Will the End-Times Generation Please Stand Up?
In an article recently re-circulated by Mike Ruppert's http://www.fromthewilderness.com, author Ran Prieur runs us down nine ways that we can avoid the coming crash. "How to Survive the Crash and Save the Earth" read half like half instruction manual and half rant of a genius.
True to the genius archetype, Mr. Prieur's drives his readers roughshod between his mind's greatest gifts and darkest corners. His ability to present uncommon insight with common facts will astound the reader. But his simpleton bias for Bible prophecy is revealed, a common precondition to many genius minds throughout history.
It is impossible to paraphrase 3,700 words into a few paragraphs, but I will try anyway. And please go ahead to the actual article if the below intrigues you: http://ranprieur.com/essays/saveearth.html
The reader begins straight away with a numeral “1” followed by a three word sentence in bold type: “Abandon the world.” In his first commandment among nine in total, Prieur tells us to abandon the ways of this world that are destructive. We are destructive to our biosphere and our ancient resource capacities. What we are doing is not worth the quick buck we make along the way, and he projects a quick end to our system whether or not we abandon it. He admonishes us to abandon what is destructive as a first step towards saving the world from ourselves before we are consumed by our own destruction.
From there, the reader arrives to number “2. Abandon hope.” A few of our most common false hopes in religion and technology are expanded upon, and particular disgust is reserved for those who believe that we are incapable of destroying the earth when “In fact, we've already almost finished killing the Earth.”
“3. Drop Out” culminates with the bitter realization that, “This world is full of people with the intelligence, knowledge, skills, and energy to make heaven on Earth, but they can't even begin because they would lose their jobs.”
From there, we move through the logic flow we might expect of a genius: "4. You are here to help”, “5. Learn skills”, “6. Find your tribe”, “7. Get on some land”, “8. Save part of the Earth", “9. Save human knowledge”, each heading full of uncommon insight and impetus to act in an uncommon and necessary way.
The article ends with one of the most brilliant revelations from the author, and there are many. Warning, this is a long quote, but to summarize it is to reduce it. Each word has an important place in this important message.
“Our descendants will need the intellectual artifacts to avoid this -- artifacts we have barely started to develop even as the Great Bad Example begins to fall. In 200 years, when they are brushing seeds into baskets with their fingers, and a stranger appears with a new threshing machine that will do the same thing with less time and effort, they will need to say something smarter than "the Gods forbid it" or "that is not our Way." They will need the knowledge to say something like:"Your machine requires the seed to be planted alone and not interspersed with perennials that maintain nitrogen and mineral balance in the soil. And from where will the metal come, and how many trees must be cut down and burned to melt and shape it? And since we cannot build the machine, shall we be dependent on the machine-builders, and give them a portion of our food, which we now keep all for ourselves? Do you not know, clever stranger, that when any biomass is removed from the land, and not recycled back into it, the soil is weakened? And what could we do with our "saved" time, that would be more valuable and pleasurable than gathering the seed by hand, touching and knowing every stalk and every inch of the land that feeds us? Shall we become allies of cold metal that cuts without feeling, turning our hands and eyes to the study of machines and numbers until, severed from the Earth, we nearly destroy it as our ancestors did, making depleted uranium and polychlorinated biphenyls and cadmium batteries that even now make the old cities unfit for living? Go back to your people, and tell them, if they come to conquer us with their machines, we will fight them in ways the Arawaks and Seminoles and Lakota and Hopi and Nez Perce never imagined, because we understand your world better than you do yourself. Tell your people to come to learn."
Brilliant!
However, I am compelled to expose a common flaw and seemingly willful failure of logic brought into this secular anti-crash course by Mr. Prieur. As so often is the case, his personal bias is against Christian prophecy.
Let’s go back for a second into number “2. Abandon hope”, where Mr. Prieur tells us: "If you believe the Bible, Jesus told us when he was coming back to save us. He said, "This generation shall not pass." That was 2000 years ago. Stop waiting for that bus and get walking."
But wait. Did Mr. Prieur quote Bible prophecy accurately? Did he get the prophecy in proper context, as he would do if quoting another fellow genius or a newspaper article?
The Bible verse that is quoted can be found in three places that I can find: Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. In all three places, the phrase “this generation” is clearly a reference to the end-times generation. All one has to do is read immediately before the phrase “this generation” to see that a reference is not being made to the generation of the one speaking. Please read the following in context and see if you too can be confused by the term "this generation" - meaning, the one writing the text or the ones living in the last days?
Matthew 24:32-34 "Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer [is] nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, [even] at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."
