VIDEO: "Bombs and Bants Live! Ep 29" (37 min.)
I was not able to attend due to illness; but it was probably for the better since no one wants to listen to a sick guy wander in and out of lucidity. Unless you are a Biden fan, that is.
Thursday, March 31, 2022
Tuesday, March 29, 2022
New Defensive Pistolcraft Post
Jon Low has a new Defensive Pistolcraft post. Well, not exactly new because it came out last week, but I hadn't referenced it before. He always offers up a lot of wisdom and I really enjoy going through his compilation of articles, videos, quotes, and commentary. I generally try to pick out a few things to whet readers' appetites, and this time is no different. So without further ado:
- Jon suggests to trainers:
Practice backward chaining in your teaching. Start with the final position that you want to achieve. Then move backwards through the process, one step at a time.
Difficult for you to design and execute. But, much better for the student's retention and understanding. Hat tip to Lee Weems.
He provides an example of this using a simple draw and fire exercise.
- Jon begins his piece by discussing the difference between self-defense training and other training out there (e.g., offensive (military), law enforcement, competition, etc.) before moving to discuss some basic elements of self-defense with a firearm and a bit about dealing with the aftermath. An excerpt:
1. The purpose of self-defense is to prevent your injury. So, you have to strike preemptively. In order to be able to do this you have to be aware. No law in the United States requires you to suffer the first strike before defending yourself. If you allow the bad guy to strike first, you will not be able to defend yourself. You'll be on the ground getting stomped to death. Your loved ones will be kidnapped, raped, and eventually murdered.
2. If you fail to prevent the attack, the purpose of self-defense is to stop the attack so you don't get injured anymore. You are shooting or striking to stop the attack, not to kill. The condition of the bad guy is incidental to our purpose of stopping the attack. In order to stop the attack, you must either zero the bad guy's blood pressure or break his central nervous system.
* * *
3. If the assailant is walking away, after having beaten and raped you, shooting him in the back is not self-defense. Self-defense only works to prevent the attack or stop the attack. Shooting the assailant as he is departing is murder. Such are the laws of our civilized society.
Read the whole thing. He chains together a lot of other tips, so read the whole post.
- Jon links to a video from Tom Givens on "How Powerful Is A Handgun?", or more accurately, how little power has a typical defensive handgun. Givens demonstrates this using a Glock 9 mm, putting his thumb behind the slide to hold the slide forward and then discharging the firearm. No injury to the thumb and, of course, the pistol failed to cycle.
- Finally, he discusses encryption and secure communications near the end of his post. Check it out.
Thursday, March 24, 2022
Friday, March 18, 2022
Thursday, March 17, 2022
Is The U.S. The Babylon Of The Last Days?
A long time reader directed my attention to an article over at Survival Blog, "The US as Babylon The Great, and What it Means to Preppers," by R.G., in which the author argues that the United States is the latter-day Babylon talked about in Revelation, Chapters 17 and 18. The author begins:
Nowhere in the Bible is there a description of a latter-day Superpower that impacts the whole earth until the One World Government comes. Where is a Superpower like USA, or even China, described in the Biblical events leading to Christ’s return and Armageddon? Well, there is a detailed description in Revelation chapter 18 of a great Superpower that is destroyed leading up to the final days. This superpower is called Babylon the Great. Could this be America?
Many Christian scholars believe Babylon to be Rome and/or the Catholic Church. They believe Rome’s destruction started in 410 A.D., continued with the decline of the Roman Empire and the ascendance/decline of the Catholic Church, and will conclude with final destruction as part of the 10-horn beast during the Tribulation.
But there are a growing number of believers who have concluded that the 10-horn beast spoken of in Daniel and Revelation is not a resurgence of the Roman Empire, rather 10 Islamic nations that encircle Israel. This theory and others conclude that Revelation 18 refers to America. I have always thought “Babylon” was someplace else, anywhere else but here, for I truly love America. But I have been given several “impressions” over the last year that point to the Christian Church in America needing to ask forgiveness for America’s checkered past and repent of our current lifestyle.
I do believe that America was founded on Biblical Judaean/Christian principles but we have strayed so far from those principles just over my lifetime of 70+ years. The Church has now become the frog in the boiling water that can’t feel the changes coming until being destroyed, enslaved or placed in re-education camps. That is, unless God intervenes with the rapture or Revelations 18 or both. We all hope and pray for the pre-trib rapture, but I believe we should also prepare for the possibility that Rev. 18 is speaking about America and prior to the rapture.
