The Coming Temple
Monday, October 31, 2016
Friday, October 28, 2016
One-fourth of US cancer deaths linked with 1 thing: smoking
CHICAGO–Cigarettes contribute to more than 1 in 4 cancer deaths in the U.S. The rate is highest among men in southern states where smoking is more common and tobacco control policies are less strict.
The American Cancer Society study found the highest rate among men in Arkansas, where 40 percent of cancer deaths were linked to cigarette smoking. Kentucky had the highest rate among women–29 percent.
The lowest rates were in Utah, where 22 percent of cancer deaths in men and 11 percent in women were linked with smoking.
“The human costs of cigarette smoking are high in all states, regardless of ranking,” the authors said.
While U.S. smoking rates have been falling, 40 million U.S. adults are cigarette smokers and smoking is the top cause of preventable deaths, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study found that at least 167,000 cancer deaths in 2014–about 29 percent of all U.S. cancer deaths–were attributable to smoking.
Thursday, October 27, 2016
Khadaffi’s Murder
“We came, we saw … he died” boasted a beaming Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, speaking of the 2011 western overthrow of Libya’s leader Muammar Khadaffi.
She was, of course, shamelessly paraphrasing Caesar’s famous summary of his campaign around the Black Sea. Mrs. Clinton, who seems ordained to be America’s next president, should have been rather more cautious in admitting to murder.
This week marks the fifth anniversary of Khadaffi’s grisly death. The Libyan leader was fleeing in a motor convoy to reach friendly tribal territory when French warplanes and a US drone attacked and destroyed the vehicles. Wounded, Khadaffi crawled into a culvert where he was captured and killed by French and US-backed rebels.
Thus ended the colorful life of the man who wanted to be the second Nasser and leader of a united Arab world. His death was a warnings to others trying to challenge the Mideast status quo I call the American Raj.
I was invited to interview Khadaffi in 1987 at his Tripoli headquarters in the Bab al-Azizya barracks. This was on the one year anniversary of 1986 US air attacks on the barracks that sought to assassinate Khadaffi, described by US President Ronald Reagan as the “mad dog of the Mideast.” But that night, the ‘Leader,’ as he liked to be called, went to his Bedouin tent in the courtyard and thus escaped death–for a time.
A US 2,000lb bomb came crashing through the roof of the barracks right onto the bed where Khadaffi usually slept, often with his two-year old adopted daughter. The girl died.
Khadaffi led me by the hand through the ruined building, asking me “why Mr. Eric did the Americans try to kill me?” I explained to him: his support of the Palestinians, Nelson Mandela, the Irish Republican Army, and Basque separatists. For Khadaffi, they were all legitimate freedom fighters.
Khadaffi or at least his intelligence chief, the sinister Abdullah Senussi, was accused of being involved in the downing of a French UTA and US Pan Am airliner. Libya financed anti-French movements in Paris-dominated West Africa and the Sahel.
Chad became a flash-point between Paris and Tripoli. The former head of French intelligence, Count Alexandre de Marenches, told me France’s president, Francois Mitterand, ordered him to bomb Khadaffi’s personal jet, then changed his mind. The British also tried to kill Khadaffi by means of a large car bomb in Benghazi.
Eventually, Libya managed to bury the hatchet with its western foes, though Khadaffi remained highly annoying to the former colonial powers and a fierce critic of the Saudis whom he denounced as thieves of Arab resources and betrayers of the Palestinians.
I’ve often been asked what Khadaffi was like. He was a simple Bedouin born in a tent. Khadaffi was disgusted by the poverty and corruption of the Arab world, and its domination and exploitation by the Americans, French and British. He saw himself as a champion of Palestinian rights, and Libya, with only 6 million people, as the leader of modernized Africa.
But he was also a dreamer who often had fanciful schemes, like the Great Manmade River to draw artesian water from the Sahara. He loved to insult his fellow Arab leaders, branding them cowards, thieves and liars. Khadaffi was theatrical and flamboyant and loved to show off.
