A Review of Revelations--Part 6--The Beginning of the End

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6] [Part 7] [Part 8] [Part 9] [Part 10] [Part 11] [Part 12]

This is the continuation of my series reviewing Revelations as part of my reading of The Book of Revelation: Things Which Must Shortly Come to Pass by G. Erik Brandt. In my last installment, we were finished with the events of the Sixth Seal, and the sealing of the 144,000. 

Now we move into Chapter 8, which sees the opening of the Seventh Seal. This chapter of Revelations begins:

1 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. 

 2 And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. 

The Silence:

Brandt notes, in his book, notes: "Unlike the previous six seals, each opening with grand and sometimes noisy panoramic views of earth history, the seventh seal opens in silence. The setting is not on earth, but in heaven, for all things on earth are in commotion." Brandt describes the silence as the "calm before the storm when the winds will be released with great ferocity upon the inhabitants of the world."

According to Brandt's reading of the scriptures, the silence is partly due to the grief of the Lord and the angels at the gross wickedness on the earth, and the impending fate of mortals below. But, "[i]n an expression of divine mercy and long-suffering, the Lord prepares seven final warning trumpets to sound a forceful call to the children of men to repent or suffer destruction."

The length of time represented by the "half hour" is probably not per our reckoning. The scriptures indicate that one day to the Lord is 1000 years of earthly time. (2 Peter 3:8). Thus, using this time frame, the "half hour" in Heaven will be equal to an elapsed time of approximately 21 years on Earth.  Brandt indicates that John used the Greek word hos, which places the time as an approximation, and not an exact accounting. Nevertheless, if the Seventh Thousand year period began around the turn of the century, it would indicate, per Brandt, that "[t]he pending events are to begin in the third decade of this century or the early 2020s." For my own reasons, I suspect that it may be somewhat later, perhaps in the late 2020s or early 2030s.

In any event, as Brandt describes:

The silence will end with the blast of the final warning trumpets announcing that His coming is soon at hand. The servants of God on earth have been sealed and prepared, the day of mercy is fast closing. God readies seven trumpets to sound.

The Meaning of the Trumpets:

The basic purpose of the trumpets is to sound a final warning to the inhabitants of the Earth to repent and turn to the Lord. Justice requires the Lord to provide this final warning. As the prophet Ezekiel explained:

 4 Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. 

 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.

(Ezek. 33:4-5). For instance, prior to Joshua taking the city of Jericho, his troops circled the city seven times, with the priests sounding their trumpets. On the final day, the priests sounded their trumpets seven times (signifying the completion of the warning to the inhabitants), upon which the city walls fell and the Israelite armies overran the city and destroyed its populous. (See Josh. 6). Brandt also points out that trumpets were used to announce the beginning of an event or royal arrival, or to call gather the people and to prepare for war. (See, e.g., Num 10:9-10). Thus, to the wicked, the trumpets will be a last warning of impending doom. The righteous, the trumpets should be viewed as an announcement of the imminent arrival of the Lord in his Second Coming; and, to the Church members particularly, it will also be a call to gather together in Zion.

Modern revelations provides additional insights:

 Q. What are we to understand by the sounding of the trumpets, mentioned in the 8th chapter of Revelation? 

A. We are to understand that as God made the world in six days, and on the seventh day he finished his work, and sanctified it, and also formed man out of the dust of the earth, even so, in the beginning of the seventh thousand years will the Lord God sanctify the earth, and complete the salvation of man, and judge all things, and shall redeem all things, except that which he hath not put into his power, when he shall have sealed all things, unto the end of all things; and the sounding of the trumpets of the seven angels are the preparing and finishing of his work, in the beginning of the seventh thousand years—the preparing of the way before the time of his coming.

 (D&C 77:12). Thus, we see that the sounding of the trumpets marks both an ending and a new beginning.

While John focuses on the judgments on the wicked, there are a second set of trumpets that will mark such events as the Saints being caught up to Heaven, the resurrection of the righteous, and so on. (See D&C 88:95-107). Brandt suggests that, because these trumps will also follow a half hour of silence in Heaven, that they are simultaneous or co-extensive to the seven trumpets in the Revelation.

A Quick Run Around the Web--January 13, 2016

Isis suckling Horus

• "'You're named after a goddess, not the terrorist group': Tearful teenager Isis Brown responds to bullies who have made her life a misery as she offers support to those who share her name in brave video"--Daily Mail. These people--that harass girls over the name Isis--should be horsewhipped for being so stupid and cruel.
• "The China Bubble"--Walter Russell Mead at The American Interest. Mead observes that "[i]t’s probably bursting, one way or another. And the world hasn’t figured out what to do about it." He writes:

Here at TAI, we have been following the commodity crash story for some time—and not just as a piece of economic news mostly interesting to financial market speculators. This is a political and a geopolitical story as well. Falling commodity prices matter to everything from the security of Putin’s power base to the ability of the oil-dependent Nigerian state to wage an effective war against Boko Haram; the fate of democracy in countries like Brazil and South Africa is complicated by the prospective fallout from the commodity crash; Venezuela may implode into chaos as a result of the oil crash, and fears for Venezuela’s future were a major consideration in Cuba’s decision to respond to the Obama Administration’s normalization overtures. In other words, significant shifts in world commodity prices can tilt the balance of power, undermine the stability of some governments, and boost the prospects of others.

But the story may be getting still bigger. We may be looking at something more serious than the unwinding of a commodity boom; we may be looking at the bursting of a bubble that could dwarf what happened in 2008. The China Bubble is bigger than the real estate bubble, and its liquidation could pose bigger risks for world politics than the subprime implosion.