The author then discusses specific points which he/she believes supports identifying the United States with the latter-day Babylon under the general headings of Location, History, the Final Events Leading To Destruction, How "Babylon" Is Destroyed, and the Aftermath of "Babylon's" Destruction.
The author's arguments are backed by good points, so I want to discuss them. I will note, however, that Joel Richardson addressed the basic argument of the United States (or some particular city in the U.S.) being Babylon in his book, Mystery Babylon (PDF), and rejected it. He believes that the latter-day Babylon is (or will be) a city located on the Arabian Peninsula; probably within Saudi Arabia, maybe even the city of Mecca.
But let us first consider what Revelation says of Babylon. In Revelation 17, it describes Babylon as a whorish woman riding on the back of the seven-headed, ten-horned Beast. Specifically:
And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
Revelation 17:4-6. These verses, I believe, are descriptive of the spiritual Babylon which has ever opposed the spiritual City of God, and the cup represents the sins of all of the cities of Babylon that have existed. But lest we extrapolate from this and think that it is all spiritual or metaphorical, the angel showing John states in verse 18: "And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth." This, combined with the details in Chapter 18, indicate that the woman also represents a physical city present on the Earth in the last days.
Continuing into Chapter 18 of Revelation, we learn more about the characteristics of Babylon:
- "all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies." In other words, Babylon is the center of something which tentacles stretch into every nation through the ruling elites.
- "[S]he saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow." In other words, she believes herself to be eternal, impervious to any ruin.
- She engaged in "[t]he merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men." Again, the trade discussed here is one of conspicuous consumption, not the run of the mill trade in necessities.
- Such was the volume and value of its trade that when it was destroyed, "every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate."
- The City "was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!" In other words, the City, itself, represented great wealth and conspicuous consumption.
- By its "sorceries were all nations deceived."
- And, most importantly, "in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth."
Finally, although the woman (Babylon) is shown to John as riding the Beast, John is told that the 10 horns of the beast, which represent 10 future kings that will rule with the Beast for a short period, "shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire." Rev. 17:16. Thus, Babylon is not the Beast, but seeks to dominate the Beast until it (or, at least, the 10 horns) turn on her. And it sounds like the 10 kings (or kingdoms) will destroy Babylon with nuclear weapons such that the site will "never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there." Isaiah 13:20. Thus, unlike the Valley of Hamongog described in Ezekiel 39, there won't even be an attempt to clean up or reclaim the land where Babylon sat.
1. Location.
Turning back to R.G.'s article, his first point in favor of the United States draws on the description set out in Item 4 above--the merchants of the sea. R.G. explains:
Verse 17 [of Chapter 18] heavily implies that the only/main way to reach “Babylon” was by sea. For America this was true for hundreds of years and is still true for most of our commerce. Verse 9 says “Babylon’s” allies will stand “afar off” implying they are not physically close. Note our key allies are the Five I’s: Great Brittan, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, all far away across the seas. Conversely, Europe, Asia, Middle East, and Africa are all land connected and relatively close to each other. These verses do not fit that area as easily as it does America.
I would agree that the Bible verses indicate that much of Babylon's trade must be by sea, and that the city must be located close enough to the sea that the crews of the vessels could witness the cloud of smoke arising out of Babylon. But this doesn't rule out locations other than the United States or, more specifically, New York City.
The map below is from a 2017 article from Business Insider illustrating the Kiln Interactive Map of Shipping. The data is from 2012, which at the time of the article was the most recent year where the map makers had complete data on shipping volume.
The first thing to note is that while the United States has significant shipping to and from its shores, it definitely is not the only country with significant shipping, and it is hardly the center of global shipping. Thus, R.G.'s point about shipping is not dispositive.
2. History.
a. Unjust Deeds.
R.G.'s next point has to do with Rev. 18:5 where it states that God will remember Babylon's past misdeeds. R.G. reasons that "God is slow to act but ensures that we will eventually pay for our past deeds," and wonders: "Could this passage be speaking to how most of the land was unjustly taken from the original occupants? How we built our commerce on other’s raw materials and cheap labor?"
I have a hard time with this statement because every great nation has become great by unjustly taking land or other resources from the occupants of other lands, and by building commerce on other's raw materials and cheap labor. I would, instead, argue that the United States is profoundly different because the lands our ancestors settled was mostly denude of inhabitants (the great Indian civilizations had died off long before the early British settlements along the Atlantic coast), and the labor and resources that built America were here within her borders. We weren't, for instance, like the British Empire which relied on a large mercantile empire of overseas possessions. While the U.S. did not do a very good job dealing with the American Indian populations, those peoples still exist (unlike the millions of slaves that were taken into the Islamic Middle-East never to reappear).
b. Slavery.
