2012 - Dene McGriff

&

THE DECADE FROM HELL

by

Doug Krieger

Chapter 7 – The False Prophet

Rare that within the force a calamitous convergence of apocalyptic magnitude as this should occur.  Flashing across the skies of the meteoritic media is the incessant fascination with the end of the world as we know it.  Somehow caught up in this maelstrom of the end of days is the Mayan Calendar, which terminates on December 21, 2012.  A close second is Dene McGriff and his band of biblical brothers– so says the November 22, 2009, Sacramento Bee front page article by Jennifer Garza:  Mark Your Calendars:  The World Will End on Dec. 21, 2012 – or will it?

It’s the comments off the Bee’s article that amuse, concern and dissuade.  Turns out that at this writing nearly 300 responses on several sites ignited cyber space – most superfluous in nature, some spiritually discerning (sort of what Paul got as a response from the Athenians on Mars Hill… “We’ll hear more of this later”) and some downright “mad as hell” at McGriff wasting everyone’s time in inane speculation signifying nothing. 

Others deduced that the retired businessman from Carmichael, California is making a quick buck off his prophetic broadsides – I mean, if Sony’s latest 2012 blockbuster directed by the disaster-prone German, Roland Emmerich ($2.5B and counting; and, after all, the Germans are into disasters, along with their Japanese sponsors, a sort of Disaster Axis) can gross over $250-million in a week, surely McGriff can squeak out a couple of bucks from blasting away at the Indifferent Church and the likes of Ben Bernanke in The Recession is Over – Or is It?

Topping it off for the week is Time Magazine’s reflection on the past decade kicking off our 21st Century with the Y2K hoax and ending (so far) with the Stimulus Hoax.  Just what Time was up to belies a bit of journalistic objectivity (which there isn’t) in that the byline about the “10 Worst Things About the Worst Decade Ever” is the not so subtle on-going discrediting of Overlord, George W. Bush, and the uplifting of another, Barack Hussein Obama… “And why the next one will be better.”

Now, regarding 2012 and the December 21 terminus (somebody in the Bee article missed out on May 21, 2011 or is it October 20, 2011? -  the end of the world according to Harold Camping) – that Mayan date will be overshadowed by my 44th Wedding anniversary (another apocalyptic event converging on the world scene).

A great many Americans have reached the end of the world as they know it – or partially know it – by being fired, laid off or declaring some form of bankruptcy while facing foreclosure.  All idealism to the contrary, if you have a job most will stoop to just about anything in order to keep it, some selling their soul for a mere pittance in the process, working double time and a half, kissing up to the boss while sacrificing what’s left of their conscience just to put food on the table…but there are the hearty here in Sacramento who joined the nearly 30,000 who raced to feed the hungry, most for altruistic motivation, some to salve that pesky conscience, but someone has to do it.

2012 AND COUNTING

Yes, life seems to go on with “marrying and giving in marriage” until Noah closes the door of the ark – as in the 2012 movie where the hydraulics on the massive door of one of the three arks (Nina, Pinta and the Santa Maria?) jams leaving a pending disaster for that ark, imprisoning Noah, played by the youthful Liam James, along with a group of Tibetans, Americans, a Russian call girl and her dog, trapped between drowning and being crushed by the door’s huge cylinders.

It’s the closing of that door – and who will and can “pay the price” to get to the highest point of the earth to survive the “breaking up of the fountains of the deep” and the Tsunamis that encircle the earth as a result of its crust in free movement wherein the South Pole finds itself somewhere in Wisconsin?

There’s this skeptical spite, mixed with flippant suspicion that enthralls the masses.  What if Noah is right?  Such a thought enters then quickly exits the mind of the condemned who abide under the wrath of God (a most detestable notion).  The prophetic statement made by Noah’s ark a building was, after all, a most derisive and contemptible manifestation in blind faith if there ever were one!

But that doesn’t stop the History or Discovery Channels from stoking the fires of apocalyptic fervor commensurate with the programming; take, for example Decoding The Past:  Doomsday 2012 The End of Days:

“There are prophecies and oracles from around the world that all seem to point to December 21, 2012 as doomsday. The ancient Mayan Calendar, the medieval predictions of Merlin, the Book of Revelation and the Chinese oracle of the I Ching all point to this specific date as the end of civilization. A new technology called ‘The Web-Bot Project’ makes massive scans of the internet as a means of forecasting the future... and has turned up the same dreaded date: 2012. Skeptics point to a long history of ‘Failed Doomsdays’, but many oracles of doom throughout history have a disturbingly accurate track record. As the year 2012 ticks ever closer we’ll speculate if there are any reasons to believe these doomsayers.” (DownArchive.com)

