No, I Don’t Hate Linux Now

Posted on February 18, 2010 by ehurst

A few questions I’ve gotten privately seem to call for a generalized response to save time.

I don’t hate Linux or BSD. Actually, I still love Linux — on the CLI. Indeed, I’m currently negotiating a trade for an old server box on which to run a Linux CLI installation. No GUI. The one thing about Linux I hate is the X server. It used to be pretty useful, but it has become such a huge mess. So it now auto-configures and all that? Yes, but not if you are using certain common video cards from a major player they haven’t bothered to code for since they came out two years ago. Of if your monitor happens to be just a little unusual. The X server development has gone entirely in the wrong direction, in my experience.

Linux has by far the very best framebuffer display system of any OS I’ve tried. It’s fully mouse-able (with clipboard) and some of the best applications exist for the CLI. Very important tools for things which Windows cannot do, nor be made to do, are what calls for me to keep a Linux terminal somewhere nearby. Insofar as I might be trying to obtain computer hardware in the future, the ability to run Linux as an optional OS will always be a factor in the decision. But I will never give thought to the Linux GUI any longer, because it will not ever meet my needs.

That’s the one major flaw with Linux and anything else Open Source — it’s all about the developer. Sometimes you’ll find a decent guy behind the project, and he’ll accept input on features, etc. Mostly, I find they not only don’t care what users want, but are openly hostile to such input. This is the sort of personality which creates Open Source software; it’s a feature built into the very soul of Linux. If you don’t write code, shut up and stay out of the way. If you dare to want some feature not included, you are evil for daring to want it. Yeah, freedom. Thus saith the Code Gods: “Write your own *&%#$%& code, slime!”

This is why Windows and other proprietary systems will continue ruling the market, and Linux will never find wide adoption on the desktop. The profit seeking motive of corporate software development lives or dies on pleasing the buyer, and there’s only so much you can do with marketing manipulation. Some of the biggest hype was wasted on products which never left the shelves. To the degree you can get that customer seeking ethic insinuated into the development process, you’ll get a product consumers might buy. The problem is keeping the zealous hobbyists from crippling it with insane requests for which the market is truly minuscule. Trust me, the most mundane and unexciting desktop GUI which provides the basic functions would sell better with just a little marketing savvy. All the fancy you can buy means nothing if it doesn’t actually do something useful.

Thus, every OS sucks, if you’ll pardon the crude vernacular. Most of them do something useful, but none of them can cover all the bases. Open Source never actually releases anything; it just dribbles out in a constant stream. To actually release a product implies you plan to support it for awhile as users adopt it and get used to it. No, rolling release is simply proof of the developer-centric nature of things, and users be damned. Unless they happen to be devoted hobbyist fans who never actually use anything, but keep looking for the next fix. And Windows will continue to manipulate, leverage, buyout, destroy and do whatever necessary — including satisfy the customer — to stay dominant until something happens and they have to close the doors. And Mac will continue pretending to be really cool, but only if you are willing to be even more manipulated and harshly controlled by a fascist slavemaster named Jobs. It’s a really good Unix distro, though, and the GUI is vastly superior to anything you’ll ever see on Linux.

I don’t hate any of them, but don’t particularly like any of them. Should something appear which actually tries to serve the customer, keep supporting the product more than two weeks running, and allow the maximum freedom for the user to do what they darned well please with the stuff they bought, support the common applications we all expect to see, I suppose I’ll actually become a fan. Right now, it doesn’t exist.

Update: If I could get CentOS 5 to work, I would use the GUI. For some reason, it has been by far the most reliable at detecting and configuring graphics and display hardware. It seems ATI still makes a proprietary driver for Linux, called “Catalyst”…

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Clumsiness Is a Disability

Posted on February 17, 2010 by ehurst

I break things, spill stuff, and generally make messes every day. That has nothing to do with my habits of cleanliness, since I’m actually a neat-nik. It’s just I have to spend a portion of every day cleaning up after myself. Some days are worse than others, but that’s just random.

By definition, most clumsiness episodes are a miscalculation. It’s not ignorance, nor lack of concern; it’s being unable to properly calculate the placement of hands, feet, etc. with the proper timing. With one hand I hold a cannister of some dry, powdery stuff, and with the other I reach for some implement, but miscalculate and pull the can downward and sideways, spilling the contents. The path of my free hand failed to clear the edge of the cannister. See? I understand perfectly, but it’s an actual motor disability.

