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Apocalypse, now?

digital7

By digital7
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digital7 Newbie

digital7

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"And there shall be signs in the sun. and the moon. and the stars: and upon the earth the distress of nations with great perplexity. over the sea and the roaring waves" - Luke 21:25

Katrina, other natural disasters fuel doomsday predictions.

It’s been 10 months of epic disaster. First there was the tsunami that killed some 250,000 people in Southeast Asia. Then came Hurricane Katrina with its devastating toll on the Gulf Coast, followed by an earthquake that took tens of thousands of lives in South Asia. Now, Hurricane Wilma, one of the most powerful storms ever measured in the Atlantic Basin, is stalking the Florida coast, and experts are warning of a deadly avian flu pandemic. It’s enough to make just about anyone pause to look for meaning in the madness.

For many who await Judgment Day, the writing is on the wall.

"There is a resurgence of End Times thinking," says Stephen O'Leary, an expert on apocalyptic thinking and an associate professor at the University of Southern California. Anxiety about doomsday always lurks under the surface and resurfaces periodically, he says. "It's a very traditional way of coming to terms with disaster. In one sense it’s as old as the hills ... but there is a recent uptick of this kind of thinking."

Current events have provided rich fodder for religious groups devoted to watching for the End Times, when the faithful believe that they and nonbelievers will ultimately be judged.

Nowhere is this more evident today, where scores analyze the news through a biblical lens. While predictions of an apocalypse are part of many religions, including a version in Islam that is very similar to the Christian one, it is evangelical Christians who are sounding alarms in U.S. churches.

Among the most commonly cited biblical passages describing the beginning of the end are in Matthew, where Jesus warns that "nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes"

Some Web sites serve as a pulpit for those who believe that God sent Katrina to smite New Orleans for its sinning ways and to send a warning to the rest of the nation. "Although the loss of lives is deeply saddening, this act of God destroyed a wicked city," says conservative anti-gay activist Michael Marcavage on the site RepentAmerica.com. He says New Orleans was punished for a "public celebration" of homosexuality, wanton drunkenness and show of flesh.

Alabama state Sen. Henry E. "Hank" Erwin Jr., a Republican, expressed a similar view in a weekly column he writes for news outlets. "New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast have always been known for gambling, sin and wickedness," he wrote. "It is the kind of behavior that ultimately brings the judgment of God."

Irwin Baxter, founder of End Times Ministries, is among those more focused on how Katrina and the other disasters, combined with key political indicators — including the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip — point to an imminent apocalypse. "With all these converging at the same time, it looks to me we are very close to or just entered the (End Times)," says Baxter. “People are really apprehensive right now,” he says. But the upside, from his point of view, is that the disasters could help make believers out of doubters. “If we continue seeing event after event of this magnitude ... I think it could really galvanize a lot of people.” He's given up his regular job as pastor at a Pentecostal church in Richmond, Ind., to devote all his time and energy to End Times Ministries, which includes a magazine that has 30,000 subscribers, a Web site and a radio program broadcast on 30 stations and over the Internet.

To be sure, not all conservative Christians think it's wise to make predictions. "There have been storms throughout history," says Mark Bailey, president of the Dallas Theological Seminary, a conservative evangelical institution. "To say about any of these that 'this is it' is dangerous speculation. "He is also troubled by the view that storms are used to punish a certain group of people. However, he adds, "It's a great time to ask, 'If this was it, would I be ready?'"

The soul-searching, and the speculation in Christian circles is driven in part by a highly successful series of films based on the best-selling book series "Left Behind." The story, a melodrama with a backdrop of End Times prophecy events, focuses on characters who remain on Earth after the believers are swept to heaven in the Rapture. The films, starring former television actor Kirk Cameron, launched on DVD in 2000 and have prompted a wave of other books, movies and spin-offs in the apocalypse genre. The third "Left Behind" movie is set to premiere at churches across the country on Friday. USC's O'Leary suggests that media coverage of real disasters from Sri Lanka to New Orleans may also be intensifying the belief in impending peril, because the events are delivered instantaneously to American living rooms. "There is a sense of escalation that makes us feel that it's happening more rapidly," says O'Leary.

Religious groups don't have a monopoly on apocalyptic thinking. O'Leary says that even in secular circles, people also embrace apocalyptic thinking when it converges with worrisome scientific or technological developments. "The prime case was the Y2K scare," he says, referring to fears of a disaster on the eve of the new century. "For awhile it seemed to have a rational technical basis, which seemed to go overboard," creating fears that lingered until the clock struck 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2000, "long after computer programmers said it was going to be OK," he says.

