I received this thoughtful post in my inbox this morning:


I believe I mentioned to you last week that I was wondering what the next big upset would be in the long string of crisis's that seem to be occurring. After all, I am bored with the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, the effects of hurricane Katrina, the tsunami in the Indian ocean / Indonesia if you even remember that one, the world financial crisis of 2008, the BP oil spill, the European debt and currency crisis, food shortages / riots in Africa and Asia from two years ago, Greece's debt problems, high oil prices, the danger of nuclear power destroying us all, the political unrest in the Arab world and if all this was not enough, now the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
 
I just read something from an expert who mentioned that obviously Japan's problem, the Arab world's problems and probably every problem we face today is due to overpopulation and lack of family planning. Very interesting. I don't think the guy was necessarily of bad will, just highly educated, thoughtful, enlightened, compassionate and "forward thinking".
 
With our rapidly evolving ability to communicate, the story of the last thirty years seems to have been primarily event driven in my memory at least. We seem to be constantly inundated with concerns of one kind or another. Are the concerns legitimate? In my view partially at best. Fortunately for us, God is in control not man. We seem to survive each catastrophe that comes along even though more and more people drift away into the morass because they are overwhelmed by the current tragedy.
 
I believe I can honestly say that current events have not been driven by so much fear, trepidation and turmoil on a day to day basis since the 1960's which was a time when virtually every conventional notion was turned upside down. The events of the early 21st century will end up being something to talk to the kids about.
 
I can not tell you exactly what is going on but I would encourage you to be wise and deliberate in your decision making. Look at the big picture not today's crisis.
 
I am fairly confident that once the world reaches the ultimate crisis point, seemingly the one from which we can not recover, experts will offer one or more enlightened solutions to our problems. Be careful, have confidence in almighty God and yourself. Arrive at your own solutions based upon principle not trepidation.
 
One thing is certain, do not follow the crowd nor even give much credence to it's concerns. The concerns will pass in short order.
 
These are very interesting times.

That the heretic JP2 is believed to be a beautified Pope.

Quote from: SpiritusSanctus

Of course, in the case of Japan there's more to it than that. Most people there are non-Christian, particularly Buddhist and Hinduist. And if you recall, much of the New Age Movement came from Japan.

Just a small correction... Hinduism (an Indian religion) is NOT part of Japan in anyway, nor is Japan the birthplace of today's New Age movement.

The culprits you are looking for in this case are India and Judaism. Japan never gives birth to any philosophies, they just pick them up from other people. In the case of Japan, I think what they would be punished for would be idolatry, materialism, sins of the flesh, effeminacy, and promoting it all to the world, like Korea 500 years before them.

I'm aware the people there are mostly Buddhist or whatever, I just remember hearing of a few practicing Hinduists over there. As far as the New Age, thanks for correcting me on that. My mistake.

I doubt there is any place in the world that doesn't deserve chastisement.

The fault of the Japanese people -- generally speaking, I'm not saying this is why they were punished or even if they are being punished directly by God -- is extreme pride masked as humility and sense of duty.  I'd gather this is why they are so hard to convert, along with other Asian peoples.  They often have a rigorous form of morality even without God, so they probably think they don't need Him.  It's the "good pagan" mentality.  But look where this ends up, in a lack of sympathy for the weak, a lack of charity, and materialism.  It strikes me as an incredibly unhappy and suffocating culture, where even the people who appear happy are often faking it, keeping a stiff upper lip, as it were.

Look at all these ѕυιcιdєs that they have, or the salarymen having heart attacks in their fifties from overwork.  There is such heartless industrialization, everything is about money and success.  I also think the explosion of sci-fi and fantasy anime there, as well as sɛҳuąƖ perversion, is the inevitable flipside to this dehumanization.  Fantasy, the release of the "id," becomes the only means of escape besides death.

If this is a punishment, if this is the beginning of the Chastisement, it wouldn't surprise me.  Japan may be one of the worst nations on Earth, spiritually speaking, so it seems kind of appropriate that it all kicks off there.  America has done the most damage overall, but Japan is worse within its own borders.

