The Mayan’s famous Long Count calendar begins in 3,114 B.C. and is set to run out 5,126 years later. That year is 2012 A.D. and more specifically, December 21 of this year. The Mayans are known as one of the most highly skilled and intelligent ancient civilizations. That alone is enough to make many people in the world today take the Long Count calendar as absolute truth.

However, Christians know a higher power. The true and real ultimate authority of our world is God. If 2012 is the end of the world, wouldn’t God have told us that in the Bible? In Matthew 24, He does tell us events that we can expect to happen in the end times. Jesus said there will be wars, famine, earthquakes, false prophets, persecution of Christians, and other forms of pain and suffering.

Haven’t these things been happening already? There is destruction all over the world and it’s been going on for quite some time. Why hasn’t Christ returned yet? Maybe 2012 really is the end of the world.

Not so fast. We find a deeper answer in God’s Word. Several times in the Bible, it is told that Christ’s second coming will happen unexpectedly. It will surprise everyone. Take a look at these three verses talking about the end times:

“For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:2).

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come” (Matthew 24:42).

“You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him” (Luke 12:40).

Even Jesus didn’t know the time, while He was on the Earth. He says in Matthew 24:36, “No one knows about the day or the hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” So, banking on December 21, 2012, as the end of the world is futile. It could be tomorrow. It could be 100 years away. Nobody knows, but God the Father.

With this in mind, as Christians, what do we say to people that ask if 2012 is the end of the world? Just like with all other situations where people are lead astray by sin, we serve as a witness for Christ. We tell them of Christ’s love, and the grace and mercy He gave to us by dying on the cross to forgive our sins. We point them to the one source of truth—the Holy Bible. And, we pray for them. We pray fervently to God that He would bring them to true faith.

Our town was holding an annual Menorah lighting service in one of the common shopping districts, where people of the community often gather on a regular basis. My family and I decided to attend for the first time. Being non-Jewish Christians, who believe in the integrity of the Torah (and understand that Jesus, the Messiah was of Jewish descent), my wife and I wondered why there were 9 candlesticks on the menorah, instead of eight (representing Hanukkah), or even seven (representing the original holy candlesticks first described in the book of Exodus).

The short answer as to why there are 9 candlesticks on the menorah: There are 7 candlesticks prescribed in the Bible that resides in the Inner Sanctuary of the Temple, the Miracle after the Maccabean revolt kept the holy candlestick burning for 8 days when there was only enough pure olive oil for one day (which is the 8 days of Hanukkah), yet there are 9 candlesticks on the menorah, which is used to celebrate the Jewish victory and the miracle which occurred. So why 9?

The ninth candle is called the shamash, meaning “helper” or “servant”, which is used to light the other candles. So it is a sort of “starter” or helper candle, and is also used for added illumination.

Have you heard of the Spartan Race yet? If you haven’t, it is something worth seeing, and if you’re brave enough–and strong enough–something perhaps worth participating in.

Spartan Race Registration

It’s no joke. There are real Spartans walking around. I first encountered the Spartan Race when my trainer (who happens to think he’s Superman), decide to be one of the warriors in the race. I went to see and support him, as he went through the fires, the trails, and the obstacles.

It’s definitely something to see, but beware–at least several people collapsed trying to finish the course, many were convulsing, and an ambulance had to take another one away in a stretcher. Are you tough enough? I’m not … but if you think you are, here is the Spartan Race Website. Go register! I’m not doing it!

Instead of the Limbaugh / Olbermann model of debate that incites division, fear, irrationality, and now violence, try instead the “Socratic” method of dialogue. What is painfully dangerous in our American politics today is the lack of a sincere quest for knowledge.

