Thursday, October 13, 2022
Friday, October 07, 2022
Hit & Run Commentary #139
So how is pointing out that the health of some will be irrevocably harmed as a result of the coronavirus vaccine a greater moral outrage than these pharmaceutical commercials that essentially say "Take this pill to prevent your hair turning gray. But by the way, one of the potential side effects is death by liver failure." At least with that medication you are given a choice without any potential of losing your job or freedom of movement for deciding not to take it. Apparently "science" no longer means the elucidation of all the facts irrespective of whether or not one likes them but rather the blind propagandistic endorsement of a predetermined policy and even religious agenda.
If there are riots over the nomination of the replacement of Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, that probably means Democratic Party bigwigs are likely behind the upheaval. Antifa and Black Lives canon fodder don’t seem bright enough to even name a Supreme Court justice.
The friendship between Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Antonin Scalia is being celebrated as ideal, even by conservatives. So apparently the lives of the unborn aren’t that big of a deal after all. She was more than someone that might have had an abortion in the past. Rather she has been one of the procedure’s foremost advocates. So just how chummy should the town rabbi get with the grand wizard of the local chapter of the Klan?
If we are really going to view the unborn as actual human beings, given the accolades extended to Justice Ginsburg even by a variety of prominent conservatives does that mean that from now on that whenever a prominent terrorist passes all that can be said about them is a favorable assessment of their tactical prowess and media acumen?
Media tolerancemongers are apoplectic that President Trump complimented a primarily Caucasian crowd in Minnesota for their good genes. And how is that any worse than these minority propagandists such as Al Sharpton that have to constantly remind viewers with perfectly acceptable visual acuity what color or ethnic extraction that they happen to be?
Will public commemorations of Ruth Bader Ginsburg be condemned as Coronavirus superspreader events like the Sturgis motorcycle festival or Trump campaign rallies?
Ironic. Apparently it is acceptable for Ruth Bader Ginsburg to have advocated lowering the age of consent to 12 but an outrage for Roy Moore as a 30 year old to have gone out on a date with a 16 year old despite that being the age of consent in that particular jurisdiction at the time and there being no evidence that the couple engaged in carnal liberties.
Does Yahoo News shocked over Trump’s alleged failure to condemn “White supremacists and the militia” (two distinct movements by the way with probably less overlap in terms of membership than Antifa and Black Lives Matter) intend to react with as much dismay at Biden’s dismissal of Antifa as a mere idea? After all, “White supremacy” is also just an idea rather than a group or organization over which we are apparently obligated to work ourselves up into a froth regarding the pervasive threat the mindset is claimed to pose. Interestingly, Biden demands that the Proud Boys stand down when they have not been the ones illegitimately destroying and seizing property. If anything, it is the tendency of that movement to provide a sense of order when established law enforcement fails to do so. So if Antifa or Black Lives Matter were to besiege the White House during the Biden regime, would he then call upon the Secret Service to stand down?
The elites jacked out of shape at the existence of the Proud Boys are the same ones that have no qualms about hiring their own private security details that in decades and generations past used to be referred to as mercenaries.
To be consistent, shouldn't those opposed to the existence of the Proud Boys be as outraged at the existence of the Guardian Angels?
So if the Proud Boys are to be condemned for vigorously responding to the destruction of property at the hands of Antifa and Black Lives Matter instead of passively waiting for law enforcement, to be logically consistent, a woman should be criticized if she physically repulses the unwanted advances of her rapist.
Granted, the Proud Boys are less than ideal in terms of there beliefs such as tattooing. However, there aren't exactly any explicitly Christian organizations stepping forward to physically defend against the destruction of property. From what I've researched the past several months, many such as the Gospel Coalition and certain elites of the Southern Baptist Convention turn a blind eye to the pillaging of the Antifa/BLM insurgents.
Destructive violence grips America’s cities. One of the few groups courageous enough to respond is a movement known as the Proud Boys. If what your mind zooms in on about the current situation is the use of the word “Boys” rather than “Men”, that is not exactly the most manly of responses. It probably has more in common with an old maid school marm with her hair pulled back a bit too tightly.