THE ARMAGEDDON CHANNEL

Seems like nearly every weekend the English-speaking world is barraged with another End is Near cataclysmic scenario – it’s ceaseless; everything from Antichrist to the Nostradamus Effect; from Armageddon – The End of the World to Seven Signs of the Apocalypse …every weekend we get hit with fresh prophetic doomsday servings prepared by the scrumptious imaginations of the secular?  Of course, every Da Vinci Code Bloodlines, Secret Brotherhood of Freemasons (including the founding fathers of the USA), and the Prophecies of Israel, along with Middle East Wars coming down the pike are served up, creating an apocalyptic smorgasbord to delight the appetites of even the most satiated skeptic to imbibe and engorge themselves in the feeding frenzy.

McGRIFF’s CRITICS

First of all, the Americana-style comments made on the Bee’s web site repeatedly nailed the prophetic profiteer McGriff for using fear-mongering to up his sales of non-existent product and services—cleverly hidden somewhere on his site.  What’s curious to his sidekick is how McGriff can somehow think “the media treated me fairly – don’t you think?”  Fairly?  Please consider “fairly” as not kookier than the other kooks out there awaiting the end of the world.

Take a gander at some of the brilliant comments made by a host of McGriff’s critics who also slam the hyped-up media…both locked into an unending effort to profit a la Elmer Gantry off the flavor of fear—especially, divine judgment; oh, whatever: “For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation” (II Peter 3:4).

“Pick a decade and you can see where the ‘news’ has hyped and created fear.  (The) stock market crash of ‘29...everyone freaked at headlines causing a run on banks. (The) Depression of  (the) ‘30s, WW2 then the cold war started in (the) ‘40s, bomb shelters in (the) ‘50s, social revolution and demise of USA in (the) ‘60s, oil running out and pending ice age in (the) ‘70s, nuclear winter due to Reagan being elected in (the) ‘80s, global warming and Y2K in (the) ‘90s...

“Watch movies from each decade and you can see what people were afraid of. There have been end of the world movies since movies have been made, each by a different method. Invasion by aliens, nuclear devastation, loss of all natural resources, terrorists, zombies and vampires, etc.,  ad nausea.

“When hasn’t the revered 4th estate not hyped disaster and fear mongered to sell their news? Only so they can make money…” (luvpunkin wrote on 11/23/2009 07:46:46 AM)

That McGriff’s a money-maker par excel lance…there can be little doubt!

“Unbelievable.  The only prediction he would make was that the end of times would ‘be good for Hollywood and they’ll probably make a lot of money.’ (Note:  Can’t figure out where McGriff said that…but it’s probably in that article somewhere!) You mean like the money your church and your ‘novels’ are making preying on those who believe this junk?

“‘If we're living in the last days,’ he (McGriff) said ‘don't you think it’s in our benefit to find out what’s going to happen?’  And how are you going to find out what’s going to happen?  I guess, like everyone else, you’re going to have to wait for the end.  If not, then you’re just like every other ‘prophet.’ Hmmmmm..... a prophet for profit... Isn’t it amazing the similarities in those words?” (amish wrote on 11/22/2009 03:05:44 AM

Then to the inane...American humor goes the prize…

“December 21, 2012 will be the day that the American public finds out that George W. Bush has been reelected to the White House due (to) some freak legal fluke. Apparently his reelection surreptitiously became federal law in 2007 when it was secretly inserted into a Congressional proposal to increase the feeding rates for wallabies cared for in US Zoos by 1.165 percent.” (Arctichaze wrote on 11/22/2009 08:24:47 PM)

Or, the agnostic pet lover:

“Getting ready for the rapture? Worried about what will happen to your pets when you are called to heaven? For a mere $1000 I will take care of your pets for the rest of their lives. I am an angnostic (sic. agnostic) and won’t be joining you in the rapture. Since I’ll be left here to deal with earthly problems, I thought I would be helpful and take care of the pets of the faithful.

“Please send a check for $1000 for each pet you would like taken care of, your address and a photo of each pet. You can send the funds to Rapture Guy, 2012 Gullible Way, Nothing, AZ 85xxx (exp).”

NASA KNOWS BEST & THE COMPLETE IDIOT’S GUIDE

The Bee article depicts safety in sane scientists like those at NASA who, undoubtedly, determined to preserve their budgets now centered on the moon’s frozen waters, will comfort us in our hour of need by simply telling us that all is well, no matter what kookier-than-thou prophets like McGriff and Tony Williams (“The End is Near” pastor from Fresno) have to say about the end of the world:

“Many credit, or blame, the current end-of-the-world interest in the examination of one ancient Mayan calendar - and there are three - that some have interpreted to say that the world will end on Dec. 21, 2012.

