Armageddonists expressing the reasons why Muslims must be destroyed. Very interesting hate filled speaches. It would be nice to see a segment by segment response video posted by a Muslim scholar of note.
Armageddonism & the Justification of Spilling Muslim Blood
Armageddonists draw up arguments in such a way as to make the slaughter of millions of Muslims be an act of self-defence.
It's not unusual for a people who have confused the finite with the infinite - when they equate the created Jesus with the uncreated God; It is not unusual for such a people to blur the line between a possibility which has come to be and a possibility which has not come to be.
It isn't enough for them to misinterpret their own scriptures, but they also delve pretending to understand Muslim scripture, and under the guise of scholarship spread within their ranks the most dishonest interpretation of texts and are content to preach "the barbarians are at the gates and we must kill them or they will kill us" (Rev. John Hagee).
Olberman Mentions "Irrational Right"
In this video, Kieth Olberman mentions the Armageddonists whom he calls the "Irrational Right" as responsible for current Iraq Policy.
Connecting the Dots: Armageddonism and Policy
While researching Armageddon on google, I came across: BUSH WATCH...EVANGELIST BUSH
. It lists many of the reasons why the sway of Armageddonist evangelicals is bad for peace and democracy in America and specifically for Israel and Palestine.
ZIONISM - THE REAL ENEMY OF JEWS
Alan Hart
The problem with this analysis is it's like blaming the roosters for getting into a cock-fight. Niether the Jews nor the Palestinians set up the fight. Britain, after WWII was tremendously thirsty for peace. Armageddonism (premillinialism) was popular among the Empire's elite because it was a road-map to bringing back Jesus. And today, if you tune into the popular preachers, Armageddon based prophesy is what they preach.
If anything, Armageddonists used the Jews to further their ends. So Jews are twice victims: They were victimized by Hitler and by the Armageddonists who see them as a tool to bring about the Armageddon.
What's the solution then? It is to break the link. Just as Baath party members were banned from participating in the government; Armageddonists should be distanced from the levers of power; otherwise, they will wreck any democracy they touch.
Who is John Nelson Darby?
 |  | ||
| John Nelson Darby | | ||
| |||
One of the most enduring elements of Darby's system is the Rapture, in which true believers in Christ would travel instantly to heaven, where they would watch the terrible seven-year Tribulation unfold on earth, killing all but a righteous few. His emphasis on the Jews' return to Palestine and his strong reliance on scripture over church authority have also won favor with fundamentalists. [source]
The Link: John Nelson Darby and Winston Churchill
I researched whether John Darby ever met Winston Churchill. Apparently not. It seems though that at least one student of Darby ministered to Churchill.
John Nelson Darby died about 1880. Winston Churchill was born in 1874, which meant he was too young to have learned from Darby directly.
Here's the evidence tying Churchill to Darby's associate- Robert Chapman (1803-1902 Churchill was 28 in 1902). Consider the following two points:
- John Nelson Darby said of Robert Chapman: "He lives what I teach."1
- As a young man, Winston Churchill was taken to visit him1
References
- Robert Chapman's Biography
- Google search for further research ("winston churchill" "Nelson darby")
Winston Chuchill's Armageddonism
I always thought of Winston Churchill as a man of peace. When I read his visions of war in the middle east, I found myself having to read and re-read his words to make sure I didn't misread it. It leaves no doubt in my mind of the influence of Armageddonism on Churchill's mindset. What did Winston Churchill say that raises this irksome cloud over his head? Robert Fisk, a british journalist, delved into history and here's what he found reading Winston Churchill:
The question that must be answered now is: what ideology did Churchill subscribe to which made him such a supporter of conflict? The bitter answer is that he was most likely influenced by the teachings of John Nelson Darby - the father of modern day premillenial dispensationalism (AKA Armageddonism).I’m going to read you a very brief paragraph by Winston Churchill, not about the Battle of Britain. It is Churchill prophesying the future from 1937, eleven years before the Nakba. This is Winston Churchill writing in a totally forgotten essay.