Doesn’t Trump contracting the Plague prove that masks are pretty much pointless? Critics will respond that at times he does not wear a mask. But the propaganda constantly admonishes that our masks are not about protecting ourselves. Rather our masks are about protecting others. Even though Trump is reluctant to shroud his countenance, without a doubt those in close contact with the President are required to wear a mask or will be beat to the ground by the Secret Service detail.
If masks are such a protective against the Plague, why must the Secret Services agents that took Trump on the drive to have his ego stroked likely have to go into quarantine?
Trump urged Americans not to be dominated by the Coronavirus. The remarks were well intentioned. Yet not every patient gets Walter Reed treatment. Some end up at the substandard or barely acceptable "county hospital". Doubt it took multiple hours and as many pleas to get his potty chair emptied.
If masks and social distancing work to the extent we are assured by propagandists, why shouldn’t youth be allowed to Trick or Treat this Halloween season? If a jurisdiction “discourages” Trick or Treating, technically there is nothing that can be done to stop the custom given by definition the act has not been forbidden. Interesting that the bureaucrats and elected officials now suggesting youth not Trick or Treat issued no declarations against youth looting and rioting. In certain instances, such pillaging was euphemistically encouraged under the phraseology of “historic protests”.
In a Mark Warner campaign ad, it is pointed out that the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate Daniel Gade remarked that a compulsory face mask is what tyranny feels like. Gade simply stated an opinion. He did not call for the directive (since in many jurisdictions the requirements do not even rise to the status of actual law) to be disobeyed. For if he had, Warner would have no doubt made fodder of such a comment. All the government ought to concern itself with is our compliance. Not with what we are thinking or feeling as we do. As such, the case could be made that what Mark Warner is most concerned about is not so much about disease control but rather mind control.
A video posted to Youtube considers the New Monastic movement in light of the global pandemic. One should be allowed to hunker down to the extent one desires to avoid contact with the Plague. However, it should be concerning when statements regarding such are formulated in such a way insinuating something is mentally wrong with you if you long for an eventual return to the way things once were in regards to freedom of movement and such. Ironically, most of these individuals look and sound like the sorts that would gravitate to the "keep your laws off my body" or "how dare you impose your morality on me sort of churches". As such, just because they might want to be locked inside for the rest of their lives, who are they to demand that from the rest of us? Also the discerning will find it irritating to the extent capitalism was bashed in the video. But was it not capitalism that allowed for the development of the technology that allows them to communicate across such vast distances and to pursue such bourgeoisie pursuits as artisanal chocolate making while quarantined?
A mural painted on a building in an undisclosed municipality depicts the Statue of Liberty wearing Air Jordans along with the words “equality” and “reparations”. The proponents of such propaganda urging the confiscation of resources from one group of people to be lavished upon another that did nothing to earn them apart from being born a particular skin color will make the argument that it’s nobody’s business what message a business might decide to plaster across the side of its building. If that’s the case, then don’t in the local press insist that the purpose for the erection of such public art is to elicit a conversation. For if such a sentiment is actually sincere, isn’t that an invitation for criticism as well? However, by this point most realize that when ardent liberals these days call for conversation what that really means is that you had better agree with them unless you want to be doxed and your property pillaged. Even so, it will be replied, it is not the place of local government to curtail free speech in regards to these substandard doodles the brainwashed dupes are celebrating as high art. If that’s the case, will an apology be issued to the homeowner forced by city authorities to remove a lawn jockey from private property over its failure to comply with prevailing mob sympathies?
Given Biden's explicitly stated intentions to eliminate fossil fuels, perhaps Americans still willing to vote for him should end up living in squalor. The primary drawback would be the rest of us being dragged down along with them.
By Frederick Meekins
Thursday, September 29, 2022
The Future of Spirituality: Space Religion, Disclosure & Transhumanism
Amusingly, it seems the New Age movement has its own “denominations” as well.