“On that date, the Mayan ‘long count’ calendar marks the end of a 5,126-year era. The day is also the winter solstice (and, don’t forget, my wedding anniversary). The Mayan calendar is so well known that it has spurred its own cottage industry.

“‘There is also an incredible alignment of the stars on that day,’ said Colin Andrews, who has written about end-times prophecies in The Complete Idiot’s Guide to 2012…An ancient look at a critical time.  ‘I do think we are entering another cycle that we are going to have a major realignment of some sort.’  (Note:  Post-tribulational author, Richard H.Perry, reveals a similar title:  The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Last Days…An apocalyptic look at the future.)

“NASA, in response to 2012 inquiries, has posted answers to frequently asked questions debunking the 2012 predictions on its Web site, nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html.

 “‘Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012,’ the site says. ‘Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years (Note:  Tell that to the dinosaurs.), and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012.’” (Mark Your Calendars:  The World Will End on Dec. 21, 2012 – or will it? Jennifer Garza, the Sacramento Bee, Nov. 24, 2009)

Amazing how cocksure these scientists are about dates and all—probably the same brainiacs who figured out global warming, led by the guy who invented the internet, whereby we are obliged to hold this most edifying discussion – sooner or later that internet given to us by Al Gore would come back to bite him (Hacked files expose massive global warming con, 21 Nov 09).

Then there’s always the gloom and doom economic advisers like Paul Krugman or this enlightened comment regarding the New World Order which shall arise from the ashes of our grand experiment in globalization:

“Oh I hope so much that it is true this time.

“First there was the ‘Club of Rome’ who predicted ‘nuclear winter’ in the 1980s and said we would never see the year 2000. Well, we saw it.

“Then it was Al Gore and his bunch of morons who invented global warming that should finish the planet off. Only, the planet decided actually to cool down, so that won't happen either.

“Next came the Y2K scare. I didn’t even bother to go to Times Square because I knew the world would just explode in a big bang when the ball finally dropped. Didn't happen.

“Now the financial crisis, real estate crisis, Obama’s new taxes, etc. will surely destroy all my IRA savings in a few years, so please, let it be over in 2012.

“But the most important argument is: If it is over in 2012 we do not have to elect another moron to be president!” (JJW)

McGRIFF, HALL & BUBBLES

We’re so grateful that McGriff – himself a graduate from UC Davis – finds bubble companionship with sociologist and end-of-days aficionado John Hall, along with a final critique on McGriff, comforts us all that the intelligentsia has got it all figured out; to wit:

“‘We’re in an apocalypse bubble, in the same way that there was a real estate bubble and a dot-com bubble,’ said John Hall, a sociologist at the University of California, Davis.

“Hall has studied apocalyptic movements since the 1970s and is the author of Apocalypse: From Antiquity to the Empire of Modernity.  He does not believe the end is near, echoing the sentiments of other observers who either dismiss the interpretations or debunk them as scientifically unsound.

“‘But I think all this reflects fears people have,’ he said. ‘They are nervous about what’s going on in the world.’ (Can’t imagine why! – my comments)

“Global warming.  Pandemics and health scares.  War in the Middle East.  End-timers like McGriff say these are signs that we are living in the last days. ‘Look at the Bible,’ he said. ‘It's predicted.’  (Note:  What’s predicted?  Chairman Bernanke’s stimulus hoax?)

“On his site, www.the-tribulation-network.com (specifically, The Recession is Over – Or is it?), he (McGriff) examines a recent announcement from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the recession is over and concludes that ‘the current world economic system ... (opens) the way for something far more sinister as we see in the prophetic Scriptures.’” (Ibid. The Bee, Jennifer Garza)

McGRIFF vs. BERNANKE…the False Profit?

In that I, as co-conspirator with McGriff, know whereof he speaks regarding “something far more sinister as we see in the prophetic Scriptures,” allows me to suggest that the immediate and not-so-subtle inevitability regarding the dollar’s worldwide collapse and the staggering production to debt ratios (now reaching $187,000 per every man, woman and child in the USA) now hemorrhaging the American, and ipso facto the world’s, economy – notwithstanding the Herculean efforts of the spending-gone-wild US Congress – shall lead the financers of globalization to contrive an already in the works scheme to subvert the planet’s economies into a one-world currency. 

