Opus 2024-026: Critical Mass: Spare Us

Earlier I asked the question of which is more important to God, the righteousness of the leaders or the faithfulness of the general population?

I personally would go with the general population.  If it were the leaders then no nation would be safe and there would be little the common people could do about it.  That brings up the question of critical mass.  In case you don’t remember your high school science, critical mass is the term used to determine if there is enough nuclear material to start and continue an atomic explosion.  In terms of what I am talking about it would be more a question of how many righteous people God would require to spare a nation.  What percentage?  What kind of a ratio?

If the people are the measure of God’s wrath then what kind of percentage of faithfulness do you need among the people? We have an example of this in the destruction of Sodom.  It was a major city in the area.  Of course that could mean only a thousand people but it was still major.  God was willing to spare it for just a few.  How many will God require for America?

Are we ready to be judged or is there enough salt left?

If God feels we need a purging to initiate revival then get ready for hard times.  Keep in mind that He promises to see us through.  If you know anything about the history of persecution, it often is extreme in one place and barely a ripple just down the road.  That is one way in which God brings punishment on a people as a whole and spares those whom He wants to spare.

Be faithful.  He will be.

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-327: Critical Mass: How Do You Know

476 A.D.
732 A.D.

I don’t know if you recognize these dates.  They are turning points in history that were not recognized as such when they happened.  I am sure I could come up with a lot more.  If you had been alive in 476 you would not have been aware that everything had changed.  It is the date of the fall of Rome, except it didn’t.  It is chosen because it was the ascension of the first non-Roman emperor.  The man on the street still paid the same for cabbages and grain.  

It you were at the Battle of Tours in 732 you would have noticed something happened.  You won a battle, or lost, depending on which side you were on.  It made a difference to you but you would not have recognized it as the high water mark of Muslim expansion into Europe.  It was the beginning of a 700 year push by Christian Europe to take back the continent for Christ.  Everything changed when that battle was won.

What date will historians look back on as the demise of the United States of America as a federal republic, ruled by law and embracing the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights?  What is, or was, the turning point?  Our most recent example is the action of the Colorado Courts which decided that Donald Trump could not be listed on the primary election ballot.  It is a classic example of Banana politics that we have seen in so many parts of the world and thought we were immune to.  It follows the long litany of ridiculous collusion by the press and the Democrat hacks who are convinced that when the dust settles they will be the ones on the throne.  

When will the attacks reach critical mass?  Will they ever?  Will there be violence in the streets?  Oh, wait, we have already had that in many major cities thanks to BLM and Antifa and the paid stooges that are their shock troops.  Of course it was mostly peaceful protest while old ladies being waved into the capitol were an insurrection.  Will the people of America finally have enough and bring about something like the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution?  If it happens it will not be pretty and there will be no winners.

My theory is that if the people of God will do enough praying, repenting and obeying, we will see God reach His critical mass and move in ways that will not be pretty.  America needs to be humbled but not destroyed.  The rest of the world needs the leadership we offered when we were more righteous.  How will God bring that about?  His methods will make a second Civil War seem mild.  You might actually prefer that.  Picture a totally divine intervention.  Picture massive solar flares, earthquakes at key locations and the massive volcano in Yosemite erupting.  Add a few tidal waves and hurricanes like the climate alarmists have been hoping for.  Add to that diseases that were not created in labs and let go on purpose along with a new and improved dust bowl.  Are you getting a picture of what could happen?

Imagine the west coast of the United States if a series of solar flares took out all the electric grid and its backups.  Throw in a mild earthquake to cut off the flow of water to Los Angeles and you have massive metropolises erupting into murderous chaos within hours.  None of that requires much imagination and would not bring the God haters to the table.  “Just coincidence,” they would say.

With the destruction of the Left Coast it is possible that the balance of moral fiber in the country would swing enough so that God did not have to apologize to Sodom any more.  While we are not Israel God has blessed us in the past.  It may be to late to expect Him to bless us in the future but we will only find out as we repent and pray as individuals.  One at a time eventually adds up.  I believe God wants to bless people who live in obedience.  I hope there are enough of us.

Critical mass of evil could bring us down but it works both ways.  Critical mass could also bring revival.

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-321: Dark Thoughts: Timing

We live in desperate times.  That desperation is a bit overblown in comparison with world history but very real when compared to the world I was raised in.  We never locked our house.  The police were our friends.  I was not worried about any other country in the world.  I never worried about going hungry or loss of electricity.  

That world is a thing of dreams.  Every day we see another place where the secret cabal that runs America comes a little more out of the closet as they rip our liberties away.  I fear that things will come to an explosion point.  I also fear that things will never come to an explosion point.  I fear that we will slowly dissolve into another failed culture.  

