibility, the authenticity, the reality. How strong were these things; how strong were these things; after all his years on the fringe.
There was no going forward. He had lived too long in the shallows. No one believed he was going anywhere. He was too drug fucked and alcohol pickled to ever succeed. His occasional moments of notoriety were no substitute for a genuine career path. He clung to others, as if their presence would give him some form of solidity, some substance. Everything was shadows, unreal. Nothing he did was anything but pretence. He didn't know anything more about rock music than he did about nuclear science; all he could do was watch others and mimic their actions. He fed off real people, their force, their substance, their grip on the planet surface filling in his own blank spaces. There was never going to be a good ending, not to this.
Strange things were always happening, he thought, as he stood there pissing next to a very uncomfortable Roy Orbison. As if he could care. Not every gay person was a slut. Was that even real; when the Sydney nights were full of wild presentations of the flesh, orgies involving hundreds stretching from one dark room to the other, music that was going to change everything. There had been so many failures. He had been beaten so badly as a child. He had been so dissolute, so hopeless in his presentations. Already it had begun, nice guy, pity he drinks so much. And the nice guy routine, it was all just part of the pretence, pretending to be a real person, an ordinary customer, when in his head there was only one wish: to be scattered to the four winds, to disintegrate under the weight of a thousand drinks, to find the perfect state of oblivion.
Nice day, if you like that sort of thing. He shrugged, he shook, he buttoned himself up, and they emerged into the light of the hotel ballroom as if nothing had ever gone wrong. As if he had every right to be there. As if he was a normal person. Huh, you have no idea, he thought, lifting a glass of white wine off a passing tray. You have no idea. I'll be shivering on the roof tops watching the hallucinatory dawn break across the city; while everyone else will be comfortably in bed, rolling over to kiss their loved one, getting ready for work. And one day his disease wracked body would be found in an alcove of those rooftops he loved so much, overdosed, his heart just stopped. And no one would know why he was where he was: on the rooftop of an apartment block in Elizabeth Bay; that place where he was more himself than anywhere else; where he could see the light picking up every detail of the harbour, every grand house, every inlet. Let us pass in peace, he thought, and downed the glass in a single gulp.
THE BIGGER STORY:
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/17/campaign.wrap/?iref=mpstoryview
(CNN) -- Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden ripped into recent comments by his Republican counterpart that suggested that some places in the U.S. are more "pro-America" than others.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin holds a rally Friday in West Chester, Ohio.
"We believe that the best of America is in the small towns that we get to visit, and in the wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard-working, very patriotic, very pro-America areas of this great nation," she said.
"This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans," Palin added.
On Friday, Palin clarified her comments.
"It's all pro-America. I was just reinforcing the fact that there, where I was, there's good patriotic people there in these rallies, so excited about positive change and reform of government that's coming that they are so appreciative of hearing our message, hearing our plan. Not any one area of America is more pro-America patriotically than others," she said.
At a rally in Mesilla, New Mexico, on Friday, Biden responded to those comments in a vociferous tone.
"I hope it was just a slip on her part and she doesn't really mean it. But she said, it was reported she said, that she likes to visit, 'pro-American' parts of the country," he said to loud boos.
"It doesn't matter where you live, we all love this country, and I hope it gets through. We all love this country," he said. "We are one nation, under God, indivisible. We are all patriotic. We all love our country in every part of this nation! And I'm tired. I am tired, tired, tired, tired of the implications about patriotism."
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24513276-661,00.html
HUNDREDS of millions of dollars will be slashed from health and other key programs as the Rudd Government takes the axe to Budget spending.
Faced with the worst economic crisis in decades, the Government is eyeing billions of dollars in additional savings to bolster a falling Budget surplus.
Among a list of potential targets is $234 million in medical and health research funding slotted for next year.
This would put the Government on a collision course with some of Australia's most respected researchers, including Ian Frazer -- awarded the Prime Minister's $300,000 Science Prize on Thursday.
Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner admitted the Government faced a torrid time as it tried to free funds to pay for pension increases and other core promises.
"Next year's Budget will be a very tough one to frame because of the uncertain economic circumstances," he said.
The minister confirmed his department was listing potential savings.
"It is never possible to tackle every problem at once in government," he said. "You always have to make choices about spending and timing."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/18/2394707.htm
News Corporation chief executive Rupert Murdoch says his company is being hurt by the slowing US economy and the global financial crisis.
Mr Murdoch has told a shareholder meeting these are testing times for News Corporation, expressing his fears that the US is about to enter a prolonged economic downturn.
He said advertising revenue had fallen and the News Corporation share price had been beaten down.
"It's tempting of course to stand here and boast about our past year's success," he said.
"I cannot however do that, not while we're in the midst of an unprecedented credit crisis that has weakened the advertising market and beaten down our share price."
Mr Murdoch insisted News Corporation had enough cash reserves to whether what he said could be a prolonged economic downturn.
He said News Corporation had a $5 billion war chest that could be used to fund more media acquisitions in the wake of his company's takeover last year of the Dow Jones group, that left him in control of the prestigious Wall Street Journal.
Mr Murdoch also rejected suggestions media companies should join the big banks in receiving financial help from the US Government.
IN READING THE HISTORY OF NATIONS, we find that, like individuals, they have their whims and their peculiarities; their seasons of excitement and recklessness, when they care not what they do. We find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object, and go mad in its pursuit; that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it, till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first. We see one nation suddenly seized, from its highest to its lowest members, with a fierce desire of military glory; another as suddenly becoming crazed upon a religious scruple; and neither of them recovering its senses until it has shed rivers of blood and sowed a harvest of groans and tears, to be reaped by its posterity. At an early age in the annals of Europe its population lost their wits about the sepulchre of Jesus, and crowded in frenzied multitudes to the Holy Land; another age went mad for fear of the devil, and offered up hundreds of thousands of victims to the delusion of witchcraft. At another time, the many became crazed on the subject of the philosopher's stone, and committed follies till then unheard of in the pursuit. It was once thought a venial offence, in very many countries of Europe, to destroy an enemy by slow poison. Persons who would have revolted at the idea of stabbing a man to the heart, drugged his pottage without scruple. Ladies of gentle birth and manners caught the contagion of murder, until poisoning, under their auspices, became quite fashionable. Some delusions, though notorious to all the world, have subsisted for ages, flourishing as widely among civilised and polished nations as among the early barbarians with whom they originated,—that of duelling, for instance, and the belief in omens and divination of the future, which seem to defy the progress of knowledge to eradicate them entirely from the popular mind. Money, again, has often been a cause of the delusion of multitudes. Sober nations have all at once become desperate gamblers, and risked almost their existence upon the turn of a piece of paper. To trace the history of the most prominent of these delusions is the object of the present pages. Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.
Charles Mackay Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.
There were times when he was a different person. When, rather than being the hapless victim to whatever circumstance had overwhelmed him, he was confident and bold, angry in narrow focus, the thrower of bricks. There had always been strings of discontent to lead to these peak points, peak experiences, deadline after deadline met, crowds and chaos, multiple unfairnesses, injustices which niggled away at him, stoked his outrage, forced strong measures. The world was so damn unfair. We're coming to get you. Nothing will be solved. All out, we're going to make this a better world, we're going to fix the things that are wrong, we're going to eliminate injustice.
As if. There were too many memories crowding in. The points that he remembered were so obscure. Was there any narrative thread? When he worked, briefly, as the music writer for a gay magazine, thirty years ago, he attended a press conference for Roy Orbison, the American singer of great fame, whether his songs had any special appeal for gay people. Only The Lonely. He had his dark glasses and he was from a different, more historic world. Here, on the outskirts of civilisation, anything American seemed to have more authenticity, because we had grown up with American landscapes on our televisions, American stories, American accents. Walking through Ameican redwood forests seemed more real than walking through the gum trees of Australia, the eucalypt forests towering above.