There’s a difference between China and the China Bubble. China is a middle-income developing country bumping up against the limits of a growth model built on massive exports of manufactured goods. There are lots of bubbles inside China, largely because both national and local governments have pursued a mix of stimulative policies even as the health of the underlying growth model deteriorated. Massive over-investment in real estate, infrastructure and manufacturing capacity, overvalued stock prices and poorly priced financial assets have created an increasingly toxic and dangerous economic situation inside China, and a rattled government is doing its best to keep the system from imploding. The government is hoping to achieve a “soft landing” as China switches away from growth led by manufacturing for export to growth led by services and internal consumption. We shall see; China’s regulators and managers are skilled and have a lot of ammunition. But this is a difficult maneuver to execute and as Chinese society and the Chinese economy both become more complex, the task of running the country keeps getting harder.

The China Bubble on the other hand is an international phenomenon. All over the world, the producers of commodities and manufactured goods have bought into the idea that Chinese demand is a perpetual growth machine. Producers of everything from cotton to copper to soybeans to silicon chips have assumed that double digit growth in China’s appetite for the components of its industrial machine will continue indefinitely—and they have invested to create the capacity to match this inexorably growing demand. From the jungles of Africa and the backwoods of Brazil to the rice paddies of Thailand and the Australian Outback there have been massive investments in mining, agriculture, energy production and infrastructure that assume continuing and even accelerating growth in Chinese demand.

These investments, the excess capacity they represent, and the stocks and bonds dependent on these investments (both inside and outside China) are what the China Bubble is about.

The Chinese government may or may not succeed in stabilizing the economic situation there, at least for now, and Beijing may or may not succeed at avoiding the dreaded “middle income trap” in which formerly rapidly growing developing economies hit a wall after reaching a certain level of per capita prosperity. And the inevitable deceleration of Chinese growth that comes with the transition to a less export-dependent economy may or may not result in a financial crash inside China. But whether or not China’s economic planners execute their new strategy effectively, the China Bubble is going to burst.

That is to say, if China’s economic managers fail, the financial system implodes and China faces a wrenching transition and a hard landing, the massive global investments built to sustain China’s manufacturing growth will fail—dramatically, suddenly, and expensively. But even if China’s economic managers succeed, and the country moves to a soft landing with growth still strong but increasingly based outside manufacturing and the export economy, the global investments predicated on China’s continuing hunger for the commodities and components it needs for a manufacturing export boom will also fail.

• "Stand by for Collision"--Richard Fernandez at PJ Media. Fernandez explains that it is too late for Europe to easily resolve the immigrant crises because they are caught in a flash-flood, from which they are only, just now, witnessing the first trickles:

In belated mea culpa former senior adviser to president Obama Dennis Ross at last took his boss to task in an article titled: "How Obama Created a Mideast Vacuum". It's too late Dennis.   What "too late" means was driven home years ago when one of the volunteer members of the Philippine Airlines cadaver recovery team described an accident which took the lives of 5 members of a university mountaineering club.  The party was trekking along a dry riverbed on the lower slope of an 8,000 foot volcano in Mindoro.  The weather was fine and the mountaineers were doomed.  Unknown to them a squall had dumped a slug of rain on the peak high above them.  The first warning they had of oncoming tons of water was a rumbling sound round the corner of the gorge.  Then the flood came and only those fast enough to clamber up the riverbanks survived.

In the same way the present calm in Europe can be deceiving.  Even if its leaders were somehow to reconstitute its borders, a  gigantic flood from that vacuum upstream of the old continent is already rushing with irresistible force upon it. The UNHCR says refugee numbers are expected to increase in 2016. Some estimates say as many as 10 million more are on the way.  From the beaches of North Africa to the overcrowded camps in Jordan and Lebanon; from every nook and cranny in MENA -- they are on the way.  One way or the other a terrible smash is now in train.

There remains the belief that Western leaders can still fix this problem with a little tweaking.  But the time for easy action has passed.  The Golden Hour in which to prevent irreversible damage has lapsed, neglected by a Washington too sure of its own fantasies to act decisively.  Now the storm has broken and  Merkel is downstream of a dam opened by the policy of "leading from behind".  The valve with which Obama had hoped to shut down the Islamic civil war has been turned the wrong way to full open.  Worse, the wheel has broken off in his hand and he is staring at the snapped spindle.

That human tide of misery will combine with the denial which this generation of Western leaders are capable of to produce a separate catastrophe, still in the future, itself foreseeable, which can still be avoided.  If only ... if only... those who missed the chance the first time now wake up to act this second time.

Yet as Friedrich Hegel once observed what history teaches is that humanity learns nothing from history.  Our Tower of Babel is helpless to save itself.  Ironically if Europe survives it will be on account of the ghosts: in the remnants of the culture the left has come close to killing;  the providence of a God they no longer believe in;  the stirrings of memory of a nation they have doomed to oblivion; the struggles of a half-remembered honor we are told to disown.

The fact is, for West to survive, it must become something other than what our PC leaders have tried to make it.  For it is written that "the stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone."  It's poetic justice to be sure but we have to accept the justice if we are to save what's left of the poetry.

• Related: "Denmark becomes the latest country to report surge in women being groped by groups of migrants as locals say Syrians 'go nuts if they see a girl'"--Daily Mail.

• Related: "Firearm sales in Austria are up 350% due to 'unease' over increasing number of migrants... months after dealers warned they had virtually sold out of shotguns"--Daily Mail.

• "As U.S. Modernizes Nuclear Weapons, ‘Smaller’ Leaves Some Uneasy"--New York Times.

In short, while the North Koreans have been thinking big — claiming to have built a hydrogen bomb, a boast that experts dismiss as wildly exaggerated — the Energy Department and the Pentagon have been readying a line of weapons that head in the opposite direction.

The build-it-smaller approach has set off a philosophical clash among those in Washington who think about the unthinkable.

Mr. Obama has long advocated a “nuclear-free world.” His lieutenants argue that modernizing existing weapons can produce a smaller and more reliable arsenal while making their use less likely because of the threat they can pose. The changes, they say, are improvements rather than wholesale redesigns, fulfilling the president’s pledge to make no new nuclear arms.

