Be scared, real scared.

Re: Be scared, real scared.

well, consider he and many of his followers think that not only are they living in "end times," but that they are so full of godliness that they will be magically lifted into the sky like helium balloons while everyone else on earth suffers. Not only that, but they will get to witness the suffereing like a giant WWF match,and they are looking forward to it! These people also think that it is their duty to "speed things along," if you will.

Please help me understand.
I admit that I am confoozed about this God stuff. Now isn't Jesus spozed to be the son of God? If so, how does all of this death to the enemies of the US square with the teachings of Jesus? Refer to the post on "the New Death Squads". Also, if God instruct GW personally how does that square with Allah? Are these diffferent Gods?

Helium baloons?

Das "Rapture." In Pat Robertson and Arsecroft's case, it will probably be hot air.

I realize.
Yes, we need some comic relief at times. This topic although seemingly light weight is one of the scariest that I have come across. That we have a Pres. that couldn't get a job at Burger King on his own merits but has the power to kill millions isn't amusing to me.

Eventhough he may have his name on a 'balloon', no one wants to nuke or be nuked.

Read The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount, by Gorenberg.

The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount > Customer Review #1:
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Essential for understanding passions in the Middle East

I have read a large number of books dealing with the situation in the Middle East, but this fascinating volume is one of the best that I have encountered for understanding precisely why so many individuals feel so passionately about their particular stake in the area. Gorenberg, a journalist and scholar raised in the United States but now living in Jerusalem, does a masterful job of taking the reader into the mental and spiritual lives of fundamentalist Jews, Christians, and Islam as he focuses on their respective beliefs concerning the fate of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
The specific issue in question is the desire of marginal factions of Jews to rebuild the Temple on the current site of the Dome of the Rock, a Moslem Holy Site, in Jerusalem. In particular, he focuses on the millenarian hopes of extremist Jews who believe that building a Temple will usher in a messianic period of world peace, the dreams of Christian millenarian dispensationalists who believe that these same Jews building a temple is a necessary prelude to the impending return of Jesus, and of the varying reactions of Muslims. Some Muslims, Gorenberg points out, share their own millenarian dreams that are similar to those of fundamentalist Christians, in which a Jewish Antichrist is defeated by a Jesus sent by Allah, who will defeat Jesus and create a one world Islamic society.

Most of the book is spent focusing on the Jewish and Christian participants in this story. Gorenberg is especially good in dealing with the myriad of ways in which Christians are profoundly dependent upon and encouraging of Jews performing their roles as actors in a Divine drama. He details the ways in which both Christians and Jews use each other in their attempts to bring the Temple Mount story to a conclusion incompatible to the desires and hopes of the other. He is also superb at showing how horrifically this could end, possibly bringing about World War III, if either Christians or Jews are able to avoid Israeli or Palestinian security and destroy the Dome of the Rock.

This book is a powerful antidote to simplistic thinking about the Middle East in general, or the possibility or desirability of rebuilding the Temple in particular. It is not, perhaps, in the end a particular hopeful book. The reader can come away from it with a sense that there is probably no way to bring about a Middle Eastern solution that will satisfy all Jews or Muslims. A solution that satisfies all Jews will certainly lead to a Holy War carried out by Muslims, and one that satisfies all Muslims will certainly not satisfy many Israelis. The value of the book primarily lies in exposing the enormously complex nature of the situation, and explicating how passionately the various parties conceptualize the state of things.

Apart from the pedagogical value of the book, this is a flat out fascinating read. The cast of characters is varied and colorful. Gorenberg recounts complicated stories lucidly. My only complaint with the book is that the overall narrative is told somewhat unsystematically. This in part perhaps reflects the complex nature of the story he has to tell. But even so, I feel the chapters could have been arranged a little more clearly.

This book will be of enormous interest to anyone interested in the situation in the Middle East, and especially in Jerusalem. I put this book right alongside Fromkins A PEACE TO END ALL PEACE, which chronicles how the modern Middle East was mindlessly created after WW I by the victors in Europe, as essential to understanding the contemporary situation in Israel.