My songs appeal to everyone, I hope, he said, what else could he say, and there was a prickling shock and uncomfortability that spread around the room at the oddness of the question. He was all bold, all social pioneer, all furious in his determination. He let everything wash over him. As luck would have it he found himself standing next to a very uncomfortable Orbison at the urinal, men going about their business, determined not to look. He wore his dark shades, even in that dimly lit room.
There was that day; there were press releases and records and a tour to promote, and he mixed as if he belonged with all the other music writers from the major papers, and he made a trickle of a living writing for obscure little magazines who were always desperate for copy, who basically would publish anything. It hadn't started well, this music writing thing. He basically knew nothing about it, had no natural aptitude, didn't understand rock. He was awed by everyone around him. He lived with Stuart Coupe, the music writer for the Sun Herald for a while, the walls lined with records, hundreds, thousands of records; and he was perpetually in awe of his knowledge, his talent, his taste, everything about him. He was just a pretender on the outskirts.
He rented the room at the front of Stuart's house; and was amazed by everything about him. The value of that massive record collection; an astonishingly full collection of the history of rock and roll. His impeccable taste. The astonishing number of people he knew. His fame. Everything. Drunk one night, huh, drunk most nights, he told a taxi driver he was living with the music writer for the Sun Herald, boasting. It was his connection to a different world, a real world, where people made money out of writing, where their opinions were respected, where fame was the source of all the bubbles of credibility, the authenticity, the reality. How strong were these things; how strong were these things; after all his years on the fringe.
There was no going forward. He had lived too long in the shallows. No one believed he was going anywhere. He was too drug fucked and alcohol pickled to ever succeed. His occasional moments of notoriety were no substitute for a genuine career path. He clung to others, as if their presence would give him some form of solidity, some substance. Everything was shadows, unreal. Nothing he did was anything but pretence. He didn't know anything more about rock music than he did about nuclear science; all he could do was watch others and mimic their actions. He fed off real people, their force, their substance, their grip on the planet surface filling in his own blank spaces. There was never going to be a good ending, not to this.
Strange things were always happening, he thought, as he stood there pissing next to a very uncomfortable Roy Orbison. As if he could care. Not every gay person was a slut. Was that even real; when the Sydney nights were full of wild presentations of the flesh, orgies involving hundreds stretching from one dark room to the other, music that was going to change everything. There had been so many failures. He had been beaten so badly as a child. He had been so dissolute, so hopeless in his presentations. Already it had begun, nice guy, pity he drinks so much. And the nice guy routine, it was all just part of the pretence, pretending to be a real person, an ordinary customer, when in his head there was only one wish: to be scattered to the four winds, to disintegrate under the weight of a thousand drinks, to find the perfect state of oblivion.
Nice day, if you like that sort of thing. He shrugged, he shook, he buttoned himself up, and they emerged into the light of the hotel ballroom as if nothing had ever gone wrong. As if he had every right to be there. As if he was a normal person. Huh, you have no idea, he thought, lifting a glass of white wine off a passing tray. You have no idea. I'll be shivering on the roof tops watching the hallucinatory dawn break across the city; while everyone else will be comfortably in bed, rolling over to kiss their loved one, getting ready for work. And one day his disease wracked body would be found in an alcove of those rooftops he loved so much, overdosed, his heart just stopped. And no one would know why he was where he was: on the rooftop of an apartment block in Elizabeth Bay; that place where he was more himself than anywhere else; where he could see the light picking up every detail of the harbour, every grand house, every inlet. Let us pass in peace, he thought, and downed the glass in a single gulp.
THE BIGGER STORY:
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/17/campaign.wrap/?iref=mpstoryview
(CNN) -- Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden ripped into recent comments by his Republican counterpart that suggested that some places in the U.S. are more "pro-America" than others.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin holds a rally Friday in West Chester, Ohio.