But critics, including a number of former Obama administration officials, look at the same set of facts and see a very different future. The explosive innards of the revitalized weapons may not be entirely new, they argue, but the smaller yields and better targeting can make the arms more tempting to use — even to use first, rather than in retaliation.

Gen. James E. Cartwright, a retired vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who was among Mr. Obama’s most influential nuclear strategists, said he backed the upgrades because precise targeting allowed the United States to hold fewer weapons. But “what going smaller does,” he acknowledged, “is to make the weapon more thinkable.”

Making smaller, "tactical" weapons, is the only way to make nuclear weapons usable. Large nuclear weapons--the giant megaton weapons developed during the Cold War--have only a limited use for existential threats. For instance, the U.S. would only use its current arsenal if it were faced with a massive nuclear attack from another country.  Smaller devices allow nuclear weapons to be used in a battlefield setting, such as stopping an armored formation, or a flotilla of ships. Small nuclear weapons are by far more useful and we should be developing and stockpiling them.

• "'No Extinctions': Polar Bears Survived Periods When The Arctic Had No Ice"--Daily Caller.
• "Rumors Are Flying That We Finally Found Gravitational Waves"--Gizmodo.
• "Return of incandescent light bulbs as MIT makes them more efficient than LEDs"--The Telegraph.
• "Volquartsen Barrels for SW22 Pistol"--The Firearms Blog. Volquartsen will be releasing high end barrels (including a carbon wrapped one) for Smith & Wesson's new Victory .22 pistol.
• "Hillary Clinton: dead candidate walking"--Borepatch. "I expect an announcement from her by March that she's stepping down due to 'health reasons',  and Joe to enter a brokered convention."
• "AI for the Masses"--Global Guerrillas. "All of the big tech companies are now open sourcing their AI (deep learning) software.  They are also open sourcing the hardware designs of the machines needed to train the software."
• "Russia Is Arming Hezbollah, Say Two of the Group’s Field Commanders"--Daily Beast.
• "The Tribal War With Islam"--Sultan Knish. From the article:

The United States tried to fight guerrillas and terrorists as if they were modern states with their own industrial military organizations protecting their industrial core. This tactic made no sense in Vietnam or even Iraq because that wasn't the enemy we were facing. But states are built to fight other states. Tribes are built to fight other tribes. Religions are built to fight other religions.

The modern multicultural super-tolerant western state of this century takes stock of its strongest point, and decides that it's not the old industrial machine, which destroys the environment, its traditional heritage, which is problematic, or its problem solving skills, which are too technical, but its values of super-tolerant multiculturalism. And so it wages war on those insane terms.

• "Evidence of the Medieval Warm Period in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania"--Watts Up With That. So, not a regional anomaly. 
• "What Those Sailors Captured By Iran Should Have Done"--Captain's Journal. The author wonders why they didn't scuttle their boats.
• And last, but not least, a new Woodpile Report.

A Quick Run Around the Web--January 12, 2016

Two of these people look happy. ("The Germans Welcoming Refugees Into Their Homes")

• "The Evolutionary Psychological Perspective on War, Conquest, and Alien Rule" (PDF)--Satoshi Kanazawa, Interdisciplinary Institute of Management, London School of Economics and Political Science. From the abstract: "The evolutionary psychological perspective implies that women should be far less resistant to alien rule than men, because they have the option of marrying into the conquering group; however, this sex difference should disappear when women are no longer reproductive. The analysis of the Eurobarometer data from 15 European Union nations strongly confirms this prediction." (H/t for the article and photograph to Chateau Heartiste).
• "China is building its first military base in Africa. America should be very nervous."--The Week. "News is quietly breaking that China has sealed a deal to build its first military base in that little country, a former French colony strategically located across from Yemen on the Red Sea, squeezed between Eritrea and Somalia. Confirming years of under-the-radar suspicions, AFRICOM commander Gen. David Rodriguez told The Hill that the 'logistics hub' and airfield will let China 'extend their reach' into Africa over the course of an initial 10-year contract. Currently, The Hill observed, China can't do much more than stage some naval patrols out of Djibouti ports." China has been quietly establishing colonies--actual settlements of Chinese--in Africa, but needs the means to protect those colonies.
• "Future Economists Will Probably Call This Decade the 'Longest Depression'"--The Huffington Post. I'm going to suggest an alternate title: "The calm before the storm."
• "'We told you so,' Eastern Europe tells Germany"--The Local (Germany).
• "Former New York runway model goes behind the seams and launches Mormon temple dress company to 'help women look their best'"--Daily Mail. Temple clothing that isn't made out of polyester fabrics normally reserved for industrial strength table cloths? Blaspheme! (sarc.) 
• "EXCLUSIVE: Couple assaulted by group of teens at Metro station in unprovoked attack"--Fox 5 News. The fourth such attack since late December--just a couple of weeks. Of course, "Metro has yet to put out any suspect description or surveillance images of the suspects." 

Survival/Self-Defense Stuff:

• "LuminAID PackLite"--Geek Prepper. A review of the device, which is "an inflatable lantern that is recharged by the sun...."
• "Emergency planning beyond the bug-out bag"--Backwoods Home Magazine. A discussion of bug-out vehicles (and trailers), getting to your destination, living in a tent, and some other topics related to evacuation.
• "Blood Groups"--Survival UK. The basics on compatibility between blood groups.
• "Frontal Area (Almost) Doesn't Matter For Stopping Power"--196,800 Revolutions Per Minute. "Bullets - wadcutters aside - don't cut neat chunks of flesh out of a target. They stretch and bend the tissue around them, including paper, which is fairly brittle in comparison to human fat, muscle, and other tissues. If this stretching is occurring, we would not expect to see very much difference at all between a .30" caliber 'through and through' FMJ wound and a .22" caliber one, and indeed, we don't. In fact, doctors have a difficult time telling them apart, until the bullet is extracted."
• "Bribery: Keep the money destined for such things separately and in small denominations like 5’s, 10’s and 20’s. Volume after [all] helps grease the gears on a psychological level."
• "Dark Arts for Good Guys: Where there's smoke"--Straight Forward in a Crooked World. The author writes: 

Terrorist as a whole maybe inflicted with bravery for the cause (or the riot) when they are in a pack where they can feed off each other. Isolated most are not brave rugged men, but twenty-somethings (or younger) plagued with doubt and insecurity. That doesn't make them any less dangerous, just unsure of themselves. You have to feed on the insecurity.

