Look — up in the sky (depending on where you live) — that’s not Superman, it is the Sahara sand storm, the biggest one in half a century that has crossed the Atlantic and is hanging over the Southeastern U.S., and heading inland.
A suffocating sand storm.
Just a month ago, it was the “murder hornets,” also known as the [possibly racist] Asian Green Hornet that was coming to kill us in our beds.
This is getting Biblical, folks.
2020 is getting to feel like Zero Year, where we wind the odometer back to 0 and start again.
Anyone think the coronavirus or Kung Flu [racist when President Trump says it] just might be a warning from, well, you know who, the extreme Supreme? And if so, what are we being warned about?
In the story of Passover, Moses gets You Know Who to sic 10 plagues on the Egyptians to convince Pharaoh to, well, let my people go. The Top Ten Plagues: Water turning to blood, frogs, lice, flies, livestock pestilence, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, and the killing of the first-born.
It would take too long to explain all 10, but with a little imagination, we can see most are already here.
Maybe the water hasn’t turned to blood, but it has turned to rust in a number of older U.S. cities. Flint, Michigan is not alone. Hey! — is that a boil?
Frog populations are declining and we don’t know why. Bees, too, and we’d be SOL without their help in pollination. Lice and flies ought to have been one plague, but Philly is a national leader in bed bugs.
The equivalent of livestock pestilence was the massive COVID-19 outbreaks in meat and poultry processing plants that closed them. The locust box is checked by the murder hornets and you could say the extremely high death rate among the elderly — the first born — fulfills that prophecy.
Scared yet?
I am not a religious scholar, but, really — the pandemic, the destruction of our economy, police killings, mammoth unemployment, riots, looting, the tearing down of monuments — doesn’t this suggest the presence of an unseen hand?
No, not antifa. They are not that well organized.
If the unseen hand belongs to God, what is bugging Him about us?
Racism? Sexism? Homophobia? White privilege? Unequal distribution of wealth? Payday loans? Comcast? Boxed wine?
There is no point me guessing.
If what is plaguing us is a “sign,” He’s got to do better.
He gave Jesus a mount. That was then.
Maybe he could put him on Fox News (just for the huge ratings) today.
If you have something to say, Lord, clear your throat and let us hear it. We need encouragement to do better.
Interesting Stu. A little more drama, if you will….
Maybe He’s saying, “What about Me mankind? (sic) You said I was dead, remember? You take Me out of your schools? And keep trying to rid Me by denying Me? You make a mockery of your First Amendment! You make a law so you can choose to destroy My Creation before it can take a breath? Even now audacious talk if your attempt fails? What about My Commandments? You’ve been fighting with one another since day one. Grow up!”
I believe it’s just a warning, another chance. I’m an optimist!
You know, I have been hearing a number of non-Christians wonder if this is the end times (not just Jews like you and me). Its sobering because I’d never heard them do that before, only the born agains.
In addition to the hornets and other plagues reminiscent of Biblical times, I am also watching in awe as Democrat leaders in Philly, Minneapolis, Seattle, etc are spiraling out of control in self-destruction, with them doing more and more outlandish things each day to bring total ruination to their cities.
I reasoned they can’t possibly be this stupid. I wondered if God is pulling their strings, like a marionette puppet show, to force them to reveal their true selves.
The Torah says that God deliberately hardened Pharaoh’s heart to cause events to spiral to such a degree that God’s power would be fully revealed and he would let our people go.
And I wonder if we are witnessing something similar.
Definitely Comcast!
HAPPY SATURDAY !!!
Stu,
As if in response to your blog, the “heavens” opened up with a heavy rain storm. ( thunder & lighting is scheduled for later today)
Two good replys from Tom & Annette. I have been suggesting a little “interference” from above for several years now. Do you think that we need a “wake up” call ? Will we “wake up”? It’s not just us Americans, either. As our parents used to say,” the world is going to hell in a hand basket”!
Tony
It did not rain where I am. Draw you own conclusions.
it’s been awhile since I read all 4 versus:
Complete version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” showing spelling and punctuation
from Francis Scott Key’s manuscript in the Maryland Historical Society collection.
O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bomb bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
‘Tis the star-spangled banner – O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto – “In God is our trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
You forgot God taken a pass on Slavery. We ignore climate change as some false science prediction while in Africa the locusts are 10 times worse than last year and they have only two planes with spraying capabilities. In India and Pakistan, there is a water shortage that is acute because the mountains are getting warmer so it is providing less water each year. In fact, if India wanted to cut off Pakistan with a dam it would cause mass crop failure and death to millions both of whom are nuclear powers. To read National Geographic most of what you covered is on the horizon not because of God but man’s ignorance and indifference to our footprint on our Planet.
Philadelphia, PA
Dear Stu & readers,
Some may prefer a more naturalistic perspective –which might afterward be translated back into religious terms as one will.
1) The country is suffering after-effects of the long ordeal of the Cold War. You’ll recall that in the wake of the Cold War the Soviet Union simply fell apart. We are suffering similar effects. The long concentrated, centralized effort to defeat the evil empire left us without an enemy and we started inventing enemies to keep the Cold War national configuration going after it was no longer needed.
