Acts of God?
During the 2008 election cycle, Republican standard-bearer John McCain was doing reasonably well in the polls — until the economic crisis intervened and eclipsed the conduct of the presidential race. McCain made the wrong decision; he suspended his campaign and headed to Washington, ostensibly to deal with the situation but just as likely to display his credentials as a concerned American.
Obama, on the contrary, stayed the course, presumably showing his dedication to the demands of the electoral process. The result was lamentably predictable: McCain lost his edge, looking more like someone who needed a break than like a responsible campaigner, and Obama reaped the rewards of his apparent diligence.
As we approached the critical moment of the 2012 election, with Republican challenger Mitt Romney mounting a strong performance and either tied with, or leading, an incumbent Obama in a number of national polls, Hurricane Sandy erupted, allowing Obama “to project an image of a president in charge at a time of crisis.” What Hegel called “the cunning of reason” — by which he meant the sly purposes of history — was evident in the reversal of circumstance: whereas putting a campaign on hold sank McCain, it gave Obama a discernible boost. From one day to the next, Obama regained the advantage he was in the process of losing, as Reuters put it, to a now “subdued Romney.”
On the one hand, an economic meltdown occurred at precisely the moment to scuttle the better candidate’s prospects of election. On the other, barely a week before the voting stations closed, a veritable superstorm devastated vast swathes of the country, presenting an incompetent and highly suspect Obama with the opportunity to pose as a caring and paternal figure, and thus to sway the hearts of a too-impressionable electorate. Without doubt this was a decisive moment for the president.
If I were a betting man, I’d have been inclined to put my money on Obama. If I were a religious man, I would certainly have been tempted to believe that a vengeful God had turned his back on America, no longer in the divine view a shining city on a hill, but a moral and intellectual slum not worthy of His patronage. Since I am neither, I can only remark on the brutal and unforgiving irony of electoral politics.
Also read: Magic Underwear
It was one factor amoung many. But I must admit, I have considered the vengeful God thing. Lord knows, we deserve it.
Rubbish. Please get over yourself. God does not care who wins the election. God lives in timeless eternity. Who wins or loses something as fleeting as an election is of no concern to him.
He does not pick winners and losers. He does not throw some kids out into traffic and keep other kids on the sidewalk. God is concerned with the individual. None of us deserve the grace He has shown us. We live in a broken world and He’s given us freewill and asked us to make our way through.
This confusion of religion and government by the Republican party has become the undoing of both. God has asked us (at least us New Testament folks) to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s. Keep the limited sphere of government clearly in your minds. Be in the world but not of the world. He has also asked us to be wise as serpents. Instead we have been dumb as oxen, fighting battles that can’t be won and which ensure we lose ground and lessen any impact we might otherwise have had.
I suspect there is nothing the devil likes so much as uncompromising religiously oriented folks who are focused on changing their government into a theocracy.
naw, you need to re-read your manual. God throughout history has picked winners and losers, and has made known pretty clearly what He expects from us….and we have failed miserably. Again, He has shown us what He does with those who neglect, ignore, refuse to accept, and generally turn away from Him, which is where we are now. Mostly, the voters both for the O and ROmney, voted their best natural instincts, which goes pretty much against everything God stands for……or not?
Would you STOP trying to tell us that we want a theocracy? You people are INSANE!!!
What YOU have given us is the godless theogracy of secular humanism. What you have given us is a country so crass, coarse and base (and STUPID!) that anyone with eyes to see can see that God is Judging us and we’ve REALLY come up short.
And I’m GLAD!! I hope God let’s it RIP on us! We deserve it!
Obama loves you, lolly.
What if ancient Egypt had been a democracy? Wouldn`t the Egyptians have reelected the Pharaoh, giving him credit for how he dealt with the hail and thunder, the flies and frogs? “Yeah, and rememeber how he bailed out the pyramid construction companies when the industry suffered a downturn, saving thousands of jobs!” – “Who, on the other hand, is that Moses guy? Unless he spells out his plan in details, step by step, 1,2,3 and the timeline, he is only talk. Does he even pay taxes?”