You're not trying to get them to flee the city, but you can deter them off your hotel floor and possibly the hotel even if you're not armed.

With the exception of firemen and a few other certifiable crazies who run into buildings to save lives, no one wants to die in a fire. If the un-shaved kid in the ski mask, camo jacket and carrying a banged up assault rifle looks up the stair well or down the hall and thinks the building is on fire, and that the infidels are going to die anyway he's probably not going to see a reason to get trapped in a burning building. In third world countries plenty of people die in building fires and its a terrifying prospect for anyone.

He then goes on to describe how to make a smoke bomb to provide the illusion of a building fire. Read the whole thing.

A Quick Run Around the Web--January 11, 2016

Signing of Declaration of Independence by Armand-Dumaresq, c1873

• "The Western Spring"--Richard Fernandez at PJ Media. From the article:

News that CAIR has demanded an apology from Donald Trump for evicting a Muslim protester at his rally and reports that left-wing protesters and police have turned out in force to bottle up "far-right" demonstrators in Germany bookend a single story.  It's on -- the long-awaited fight against PC orthodoxy is finally on. Trump is unlikely to apologize, and CAIR is even more unlikely to back down.  With 3 million Middle Eastern and African refugees due to arrive in Europe this year, the clashes between German protesters are only likely to intensify.

The commotion you hear is not going to stop, it will only get worse. The Western Spring is finally here, and before it's done it threatens to change everything.

The tension between the forces of political correctness and the pent-up forces of repressed cultural traditions is now bursting like a spring wound up beyond containment. ...

* * *

A political crisis of the kind which may engulf Europe has a destabilizing effect analogous to free-surface flooding in ships. This occurs when tons of liquid slosh inside a ship and slam it from one side to another. The great transatlantic liner SS Normandie sank during WW2 in New York harbor from the water pumped into her by firefighters trying to put out a blaze. Suggestions from her designer to flood her to shallow bottom were rejected in favor of a failed program of flooding and counter-flooding which caused her to heel over and capsize.

In the same way, periods of political upheaval will threaten to overturn societies unless people pay attention.  One advantage the United States theoretically enjoys over Europe during periods of free-surface flooding is the Constitution. This serves as a foundation, a sort of ballast which lowers the meta-centric height of the ship of state and keeps it on an even keel in all but the roughest sailing.

It was meant to provide a check against excesses from either side in a political duel. The Constitution itself  used to rest upon an even more basic rock, a widely shared set of assumptions, moral and religious beliefs which obtained at the beginnings of the nation. That gave it tremendous stabilizing power.  Unfortunately the left has steadily chipped away at this Constitutional ballast and the stone on which it was builded, a fact they may regret before long.

Unfortunately for these immigrants, they may find that Europe is harder to escape than to enter.

• "FBI's Clinton probe expands to public corruption track"--Fox News. "The FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of private email as secretary of state has expanded to look at whether the possible 'intersection' of Clinton Foundation work and State Department business may have violated public corruption laws, three intelligence sources not authorized to speak on the record told Fox News."
• "Pretend to be Christians: ISIS urges UK jihadis to cut beards, shun mosques & wear crosses"--Daily Express. The article is about a new ISIS manual entitled "Safety and Security Guidelines for Lone Wolf Mujahideen and Small Cells." You can download the manual in English (PDF) here.
• "Man in failed attack on Paris police lived in German shelter for asylum seekers"--Washington Post. "The Islamist extremist who staged a failed attack on a Paris police station last week had been living in a shelter for asylum seekers in western Germany, police said, deepening fears that militants may be infiltrating Europe disguised as migrants." The worst kept secret in the world.
• "Female student at centre of Rolling Stone false gang rape claim created a fake identity for 'rapist' to lure in her love interest"--Daily Mail. The Daily Caller also has a story about Jackie Coakley's lurid fairy tale, reporting: "The former University of Virginia student whose false claim about being gang-raped was published by Rolling Stone is a “serial liar” who– in addition to fabricating the rape story — made up a second identity and lied about having a terminal illness, all so that she could win the affections of a student she had a crush on, attorneys representing a dean at the school claimed in a recent lawsuit filing." 
• "Simplistic Ballistics: Shooting on Inclines"--The Firearms Blog.

Review of the STUL Slide Removal Tool

The Slide Removal Tool

I think that one of the easiest pistols to field strip is the Beretta P92 and the related line of pistols. In fact, to me, its easier to remove the slide on most any handgun than the Glock. Perhaps it is just a lack of general dexterity on my part, but trying to get a grip on the two opposing ends of the slide lock while pulling it down, and holding the slide back the requisite 1/8 inch, seems beyond my grasp (pun intended).

Fortunately, GTUL has come to the rescue with the STUL Slide Remove Tool. As the photo above shows, the device is a molded piece of plastic that slide up over the frame to engage each side of the slide lock. There are two small grooves that engage the slide stop. Simply squeeze with one hand, while holding the slide back 1/8 inch with the other, and then pull the STUL device downward. It is super simple and easy, and worth the $12 price. I give it two thumbs up.

I ordered it from Brownells, but I'm sure it available from other sources.

