http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/samheath/8572 Will you be “Left Behind?”  The portents for worldwide disaster are visible to all and need no elucidation. It’s the story “If you are not paranoid you don’t see the whole picture.” Emerson was gifted in seeing the whole picture. Some one-hundred and sixty-five years ago he wrote, “But in a hundred high schools and colleges this warfare against common sense still goes on.” The Ivory Tower syndrome was well entrenched by the time Emerson made his remarks, and the recent furor over the failing schools of America continues to be rooted in the universities of America. This insulated world to itself so ignorant of the realities is led by fools that have no concept of the real world in which the rest of us live. Social promotion is a “gift” of the universities, a doomed system without any accountability. And when children are no longer taught reading, writing, and arithmetic here come the social engineers, all good university graduates, to “fix” the problem— Again; and again, all the while “in a hundred high schools and colleges this warfare against common sense still goes on.” What I said years ago of the schools is only more appropriate now: A system for failure could not have been better designed had it been done intentionally. Alas, our leaders in government, judiciary, media, in our schools are a product of a university system that does not deal with realities; so it is we have an America without any leaders dedicated to accountability and unable to deal with realities. But because of the world becoming increasingly dangerous, and this is a reality, it requires leaders who are both accountable and able to deal with realities. But where are such leaders to be found? The Iranian President’s vitriolic ranting tirades against the West, Christians, and Jews sure sound a lot like those of Hitler’s, even the voice and gestures are reminiscent of Hitler. Most certainly the crowds being whipped into a frenzy by Iran’s mad mullah are an exact replica of the crowds Hitler “preached” to. And since the whole world knows Caesar Bush had determined to “Get Saddam” before he even took office and without any plan whatsoever for fighting a war to win in the Middle East there is no want of Muslim propaganda to use against America. As some of us were pointing out at the time, without putting an actual face to the enemy and successfully demonizing him there was no hope of winning any kind of war, and given the stranglehold of political correctness it is easier to demonize Halliburton than Muslim fanatics. And when some of us call for bringing the troops home to secure our own borders we are labeled “defeatist” and “racist.” Since none of this makes any sense, least of all our leadership getting us involved in a Middle East quagmire where there is no hope of prosecuting any kind of successful war, it would be easy for anyone to think Bush a mad man confronting other mad men like Iran’s mad mullah. What would it take here in America to prosecute a successful war against the gangs and other criminals terrorizing our cities? While I experienced the problem in Watts back in the 60s, it was interesting watching Anderson Cooper’s segment “Stop Snitchin’ “ program. Like the attention now being paid to the vile and violent lyrics of hip-hop and rap, it is far too little and far too late. Nothing short of a totalitarian rule in America can now solve the problem. But that can happen overnight if a terrorist nuclear bomb goes off at LAX. During the Watts Riots I watched as the police and National Guard went in to restore order. The cops would ride four in a car emptying their guns into various stores and buildings, the Guardsmen in armored vehicles would fire .50 caliber machine guns down the streets, and an actual body count was never made. While I slept with a gun by my side, one guardsman I knew kept a box of hand grenades close by. Were it not for my being there, this would all seem like a fabulous story. But the situation that brought about the riots has only worsened, and the millions of illegal aliens invading from Mexico have only contributed to the worsening conditions in the cities and schools of America. While I applaud those like Cooper for airing the grievances, there is no satisfactory answer to quelling the violence in the cities short of martial law, securing our borders and expelling all illegal aliens. If this seems farfetched, the very same people saying it would take nearly a half-million troops in Iraq, a nation with a minuscule population compared to America, to have any chance of restoring order there refuse to see the same conditions building here in America, conditions that are spiraling out of control and inviting terrorism both from abroad and from within. America is an acknowledged anomaly in the history of nations, and given world events leading to WWIII may well be destroyed unless we come up with a leadership that puts America first. But equally anomalous is the tiny State of Israel; that it should even exist at all and its coming into being and its survival inextricably intertwined with America. It is here where the Bible must be credited to make any sense of this. I have my own beliefs about God and a hereafter, but dead may yet turn out to be nothing more than dead. I don’t know; and despite my many years of academic studies in theology and philosophy, I still have to say “I don’t know.” While I no longer stand in a pulpit as a Christian minister and my views about many things have changed over the years my personal beliefs are a comfort to me in many ways as they are to many others, but intellectual honesty requires I separate what I believe from what I know. For example, I believe there are