Pastor Terry Jones, a previously obscure fundamentalist leader of a congregation of approximately 50 people has vaulted onto the world’s stage like no other personage in modern history. Unwittingly Pastor Jones has fused the two of the most powerful forces in world to form a real live trigger for events that could lead to the horrific cataclysmic war of the East against the Occident prophesized in ancient Biblical scripture. This is the reason world leaders both religious and secular have been pleading and praying for Pastor Jones to forego his intended public burning of the Qur’an, the most sacred holy book to Moslems around the world. Pastor Jones appears to be a confused but serious “By God” person doggedly resolute to his convictions. If he awakes (without satisfactory compensation) on the morning of September 11, 2010, he will immediately get to the business of burning his cache of Qur’ans on the site of his small church. Publically, Pastor Jones has called the Qur’an, “the book of the Devil”. Pastor Jones’ ignorant perception of all other religions outside of Christianity is that they all are tools and instruments of the Devil. The Christian Holy Bible is just a “holy book” to Pastor Jones, therefore he cannot conceive the fact that people of other religions regard the words of their Holy Scriptures as fully embodied living entities which collectively reign as the Divine Supernal Master of their own personal lives. Injurious desecration of any form to these Holy Words is to the faithful like unto such injuries being mercilessly inflicted on the flesh, bones and blood of their most beloved family members. The pain, and suffering experienced by true believers over such a sacrilegious event cannot be captured by any verbal description or possible written account, and only can be expressed by human anguish inherent in unvocalized loud continuous howls or ear piercing screams.
The following is a message to the nations of the world in particular and to MANKIND in general. We can choose to ignore it at our own peril.
Here is the preface to the message. The superb innovative engineering talent here in the United States created the Internet, the fastest means of communications ever known to mankind. This technology has removed the barriers of time and boundaries between nations all over the world. With the invention and inclusion of satellite communications, there is no point on the globe that is out of the range of electronic information transmission. The other leg of this modern technological giant created by the U.S. is cell phone technology and its adjunct accessory the ubiquitous cell phone. The cell phone itself has had a rapid evolution from just a light weight hand held instrument capable of making roving telephone calls, up to its present form which makes it capable of functioning as a video camera, movie player, music player and/or data recorder. Many Americans felt a sense of national pride and self satisfaction as they watched the explosive proliferation of cell phone use around the world. In recent times we gloated over how the Iranian opposition used cell phones to open a window to the world showing horrific pictures which graphically displayed the brutal treatment inflicted on the people in the massive opposition crowds by the police and Revolutionary Guards as those assembled attempted to peacefully demonstrate against the rigged Presidential election. We continued to smirk over the Iranian State Government’s futile attempts to stop the transmission of these damning pictures by shutting down access to the internet. The embarrassed Iranian government initially attacked all of the Iranian social networks such as YouTube and Facebook without much success. However, little did America realize at the time that this extraordinary worldwide communication technology has a very real TWO EDGE sword?
However, Pastor Jones and his flock is poised to make this observation painfully clear as they prepare to burn copies of the Qur’an in public, and do so under the protection of the Constitution of the United States of America. We are now face to face with the reality that the instant that the first page of any Koran (using Pastor Jones’ terminology) is set alight, that picture will be winging its way around the globe, destined to be shown in every Moslem mosque and household. The setting of this potentially dreadful event is perfectly ironic as its events unfold, as it makes it painfully clear who the irresponsible people are, and Pastor Jones is certainly not alone in this. The point I am making here is that there are many more highly probable scenarios like the current situation that could dramatically appear in the world’s technological future.
The message here is that the demi-god of America, Wall Street and its minions are only concerned with the singular issue of making money. Greed is its scripture and envy is its code of morality. We are confused and wonder why our Icon stands silent before us in this terrifying moment as we stand trembling on the threshold of a world wide conflagration. In the future we are sure to invent more highly innovative technology to the enhancement of life here on earth. But we must also insist on those critical safeguards necessary to protect ourselves from ourselves as we integrate these marvels into our individual lives around the globe. Our creative initiative must be driven by more than profit alone.
Finally, modern human beings in western society are cursed with short attention spans. So three weeks from 9/11/2010 after Pastor Jones and his flock have successfully turned a pile of Korans into a pile of ashes, and the Moslem world has not declared war on the United States, the Jones incident will be mostly forgotten in the mind of the average American. All may appear to be quiet after a period of riots, protest marches, and fiery speeches, but I can assure you that the fuse will be burning. Decades ago when Apollo 11 landed on the moon, and those famous moon walking pictures were flashed to virtually every nation around the world, very few Americans were aware that the moon was regarded as a sacred body by the Muslim religion and was frequently mentioned in many passages of holy Islamic scripture. While America celebrated this great technological achievement, many Muslim holy men spoke out against what they regarded as a callous desecration of the sanctity of the moon by the United States. However, the Internet was yet to be invented, and so their protests faded away unheard against the overwhelming din of world praise and admiration for American technology and its new space heroes.