A Quick Run Around the Web--January 8, 2016 (Updated)

Adolf Mosengel: Dorf in den Berner Alpen (c. 1885)

• First off, check out Active Response Training's "Weekend Knowledge Dump."
• "Why Does Germany Condone Mass Rape?"--David P. Goldman at PJ Media. He writes:

Germany's leaders have nothing of signifcance to say about the worst outbreak of sexual assaults in Germany since the Red Army moved out after World War II. Why won't they do anything? Answer: for the same reason that the Catholic Church insists that Islam is a religion of peace. The alternative--watching from a distance a civilizational collapse in real time with its attendant horrors--is too terrible for Angela Merkel or Pope Francis I to contemplate. They would rather take casualties than absorb the horror of the situation. The root of the problem is theological. The West is paralyzed by its own notion of the good.

I generally agree with Goldman, but I have to disagree here. What he is describing is not the reason for the silence from German leaders, generally, and certainly not the advanced secularists that inhabit the halls of power throughout the Western world. Perhaps it informs their psychology, to a certain extent; certainly it provides them a means of manipulating their populations. But there are other considerations. First, some pragmatic reasons. Germany's birth dearth presents it with the dilemma of either cutting back on government expenditures (including pensions), or import new tax payers. It, like most of the industrialized world, has chosen the latter option. Moreover, just as American companies have resorted to a new form of slavery (by using either low-cost illegal aliens or low-cost workers here on special work visas, such as the H1-B program) to lower production costs and increase profits, so too will European corporations where they are able. Finally, migrants make a reliable voting bloc for socialist leaders. Thus, importing workers is a win-win for both fiscal conservatives and social liberals. 

Second, as Oswald Spengler described (predicted?) nearly 100 years ago, Western civilization is now in an age of Imperialism. Daniel Greenfield described the implications of this in his essay: "The Two Empires We Must Defeat." Greenfield notes that nationalism is antithetical to imperialism:

Empires may be expansionist, but they're also tolerant and multicultural. They have to be, since out of their initial phase they have to enlist the cooperation and services of subjects from a variety of cultures and religions. An empire may initially be fueled by the talents and skills of a core nation, but as it reaches its next phase, it begins sacrificing their interests to the larger structure of empire.

Greenfield goes on to describe two types of imperialists: those of international law (essentially what Spengler would have referred to as the cult of money) and ideology, represented by socialism in its various flavors. He writes:

These two types of imperialists are incapable of representing native workers or communities because they are transnationalists. Their vision is cosmopolitan, rather than representative. They are entranced with a byzantine international arrangement and uninterested in the lives of the people they are ruining. 

Britain and France have long experience with being international, cosmopolitan empires. Germany and the rest of Europe, less so. It is not surprising that real resistance to immigration would first arise in these latter nations.

• Related: "Reports: asylum seekers among Cologne attacks suspects"--DW. "Police identified some suspects who harassed women in Cologne on New Year's Eve as asylum seekers, media reports say. City police reportedly did not want to publicize this because of its 'politically awkward' nature."
• Related: "German vigilante group vows to protect women from migrant attackers as 34 suspects are arrested - including three for gang-raping two teenagers"--Daily Mail.
• Related: "Unprecedented sex harassment in Helsinki at New Year, Finnish police report"--The Telegraph.
• Related: "New Year Sex Assaults Reported in Sweden"--AP.
• Related: "More horror sex attack claims: Teen girls gang-raped by four Syrian nationals in Germany"--Daily Express.
• Related: "Syrian Migrants In Cologne Tell German Police They’re Above The Law"--Daily Caller.
• Related: "Huge influx of migrant men will lead to more sex attacks like those in Cologne, says analyst, as it's revealed Austrian police have ALSO covered up identical gang assaults"--Daily Mail.
• Related: "Cologne New Year sex attacks: Germany's women are angry, scared - and getting tired of excuses"--The Telegraph. "Many German women are now beginning to voice fears that their personal safety is being compromised in the name of political correctness." Ya' think?
• Related: "German Shops Sell Out of Pepper Spray in Wake of Cologne Migrant Rapes"--Breitbart.

• "PEGIDA UK – Splintering Among K’s and Amygdala Motivation Lesson"--Anonymous Conservative. From the post:

In the early stage of a K-shift, while threat and harshness are still avoidable and deniable, there will be a period where splintering will occur among the right. As a result, some rightward individuals will cling to aspects of r which give them comfort, while trying to maneuver politically and for social reasons in directions other than the K-strategy, as the Cuckservatives of the US do. Other groups with amygdalae only partly trained to react to a single deviation from one aspect of the K-strategy will focus on one aspect of K, from family values and social conservatism, to nationalism, to demands for freedom from government oppression, each to the exclusion of the rest of the K-strategy. They may attempt to compromise, or reduce conflict stimuli on other aspects of K as a strategic move, driven by their amygdala’s obsessed focus.

As the apocalypse goes down, there will be a reversal of the splintering, leading the right to fuse, but this will only occur as violence and threat become undeniable and a necessity that must be addressed. If real violence and threat were actually present in everyone’s world now, the similar aspects of right-leaning ideologues would unite them as allies against the threat, overwhelming their amygdalae’s present drive to avoid conflict. It would be something which would be actively driven by a cognitive desire of the amygdala to alleviate more thoroughly the massive anxiety produced by the threat. As they say, there is nothing like common enemies.

