The coming course: not filets mignon

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Feb 22, 2016 at 14:55

Hi, Moh

You thought the Russians would take care of Syria by April? I thought it was Christians like me who were supposed to be credulous! If you've ever read the story "Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby", let me just say that Brer Vladimir has stuck his right fis' into da Syrian tar baby, and it has gotten stuck. He will proceed, if he doesn't wise up, take his toys and run back to Russia, to put his left fis' into da tar baby; and before you know it, his two feet will be stuck in it as well.

I suppose he figured that because Russia isn't Israel or America, it can do whatever it pleases without consequences. Russia has committed itself to Syria and Assad, and it is stuck with them -- and with the Iranians and Hizbullah as well, plus all the problems that stick to them like flies on an office worker's white shirt on a summer day in Sydney.

Russia will be in Syria for quite some time. They've been there for some six months already, and they've hardly done anything so far to fight Da'esh. Besides that, they've made enemies not only of Turkey and Saudi Arabia now, but also of Al Nusra and Al Qaeda affiliates all over the world; and they've gotten involved in the Kurdish nightmare to boot -- which doesn't just involve Secular Kurds fighting Turks. It also involves Syrian Kurds vs. Iraqi Kurds, Talabanis vs. Barzanis, Alevis vs. Sunnis... I think Putin sent troops to Syria, mainly to draw attention away from the Ukraine, the oil price disaster and a badly slumping Russian economy -- all of which might get Russians more concerned about how corrupt Putin is instead of the heroic savior of Mother Russia that he appears when he goes overseas with cruise missiles blazing.

In following the Bible on these matters, here's where we seem to be:

1. The fourth seal, and hence the fourth horseman -- who will have power "to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."

That doesn't sound like "Peace in our times", as Neville Chamberlain would like to have thought. Also,

2. "And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle."

In other words, Messiah is at the gates, ready to avenge those who have died because of their testimony of God. It doesn't sound like "Gentle Jesus in a manger". Also,

3. "the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise."

I don't know what that will be. Also,

4. "the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
[9] And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory."

Global warming? A spate of record-breaking heat? Could it be? Men blaspheming God? could it be? Also,

5. Matt. 24:

[9] Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
[10] And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
[11] And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
[12] And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
[13] But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
[14] And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

Those are the things that seem to be on the table for this course. Let me see... First course wasn't oysters. It was WWI and WWII. Second course wasn't cream of barley soup. It was the atomic bomb and the Cold war. Third course wasn't salmon and cucumbers. It was globalization, and the looming disappearance of the middle class. And the coming course is not filets mignon. It will be grinding war, devastation, famine and plagues, along with persecution of the church; with a garnish of false prophets everywhere and hearts cooked to stone hardness.

I'm still waiting to see the big smog or ash cloud, or whatever God has in store. Other than that, it looks like we're well on our way into this course.

As for our being "far from the action", I can't say. What are the betting odds for a war with China? Most of my family lives there. My daughter has just returned there from a vacation on Thailand's tsunami coast. A couple of months ago, she was in Borneo, and a couple of years before that in Bali (after the terrorist attack). My son had delayed a return flight to the US, when 9/11 happened; and my daughter was in Israel just a couple of months before the 2000 intifada. We were visiting Hong Kong, when the tidal wave took out the Fukushima reactor in nearby Japan. My niece had to go into quarantine upon returning from Guinea during the ebola crisis; our friend's daughter contracted malaria in Tanzania; another friend was supporting a South Sudanese refugee she had taught in Israel, who is now back in that war-torn country. I was in the Army during the Vietnam War, and my brothers-in-law served in Korea. My mother-in-law returned to duty during WWII after visiting her parents in London, seeing an incendiary attack near their home from the bus window. My father-in-law patched up US and British bombers, to get them back into the sky; and he missed going to Normandy because of drawn lots. Oregon escaped with only a blimp attack during WWII, and NSW escaped the war altoghether; but the Aussie government had contingency plans to surrender. Nobody's clean escaped from what's happening in the world. I don't think those office workers in the World Trade Center had any idea that they would be attacked. We get scanned and frisked, even on domestic flights. That's not normal for us; and my wife and I grew up with regular air raid drills and sonic booms from fighters and bombers practicing overhead. Nobody is certain to miss the effects of climate change, nor of globalization. People tend to be afraid of wars; but peace is just as devastating. It's because of peace, that most of what we own was made in slave-wage sweatshops across the glove instead of in Oregon. During the big wars, we had full employment.

Yeah, we live far away from it all, wherever "it" is.

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