Related to the forgoing point, R.G. next questions whether the U.S. is Babylon because of the history of slavery, remarking: "Our history is full of indentured servants coming from Europe and China, slaves from Africa, and now cheap labor from our southern border. In fact, there is now a modern resurgence of sex slaves being trafficked within America. This could all be said of many countries, but it fits us well and does not disqualify us from this prophecy."
One of the greatest consequences of the spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire was the abolition of slavery in Christian countries (although Muslims and greedy Europeans and Jews were involved with capturing, selling, and transporting slaves from Europe to Africa and the Middle-East from the 7th Century through the early 18th Century when the Barbary pirates were finally broken). Yes, the Atlantic Slave Trade was a mistake--and we still suffer from the consequences--but those colonies that were to become the United States played a fairly minor role in the trade. The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History relates that "[o]ver the period of the Atlantic Slave Trade, from approximately 1526 to 1867, some 12.5 million slaves were shipped from Africa, and 10.7 million arrived in the Americas." But even it has to admit that "[t]he majority of enslaved Africans brought to British North America arrived between 1720 and 1780" (and was made illegal by the Constitution), and accounted for only 6% of the total shipped to the Americas. Thus, if the Atlantic slave trade were an indicator of Babylon, Brazil would tower over the United States as a slave state.
That is not the whole story, however. Estimates of just black slavery (i.e., not including slaves from Europe or Asia) in the Muslim world put the number of black slaves taken prior to the 20th Century at between 11.5 and 15 million. It is estimated that "between 1 million and 1.25 million European Christians were captured and forced to work in North Africa from the 16th to 18th centuries." That is just a few hundred years and doesn't include the prior 1,000 years of Muslim raiding and purchasing slaves from Europe. Moreover, as another article relates:
But while the British Empire largely eliminated the slave trade, and the United States outlawed slavery in 1865 (importing of slaves had been illegal for decades earlier), the slave trade exists in the Muslim world to this day. It is estimated that there are 40 million slaves worldwide today. That same article states:
*Almost three-quarters are female - and one in four a child - with modern-day slavery most prevalent in Africa followed by Asia and Pacific.
*North Korea has the world's highest rate of slavery, with about one in 10 people enslaved, followed by Eritrea (9.3%) Burundi (4%), Central African Republic (2.2%), Afghanistan (2.2%), Mauritania (2.1%), South Sudan (2%), Pakistan (1.7%), Cambodia (1.7%) and Iran (1.6%).
*India is home to the largest number of slaves globally, with 8 million, followed by China (3.86 million), Pakistan (3.19 million), North Korea (2.64 million), Nigeria (1.39 million), Iran (1.29 million), Indonesia (1.22 million), Democratic Republic of the Congo (1 million), Russia (794,000) and the Philippines (784,000).
Missing from the list: the United States or any other Western nation.
c. Voluntary Dispersal of Wealth.
R.G. next looks to those scriptures that describe how Babylon made the merchants of the world wealthy, and links this to the high U.S. GDP.
Verse 3 says that the world’s Rulers and Merchants became rich from providing “Babylon” her luxuries. With the largest GDP in the world, America is universally considered the wealthiest nation to ever exist. Things we take for granted even kings could not afford just 100 years ago. Now we have voluntarily / (purposely?) moved much of our production offsite to the rest of the world, making them rich also. This is not normal. Most countries build up and retain their wealth from within. This verse also speaks not just to countries and their rulers but to foreign “Merchants” aka Corporations becoming rich. Strike a nerve anywhere?
Global trade has enriched all the world--it is why obesity is a greater health problem in the Third World than starvation--but the United States was hardly the first nation to engage in global trade or grow rich from it. Also, as I mentioned above, the items listed as being traded with Babylon are (i) slaves, (ii) souls of men, and (iii) luxury items, particularly of a precious nature.
The U.S. does not trade in slaves and hasn't for nearly 150 years. As the statistics show above, actual slave trade (as opposed to forced labor camps) is predominantly a trait of the Muslim world.