After spending an evening with Khadaffi in his Bedouin tent, I told him, tongue in cheek, “Leader, we may bomb you but I must confess our women think you are the most handsome and dashing Arab leader.” He beamed and showed me some of his Italian-tailored faux combat wear and kid-skin jump boots. At times he seemed like a kid in a toy store–zany but also serious and determined. According to his many critics, Khadaffi was a dangerous, anti-western megalomaniac.
He was also vilified and demonized by the western media, a process that happened to all third world leaders who refuse to accept western dictates.
Khadaffi was quietly cooperating with the US when the Arab Spring erupted in Tunisia. Secretary Hillary Clinton and her neocon advisors decided to seize advantage of Mideast turmoil and overthrow Khadaffi.
A new ‘color revolution’ was unleashed by the western powers. Protests were organized in Benghazi, always an anti-Khadaffi stronghold, by CIA, French intelligence and Britain’s MI6. Western special forces attacked Libyan military positions. The UN was gulled into calling for ‘humanitarian intervention to supposedly save civilian lives.’
France led the military intervention. Khadaffi’s son, Seif, had claimed that his father had helped finance French president Nicholas Sarkozy’s election. The vindictive Sarkozy intended to shut up the Khadaffis.
Western special forces intervened behind the cover of a popular uprising. Khadaffi’s ragtag forces quickly collapsed and rebel groups seized power, murdering Khadaffi in the process.
The west got Libya’s high grade oil and was rid of a thorn in its side. Khadaffi told me that if he were overthrown, Libya would splinter into its tribal mosaic–which is just what has happened. Chaos reigns as warlords backed by the US, France, Britain, Italy and Egypt–and a small ISIS contingent–fight over bleeding Libya. Decades of development that made Libya Africa’s leader in health care and education were wiped away.
Interestingly, the template for the western overthrow of Khadaffi–aka “regime change”–was next employed in Syria, with vastly more destructive results but less success. Expect to see more color revolutions when Mrs. Clinton takes over the White House.
In praise of Christian anarchy
The electoral and eschatological have converged. As campaign rhetoric reaches its nadir and partisans begin to seriously contemplate the grim possibility of their opponents’ triumph, a sort of political apocalypticism has set in.
At stake is not simply who sits in the Oval Office, nor who controls Congress, nor what sort of majority we might anticipate on the Supreme Court. If the wrong side wins, we’re told, the result will be the destruction of our way of life, our moral fabric, our personal destiny, our country itself. Elect the wrong person and the world as we know it will end. The eschaton looms.
Do we sit this one out? Does God have a preferred candidate this time around? Where once Christians left and right alike would answer that final question with a confident affirmative, 2016 makes such certainty impossible.
My recommendation–an embrace of Christian anarchy–is at once less and more radical than it sounds. Christian anarchy isn’t a political perspective or, like other views that bear the name of anarchy, a call to overthrow any government.
It is rather the recognition that following Jesus means our sole, overwhelming allegiance is due to God, not the state. It means that the business of the kingdom of heaven must be our occupation, not the affairs of any earthly country. And, maybe most difficult to remember in election year Octobers, it means no politician can be our Satan or our savior. No political party can mend our society. No electoral outcome offers true hope or greatness–not in the way Christians understand them, anyway. No president can solve our problems or make us more moral or eliminate structural evils. No candidate can herald the eschaton.That’s why it’s called “anarchy”: It’s a declaration that the real authority in our lives–and our real source of peace, security, and wholeness–is not any nation, including the nice, democratic ones. (The earliest Christians, beset by demands of allegiance to the Roman Empire, would have just called this “Christianity.”) It’s a commitment to remember that the “hope of the world doesn’t lie in someone finally coming up with the ‘right’ form of government,” explains theologian Greg Boyd. Rather, the “hope of the world lies exclusively in Jesus Christ and the willingness of his people to partner with him in bringing about God’s will ‘on Earth as it is in heaven’ by imitating him.”
This isn’t to suggest Christians must eschew politics. It “is not to say that a kingdom person can’t have political opinions and vote, if they feel so led, or involve themselves in social justice movements,” to quote Boyd again. “But kingdom people must remember our unique call has nothing to do with government, and everything do to with a unique way of living.”
