Millennium

On the front cover of the December 1999 issue of Reader's Digest, there appears the likeness of a hairy halo-headed, hairy faced likeness of Jesus and the inscription, "Whose Millennium." It refers to an article by Paul Johnson on page 63 titled: The Real Message of the Millennium. And the sub-title-These 2000 years conceal something quite remarkable, says the eminent historian.

The article is quite long, but I would just like to quote some significant portions of it and equate it to hard facts and sound reasoning. It starts out:

"What matters in history is not always the things that happen but also the things that obstinately refuse to happen. (Hey, folks! remember 1972?)

It was in 1882 that the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche made his celebrated and dire pronouncement: "God is dead." He was speaking for many intellectuals, who believed the progress of science would cause a decline in religious faith--with Christianity the principal loser.

As the year 1900 approached, many leading secular thinkers, including George Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells, argued that the dawning 20th century would mark the close of history's religious phase. As late as 1957, Julian Huxley, the first director-general of UNESCO, wrote in anticipatory triumph, "God is beginning to resemble not a ruler but the last fading smile of a cosmic Cheshire cat." (So far, so good. Now hold your nose as Johnson reveals his pro-Christian stance):

"But here we are, at the threshold of a new millennium, and Christianity is alive and well in the minds and hearts of countless believers. And all the evidence suggests that Christianity will still be flourishing another thousand years from now, for it continues to strike new roots and regain lost territories.

In West Africa, Christians whose ancestors were pagans two centuries ago have built one of the largest churches in the world, roughly the size of St. Peter's in Rome. In Russia, the building that for 67 years housed the Museum of Religion and Atheism is now a church of the Orthodox Christian Faith, crowded with worshippers. In the United States, nearly half the population attend a place of worship--the vast majority of them Christian churches--with regularity. Catholicism is spreading in South Africa, Protestant Evangelism in Latin America. Christianity is even growing again in China, despite 50 years of efforts by the Communist government to subvert it.

The millennium, then, is nothing less than a jubilee full of remarkable mysteries." (Ok, let go of your nose and take a deep breath). I quote enough of the article to prove a point. The article goes on at length, upholding Jesus and chastising science for cloning and emulating God, etc.

From here on I present the hard facts and sound reasoning's. Paul Johnson wrote in glowing terms of the Dr. Jekyll side of Christianity. Herein is the Mr. Hyde side of it:

Anyone schooled in the history of Christianity, is quite aware of its sordid past. As I'm sure Mr. Johnson is. One of the "remarkable mysteries" is why people who know of it, are still devoted to it. Well, hell, why do the diehards still hallow Herbie, knowing what a perverted asshole he was?

Johnson is blowing smoke if he believes Christianity will thrive in this millennium. Already it is coming apart at the seams. The Catholics have admitted that their priests are screwing altar boys, as they have done so many times in the past. This is a major criminal offense, and the ordinary citizen is put away for a long time for committing such a crime. But what does papa John do? Make him say 10 Hail Mary's and transfers him to another church where other altar boys become his prey!

Papa John has also apologized for all the cruelties committed by his church in the past. He glossed over Pope Pius XII who played an important role in the way the Catholic church reacted to the Nazi occupation during WWII. Not to mention the Protestant churches.

The Catholic church regarded the Jews as sub-human, and aided and abetted the Nazis in their "final solution" of exterminating all Jews. The Protestant churches were just as bad. So when push comes to shove and the chips are down, these holier than thou "Vicars of Christ" and these "Ministers" who preach the bible as "The Word of God" put their faith on hold as they look to save their own asses and adopt the role of Quislings in order to survive.

To show you how craven and two-faced the Christians are, I would like to quote a passage from Daniel Jonah Goldhagen's book, "Hitler's Willing Executioners." On page 110 it says-

"It is, therefore, no surprise that although the Catholic bishops did make a few public statements that decried the treatment or killing of foreigners, they did not speak out explicitly against the extermination of the Jews (of which they had full knowledge), remaining content with vague formulations that could apply to many people including Christian Slavs in war torn and German-barbarized Europe. The Protestant hierarchy was even less forthcoming regarding the fate of the Jews. Never once did any German bishop, Catholic or Protestant, speak out publicly on behalf of the Jews." Further down-

"---Although the German churches spoke out forcefully on many issues, they forsook the Jews of Germany utterly; in this sense, (notice) the religious leaders of Germany were men of God second and Germans first--so powerful was the anti-Semitic model--for these German men of God could not bring themselves to utter that Jews "are part of the human race" and to declare to their flocks that the moral laws were not suspended for the treatment of Jews." On page 609

"--Thousands of Catholic priests and Protestant ministers tended to the spiritual needs of the millions of Germans who served in the army, in police units, and in other institutions of killing. Did the Catholics among the perpetrators confess their killings of Jews as sin? Did the millions who witnessed and knew of the wholesale slaughter (especially in the Soviet Union where killings took place in the open for all to see) seek counsel from their spiritual guides? What did the men of God tell them? And why, as far as we know, did virtually none of them ever raise a voice against the slaughter of the Jews?"

So getting back to the article in Reader's Digest, there is an inset that states: "Twenty centuries ago, a man came into the world to preach a doctrine of gentleness and love. It is still with us." Now this presents a paradox. Please explain to me how this man could preach such a beautiful doctrine and proclaim the gospel from a bible filled with the worst kinds of torture, slaughter, persecutions, genocides, cruelties, etc., far surpassing anything the Nazis ever did? A bible in which he said every jot and tittle shall remain?