I don’t get too excited about the messes these days. I may utter something ugly under my breath, depending on how much I valued what I just destroyed, and I may still weep over the loss at times. I’ll get over it. Still, it’s a feature of my life which has not changed since childhood. Having taken all the advice I’ve gotten over the years, and it making zero difference, I no longer get angry with myself or with God, or anybody else. I just clean it up.

If you observe someone in such a fix, the most hateful thing you can do is castigate, and the second most hateful thing is to give advice after the fact. The clumsy person is as much a victim as anyone else. Frankly, if the victim reacts violently, you deserve some of it. You are being socially clumsy, and you do have the means to fix it. Hold your tongue. Unless it’s an emergency, the right thing to do is watch and see if the clumsy person can digest and handle it. If not, stay out of the way. They are hurting bad, and you have to acknowledge that, or you sin. Obviously, shame and embarrassment is the number one issue here. If they act any other way, simply help. You can even ask what they would like you to do, in the “what do we do now” tone of voice. Even if it is an emergency, recriminations of any sort are simply wrong. By the way, laugh if the victim laughs.

Yes, these things do inconvenience you, or may even ruin your day (or week, month, etc.). Yes, their involvement is what made it costly for you. Unless you watched them gleefully destroy, don’t assume it has anything to do with moral failure. If you do, that is a moral failure. What you see as an external observer has little bearing on what the clumsy person experiences internally. Your ability to measure the miscalculation cannot be translated into an instructive guidance. If the thing is a routine which must be repeated, then your observations might be useful, because even a clumsy oaf can learn a physical routine. However, most spills and thrills take place outside routine and repetitive tasks.

For someone who is typically clumsy, keep in mind it is something built into the eye-hand-awareness matrix, and nothing you say or do can fix it. Treat it like a disability and you’ll be a lot closer to God.

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US Military Uncovered

Posted on February 16, 2010 by ehurst

The US military machine is exposed. While your mind may read that in terms of exposé, I am referring to the biblical meaning: US troops have no covering of protection from God.

Consider the logic offered in Scripture. What happens when the nation is faithful to God’s Law Covenants? You get such as the time Israel conquered attacking armies with a choir marching in the vanguard. They came over the crest of the ridge line and found their enemies scattered on the ground. Or consider when Hezekiah humbled himself before the Lord and the besieging Assyrian army was slaughtered in the night. While you may believe America would not be so literally protected by such dramatic miracles, one thing is certain: The underlying principle remains. When a nation obeys the Covenant Laws which apply to them, God favors them.

And when that nation departs from those Laws, God does not favor them. There is no middle ground by which we can assume God simply stands back and watches. Either we are on His side, or we are His enemies on earth. It is true He does allow a lot of stuff to happen for reasons He never bothers to reveal. He is Lord and retains the divine prerogatives of Creator. We rightly regard them as the exception, because the principle remains consistent. The nation which rejects the terms of God’s favor will not long prosper, nor remain stable and safe.

The US was built on false principles of the Enlightenment, so that weakens our status before God. On top of that, it has been a long time since our rulers were honest, and did what was right in terms of foreign policy. Lack of transparency is a sin, period. It is a particular sin for nations to say one thing and do another when dealing with other nations. Not only to they stop trusting you, but God removes a part of His protecting hand, as He puts it. So far, not a single war we have fought was honest or just, despite propaganda to the contrary. Our current warfare throughout the Middle East is wholly based on lies, and carries not a shred of noble purpose. God did not appoint any nation in human history to set right other nations, as if they could be a policeman. Further, our fetish with the vote — which has never really meant anything in our own history, to be honest — and other earmarks of “modern democracy” are all contrary to God’s Laws.

Finally, those nations have not done anything to us, but have simply exhibited the gall to not kiss our national butt, as it were. By no means can we justify being there, as far as God’s Laws are concerned. Nothing about them justifies our military invasion — zero, zip, nada, zilch. We are wrong. Imaginary ghosts of terrorism are every one of them the product of our clandestine services; until our CIA got involved, there was no such thing as Muslim terrorists. They are entirely the product of our own government meddling.