And whoever wins come Nov. 8 will have no effect on whether we can live that way. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control,” and “against such things there is no law”–not even under a President Clinton or Trump. The at-once radical and mundane proposal of Christian anarchy is that how we vote and what happens on Election Day is infinitesimally unimportant compared to whether we follow Jesus and live in those fruits of his Spirit day in and day out. The would-be lords of Washington fade into insignificance next to the actual Lord.
The promise that all will be made right in the end is no politician’s to offer. But the good news, the very gospel message, is that it has already been offered, and we realize its fulfillment not on Election Day but on Christmas, in the story of power not sought but sacrificed.Wednesday, October 26, 2016
The American Dream of Easy Living! - Chapters 27
By Dennis Edwards
Where is America in Bible Prophecy?
All Bible verses are from the King James Bible, although I have changed some of the old English. Any similarity to any modern version is only by coincidence. Bible verses other than the King James have been foot-noted properly.
Copyright @ Dennis M. Edwards (photos used from Google images for educational purposes only) [To go to the first chapters click here]
Part Three - The Evidence and Arguments for America Being "Babylon the Whore" of Revelation 17&18
Chapter 27: The American Dream of Easy Living
Chapter 28: Revelation Chapter 18
Chapter 29: Music is the Message - The Sirens of Babylon!
Chapter 30: Football, Fatima, and Fado - The FIFA Olympic Connection
Chapter 27 - The American Dream of Easy Living
From all that I have presented in the previous chapters, I think it is not illogical to conclude that New York City could be the present day manifestation of Babylon the Great. Revelation says,
For all the nations have drunk of the wine of her wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.[1]
America has been the choice market place for the world for the last half of the 20th century. It is the epitome of opulence. The Apostle John warned,
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the will of God abides forever.[2]
The world has been lusting after the American Dream of being rich and having an easy life full of material things, sex and money. But it’s a false illusion promoted by her media magicians, so that the kings and the inhabitants of the earth fornicate with her both spiritually and materially. The American Dream is an imagination or Image-Nation, a false imaginary image fed to the nations of the world by the American media: the television, film and the music industries.
The nations of the world have bought her merchandise. But more importantly they have bought into the false idea that money, material things, wealth, sex, and the “good life” bring happiness. The nations follow the American Dream and live a life in mad pursuit of material things which never satisfy and only leave us empty and frustrated thinking, “Is this all there is to life?”
After many years of riotous living or living high on the hog or consuming more of her share of the world’s pie of natural resources than everyone else, America has accumulated a trade deficit with many countries. She’s like an old whore who no longer satisfies her customers. Her money pimps are losing their confidence in her value and may one day soon dump her completely to try to save their own investments. The American government has a deficit of some 18 trillion dollars to its Central Bankers. Those bankers in turn “sell” that debt to foreign investors like Saudi Arabia, China, Russia, who invest their reserves dollars back into the American banking system to help keep the world-wide financial system afloat.
As long as they have confidence that America is a good investment everything is okay. But that confidence is waning. Besides that, the American consumers have a similar massive debt to their banks. If a group of international countries, who possess large amounts of US dollars in their reserves, would dump their dollars, the whole financial banking system could tumble down in one day, the great financial crash prophesied by many important investment analyzers.
Read The New York Times bestseller book, The Death of Money: The Coming Collapse of the International Monetary System, by James Rickards.[3] Rickards gives a pretty good analysis of the current state of the world financial system. He says,
The coming collapse of the dollar and the international monetary system is entirely foreseeable. This is not a provocative conclusion.[4]
Many comment on how China and the Arab countries are buying up America’s charmed real-estate.
Can we deny that America is the only nation today that seems to most perfectly fit the image presented in Revelation of Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots? Could her daughters be the other great cities of the world that copy her and in turn promote her worship of materialism, sex, money and the things that money can buy? Like God said to decadent Judah through Jeremiah,
or through Isaiah where the Lord said,
Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.[6]
It seems that God does not hold today's massive cities in a favorable light. Even Thomas Jefferson, not known as a religious man, was no lover of cities and said he viewed them as "festering sores on the body politic."[7]
It seems that God does not hold today's massive cities in a favorable light. Even Thomas Jefferson, not known as a religious man, was no lover of cities and said he viewed them as "festering sores on the body politic."[7]
Is Western capitalism with its worship of material things as the ultimate goal of life, the Whore of Babylon, a false religion that has deceived the whole world and of which Karl Marx predicted would ultimately destroy itself? I am going to include Revelation 18 at this point to make sure you read it in its completeness and have a feeling for its message.