In my opinion, Iranian president Ahmadinejad will be sitting in a room filled with television screens waiting for the first Qur’an burning video from Florida via the internet. No other person on this earth will benefit more from this blasphemous event than Ahmadinejad. This will be a real game changer politically for the Iranian State. I would not be surprised if this event occurs that Ahmadinejad will use it as an excuse to immediately proceed with the acceleration of his plans to block the Strait of Hormuz. This strategic location is a chokepoint between the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf through which 15 to 17 million barrels of oil move by tankers each day. Ahmadinejad has already purchased several lightly armored moderate depth submarines, in an obvious threat to block shipping in the Strait. He has strongly implied that any attempt to bomb Iran’s nuclear reactors will result in this serious action. However, if Pastor Jones does his “burn the Koran” thing” it will be a “blessed gift” for the Iranian president and the Revolutionary Guard who will be able to get enough money (under the table from the Saudis and other Muslim oil producers) to buy some militarily viable submarines, ships and other equipment capable of sealing off the Strait of Hormuz. The loss of this amount of oil per day on the world market will send the price of oil skyrocketing and torpedo any hope of a timely economic recovery in the western world. Once the Strait is blocked, military action will be required by the western alliance thus setting the stage for the opening curtain to the war of ancient Biblical prophecy.
Unfortunately Pastor Jones’ teachable moment has included “confidence men”, professional extortionists, and the more criminally minded people among us here in the US and around the world. The “window to the world” capability that modern technology has placed in our midst has turned any local event into an instant world wide traveler. The cute advertising slogan “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” is no longer true, not only for Los Vegas but for every hamlet and village around the globe. Jones has given every dangerous extortionist a crude but eye opening lesson on how a single individual with a digital camera, an internet connection, and the appropriate dastardly scheme can hold institutions and nations hostage for the purpose of extorting millions and perhaps billions of dollars from them. The exhibition of the possible momentary control over the hearts and minds of massive populations around the globe simply through the schemes of one individual is a potential gift that few criminals would refuse to exercise to its greatest potential. In truth the use of the video capability inherent in the Internet does not have to be as grandiose as Jones’ scheduled event. It can be significantly smaller in terms of galvanizing world attention but sufficiently disruptive of the global economy to become an effective gambit for making any extortionist rich beyond imagination. The criminal activities that have been chewing excitedly on the fringe of the world’s economy range from the Somali pirates to the mortgage crisis generated by Wall Street. Pastor Jones, however has just revealed to the world how easy it is to significantly raise the risk and the rewards via such enterprise.
The dreaded unthinkable must also be mentioned here as a real probability. Within the United States there exists a significant population whose own personal demons will drive them to limits far out of the reach of calm rationale and practical reason. These people are inflexible in their devotion to their fanatical beliefs regardless of how bizarre they appear to people simply concerned with the everyday flow of human life. Fanatics and cultists are slavishly bound to their perceptions of the value of their respective cause, and no amount of bribery money offered will deter them from carrying out their mission. Given an opportunity to be in the position of Terry Jones they would never pause in their mission regardless of the cataclysmic outcome. These are the people that we must assume present the greatest danger to the United States of America, and something must be done immediately to prevent the possible occurrence of such a situation.
In my opinion there is only one solution to this problem and it requires immediate action by the Federal government. My understanding is that America is still at war with Al Qaeda, therefore any act by any American citizen that effectively provides aid and assistance to the enemy are sufficient grounds for the government to seize and hold the respective individual for trial and full punishment under the law in the American court system. Under normal conditions the good Pastor’s right to burn books is guaranteed under the American Constitution. However when the top American general leading the war against Al Qaeda states that such action by this citizen will cause serious harm to our troops and expose them to significantly greater jeopardy out in the field, this in my estimation constitutes “providing aid and assistance” to the enemy! Based on these facts I deem that there is sufficient justification for the President to call an emergency session of Congress to request the immediate power necessary to address this problem.
On a personal note, my appeal to President Obama is a loud and clear declaration that this is not a problem that is up for discussion, nor can it be solved by soft ball appeals to the perpetrator’s “better angels”. President Obama I leave you with the words of another great “can do” American, President Harry S. Truman, who clearly and succinctly defined himself to the world through his memorable declaration, “The buck stops here!”