Every now and then I come across an excerpt from a book that produces a moment of “rebirth” in me. These passages of text solidify years of thought into a single moment of clarity. Ideologies that I have been struggling to understand for years suddenly are expressed in a page or two of text that beautifully encapsulates these struggles into a few paragraphs:

“In our society, rational discussion is often aggressive, since participants … are doing their best to demonstrate the invalidity of their opponent’s viewpoint. In a Socratic dialogue … the ‘winner’ did not try to force an unwilling opponent to accept his point of view. It was a joint effort. You expressed yourself clearly as a gift to your partner, whose beautifully expressed argument would, in turn, touch you at a profound level … a successful dialogue should lead to ekstatis: by learning to inhabit each other’s point of view, the conversationalists were taken beyond themselves. Anybody who entered into conversation with Socrates had to be willing to change” (Karen Armstrong, The Case for God).

And this occurence is not just happening on the Right. The Left is equally guilty. There is no difference between Limbaugh and Olbermann if you measure them not by their politic leanings, but by their level of adherence to the Socratic model of debate.

In their disregard for truth, understanding, and context, they are further dividing the country that they so vehemently claim to love. I have a feeling that what many of these wingnuts really love is their power, wealth, and celebrity–certainly more than they love the country they are claiming to defend from the so-called Socialists or Capitalists.

But why are we, as political spectators, so eager to pick between Left & Right? Conservative & Liberal? And follow every announcement of the Party without insight, research, or examination?

Humans, you see, are a “religious” being. Before you think I am about to preach the Gospel to you, I am not using the term “religion” to refer to what you may traditionally think of religion (church, mosque, Sunday school, and Bible). I am referring to a systematic thought process that blindly follows a learned human behavior duly reinforced over time, rather than seeking the simple and evident truth in God. Psychologists or sociologists may refer to this as Group Mentality, commonly known as “following the herd”, “acting like sheep”, etc. But to me, no word describes this human phenomenon better than the word, “religion”. Religion in all aspects of our lives, from our understanding of God, politics, family, business, culture, and every other thing “under the sun”.

Our reaction to 24/7 cable newscasts and AM Radio are not exempt from our ability to want to fit in with a group or macroculture that will give us a false sense of belonging and empowerment.

Jesus Christ famously rebuked the religious of his day because their devotion to religion was obstructing their devotion to God. It is the same today. Religion can be found in the complex diarama of our lives and is not restricted to our theological and spiritual views. We must renounce our love affair with religion in order to regain our sacred relationships.

In all aspects of our lives, in order to find truth, morality, and even God, we must constantly examine ourselves. This must be applied not only to our religion, but our patriotism and politics.
Religion gives us temporary stability and peace, because we can shut off our minds from our busy, overburdened lives and just follow. This inevitably adds just another “brick in the wall” in our journey to Orwelian Utopia, i.e. 1984.

Orwell’s brilliant envisioning of a Government take-over of its people’s minds and souls was neither truly Socialist or Fascists — it was not the extreme spectrum of either Left or Right. It was Ambiguous Extremism itself, which could in many ways be identified with neither Left or Right. The true danger was not Liberal politics or Conservative politics, it was not even Socialism or Capitalism per se, but the lack of reason, of judgement, of balance; it was an insatiable desire to control every aspect of life by following the edicts of the “Party”, as espoused by a select few.

What is sometimes overlooked in Orwell’s 1984 is that the reverse Utopia we discover by reading its pages is not a government takeover, but a lack of knowledge and will on its people’s part. A government cannot form into a true state of reverse utopia without the consent of its people, without their willingness to forgoe the Socratic wisdom that is so dear and necessary to a truly free and democratic society. 1984 cannot germinate within a system of government, until its people stop thinking.

I understand, it is tempting to be religious. It may in fact be the original sin. I, too, want to shout at you, “What the fuck are you thinking, America?” But alas, I must restrain myself, in deference to Socrates who I will now go and attempt to learn of.

At the center is the Hillary Clinton arm of the Obama administration who has been pissing off Chinese officials in the past two months. There are 3 main contentions:

(1) Stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons by imposing a U.S. lead U.N. sanction on Iran’s Islamic “republic” leadership. Everyone is on board, including Russia, which we thought may be a problem initially–everyone, that is, except China. China seeks to lose a major source of oil in their relationship with Iran by imposing sanctions. At a time when China’s economy is growing, this energy source is indispensable to China. So they are balking at any UN Resolution and they have Veto power.