saints and sinners, children of God and children of the Devil, but I don’t know that. I believe it because it makes sense to me, but I don’t know it as fact. My hope and belief is that when I die I will rejoin my loved ones and friends passed on before me; but I don’t know. However, even if you are not knowledgeable of eschatology you might be surprised at the credence being given the End Times as described in Scripture. Glenn Beck certainly seems to believe this, but it was when I watched the interview with Jon Voight I was impressed with Voight’s obvious concern, actually, he said “fear” for the direction he believes the world is heading. His thoughts and fears are no doubt fortified by his daughter Angelina Jolie’s experiences as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. Joel Rosenberg’s “Epicenter” is not the ravings of a lunatic; far from it. My mentor Charles Lee Feinberg, Ph. D., Th. D. and Dean of Talbot Seminary was a Christian Jew; he referred to himself as a “completed Jew.” More than that, he was a fundamentalist Christian who believed the Bible and wrote several commentaries as well as being the leader selected by the Lockman Foundation for the New American Standard Bible, of which I have a treasured Pilot Edition signed and given me by Dr. Feinberg, and he was my guide while I studied the Bible and built my personal library of over 5,000 volumes of the very best of Biblical study books and commentaries. It was Dr. Feinberg who called my attention to possibilities of actual Biblical prophecies, some of the more profound being those of Ezekiel, whom God had appointed as a “Watchman.” Perhaps Ezekiel was describing his supernatural view of the universe when he wrote of “eyes all about.” For those of you that have not read this book of the Old Testament please do so, and for those of you who have read it, perhaps even studied it consider my article about galactic black holes possibly being the “eyes of the universe” in the context of the prophet’s description. Maybe Ezekiel had a vision of the universe he was trying to describe, maybe the “eyes” were satellites or TVs, but I believe he was describing a prophetic vision. The prophecies of Daniel in the OT and those of John in the NT together with those like Ezekiel’s and others may be in fact supernatural, and it would be marvelous if God were to intervene in world affairs, delivering us out of the darkness of fear, greed, and hatreds prevailing worldwide threatening nuclear Armageddon. Whatever anyone’s opinion, there is no disputing the fact that nothing short of supernatural can account for the tiny State of Israel being so prominent in world affairs; so I don’t wonder John McCain would tell Tim Russert Iran getting the bomb would mean Armageddon, or Condoleezza Rice mentioning “birth pangs” in relationship to the crisis building in the Middle East. To read only the book of Revelation seems too much like reading the daily newspapers today. We read God had appointed Pharaoh to his position of prominence at the time of the Exodus in order to show the power of the Lord in delivering his people. But according to the story, the Israelites had been crying out to God for nearly four-hundred years to be delivered from their “cruel bondage.” Now, we live in a world of over six-billion most of whom live in cruel bondage of one kind or another, a situation that has lasted far more than the years of bondage for those Israelites. The stories of the Bible are fascinating to read and I am grateful for those like Dr. Feinberg who taught me to study the Bible academically. But in all my years of Bible study, though I have departed from any kind of Christian orthodoxy there remains a “spirit of truth” throughout the book I cannot bring myself to deny. And what if Bush has been appointed by God to fill the position he holds as Bush claims, but being in the position of the Pharaoh of the Exodus rather than the deliverer of America? Whether or not it seems Bush is leading America on a course of destruction, and I don’t find any fault with those whose hopes are in God to deliver them, who believe in “looking up for their redemption draweth nigh.” Whatever your beliefs there is no discounting the dangers to an America in which “in a hundred high schools and colleges this warfare against common sense still goes on.” That this warfare against common sense is so evident in our own leadership brings with it the gravest foreboding concerning the outcome for America. It doesn’t matter what one believes about the Bible, what does matter is the self-fulfilling prophecy of any nation whose leaders are dedicated to power, greed, and corruption rather than being dedicated to the benefit of the whole nation. Along with the “miracle” of the State of Israel and its prominence both in Scripture and present world events there is the anomaly of so much scientific achievement and promise facing a growing dark and ignorant hatred by Muslim nations for all of Western Civilization. There is the growing possibility of Gog and Magog arising as alliances are forged against America and Israel. So, even with the risk to my own academic qualifications and credibility I increasingly place more credence in the Bible than the words of politicians to make any kind of sense of a world seemingly bent on its own destruction. But I am the beneficiary of the goodness America used to represent to the world, the beneficiary of the hope our nation once represented to We the People. And so much of this goodness of America was rooted in Scripture I don’t wonder that I am drawn more to this and the sincere goodness of those like my grandparents, Dr. Feinberg and Pastor Tyree Toliver than any other, and in this there is more to my mind of common sense to be found than anywhere else. Will you be “Left Behind?”  