The trade in souls is a little more vague but may have to do with the spreading of false doctrines or teachings; but the U.S. is hardly the only country exporting anti-Christian views (in fact, as Richardson explains in his book, the U.S. is the largest supporter of missionary work in the world). Saudi Arabia probably tops the charts on the amount spent on exporting an anti-Christian creed or belief system. "One estimate is that during the reign of King Fahd (1982 to 2005), over $75 billion was spent in efforts to spread Wahhabi Islam." You might remember the Wahhabi sect as that which members flew aircraft into the World Trade Center. According to that same article, "[t]he money was used to establish 200 Islamic colleges, 210 Islamic centers, 1,500 mosques, and 2,000 schools for Muslim children in Muslim and Non-Muslim majority countries." Also:
In the 1980s, Saudi Arabia's approximately 70 embassies around the world were equipped with religious attaches whose job it was to get new mosques built in their countries and to persuade existing mosques to propagate the dawah Salafiyya. The Saudi government funds a number of international organizations to spread fundamentalist Islam, including the Muslim World League, the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, the International Islamic Relief Organization, and various royal charities. Supporting dawah (literally "making an invitation" to Islam)—proselytizing or preaching of Islam—has been called "a religious requirement" for Saudi rulers that cannot be abandoned "without losing their domestic legitimacy" as protectors and propagators of Islam.
Now I recognize that there are other great dogmas that have also been anti-Christian. Socialism, whether Marxist, Maoist, National, Democratic or whatever its flavor has always been hostile toward Christianity. But the American flavor, Democratic Socialism, seems primarily limited to first world countries and, more particularly, to the upper-middle class and their progeny. (There are strong genetic and evolutionary reasons for this, but that is a topic for another day). But the flaw here, as Joel Richardson points out, is that the United States is not a religious system. He explains:
While it is certainly fair to highlight the financial and corrupt moral influence of the United States across the globe, the United States fails to satisfy the most significant part of the equation; she does not have a genuine religious component. Neither New York City nor the United States represents a religion, a religious system, the global capital of idolatry, or more specifically, the single greatest false religion that has ever existed. As we have already shown, the great harlot of Revelation represents all of these things. Babylon, as “the mother of harlots and of the abomination of the earth” (Rev. 17:5), does not merely represent some general form of idolatry, such as “materialism” or “consumerism.” No, she represents the biggest, the greatest, the vilest and most bloodthirsty religious system the world has ever known. For all of America’s faults, there is simply no way that New York City or the United States can be criticized and twisted sufficiently to match the requirements of the prophecy.
(Richardson 163). And, he adds:
Despite any negative influence the United States may have abroad, the other side of the coin seems to be missing from all the books I have read that argue for America as Babylon. Whatever shortcomings the United States may be guilty of, no one can deny that she is also a tremendous source of good in the world. The United States provides an inordinate amount of humanitarian aid to the world. When a massive earthquake devastated the Iranian city of Bam in 2003, for example, the United States spent tens of millions of dollars and rushed in teams of rescue and aid workers to bring relief. This one example could literally be repeated thousands of times. Far more important, however, the United States is the heart of the global missions movement. Beyond providing a high percentage of the world’s missionaries to minister and proclaim the gospel throughout the world, the Christian church in the United States is also by far the world’s leading source of funding for foreign missions. This is not insignificant. How can the single greatest source of gospel evangelization to the nations, in terms of both funding and actual sending of missionaries, also be “the mother of . . . the abominations of the earth”? This dichotomy alone, I would suggest, rules out the United States as the fulfillment of the last-days Babylon.
(Richardson 163-164).
Finally, the trade in precious goods does not necessarily lead to the conclusion that the United States is Babylon. For instance, the wealth of the Saudi royal family dwarfs that of mere billionaires in the West. This TRT World article from May 2020 relates:
Saudi Arabia's ruling royal family has a net worth of about $1.4 trillion, which is 16 times more than that of the British royal family.
The ruling monarchy draws most of its income from vast oil reserves that were founded 75 years ago, changing the country's fortune and making the House of Saud the richest family on earth.
According to the House of Saud, the wealth of $1.4 trillion belongs to nearly 15,000 royal family members who live in lavish palaces. State-owned oil company, Saudi Aramco, which is among the world’s most valuable and profitable companies, constitutes the backbone of the sprawling royal family's fortune.
The article continues:
From gold-studded super yachts and private jets and palaces to furniture made of gold, the royal family even uses tissue paper plucked from gold-plated tissue dispensers.
In 2017, the 34-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS, spent $450.3 million for Leonardo da Vinci’s 500-year-old painting ‘Salvator Mundi’ purchasing it through a proxy.
The sale of the painting, which is also known as ‘Jesus Christ’ was a record for an art auction.