It’s certainly true individual servicemen can obtain God’s divine favor, and they would see commensurate protection and favor in terms of the Law Covenants. It would be rather like the personal covenant of Jacob’s Ladder — if You’ll act the part of my God, I’ll worship You alone. God accepted that, and still does today. But as a whole, the US troops are not under God’s protective covering. There may well be reasons for Him to prosper that warfare, but in the final analysis, it has nothing to do with the Laws of God. Therefore, we are wholly justified, by the logic of the Bible, to expect any time now for the US military to lose. Not just individual battles, but at some point have to disengage, retreat and leave the theater, as we did in Vietnam.

While we do have some of the same stupid tactical and strategic mistakes made in Vietnam, and massive command idiocy on the same level, that will be only the apparent cause of failure. The real issue remains God will allow our opponents to win, by whatever means. We’ll take a butt stomping. I suspect, given the current decline we suffer nationally, it will signal the end of the empire. Our time in the sun is past.

Our boys and girls in uniform sit unprotected by God’s divine hand. We have foolishly sent them into harm’s way, and it shall not prosper. Maybe not this very day, week, or month, but all the prayers of all the Christians in America cannot turn this evil into good. All the solemn pronouncements of all the preachers and teachers cannot change the ultimate truth. His hand is against us, and His patience is about to run out.

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Church Polity Is Politics

Posted on February 15, 2010 by ehurst

The biggest barrier to understanding the Bible is built on the foundation of false Western epistemology. Getting your head inside the biblical epistemology will help you understand a whole raft of issues far more accurately. The greatest barrier built on that false epistemology is conflation of spiritual and earthly things. It requires a living spirit (Jesus used the term “born again”) to handle spiritual issues. There is a degree to which some parts of it can be understood intellectually, but the full meaning is a matter of imperative, and dead spirits cannot process a spiritual imperative.

However, there is an earthly element to revelation which is enshrined in the Law Covenants (Noah and Moses) as something within reach of mere intellect. You can’t really get the finer points without the spiritual capability of symbolic logic, but you can still manage to obey. You can obtain the lower covenant blessings, which include social stability, reasonable prosperity, safety and security from most threats, etc. Only those with living spirits can see how those things symbolize a higher spiritual reality which cannot be put into words. The Bible is the written expression, mostly narrative, which serves to point living spirits to the unspeakable and ineffable spiritual truths. Do not conflate the ultimate truth of things in Heaven with the contextual manifestation here on earth. They are related, but hardly identical.

Every human organization is just that — a human organization. One person can freely operate according to his own convictions, but involving two or more people always requires coordination, negotiation, and some surrender of prerogatives and freedoms. All churches are human organizations. They should serve a divine purpose, but you cannot conflate the two. A church is a political institution, and nothing about the thing itself is divine. The commands regarding how we operate within that organization are not spiritual, but a matter of Laws. Not in the sense we slavishly obey the Law Covenants, because that was never the intent. It’s a start, but the whole idea was to steer you to an awareness of higher things, things which cannot be enshrined in holy writ, since anything you can touch with hands cannot be truly holy (divine), but can only be ritually pure. Ink on paper, even with a leather binding, is not spiritual. It’s just a physical object with a specific economic value. Nothing in Heaven can be valued in human economic terms. So, any church is merely human politics as the framework in which we attempt to live by divine imperatives.

The Pharisees made a serious mistake of conflating spiritual and worldly things like that. To them the physical structure of the Temple was itself sacred and holy, like touching God’s own face. That was a heresy, one of the things which caused them tremendous grief when Jesus used proper symbolic language in saying something about tearing down “this temple.” The living human as temple is a parabolic image, and was closer to the ultimate truth than the image of an inanimate structure as God’s home. Likewise, they were absolutely certain money offerings to God were concretely sacred, and that all real property in Jewish hands was somehow too good to taken as Roman taxes, that it was somehow obscene. It might be wrong in terms of the Law Covenants, but that was of little importance when viewed from the mystical, other-worldly viewpoint Jesus taught. The Law Covenants had limited application, and as the Son of God, Jesus was the true expert in such matters.