Evidence of global warming fuels fears of impending disaster among those who don't necessarily believe in divine intervention, O'Leary points out. And the emergence of nuclear weapons technology after World War II lent plausibility to belief in a secular version of Armageddon.

"You don’t have to be a religious believer to think that we’re headed for disaster," O'Leary says.

By Kari Huus

Reporter

MSNBC

Oct. 19, 2005

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funketeer Newbie

funketeer

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THE AGE OF KALI

The Age of Kali for the Hindu is the natural ending of the world in the fourth age . It is one of a series of changes, each of which marks the end of one cycle and the beginning of another creation. The central figure in the story is Vishnu, the preserver God, into whose self the world is absorbed before being born again. Vishnu has already saved humanity on a number of occasions, symbolically appearing as a savior in many different forms. Vishnu incarnates in 10 avatars, of which there have been 9, the last three have been: 7. Rama 8. Khishna 9. Buddha It is said that He will appear again , as Kalki 'the avenger', riding a white horse , destined to destroy the present world (the corrupt age of the goddess Kali) and to take humanity to a different, higher plane (the golden age of Krita).

The Rider On The White Horse

Glossary:

ichchha — the will.

indriya — organ of sense or action.

Isha — a form of Shiva. Shiva — the special incarnation of the Lord as the demi-god in charge of the mode of ignorance and the destruction of the material manifestation.

karma — work, action, the law of cause and effect; material, fruitive activity and its reactions; also, fruitive actions performed in accordance with Vedic injunctions.

karma-yoga — the path of God realization through dedicating the fruits of one's work to God.

karmi — one engaged in karma, fruitive activity; a materialist.

karmaphala — the result of an action.

karmendriya — an action organ, e.g. the hands or feet.

THE '6' INCARNATIONS AND EXPANSIONS OF THE LORD

WHO IS KALI?

(From: http://www.hindunet.org/alt_hindu/1995_Jan/msg00112.html)

Though Kali is associated with divinity, She has also been called 'Queen of the Demons' (and deservedly so). Her role could be compared to that of Persephone/Proserpine of the Greeks, who descends into the Underworld to rule there during half the seasonal and cosmologic cycle. Kali seems much more in control over Her destiny than the Greek goddess, however.

Let us begin, then, with this story to which I make mention (perhaps one of the first known concerning Kali):

The gods and the titans engaged in a great battle. There was one particular titan who was too powerful for the lesser gods to defeat. Durga, the Warrior/Mother goddess, was then called upon for aid. She arrived in splendour, riding a lion into battle, Her ten arms each bearing a magical weapon, Her ten faces each displaying a serene calm. She became the center of a cyclonic force of destruction.

Durga wounded the asura king (who was Her main opponent and the hub of his army). From his wounds the blood flowed to the ground, yet where each drop touched the soil a 'clone' of him appearred. The more quickly and fiercely She attacked, the faster his reproduction took place.

In the heat of Her frenzy, Durga called forth Her most powerful (and gruesome) aspect. From Her brow emanated Kali, the Destroyer. Kali was as black as the night, draped in a tiger's skin, was wearing a necklace of skulls, a skirt of severed hands, and had a gaunt, ghoulish contenance. She was the very essence of wrath. With the fierce passion of a mad mother protecting Her children, She began to eat the asura army.

Kali's intense hunger and lust for blood were the necessary elements for victory. She gobbled up the new forms of the asura king, slurped up the blood escaping from his wounds, finally devouring him whole. The army, defeated and demoralized, quickly dispersed and peace was again restored to the realm of the gods.

In many ways the asuras were the manifestation of malevolent masculine energies. They are most often depicted in male form and almost always as feral, animal-like beings. They are the brutish, coercive aspects of the Cosmos.

In this story Kali is a savioress despite the gruesomeness of Her appearance. She enters as the Queen of Battle in order to quench the demon-fire that ravages the heavens (and by fallout, our world). Her main strengths are Her passion and Her ability to take others into Herself: to consume. This is an important point. Kali is the powerful, hungry feminine. The consumption of the masculine is therefore necessary and transformative.

When a battle is forced (by asura-energies), it is our ability to take in, to absorb the very being of our adversary which makes real peace possible (preferrably by our understanding of their position and thus our ability to negotiate, rather than our ability to predict their behavior and react aggressively in response).

If and when consciousness devolves into combative conflict (as it has many times in the past and shall likely continue), then 'consuming our adversary', in the spirit of 'knowing our enemy', is the best method of successful resolution. Direct confrontation only breeds others in succession who will readily assume the role of adversarial leader in the event of a temporary triumph.