Thursday, September 22, 2022
Cinema Snobs Outraged There Are Fewer Of The Sorts Of Movies Nobody Wants To See
Click On The Headline
Saturday, September 17, 2022
The Study Of The History Of The End Of The World, Part 6
Dispensationalist premillennialism and apocalypticism held to the Biblical warning that the days are waxing worse and worse. However, in terms of the opportunity to spread such a message and the pervasiveness of its influence, there was no better time for the field of prophetic studies than the second half of the twentieth century. Increased interest in eschatology in the waning decades of the twentieth century owed much to a confluence of advances in the means of communication as well as concerns regarding trends in world affairs.
The Evangelical prophecy studies industry consisted of a number of layers rather than a single interpretative monolith. At its most rarefied, dispensationalism --- akin to Gaul --- could be divided into three parts. Darrell Brock of Dallas Theological Seminary describes these as Scofieldian dispensationalism, revised dispensationalism, and progreesive dispensationalism (Kyle, 117). Scofieldian dispensationalists maintained sharp distinctions between God and the Church with God having an unique set of promises for each. Revised dispensationalists did not distinguish between Israel and the Church to the same degree, viewing overlap in regards to the covenantal promises made to each. Progressive dispensationalists, according to Kyle, avoided the prophetic speculation characteristic of the classic forms of dispensationalism. More academic in its approach to the study of the apocalypse than the classic forms of dispensationalism, progressive dispensationalism for the most part did not filter down to the popular level to the same degree.
From this division,the dispensationalist eschatological community was further divided between what could be considered the academics and the popularizers. The most respected academics in this theological specialty often traced their roots in one way or another back to Dallas Theological Seminary. In fact, Kyle goes so far as to call the institution “the sperm bank for dispensational thought in America (118).” Typifying this tradition would be that seminary's own John F. Walvoord whose best known work would probably be Armageddon, Oil, and the Middle East Crisis. In it, Walvoord took a firm position that the Rapture and the ensuing End Time events were at hand but with scholarly caution that avoided setting any firm dates.
It is among the popularizers that the discerning begin to notice a more questionable track record. However, a number hoping to maintain respect, position, and credibility mirrored the evenhandedness of the Dallas Theological Seminary academics. For example, in Approaching Hoof Beats, Billy Graham explicitly warned of what he believed to be nuclear holocausts and plagues described symbolically in Scripture, but he was careful not to set a date. Pat Robertson, who at one time was not afraid to articulate outlandish prophetic utterances of dubious credibility over the years such as praying away hurricanes from the Virginia Beach area in order to spare his extensive ministry properties, toned his speculations down somewhat when he started entertaining political aspirations such as his 1988 presidential campaign and establishing organizations such as the Christian Coalition, the American Center for Law and Justice, and Regent University for the purposes of renewing the culture rather than hastening the end of the world.
One of the most prominent of the eschatology popularizers was Hal Lindsey. Initially as a result of his book The Late Great Planet Earth, this Dallas Theological Seminary graduate was able to present the dispensationalist perspective before evidentially non-Evangelical venues such as Congress, the State Department, and the Pentagon. Lindsey remained true enough to his Dallas Theological Seminary training to stay just on the right side of the boundary of theological respectability even though he has played it quite close to the edge at times. For example, as a result of the speculative chronologies utilized by Lindsey in his publication Planet Earth 2000 AD, Lindsey had to clarify almost to the point of backpedaling what could have been construed as an insinuation that the Rapture was going to occur sometime around 1988. Lindsey qualified his position by pointing out the qualifiers stated in his text and that the cosmic countdown might not have commenced with the establishment of Israel in 1948 but rather with the taking of Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War along with modifying a Biblical generation from forty to one hundred years. In so doing, Lindsey no doubt hoped to push the pending scrutiny to a time when he himself would not care so much about being proven wrong.