Mark 13:28-30 "Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, [even] at the doors. Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done."
Luke 21:29-32 "And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled."
True to the genius archetype, Mr. Prieur's drives his readers roughshod between his mind's greatest gifts and darkest corners. His ability to present uncommon insight with common facts will astound the reader. But his simpleton bias for Bible prophecy is revealed, a common precondition to many genius minds throughout history.
It is impossible to paraphrase 3,700 words into a few paragraphs, but I will try anyway. And please go ahead to the actual article if the below intrigues you: http://ranprieur.com/essays/saveearth.html
The reader begins straight away with a numeral “1” followed by a three word sentence in bold type: “Abandon the world.” In his first commandment among nine in total, Prieur tells us to abandon the ways of this world that are destructive. We are destructive to our biosphere and our ancient resource capacities. What we are doing is not worth the quick buck we make along the way, and he projects a quick end to our system whether or not we abandon it. He admonishes us to abandon what is destructive as a first step towards saving the world from ourselves before we are consumed by our own destruction.
From there, the reader arrives to number “2. Abandon hope.” A few of our most common false hopes in religion and technology are expanded upon, and particular disgust is reserved for those who believe that we are incapable of destroying the earth when “In fact, we've already almost finished killing the Earth.”
“3. Drop Out” culminates with the bitter realization that, “This world is full of people with the intelligence, knowledge, skills, and energy to make heaven on Earth, but they can't even begin because they would lose their jobs.”
From there, we move through the logic flow we might expect of a genius: "4. You are here to help”, “5. Learn skills”, “6. Find your tribe”, “7. Get on some land”, “8. Save part of the Earth", “9. Save human knowledge”, each heading full of uncommon insight and impetus to act in an uncommon and necessary way.
The article ends with one of the most brilliant revelations from the author, and there are many. Warning, this is a long quote, but to summarize it is to reduce it. Each word has an important place in this important message.
“Our descendants will need the intellectual artifacts to avoid this -- artifacts we have barely started to develop even as the Great Bad Example begins to fall. In 200 years, when they are brushing seeds into baskets with their fingers, and a stranger appears with a new threshing machine that will do the same thing with less time and effort, they will need to say something smarter than "the Gods forbid it" or "that is not our Way." They will need the knowledge to say something like:"Your machine requires the seed to be planted alone and not interspersed with perennials that maintain nitrogen and mineral balance in the soil. And from where will the metal come, and how many trees must be cut down and burned to melt and shape it? And since we cannot build the machine, shall we be dependent on the machine-builders, and give them a portion of our food, which we now keep all for ourselves? Do you not know, clever stranger, that when any biomass is removed from the land, and not recycled back into it, the soil is weakened? And what could we do with our "saved" time, that would be more valuable and pleasurable than gathering the seed by hand, touching and knowing every stalk and every inch of the land that feeds us? Shall we become allies of cold metal that cuts without feeling, turning our hands and eyes to the study of machines and numbers until, severed from the Earth, we nearly destroy it as our ancestors did, making depleted uranium and polychlorinated biphenyls and cadmium batteries that even now make the old cities unfit for living? Go back to your people, and tell them, if they come to conquer us with their machines, we will fight them in ways the Arawaks and Seminoles and Lakota and Hopi and Nez Perce never imagined, because we understand your world better than you do yourself. Tell your people to come to learn."
Brilliant!
However, I am compelled to expose a common flaw and seemingly willful failure of logic brought into this secular anti-crash course by Mr. Prieur. As so often is the case, his personal bias is against Christian prophecy.
Let’s go back for a second into number “2. Abandon hope”, where Mr. Prieur tells us: "If you believe the Bible, Jesus told us when he was coming back to save us. He said, "This generation shall not pass." That was 2000 years ago. Stop waiting for that bus and get walking."
But wait. Did Mr. Prieur quote Bible prophecy accurately? Did he get the prophecy in proper context, as he would do if quoting another fellow genius or a newspaper article?
The Bible verse that is quoted can be found in three places that I can find: Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. In all three places, the phrase “this generation” is clearly a reference to the end-times generation. All one has to do is read immediately before the phrase “this generation” to see that a reference is not being made to the generation of the one speaking. Please read the following in context and see if you too can be confused by the term "this generation" - meaning, the one writing the text or the ones living in the last days?
Matthew 24:32-34 "Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer [is] nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, [even] at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."
Mark 13:28-30 "Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near: So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, [even] at the doors. Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done."
Luke 21:29-32 "And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled."
