I’ve been thinking about the Bible By Fred Cederholm
Column for on/after August 6th, 2006
I’ve been thinking about the Bible. Actually I’ve been thinking about the end of times, Revelations, Ezekiel, ABC’s Nightline, cookbooks, a ceasefire, and Christian love. One need not be much of a news junkie to be aware that our world is coming apart at the seams on every front. Fragility of economic stability, erosion of traditional values, extreme weather patterns, escalation of violent behavior, warring conflicts between factions, and a central disregard for the value of a human life are themes on page-one news. Day after day the situation worsens.
You see, I, like so many, am beginning to wonder if this global “escalating to Hell in a hand basket” foretells the end of times prophesied by the Armageddon books of the Bible. The destruction of “Babylon” described therein came from outside the region. The four horsemen of the apocalypse –War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death – actually described by the sixth chapter of Revelations as White (the AntiChrist/false-religion/the False-Christ), Red (war/destruction), Black (famine/unfair-trade), and Pale or Green (sickness/death) are being brought out of the paddock by the supra-national surrogates behind the conflicts now raging in the Middle East.
The Book of Revelations is not an easy read by any means and has been the subject of numerous volumes of interpretations by the most intellectual of Biblical scholars. I have really tried to grasp its message, but fear I lack the necessary theological foundation, and the overall understanding of the required Old to New Testament linkages for it to really make sense to me.
The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel was written for Israelites living in exile in Babylon. It has three distinct sections which deal with a judgment on Israel - warning them of a destruction of Jerusalem, prophesies against the neighbors of the Israelites, and forward prophesies about the triumph of Israel, the Messiah, and the ultimate establishment of the Kingdom of God on Earth. Ezekiel is also a difficult one for me to fully grasp. However, I do understand how both the Books of Revelations and Ezekiel are being “pimped” in the current Middle Eastern mess.
L
Last week ABC’s Nightline and numerous print media articles dealt with how certain US religious groups and “advisors” to the DC elite are pushing for an escalation of the turmoil, warfare, and destruction in the Holy Land(s) to bring about the Rapture, the Second Coming, and the Kingdom of God on Earth. I’m sorry, but anyone who believes that the Almighty God needs man’s help to bring about the culmination of His Divine resolution for planet Earth has clearly not read the Bible. Matthew 24:44 states: “the Son of Man will come at the time when you least expect Him.” There is certainly no indication the return will be induced. Whether you believe (as I) that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, just a history of times long past, or a work of well-written prophetical fiction; the Bible is NOT a cookbook. It is blasphemous to suggest that the descriptions and predictions can be manipulated as a recipe for Armageddon!
These past weeks… the situation between Israel and Lebanon has escalated and is rapidly approaching a point of no return. International calls for a cease fire which began at the G8 Conference in St. Petersburg and were followed by similar UN proposals were stone-walled by US/us. The Rice shuttle missions were a joke - being predicated on conditions which all parties knew were impossible to accept. Were puppet-masters dragging their feet to insure an expanded war with Iran and/or Syria? Or… God forbid! Were they hoping for deployment of tactical nookular weapons by one side or the other? What is “tactful” about any nuclear bomb?
The Bush-Chirac one-sided ceasefire compromise which surfaced over the weekend is ludicrous. A ceasefire has to be immediate and unconditional for both sides. How many weeks (and innocent lives) were lost in Southeast Asia some 30 years ago because the diplomats were negotiating the shape of the table, who sat where around it, and how the flags were positioned?
For the love of God, the Prince of Peace, and the precarious survival of our delicate little planet; this madness and senseless genocide has got to stop, NOW! For those of you who call themselves Christians, please ask yourselves the bumper-sticker question - WWJD? (What would Jesus do?) To paraphrase the refrain from one of my favorite hymns: “For they’ll know we are Christians by our love, not our bombs; yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” I’m Fred Cederholm and I’ve been thinking. You should be thinking, too.
Copyright Questions, Inc. 2006 all right reserved.etings I screwed up on the email address and got your back. I didn't catch this until today.