• "Sources: Suspect Confesses To Shooting Officer, Says He Did It In the Name Of Islam"--CBS News. This has to do with the shooting of a Philadelphia police officer late yesterday evening. Update: "At a press conference this afternoon it was revealed Archer [the shooter], who has a criminal record, used a police handgun reported stolen in 2013."
• "Immigrants in the Workforce, State by State and Industry By Industry"--National Journal. "Im­mig­rants make up 13 per­cent of the pop­u­la­tion and 17 per­cent of the work­force, .... Im­mig­rants are more likely than U.S.-born work­ers to hold jobs in six of the 13 ma­jor in­dus­tries ex­amined, in­clud­ing man­u­fac­tur­ing and ad­min­is­trat­ive ser­vices."
• "FLIR Announces 'Its Most Affordable' Thermal Monocular"--The Firearms Blog. MSRP of $599, and supposedly able to resolve animals and people out to 100 yards.
• "Sleeping System Selection For Preppers"--Arizona Weaponcraft. A look at sleeping bags.
• "Area Air Purification, Part 1"--Blue Collar Prepper. Filtering or keeping contaminants out of a room or structure.
• "Campfire Reflector Wall Doesn’t Work… Part 2"--Dirt Time. The author responds to criticisms about his earlier study showing that reflector walls actually don't work to reflect heat.
• "New Crosman Pioneer Airbow"--The Firearms Blog. "Arrows fired [sic] from recurve bows travel at an average of 225 fps while arrows fired [sic] from compound bows travel at an average of 300 fps. But a 375 grain arrow fired from the Airbow travels at 450 fps. Not only that, according to Crosman it’s possible to fire all 8 arrows in the same timeframe it takes to fire just 3 arrows using a crossbow." Bows don't use gunpowder--you don't "fire" them. Semantics aside, the product sounds interesting, and its price--$849 MSRP--is about that of many compound bows.
• "Win A Free Case Of MREs"--Modern Survival Blog. Mmm, good.
• "HF E Mail System"--Survival UK. The author discusses how to use an HF radio and sound card interface to make use of an "email" system. Note: it makes use of 5 main "hubs" to forward the messages around the world. According to the author, it is not fast, but it works.
• "Controlled Round Feed: Cutting Through The Hype"--Art of the Rifle. Discussing controlled round feed (versus push feed) in a bolt action rifle, as well as advantages and disadvantages. 
• "The Biggest Pre-Attack Indicator Of Them All"--No Nonsense Self-Defense. The author writes (with a slight edit of my own):

People are always asking me about pre-attack indicators. How do you know when you're about to be attacked? How do you tell the difference between  threat displays and pre-assault indicators? What do your look for?

 Here is the #1 pre-attack indicator: YOU'RE BEING AN A[**]HOLE!

• "HK33 magazines that work"--VolkStudio Blog. One of the main reasons I never attempted an HK33 build was that the magazines were hard to find, and outrageously expensive. Oleg Volk has found that the ProMag polymer magazines ($14.95 MSRP) work pretty well, though.
• "Bacteria found in Otzi the iceman could turn the Out of Africa theory on its head: 5,300-year-old germs suggest there was more than one mass migration into Europe"--Daily Mail.

Scientists believe that there were originally two distinct strains of H.pylori - an African and an Asian strain - which merged to form the modern strain which infects people in Europe today.

But when they analysed the DNA of Ӧtzi's H.pylori, the team made an intriguing discovery. 

Rather than being infected with the same strain as Europeans today, the iceman had a strain more closely related to bacteria found in modern Central and South Asia.

It had been assumed that Stone Age people were already infected with the European strain of the bacteria before they settled down, giving up the nomadic life for farming, before Ӧtzi's time in the Copper Age.

But the findings from Ӧtzi turn this theory on its head, indicating that the movements of early Europeans may have been much more complicated than previously believed. 

'The recombination of the two types of Helicobacter may have only occurred at some point after Ötzi's era and this shows that the history of settlements in Europe is much more complex than previously assumed,' explained Dr Frank Maixner, a microbiologist at EURAC.

He added: ‘We actually don’t know what kind of people brought this African H.pylori into Europe.

'What we do know is that the signal for this second population, which has come into Europe is strongest in North East Africa. 

‘What more than likely happened…is that the North East signal, found in modern day Europeans, had not evolved by the time we left Africa 65,000 years ago.'

The 'Out of Africa' theory holds that the main migration from Africa occurred around 65,000 years ago.

A Quick Run Around the Web--January 7, 2015

Just one entry for today:

• "Regarding the events of January 5, 2015"--Stuff from Hsoi (H/t Bayou Renaissance Man). The author describes a violent home invasion by what turned out to be a very large, mentally disturbed man, and the subsequent self-defense shooting. The author gives a fairly detailed account of the events leading up to the shooting, his personal perspective/knowledge of facts at the time of the event, and a bit about the aftermath. He also discusses a bit why he did not consider attempting going toe-to-toe with the burglar (the perpetrator violently broke through the door of a house, which was occupied, early in the morning--i.e., nighttime--with what appeared to be the intent to commit a felony, so this seems to count as a burglary in the common law, traditional sense of the term).

Storms in California--Freezing Temperatures in the East

A couple weather related articles:

The Daily Mail reports:

A huge El Nino storm has begun battering California, with the West Coast bracing itself for heavy rain, snow, flash floods and possible mudslides.

Forecasters have said the torrid conditions are developing faster than expected, with some places even bracing for snow - and they say Tuesday's torrid weather is just the beginning.

They believe storms lining up along the Pacific coast could continue to wreak havoc across the state for the next two weeks. 

Flash flood warnings on Tuesday were issued in Ventura, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties.

Also:

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said early Tuesday that rainfall could still be strong enough to trigger flash flooding and debris flows on fire-scarred hillsides.

Residents of the Silverado Canyon burn area in Orange County and the Solimar burn area in Ventura County have been told they may want to evacuate in advance of the storms, but have not been ordered to do so. 

A flash-flood watch for wildfire burn areas is in effect through late Wednesday.

Besides today's storm, the article indicates that two more storms are expected on Wednesday and Thursday, bringing another 3 inches of rain to the San Francisco Bay area.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Continental Divide, a polar vortex will bring unusually low temperatures according to Accuweather. I think a graphic portrays the matter better than words:

A Quick Run Around the Web--January 2, 2016

• "Mississippi River flooding to threaten more levees, homes after leaving St. Louis area submerged"--AccuWeather. 

Water levels will continue to rise in Memphis, Tennessee, and Greenville, Mississippi, as well as Baton Rouge, Louisiana, through the second week of January. Levees will be forced to hold back the rising water, but in some cases may fail, as has been seen in the past week. Residents in these areas will want to be prepared for historic flooding.