"We believe that the best of America is in the small towns that we get to visit, and in the wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard-working, very patriotic, very pro-America areas of this great nation," she said.
"This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans," Palin added.
On Friday, Palin clarified her comments.
"It's all pro-America. I was just reinforcing the fact that there, where I was, there's good patriotic people there in these rallies, so excited about positive change and reform of government that's coming that they are so appreciative of hearing our message, hearing our plan. Not any one area of America is more pro-America patriotically than others," she said.
At a rally in Mesilla, New Mexico, on Friday, Biden responded to those comments in a vociferous tone.
"I hope it was just a slip on her part and she doesn't really mean it. But she said, it was reported she said, that she likes to visit, 'pro-American' parts of the country," he said to loud boos.
"It doesn't matter where you live, we all love this country, and I hope it gets through. We all love this country," he said. "We are one nation, under God, indivisible. We are all patriotic. We all love our country in every part of this nation! And I'm tired. I am tired, tired, tired, tired of the implications about patriotism."
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24513276-661,00.html
HUNDREDS of millions of dollars will be slashed from health and other key programs as the Rudd Government takes the axe to Budget spending.
Faced with the worst economic crisis in decades, the Government is eyeing billions of dollars in additional savings to bolster a falling Budget surplus.
Among a list of potential targets is $234 million in medical and health research funding slotted for next year.
This would put the Government on a collision course with some of Australia's most respected researchers, including Ian Frazer -- awarded the Prime Minister's $300,000 Science Prize on Thursday.
Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner admitted the Government faced a torrid time as it tried to free funds to pay for pension increases and other core promises.
"Next year's Budget will be a very tough one to frame because of the uncertain economic circumstances," he said.
The minister confirmed his department was listing potential savings.
"It is never possible to tackle every problem at once in government," he said. "You always have to make choices about spending and timing."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/18/2394707.htm
News Corporation chief executive Rupert Murdoch says his company is being hurt by the slowing US economy and the global financial crisis.
Mr Murdoch has told a shareholder meeting these are testing times for News Corporation, expressing his fears that the US is about to enter a prolonged economic downturn.
He said advertising revenue had fallen and the News Corporation share price had been beaten down.
"It's tempting of course to stand here and boast about our past year's success," he said.
"I cannot however do that, not while we're in the midst of an unprecedented credit crisis that has weakened the advertising market and beaten down our share price."
Mr Murdoch insisted News Corporation had enough cash reserves to whether what he said could be a prolonged economic downturn.
He said News Corporation had a $5 billion war chest that could be used to fund more media acquisitions in the wake of his company's takeover last year of the Dow Jones group, that left him in control of the prestigious Wall Street Journal.
Mr Murdoch also rejected suggestions media companies should join the big banks in receiving financial help from the US Government.
Comments
George W Bush, Dick Cheney, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Ben Bernanke, Henry Paulson, Osama bin Laden, Rupert Murdoch, Wall Street and the financial crisis in prophecy.
Thomas, appointed to minister prophetically to President George W Bush and the American people by the Will of God according to Ephesians 4:11-13.
To the church of God in America and the faithful throughout the world.
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
May the Lord grant you an open heart with “eyes to see” and “ears to hear” His message.
The Lord has led me to set up this “blog” because of the stubbornness of the American church in refusing to listen to direct communication and due to the seriousness of the situation. Even from a secular point of view it is alarming that so-called “financial experts” have failed to make the correlation between similarities that led to the Great Depression and those prevailing today. After the “Black Tuesday” crash of 1929 the stock-market rallied but drought coupled with slow automobile sales and falling commodity prices sent the market into free-fall in 1930. What do we see today? Mini market rallies while much of the US is in drought. General Motors and Ford are in serious trouble while the slowdown in China in particular is contributing to falling commodity prices.