Instead of building down our gigantic military-industrial complex to some more reasonable, reduced levels, you’ll recall that we were going to keep in all in place (thus upsetting no political apple-carts) for “humanitarian purposes.” You know how that turned out. Iraq I, Iraq II, Afghanistan, Syria …? In contrast, after the Civil War, an army of millions was cut back to just 30,000 and stayed at that level for 30 years. During Reconstruction, we still understood the damaging effects of “large standing armies.” Part of this is that they become political constituencies.
2) Next came digitalization and globalization, building up gigantic international firms which helped to ship the jobs of ordinary citizens overseas–over several decades. Ever more centralized control –“private” or “public.” Pervasive surveillance, private and public. But, of course, this was not to be criticized, since it was “the next big thing” arrived.
3) Next came the epidemic and 3 months of “lockdown,” after which the young people in particular almost exploded –personally or politically.
The last long episode of “globalization” –chiefly European, colonial expansion of world trade, but including the Spanish-American war, culminated in WWI. (Lesson for today: watch the South China Sea and the border between India and China.) The war was a catastrophe for the European world. We organized ourselves top-down to “make the world safe for democracy.” Once the cover was taken off that boiling pot, though, we also had a world epidemic in 1918 and very serious racial conflicts, pervasive lynching’s, etc. in 1919.
I’d say our politicians have been making a lot of mistakes. Too much tolerance of the politicians’ self-aggrandizement. Too much emphasis on money making. The divisiveness and political factionalism in the country is the chief symptom which has rendered Congress too often dysfunctional. Yet the avoidance of more extreme or divisive positions is typically condemned as acquiescence in evil.
Still this is a very strong, rich and resilient country.
H.G. Callaway
I don’t think God is very happy with the USA 61 million abortions.
How about every Dem other than Carter has waged war.
And so did the Deep State Bushes.
I believe You-Know-Who gave us free will, then left us alone to work things out for ourselves. A dear Jewish friend of mine has long his faith because (to paraphrase as he put it), “If G-d didn’t hear the cries of six million Jews, I’m not sure He is really there.” I find it difficult to try to argue with him. Every time there is a disaster, talk about the ‘end times’ arises. I’m not sure what the end times will REALLY look like, but I do believe there will be no mistaking it for a natural disaster or three. Or maybe Neville Shute (sp?) had it right in “On The Beach”: “This how the world will end, not with a bang but with a whimper.”
My previous post should have read ‘lost his faith.’ Bad fingers.
One answer to the 6 million question: It guilted the world into allowing Jews to re-establish a homeland. 6 million was a stiff price. All be 1 member of my family perished — and he survived by walking from Poland to Israel, according to family lore.
“The ways of the Lord are often dark, but never pleasant.” — Theodore Reik. The Holocaust, if that was the Lord’s way to get the Jews back to their Biblical homeland, was certainly very dark and more than unpleasant.
Wow…. On the Beach.. haven’t read or thought about that story in nearly 30 years. That book and movie left an impression on me to this day. A whimper after MAD didn’t work to deter?! Perhaps if we can get rid of the career politicians… but it’s a problem as old as time, who gets to rule and who gets ruled.
Term limits are a good start to help shift the momentum… my two cents on a beautiful Saturday.
Stu, Perhaps it’s time for one of your famous sit-down interviews with “The Man Upstairs.”
Happy you remembered. I usually do that around Christmas. I think I did a bit of that recently. It’s a good device.
Stu,
🤔Will you have something special for the class come your first anniversary?🤔
Tom
How nice of you to notice. Was not planning anything, but you have lit a spark.
That’s all it takes!👨🚒
I’m a Jewish long time atheist, so I don’t subscribe to the Ten Commandments or anything from the Bible. But what H.G. Callaway says makes much sense to me. A bit over-simplified, but it makes sense.
I respectfully suggest to all those who don’t believe to consider Paschal’s Wager. Nothing to lose by doing so.
My previous post should have read ‘Pascal’s Wager.’ Again, naughty, disobedient fingers.
Philadelphia, PA
Dear Wanda, Stu & readers,
Thanks for your good words, Wanda. I guess that some amount of over simplification is hard to avoid in this brief form of messages and replies.
I have few objections to religious language and rhetoric, I’m only shy of dogmatism. What we find in the Bible can also be looked on as political and social wisdom or advice, somewhat dated but long cherished. My favorite bit of Old Testament advice is “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he” (Proverbs 29:18). Believe it or not, this verse is inscribed on the walls of City Hall in Camden, N.J. When I discovered it there, I was astonished.
I’ve published a book exploring some of the themes from my note above.
See:
https://www.cambridgescholars.com/henry-cabot-lodge-alexander-hamilton-and-the-political-thought-of-the-gilded-age
In many ways, we’ve been repeating the foolish politics of the Gilded Age. That is the interest of my Introduction. Too much “going along in order to get along,” bandwagon politics.
H.G. Callaway
Stu:
Wish I wrote that.
Quite a compliment coming from a great wordsmith.