Flooding on the middle portion of the Mississippi River and some of its tributaries reached levels not seen during the winter months since records began during the middle 1800s.

As I've written about before, my concern is a threat to the Old River Control System.

• "2016 resolution? Stock up on guns"--Howie Carr at The Boston Herald. 

... Obama, Holder, Lynch et al. have zero interest in enforcing the existing gun statutes because they’re violated in large measure by illegal aliens, gangbangers, drive-by shooters, street muggers and fifth-generation welfare layabouts — in other words, the core constituencies of the Democratic Party. 

• Related: "On Guns, The Democrats Aren't Serious"--Powerline Blog. Obama and his ilk have no interest in enforcing gun laws already on the book.

• Related; "Texas Governor Challenges Obama On Gun Control: 'Come And Take It'"--Info Wars. 

• "Gun Sales Surge In Switzerland As Army Chief Warns 'Arm Yourselves'"--Zero Hedge. According to the article, applications for gun permits increased 20% during the past year.

• Related: "Overwhelmed by 'Migrants,' Sweden Throws in the Towel as Europe Faces 'General, Permanent Terror Threat'"--Michael Walsh at PJ Media. "Overwhelmed by the human tide of 2015, the center-left government is deploying extraordinary new border controls and slashing benefits in an unmistakable signal to refugees contemplating the long trek to Sweden in the new year: Stay out."

• "Romancing the Sunni: A US policy tragedy in three acts; Act I"--Angelo Codevilla at Asia Times.

This attempt to outsource America’s security concerns by entering into the Sunni-Shia conflict on the Sunni side has been counterproductive because the Sunni, 85% of the Muslim world, are also the nursery of its most contagious plagues — the Wahhabi sect and the Muslim Brotherhood. Above all, it has been disastrous because it has led the US government to lose sight of our own interests by confusing them with those of Sunni states and potentates.

Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states are places where royal families and their huge retinues live sybaritic lives, where work — high and low — is done by foreigners who are despised for doing it, where expensively equipped armed forces are fit only for inter-dynastic strife and civil repression, and where foreign policy consists of paying for protection.

At odds with one another as well as conflicted internally, they cannot wield significant force on their own behalf — never mind on behalf of America. Impressions to the contrary are due to the favors they lavish on the US officials and businessmen who deal with them.

• Related: "Angelo Codevilla: The ‘War on Terror’ has become ‘The War on Americans’"--The Daily Caller (2013).

Rather than confronting the movement of Islamic radicalization, Codevilla says that both Barack Obama and George W. Bush blamed acts of terrorism on the perpetrators themselves, instead of viewing them as the incarnations of a murderously ideological movement.

“The Bush administration gave the impression that we were merely dealing with rogue groups, not people supported by major movements which in their turn are supported by major countries,” Codevilla said. “American policy after 9/11 was wrong primarily in giving the American people the impression that those outrages had not been performed by Muslims pursuing Muslim agendas, but by rogues — amorphous rogues who were acting for essentially insane reasons.”

Once that impression had coalesced, Codevilla argued, it lead to a paradigm shift in policy making mindsets that has had serious consequences on the constitutional freedoms of the American people, a “lockdown” of the U.S.  This in turn, Codevilla says, has resulted in a breakdown in the trust between citizens and the state — and a breakdown in trust between individual citizens.

•  "The Ice Age Floods"--Chicago Boyz. An interesting article about Bretz' Flood, approximately 17,000-15,000 ago, as the world warmed at the end of last Ice Age. "However it happened, when it failed one of largest freshwater floods in the history of the world cascaded out of Montana and across parts of Idaho and eastern Washington, finally emptying into the Columbia River and eventually the Pacific Ocean. In the process, those regions were almost completely denuded of soil, then had had the bedrock stripped hundreds of feet deep, leaving behind a vast, interconnected series of flat bottomed canyons known as ‘coulees’ and a barren, despoiled, almost lifeless region known as The Channeled Scablands."
• "InRange TV Gives An AK-47 A Mud Bath – The Results May Surprise You"--The Firearms Blog. "Unlike the Galil ACE test or the M1 test, the AK in the video above doesn’t suffer a major mechanical failure like that of the trigger to reset or of the bolt to lock, but there’s just so much sludge and muck in the action that it slows the velocity of the bolt carrier down enough to prevent the action from working."
• "Guns for Beginners: Three Things Women Should Consider Before Carrying a Gun"--The Truth About Guns. The three points are: (1) know the 4 rules of safe gun handling; (2) make sure you are willing to use deadly force; and (3) purchase proper gear. On the latter point, the author states:

Men’s bodies are different from women’s. A carry system (gun and holster) that works for a man may not be comfortable or efficient for woman, considering her hand size, grip strength, and/or choice of clothing. Base your decision on your body type and where you want to carry for optimum comfort or concealment, no matter which system you choose. Understand that you may need several different types of holsters to carry in different kinds of clothing. Also, keep in mind that trial and error is part of the selection process.

On this point, I would add a couple thoughts: It is a truism that comfortable and effective concealed carry relies on a solid base. Most writers discuss this "solid base" as being the holster. But I would add that it is not just a proper holster, but a proper support for the holster--in most cases, the gun belt. Spend the money for a quality belt specifically made for carrying a firearm. Like holsters, you may need more than one for different modes of dress.

• Last, but not least, check out this week's "Weekend Knowledge Dump" from Active Response Training.

A Review of Revelations--Part 5--The Sealing of the 144,000

Ottheinrich Bible, Page 290: Angels Holding the Four Winds / The Sealing of the 144,000, Revelation 7:1-8

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5] [Part 6] [Part 7] [Part 8] [Part 9] [Part 10] [Part 11] [Part 12]

This is the continuation of my series reviewing Revelations as part of my reading of The Book of Revelation: Things Which Must Shortly Come to Pass by G. Erik Brandt. In my last installment, we were still reviewing the events of the Sixth Seal and, in particular, the mission of the four angels mentioned at the beginning of Chapter 7 of Revelations. 

