Today's Unknown News
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Today's Unknown News |
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Cheryl's Daily Diatribe: Wednesday, April 3, 2002 Are extremist Christians and Zionists trying to force the "Rapture"? The Middle East Conflict - Has it Been Engineered by Extremist Rightwing Christians and Zionists Hoping to "Force" the "Rapture"? There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Bush and Sharon are colluding to force the Middle East into a massive, all-out war as a way to stay in power. But Bush plans to have the last laugh. By encouraging Sharon to escalating excesses, Bush hopes to bait Arabs everywhere — including Iraq — into taking aggressive action, even all-out war. This would of course give Bush the pretext he's sought for launching an attack on Iraq and embroiling America in a war guaranteed to last through election day 2004. But the other part of Bush's plan is just as vicious. By encouraging the bloodthirsty egomaniac Sharon, he may succeed in destroying Israel without ever lifting a finger himself. It seems insane that Sharon has staked his country's security on an alliance with Bush — a man who describes himself as a fundamentalist Christian (which by definition means anti-Semitic), whose mentor Billy Graham was blatantly anti-Semitic, whose family actively traded with the Nazis in WWII and who has himself made anti-Semitic comments. This is like getting into bed with a rattlesnake and assuming you won't get bitten. But, there is another dimension to the Middle East insanity very, very few know about: the unholy alliance between the Christian right and their Jewish counterparts, the Zionists. While sane people around the world view the Middle East conflict as "mere" political wrangling with religious undertones, the rightwing Christians and Zionists see the conflict as a prelude to the final chapter in the fulfillment of Biblical scriptures - at least as interpreted by paranoid schizophrenics with religious delusions such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and their Rabbinical counterparts in Israel and America . These people welcome the current bloodbath with "rapturously" open arms — it means the "final Chapter" is imminent, at the conclusion of which the faithful will ascend to heaven and the rest of us heathens will die a horrible death. (These people are such great human beings, eh?). I did not know about this wacked out movement until very recently. I thought this type was confined to small, relatively powerless cults such as the Jim Jones or Hale-Bopp folks. But it seems that the rightwing Judeo-Christian "coalition" is not only just as whacked out as these cults, it is far, far larger and has friends in very high political places — including, it is very likely, Bush himself and most certainly John Ashcroft. Ashcroft is a Pentecostal, and the Pentecostals are the most rabidly fixated on the "coming rapture" and the significance of events in the Middle East. First, I will give you some background, which was provided to me by a very reliable source. Cheryl,My source also included the following excerpt: ["According to Clyde Lott, the intent of many Evangelical Christians who are helping Israel today is to speed along the time when they will be raptured into Heaven, leaving behind a world in chaos and flames. "It's very sad, but I would say the interest in the Christian world is to see the Temple rebuilt from the Antichrist perspective, for the rapture of the Church, and that's a very selfish point of view," Lott says, "The very people who are advocating this are the ones that are very Semitic in their feelings". Although Evangelical theology forecasts the destruction of the Jews in the Last Days, Lott believes that the Jews are God's Chosen People and that the Bible clearly states that God favors those who help Israel."Now that you have digested at least some of this, consider Bush's actions for the past several months. Without even needing to invoke a conspiracy theory, his behavior suddenly makes sense — in a bizarro world way. Thus you have his constant use of the words "evildoers" and his passage of judgment on other nations as "evil," his obsession with attacking Iraq and, if he had his way, also Iran (the modern-day counterparts to "Persia" — at least close enough for government work!), his willingness to use nuclear weaponry (after all, Armageddon is part of the plan), his creation of a shadow government, his seemingly inexplicable refusal to make any effort to restrain Sharon, his surrounding himself with fundies, regardless of their qualifications (only the "pure" can participate in the "glory" of the final hours!), his determination to knock down the wall between church and state, his encouragement of Ashcroft's prayer meetings in the Justice Building, etc. So, simply put, we may well have a pack of religious nutcases running the U.S. government as well as in control of Israel. Is it any wonder that the situation in the Middle East has reached the current level of insanity? Sharon has intentionally provoked the current showdown, exhibiting a flagrant lack of concern for human life, be it Jewish, Muslim, or Christian. Yes there are Palestinian suicide bombers, but, as R. D. Laing once said, some forms of insanity are in fact just sane reactions to an insane situation. I have no doubt that, with Bush and Sharon at the helm, the insanity will get much, much worse before it gets better — which it never will as long as these two madmen remain in power. Meanwhile, as these extremists use the "Holy Land" as a playground for acting out their delusions, the Palestinians are paying the heaviest price: Here are journal entries from those trapped in Ramallah. Cheryl may be contacted at cherylseal@hotmail.com. |