The portents for worldwide disaster are visible to all and need no elucidation. It’s the story “If you are not paranoid you don’t see the whole picture.” Emerson was gifted in seeing the whole picture. Some one-hundred and sixty-five years ago he wrote, “But in a hundred high schools and colleges this warfare against common sense still goes on.” The Ivory Tower syndrome was well entrenched by the time Emerson made his remarks, and the recent furor over the failing schools of America continues to be rooted in the universities of America. This insulated world to itself so ignorant of the realities is led by fools that have no concept of the real world in which the rest of us live. Social promotion is a “gift” of the universities, a doomed system without any accountability. And when children are no longer taught reading, writing, and arithmetic here come the social engineers, all good university graduates, to “fix” the problem— Again; and again, all the while “in a hundred high schools and colleges this warfare against common sense still goes on.” What I said years ago of the schools is only more appropriate now: A system for failure could not have been better designed had it been done intentionally. Alas, our leaders in government, judiciary, media, in our schools are a product of a university system that does not deal with realities; so it is we have an America without any leaders dedicated to accountability and unable to deal with realities. But because of the world becoming increasingly dangerous, and this is a reality, it requires leaders who are both accountable and able to deal with realities. But where are such leaders to be found? The Iranian President’s vitriolic ranting tirades against the West, Christians, and Jews sure sound a lot like those of Hitler’s, even the voice and gestures are reminiscent of Hitler. Most certainly the crowds being whipped into a frenzy by Iran’s mad mullah are an exact replica of the crowds Hitler “preached” to. And since the whole world knows Caesar Bush had determined to “Get Saddam” before he even took office and without any plan whatsoever for fighting a war to win in the Middle East there is no want of Muslim propaganda to use against America. As some of us were pointing out at the time, without putting an actual face to the enemy and successfully demonizing him there was no hope of winning any kind of war, and given the stranglehold of political correctness it is easier to demonize Halliburton than Muslim fanatics. And when some of us call for bringing the troops home to secure our own borders we are labeled “defeatist” and “racist.” Since none of this makes any sense, least of all our leadership getting us involved in a Middle East quagmire where there is no hope of prosecuting any kind of successful war, it would be easy for anyone to think Bush a mad man confronting other mad men like Iran’s mad mullah. What would it take here in America to prosecute a successful war against the gangs and other criminals terrorizing our cities? While I experienced the problem in Watts back in the 60s, it was interesting watching Anderson Cooper’s segment “Stop Snitchin’ “ program. Like the attention now being paid to the vile and violent lyrics of hip-hop and rap, it is far too little and far too late. Nothing short of a totalitarian rule in America can now solve the problem. But that can happen overnight if a terrorist nuclear bomb goes off at LAX. During the Watts Riots I watched as the police and National Guard went in to restore order. The cops would ride four in a car emptying their guns into various stores and buildings, the Guardsmen in armored vehicles would fire .50 caliber machine guns down the streets, and an actual body count was never made. While I slept with a gun by my side, one guardsman I knew kept a box of hand grenades close by. Were it not for my being there, this would all seem like a fabulous story. But the situation that brought about the riots has only worsened, and the millions of illegal aliens invading from Mexico have only contributed to the worsening conditions in the cities and schools of America. While I applaud those like Cooper for airing the grievances, there is no satisfactory answer to quelling the violence in the cities short of martial law, securing our borders and expelling all illegal aliens. If this seems farfetched, the very same people saying it would take nearly a half-million troops in Iraq, a nation with a minuscule population compared to America, to have any chance of restoring order there refuse to see the same conditions building here in America, conditions that are spiraling out of control and inviting terrorism both from abroad and from within. America is an acknowledged anomaly in the history of nations, and given world events leading to WWIII may well be destroyed unless we come up with a leadership that puts America first. But equally anomalous is the tiny State of Israel; that it should even exist at all and its coming into being and its survival inextricably intertwined with America. It is here where the Bible must be credited to make any sense of this. I have my own beliefs about God and a hereafter, but dead may yet turn out to be nothing more than dead. I don’t know; and despite my many years of academic studies in theology and philosophy, I still have to say “I don’t know.” While I no longer stand in a pulpit as a Christian minister and my views about many things have changed over the years my personal beliefs are a comfort to me in many ways as they are to many others, but intellectual honesty requires I separate what I believe from what I know. For example, I believe there are saints and sinners, children of God and children of the Devil, but I don’t know that. I believe it because it makes sense to me, but I don’t know it as fact. My hope and belief is that when I die I will rejoin my loved ones and friends passed on before me; but I don’t know. However, even if you are not knowledgeable of eschatology you might be surprised at the credence being given the End Times as described in Scripture. Glenn Beck certainly seems to believe this, but it was when I watched the interview with Jon Voight I was impressed with Voight’s obvious concern, actually, he said “fear” for the direction he believes the world is heading. His thoughts and fears are no doubt fortified by his daughter Angelina Jolie’s experiences as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency. Joel Rosenberg’s “Epicenter” is not the ravings of a lunatic; far from it. My mentor Charles Lee Feinberg, Ph. D., Th. D. and Dean of Talbot Seminary was a Christian Jew; he referred to himself as a “completed Jew.” More than that, he was a fundamentalist Christian who believed the Bible and wrote several commentaries as well as being the leader selected by the Lockman Foundation for the New American Standard Bible, of which I have a treasured Pilot Edition signed and given me by Dr. Feinberg, and he was my guide while I studied the Bible and built my personal library of over 5,000 volumes of the very best of Biblical study books and commentaries. It was Dr. Feinberg who called my attention to possibilities of actual Biblical prophecies, some of the more profound being those of Ezekiel, whom God had appointed as a “Watchman.” Perhaps Ezekiel was describing his supernatural view of the universe when he wrote of “eyes all about.” For those of you that have not read this book of the Old Testament please do so, and for those of you who have read it, perhaps even studied it consider my article about galactic black holes possibly being the “eyes of the universe” in the context of the prophet’s description. Maybe Ezekiel had a vision of the universe he was trying to describe, maybe the “eyes” were satellites or TVs, but I believe he was describing a prophetic vision. The prophecies of Daniel in the OT and those of John in the NT together with those like Ezekiel’s and others may be in fact supernatural, and it would be marvelous if God were to intervene in world affairs, delivering us out of the darkness of fear, greed, and hatreds prevailing worldwide threatening nuclear Armageddon. Whatever anyone’s opinion, there is no disputing the fact that nothing short of supernatural can account for the tiny State of Israel being so prominent in world affairs; so I don’t wonder John McCain would tell Tim Russert Iran getting the bomb would mean Armageddon, or Condoleezza Rice mentioning “birth pangs” in relationship to the crisis building in the Middle East. To read only the book of Revelation seems too much like reading the daily newspapers today. We read God had appointed Pharaoh to his position of prominence at the time of the Exodus in order to show the power of the Lord in delivering his people. But according to the story, the Israelites had been crying out to God for nearly four-hundred years to be delivered from their “cruel bondage.” Now, we live in a world of over six-billion most of whom live in cruel bondage of one kind or another, a situation that has lasted far more than the years of bondage for those Israelites. The stories of the Bible are fascinating to read and I am grateful for those like Dr. Feinberg who taught me to study the Bible academically. But in all my years of Bible study, though I have departed from any kind of Christian orthodoxy there remains a “spirit of truth” throughout the book I cannot bring myself to deny. And what if Bush has been appointed by God to fill the position he holds as Bush claims, but being in the position of the Pharaoh of the Exodus rather than the deliverer of America? Whether or not it seems Bush is leading America on a course of destruction, and I don’t find any fault with those whose hopes are in God to deliver them, who believe in “looking up for their redemption draweth nigh.” Whatever your beliefs there is no discounting the dangers to an America in which “in a hundred high schools and colleges this warfare against common sense still goes on.” That this warfare against common sense is so evident in our own leadership brings with it the gravest foreboding concerning the outcome for America. It doesn’t matter what one believes about the Bible, what does matter is the self-fulfilling prophecy of any nation whose leaders are dedicated to power, greed, and corruption rather than being dedicated to the benefit of the whole nation. Along with the “miracle” of the State of Israel and its prominence both in Scripture and present world events there is the anomaly of so much scientific achievement and promise facing a growing dark and ignorant hatred by Muslim nations for all of Western Civilization. There is the growing possibility of Gog and Magog arising as alliances are forged against America and Israel. So, even with the risk to my own academic qualifications and credibility I increasingly place more credence in the Bible than the words of politicians to make any kind of sense of a world seemingly bent on its own destruction. But I am the beneficiary of the goodness America used to represent to the world, the beneficiary of the hope our nation once represented to We the People. And so much of this goodness of America was rooted in Scripture I don’t wonder that I am drawn more to this and the sincere goodness of those like my grandparents, Dr. Feinberg and Pastor Tyree Toliver than any other, and in this there is more to my mind of common sense to be found than anywhere else. en-us