Crisis is opportunity. Dems get that, RINO’s never will. Irony is that Romney became a wimp (suspect out of goodness) but still a wimp, when storm hit and did remind people of Bush, McCain stupidity. It was also obvious that Romney smiling and glad handing Obama, after being verbally trashed by him in debates was a poor visual to take, along with his constant obligatory what a nice fellow Obama is and he has a great family, blah, blah, blah from Romney, coupled with the disastrous image and words of RINO Christie, glad handing Obama for what, showing up to NJ and allowing el wimpo Chistie to talk to his idol Springsteen. Remember, McCain was constantly telling people that Obama would make a fine President, was a nice man, had a great family, blah, blah, blah, blah, blahhhh… the end. America gone, Amerika has risen. Thanks RINO’s.
What on earth are you blabbering about Solway?
If a uh hurricane and the president’s play-by-the-numbers autonomic response to it, ooh appearing before the media all somber and serious, ‘we are doing all we can blabla’ – I mean what else is he going to do?? – is what sways election decisions by the voting public; then America is so far gone into brain-dead imbecility, that you may as well put the closed for business signs up your front porches and beg the Chinese to employ you as drone workers in their factories, because that’s all you are good for. No wait, not even for that.
Oh wait I meant to add this:
The hurricane may well be an omen that’s for sure. If you are a believing man or woman. It may well be an omen of the dark times ahead…
Of COURSE we are being Judged. And we DESERVE it!
How about an article titled “Acts of Fraud”? No one will ever convince me that this election was honestly won. Everything pointed to a Romney victory. Maybe the numbers don’t lie, but liberals do, and with shameless abandon.
You need help… please seek some counseling.
How clever, aquanerd. Now you can run upstairs and eat the breakfast your mommy has prepared.
SJH;
Look at the turnout numbers. Conservatives gave it away.
Turnout numbers are a very shallow measure of what happened Tuesday. Our voter registration and identification policies and procedures need serious work.
Turnout is the number of registered Republicans that actually voted, versus the actual number of registered Republican voters that COULD HAVE CAST A VOTE, BUT DID NOT.
Just take a look.
Our turnout numbers were artificially low because our ballots were never counted.
Okay 1389AD;
And why wouldn’t the “vote fraudsters” want to show a heavy Republican turnout, and still have the results they got? That would be even more devastating and demoralizing.
If I were a Democrat pollster and wanted to show an overwhelming support for the Dumb One, that’s the way I would sway it.
Vote fraud played a major part in this.
There is a huge amount of evidence and some of us are compiling and posting it.
Many crystal balls predicted Sandy would damage Obama’s aura of “caring”, since he actually did nothing at all to benefit anyone in the hours he spent caressing Christies derierre.
At least Sandy left some fish for the victims to eat, which says more about any God than the best sermon.
I’ve always puzzled over why prophesies have Israel left to fend for itself at the end of the age of man. Why was America not there to help defend it? And how could the persecution of the faithful take place in America during the tribulation. Seems the answer is right in front of us, doesn’t it?
We have become a nation of takers, not givers. A nation of political hand-outs, not of hand ups. Without an awakening, we will soon become a one-party nation as the conservatives die-off or ‘vanish’. They have no protection from the tyranny of the majority.
They have the protection that all people capable of critical thinking have. There is a time to fight and a time to regroup. Lay low undermine while you can. When things fall to hell let your enemies do without your assistance. Every place you go quietly point out solutions to problems. The progressives have no real allies. They have paid in coin for every vote they got. If they have any cash the leader will take it and go to a place of safety. That will leave the dumbed down and the party hangers on at the mercy of those who can exert optimum force. They are visible when exerting that force. They then become vulnerable. Remove them and tell every piece of DNA left that work and work alone is the only way you eat. Harsh , you bet. I’ ts how the Pilgrims instilled the work ethic. Oh yeah, nobody is special and no group is protected. Work or take off and manage. Threaten others and you are toast.
9. scotth
I’ve always puzzled over why prophesies have Israel left to fend for itself at the end of the age of man. Why was America not there to help defend it?
This puzzled me as well, until four years ago.
Regarding the candidates’ respective responses to the economic meltdown in 2008, one should acknowledge that Obama had a mole in the bail-out deliberations to which he paid enough attention so that when both candidates (Senators) were brought in to be part of the deliberations, Obama came across as a guy who understood a lot of the complexities and implications of what was happening, whereas McCain came across as relatively clueless. Our current deliberations may have a better shot than previously to at least chip away at our huge debt issues because Obama has more experience now and the Repubs are no longer distracted by being committed to making him a one-term President. An, oh yeah, the Sword of Damocles (and sequestration) hanging over both parties.