He reflected upon the future and wrote of the impossibility of a partitioned Palestine. And he talked of how, I quote -- this is Winston Churchill in 1937 --“The wealthy, crowded, progressive Jewish state” -- see, it doesn’t exist yet, but he’s already getting it right --“lies in the plains and on the sea coast of Palestine. Around it, in the hills and the uplands, stretching far and wide into the illimitable deserts, the warlike Arabs of Syria of Transjordania, of Arabia, backed by the armed forces of Iraq, offer the ceaseless menace of war. To maintain itself,” -- 1937, remember, -- “To maintain itself, the Jewish state will have to be armed to the teeth and must bring in every able-bodied man to strengthen its army. But how long will this process be allowed to continue by the great Arab populations in Iraq and Palestine? Can it be expected that the Arabs would stand by impassively and watch the building up, with Jewish world capital and resources, of a Jewish army, equipped with the most deadly weapons of war until it was strong enough not to be afraid of them? And if ever the Jewish army reached that point, who can be sure,” Churchill asked, “that, cramped within their narrow limits, they would not plunge out into the new undeveloped lands that lay around them?”
“Ouch,” I said when I read that. 1937.
-Robert Fisk [Sources: Pacific Views, Democracy Now]
Armageddonism, Big Money, and Policy Formulation
When analyzing middle east events and ideas, some notable scholars such as Noam Chomsky place a great emphasis on Oil as the driving engine. Their theme follows the logic of:
- We are interested in the middle-east because of energy concerns.
- Politicians are corrupted by oil money.
If you've followed the delay scandal... the politicians were using the religious leadership to influence the public into supporting a position which the politicians were getting big bucks for in return.In the Delay scandal, the entities behind the big bucks were Indian Casinos. In the Middle East, those entities are big oil companies with the largest profit margin in the history of the world.
In the Delay scandal, religious leaders told their congregants to oppose casinos from being built as a moral obligation. While in the middle east, religious leaders beat the war drums claiming Armageddon is a birth-pang which will result in peace for the world through the second coming of Jesus Christ.
GodAssault: Armageddonism's Ultimate Aim
An up and coming journalist to watch out for is Lisa Lambert, who wrote a piece entitled GodAssault: Morality as the Ultimate Game which appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle's Insight section. In it, she mentions the following about that the Armageddonists' end-game being a blood-bath:
If you read the Book of Revelation as the physical, material truth, then you come to see God's game as one played in a swirling, planet-devouring vortex of blood and violence.and before this she writes that the same people who believed in such things were also responsible for electing the delivering the presidency to Bush:
As it happened, those "nuts" won the election for the president. Ill-prepared newscasters promptly relabeled them "moral voters," showing how little they understood about the new religion practiced in Calvary Chapel.And she argues that these people are only interested in Bush because he was a candidates "who laced his speeches with secret signals to fellow worshipers and considered praying his most important action before starting an unjust war." As a group, the one word which accurately describes their belief system is Armageddonism. Their ultimate hope is for Armageddon to happen within their life-time.
NY Times Reporter Equates Armageddonism w/Anti-semitism
New York Times reporter Chris Hedges equates the arguments of Armageddonists with Hitler's anti-semitism:
"They don't commit crimes; they have things inherently built into their character. I mean, it's very much like anti-Semitism. And the only way to get rid of it is to eradicate it, because to be a Jew, to be a Serb, to be a Muslim is to have these qualities that destroy our civilization, and we must, therefore, destroy them." [continue reading this article...]Take this analysis, and listen to John Hagee, pastor of a San Antonio Mega-church, as he tells his audience "either we kill them (Muslims) or they kill us." The violence he beckons his followers to is chilling. The fact that other leaders don't denounce his statements is the real danger.
Chris Hedges on Armageddonism
On the Colbert Report, Chris Hedges talks about his book, "American Fascists, The Christian Right & the War on America."
So how does this topic fit into the United States of Israel-Palestine theme of this site?