The sick and disgusting “joke” of the financial crisis from a secular point of view is that many of the “financial experts” responsible for the entirely predictable and avoidable fiasco are the very same people now charged with the responsibility of fixing the mess. It is even alleged that the week after AIG received a multi-billion $ bailout its senior executives treated themselves to US$40,000 in massages whilst staying in US$1,000/night hotel rooms and then had the audacity to put their hands up for another multi-billion $ bailout the following week!
Fear not, because even if George W Bush is an inept lame duck president incapable and lacking the resolve to curb such excesses, God is still in control and those people have a fearful judgment awaiting them – if not in this lifetime, certainly in the next. They will be punished severely. I Thomas, (not the Lord) say to those executives that they should repay out of their own pockets those extravagances and it would be fitting for them to contribute to the poor and homeless out of their excessive and underserved salaries.
Serious questions need to be asked of Ben Bernanke, Henry Paulson (and before them Alan Greenspan) and the ratings agencies Standard & Poors, Moodys and Fitch. What did they know about “ninja”/liar loans etc? If they didn’t know, why didn’t they? Is this a case of all care and no responsibility? And if it is, what is the role of the Federal Reserve and ratings agencies? International class actions against all of the preceding would go a long way to ensuring future executive accountability and that there is no repeat of this financial fiasco.
Christian people may rightly ask that if this letter is prophetic why is it raising questions from a secular perspective? Quite deliberately so because the intention is to highlight the commonsense commonalities of the secular and theological positions. Firstly, surely it is commonsense that loaning money to people with no income, no job and no assets is a recipe for disaster. A person does not need a banking degree to work that out. Similarly, any Bible believing Christian should be able to recognise the “signs” of what is going on today and why. But just as there are high powered over-paid executives scratching their heads that we have a financial crisis there are Christian leaders and others sounding off their own thoughts without any God given authority to speak. Oh yes, there are a number of high profile “prophets” stroking their egos, trying to boost book and CD sales, claiming “revelations” and declaring that they had previously prophesied current events. Oh really! What tripe! How easily you are deceived. But what this also shows is how desperately some people need a “guru” to worship or to guide them. How desperate some people are to hear “good news prophecy” that they will swallow any rubbish and how deluded and evil some people are to prey upon these vulnerable people in what amounts to little more than “prophetic businesses” that peddle religion along with assorted goods ranging through to vitamins and health foods.
There always have been and always will be false prophets and false teachers. People will continue to gather around them people who will deceive them and tell them what their itching ears want to hear. Leaving aside the lack of faith and obedience this attitude displays it is blatantly foolish. It is like a person who refuses to listen to a cancer diagnosis from the doctor and so seeks out another doctor to tell the patient what he wants to hear: “No, you do not have cancer” when all along the condition is evident. Similarly, the “good news prophecy business” in America is telling those lacking discernment: “All is well. God loves America. God is not angry”. Absolute rubbish! God IS angry! God told President Bush: “Do Not invade Iraq for if you do there will be serious consequences.” (My previous letter, 2 Americans, which I will include on this “blog” sets this out in greater detail.) It is time for America to wake up and face the truth. The inconvenient truth is that our Holy God IS in control and His Holiness and His Justice decrees that He is not going to allow any nation to illegally and immorally invade any other sovereign nation resulting in death, injury and harm to innocent civilians and then bless the disobedient aggressor. To think that God would do so is not to know the God revealed in the Bible and a serious sin to falsely proclaim “prophesies” contrary to His revelation and the inspiration of His Holy Spirit. (Deuteronomy 13:1-5; 18:18-22; 2 Timothy 4:3f; 2 Peter 2:1-3; Matthew 7:15; 24:24; Luke 6:26; 1 John 4:1)
God’s timing is perfect. There is no mistaking that God has planned the current circumstances to give George W Bush a fitting send off. The most disliked and inept president in the history of the United States. History will record George W Bush as the man who destroyed the prestige of the USA along with its economy leading to the US relinquishing its world dominance and becoming a second rate power largely reliant upon the European Union and China.