The Hebrew culture assumes you will read Scripture spiritually, reading between the lines, and not cripple your understanding by insisting on a pedantic literal rendering of everything. When you approach things from the proper epistemology, you realize there is only one possible way to satisfy the demands of the Law regarding human government: all people had to belong to a tribal-extended household social structure. The spiritual truth is it need not be a matter of DNA or marriage — that was symbolic — but the way humans relate must of necessity be within that sort of structure. The first church in the New Testament was organized around the standard extended family household, and each was led by an elder. The meaning of the term is rather flexible, because he was seldom the oldest living male in the group. He was presumably the most able to provide the earthly leadership, keeping things reasonable and stable, and holding the whole thing together in close familial ties. He wasn’t an autocrat, and fairness and equality as we think of them would be sinful intrusions. No two people in any family are alike, so no two can be treated the same. And so it goes; we can easily understand how the Jerusalem church was simply a new clan, and quickly became big as any tribe, artificially constructed across bloodlines, but still very much of that structure. Even the first “deacons” were actually appointed elders over disassociated foreign-born households lacking the local native natural ties. Since elders were the means by which the church was governed on the human level, this gave the non-native families a fair representation in the councils.

It didn’t seem necessary to tell us concretely, but wherever the gospel went across the Mediterranean Basin in Acts, this was the way churches were organized. They became households, with elders. The roles were fuzzy to our minds, because elders might also be preachers and teachers, but not necessarily. Pastors were never elders, but distinctly spiritual leaders with no real say in church government, per se. They surely held a somewhat prophetic office in addressing conduct, but didn’t govern. Their function was more priestly in that sense.

We make a grave error when we assume any other structure, regardless of our cultural orientation. There is one correct polity for the church and it is tribal. All others are perversions read back into the Bible, typically from a false — even Pharisaical — epistemology. God’s ordained proper human political structure is tribal in all things, including civil government. That’s how humans were designed to associate. Everything else is a rejection of God.

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Not the Apocalypse

Posted on February 14, 2010 by ehurst

We are facing tribulation. The West in general, and the US in particular, are under God’s wrath. Things are going to get rough.

But this is not the Apocalypse, not the Great Tribulation, and certainly not The End. Those terms do not apply to specific events in the sense we might expect. Rather, they describe something which transcends history, and come to us as symbols of God’s judgment against sin in general. That is, if you read the Bible with its own cultural and intellectual assumptions.

The banker elites rule the world, but we must note they do so only insofar as it can be done by any human agency. Their mastery is incomplete, and it may even be doomed. Either way, the point is they don’t hold all the cards. God is in control, and they simply imagine they are. I am no prophet, just a Christian Mystic who sees things from a different perspective. As a servant of God, I don’t have any dog in this fight, as it were. I have no significant loyalty to any human government, since not a one in this world is legitimate before God. They all reject His demands, as far as I can tell, so there is none to whom I owe any allegiance. I’ll cooperate when it suits my calling and mission, but otherwise will sidestep, ignore, and evade human law enforcement. If they catch up to me some day, that’s not really an issue, since all such things are under God’s control. It’s His problem, and so are the banker elites.

I don’t believe they intend to crush humanity completely. Right now, for example, they are plundering the US economy. They are bribing government officials to let them get away with it. Most likely, the US federal government will default. But that doesn’t mean the economy will collapse completely. Banks will still exist, and how they relate to you and I as individuals will no doubt change, but will not end. I figure the US government will probably cease to exist as we know it. Whether there is some bigger replacement or simply some pretense of it, I can’t say. Actual control over the people is not a simple matter. Rather, I suspect we will see a break up of the federal government, probably without too much bloodshed.

Meanwhile this part of the world will enter a serious depression. Not everyone will be out on the streets. There will be too many vacant facilities which will not be patrolled and controlled and ownership may not be so clear and precise, and most certainly will never be absolute. The system by which law is enforced will probably suffer some pretty wobbly times, change a whole lot, but it won’t keep going the way it is right now. Too many parts of the current system will break down, but it won’t be total collapse. It will get pretty hairy, and some parts of this continent will see some serious unrest and bloodshed. But plenty of places actually have some sensible folks in the game, and they’ll do what they can to keep things working, so some local governments will actually prosper to some degree. Much depends on the local civic culture and so forth. One good thing will be a lot of pretense and fakery will be exposed and collapse.

It depends on when we reach that invisible breaking point whether we actually go to war on Iran. If we do, the breaking point will probably come very quickly afterward. I’m hoping and praying we don’t get there, because it’s just one more lying excuse to murder folks who have done nothing to harm us. And I’m quite sure whatever bad stuff comes our way will most certainly be a lot worse for each bogus war we engage.

I feel quite certain an awful lot of people will be surprised by how this all turns out.

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What If?

Posted on February 13, 2010 by ehurst

Try to imagine a world where the only thing different was we actually followed the advice of our first president: Never got involved in the various disputes in the world, but kept open peace and trade with everyone as much as possible. You know, if we had simply minded our own business.