Psalm 21 speaks to David’s enemies, but for us it speaks to God’s enemies.

(Psa 21:8 KJV)  Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.

God’s enemies are not worried about us, for good reason.  They know about the other cheek.  They know about the extra mile.  In spite of that, God tells us to wait.  

Eventually, when He is ready, God will move.  How will we know?  I think when it comes we will know and be sure in the knowledge.  That will be the time for us to move.  In Matthew 10 Jesus sent out the disciples and told them to only go to Israel.  In Matthew 28 He sends them out to all nations.  Situations change.  What is always the same is the difficulty of waiting.

The Bible has numerous indications of waiting.  One that many are familiar with is,

(Psa 46:10 KJV)  Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

The “be still” does not refer to noise but to motion.  It means to relax and allow God to do His work.

Then you have some of the last words Jesus gave to the gathered disciples,

(Act 1:4 KJV)  And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

They were to wait until God gave them the power and blessing of the Holy Spirit.  

And of course we have God waiting,

(Gal 4:4 KJV)  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

How appropriate for the Christmas season.  One of the questions David kept asking in the Psalms was “How long, O Lord?”  I am sure we ask the same question.  We are usually told to wait.  A large part of the waiting is to teach us to trust Providence.

We live in desperate times.  That does not mean we are desperate.  The early church knew the meaning of persecution.  They knew desperate times.  In spite of that they were known for their love of each other.  We would do well to remember that.  Much of the reason God seems to take so long is to give people a chance to repent.

He will eventually reach the end of His patience.  Wait for it.

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-057: Critical Mass: Ignoring the Obvious

The average American has a hard time understanding the existence of real evil.  We have gotten so used to routine unrighteousness that the depravity being initiated around us goes unnoticed.  It is like being inside a well insulated house when it begins to rain.  The storm builds and sometimes it isn’t until a bolt of lighting takes out the electricity that they look out and say, “My, it is raining hard.”

What kind of evil is going on?  Abortion is obvious.  You don’t need to dig too deep to see how medical doctors reach into a womb with metal instruments and begin to tear the baby inside limb from limb.  Trafficking in children for all kinds of insidious uses is going on under our noses.  It is ignored.  The surgeries being done on children too young to even know what gender is all about are an abomination.  The killing of thousands from hidden side effects on a chemical injection called a vaccination is lied about and covered up.  The catch and release program of the legal system which is often don’t even catch.  

How do these things start?  Often slowly and step by step.  I was accosted by a young man bun in the parking lot.  He was very dramatic.  He wanted a donation for some anti-bullying program.  How can you say “no” to such a noble cause?  Having been a public school teacher and seen what the last lessons in the program were, it was not hard.  They are smoke screens for advancing the homosexual agenda.  After I retired they started bringing in the pronoun of choice nonsense and that proceeded to identifying as and finally to destructive surgery.  Yes it is a slippery slope.  And they will be coming for your children if you don’t stay off the radar.

Evil exists.  It is all around us.  It feeds on our naivety.  The only antidote in most of the world through most of history has been the sword.  In cultures that have been saturated with righteousness then people serving the Light, God, are a natural protection from the deeds of darkness.  The problem is that too many people have abandoned the light and think that they can get away with it.  It does not work that way.  

There is a critical mass necessary for civil society.  We have crossed the line and continue to move into the world of the satanic.  Society will not recover unless we as individuals take the steps to recover.  I think God is going to let us decline until enough people feel enough pain to repent.

(2Ch 7:13-4 KJV)  If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people;  If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

This was written to Israel but I believe the principle applies to any nation where enough people call upon the Lord.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-157: Critical Mass: When?

What does it take to begin the violence?

For a small minority only the belief that no one is looking.  I have not met many people like this but they exist.  I had a friend with a very short fuse.  There were times when a questionable look could set him off.  I think he grew out of it, sort of.  These people are on both sides of the aisle but get nasty for different reasons.  Those on the right simply have a short fuse and know they are wrong.  Those on the left plan the violence and justify it for political reasons.  

For most people it is the point where they realize that there is no other way to deal with the elites that have control.  There is a quote I have heard in different ways that is attributed to Alexander Solzhenitsyn.  

“You only have power over people as long as you don't take everything away from them. But when you've robbed a man of everything, he's no longer in your power—he's free again.”

I don’t think the elites believe this.  They look at history and see the Jews rounded up and put in boxcars.  They forget the little dispute in Warsaw.  They look at the peasants of the Ukraine and today the Uhghurs in China.  They think that Joe Sixpack can be put in the same category.  They may be right.  They intend to keep pushing until they find out.

