You know, for a guy who claims to be born-again, who blatantly pandered to Christian Evangelicals in order to secure fully 20% of the presidential vote, and who holds Jesus Christ up as his favorite (ahem) philosopher, George Bush doesn't seem to know a damn thing about Bible prophecy. Maybe he just hasn't been briefed on it yet.On Monday, Bush visited Cleveland and somehow found himself taking questions from an unscreened group of reporters, an event that rarely happens. According to an ABC news story, a woman spoke up and surprised Bush with the following question:
" . . . Some Christians see the war in Iraq and the rise of terrorism as signs of the apocalypse the destruction of the world as described in the biblical book of Revelation. Do you believe this, that the war in Iraq and the rise of terrorism are signs of the apocalypse? And if not, why not?" (Want a good scare? Ask the same question of John Ashcroft.)
Bush, not uncharacteristically, was completely non-plussed.
"Hmm." (I didn't see the exchange, but I think we could safely insert a presidential smirk here.) "The answer is I haven't really thought of it that way," he continued, to laughter from the audience.
"Here's how I think of it. The first I've heard of that, by the way. I guess I'm more of a practical fellow."
The first he's heard of it? Are you kidding me? Isn't this the born-again leader of the largest Christian nation on earth, and he hasn't read the book of Revelations, hasn't heard of the final battles of the end-time apocalypse along the banks of the Euphrates River in Babylon, now Iraq?
Is it possible that this president, a man so incredibly isolated from the real world, is also indifferent and ignorant of the prophesies of his espoused religion? Of course it is. This is George W. Bush we're talking about. The man is nothing if not consistent.
Anybody who has attended a fundamentalist church in the last hundred years has heard the preachers warning about the end times as predicted by Jesus in the book of Matthew and John in Revelations. In the end time there will be wars and rumors of war, famine, earthquakes and nation rising against nation . . . tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, melting ice caps, actors as presidents, professional tanning salons, fishing tournaments, Fox News, cats and dogs living together, my god in heaven . . . the list goes on.
But seriously, folks. Christian Evangelicals are flocking to book stores trying to get up to speed on our impending calamitous end. The San Francisco Chronicle published an interesting article back in 2003 that begins:
America is embarked on a battle of biblical proportions -- and in the eyes of a growing number of evangelical Christians, this long-awaited fight could actually bring about the fulfillment of ancient prophecies about the war of Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ.
The Chronicle piece also points to the astronomical sales of end-time serial novels like "Left Behind", by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, with sales surpassing 50 million copies.
Of course, the born-again among us don't tend to worry much about the seven year war called the Great Tribulation that culminates with the Battle of Armageddon and the end of the world as we know it, because they will have already been called up in the Rapture. No wonder they like reading this stuff.
The SFC article ends with an ominous quote from evangelical author Gary DeMar that reflects how many Christian evangelicals feel about the War in Iraq.
"There is no reason to bring about a peace movement because they believe all this has to take place," DeMar said. "It's prophetic inevitability."
Yet another prophetic scenario is described in a Washington Post story entitled "Direst Predictions for War in Iraq". The WP interviews the good reverend Irvin Baxter Jr., founder of Endtime magazine and pastor of Oak Park Church in Richmond, Ind. Baxter, along with his flock, firmly believes that . . .
. . . casualties will be tremendous, not only of combatants in Iraq but of people in neighboring countries hit by retaliatory missiles of mass destruction and Americans who fall victim to terrorists armed with portable nuclear weapons.
And other countries will take the opportunity to pursue their own interests -- China trying to retake Taiwan, or India making an all-out assault on Kashmir -- leading to World War III, he said. The result, Baxter concludes, could be a nuclear holocaust that takes the lives of 2 billion people, the "one-third of mankind" stated in Revelation.
But I'm a practical guy, just like George Bush. I'm thinking it might not be so bad after the Rapture. I mean, no traffic jams, no lines at Golden Corral. It might not be that bad.
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. . . from the 3/24/06 Washington Post: "Happy Doomsday to You!".
5 comments:
That's sure true - when he speaks off script, it's almost always a disaster. He actually fielded a question from Helen Thomas today - and stumbled all over himself.
I saw this bumper sticker in Kansas City: IF THE RAPTURE COMES, CAN I HAVE YOUR CAR?
Works for me!
Du Monde,
I certainly appreciate your contributions and advice. I remember Jim Bakker well. In fact, I was out in front of the Assemblies of God headquarters with a camera when he got into all that trouble with Jessica Hahn and was "disrobed" by the A/G at a news conference in front of the big blue building. Did you know he has a talk show out of Branson now? You are absolutely correct about born-againer being easy marks for charismatic leaders - although I've never found Bush to be charismatic in the least. Virtually all of the potential GOP prez candidates are trying to get cozy with the christian right . . . which made up 20% of the vote last time. Bush and his ilk have no true convictions regarding religion. They are quite cynically using this "flock" of voters to build a power base. It has worked well so far.
I can't remember where I read this, but there apparently was an early White House release of the exchange that included a comma, where he paused.
"The first, I've heard of that, by the way. I guess I'm more of a practical fellow."
The comma was omitted in a later release.
It's hard to tell with Bush. His dad was even worse at running things together. But my favorite daddy Bush quote -> answering the question why he didn't have a White House dog:
"I don't need a dog. I've got Barbara."
If your life insurance is paid up, feel free to look up "Thomas Ice (Bloopers)" and "Pretrib Rapture Diehards" on Yahoo - just some of the deluded Bush backers. Caution: reading such articles may turn you inside out!
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