The US would not have grown economically quite so fast. Nor would we have sold all our manufacturing to other countries. So instead of our roller-coaster ride and the impending crash, we would most likely be still growing just a bit. We would still be making lots of stuff and selling it, and most folks would have jobs. But we would not have experienced the huge bubble and crash cycles. Thus, we might not have ever reached the point where just about everyone had a car, or owned a home. Pretty soon, almost none of us will have either.

We wouldn’t have too many troops, and they would all be home. Not one of the nations we claim to have rescued would be that much worse off or better off. Every thing we claimed to fear has come true, yet the world seems okay. That is, except for our imperialist adventures. The world is definitely a worse place because of what we have done militarily. Spain would have eventually spun off her colonies, and they would be fine. And Islam is conquering Europe now; the only difference is our CIA has made it an ugly thing, extremist, when it was not before. I’ve already shown how the Islamic culture deserves to win, when you consider the biblical standards. Compared to our profligate sins, they look entirely sensible.

We can speculate about what it would be like if Germany had won WW1, but I’m sure it would have all been little different from the British Empire of today. We fought against Chinese communism, and now Taiwan is coming to terms with Beijing. Don’t condemn what you know about China until you live there and compare what it is now with what it was before. Most oppressive government passes through phases, and soon relaxes, or is thrown off by the residents. The current ruling regime in the US is most likely to face the latter. Korea might be a rough place, but maybe not. It’s more complicated than any of us knows. Vietnam is certainly not better off for our adventures. Iraq has lost a million or so from our killing, and Afghanistan suffers one of the highest non-combatant loss rates in history, thanks to us. We are so helpful.

Best of all, there would not be a fake Israel today, pretending to be something it could never be. It was born of terrorism, and has hardly changed now that it bears the facade of nationhood. As a simple blunt reminder to all you Dispensationalists: As long as the government of Israel rejects the Laws of Moses — as Jesus taught them, not as the Talmud interprets them — nothing they do is blessed of God. It’s all nothing more than the fruits of terrorism, lying, stealing, hatred and arrogance. Should you need any reminders, the USS Liberty Incident was no accident, and is wholly consistent with how Israel has always acted.

Our greatest mistake is assuming democracy is of God, and that material progress is somehow inherently good. We hardly operate according to the best understanding of either one correctly in the first place, but lie about both officially. Those two things form the basis of our national culture, shallow though it be, and they cannot be reconciled with the Bible. Don’t make the mistake of discounting God. He is keeping score. Nations do have a standard, and we haven’t come close, not even briefly. If I could afford to be somewhere else, I would, because wrath is already here. Greatness as humans measure such things isn’t worth much when your nation’s sins become intolerable to God.

I stand on the Rock of Jesus Christ, and I uncover the sins of myself and those I see. The Word of God is a mighty sword, and when He is through with us, there won’t be much left.

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Iran: Exposing the Lies

Posted on February 11, 2010 by ehurst

Examine, if you have time, our national history regarding the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNPT). You’ll see we pushed hard for it, and most of its provisions derive from our government’s concerns about other nations doing to us what we did to Japan. Now consider this: Iran has complied with every part of it. All the reports you hear in the mainstream are lies, and they get away with it because few people know what the NNPT requires. They don’t know what’s involved in raising uranium ore to the level of purity required for nuclear weapons — some 98% purity. They don’t know just how incredibly hard it is to get that. They don’t know it’s technically light years from getting it up to 20% for medical use, or fuel use (5% or less).

Check the details yourself, if you dare, and you’ll see Iran is in compliance with it. The US is not. We are required to help Iran as long as she obeys the rules. She does; we do not. Don’t even get me started about Israel, who not only refuses to sign that treaty, but refuses to officially admit having nuclear weapons. Neither the US nor Israel has any moral standing to complain about Iran’s nuclear work so far, never mind the utter lack of treaty-based legal reason.

So we have this nation of people our government and Israel propose to attack, and do we really know anything about them? How about just so much as a tourist’s viewpoint? One of the few TV shows I ever actually tried to watch was Rick Steves’ travel program. He visited Iran. You really should see his frank and honest review, simply because it’s more balanced than you’ll get anywhere else in the mainstream media. If we go to war against them, our nation can hardly hope for God’s forgiveness.