I often think about how it says in the Bible that God will judge the nations.  Here is my prediction of this ranking:

1) France
2) Italy
3) Spain
4) Austria
5) Poland
6) Ireland

Those are the core countries.  And then on down from there.  Clearly, France is the greatest nation, I'm sure of that one, please spare your breath arguing against dogmatic fact.  I don't care about Gallican pride or any of that, it was slipping a bit then, but even saints have their weaknesses...  The French people have the exact right balance of a solid work ethic with charity, they know there has to be some quality of life too.  

Today you'll often hear certain French people say that the country should be more like Germany, meaning they need to be more like the Chinese, living only for work.  But the essence of France is nothing like Germany.  It does my heart good to see that many French people simply don't accept this psychotic globalization and can see through that lie that just "working harder" is somehow going to solve the global crisis.  A handful of people want to make more and more people work longer for less and less, while driving them out of the real-estate market or saddling them with loans.  Even here in America, which always prided itself on its freedom, people are saying we need to work harder like the Chinese, instead of blaming these corporations that are destroying jobs by shipping them overseas to cheap labor... But the French people see what's happening and they won't put up with it much longer.  Even the atheists there are wiser than the Catholics here about how pernicious this trend is, how pernicious these banks are.  

Italy and Spain err slightly on the side of laziness and irresponsibility, Austria and Germanic nations towards machine-like insect life.  Only France has mastered the perfect balance.  Those people know how to live.  They are the most civilized and refined nation of all, even in their apostasy you can see the quality.

You're talking about modern Parisians.  

You will often hear them say that there are two kinds of Frenchmen -- Parisians, and everyone else.  The salt-of-the-earth French in the provinces are the sweetest people you could ever meet.  Of course, I've never met them, but I'm taking it on faith.

But I don't even see that the Parisians are as rude as their reputation.  In fact, the French have a more respectful attitude to each other, they rarely hurl epithets at people they've just met, like Americans do, they don't even curse much, lots of them.  I guess they can be snotty and condescending.

A dirty little secret is that France is more productive than Germany.

I'm guessing that's because people who aren't miserable, and who have time to breathe and to think -- heck, people who LIKE their jobs -- are more productive than those who are guided more by an exaggerated sense of duty.  When people say France needs to be more like Germany, it makes me want to scream.  France needs to be more like France, without trying to be like America, Germany, or anything else, that's what it needs.  Germany is only prosperous because of the European Union, which rigs everything in its favor.  

People know this too, in France, and that is why there is a huge push to vote for Marine Le Pen, of the National Front, who wants to separate from the EU and presumably go back to the franc.  If they did this, they would take a hit, but they would be far better off in the long run than most other nations, they would weather the Chastisement better.

Marine Le Pen, by the way, is considered "far right," but the trick, and there's always a trick, is that she doesn't want to outlaw abortion, saying that would be unconstitutional.  

I love the quote that says...

"The Bible says debt is a curse and children are a blessing. In our country we apply for debt and reject and even muder our blessings. Something is wrong with our nation!"

Thats good!!! Thanks for that, was new to me.

A dirty little secret is that France is more productive than Germany.

Germany, after China, is the world's largest exporter.  Considering the sorts of things the French export (eg luxuries) I'm not one can make a fair assessment of the relative "productivity" of the workers.  Is someone who picks grapes in  Chile to be turned into "French" wine less productive than someone who picks grapes in France?

I'm guessing that's because people who aren't miserable, and who have time to breathe and to think -- heck, people who LIKE their jobs -- are more productive than those who are guided more by an exaggerated sense of duty.

I think most jobs today do not involve actual production in this day and age.  So cutting down the number of hours worked, as the French have, would automatically boost their "productivity."

 

When people say France needs to be more like Germany, it makes me want to scream.  France needs to be more like France, without trying to be like America, Germany, or anything else, that's what it needs.  Germany is only prosperous because of the European Union, which rigs everything in its favor.  

Germany was very strong economically before WWI, which is one of the main reasons that war was fought.  Germany's economic strength does not depend on the EU.  Rather the EU depends on German economic strength.

People know this too, in France, and that is why there is a huge push to vote for Marine Le Pen, of the National Front, who wants to separate from the EU and presumably go back to the franc.  If they did this, they would take a hit, but they would be far better off in the long run than most other nations, they would weather the Chastisement better.

Marine Le Pen, by the way, is considered "far right," but the trick, and there's always a trick, is that she doesn't want to outlaw abortion, saying that would be unconstitutional.  

Marine Le Pen is a disaster, obviously.