But it didn’t have to be this way. God promised George W Bush that if he would obey Him then God said: “I will make you the greatest ever American President, even greater than Abraham Lincoln”. That is why George Bush acted as though he had a divine blessing. But while George Bush basked and delighted in thought of God’s blessing he lacked the strength of character to stand up to Dick Cheney and all of the other neo-cons driving the war with Iraq.
God spoke to President Bush through His Holiness, Pope John Paul II and then through the Pope’s emissary, Cardinal Pia Laghi and various American Christians giving the message of “no war”. When the President refused to listen, God sent me, His prophet with the message and clear warning: “Do NOT invade Iraq. For if you do there will be serious consequences. You George W Bush will not benefit economically from war with Iraq. You will be saddled with crippling debt. You will not make your oil supply more secure but less secure. The price of oil will go up and not down! You will not reduce terrorism but increase it. I, the Lord, will humiliate and frustrate you, you will not capture Osama bin Laden, “dead or alive”. You will not decrease the nuclear threat but increase it. You will ruin the prestige and good name of the United States – even your allies will have difficulty defending and standing by you.”
Earlier I talked about the secular history of the Great Depression and the lessons, the similar factors that apply today. In the books Deuteronomy through to 2 Kings is contained what is known as “The Deuteronomic History”. The essential theology of the Deuteronomic History is one of blessing and curse, that is to say that when the leader and nation was obedient to God’s commands they enjoyed His blessing – it rained for one thing, the weather was “good”, there was peace and plenty to eat etc. By contrast, when the ruler and nation disobeyed God He withdrew His blessing. There was drought, failed crops – even defeat, humiliation in war! (1 Samuel 2:12, 17, 25; 4:2, 10)
God said to President Bush: “Do NOT invade Iraq because if you do you will be responsible for killing, injuring and destroying the homes and welfare of many innocent civilians. If you, George Walker Bush do this, then I, the Lord will fight against you. I, the Lord will kill, injure and destroy (randomly) the homes of innocent Americans. I, the Lord will do to America what no enemy can do. I, the Lord will show that My Power exceeds any human power. Your bombs may destroy city streets and blocks but I can destroy whole cities by my word. Be warned George Bush, I, the Lord will destroy the city of New Orleans by wind and flood.”
Of course it is history that Hurricane Katrina was prophetic fulfilment but still there are doubters. In these things God has and is acting entirely consistently with His revelation of Himself in Scripture and sacred texts. Significantly, The Wisdom of Solomon 11:16 informs us that “punishment for sin takes the same form as the sin itself.” (Good News Catholic Edition) Psalm 148:8 (NIV) declares that: “lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding.” While Sirach 39:28-31 tells us that: “There are winds that were created to bring punishment, fierce enough to move mountains. In times of judgment, they unleash their strength and calm the anger of their maker…fire, hail, famine, and disease; these have all been created as punishments. They are all glad to obey the Lord’s command and are ready to serve him here on earth.” (Good News Catholic Edition)
The Lord told President Bush that no longer would the twisters come down “harmlessly” in the fields but increasingly they would land on homes and even churches. Just as America is destroying innocent people’s homes in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan God declared that he would destroy American homes and He has kept His Promise. God has taken the homes of many Americans through flood, through wind, through fire and through the financial crisis brought about by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac liar loans. Make no mistake, the wildfires in California are prophetic fulfilment just as the recent destruction in Galveston was prophesied to President Bush. Just as America has destroyed the jobs and livelihoods of many people God Himself is throwing many Americans onto the scrapheap of unemployment. God IS keeping His Promise to President George W Bush. Everything that is happening in America today is down to George Bush’s disobedience to God. God IS punishing America and it does not help America one little bit to ignore and deny this.
Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida and many in the Muslim world are sitting back and laughing at America. They are absolutely right when they speak of God punishing America though they do not know the true facts nor the true love motivating this discipline.
When America votes the people need to take all of this into consideration because if America does not repent there is only a very bleak future ahead. America needs to recognise that the policies of the Bush Administration are seriously flawed and there needs to be drastic change before things get much, much worse – DEPRESSION!