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Friend at the End

Posted on February 10, 2010 by ehurst

He lay on the bed, head slightly elevated. There were several tubes and a wire harness connected to his body in various places, but he found it still possible to roll a little to one side or the other. His aging frame and muscles got cramped from being in one position too long. He realized he was near death, but saw no need to make things any worse than they were.

His trusted assistant, Randy, stood by, making the notes for the final disposition of the man’s substantial assets. He had long ago passed on his many corporate responsibilities, but he was still quite the man, quite the hard-charging CEO even over his personal property. The vast array of things he owned or controlled privately still required a highly paid private secretary to execute his wishes. Thus, his assistant was one of the few people allowed free access in his final hours.

Consulting an electronic device from one if pockets, the assistant noted, “George is now among those waiting to see you, Sir.”

“Good.” The old man paused a moment. “He’ll wait until I’m ready. We have to finish this business today.”

“I thought George was one of your few real friends.”

The old man turned slightly on one side. “He’s my only real friend.”

The assistant’s mouth twitched just a hair, but he said nothing.

“You’ve been with me for over a decade, Randy. Of all the people I’ve ever employed, you were the only one whom I could trust. With you on my staff, I’ve been saved from losses quite often because you genuinely watched out for my financial interests. Your devotion to that one thing is why you get paid so much, and why you will reap even more in the end than you saved me.” He took a deep and labored breath. “You’re my best employee and you deserve every bit of it. But you aren’t my friend.”

Randy said nothing. Who knows what he was thinking?

“George never cared a fig about my property. He cared about me.” After a pause, “George cares about truth itself.”

They ran through a long list of assets and finally the last item was covered. Randy prepared to go.

“No, stay a few minutes, Randy. The only thing I can’t give you, I still want you to have. Just listen.” The old man signaled for security and called for George to be let in.

He was almost scruffy, dressed in sweats, worn hiking shoes, and an unmatching athletic jacket with some light stains on it. The man’s hair was combed, but still sort of shaggy, no styling at all. It wasn’t exactly clear if he intentionally grew a beard or simply hadn’t bothered to shave in awhile. The old man smiled, almost sat up, yet visibly relaxed when he saw George walking in the room.

“I’m sorry to keep you waiting George….”

“Don’t be silly. I’m retired and I have nothing better to do.” He grinned.

Apparently it was an inside joke, “Yes, I know, we have all day.” The emphasis was obvious from the old man’s voice. It was a rare animation from the man many were sure had no soul at all. “Are you sure you don’t want that truck?”

“I’m sure. I’d have to find some worthy person so I could give it away. I don’t need anything like that.”

The old man smiled. “No, I suppose you don’t. You’ve used it plenty on my behalf, but otherwise only borrowed it once for someone else’s needs.”

“Nice truck, but it breaks down too often.” There was a twinkle in George’s eye as he grinned.

“Yes,” the old man said, seeming almost to drift away. “It’s how I met you, waiting for the towing service, which was even more unreliable than the truck.” He seemed lost in the reverie. “You knew immediately what was wrong with the engine and why it could never be fixed right. Then you helped me tolerate that awful heat while we waited for the wrecker. Is there anything you don’t know about?”

George shrugged, “Lot’s of things. I don’t know how to run a stack of major corporations.” He laughed.

“No, but you surely know how to run your life. You’ve seldom told me what I wanted to hear, but always told me the truth.”

“That’s because you listened. It’s no different from what I’ve told anyone else.”

“Yes, and today I’ve actually followed your advice, at last. After making arrangements to pay all the medical expenses, I don’t own a darned thing.” The old man breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly he turned to look at George. “Do you realize how hard it is to avoid taxes on giving stuff away?”

George shook his head. “Never ran into that. Never had that much to give away.”

The old man made some tiny gesture, and Randy slipped out. “It’s all someone else’s problem now. Let’s talk some more about that sense of peace you and I discussed the other day…”

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Committee of One

Posted on February 9, 2010 by ehurst

Calling all defenders of the Second Amendment: You are alone. Not in the sense there aren’t millions who wave their guns and declare their loyalty. But for all the noise, when the day comes armed agents of the state arrive to confiscate, most gunners will surrender their armory. I’ve seen similar things on other levels too often to think otherwise.

If you have joined anything which functions as a militia, prepare to be betrayed — very early in the game. When crisis arrives, people you thought you really knew will become utterly foreign. They aren’t your enemy now, but they simply don’t know themselves. Most people wear a good mask, and can afford to keep it there because nothing happens to really challenge it. But when the troops come marching in, and a few folks get beaten or shot, things change. Suddenly Brave Heart was just a movie.