When ravaging masculine energies threaten the sacred, Kali comes to the fore here so as to quell the activity of that war, matching the wild masculine passion with Her feminine counterpart, and renewing a harmonized equilibrium.

Kali is the mask of Death, drinking the Elixir of Life (blood) and reconciling polar energies. She is the goddess of our time (in many Hindu cosmologies we currently live in the 'Kali yuga', or 'Age of Kali' -- a time of disintegration and moral depravity).

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funketeer Newbie

funketeer

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I've been "upsizing" my ammunition stockpile ever since Katrina. I keep a 30 day supply of combat rats/survival bars and water regardless. Something about there possibly being a flu pandemic on the way scares me. Those who know where the rendevous point is, know.

UK bird flu pandemic 'inevitable'

A human flu pandemic in the UK is inevitable and could lead to people staying away from the workplace and public gatherings, the Health Secretary has said.

Patricia Hewitt conceded that scientists had warned it was a case of when not if the flu strikes, but could not give a timetable because "we simply don't know".

Experts believe the most likely cause of a flu pandemic will come from a genetic mutation of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, currently sweeping the world.

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2134322005

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howienewport Newbie

howienewport

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UK bird flu pandemic 'inevitable'

A human flu pandemic in the UK is inevitable and could lead to people staying away from the workplace and public gatherings, the Health Secretary has said.

Patricia Hewitt conceded that scientists had warned it was a case of when not if the flu strikes, but could not give a timetable because "we simply don't know".

Experts believe the most likely cause of a flu pandemic will come from a genetic mutation of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, currently sweeping the world.

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2134322005

Carry your own pen and use to plastic to pay for shit too, there are lots of little bugs on cash. The flu thing scares me the most. I just hope I'm able to spot the indicators of it happening far enough in advance to be able to get away from population and up to my NH hideaway to wait it out.

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vampress Newbie

vampress

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I have always said that everything is happening for a reason, now which reason...I don't know?

But I do know that someone is trying to tell us something, and the worst part is that SHIT is only going to get worse in the next few years!!!!

I guess all we can do is just sit back and wait for whatever is meant to come of this!!!

In other words....

A SINGAR A SINGAR QUE EL MUNDO SE VA ACABAR!!!!!

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Sapexec Newbie

Sapexec

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it's enough to make you think.

Oct 25th:

Sapexec: Hello, Shore Club Reservations

SC Reservations: Yes

Sapexec: I would like to make reservations for tonite and reserve a table at Red Room.

SC Reservations: How many days

Sapexec: Tonite,for two nights.

SC Reservations: 3 Night Minimum.

Sapexec: 3 Nights? You dont have any power?

SC Reservations: Half the hotel has power.

Sapexec: How much are the rooms for tonite for 3 Nights:

SC REser: King would be $375.

Sapexec: You dont have power and their is a curfew. Can you come off the price a bit.

SC REser: No sir, we cant.

Sapexec: If my room, doesnt have any power. Will I get a discount....you stupid twat.

SC Reser: Hangs Up.

That is the SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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funketeer Newbie

funketeer

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ApocalypseNow-B%20copy.gif

This is the end

Beautiful friend

This is the end

My only friend, the end

Of our elaborate plans, the end

Of everything that stands, the end

No safety or surprise, the end

I'll never look into your eyes...again

Can you picture what will be

So limitless and free

Desperately in need...of some...stranger's hand

In a...desperate land

Lost in a Roman...wilderness of pain

And all the children are insane

All the children are insane

Waiting for the summer rain, yeah

There's danger on the edge of town

Ride the King's highway, baby

Weird scenes inside the gold mine

Ride the highway west, baby

Ride the snake, ride the snake

To the lake, the ancient lake, baby

The snake is long, seven miles

Ride the snake...he's old, and his skin is cold

The west is the best

The west is the best

Get here, and we'll do the rest

The blue bus is callin' us

The blue bus is callin' us

Driver, where you taken' us

The killer awoke before dawn, he put his boots on

He took a face from the ancient gallery

And he walked on down the hall

He went into the room where his sister lived, and...then he

Paid a visit to his brother, and then he

He walked on down the hall, and

And he came to a door...and he looked inside

Father, yes son, I want to kill you

Mother...I want to...fuck you

C'mon baby, take a chance with us

C'mon baby, take a chance with us

C'mon baby, take a chance with us

And meet me at the back of the blue bus

Doin' a blue rock

On a blue bus

Doin' a blue rock

C'mon, yeah

Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill

This is the end

Beautiful friend

This is the end

My only friend, the end

It hurts to set you free

But you'll never follow me

The end of laughter and soft lies

The end of nights we tried to die

This is the end

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