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The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount > Customer Review #2:
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A MUST READ

After four decades travelling in Israel and reading everything I could get my hands on about Israel and the Middle East conflict, I thought I knew my stuff pretty well. Then I read this book. It not only provided me with a wealth of information that I had never read before, but it opened a dozen new windows onto the complexity of whats going on in Jerusalem. It is smart. It is beautifully written - crisp, concise, insightful. And it is stunningly sensitive to the multitude of religious conflicts colliding in Jerusalems ground zero. So whether youre a Christian looking for some insight into the Christian dimension to this conflict, a Jew interested in broadening his or her view of the Temple Mount, or a secular person just trying to figure out why peace seems such an impossibility, you will have a real treat in store for you. Frankly, this should be the first textbook in current Middle East politics 101 since Gorenberg takes you right into the heart of what is going on today.


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The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount > Customer Review #3:
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Very well-written !

This book is a must-read for someone who requires to know what role the prophecies in the Bible and Torah have to do with what is happening in the Mid-East today.
For the reader with no experience with Biblical or Jewish scriptures this book is a wonderful and very well written and concise summary of the content therein and how that drives the people who believe in it.
The writer portrays how religious fundamentalists can endanger the world we live in by following such prophecies.

With all the nations now in possession of or soon to have Nuclear weapons I think Bush's motives are the least of our worry. The club gets larger and larger and includes some of the most unstable nations on the face of the earth.

This from Israels Intel chief.
Mossad's chief also said Iran's nuclear missile capabilities could pose a threat not only to Israel, but also to Europe, and urged the international community to stop Teheran's nuclear development. Israel Radio reported Monday that Mossad believes Iran is going "full steam ahead" with its nuclear weapons program, despite its apparent cooperation with the United Nations nuclear agency, the IAEA. Dagan said Iran's nuclear development was approaching "a point of no return". Dagan told the committee that the 100 megawatt reactor ii Bushir is too large to be used only for electricity production. Iran's Kashan uranium enrichment facility is close to completion and, barring serious technical difficulties, has the potential of producing material to make 10 nuclear bombs a year by the end of 2004, he said. According to Israel Radio, Iran has invested billions of dollars in its nuclear development. Dagan told the Knesset committee that Iran's nuclear facility in Kashan was especially worrisome. Iran has also invested similar amounts in surface-to-surface missiles, some of which can currently travel distances of between 1,400km to 2,000km - putting Israel within range. Dagan said that Iran was also developing longer-range missiles capable of hitting European cities. Teheran was also investing in bombers able to carry nuclear payloads and travel long distances, Dagan said.

Than there is alway North Korea and Pakistan.

Are you real worried yet. You should be!

I've been around too many fundy christians, I don't equate them with radical infidel killers. I equate them with whacko abortion clinic bombing fundies.

Don't worry. Be happy."
That just doesn't do it for me. Yeah, I am worried. Can we blame Iran for wanting a nuke or two...or more? They are on the hit list...Axis of Evil.

Pakistan is spozed to be an ally of the US yet seems to support the Taliban. I get dizzy when trying to get all of these enemies and allies straight.

What is worrisome even more though is that I am convinced that GW would use Nukes because he is as much of a zealot as bin Laden. Both of these people claim to have direct pipeline to God. The names are just different.

I don't see your fears of GW as being realistic, sounds more like hysteria.

pistoff
I have heard all these stories before. And there is one thing that you have not mentioned. That is the rebuilding of the temple is the dream of some of the Ultra Orthodox Jews who are a minority in Israel. The greater majority of Jews in Israel are secular and have no great desire in rebuilding the Temple.

I haven't read that book.
I just copied off those comments via google regarding the book. Honestly, I don't know much about the topic.

I don't feel that it is alarmist to feel that GW would not hesitate to use these new Nuke weapons. Having read many of his comments regarding his belief that God is his personal for real instructor and guide, I believe that GW justifies any killing with a direct mission from God. Yeah, GW is the most dangerous man on this planet from the nuke standpoint and the lack of regard for the envirnment, as well.

http://www.unknownnews.net/insanity5.html