This system of “buying and selling” will no longer be an arduous and complicated task of multi-competing economic systems.  Alas, a failsafe, electronically-controlled and most welcomed relief for earth’s consuming populous – effectuated and anxiously embraced by the teeming masses made compliant by media propagandists hell-bent on relieving us all of inequity and the fear mongering wrought by these aforementioned prophetic profiteers – will encompass the globe.  In sum:  No one will be able to “buy or sell” without the Mark – i.e., the Mark of the Beast.

And just who orchestrates this means of absolute monetary, manufacturing, production and service control?  You guessed it – the apocalyptic False Prophet of Revelation 13:11-18, that’s who.  Known as the Second Beast of the Apocalypse, this cosmic character is destined to reflect and create a far more sinister scheme at the End of Days – indeed, we behold the ultimate CONTROL FREAK whose immediate designs regarding the propagation of all things prophetically ridiculous is naught but preparation to desensitize and to make callous the hearts and minds of this age of deception and subterfuge to the “Scripture of Truth” (Daniel 10:21).

EARTH DWELLERS & CHARLATANS

How is it that guys like McGriff are made out by the media to be Noahic-style buffoons and Gantry charlatans whose innocuous strutting upon the stage of human history has so little to do, so his critiques accuse, with the real world in which we live?  Alas, and again, McGriff, along with fellow charlatans, live in the world of the History Channel, the theater of the apocalyptic absurd – to be studied as a sociological phenomenon – relatively harmless, aside from triggering an already crazed person to perhaps go ballistic from anxiety or depression caused by McGriff et al who confirm the suspicions of the paranoid and of those confirmed in their belief that all prophetic hacks are profiteers, charlatans from Johann Tetzel to Benny Hinn.

The day comes when they “who dwell on the earth” – those whose commentary chides the prophet through their snide and condescending remarks – shall face the trial “to try all them that dwell upon the earth” (Revelation 3:10) – even these, shall delight in the persecution of the Two Witnesses… “And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these TWO PROPHETS tormented those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 11:10).

Israel’s materiality – spurned by these “earth dwellers” who make their critical choice to denounce and defame her claims to divine blessing (taking, of course, the high road of theological justice, so-called; ensconced in the implacable refinement of suppersessionism and the claims of the “true Israel of God”) – along with the likes of these McGriff agitators (prophetic Christians) – will be done with…so it would appear, once and for all.

Furthermore, and after repeated apocalyptic happenings throughout the globe – the sorry state of affairs of these “inhabitants of the earth” (Rev. 12:12) as in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah shall reach its unbelievable hardness of heart and blasphemous spite:

“So the first went and poured out his bowl upon the earth, and a foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image…and men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory…Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain.  They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds…And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent…Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great” (Excerpts from Revelation 16).

Time and again, in history past, in the frivolous present and into the chaotic happenings of prophetic inevitability…the Kosmokrator (Ephesians 6:12 – “rulers of the darkness of this world” – Cp. John 12:31; John 14:30; John 16:11; II Cor. 4:4) – even the Prince of Darkness himself... “has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them”(II Cor. 4:4).

Answers?  Truth?  The world awaits its final destiny – scoffers are forecast to pepper the globe with their nonchalant criticisms—having no answers but the innate fears of humanity demanding an explanation to earth’s crises.  The sociologist defines it, the skeptic defies it and the materialist delights in its financial prospect. 

ALBERT EINSTEIN – NO PERSONAL GOD – NO ACCOUNTABILITY

Albert Einstein had no belief in a personal God – hence no need for a relational accountability.  He did affirm what today we might call a “higher consciousness” – a greater and selfless goal wherein:

“In their struggle for the ethical good, teachers of religion must have the stature to give up the doctrine of a personal God, that is, give up that source of fear and hope which in the past placed such vast power in the hands of priests. In their labors they will have to avail themselves of those forces which are capable of cultivating the Good, the True, and the Beautiful in humanity itself. This is, to be sure, a more difficult but an incomparably more worthy task”… (Ah, fateful surmisings prior to Hitler’s rise to power and Einstein’s exit from the same.)” (No Personal God, Einstein and Religion).