The Prince has paid over $300 million for the Chateau Louis XIV, located in France, called “the world’s most expensive home” by Fortune magazine.
The chateau has 10 bedrooms, indoor and outdoor pools together with a cinema, a wine cellar and a moat with transparent underwater chamber.
“I'm a rich person and not a poor person. I'm not Gandhi or Mandela. I'm a member of the ruling family that existed for hundreds of years before the founding of Saudi Arabia,” MBS told CBS over his spending and personal life.
In fact, 4 of the 5 wealthiest royal families are from the Gulf States including Saudi Arabia. (See also Richardson 220 et seq. describing the wealth and profligate spending of the Saudi royal family).
d. Ugly Americans.
R.G.'s next point is:
“As much as she has glorified herself and has lived in luxury… she says in her heart, I sit as a queen, and I am not a widow; and I do not see mourning at all.” (Rev: 18: 7)
Again, most preppers consider America to be good, but this verse says “Babylon” glorified herself, sat in luxury and did not mourn for others. I lived overseas in several countries for five years and I can attest to the arrogance (glorification) of Americans in dealing with other peoples in their own countries. I was one of them for a period and it took my Christian conversion for me to realize this was their country and I didn’t know everything. I had to repent and ask my overseas friends to forgive my arrogance. Also, while there, the poverty was so great that I became immune to their problems while living in luxury and did not mourn for them until my conversion.
I don't believe that R.G. is reading the last bit correctly. As I noted above, the verses seem to indicate that she, Babylon, believes herself to be eternal, impervious to any ruin; i.e., a type of pride. Although this could refer to the United States, it does not comport with our 40+ years of pointing out our problems and basing our national policies on whatever world ending "crises" is popular at a particular moment.
Richardson takes another view of this point, writing:
The final indicator that the woman represents a great anti-Yahweh religion is seen in a peculiar statement the woman makes of herself. In Revelation 18:7, she says in her heart, “I sit as queen and I am not a widow, and will never see mourning.” This verse is taken directly from Isaiah 47:8, where the “daughter of Babylon,” says, “I am, and there is no one besides me. I will not sit as widow.” This proclamation of “I am” is a direct challenge to Yahweh, the God of the Bible, whose very name is “I AM” (see Ex. 3:14). This allusion to Isaiah 47:8 creates a possible context for the great harlot of Revelation to represent a direct challenge to the one true God.
(Richardson 68 (foot note omitted)). The statement, therefore, would link "Babylon" to the false religion of the Anti-Christ.
e. Global Disinformation.
R.G.'s final point as to the U.S.'s history is in reference to Rev. 18:23, which he quotes as: “…For your merchants were the great ones of the earth; for by your sorceries all nations were deceived.” He believes that "[t]his verse speaks to 'Babylon’s' corporations being global corporations, which, of course, most of our major ones are. The terms 'sorceries' and 'deception' can speak to several modern ideas," such as mass advertising, propaganda, and medical treatment including, of course, the Covid vaccines.
The contra to this part of R.G.'s argument is, once again, Saudi wealth and the evangelism of Islam:
BESIDES CHRISTIANITY, Islam is the only other major world religion with a significant evangelistic thrust. And hands down, leading the global charge to spread the message of Islam is the Islamic Affairs Department of Saudi Arabia. In my own personal library several Islamic books and booklets, including a large, bound, hardcover Quran—all of which were sent to me free of charge—compliments of the Saudi embassy. All I had to do was go to the website of the Saudi Arabian Embassy and fill out a basic request form.
There was no charge whatsoever. Soon I received in the mail a very nice Quran and literally a box of books and booklets, all declaring the miracles, wonders, and beauty of Islam—and of course, the shortcomings and failings of Christianity, Judaism, and other “corrupted” religions. Can you imagine if America or England or any other Western country provided anyone in the world a free Bible and Christian evangelistic materials?
Not only is Mecca the historical womb from which Islam was birthed, but the modern rulers of Saudi Arabia continue to be the primary source of ideological and financial support for the rapid spread of Islam globally. According to popular Saudi TV host and commentator Dawood al-Shirian, the tens of billions of dollars used by the Saudi royals pay for an estimated 90 percent of the “expenses of the entire faith.”
Let me rephrase that: 90 percent of the funding for the spread of Sunni Islam globally comes from Saudi Arabia. In the same way that the United States serves as the greatest source of funding for global Christian missions, Saudi Arabia serves as the greatest source of funding for Islam.
