The disease behind the ailment

By Johnny D. Symon

As Islam continues growing throughout the world at an unprecedented scale and can justifiably be called the world's fastest growing religion, another religion that once held the title of fastest growing is in sharp decline. Christianity is losing followers to Islam, and a few to Judaism each and every year. It's estimated that by 2050 Islam will be the majority amongst faiths in the United States. I've spoken to many Christians about this over the years and they can provide no reason for Christianity's decline, but I have my own views on the subject and they go something like this:

When a belief system begins to falter and fail and it's people depart, the blame lies solely within that faith, something is wrong at the core and no one cares enough to analyze the problem and discover the fault. You can't cure something without first recognizing the disease behind the ailment, and with Christianity the ailment goes by the name of "lack of knowledge." There's an account in the Book of Hosea where the first instance of lack of knowledge led to the desecration of the Hebrew people and all of it stemmed from the religious leadership. They rejected God's guidance and set about doing all the wrong things and the people were not served with the knowledge that was part of their birthright, the result was murder and mayhem.

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou
hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou
shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law
of thy God, I will also forget thy children." Hosea 4:6

All responsibility and blame, as a result of religious leaders not performing their duties properly, that led to the destruction of their people, was firmly laid on the shoulders of the leaders, and I say therefore that the decline and fall of Christianity lies squarely on the shoulders of Christian leaders. They've rejected God's Laws in favor of secular ones, and for this they alone shall be held responsible.

Back in 2000 an old Vietnamese Buddhist friend of mine made a strong categorical statement. She said, "The world is getting better!" and some of you will not be surprised to learn that I strongly disagreed with that viewpoint. I ran off a long string of recent events, most of them too hideous to mention here, but the lady's viewpoint stayed with her up until she died in the fall of 2001, about twelve weeks after that tragic landmark in America's history called 9/11. Sadly I never saw this lady from the time in 2000 until she passed away, and I only wish I could have asked her for her views on that event, but truth be known, I doubt very much if her opinion would have changed in any way, shape or form.

Some people fabricate thought prisons: their views are fashioned by their self-made environment and the comfortable routine of family and special friends, they never venture out to seek fresh stimulus, most probably because deep down they suspect that a completely different world lies out-with their cell door ... a world that they do not wish to know ... and I guess that there are other types of willful prisoner hiding out around dear old planet earth, who choose to view man's daily inhumanity to man in other equally deluded forms.

Back in September, 2004, I wrote an ed entitled "The Horrible Fate of Bad Artists" (republished today in my archives) (http://knightgothic.alkablog.com/the_horrible_fate_of_bad_artists_b48935.html), and within this ed I conveyed a situation that occurred the previous Sunday morning on a Spanish Christian TV show called "Buenas Noticias" "Good News" (sic). They showed a clip of the Twin Towers coming down and said;

"... "Like the tower of Babel, those fell too." How evil and how blind can you get? And this from what claims to be a Christian show! A show of support for the evils of terrorism — the blind following the blind, while splashing their canvases with the blood of innocents ..."

For those of us who actually read and understand the Bible, we know that there's no reference to the Tower of Babel falling down. As with the Mayan Empire, the people simply wandered off in different directions, unable to make head nor tail of the words emanating out of the mouths of their fellow builders. But it was not only the ignorance and stupidity of the folks at Buenas Noticias (sic) stating that the Tower of Babel fell to the ground that angered me so, it was the fact that they viewed 9/11 as a punishment by the Hand of God Himself! You see, the thousands of innocents wiped out in 9/11 were not trying to build a structure, physically or mentally, to rise above God, they were simply trying to build a life for themselves and their families. They were good people with good intentions, whereas those at Babel had all the wrong motives. But then again, those motives were inspired by their leadership.

Then last Sunday, December 31, 2006, I made a point of watching this crud-ball Buenas Noticias (sic) show again, because 48 hours earlier José Luis Rodriguez Zapatonto, president of Spain, told the media that his peace talks with the terrorist group ETA were improving. 24 hours later ETA set off what I estimate to be around three quarter tons of high explosive, in the T4 parking bay of Madrid's main airport, Barajas. Two people are missing, who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, many more were injured. Therefore I watched Buenas Noticias (sic) because I didn't know if the show was recorded or live. Well as it happened the show was recorded and I'm glad it was because the subject being covered was in fact to do with the lunatic Spanish government's "peace talks" with ETA. The pastor who spoke quoted the Bible where it says "blessed are the peacemakers," thus attributing the role of "peacemaker" to the "blessed" Spanish Presidential lunatic, Zapatonto!

For those of you not acquainted with Spanish politics, Zapatonto recently introduced a "ten day divorce plan" for heterosexuals, and an "instant-marriage plan" for those who aren't. He's also planning to abolish religious education in schools, to be replaced by "good citizenship training" ... and through all those "good works," not to forget his "peacemaking crusade" with his friends the compulsive terrorist murderers in ETA, the folks in Buenas Noticias saw Zappo as a true man of God, worthy to be called a peacemaker. Pope Ratsinger did not share the view of Buenas Noticias however, when he visited Valencia, Spain, last summer, because in a private meeting at 6.30 on the Saturday night, before the big mass on Sunday morning, the Pope informed Zapatero that he was not invited to partake.

I made my views known on the subject of negotiating with terrorists in an ed entitled "Blair and the Banana Republic" (http://johnnydsymon.alkablog.com/blair_and_the_banana_republic_b44631.html)...