Notes:
[1] Revelation 18:3
[2] 1John 2:15-17
[3] Rickards, James; The Death of Money: The Coming Collapse of the International Monetary System; Penguin group; New York; 2014. http://www.amazon.com/The-Death-Money-Collapse-International/dp/1591846706 (accessed 03/2016)
[4] Ibid
[5] Jeremiah 2:28
[6] Isaiah 14:21
[7] Kaplan, Lawrence S.; Thomas Jefferson: Westward the Course of Empire; Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.; Maryland; p.207.
Chapter 28
Revelation Chapter 18
By Jesus Christ and the Apostle John
And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.[1]
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she says in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judges her.[2]
And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buys their merchandise any more: The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thymine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, And cinnamon, and odors, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shall find them no more at all.[3]
The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, And saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come to naught. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.[4]
Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no crafts-man, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.[5]
[1] Revelation 18:1-3
[2] Revelation 18:4-8
[3] Revelation 18:9-14
[4] Revelation 18:15-19
[5] Revelation 18:20-24
Chapter 29
Another aspect of Babylon the Whore in the book of Revelation is her music ministry. In one of the last verses in chapter eighteen which depicts the destruction of Babylon, we see what could be interpreted as the destruction of the music and entertainment industry.
And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee.[1]
In the same chapter we also have read that Babylon was
the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit.[2]
Jesus has shown us that words are actually spiritual in nature and therefore spiritual forces. He said,
The words I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life.[3]
Words are real things. They bless or they curse. They lift up or they pull down.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue,[4] for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.[5]
The Apostle James even wrote a whole chapter about the tongue. The subject of the tongue is worth our while reviewing because it is a very important part of a successful life. Here it is for you to meditate on.
My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor lists. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasts great things.
Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceeds blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descends not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.[6]
Are we bringing peace to the world with our words, or strife and division? Jesus said,
But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.[7]
The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.[8]
In other words, if we have heard God’s Word and rejected it, we will be accountable for its truth whether we choose to believe it or not. Like the Apostle James has said,
To him that knows to do good and does it not, to him it is sin.[9]
In another discourse Jesus said,
Not which goes into the mouth defiles a man; but that which comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man. Do not you understand that whatsoever enters into the mouth goes into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies: these are the things which defile a man.[10]
That which goes into a man is not what condemns him, but that which comes out of a man. Could the music industry, with its capital in America and its often open rebellion against God and traditional American values and morals, be a foul spirit? Could the music industry actually be a spiritual demonic force, especially in its perverse lyrics promoting suicide, sexual promiscuity, violence, selfishness and Satanist Aleister Crowley’s “Do all that you will” philosophy? Nike has popularized his phrase in the popular ‘Just Do It’ slogan. Yes, ‘Just Do It,’ as long as it’s within the dictates of loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself. That’s fine. Otherwise, Just Don’t Do It! Could the music and television and movie industry be polluting the world with the words they pour out against God and all that is called godly?
In the past America has produced a lot of good movies and a lot of good music, like the protest music of the 1960s and 70s. Let’s take a look at some of the songs from the Vietnam War period and afterwards.
Bryan McGuire sang one of my favorites called Eve of Destruction. [11] P. F. Sloan, who wrote the song, gave various metaphors showing that it certainly seemed like the world was headed for destruction. I am sorry I cannot include the lyrics here. Because of copyright laws you will have to check them out on the Internet if you are not familiar with them. Even today when we watch the evening news, it certainly seems like the world is on the eve of destruction. The Sloan/McGuire song reminds me of the words from Apostle Paul,
This know also, that in the Last Days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away….Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth…. But evil men shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceive.[12]
In an earlier song by Peter Seeger and L. Hays from the 1960s called If I Had a Hammer,[13] the authors sang a song of godly warning of the danger approaching our land because of the lack of love between people, the lack of justice and true freedom. The song brings to my mind the words of Moses who said,
Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. That which is altogether just shall thou follow, that thou may live, and inherit the land which the Lord thy God gives thee.[14]
The Lord through Jeremiah said something similar many years later.