The fundamental difference between Repubs and Dems is that Dems supposedly want to “help” everyone. The problem with that scenario is that, despite being the most wealthy country on the planet, we still have “poor” people. Despite having (had) the best medical care- preventative care on the planet, we still have disease, sickness, mental retardation and autism. Republicans understand that and do want to help, by giving everyone a chance to help themselves any way they can. The people who truly need our help, “widows and orphans” (the Bible tells us) would be a much lower number than we imagine (think a bell curve). Dems take from the workers and indiscriminately give to those who cry, “Help me”, then off they trot to get their alcohol, cigarettes and drugs.Did anyone ever see how much money was fraudulently given away after Katrina? Trust me, 50% of our country does not need welfare, food stamps, etc.
That’s why the Bible talks about giving your coat, your food, your money to those who ask for it FACE-TO-FACE, not by raising taxes and giving it to some supposedly impoverished, disabled, etc nameless person.
Republicans will never win again because the fundamental morality and spirituality in the US has turned from God to Secular-Humanism and has been for years. 2012 was not the turning point for the US, it was the 1960′s when God was kicked out of our public schools.
I, for one,will be wearing black somewhere on my person everyday to mourn the complete loss of this one great, God-fearing nation.
OOpps, should be “once” great nation.
It’s hard to see any possibility of good coming out of this. But to claim that there can only be a good reason if I see it, (therefore there can’t be one because I don’t) is utter foolishness. I am certainly not all-seeing, and neither are any of you. Politics has its place, but to use it as the backward telescope through which we see everything else is a reductionist’s denial of reality. Our days are numbered, each of our stories will unavoidably come to an end. There are far more important things to attend to.
If you’re actually interested in hearing what Christianity has to say on the topic, you may find this useful:
http://sermons2.redeemer.com/sermons/arguing-about-politics
Isn’t history His story? Buckle your seatbelts we, along with the rest of the world, are in for a bumpy ride.
The deepest difference, practically speaking, in the moral life of man is the difference between taking it easy and striving to achieve. When taking it easy, shrinking from present ill is the ruling consideration. In contrast, striving to achieve makes us quite indifferent to present ill, if only in the greater good to be obtained. The passion in striving to achieve probably lies slumbering in every man; but it has more difficulty in achieving realization in some than in others It needs wilder passions to arouse it; the big fears, loves, and indignations; or else perhaps the deeply penetrating appeal of some one of the higher fidelities like justice, truth, or freedom. Strong relief is a necessity of its vision, and a world where all the mountains are brought down and all the valleys are exalted is no congenial place for its habitation. This why, in a solitary thinker this mood might slumber on forever without waking. His various ideals, known to him to be mere preferences of his own, are too nearly of the same dimensional value; he can play fast or loose with them at will. This is why, in a merely human world, without a God, the appeal to our moral energy falls short of its maximal stimulating power. Life to be sure, is even in such a world of genuine ethical symphony; but it is played in the compass of a couple of poor octaves, and the infinite scale of values fails to open up.
Dynamic morality consists of doing rather than being; in acting rather than refraining from action. As this is the dominate moral doctrine of the present world, its central theme needs careful consideration. The survival of human societies depends on on cultural choices that are based on human intelligence. Culture changes human society as genes change other species. Every individual is continually exerting himself to find the most advantageous employment for whatever capital he can command. It is his own advantage, indeed and not that of society, which he has in view. A dynamic morality is concerned with overcoming the problems of social adaption. This is achieved by individuals who adapt their own actions to the opportunities of the current environment and therefore employ resources available in the society to the greatest advantage. Evil exists in the world not to create despair, but to promote activities. We are not patiently to submit to it, but to exert ourselves to avoid it. It is not only the interests , but the duty of every individual to use his utmost efforts to remove evil from himself, but from as large a circle as he can influence; and the more he exercises in this duty, the more wisely he directs his efforts, and the more successful these efforts are, the more he will probably improve, and exalt his own mind, and the more completely does he appear to fulfill the will of his Creator.
And so, although we may stumble and fall, as perhaps we did yesterday, it is our duty and obligation to rise up again, take up our arms, and continue to struggle for a new an better world.
beautifully put, Joseph
Romney lost for the simple fact that he brought a pencil to a gun fight. VEEEEEERY stupid!
