"Tell Me You Don't Believe We're on the Eve of Destruction?"

R. Buckminster Fuller wrote (in The Critical Path), "In our comprehensive reviewing of published, academically accepted history we continually explore for the invisible power structure behind the visible kings, prime ministers, czars, emperors, presidents, and other official head men, as well as for the underlying hidden causes of individual wars and the long, drawn-out campaigns not disclosed by the widely published and popularly accepted causes of these wars."

With Fuller's prescient words in mind, I feel compelled to ask, what's happening in and to America today? We've always had a lot of BS in Washington at this point of the election cycle. In the past we've usually been able to ignore the purely political crap and reach for the laxative of the rational mind of the voting public. But I've not seen the current level of 'crazy' in the national political parties or the voting public in my 67-year lifetime. As Jack Nicholson's Joker said, "What this (country) needs is an enema!"

The official Republican nominee for President is calling for excluding immigrants based on their religion and building a physical wall of isolationism. One of the high ranking members of his running mate selection team believes "the end times clock" started its final countdown when "the Roman Emperor, Constantine and the Roman Catholic Church conspired (in the 4th century A.D.) to change the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday." He also believes, as his version of Christianity stipulates,  the Catholic Church and the U.S. are two of the 'beasts' of the antichrist trinity that will launch us into Armageddon (the final and most destructive war in history according to the New Testament) and the establishment of the New Jerusalem (the Capitol City of God's Kingdom on Earth). 

I think all Christians who have variously held interpretations of the Book of Revelation might ask a couple of valid questions here. Such as, "Who would want to be in the administration of the President of the U. S. when he believes the U.S. is one of the Beasts mentioned in Revelation?" And this one, "If the U.S. is one of the Beasts of Revelation, wouldn't it make sense that the U.S. President presiding at the time of "the End" might be the AntiChrist himself?" And "Who would run for that office, knowing that according to the clear language of Revelation, the antichrist and his/her two 'beasts' are going to be thrown into hell for ever and ever?" And finally, "Who would want to be a citizen of the country whose President becomes the AntiChrist (Satan incarnate)?"

The Republican President to be is also touting other policies and procedures based purely on religion and prejudice toward other cultures. He has taken irrational stands through statements that portray the Constitution as sacrosanct while totally ignoring Constitutional hallmarks such as the 'Separation of Church and State'. When one believes passionately that we have a 'Constitutional' right to bear arms, and in the next breath, attempts to state variations of the idea that all Americans should be Christians, because "this is a Christian nation," or that members of certain religions are not welcome here and should be deported on that basis, which totally dismisses the Constitutional mandate of "Separation of Church and State," that's incongruent, irrational, and irresponsible. One of the major reasons our forefathers left England and Europe to form this nation was they were tired of being told to which religion they could belong and to which ones they could not belong. They were tired of living in a country that had a national, state supported religion.

Yet, that is our current political, cultural, moral, and attitudinal climate, at least among vocal citizens who use social media like FaceBook. Wouldn't you think they represent the 'grass roots' of America at the current time? I've never seen this before, to this degree, and it scares me. In my own mind, I think, it must scare most rational Americans as well. There is so much talk on social media about loving the Lord Jesus and trusting God to take care of Christians, paired with countless messages from many of the same people that can only be perceived as hatred, fear, anger, prejudice, and a total repudiation of the message of Love, Grace, Forgiveness, and Understanding that formed the core of Jesus' words, actions, and central message in the Gospels. Check out Luke 6: 27-38. Who is our neighbor? Jesus' answer is, "Everyone." The Good Samaritan, was not a member of Jesus' country. Hello? He was a Samaritan. He was from Samaria. The Israelite's in the story were the ones who were NOT the good neighbor. Our neighbors include the immigrants, the citizens of other countries, and everybody else who needs a good neighbor.

What's happening to the world we live in today? Terrorism is active in every major country. 'Cyber Terrorism' is a tool all countries seem to be using against all other countries, with the "you're doing it to us, so we're doing it to you more," mentality. The danger of 'cyber terrorism' is that it could take us all back to at least a preindustrial stage of development. If someone (and yes, a single individual could theoretically be smart enough and crazy enough to do it) decides to hit an assortment of computer keys that destroys the infrastructure of modern civilization by introducing the ultimate algorithm of destruction into the world wide web, it wouldn't just turn off your electricity, water, and communication media. It would result in massive worldwide starvation, crime, isolation, loss of the protections of civil society, and in general, worldwide chaos.

Of course, with all the radical talk going on in the world today, we must remember there are many ways to destroy the world. Once we pass that invisible point where some party or parties, who possess the capability to throw the proverbial wrench into the machinery, whether it be biological, nuclear, artificial intelligence (Terminator style), or simply clicking the world over into the final World War, becomes angry enough and crazed enough by hatred or discontent, to actually do it, it's too late. The current climate of hate, bigotry, talks of isolation partnered with talks of "let's just bomb 'those animals' off of the face of the earth," are not reminding some of us of the words and teachings of Jesus. They sound more like the words and manipulations of Hitler.

Are there really any innocent parties among the nations of the world? Of course not! We're all guilty. Those of us who may think the U.S. is totally innocent and selfless are ignoring our history. We nearly eradicated the original owners of this property we call America, we kidnapped and enslaved the people of another continent, we  dropped atomic bombs that ultimately killed more than 200,000 mostly civilians of yet another country, and for many decades we took advantage of the middle eastern countries that had lots of the oil we craved by paying them an incredibly small fraction of the value of their natural resources, simply because we had the power to do so. An extremely small percentage of radicalized Muslims have hurt us, using criminal behavior. Rather than focusing on the individuals who perpetrated those deeds, we have killed hundreds of thousands of muslims and innocent bystanders of other religions and races, and as we did so, certain corporations have made trillions of dollars selling the tools of destruction and supporting materials that were used to inflict all that punishment. And as we did that, we created passionate new enemies of all the newly made orphans and widows of those who were killed, and we established a national deficit that will be a profound burden on all present and future tax payers for many years to come.

None of the nations of the world are innocent. As Christianity teaches, we are all fallen creatures who need a Savior. The trouble is, even some Christians use the words of Christ to support hating and killing other people, while none of Jesus' words support such actions; none of them. Read Luke 6: 27-38 as an example of his teaching on this subject. And when anybody, an anonymous computer owner hooked up to social media, or a national government with an agenda to sabotage or dominate another country, spreads hatred, fear, negative emotions, confusion, prejudice, and all the other tools of evil, that individual or corporation or nation is fanning the flames that lead to destruction.

Each one of us who contributes to social media, writes in the old fashion way, or just discusses politics, nationalism, religion, and other social subjects, can help turn the tide against war and sabotage the efforts of those powers that want to manipulate how we think and act. We can do that by refusing to cooperate in spreading and fanning negative messages. We can dedicate ourselves by looking for positive messages we can believe in, and by promoting an attitude of love and respect for our seven billion fellow human beings who have much more in common with us than they have in contrast to us.

I have much to say on this subject, because it troubles me so deeply. If you are interested in reading more of my thoughts on this and many other subjects related to our current dilemma and continuous vulnerability to destroying ourselves, I hope you will click www.amazon.com/dp/B00XXCVODO and purchase my book, The Hiroshima Agenda. While the novel is mostly fiction, it deals with the threat that the majority of the citizens of the world are being controlled by a self-serving, selfish, manipulative, organization of power brokers. In my novel, the group I describe is a fictional metaphor for the real power brokers behind the scene in every major country of Earth.