Seeger and Hays are calling out for someone to hammer out righteous judgment against the evil which we see so prevalent in the world today. I think it is a universal sentiment within us which yearns for true justice and liberty for all mankind. It is certainly what we find in the writings of Moses and Jeremiah and the other prophets in both the Old and New Testaments.
In the song People Got to Be Free,[16] with words by Felix Cavaliere and music by Edward Brigati Jr., we find a simple melody reminding us that people everywhere just want to be free. They don’t want big business. They don’t want big government. They don’t want big wars. They just really want to live in peace and harmony. Sad to say, because of man’s sinful nature, and the lust and greed of evil men, those days of peace and harmony will not be reached until God Himself enters once again into His own creation during the 1000-year reign of Christ on earth. But even that wonderful Millennium period will end in war and destruction until God forms a new heaven and new earth where,
God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.[17]
Finally, there will be peace on earth and goodwill towards men. In Bob Dylan’s Blowing in the Wind,[18] he contemplates in sadness how man seems incapable of learning from the past. Like Arnold Toynbee the famous historian said, quoting from Hegel,
The only thing we learn from history is that we do not learn from history.[19]
Or as George Santayana said,
Those who ignore the lessons of history are condemned to repeat them.[20]
I remember singing Dylan’s song as I sat contemplating my own life and the decision I, as a young adult, had to make concerning the war in Vietnam. Besides the words of Jesus, it was the songs of that era which gave me faith to resist the draft and refuse to become part of America’s war machine against the poor nations of the world. Country Joe and the Fish had a great song in 1-2-3 What Are We Fighting For?[21] And there were many others. As Solomon wrote,
Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.[22]
In the song He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother,[23] written by B. Scott and B. Russell and sung by the Hollies, we could hear the heart cry of youth of those years who rejected the dog-eat-dog values of modern society and yearned to live in brotherly love. As Jesus said,
No greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.[24]
And Apostle John so aptly put,
For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loves not his brother abides in death. Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and sees his brother have need, and shuts up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwells the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.[25]
Scott and Russell’s song reminds me of the old Indian story from the Himalayan Mountains. It’s a true story from the life of Sadhu Sundar Singh.[26] Two men were travelling in the mountains when a terrible storm broke out. With much difficulty they struggle on in hope of finding shelter and safety in the next mountain village. As they travel, they come upon the body of a man dying from cold, unable to go forward. The men debate on whether they should stop and help this wearied stranger who was as good as dead already. But they are not able to come to an agreement. Finally one walks off in disgust, claiming they could barely save their own lives, let alone help some other poor chap nearly dead anyway.
The other traveler, however, feels the conviction of heart to stop and help that weakened soul. In great effort he manages to lift the nearly-frozen man to his shoulders and more slowly than before struggles forward. Soon, the extra effort and friction of the frozen man’s body against his own causes his own body to warm up. The weary traveler’s body also begins to revive from the same heat. Shortly, they come across the frozen body of the man who had refused to help. He had walked off in defiance to save his own life, only to die alone without the help of others. In the end, the dying man wasn’t so heavy after all, but was the salvation of the man who took compassion upon him. It’s a good lesson for us all, and similar to the message of Scott and Russell’s song He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.
Simon and Garfunkel’s song Bridge Over Troubled Waters[27] is another one of those nearly prophetic songs of that bye-gone era. I once saw the song performed by a Kenyan National Dance group, while on a humanitarian trip to Mozambique.
We had been invited to the National Dance Theater in downtown Maputo to watch Mozambique’s National Dance Troupe perform a dance rendering the country’s defeat of the Portuguese imperialistic power. It was a war dirge if ever I saw one honoring the National Police among whom we sat. However, after an unentertaining hour of Africans dancing to war rhythms, we were pleasantly surprised by the beautiful rendition of Bridge Over Troubled Waters, by the visiting Kenyan dancers.