The Saudi program to reach the world is simple. First they fund and build the madrassas, Islamic centers, and mosques that exclusively promote the Saudis’ own acidic brand of Wahhabi Islam. They build them all over the world. If you have a large mosque in your city, it was most likely paid for by the Saudi Arabian government.
Beyond building the mosques, the Saudi government also trains, sends, and funds the ulema (Islamic scholars and teachers)—missionaries of Wahhabism—all across the world. Thousands of these missionaries are funded beyond most Christian missionaries’ wildest dreams. Once in the target country, they establish and support the various Saudi Islamic centers and front organizations, such as the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) or the World Muslim League (WML). ...
(Richardson 225-226 (footnotes omitted)).
Now, I will point out that R.G.'s inclusion of medicines is because the word "sorceries" in the passage cited above is from the Greek "pharmakeia" meaning "the use of medicine, drugs or spells," or "properly, drug-related sorcery, like the practice of magical-arts, etc." So, it is not unreasonable to link it to America's health system and the provision of Covid vaccines.
On the other hand, Arab prominence in the use of drugs and medicines stretches back at least as far as the 9th Century A.D. See also "Why was medieval Islamic medicine important?" at Medical News.
Today, Muslims have significant ties to the international trade in illegal drugs. For instance, in "‘Narco-Jihad’ – Haram money for a Halal cause?" published by the European Foundation for South Asian Studies, the author begins:
“It is a part of our noble responsibility to spoil the Western society with drugs”. With these words, Badruddoza Chowdhury Momen, a Bangladeshi food firm tycoon who had been incriminated for trafficking large quantities of heroin, worth few hundred millions of dollars into Great Britain, justified his drug smuggling operations. The Chairman of BD Foods Ltd, which supplied spices and other food products to UK, was sourcing the heroin mainly from Afghanistan via the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, where he maintained offices. His statement exemplifies a widely supported stance of a religious-based justification of the opium trade. Similarly, the Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid published an interview with an Afghan official where the latter asserted that: “Opium is permissible because it is consumed by Kafirs (unbelievers) in the West and not by Muslims or Afghans”.
The nexus between narcotics and terrorism is inherently controversial and a deeply politicized concept. This paper aims to examine the historic manufacturing and trade of drugs, derived from the poppy plant, which flourishes at the Golden Crescent - Asia’s current principal area of illicit opium production, encompassing Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. It also aims to lay bare the hypocritical ongoing narrative of various terrorist organizations, which use the intrinsically un-Islamic mass-production and distribution of drugs as a pretext for advancing their religious and ideological goals, where the evidence for pure economic gains is in abundance. Furthermore, the paper will underline the various instances where Muslims directly suffer from this narco-terrorism, which unveils the mask of duplicity worn by those who are involved in justifying the so-called ‘holy’ war against the West.
Since the opium trade remains a substantial source for financing the Jihad led by the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the AfPak region, this paper will elaborate that the rationale behind this ostensibly ‘sacred’ cause of spoiling the Western ‘infidel’ forces with drugs and consolidating the Islamic reign in the region, is not ushered by faith, but by a calculated action plan. Finally, the paper will put forward recommendations for the adoption of effective policy measures by Afghanistan, its regional neighbours and the international community since all of these actors are either accomplices or victims of the growing opium trade.
Another paper notes that "By itself, Afghanistan provides 85% of the estimated global heroin and morphine supply, a near monopoly." In short, if any one culture-cum-religion can be associated with the international drug trade, it is Islam.
3. Other Points.
The remainder of R.G.'s article is on final events leading to the destruction of Babylon (based on his presumption that the U.S. is Babylon), the timing of the destruction, and the Lord's admonition for his people to come out of Babylon "that you may not be partakers of her sins, and that you may not receive of her plagues." (Rev 18:4).
As I noted earlier, Babylon represents both the spiritual city opposed to God as well as a physical city. The plea that the Lord's people come out of Babylon can refer to fleeing spiritual Babylon as well as fleeing the specific city. All I can say is that I and many others have warned for years about the need for spiritual preparation.
But I will add an observation particular to my faith: the LDS people have been taught that the United States generally and Zion more particularly will be a refuge for the Lord's people in the latter days. I don't take this to mean that the U.S. will be fully spared--in fact, we should expect mob warfare at some point--but that we will be afforded more protection than others. As Otto Van Bismarck recognized, “God has a special providence for fools, drunkards, and the United States of America.”