Obama has always had phenomenal luck — even in his first election to the Illinois senate, when all his opponents were scratched off the ballot because of technicalities, and now in the latest, a slight uptick in the economy and a storm-tossed Christie hug at precisely the right moment.
Even a fan at the Daily Kos marveled during the campaign in 2008, “Does it not feel as if some special hand is guiding Obama on his journey, I mean, as he has said, the utter improbability of it all?”
Unless the Democrats somehow find a way to run him for a third term, in 2016 they will have to run someone without that
unworldly gift. And perhaps Republicans will stop having a run of such bad luck by then — candidates who brain freeze on national TV or foolishly say precisely the wrong things about rape at precisely the wrong time.
Eventually luck turns. We’ll just have to hang on till then.
Romney lost because of the hurricane? Seriously? I am dumbfounded that PJ Media would let such a preposterous proposition besmirch their pages. We deserve better.
Please I beg you look for the truth and not twist things to gain power
Mitt Romney went ahead of Obama and was gaining more support by the hour . Then came the hurricane and he lost. Why did he lose? Look at this video his view on abortion
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57501172/romney-my-views-on-abortion-rights-are-clear-/
I realize there are thinkers who want to bury the abortion issue but this is against the True God. God wants to unite the three Abraham faiths with the glue that binds the sanctity of human life so no more suicide bombs no more death penalty but punishment the sin leading to repentance and this will be in great contrast with the atheist secular coming collective greed mongers who want to rule the world
An innocent human being in the belly of Mama is not guilty of rape or incest so murdering the innocent human being baby is an evil Romney began to support.
Do not be fighters against the true God or you become loser
yes/no
Are you for real? Islam is no more an Abrahamic faith than this atheist former Catholic is the Dalai Lama.
Abortion: Give it up. I don’t like it, either. So move to a state with restrictions.
How many votes did Akin lose us. A country where nobody has any money to raise kids guarantees lots of abortions.
1 Corinthians 9:22
New International Version (NIV)
22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.
To The Inca I say: You can give up human sacrifice temptation . Jesus is the human sacrifice and his meat taste great and his blood tastes sweet
To the hispanic: Do not worry about your baby Jesus and Mary Aliens under torment. The angels in heaven will destroy the GOP with big big big Volcano and the rest hiding under the rocks even they will flee with tail between their legs
To the Islam in the Middle east : I say Rivers of blood are flowing your way. Repent and give peace a chance
To the Asian This is good you vote foe Obama so we can destroy the GOP.
To the Akin fella : It is ok to be be stupid just stau faithful to the innocent baby human beings being murdered and spend time convincing poor mama that the fetus is human being
To the high angels looking down on human race and we all look like zogoats not born yet give us a few more days before ye make the herd get frisky and stocks fall to 2000 level and the poor poor wall street losers all leap off buildings
to the new convert to atheism from the Catholic good luck but you can also convert to the Jews or Islam and be part of God’s chosen as well , I believe, when God moves you to repentance to be rubbing elbows with God;s people if this is your desire in the here and now but you have your freedom
I’ll offer another point of view on this.
During the Spanish conquering in the south (Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia); they were having the advantage of the more advanced technology, while the advantage for the natives were their number, knowledge of the terrain and its resources. The conquistadores, after destroying the resistance in Peru, took aim to the North (Ecuador) where the Incas organized for the last stand. Pizarro group was small (hundreds) while the resistance was on the order of thousands.
So, at some point, the Incas, the thousands were really defeating the small group, but what happened? A vulcan started erupting which, in the religion of the Incas, was a bad omen. Spanish instead threw themselves boldly forward and won.
Thus the bad omen was actually a self-fulfilling prophecy. The same with your hurricanes. If you are going to start seeing omens, prophecies and acts of God, then so it will be, and you will be going down from defeat to defeat.
The Spanish had the Christian God. This Christian God is the God of all men. God love the Inca men as a great fire to bring them to hell which isn’t so bad , purgatory to prepare for heaven and then heaven since only God know how to end man’s great distance from Divine Love by man entering personal relationship with God man not God being the sinner.
If the Spanish christian practice sin and not repent he would be thrown in hell in the afterlife right beside the evil monster rebel against God , the generation after generation conservative who does not share power with anyone because the greed demon has perverted his soul and he has become a disgrace and human being made holy in the eyes of God has been given power to judge him from their thrones in heaven …some day.