The two renditions were like night and day. One was of war, while the other was of love and compassion. The words of Simon and Garfunkel’s song seemed as if God was speaking, His Holy Spirit calling down comforting words of assurance. God would Himself be the bridge over troubled waters and as Jesus had laid down His life, so His Holy Spirit would be with us to help us in our moments of trial and difficulty and encourage us to be bridges over troubled waters for one another.
Even a Coke-a-Cola commercial in the early 1970’s gave a message of peace and love. The song I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing,[28] sung by the Hillside Singers had a cute little rhythm but promoted world-wide brotherly love in a commercial. The mass media can in fact be used for good.
Of course you all remember the lyrics of John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s All You Need Is Love.[29] That was all we really needed at that time, love. That was all we felt the whole world needed, love. That’s what we thought was the solution to the world’s problems, love; love for God and love for fellow man. As Jesus said,
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye love one another.[30]
All the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.[31]
He later wrote one of the most beautiful and thought-provoking chapters in the entire Bible, which I will reprint here for your reflection and encouragement. I will leave it in the original King James, although I’ll drop some of the “ths,” and change the word “charity” to “love” for better clarity.
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profits me nothing.
Love suffers long, and is kind; love envies not; love vaunts not itself, is not puffed up, Does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil; Rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abides faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.[32]
The songs which I have mentioned above surely have a Christian element in them. Some admittedly have more than others. They were very popular songs sung during the 1960s to 70s with a powerful affect on their audience, you and me. Surely they were more meaningful than much of what is presently being pumped out by the music industry. But perhaps today’s music is a fulfillment of Jesus’ own words which He spoke to His disciples when He was asked,
What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?[33]
Part of Jesus’ replies was,
And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.[34]
Are we seeing the love of many waxing cold even in the songs we listen to for entertainment? Let me continue in my argument. I have previously applied the following verse to the banking system in an earlier article.
But another element of the sorceries helping to deceive the whole world could clearly be the music and entertainment industries which promote materialism and the worship of money and the things that money can buy. The Bilderberg group contains financial barons and those who own the movie and television industries, among others. The music and entertainment industries promote self-worship and even an open worship of or fascination with the dark side and Satan himself. Could the sorceries that deceive the nations be in fact the power of the mass media: music, television, radio, video, computer games, and the like? Are there spiritual realities behind these devices, inspiring them?
Scotland’s Alan Watts, former author of radio show and website Cutting Through the Matrix, said,
Could the mass media with music, television, radio, video, computer games, rock concerts and the like, be the “sirens” of today’s modern world? The "sirens" of Greek mythology were beautiful woman who
sat on the shore and sang with voices seductive and compelling that anyone who heard their song became absolutely mesmerized with them. So mesmerized, in fact, that they became obsessed with reaching the shore to get closer to the sound.[37]
But the sailors were being deceived, as the Sirens were actually some sort of beasts luring the sailors to their death.
The term "siren" is used both in ancient and modern mythology, as well as in modern language in general, to describe something that is simultaneously dangerous and compelling. In later myths and legends, any creature that lured a man in, only to cause harm, might be considered "a siren" in the general context of the term.[38]
Were the ancient Greek mythologies actually warning us of the spiritual realities and how music and beauty can be part of it? Is it any wonder that today’s top musicians are beautiful woman, many of whose seductive sexual charms are used to lure us into accepting the message of their music, which may in fact be dangerous to us spiritually? Are the beautiful actresses or handsome actors on television or in the movies there for the same reason, to get us to accept the message that is being propagated?
I propose that America is deceiving the world with her sorceries. America is contaminating the world through her ungodly music. She is contaminating the world through her ungodly television programs, movies and addictive computer programs.