If peace is a building; Armageddonism is a wrecking ball.
Muslim Response to Armageddonism
Dr. Safar Al-Hawali, a muslim scholar, responds to Armageddonism in an article titled, "False Massiahs." It begins with the following words:
America, as Edward Said says, is more occupied with religion than any other nation, and in America there is a totally mad fundamentalist current that seeks to hasten the second-coming of Christ, and who are prepared to do the stupidest thing in the world in order to achieve it. (read on...)You can't fix the problem unless you study it. So long as the next round of presidential candidates abstain from addressing the tide of Armageddonist activism within the power structure, the war drums will continue to be sounded louder and louder.
Carter Critical of Armaggedon Based Politics
Jimmy Carter is thoroughly unimpressed by their juvial anticipation of war. And equally by their overt efforts to escalate the end time events as they see them:
"Carter has clear suggestions to evangelical Christians both in America and Britain about how to get things back on track. "First of all," he says, "it would be a commitment to the principles that Christ espoused. We worship Him as the Prince of Peace, not the Prince of Pre-emptive War. And I have noticed that many leading Christians - I presume many of them call themselves evangelicals - have been among the most militant and warlike members of our society. Even before President Bush decided to invade Iraq, he had strong and public support [for attacking Iraq] from a number of more conservative Christians." -source
David Duke's Interview on CNN
Iran Conf. Holocaust : Duke i.a. Zionism
Uploaded by maphia
David Dukes' mistake is to ignore the Armageddonites and view Jews as the primary motive force behind Christian Zionism. As you will see over and over in this blog, Armageddonites are more pro war than the most hawkish Jewish Politicians.
Gershom Gorenberg on Christian Zionism
Commenting on the implications of Apocalypse theology to Jews. [click here to listen to segment]
“They are expecting war and conflict… and they’re seeing this as something positive. Everything leading to peace in the middle east, they see as an illusion.”
What about the instiga-terrorists?
- San Antonio Mega-Church Pastor John Hagee puts it on the line -- brainwashing his flock: either we kill them or they kill us! And then he goes on to say that All Palestinians were happy that 911 happened. And then mocks Arafat's blood giving as worthless. And then Netanyahu follows that up with a speach explaining that Palestinians never existed!
- Listen to John Hagee, the Sinister Minister, on NPR on Sep, 2006
Artist Draws Picture of American Fundamentalists
"I painted this because I got really pissed off. And the angrier I got, the more I read about these folks and the more I researched this before I actually began painting it, and saw how connected so many of these people were, and how just because all of the guys in that corner had a lot of money, and they were putting it in to start cable networks for these guys, and research foundations so they could have titles in their names for all the guys in the center."
-Joel Pelletier
"In American politics, people like Tom DeLay, the Majority leader in the House, has stated, "Only Christianity offers a way to live in response to the realities that we find in the world - only Christianity." And the result is, if you add his power in the House to the money behind that power, and you add to that Tim LaHaye, who is the coauthor of the apocalyptic "Left Behind" novels, and Congressman Dick Army and Howard Phillips and Ralph Reed and Jesse Helms, all of whom belong to a group of Fundamentalist Christians that bring George W. Bush in as a speaker. And you bring these two delusional mythologies together - the Right Wing NeoCons following the delusion of Strauss, and the Right Wing Christian Zionists following the delusions of the interpretations of the Book of Revelation, and you find an incredible solid base of power in the administration that is currently in office in Washington DC."
-Willian Cook
more... (click here to see the art-work)
Hagee's Obsession with Israel's Destruction
 | If you look at the main menu of Hagee's website, you'll find the peculiar placement of "Supporting Israel" in the main menu. Is this genuine love for Israel or is it a yearning for Armageddon trying to mask itself as pure Love? Hagee is meticulous in avoiding reference to Armageddon or his faith in Israel's role in the return of Jesus Christ. You need only look in the store where to find this item which shows the apocalypse mentality which motivates this man  |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)