While we may not know the parable of the fig tree, we can clearly see that "this generation" is the one in existence when the fig tree goes about it's business. More on that in the end...
I won’t belabor the obvious lack of effort on the part of Mr. Prieur in getting context right in Bible prophecy. Clearly, his bias wouldn’t even allow him to look up the verse and quote it in context. And I won’t dwell on the fact that the same people who misquote the Bible and then claim how wrong it is won’t touch the Qur'an with a ten-foot pole because they want to appear “balanced” and “accepting” somehow with every other belief except Christianity. By the way, persecution of Christians is a prophecy and so are false prophets who fake being born again (like our emperor-in-chief, "Burning Bush", who falsely cliams spiritual insight from God Almighty into starting war with Iraq. Burning Bush, I like that. Sounds like the topic another post.)
I thank Mr. Prieur for his work of genius and I will leave the considerate reader with a list of Bible prophecies that many claim are happening right now today. If any of them are interesting, just do a Google search to find the verse or commentary.
Are Bible Prophesies Happening in Our Day?
Are Bible Prophesies Happening in Our Day?
- Mark of the Beast - Is the RFID chip a precursor to the Mark of the Beast? Are we entering a time now when everyone will have to receive the mark before they can buy or sell?
- Global government - Are we seeing nation-states being deliberately driven towards failure by elitist, globalist leaders as a prelude to the prophesized one-world government (New World Order)?
- World war - Is it a coincidence that the Bible prophesized that a final battle will be fought in the Middle East? Think about this for a while. Sixty percent of the world’s oil is here, yet crude oil was not used 2,000 years ago. Radical Islam is blamed for the conflict but Mohamed was a relatively recent religion. Are we witnessing the demise of the first of four beasts? The first beast, having wings of an eagle (USA?) and the head of a lion (UK?) would fail utterly (In Iraq?).
- Great deception - Does it seem like everyone is deceived so easily by nonsense these days? If we believe that 911 was masterminded by people in caves but we don't suspect our own government despite the 911 smoking guns implicating this inside job, then we have to believe that we are really liberating Iraqis and giving them Democracy with our illegal depleted uranium munitions and white phosphorus chemical bombs on civilian targets. Nevermind that Iraq sits on the second biggest oil reserve in the world and the US is doomed without constant cheap oil flows.
- Knowledge is increased - There are more scientists alive today than in all history. There are an equal number of people alive today than has ever been alive in all of history added together. A simple chart of human population will show how likely this is. Yes, we do have a phenomenal amount of knowledge from people, but where is the wisdom in what we are doing?
- Earthquakes, famine, war, drought, pestilence - All these things are clearly on the rise, like “birth pangs”, we can just feel the threats getting louder. And we who know about Peak Oil and the oil-food connection know that we are about 3 times over capacity with 6.5 billion people. An objective mind has a pretty good idea that all of this is, one way or another, headed towards a massive die-back of human population.
- And what about the parable of the fig tree? Well, many believe that Israel’s rebirth is that fig tree, and its prophetic return to statehood against all odds took place on May 15, 1948. so how long does a generation last? I don’t know. Anywhere from 40 to 120 years would be based somewhere in the Scriptures I suppose. Whether you are religious or not, we seem to be in that “zone” now.
When we listen to politics today, we hear the drums of war getting louder.
When we look at our ecological situation with the species dieoffs and toxicity increasees, we see a shrinking carrying capacity coming into play.
When we look at the population bomb and at the Peak Oil + industrial agriculture link to food, a vision begins to come into view oddly reminiscent of Bible prophecy.
Throw into the mix a political leadership bent upon global government and probably pretty concerned about all of us useless eaters using up their half of the remaining energy resources.
Some people of considerable intellect have decided to blame Christians for what is happening, as if we "want" armageddon to happen. But this is not a Biblical view nor a Christian view. If anything, most people who call themselves Christian today are praying for money (abundance and prosperity).
These are deceptive times and a great deal of discernment is needed to understand what is going on because of all the noise out there throwing us off the track.
I would assume that religious folks are equally, if not more deceived than non-religious folks today and I would assume that I am pretty deceived about a lot of stuff as well.
But one thing looks pretty clear to me at this time: We surely do look like we are headed for a giant, unfathomable, never-before seen crash of crashes. It may take years or decades to unfold, but the direction towards a massive dieback looks certain. This view seems to be confirmed by every diligent study out there: economy, politics, social, ecological... and yes, spiritual.
So please, if you want to blame the Bible for being inaccurate, read it in context first. It is really not that difficult to do and it will save you proving yourself a source of inaccuracy.
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