Like any explosion there is some kind of critical mass necessary.  The term comes from nuclear reactions but the idea can be applied to almost anything that destroys.  If you have ever been trying to renew a campfire and see the sudden emergence of the flame from glowing coals you have seen it reach critical mass in temperature.  I guess you could even say that pop corn releases its energy when that point is reached.  

What will it take in our society?  Who can tell.  Will our country survive?  History does not give a lot of hope but we should remember that our first revolution also defied the odds.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-110: Critical Mass: Sodom Quotient

Recently I read in an Eric Metaxas’ book about the real location of Sodom being found.  Part of the description dealt with conditions that would be created by something like a nuclear explosion.  That got me to thinking about our country.

Every time I think of Sodom being destroyed I think about the conditions that caused it.  One of the most blatant was sexual sin, specifically homosexuality.  I then think about how the city would have been spared if Abraham could have produced a few righteous individuals in the city.  I think it would only have required ten out of a city that could have been over 100,000.

I then start thinking about conditions in the United States.  I am reminded of the words of Ruth Graham in 1965,

"If God doesn't soon bring judgment upon America, He'll have to go back and apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah!"

That was in 1965.  The top TV program in 1965 was Bonanza.  You had Gomer Pyle, Andy Griffith and even Lassie was still on.  Donna Reed still had a year to go.  And Ruth Graham thought we were decadent then.  Now we have homosexuality and all the variants being taught in our grade schools.  We have a man dressed like a woman on the staff of our national government.  We have child pornography as a thriving business and people calling for the repeal of the age of consent.  I am sure you could go on.  You live here too.

The United States is not Israel.  We are not God’s chosen people.  Yet we have been blessed for two centuries.  I have a feeling that blessing is coming to an end.  If Abraham were talking to God about us today I wonder what the number would need to be to keep destruction away.

Keep in mind that we don’t need everyone to live a righteous life, just enough.

Be salt.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-179: Critical Mass: Do You Think You Are Funny

One of the strong indicators that liberals have lost their grip on life has to do with their sense of humor, or more accurately, their lack of a sense of humor.  It used to be that a liberal bastion like Saturday Night Live was actually funny even if you didn’t like their political slant.  I have not heard much from them lately but my source has always been others quoting them.  People with a feminine outlook on life have the same problem.  They don’t get male humor.  We used to have a female math teacher on our team of four and every once in awhile we would have to stop and say, “Joke, Irene, Joke.”  To which she would say, “Oh” and nod her head.  The closest to a female Don Rickles I can think of was Phyllis Diller but you would never call her feminine.  This lack of perspective is one of the reasons that President Trump is able to jerk their chains so well.

Even a middle school student knows the difference between bagging and insulting.  Liberals are horrified by both.  In case you did not live through those years, bagging is also called roasting, knocking, burning, etc.  It is a type of humor that mocks the other person with no intent to insult or hurt.  It is downright funny.  Public education tells kids it is inappropriate.  The kids know better but learned not to expect it.  They would say, “Are you trying to bag?”  To which I would answer, “No.  I am not trying.  I am succeeding.” 

Our society is being weakened by a lack of humor.  We are going to get so serious and careful that we will dry up and blow away.  I hope that people can lighten up again.  We need Polack jokes.  We need blond jokes.  We need all of those ways in which we learned to not take ourselves seriously.  So mock away.  It can be healthy.  Be sarcastic but be clever.  As you loosen up keep an eye out for liberals and give trigger warnings.  “Humor ahead.  Proceed at your own risk.”

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-110: Critical Mass: Inner Rot

Society has many bumps and potholes.  What happens when those potholes become sinkholes?  What happens when a small blip reaches Critical Mass.  Today I want to talk about treason.

We have a new group of Democrats in the House of Representatives.  They seem to hate America and everything we have stood for yet they were elected, sworn in and are getting paid.  They have not been locked up or deported.  The question is, “Is this a sign of our strength and resilience as a country or a measure of our stupidity?”

We have always had wacko politicians.  It goes with the territory of liberty.  People are free to elect whomever they want to represent them.  This is part of our strength.  We have the cultural equity that allows us to put up with a certain amount of dead weight.  We can deal with a few treasonous pieces of trash.  The First Amendment allows people to speak their mind or lack of one.  That is the real test of liberty, can we allow freedom of speech when we don’t like it?  The left has said “no”.  Actually they have said, “NO!!!!”

The problem we are facing is that these traitors are teaming up with the long term politicians who have been working hard to buy or coerce enough votes to keep getting reelected.  When it comes to the repeated reelection of people like Pelosi and Schumer you only need to pay attention to the second half of the question.  What will happen when the people who hate your liberty team up with the ones that are literally out to destroy the country?  When will we reach the point of critical mass?