If the nation after being a Christian nation begins to practice Inca practices , sacrifice millions of innocent babies in the womb of Mama what will the “volcano” say to that nation?
(there I was at the new Wise King Solomon sanctuary in between the 1st heaven and the 6th heaven with the Queen of Sheba north taking over the thrones of hell and I see Mountain after Mountain being swiftly removed from foundations and then I see the RING OF POwer and this ring was so very very large the one who owns it has a hand the size of three football fields. Pray that such a God does not yet come to the earth. God willing)
more latter
Maybe I am just an eternal optimist, but I think Obama’s luck will run out sooner or later. He won be he was the incumbent, he got lucky with the hurricane, and Romney made a colossal blunder in the last debate.
But he still has a fiscal cliff ahead of him which he is unlikely to address, a resurgent Al Qaeda which now sees him for the gutless milksop that he is and the possibility of a nuclear Iran which he seems indifferent to. He can’t keep fumbling forward forever.
This is all so petty…meanwhile we face some huge challenges. If we do not find some common ground and at least find a way to converse, we’re done. Our number one hurdle is climate change. We must stop the outsourcing of our jobs and the murders of our community businesses. Big box stores and huge corporations must be stopped from the serial rapes of our state tax money and our local city and county coffers. Please read some newspapers??? I don’t care if it’s the Wall Street Journal or The New York Times. Facts are facts..they have no “spin”. Let’s educate ourselves and communicate.
Oh,yea!
And Islam is a religion of peace and tranquility!
Are you working out to get into shape for the finals of the international self delusion championship? McCain didn’t lose the election because of a tactical error. After the disastrous Bush administration, it would have required a real act of god for him to have won. By the same token, Obama was leading before Sandy and already had a huge electoral college advantage. You’re just looking for some sort of excuse. You got beaten fair and square, and you need to man up to it. Blaming God and misunderstanding Hegel’s bit about the quile of reason won’t help.
I assume that as a Republican you actually agree with me about Bush, by the way. I note that the empty chair at the convention that mattered was the one that didn’t have Bush’s butt in it. I presume it wasn’t an accident that the party wanted to act as if he had never existed. That wasn’t an option in 2008. Bush wasn’t an albatross around McCain’s neck; he was an anvil.
God is judging us. Terror attacks, hurricanes, earthquakes, bad economy, terrible evil leaders, military and trade troubles, loss of cultural and Constitutional freedoms- all this will continually get worse. Our prayers asking for God’s blessings on our nation are now just mouthfuls of wishes.
At the original 9-11 attack, president Bush and other leaders said and did the exact same things as did the Northern Kingdom of Israel, as recorded in Isaiah 9:10. The parallels and connections are exact. America and the Northern Kingdom of 3000 years ago have said the same words and acted with the same attitudes. The larger portion of the twelve tribes was defeated and ruined and dispersed and nothing of them remains to be known by mankind today. The modern nation of Israel today is made of Judah, Benjamin, and some of Levi. Israel is defeated and lost.
George W Bush and the governors and cabinet secretaries and mayors all told us lies, beginning with our attackers are from a religion of peace. Even worse, our leaders said we could withstand the blows of our enemies and handle these circumstances by using our strength. Our leaders said we would rebuild and build ever better. Oh my but those fools were wrong in every area.
The parallels between Isaiah 9:10 and America 9-11 are aligned precisely down to the words, bricks and types of trees. You can read about in “The Harbinger” by Jonathan Cahn. God’s hand has stopped protecting America and things are going to get worse unless our former leaders apologize and confess what they’ve done wrong, and repudiate the wrong. Then we can repent and succeed at doing the right thing as one nation under God. If not, stuff goes bad real fast. God has warned us. He’s arranged our 9-11 as a mirrow to an old testament story, step by step by step.
Has Eljah the Prophet ever come to you in the now as he came to Baal Shem Tov , Isaiah 9: 10?
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2529/jewish/Baal-Shem-Tovs-16th-Birthday.htm
I remember when i was 33 years old and every thing I predicted was coming true but Satan the Devil was laughing at me and I say: “Get behind me Satan” Satan say: “I am already behind you”
Not long after I end up in mental hospital with hand cuffs and my eyes were open to all the sick people God love very very much who need care and tenderness and who neeed Eljah to smile at them as happen to the Baal Shem Tov.
Try not to become prophet before you are chosen by God