As for the timing of Babylon's destruction, I would note that the destruction comes not from God but from the 10 horns of the Beast: i.e., those 10 nations that will directly support the Anti-Christ. As you may remember from prior discussions of Revelation, the Anti-Christ rises up and supplants three of the horns. Thus, the destruction of Babylon should, as I read it, occur prior to the Anti-Christ's ascension to power.
If Babylon is Mecca and/or Medina, as Richardson surmises, it would provide a unique opportunity for someone to proclaim themselves a new prophet and leader over Islam; as well as explain the Anti-Christ's interest in locating his throne in Jerusalem, the third holiest city in Islam, rather than the Arabian peninsula.
4. Conclusion.
In conclusion, I can see where R.G. is coming from, but ultimately do not believe he is correct as identifying the U.S. as the physical Babylon. Much of the population of the United States (although perhaps not as many as R.G. may believe) may reside in a spiritual Babylon, but the United States, or particular cities in the United States, are not the foci of a world-wide religion opposing Christ.
Thursday, March 10, 2022
Bombs & Bants Podcast (Streamed 3/9/2022)
VIDEO: "Bombs & Bants" (37 min.)
This one is a little shorter than usual because we had some technical difficulties.
Thursday, March 3, 2022
Book Review: 98.6 Degrees--The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive!
Book: 98.6 Degrees--The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive! by Cody Lundin (2003)
Overview: In this book, Cody Lundin teaches the reader about how to stay alive in when cut off from civilization until help (e.g., Search & Rescue) can arrive.
I've previously reviewed Lundin's book, When All Hell Breaks Loose, as well as having watched him on the cable television series Dual Survival, and various YouTube videos that have featured him. He is a nationally recognized survival expert and director of the Aboriginal Living Skills School in Prescott, Arizona. I still consider When All Hell Breaks Loose to be one of the best, if not the best, disaster preparation guide out there; and it is definitely the best one for people who don't know much about prepping and need a quick and dirty guide.
So, with that, it is somewhat strange that it took me so long to read his book on wilderness survival. It probably is because I have read so many other books on wilderness survival, watched both Lundin's program as well as others, that I thought I already knew the subject well enough. But whatever the reason, I'm glad I finally got around to reading this book.
The first I want to make clear about this book, and something that sets it apart from others ostensibly on the same subject, is that this is a book about emergency survival in a wilderness or remote area. That is, it is about keeping yourself alive until rescuers arrive. It is not a book on bushcraft or primitive living. In other words, this is not a book about living off the land. Lundin has the assumption that you want to be found and rescued, and that the rescue will occur within a matter of hours or days, rather than weeks or months.
The best way to give you an overview of the topics covered in the book is simply to list off the chapter headings:
- Survival Situations: How Do They Start?
- Survival vs. Primitive Living, Or "Living Off The Land."
- Survival Psychology And The Importance Of Proper Prior Training.
- Why Fear Sucks.
- Dealing With The Survival Scenario: Attitude, Adaptation, and Awareness.
- Reducing the Threat of the Survival Situation: The Seven Ps.
- What It Takes To Stay Alive: Common Powerful Personality Patterns.
- The Most Common Way To Push Up Daisies In The Outdoors.
- How Your Body Loses And Gains Heat: The Physics of Freezing Your Fanny or Backing Your Bones.
- Your First Line of Defense.
- About Your Rescuers: An Introduction To Your Saving Grace.
- Helping Rescuers Bring You Back Alive: Leaving Rescuers A 5-W Game Plan From Day Hikes to Epic Backcountry Bonanzas.
- What Is A Survival Kit?
- Survival Kit Components.
- Summary.
- The Amazing "The Drawings and Photos Are Really Cool But I'm Too Lazy to Read This Book" Cliff Notes.
Tied closely to this concern is keeping hydrated. Thus, there are no chapters on how to track and hunt animals, tan animal skins, make improvised bows and arrows, or comprehensive guides to identifying edible plants or, conversely, poisonous plants. This is not to say that food items are totally ignored, but that most people have more than enough fat stores to survive several days without food. What food you want are those that can give you a quick burst of energy to help you maintain your sharpness and, surprisingly to me, to get your metabolism a jump start in order to start accessing fat stores.
Water, on the other hand, is of paramount importance. Dehydration degrades a person physically, mentally and emotionally. So Lundin spends a substantial amount of the book on the importance of hydration, how and why you can become dangerously dehydrated, the importance of having containers to carry water and different ways to access water (for instance, he recommends carrying a few feet of plastic or rubber tubing so that you can access water that might be in a small hole or crevice). Importantly, he also bursts some bubbles about methods to find or gather water that are popular to include in survival books but that will actually cost you more water (in the form of sweat, puke or the runs) than you will obtain from the source.