Man is being convinced that God is dead and that man through his own evolutionary process will succeed in bringing peace on earth and good will to all men without the need of God or the supernatural “myths” of our “unenlightened” ancestors. May God help us! For those interested in watching a documentary about the satanic side of Hollywood view the following link below entitled Hollywood Unmasked by Dr. Jason Kovar.[39]
Notes:
[1] Revelation 18:22
[2] Revelation 18:2
[3] John 6:63
[4] Proverbs 18:21
[5] Matthew 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
[6] James 3:1-18
[7] Matthew 12:36-37
[8] John 12:48
[9] James 4:17
[10] Matthew 15:11, 17-20
[11] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4rYJoVILjo (accessed 03/2016)
[13] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl-yszPdRTk (accessed 10/2016)
[14] Deuteronomy 16:19-20
[15] Jeremiah 22:3
[16] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxkwlnesPe4 (accessed 03/2016)
[17] Revelation 21:4
[18] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWwgrjjIMXA (accessed 03/2016)
[19] https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/6188.Georg_Wilhelm_Friedrich_Hegel (accessed 03/2016)
[20] http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/g/georgesant101521.html (accessed 03/2016)
[21] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qPUJhy0Dz4 (accessed 03/2016)
[22] Ecclesiastes 7:3,4
[23] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT57tjz9py8 (accessed 03/2016)
[24] John 15:13
[25] 1John 3:11-18
[26] Cyril J Davey, Sadhu Sundar Singh, STL Books, 1980, pg. 133.
[27] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjNgn4r6SOA (accessed 03/2016)
[28] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib-Qiyklq-Q (accessed 03/2016)
[29] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKiqthx0GKw (accessed 03/2016)
[30] John 13:34
[31] Galatians 5:14
[32] 1Corinthians 13:1-13
[33] Matthew 24:3
[34] Matthew 24:12
[35] Revelation 18:23
[36] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmBymKXgrV4 (accessed 03/2016)
[37] http://www.gods-and-monsters.com/sirens-mythology.html (03/2016)
[38] Ibid
[39] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suhTM9LMi9E (accessed 03/2016)
Chapter 30
Football, Fatima and Fado – the FIFA-Olympic Connection
The story goes that the last dictator of Portugal, J.A. Salazar, who was Prime Minister from 1932 to 1968, when asked what was necessary to rule the country, responded with the three ‘Fs:’ football, Fatima and Fado. He was saying that all that he needed to control the country was sports, religion and music.
Fatima, of course, stood for the religious element. The town of Fatima was where the famous three Catholic children were supposed to have seen a vision and to have received a message from the Virgin Mary. The apparition event took place just prior to WWI. Portuguese tradition has it that Mary’s appearance at Fatima and the public’s embracing response was the reason that Portugal was able to remain neutral during the war.
Fatima, of course, stood for the religious element. The town of Fatima was where the famous three Catholic children were supposed to have seen a vision and to have received a message from the Virgin Mary. The apparition event took place just prior to WWI. Portuguese tradition has it that Mary’s appearance at Fatima and the public’s embracing response was the reason that Portugal was able to remain neutral during the war.
We all remember the words of Karl Marx, who said that religion was the opiate of the masses. Salazar amplified the opiate to include the music and sports industries, which at the time of Salazar were still in their infancy in comparison with today. But of course the Romans and Greeks had used sports in the same way. In the time of Rome’s decline it is said that the people demanded more circus and bread even while Rome was being surrounded by its enemies.
Love not the world neither the things of the world for all that is of the world, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life, is not of the father but of the world. And the world passes away and the lust thereof, but whosoever doeth the will of God abides forever.[1]
Jesus said something similar,
A man’s life consists not in the abundance of things which he possesses.[2]
Apostle James put it a different way. He said,
Ye adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.[3]
The apostle is saying here that if we are lusting after the things of the world, or living for them only, we are committing spiritual adultery with the world. That is why we will never be ultimately happy. Man is not just a physical being. He is spiritual being, and he must seek first his spiritual needs. As Jesus said,
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.[4] Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceed out of the mouth of God.[5]
In the Old Testament the Lord said through Isaiah,
Why do ye spend money for that which is not bread? And you labour for that which satisfies not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline you ear, and come unto me: hear and your soul shall live.[6]
Man is constantly trying to find happiness in the things that are not eternal and therefore in the end do not bring ultimate happiness. His amusements help him escape from the predicament he finds himself in. They help him escape from his life without meaning and purpose. They help him escape the daily grind of making a living to acquire more things. In the end, he winds up empty, wondering if this is all there is to life. He ends up concluding he should “Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may die.”[7] He spends his time trying to take care of and satisfy his body and its needs and desires, while neglecting his spirit, his eternal soul which will last for eternity. Like the old poem He Fed His Body But Starved His Soul.