"I'm totally against doing deals with terrorists, unlike Judge Baltasar Garzón, who states in his new book that sometimes you have to speak to the Devil (devils)! And the fact is that as a Judge this is indeed true, but it does not therefore compute into other walks of life, because the Bible says to "eschew evil," which means to shrug it off or push it away. And another thing concerning the talks is the fact that, if successful, some of the political arm of ETA shall form the New Catalunian government. And with around 1000 murders under their belt, I guess politics is a logical next step, right?"

The geeks in Buenas Noticias are part of a club that use Biblical verses indiscriminately to further their own ends, without taking into account the scope and context of that section. They use the Bible more as a weapon than a Book of healing, and due to the fact that last Sunday's show was a recording, their foolishness was aired in their absence as the vast majority of the Spanish people mourned and wept outside of each and every local Townhall.

Last March ETA appeared on TV to announce a "permanent ceasefire" ... permanent till last Saturday that is. But those of us who do not dwell in self-made prisons know that a terrorist's promise is a hollow one; Once a murderer, always a murderer, and the Bible backs this up by stating that the penalty for murder is death. I wonder why there's no provision made in the Bible to outline the whys and wherefores of negotiation with murderers? "Blessed are the peacemakers," sure, but you have to understand the limitations of that statement, and to try and make peace with terrorist murderers is an act of abomination and the trademark of a son of Satan!

The penalty for murder is death, not negotiation, not clemency, not a seat in the new Catalunian parliament ... but death!

The beloved peacemaker of Buenas Noticias, Hosey Loo-eez Rugratus Zapatonto, was criticized by Catalunia's Communist party leader, last Sunday night, for treating the previous day's terrorist event as if it had never happened. With the true trademark of a seasoned psychopath Zappo was more interested in re-uniting ETA and his government in peace talks, while beneath forty thousand tons of rubble and glass lie the lifeless remains of two more innocent victims of terrorism, ETA style.

So to any Christian reading this old rant of mine, I recommend just one thing, and that is that they take a careful look at Matthew 5. There are nine "blesseds" uttered by Jesus one after the other and peacemaker of course is one of them, but the others are real interesting. Try to match up the nine qualities with your own religious leader, then consider within the same sermon the strong passage, where Jesus says;

"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets:
I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot
or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be
fulfilled." Matthew 5:17,18

Many Christians have been deceived by their leaders into believing that "all" was fulfilled at Pentecost, but Jesus said, "Till heaven and earth pass" meaning New Jerusalem! The Law and the prophets are with us until evil is destroyed, and I don't have to press you guys too far in stating that contrary to my dear departed friend's viewpoint that the world is getting better, it's actually getting much, much worse.

But it's not just religious leaders who deceive us, it's also political leaders who profess to have faith, but substitute God's Laws with man's secular "wisdom." This wisdom comes in two parts, both are in direct opposition to a thing called Theocracy. They are Brothers; Dim Ocracy and his ugly kid brother named Dip Lomacy. And while the surnames look different, they're both from the same family line that a special guy called Benjamin Franklin hated most strongly, when he, if my memory serves me correctly, stated;

"Democracy is like two wolves and a lamb standing around discussing what to have for dinner."

And as for it's kid brother ...

From The Devil's Dictionary ...

DIPLOMACY, n. The patriotic art of lying for one's country.

This is indeed true, though most certainly against what the Bible teaches. I for one have gotten into the habit of studying our politicos very closely and whether they're left, right or center, they all tend to make the same kind of deliberate errors.

I noted with interest recently the announcement by the Spanish government of a new legal framework of protection for the consumer, that's coming into force this month, and as much as I can gather from the data provided, it will indeed afford the consumer greater protection while also dispatching quite a few businesses either out of business or out of the country. But there's one other possibility that Spain's politicos have not taken into account, and that is that if they continue to tip the balance into the lap of the consumer, one day it is certain to provide the consumer with protection against bad government! For in reality, the average citizen voter takes on the role of "consumer" whether or not they voted for that party to govern. And I guess the good old United States is no different, and it's about time we political consumers received a bit more protection from the bad business tactics of our wayward politicos!

My pet gripe at the moment is the double standards of Jeb Bush, because while he recently suspended executions on death row as it might cause pain and suffering to the prisoner, he did virtually nothing to prevent a similar act taking place against Terri Schindler, and that's where we return to the subject of the decline and fall of Christianity worldwide ...

The people are destroyed through lack of knowledge, and the next victim is their very faith. If Terri Schindler's life is seen to be less precious than a convicted killers, we're in a very sorry state indeed. Maybe I should take the liberty of adding on one more blessing to the nine Jesus uttered; "Blessed are the politicos, be they few and far between, who profess faith and actually put it into practice also, despite their political calling."

Last Saturday's bombing by the terrorist group ETA, in Barajas Airport, Madrid, Spain, served to underline the folly of negotiation with terrorists ... at least two more lives are lost, and Zapatonto appears to be still trying to bring ETA to the negotiating table. The T4 parking area, one year old next month, has been described by the chief fire and rescue guy as very much like what was left of the Twin Towers, and still the Spanish government are ignoring the rule of law.

ETA murderer Juana Chaos had 90 years of his 96-year sentence removed recently by what I believe to be a corrupt judge, working on behalf of the Spanish government ... a government that was blown into office through an act of terrorism themselves. And the "peace negotiations" are a subject of great dispute now throughout Spain. Nationwide demonstrations by common Spanish folk yesterday, have now been repeated. So unless Zapatonto wakens up soon out of his delirium, he might just find himself and his government out of office and on the street real soon.

That's all for now folks, Johnny D.

© Johnny D. Symon