Fred C asklet@rochelle.net
I’ve been thinking about the Bible. Actually I’ve been thinking about the end of times, Revelations, Ezekiel, ABC’s Nightline, cookbooks, a ceasefire, and Christian love. One need not be much of a news junkie to be aware that our world is coming apart at the seams on every front. Fragility of economic stability, erosion of traditional values, extreme weather patterns, escalation of violent behavior, warring conflicts between factions, and a central disregard for the value of a human life are themes on page-one news. Day after day the situation worsens.
You see, I, like so many, am beginning to wonder if this global “escalating to Hell in a hand basket” foretells the end of times prophesied by the Armageddon books of the Bible. The destruction of “Babylon” described therein came from outside the region. The four horsemen of the apocalypse –War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death – actually described by the sixth chapter of Revelations as White (the AntiChrist/false-religion/the False-Christ), Red (war/destruction), Black (famine/unfair-trade), and Pale or Green (sickness/death) are being brought out of the paddock by the supra-national surrogates behind the conflicts now raging in the Middle East.
The Book of Revelations is not an easy read by any means and has been the subject of numerous volumes of interpretations by the most intellectual of Biblical scholars. I have really tried to grasp its message, but fear I lack the necessary theological foundation, and the overall understanding of the required Old to New Testament linkages for it to really make sense to me.
The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel was written for Israelites living in exile in Babylon. It has three distinct sections which deal with a judgment on Israel - warning them of a destruction of Jerusalem, prophesies against the neighbors of the Israelites, and forward prophesies about the triumph of Israel, the Messiah, and the ultimate establishment of the Kingdom of God on Earth. Ezekiel is also a difficult one for me to fully grasp. However, I do understand how both the Books of Revelations and Ezekiel are being “pimped” in the current Middle Eastern mess.
L
Last week ABC’s Nightline and numerous print media articles dealt with how certain US religious groups and “advisors” to the DC elite are pushing for an escalation of the turmoil, warfare, and destruction in the Holy Land(s) to bring about the Rapture, the Second Coming, and the Kingdom of God on Earth. I’m sorry, but anyone who believes that the Almighty God needs man’s help to bring about the culmination of His Divine resolution for planet Earth has clearly not read the Bible. Matthew 24:44 states: “the Son of Man will come at the time when you least expect Him.” There is certainly no indication the return will be induced. Whether you believe (as I) that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, just a history of times long past, or a work of well-written prophetical fiction; the Bible is NOT a cookbook. It is blasphemous to suggest that the descriptions and predictions can be manipulated as a recipe for Armageddon!
These past weeks… the situation between Israel and Lebanon has escalated and is rapidly approaching a point of no return. International calls for a cease fire which began at the G8 Conference in St. Petersburg and were followed by similar UN proposals were stone-walled by US/us. The Rice shuttle missions were a joke - being predicated on conditions which all parties knew were impossible to accept. Were puppet-masters dragging their feet to insure an expanded war with Iran and/or Syria? Or… God forbid! Were they hoping for deployment of tactical nookular weapons by one side or the other? What is “tactful” about any nuclear bomb?
The Bush-Chirac one-sided ceasefire compromise which surfaced over the weekend is ludicrous. A ceasefire has to be immediate and unconditional for both sides. How many weeks (and innocent lives) were lost in Southeast Asia some 30 years ago because the diplomats were negotiating the shape of the table, who sat where around it, and how the flags were positioned?
For the love of God, the Prince of Peace, and the precarious survival of our delicate little planet; this madness and senseless genocide has got to stop, NOW! For those of you who call themselves Christians, please ask yourselves the bumper-sticker question - WWJD? (What would Jesus do?) To paraphrase the refrain from one of my favorite hymns: “For they’ll know we are Christians by our love, not our bombs; yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” I’m Fred Cederholm and I’ve been thinking. You should be thinking, too.
Copyright Questions, Inc. 2006 all right reserved.etings I screwed up on the email address and got your back. I didn't catch this until today.
Fred C asklet@rochelle.net
posted by sbks at
10:35 AM
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