(2) Obama has agreed to meet with the Dalia Lama, which really has pissed the Chinese off. This has been further aggravated by the U.S. currently agreeing to supply arms to Taiwan, including a fleet of F-16 fighters, 114 Patriot missiles, 60 Black Hawk helicopters, and some communications equipment. China has retaliated by saying they will provide medium range missiles to Pakistan.

(3) Clinton has sided with Google–against China–in a freedom of information dispute. China wants to censor Google.Cn and even Google.com from showing search results that include the Dalia Lama, Tiananmen Square, and other freedom issues that China deems inappropriate. This, too, was further aggravated when Google accused China of hacking into their Gmail accounts to obtain information about rebels who had been using Gmail to share information. Google has threatened to pull its operations out of China. Unfortunately, spineless investors pulled some stock out of Google since this conflict, and Google stock has plummeted a bit, along with the rest of the market which has seen a heavy decline over the past few weeks. Google’s moral stance being discouraged by investor greed and fear.

P.S. CNN–are you still covering Michael Jackson’s chimp’s reaction to his death? How’s that going?

Things held tightly and dear

Those everyday things will not matter at all

In the light of eternity’s dawn

People we voted for – taxes and death

Things we bought and worshipped

Feelings of hope that faded to pain

Will just be a memory on history’s dark page

Time will be past

These “things” will be gone

Shackles all left by the way

For all that we “own” is this thing we call “love”

When God’s gift of “forever” unfolds

Then saints will recall:

Things must have mattered so much to us then

Things we held tightly and dear

But the truth of the matter – its message so clear

“Love” is the only thing man takes from here..

In the light of eternity’s dawn.

In a society in which its people care more about what David Letterman said to Sara Palin in a childlike outburst, the internet has become a more reliable source of news and dissemination of knowledge than the mainstream U.S. media, which runs itself more like a business than a dispenser of truth.

Ratings matter. Truth–well, matters–when it enables TV stations to sell commercials.

In face of such a news-business model, the Internet and Facebook have become more legitimate in their dissemination of the news than CNN and FOX News combined.

While the U.S. media barely covers what is happening in Iran in 10 second clips and sound-bytes, the people in Iran risk their lives to capture video footage and spread it on the internet via Facebook, asking that their friends “share” the clips with others.

America considers Iran one of its greatest threats today. Even if not for the Iranian people who despise their government, shouldn’t U.S. news outlets at least cover current elections in Iran and its subsequent mass protests because it is in the best interest of America and it’s own citizens to do so?

In a society that cares more about American Idol and Reality TV Shows, it’s not surprising that the U.S. media does not feel it is important enough to cover the above protests in Iran.

One has to be shiveringly reminded of prophetic novels like Fahrenheit 451, 1984, and A Brave New World. Except this time it’s not “Big Brother” who is censoring our news … but we, the people.

Among our favorites? The Enchanted Blue Topaz Ring (shown above)–also available as an antiqued aquamarine ring, antique style ruby ring, and in many other genuine gemstone types.

Another delectable jewelry piece? The Vintage Floral Diamond Engagement Ring Set, a part of the same collection among Apples of Gold’s Diamond Rings.

This is a wonderful book to read slowly for deep reflection and meditation with a cup of tea or coffee by your side. These heart-felt “songs” should be savored slowly, devoured practically and initiated completely into one’s daily walk. In difficult times such as these, Katherine’s book is without a doubt a refreshing reprieve for the days ahead.

Purchase Songs of the Feathered Wind at Amazon.Com

Come Lord,
rescue me from evil’s greedy talons.
Plant my feet on plum-robed mountains
safe from the death angel’s charm.

When you are close beside me
I will never be afraid.
You enfold me under Your mammoth wings
You are my shelter from the storm.

Come Lord,
Surprise me with a gift of Your silvery wings
that I may fly away with You
and live forever free.

You have seized my heart with Your love song
You have wooed me with Your unspeakable joy.
You have washed me in Your blood fountain.

I am Yours.

But I so hunger to be with Your Presence.
I so thirst to drink in Your face
I long to thank You for Your gift,
and praise Your immeasurable grace.