There was a man that some folks called great,
said he’d done good, had grappled with fate.
He’d won some fame and some riches, too.
But in the crowd there were those that knew;
the soul of him so miserably small,
that real greatness he knew not at all.
For all through life he had missed the real goal,
he fed his body but starved his soul.
that so much peace and contentment brings;
a faithful friend or a child’s tender look,
a promise sweet from the dear Old Book,
a little talk with a Friend Divine,
a little walk where the wildflowers twine.
He was just half a man, not well rounded, whole;
who fed his body but starved his soul.
in God’s own time, death called his name;
then the poor, frail, worthless, empty shell,
he groomed and fed and tended so well,
was left behind just an earthbound clod,
while his shriveled soul went to face his God.
All unprepared and paid the full toll,
for he had fed his body and starved his soul.
to read God’s Word and walk in His ways.
We’ll follow the trail that higher goes,
to regions where the soul larger grows.
You’ll never hear them say of you then,
just one of the common herd of men.
So if you would be well-rounded and whole,
read God’s Word to nourish your soul.[8]
The eyes of man are never satisfied.[10]
No matter how many beautiful woman a man has seen, he will always look at another one. Like the rich Romans in the time of Rome’s great wealth and abundance who would attend banquets full of food and sex and alcohol. They would eat to the filling of their stomachs, only to vomit it all up, so they could fill themselves up once again. Like some of the scandals of recent times of rich politicians or wealthy businessmen well in years seeking sex with young girls hardly eighteen years of age. The flesh is never satisfied, it always wants more. But as Jesus said,
The flesh profits nothing.[11]
The bankers and politicians create big national debts and then expect the population to pay it back to them. Something is wrong with this picture, but the silent majority blindly go like sheep to the slaughter. Sports is one of today’s opiates that keep them walking in submission to their corrupt leaders.
But one of the problems today is the Muslim youth, many of whom have not integrated into the Western society. They remain aloof and therefore out of control through the normal methods of manipulation. The religious element usually helps governments control their populations. They’ll gain financial or influential favors because of their cooperation with the government. But radical Islamic movements from the Middle East embittered by the events that have occurred there are in this case feeding rebellion and violent acts of aggression as we have recently seen in France. But that’s a whole other topic. Let’s keep to FIFA and sports.
Notes:
[1] 1John 2:15-17
[2] Luke 12:15
[3] James 4: 4
[4] Matthew 6:33
[5] Matthew 4: 4
[6] Isaiah 55:2-3
[7] 1Corinthians15:32 If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, What advantages it me, if the dead rise not? Let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die.
[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciSAMY9c--A (accessed 03/2016)
[9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrIPxlFzDi0 (accessed 03/2016)
[10] Proverbs 27:20 Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
[11] John 6:63
[12] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-a6jzU0YgQ (accessed 03/2016)
[13] http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/11/ugly-side-beautiful-game/# (03/16) http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/07/3-reasons-why-hosting-the-olympics-is-a-losers-game/260111/ (accessed 03/2016) http://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/book/hosting-olympics-and-world-cup (03/16) http://rozvojovky.vse.cz/2SM412/presentations/Bjornstad_Aleksander-Hiltunen%20Tommi-SA_economy_and_FIFA_WC2010-paper.pdf (03/2016) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi9gTj_i3Nw (accessed 03/2016)
[14] Luke 11:46
All Bible verses are from the King James Bible, although I have changed some of the old English. Any similarity to any modern version is only by coincidence. Bible verses other than the King James have been foot-noted properly.
Copyright @ Dennis M. Edwards (photos used from Google Images for educational purposes only)