But that is jumping ahead. Lundin begins his book by describing how easy it is to get into a survival situation. Often, it can be simply the result of taking the wrong turn and pushing ahead when common sense tells you to turn back. We all have read or seen the news stories of someone following their GPS or misreading a map and getting onto a back road and breaking down, getting stuck, and so on, and dying of exposure. Lundin begins his book relating the story of a couple that took the wrong road, their car broke down, and the husband died trying to walk to a freeway a few miles away while the wife died in the hot car. I've heard similar stories from Idaho and Nevada of couples following GPS directions onto rarely used roads and getting stuck in the snow. A twisted ankle or broken leg can also turn a hike into a survival situation.
Like his other book, Lundin spends the first part of his book on the psychology of survival: those mental and emotional attributes that distinguish the survivor from the dead. Much of this has to do with controlling your fear and panic. But he also discusses the importance of being able to improvise and adapt, make decisions, endure hardship, and a positive mental attitude.
Another large portion of his book is on planning. Lundin addresses planning more generally, but then goes into detail on planning or preparing so that if you do find yourself in a survival situation you will both have the tools to help you survive the situation and help searchers find in hours instead of days or weeks ... or months.
Part of planning a trip is to make it easier for people to know when they need to start looking for you, and easier for searchers to find you. Some of you already know this, but Lundin recommends that you should tell at least two people where you will be going, when you expect to return, what vehicle (or other transportation) you are taking (including plate number and description), who is in your party, and why you are taking the trip.
Since Search & Rescue may need to track you, Lundin has a clever trick to help them. Take a clean unwrinkled sheet of heavy duty aluminum cooking foil, and step onto it with each foot so that you leave a clear imprint of the footwear you will be using. This should be done at the trail head so that it is a fresh and accurate copy, and then the foil should be left in your vehicle.
The final portion of planning is to put together and carry a survival kit. The primary importance of the kit is to help you maintain the correct body temperature and avoid dehydration. Thus, you will want items such as tarps, space blankets, cordage and so on that can be used to shelter and keep you warm and dry in cold weather, or shield you from the sun in hot weather. You will also want multiple ways to start a fire. And you will want ways to gather, carry, and purify water.
In addition, you will want to include tools for signaling, whether by building a fire (either for light or smoke), signaling mirror, loud whistle, and similar. And a basic first aid kit.
Anyway, Lundin discusses the types of items you will need, as well as what factors you should consider when you pick the particular items. He also describes what he carries and why.
Lundin is careful to note that what may work for him many not work for you. Obviously, for instance, Lundin is very experienced, so that might impact what he carries (although when I read through his list, everything was simple to use ... provided you had practiced with it). Other items might need to be changed out due to your personal situation. For instance, Lundin notes his preference for disposable butane lighters over other types of lighters. However, being a colder climate, I would favor a refillable lighter like a Zippo. Also, although Lundin discusses how to select or modify a butane lighter to get one that has a decent flame, I like the fact that a Zippo or similar gives a good flame that you can leave burning.
And there are some items available now that were not (or not easily obtained) when Lundin wrote his book. For instance, one of the reasons that Lundin does not like Zippo lighters is that the fuel will typically evaporate within two or three days (which is why I would carry a small bottle of fuel with me). But there are several companies today that sell refillable lighters that are sealed so that the fuel will be much slower to evaporate away. Similarly, Lundin likes 550 paracord because you can split it apart and have different types and numbers of thinner cordage. However, you can now buy survival cordage that looks and functions like 550 paracord, but incorporates within the sleeve not only the polyester cord that you find in 550 paracord, but also fishing line and kevlar thread.
One point that Lundin makes is about choosing equipment and clothing that allows you to be spotted. Thus, he recommends not only having a bandanna for all its multiple uses, but that it be brightly colored. Similarly, for a heavy duty space blanket that comes with one side colored, he recommends getting the bright orange over camo or olive drab. He recommends that other items be brightly colored.
This can seem strange to the standard prepper who, if like me, generally attempts to be the "grey man" including buying subdued, natural colors or camouflage patterns for clothing and packs. But it raises a good point (which could probably be an article in itself) that sometimes you want to be easily seen.
In any event, this is a good book. I recommend that you get a copy and study it. I know that I will be going over the survival kit that I carry with me when hunting to see what I can improve with Lundin's comments and ideas in mind.
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