In this installment, we are still looking at Chapter 7 of Revelations, but examining the next major event, which is the sealing of the 144,000. Near the beginning of Chapter 7, we read:

 2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,

 3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

The "angel ascending from the east" is Elias who is given authority and power over the gathering of Israel. (See D&C 77:9). Elias' role is to restore "all things" in preparation of the coming of the Lord. (See Mark 9:12; Luke 1:17).

The fact that the four angels are forbidden to hurt the earth, sea or trees until after the sealing of the 144,000 lends credence to my earlier supposition that the "great earthquake" mentioned in Chapter 6 should be translated as a great "commotion" or "tumult" rather than an earthquake. For an earthquake would be a "hurt" to the earth; something that is forbidden. Moreover, it matches up with what we know of the release of the four angels being a prelude to the First World War.

Turning back to the Revelation, the next question is: who are these 144,000? From Chapter 7 of Revelation, we read:

 4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

  5 Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.

 6 Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand.

 7 Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand.

 8 Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.

Who are the 144,000? In D&C 77:11, the Lord explained:

We are to understand that those who are sealed are high priests, ordained unto the holy order of God, to administer the everlasting gospel; for they are they who are ordained out of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, by the angels to whom is given power over the nations of the earth, to bring as many as will come to the church of the Firstborn.

Brandt makes note that the tribe of Dan is not included in the list of tribes. Brandt does not believe that the omission of Dan was deliberate, writing: "Dan was never omitted in any other record and there is no reason to remove his name at this point." I disagree. Typically, when listing the 12 tribes, Levi might be omitted because the Levites were devoted to serving the temple (and, thus, not subject to military service); in such cases, the tribe of Joseph was split into two: Ephraim and  Manasseh, the two sons of Joseph.  (Ephraim received the birthright from Joseph--see Genesis 48:17-20--so the listing of "Joseph" is simply a referral to Ephraim). However, in this case, Levi is listed, as are both of the "tribes" of Joseph. Obviously, attempting to explain the omission is merely speculation. There are many theories set forth, including that the Dannites are omitted because the tribe was one of the main seats of idol worship in ancient Israel. There may also be a more practical reason, which is that the Ethiopian Jews claim to be descended from the tribe of Dan. A large number of these Ethiopian Jews reside in Israel. It is possible that the Ethiopian Jews, whether in Ethiopia or Israel, will not be the subject of proselyting during the time of the Sixth Seal, or that, because of their small numbers, they will not provide any high priests.

Brandt accepts the theories of other scholars that the 144,000 is not to be taken literally. Citing Draper, Brandt indicates that "twelve" represents the priesthood; that Biblical peoples would square a number to amplify the meaning (thus bringing us to 144); and, finally, that "John gives an image of superlative quantity by multiplying it by 1,000," which represents completeness. To Brandt, "John's symbolic and impressive number, 144,000, represents an impressive body of the priesthood holders, ordained out of every nation to administer the everlasting gospel," ordained by the authority of the four angels (in reference to the line of authority that all priesthood holders have stretching back to Christ).

I am not necessarily convinced that 144,000 is merely figurative. Brandt notes several sources, including an explanation from Joseph Smith, that the sealing on the forehead represented that the person so sealed had his "calling and election made sure." As members of the Church are aware, having one's calling and election made sure carries with it a special significance. Bruce R. McConkie explained:

“To have one’s calling and election made sure is to be sealed up unto eternal life; it is to have the unconditional guarantee of exaltation in the highest heaven of the celestial world; it is to receive the assurance of godhood; it is, in effect, to have the day of judgment advanced, so that an inheritance of all the glory and honor of the Father’s kingdom is assured prior to the day when the faithful actually enter into the divine presence to sit with Christ in his throne, even as he is ‘set down’ with his ‘Father in his throne.’ (Rev. 3:21.) (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, Bookcraft, 1973, 3:330–31.)

Thus, even though the process of the sealing began as early as 1844, as Brandt writes, this is no guarantee that sum total of such persons will have exceeded 144,000 by the time of the end of the Sixth Seal.

In any event, the 144,000 do not represent all those welcomed into God's kingdom. Chapter 7 continues by describing a second group of persons:

 9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

 10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

 11 And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,

 12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.

 13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?

 14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

 15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

 16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.

 17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

 Brandt writes that "[t]he second group seen by John is a great host of faithful, gathered out of every nations, dressed in white robes [i.e., their sins have been washed away] with palms in their hands [see Matt. 21:9]. Each individual in the multitude has the seal of the Father reflected in their countenance, as they now stand in His presence." Brand also indicates that "[t]his great throng represents the exalted Saints of God; members of the Church from all the dispensations including Latter-day Saints who had passed on." In other words, just as with the first group of 144,000, the members of this group have also received their exaltation and live in the presence of God. That the number of this second group were without number should bring each of us comfort because it indicates that there is room for all of us to live with the Father and the Son.

It is notable that this latter group consisted of those who had come out of "great tribulation." Brandt writes that "[t]he Greek text uses a definitive article for the term 'the great tribulation,' indicating a specific and tumultuous event." This is a reference to the great persecutions that will come upon the Saints. While our focus is generally on the judgments and plagues to be poured out upon the wicked, as described later in Revelations, this would also include all those that have been tested in this life. In any event, Brandt points out that "[t]he plagues are not directed at the honorable or elect, but the faithful are nevertheless impacted and suffer in many trials. If they do not falter and are not overcome, the trials will have a refining and purifying effect."

Brandt cautions, however, that we should not read Chapter 7 of Revelations as indicating that only the Saints will be spared from the final day of wrath. Rather, "the honorable of the earth will flock to Zion and her stakes for safety," for, in the last days, "it shall be the only people that shall not be at war one with another." D&C 45:69.