In terms of the mind of God neither John McCain, Sarah Palin, Barack Obama and Joe Biden are close to God’s thinking in terms of “Just War” and God’s Will in terms of US foreign policy. Everyone of these candidates is seriously out of step with God. In fact, none of them are good choices. Each one of them represents a particular danger to America and the world. There is not one that a spiritually discerning Christian could whole-heartedly embrace with the peace of God. That is despite several prominent Christian leaders exhorting votes for McCain/Palin. These people speak from a human perspective not with God’s authority or blessing.
To John McCain and Sarah Palin, listen to what the Lord says to you: “You are wrong on Iraq and Afghanistan. US & Allied forces in Iraq must be replaced by a UN operation comprised of troops from Muslim nations, now! Escalating the war in Afghanistan by surge tactics is a mistake. Afghan tribal leaders should take over the fighting. There must not be any military incursions into Pakistan territory. All bombing of Iraq, Afghan and Pakistani civilians must cease immediately.”
The Lord Jesus Christ said: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9 NIV) By contrast you are acting like war-mongers. In my country genuine war heroes do not blow their own trumpets. Almost every genuine war hero is anti-war and rarely speaks about war or their service record. The only way that some genuine war heroes have been found is through others speaking about their heroism, their sacrifice and their service. Genuine war heroes rarely speak – at least they do not promote war or use their war “status” as leverage.
America does not need another war. America needs a president with diplomatic skills who can repair and build bridges with other nations to bring mutual peace and prosperity. America needs a president with a social conscience to look after your own citizens and not just “free market cowboys” and greedy crooks. Good economic management skills are far more important at this time than any strong military leadership. (Ecclesiastes 3:8; 1 Timothy 5:8)
To Barack Obama, listen to what the Lord says to you: “You are about to receive a great honour but with that honour comes great responsibility. There is NO solution to the nation’s problems apart from Me. If you implement your liberal social agenda to its fullest extent (abortion, same sex marriage etc) then I, the Lord cannot bless your presidency or the nation. You will live out your days in fear for your safety and that of your loved ones. Your life will be no better than that of a caged bird. The irony being that in “the land of the free” the main man will be anything but free. Prison inmates will feel more secure than you and your family. Do NOT, repeat Do NOT make military incursions into Pakistan. Do NOT, repeat Do NOT make any pre-emptive military strikes on Iran. Be very careful from whom you receive advice. Some will be out to use you – others will be plotting your downfall. Seek genuine wisdom and you will find it.” (1 Kings 3:28; 10:24; 2 Chronicles 1:10; Psalm 51:6; Proverbs 1:7; 2:6; 8:11; 11:2; 13:10; Ecclesiastes 2:26; 7:12; 9:18; Matthew 11:19; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31; James 1:5; 3:13-18; 2 Peter 3:15)
Concerning Israel: What Israel wants and what Israel needs are not always the same thing. Sometimes the things Israel wants are not in the best interests of Israel. Israel needs true friends that are willing to stick by her in good times and bad but she also needs true friends who are honest and courageous enough to be true friends and not just go along with any old plan or idea of human origin. Israel needs true friends who put God first and commit ALL plans to Him first – especially military plans because without Him there will be no success. (Proverbs 16:3
Listen oh Israel. Listen to the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and Jacob: “Israel, oh Israel, how my heart aches for you because you are a stiff-necked people. Go back and read your history and remember the lessons I, the Lord have taught you. There is a time for everything. A time for war and a time for peace but first put your own house in order and then I, the Lord will bless you and give you victory. But be warned oh Israel, what do the Scriptures say? Who is it that gives you victory over your enemies? War apart from Me will be bloody, costly and prolonged. It will not come swiftly. Be warned, My Beloved.” (Exodus 32:9; 33:3, 5; 34:9; Deuteronomy 9:6, 13; Acts 7:51; Ecclesiastes 3:8; Deuteronomy 20:4; 2 Samuel 8:6, 14; 2 Kings 5:1; Psalm 44:7; 144:10; Proverbs 2:7; 21:31; Jeremiah 11:15)
This IS a clear message to the USA. Be a good and true friend to Israel. Commit everything to the Lord and do NOT be deceived by plans and knee-jerk reactions that have no basis in God but only evil human imaginings and scheming. Be warned, God will not be mocked. The US cannot afford more wars that do not enjoy the blessing of God. Be warned:
“There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord.” (Proverbs 21:30 NIV)
A couple of weeks back while a television crew was reporting from the floor of the Australian Stock Exchange a big-noting, egotistical stockbroker was calling out in the background that the market had hit bottom. Apparently he wanted to gain the credit and peer adulation for having picked the bottom but he was nowhere to be found a few days later when New York shed 8%. Bottom, indeed! But the market has rallied from that point and with news of a further US Government bailout things do seem to be improving. So, has the market hit bottom? Has a recession been avoided? Is it all over?