If that "gentleness and love" is still with us, it has a sorry-ass way of showing it. Over the centuries there has always been religious wars and wars between nations. So Johnson is having pipe dreams if he thinks the dawning of this new millennium will inspire us all with a religious awareness. If such a man did come preaching "gentleness and love" 20 centuries ago, very little of it is being practiced by the human race. So consequently it didn't make much of an impression. Let's face it. This new millennium won't be any different from the others. Except for the fact that man may exterminate himself before it ends. But take heart! There is still hope! I'd like to quote the last paragraph of Johnson's article:-(hold your nose again).

"In the two millennia of the Christian era, we have conquered many scourges of humankind--recurrent famines, smallpox. But we have not conquered death. Perhaps the greatest merit of Christianity is that it provides us with a key to this final mystery. It offers an antidote to the fear death arouses in us, a firm promise of another world beyond and the means to enter it. That is the lasting legacy left by the man born 2000 years ago, a legacy that has not diminished in all those years and which carries us with faith and hope into the third millennium, unafraid of anything it will bring." (Hmmm, There's a gold mine in the sky far aw-a--ay).

Within that last paragraph lies the answer as to why Christianity has such an iron grip on "humankind." The fear of the unknown and the Christian assurance that if you forsake worldly goods, pay your tithes, follow Christ, pray, go to church and be good, you will go to heaven. This makes the preachers more prosperous and the congregations more destitute. This is the same agenda Herbie followed. He gave us "God's Truth," told us to shun "Satan's world," pay all the tithes the bible commanded, honor the sabbath and the holy days and to keep our eye on the kingdom of God when we would become "kings and priests." This made the pervert prosperous, who scrambled our brains and scammed us out of most of our income.

So what lies ahead in the new millennium? The same old religious crap. The same old pious self-serving preachers preying on the poor deluded, and the same old scriptural messages being delivered every Sunday, as they have been in centuries past. With little effect. The man's message of "gentleness and love" made little impression. His legacy is merely the noise of a pop-gun drowned out by the cannon's roar, bomb bursts and nuclear explosions.

In the second paragraph of Johnson's article he quoted Nietzche. With the exception of "God is dead," I find much truth in the rest of the statement. It said that intellectuals believed the progress of science would cause a decline in religious faith---with Christianity the principal loser. Personally, this is what I also foresee in this new millennium. Science is improving by leaps and bounds, making new discoveries in the field of medicine, space, genetic engineering, archaeology, etc. In today's (Feb. 18) issue of the Columbus Dispatch's Faith and Value appears this excerpt from an article on the digs at Megiddo:

"One of the archaeologists, Dr. David Ussishkin of Tel Aviv University, discovered that the large city gate, usually associated with the biblical references to Solomon's building activity at Megiddo, actually rested in a layer of ruins in the century after Solomon, even according to the standard of chronology. This surprise set in motion even further research, including revised estimates of pottery dates, leading to Finkelstein's unsettling attack on biblical credibility."

Such scientific findings make religionists grind their teeth. Their minds block out the facts, concentrating more intensely on their faith. After all, the bible said God is not the author of confusion, and they are deathly afraid of being confused. Besides, didn't Jesus say not one jot nor tittle shall be removed from the Bible? In Johnson's article, he attempts to put a positive spin on Christianity for this new millennium. The fact is, that the sorry record of religion in general during the last 2,000 years doesn't bode well. Access to more religious data, broader studies and more critical analyses of the history of the bible are uncovering many discrepancies in this so-called "Word of God." This is the power and the promise of a life hereafter that the clergy wields over its laity. Once that's gone, their house of cards crumble. For the past 2,000 years its been stuck in the mud getting nowhere, spiritually. While civilization is advancing and improving at a faster pace.

At the advent of this new century, we are in the midst of a booming economy. Big businesses are thriving. As is religion. Yes, it also has become a "big business" by peddling the same old, same old. Meddling into peoples' minds and their pocketbooks. Promising them a trip to heaven if they obey "The Word of God" and threatening damnation if they don't. (Herbie said we'd have power over nations). The God business is a pretty good racket. Turn on any television program on Sunday morning. You'll see what I mean. Very impressive. They have a large audience that proves what P.T. Barnum said about a sucker being born every minute. Once you bite the bait you become a born again sucker. I liken these Sunday morning Revivals to the World Wrestling Federation spectaculars. Pop corn for the brain.

For the beginning of this new millennium, Johnson foresees the legacy of Christ continuing, as it did in the past 2,000 years amid utter turmoil, religious persecution, strife, imprisonment, torture, wars, murder and mayhem. Did anyone pay attention to Christ's legacy then? What the hell makes Johnson think this new millennium is going to make any difference? It's the same old song. The Christian Chrysler continues spinning its wheels while civilization advances on, with new explorations, new inventions, new discoveries, etc. The grandest and most exciting discovery of all will be when civilization as a whole finally discovers what a total farce the entire religious system is. I foresee that occurring in this century. Then, when that occurs, people will break the religious chains that bind them. They can take back control of their lives and with self-assurance quote what William Henley once said:

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