Yet more disquieting from him who brought us the formula that led to nuclear energy, for good and for evil (though in Einstein’s world neither existed – for all was neutral, just being and immutable “laws” which somehow hold the universe together):

“About God, I cannot accept any concept based on the authority of the Church. As long as I can remember, I have resented mass indoctrination. I do not believe in the fear of life, in the fear of death, in blind faith. I cannot prove to you that there is no personal God, but if I were to speak of him, I would be a liar. I do not believe in the God of theology who rewards good and punishes evil. My God created laws that take care of that. His universe is not ruled by wishful thinking, but by immutable laws.” (Ibid. No Personal God)

And with that, may I present a clear and present danger for those who dwell on the earth – who in vain assume man’s interior goodness, truth and beauty as an incomparably more worthy pursuit juxtaposed to the priestly empowerment derived from fear and hope in the unseen relational God, not the rational god of this world, you will, as Einstein learned too quickly, realize there is behind atheism and agnosticism – just as there is behind the efforts of the False Prophet (for “even the demons believe and tremble” James 2:19) – the peculiar predisposition to achieve the divine disposition without the divine presence – for both Einstein and the one from whom he fled saw in themselves that force which was ultimate power.

THE FOOL, CULTURE & DESTRUCTION

Finally, and as my beloved sister continually says – “If I believe there is no personal God as you the skeptics do, I have nothing to lose – however, if you do not believe in a personal God you have, according this Book, everything to lose.”

May I suggest you hedge your bet, rather than suffering the hardening of your heart and persist through it all in disbelief of the truth – “The fool has said in his heart:  There is no God” – Alas, “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence” (I Corinthians 1:27-29).

Friend, the world continues to careen out of control – for real, the current economic distress has no immediate or even long-term resolution.  The Iran-Israel quagmire, along with the Arab-Israeli Conflict has little hope of placating our fears—fears that really shouldn’t exist since they are founded on obscure platitudes of good and evil, justice and injustice. 

By resorting to a morality based on cultural standards (where there is no good, no evil; no hope, no fear; but by all definition, a miserable, disquieting interpretation of life – for the culture of the Aztecs and of the cannibal descended into the abyss – or worse yet, the Nazi eugenics of the “survival of the fittest” – the primo example of a transcendent misuse of progressive culture at its worst) is a slippery slope to destruction.

Throughout this brief discourse we observed that “science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind” (Quotation Details)

The tragedy of Einstein’s 1941 statement came after man’s proclivity to the dark side overwhelmed the difficulty of identifying with his alleged innate goodness.  Peace in our time was not in Einstein’s lot – nor the world’s.  Have you figured it out yet?  Or do you care less there are any solutions to what some say is an insoluble conundrum?

The God of the Universe is not impersonal – so transcendent you cannot confirm the reality of the divine will and intention.  The Creator is intensely interested in what the Designer has created. 

Now, after exploring all that constitutes man’s righteousness, goodness and supposed benefit – does he not discover, as Paul declared: “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find…for the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice…I find that a law (speaking about Einstein and his “laws” of nature) , that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good…O wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death?  I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”?  (Romans 8:18-25 excerpts)

Therefore, your options, as contemptuous as this may sound, are they of a fool or those of the wise – and, to this we add a final nail in Einstein’s non-search where there is no hope:

“For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance” (Romans 8:24-25).

TIMING IS EVERYTHING – BUT WHEN?

Throughout the movie 2012 there was this incessant dialogue going on among sundry characters:  Author Jackson Curtis, played by lead actor John Cusack, Dr. Adrian Helmsley played by Globe nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor – the USA scientist working with Indian scientist Dr. Satnam Tsurutani, played by Jimi Mistry – Danny Glover’s character, US President Thomas Wilson and the hated but ruthlessly pragmatic Presidential staffer, Carl Anheuser, played by Oliver Platt – all of them centered on the timing of 2012 and the final end of the world predictions associated thereto.

The timing of the destruction kept changing throughout – scientific calculations were drawn up with the Chinese building immense Noahic-style vessels to transport some 400,000 high-paying humans (tickets and all) just in time to preserve them, as pairs of earth’s animals, insects, etc. were choppered into the Noah’s high-tech arks (and they were behemoths). 

“But of that day and hour no one knows…It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority” (Matthew 24:36;
Acts 1:7)

But what was most interesting, and somehow the writers of 2012 got this right, they understood that those who were able to “discern the signs of the times” were a prized human commodity of incalculable worth – although the Indian scientist who discovered the immensity of earth’s upheavals perished in the chaos.

“When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’”; “and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening,’ Hypocrites!  You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:3, cf. Luke 12:56).

Discernment of the “signs of the times” has everything to do with timing – but will we notice, will we calculate, will we discern?  This discernment had to do with Who He was, His first coming…but of His Second Coming there is little doubt that scoffers will abound and the love of many will wax cold, but some will discern, some will take heed…

“But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.  For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.  Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:34-36).

… so that Day will not come on us unexpectedly…some will be counted worthy…to stand before the Son of Man…will we?  Will you?  Will I?