No. No, that would be all too easy for too many people and not achieve God’s purposes. You see, for the average person the financial crisis has just been a bit of a “paper” fright with “paper losses” that really do not mean much provided that you do not have to sell your shares, do not intend retiring in the short term, do not lose your job etc. For many, the “fright” is over and it’s back to “normal”. Well, no, that doesn’t suit God because God wants a positive result from that “fright”. God wants to see genuine change – true repentance - and so He cannot allow a “business as usual” attitude to come back so swiftly. The reality is that the markets only appear to have bottomed. Remember the lessons from the Great Depression, the Black Tuesday 1929 crash was followed by a resurgence. Yes, we are at the start of the resurgence. President Bush will take credit for that (and conveniently forget his role in the crash).
The prevailing “wisdom” is that the financial crisis can be solved by throwing truckloads of cash at the problems. Sure General Motors and Ford will benefit from massive taxpayer injections but there is no response to the God factor in all of these issues. No-one has assessed the importance of drought in the Great Depression and the importance of drought today. Water IS the most valuable resource on earth. Because the United States of America has deliberately disobeyed God in such things as war in Iraq and because the Church in America has fully supported this disobedience through apathy, lack of faith, false prophets, false teachers and Christian leaders more interested in stroking their own egos and peddling Christianity as a business the Lord is going to withhold the rain where it is needed most. America is about to enter a prolonged extreme drought which when coupled with twisters, tornadoes, hurricanes, dust, fires, hail, ice, snow, floods, earthquakes, terror attacks, lawlessness, civil disobedience, riots, unemployment and company closures leading to DEPRESSION! (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
By the authority vested in me by God as His prophet to America I am formally declaring drought in America. This drought shall not pass until such time as the Lord deems. Take heed false prophets and false teachers – you peddlers of religion for money – you who prey upon the vulnerable and deceive the gullible. What does the stock-market do? Is it not one step forward and two steps backward and vice versa? Is it not the overall trend that matters? Similarly, God will not be mocked, it will rain – sometimes too much – sometimes just a tease but do not be fooled – watch the trend. The trend is drought. Drought has been a significant factor throughout history. It was in the Great Depression and it will be again in this financial crisis leading to DEPRESSION. (Genesis 2:5; Leviticus 26:4; Deuteronomy 11:17; 1 Samuel 12:17f; 1 Kings 17:1, 7, 14; 18:1, 41, 44f; Job 5:10)
The way out of DEPRESSION is to learn the lessons of history and not repeat elementary mistakes. Learn the lessons from the Deuteronomic History and take heart from the message of Jonah because God does not enjoy punishing anyone or any nation but certainly sometimes discipline is necessary. Before you go to war again, make certain that the war has God’s blessing and do not compound your sin by falsely claiming things by God when none exist.
“His wisdom is profound, his power is vast. Who has resisted him and come out unscathed?” (Job 9:4 NIV)
The Lord has spoken. Blessed be His Holy Name.
Amen.