The further one got from respectable academia and ministries that valued credible reputation over short term book and video sales, the more likely one was to stumble upon conspicuous date setters. For example, Edgar Whisenant could not have been more explicit in the date he set in the book titled 88 Reasons Why The Rapture Could Be In 1988 (Abanes, 93). Charles Taylor has promoted so many dates for the beginning of the end that he could make a Jehovah's Witness shake their head in astonishment.
Despite differences in time and temperament, most within the contemporary Evangelical prophecy community share a number of similar assumptions. First, the world as we know it is tottering on the brink of destructive cataclysm. Once believers are taken from the world in the Rapture, little will prevent a series of horrors from transpiring in quick succession. Interpreters are divided as to whether these will be triggered initially by some sort of nuclear attack through which God brings about His sanctioned prophetic unfolding through the actions of man or by more direct supernatural manifestions. Second, most dispensationalists are in agreement that the fuse to ignite the conflagration of End Time events is the reestablishment of the Jewish state of Israel in the Middle East. A number of eschatologists believe that this geopolitical contention will eventually result in Word War III with Russia invading from the north as believed foretold in Ezekiel and China invading from the east as described in the Book of Revelation with an army possibly numbering at one million.
Along with this theme of global war traced to tensions over Israel will be other actors on the world stage agitating against Israel once the Church is taken up to Heaven. Leading this conspiracy will be none other than the Antichrist. Though his nature and intentions are described in detail throughout the text of Scripture, the path that he will take to achieve power and his exact identity are not things the Holy Spirit deemed appropriate for believers to know prior to the exact time of the End.
Yet a number of well-intentioned but misguided eschatologists could not resist playing what amounted to pin the tail on the Antichrist in terms of enthusiastically making guesses as to the exact identity of the world's system final tyrant. For example, given his Jewish background and position as a preeminent diplomat, Henry Kissinger was often a popular choice. Because of a birthmark that resembled a head wound bringing to mind one particular prophecy and the role he played for seeming to lessen the threat played by Russia, some speculated that the Beast might be Mikhail Gorbachev. Others even wondered if John F. Kennedy would rise from the dead after three days following his assassination that shocked the world in the early 1960's.
Despite the intense ongoing debate as to the identity of this looming prince of darkness among those that believe, there is much more agreement as to the nature of his agenda. Foremost, the Antichrist will be the focal point of worship of a system that will for a short time seemingly control and mesmerize the entire world. From Revelation 13, it is declared that this will be accomplished by merging the religious, economic, and political spheres of existence. Those unwilling to pledge a degree of loyalty crossing the boundary of patriotism into the territory of devoted worship will be denied the Mark of the Beast believed to be some form of electronic currency and identification, ultimately resulting in the execution of dissidents unwilling to comply.
Isaiah 55:11 assures that the Word of God does not come back void. Though not as many accept the truth of the Biblical message as sincere believers would like in terms of prophecy, there are a significant number today aware the world is racing ever closer to the conclusion of all things. It is hoped that this awareness would inspire the individual to seek the free gift of salvation found nowhere but in Christ and His completed work. Unfortunately, given the extent to which sin has permeated the human heart and mind, there also exists a disturbing number of individuals that distort this knowledge of the End Times in order to trap the unsuspecting in tighter and tighter forms of spiritual bondage.
By Frederick Meekins
Bibibliography
Abanes, Richard. End-Times Visions: The Doomsday Obsession. Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1988.
Kirsch, Jonathan. A History Of The End Of The World: How The Most Controversial Book In The Bible Changed The Course Of Western Civilization. San Francisco, California: Harper Collins Publishers, 2006.
Kagan, Donald, Ozment, Steven and Turner, Frank. The Western Heritage Since 1789 (Fourth Edition). New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1991.
Kyle, Richard. The Last Days Are Here Again: A History Of The End Times. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1988. Hanover, New Hampshire: University Press of New England, 1996.
Ladd, George. The Blessed Hope: A Biblical Study of The Second Advent and The Rapture. Grand Rapids, Michigan: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1956. Thompson, Damian. The End Of Time: Faith and Fear in the Shadow of the Millennium.