The oppressors are counting on this, of course. It’s part of emergency enforcement training. They know there will probably be a token resistance, then most of that will evaporate. It’s not as if they won’t have casualties, but precious few men and women will continue to resist long. Part of the failure of self honesty is the failure to really know what you have to have, and have to do, to keep going.

Consider: How have folks responded recently? Katrina saw mercenaries having little trouble disarming the survivors. As far as we know, no one raised effective resistance to the illegal gun confiscation. Recently, folks in King, NC went along with a gun ban which had no good purpose. Check the history. Every time the locals just go along with it. If they were serious about their rights, there would already be a large number of officials and policemen dead.

The mere fact oppressive thugs in government pay are still alive and in office, or still wearing that badge, is all the proof we need there will be no effective armed resistance.

In the end, if you remain armed and opposed to tyranny, you will pretty much have only yourself. That is, until men have proven to themselves just where their priorities lie. Get past that first flush of danger, then form your units. Chances are, you won’t find many on your side. That means whatever plans you have now will probably be forgotten very quickly. Furthermore, you’ll be under immense pressure to surrender, with an incredible array of lies and enticements offered to coax you. Don’t forget all your family and friends will be used against you.

I’m not trying to tell anyone to submit, nor recommending resistance. I’m just wanting to chop away the false imagery attached to this Underground Patriot or Liberty Movement, or whatever you prefer to call it. Whether you resist or submit, things are going to be very, very ugly all too soon. Don’t lock in any plans, but prepare your heart by making sure you know just what it is you can and cannot tolerate. Commit yourself to something which really matters, because your own hide isn’t really worth much even now. That’s already been established, like it or not. But if something truly bigger than yourself grips you now, perhaps you’ll find the resolve to act in that day.

Chances are, you’ll be alone most of the way.

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Self-Enforcing Deception: Dispensationalism

Posted on February 8, 2010 by ehurst

When you examine the history of Dispensationalism as a theological notion, you will notice the single greatest source here in the US was the Scofield Reference Bible. It would be too easy to throw out a hundred links here on why it’s all a big lie, because people who know a lot more than I do have covered this very well. I’m not addressing that here. The point is it was Zionist money which funded Scofield and the publication of his reference Bible. The reasons are simple enough: The Zionists had big plans and wanted to ensure the services of a huge bully who wouldn’t dare to question what it was protecting. That would be the United States.

We can easily see the set-up. Even Jewish scholars will tell you Israel falsely portrays itself as a victim so as to get away with unconscionable behavior. The arrogance is beyond words, assuming without bothering to even consciously admit, that all humanity is supposed to be slaves of Israel. The world’s patience is wearing thin, and only America (and those in our shadow) is blind to the abuse, even when America is being abused itself. We should hardly be surprised when some nation or group of nations eventually strike back.

But because of the history of Dispensational thought, many Americans have long been expecting some global attack against Israel. They’ll be downright excited to be living in the End Times, since this will be the unmistakable signal of it. They’ll be looking for some vast divine miracle to protect Israel from this onslaught, but naturally quite willing to help God out by counter-attacking these enemies of Israel. Oh, to be in the Army of God defending His land under His miracle hand! Meanwhile, no one wants to discuss how this will be a self-fulfilling “prophecy”.

I have no secret knowledge, no divine revelations, so I can’t say how things will turn out. However, I strongly suspect it will crash and burn for the US and Israel. Should the US last that long, it will easily be enough to finally destroy us. I’m pretty sure Israel will activate those nuclear weapons she refuses to admit having, and it won’t be enough. That is, while it may be a tactical win, it will most likely turn the rest of humanity against her. Somehow, I really doubt they can be used without casting the bad effects over a wide swath of other nations. Not that Israel would give a handful of stolen sand for the rest of the world, but she doesn’t have enough to prevent what would surely follow when they are all used up.

And again, it’s possible things will turn out somewhat short of such a disaster, though I remain convince the US will not remain intact much longer regardless. But, if any part of this turns out the worse of Israel, I have to wonder how many Dispensationalists will realize they’ve been had? I keep waiting for some new pack of lying heresy to start hitting the Christian bookstores, selling like hotcakes, which will offer some new self-fulfilling prophecy regarding the aftermath.

Posted in religion | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments