The Kingdom Come

It used to be that when America reluctantly but finally became involved in a conflict or a war, the oppressed welcomed our involvement. Our involvement usually meant that the end result was a more stabilized nation that would give more opportunity to more people.

So, why wouldn't Muslims want America's involvement in overthrowing the dictatorial regimes controlling most of the Islamic world?

Well here is my obligatory New Year's message. Typically, such a message is supposed to be full of platitudes and overly optimistic ideas. We're supposed to talk about the blessings of the previous year and the hope for the dawning.

But are we naive to think the new year will be any different than the previous if we do nothing different? This is where we are usually urged to make a resolution; a resolution to do or not do something in the new year.

What people don't often realize in our emasculated, politically correct world is that after America won World War 2, we temporarily outlawed Shintoism in Japan and permanently outlawed Nazism in Germany. Why didn't we at least make sure after winning the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that Islam was not part of the government system? Instead, we allowed the seeds of terrorism and Al Qaeda to embed in the very government and societal structure of those two countries.

Now, with the so-called "Arab Spring", which has been removing singular dictators but replacing them with radicalized Islamists, we are being told by our American leaders that this is a foreign policy win. Really?

As the 2010 elections near, there is concern if the blatant socialism of Obama and the Democrats can be stopped and reversed.

As Christians, what is our role? Of course Christians aren't looking for a political answer, but shouldn't Christians be concerned when a politic environment is created where fellow humans suffer more than need be? (such as the first 2 years of Obama's socialistic dream)

I saw an interesting trailer for a movie called "I WANT YOUR MONEY"

As we know, the media often portrays Muslim or Islamic extremists as a different and minority group within the larger religion of Islam. We are told that most Muslims aren't terrorists and don't want to harm other people. We are told that "Islam is a religion of peace". And there is some truth to at least one part of these claims; most Muslims aren't terrorists, otherwise the situation would be worse. So, then why does a group of Muslims turn to terrorism? Are they merely taking an extreme, literal interpretation of the Koran?

Then, when we think of Christian extremism, is it groups like the Branch Davidians, the Jim Jones sect or other such groups? Or is it more accurate to consider groups like the Amish, Quakers, and Mennonites as the comparison to the so-called Islamic extremists. After all, the ones that are labeled extremists are those who take the actual text the most literal -- and with Islam that is the terrorists and with Christianity that is the Amish/Quakers/Mennonites and such.

First, we must ask where this idea comes from? Is it just hype created by the movie "2012"? Ironically enough, released in 2009. I've reviewed other movies from a Christian perspective but I wanted to delve into this concept in a way more than just a film review.

Apocalyptic scenarios have been with us since mankind began to tell stories, but is the 2012 account different? Let's first get to the origin of the concept. As you may know, a Mesoamerican culture called the Mayans maintained a calendar, called the Haab which ends on December 20, 2012. But why? This requires more about the creation accounts of the Mayans. According to Mayan theology, the gods created three worlds before this present world. The previous world ended on August 10, 3114 BC, and the present world began on August 11, 3114 BC. This in itself causes issues, since for example, according to popular biblical accounts the present world was created on October 23, 4004 BC,