Friday, April 5, 2002 RAPTURE READERS: Some do all their reading BETWEEN the lines We have been getting mucho mail over the piece I wrote earlier this week "Are extremist Christians and Zionists trying to force the "Rapture"? Much of it has been very helpful, with readers supplying constructive links and information which help to document the bizarro world of the "Rapturists." However, about 1 in 4 letters point up a key problem in America - one that has contributed greatly to our snowballing problems: AMERICANS DON'T READ!!!!!! When I was a journalist in training in Maine, my editor told me: Get the most important info in the first three paragraphs and make sure it's damn clear. Why? Because readers typically only really read the first 1-3 paragraphs of any given news story, and even then, whilst applying only half their attention. The letters Helen and I have received re: the "Rapture" article have shown that this is true even for Web readers. First, many people failed to read the article with enough attention to notice where my introduction ended and the statement from my source began — even though Helen used a different colored 'ink' as a "visual aid" to make it clear! So, many readers just figured everything they read there, including excerpts from wacko websites (clearly marked in quotes) were all written by me. Here's a classic example of this type of "attention deficit disorder" from today's mailbag: "What planet are you from? I read your "article diatribe" about the Mideast conflict. Your expressing opinions like they were fact and you have no proof to back anything up."Then we have the readers who skim through the article, fail to click on a single supporting link in the article or to do the recommended Internet search of the wealth of info on the "Rapture" cultism, then write indignant letters about how I have presented no supporting material: "You spout all these opinions based on one source and have absolutely nothing to back them up."Then we have the folks who simply read the article title and maybe the first line or so, and take the ball and run with it! "How did you ever come up with your analogy? To blame fundamental Christians for the worlds problems is totally illogical."Hmmm … even I didn't know my topic was "How Christians ruin the world." HERE ARE LINKS TO BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Some are reports by the sane, some are from the insane at rapurist websites. For more links, go back and re-read my original article and the dialogue section from 4/4. Or do your own search using www.dogpile.com or www.google.com using keywords like "Rapture," "Israel and Rapture," Jerry Falwell, Pentecostal church and rapture, extremist Zionists and Christians, etc. There are literally thousands upon thousands of links relating to the rapture movement, and apparently hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of cult followers. So, it amazes me that the whole topic has been kept out of the light of public scrutiny so well! On the Rapture Movement Connection between Jerry Falwell, Bob Jones U. and Rapture fanatic Tim LeHaye Tim LeHaye (Rapture movement leader) Jerry Falwell's obsession with Rapture Pat Robertson and Rapture/Armageddon Presbyterian discusses Rapture movement Rapture/Christian right's influence on American Politics; also link and link. Scholarly treatise of rightwing religious extremism in U.S./Premillennialism/Rapture Middle East Politics and Rapture/Zionist/Christian extremists Jews in end-world scenario Israel's importance to the Rapture scenario; also link. Pentecostal Church (Ashcroft's church) and Rapture: list of 4,920 articles Rapture sites, articles, references: 397,000 links. To Cheryl -Dear Greg, At last! A real Christian! The fact that you find it hard to believe that any Christians would be so outrageous is a credit to YOU, not to them. Alas, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Ashcroft, Bush, and a long and sorry list of others do not share your idealism. In yesterday's edition in the "Dialogue" section about halfway down the middle of the main page, we posted some resources sent in by readers - books, videos, links, etc. - showing just what a movement this insanity is. Worse, someone's making a lot of money on it. I suggest you check out the links. Anyway — don't ever lose your own ideal of what being a Christian is all about. —Cheryl Actually the Rapturists believe that they will be raptured BEFORE any of the wars/tribulations and other bad things happen. Only the so called sinners will be left on earth for 7 years during that time. The bottom line is they won't be raptured, nor will they spared the many wars, death, and various destructions that will happen on earth, and have been going on for many thousands of years.Dear Robert, If you caught yesterday's dialogue, you'd have gotten a kick (albeit a dark one) out of the reader's note about one group of Rapturists who have actually produced a video they plan to leave behind for us "heathens" to watch after they "ascend". The video shows all the rotten things that will happen to us in the coming (post "Rapture") 7 years. You'll also be amused to learn that there are several variations on the rapture theme, with some cults calling for a "pre-tribulation" period - and some even adding a "mid-tribulation" period (they probably had to adjust for the failure of the world to destruct on Jan. 1 2000 as predicted by many!). Yep, I agree. Thanks in very large part to the religious fanatics of all persuasions, there is one Biblical prophesy very likely to come true: "There will always be wars and rumors of war." Sigh, —Cheryl Cheryl,Dear Mark, You have my sympathy, re: the response you got from your e-mail! I experience the same syndrome frequently in response to my diatribes! I think it's a form of "creative reading" — you know, make up what you read as you go along! Best, —Cheryl Hello,Dear Luke, As much as the self-destruction of the hate-filled extremists would seem to be a benign act of natural selection that would improve the gene pool for the rest of humanity, the "mushroom cloud" you long to toast would be a gift that kept on giving long after, in the form of cancer-inducing fallout, nuclear winter, trashed land, etc. Alas, 'tis always the way - stupid people full of hate always find a way to ruin it for the rest of us - even whilst self-destructing. Best, —Cheryl • DIATRIBBLE: Bush's announcement of "intervening" in the Middle East was one of the biggest hairballs of propaganda to be spit up since my cat tried to swallow the hamster whole. This was not an intervention, it was a call to mass slaughter. Bush did not say to Sharon, "YOU MUST WITHDRAW AND YOU MUST WITHDRAW NOW! " and put Powell on the next plane. This is what he SHOULD have done if he were sincere and not a miserable liar. What he has done, in effect, instead, is to say "YOU GOT ONE WEEK TO FINISH TRASHING THE WEST BANK, SHARON OLD BUDDY, SO BETTER STEP UP THE SLAUGHTER." What Bush did was to declare a seven-day war on the Palestinian people. He could not have brought down worse misery on the West Bank if he had launched an attack himself. Now Sharon will pull out the stops while Bush cheers him on, laughing at the stupidity of most of the American public and how he pulled the wool over their eyes AGAIN. The suffering the next week will bring on the Palestinians will be horrendous — in fact, I for one believe that Bush's speech in the rose garden yesterday should be considered a war crime. Cheryl may be contacted at cherylseal@hotmail.com. |
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