Since I am getting old, I may not live to see it.  Then again, maybe I will.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-039: What Is Best for America

I just had some strong words for Venezuela.  The same goes for us here in the United States.  Various people have been quoted making the point that liberty must be reestablished in each generation.  At present we are coasting on the blood, sweat and tears of previous generations.  They built up a lot of equity and the current population is busy enjoying the fruit of their sacrifice. 

Americans are going to need to step up to the plate and be ready to take one for the team.  Part of that is a matter of self policing instead of expecting the government to regulate us.  When we cross the line with selfish behavior because we can get away with it we are pounding nails into our own coffin.  When we violate commonly understood standards of behavior because we don’t believe we will be caught we are on a slippery slope.  When we hire a lawyer to get out of paying for our violations when we get caught we are part of the problem. 

There comes a tipping point in our culture where it is too late to recover.  We are reaching that point.  It comes when there are so many people on the government dole that they can vote themselves everything they want.  Being on the dole includes working for the government.  It is not just limited to people on different forms of welfare or entitlement programs.  The only way to recover is for enough individuals to make the decision that they will be part of the solution even if they are the only one.  It is like the soldier that grabs the live grenade and smothers it with his body to protect his comrades.  All would die if one was not willing to pay the price.

Will America go the way of Venezuela?  Take a look at the feces covered streets of San Francisco.  Look at the homeless wastes of Los Angeles.  Recently I saw tent cities growing in the underpasses of Austin.  Rat souffle is just around the corner.

We won’t recover if we wait for the next guy.

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-081: Critical Mass: Ceiling Our Fate

Society has many bumps and potholes.  What happens when those potholes become sinkholes?  What happens when a small blip reaches Critical Mass.  Today I want to talk about the Federal budget fiascos.

Where does the rule of law break down?  With me, and you.  We think that the rules apply to everyone else but an exception can be made for me.  The same applies to the rules of economics.  We have a tax system built on exemptions and full of loopholes designed to please the constituents of congress critters.  We have laws that exempt congress themselves.  Everyone is out to game the system.  Law and justice become a joke on anyone without power or influence.

The current Omnibus is an example.  The moderates probably feel that it is good for the country and the little bit they put in for themselves is no big deal.  They come up with all kinds of ways to explain that the deficit is no problem, the national debt is manageable, inflation is a source of growth and so forth.  One such attempt, which I did not read past the title, is found in a column at the Daily Signal.

Then you have the clear bloating that goes on with all of these budget activities.  Rand Paul had a lot to say on Twitter about the current boondoggle.  Since I don’t tweet I have to link you to Louder with Crowder who gives a long list of totally pork barrel items that lard up the latest attempt at “responsible spending”.

So far we are keeping our heads above water as a nation.  The real questions are, “When do we hit the point of no return?  When does our financial situation reach Critical Mass?  When things start to crumble, how far will it go before we start to recover?”  In the Great Depression that began in 1929 there were lots of attempts to deal with the problem.  All of them made things worse.  It took a world war and millions of dead to get the world functioning again.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the politicians would grow up before we blow up?  It has to start with us.  We need to do two things.  First, we need to stop thinking that we are going to get our tax exemption or rebate and others will pay for it.  Second?  The same as always.  Vote the suckers out.

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-329: Critical Mass: Factions

Society has many bumps and potholes.  What happens when those potholes become sinkholes?  What happens when a small blip reaches Critical Mass.  Today I want to talk about extreme partisanship or factions. 

Being partisan is part of being free.  It is not a real issue.  What is an issue is the extreme form that becomes a faction.  A faction is willing to destroy the entire dining room just to keep others from having a place at the table.  We are seeing that attitude in activities like the use of special counsels to advance a political agenda.

I don’t have a problem with the special counsel digging into the dirt of Washington.  There is a heap of dirt to dig up and if he digs carefully he can discover where the bodies are buried.

What I have a problem with is only digging in one place and only recognizing one type of dirt.  The obvious example is the mountain of dirt that is clearly visible on the Clintons.  Does the Clinton Foundation ring any bells?  Does uranium for Putin sound familiar?  Where have I heard about some e-mails that got lost?  Are we looking into any of that corruption?  No.  They are on the protected species list put out by the left.

We have seen this kind of thing from Dan Quayle spelling potatoes in the alternative way supplied on a card by a teacher and being called ignorant to Barak Obama talking about visiting 57 states and being declared a genius. 

The Republicans could do something about the problem but they are secretly cheering the special counsel on.  They have more in common with the Progressives than the masses.  They don’t have a problem with destroying our liberty because they feel they will be among the select elite that run things when it comes crashing down.

So far the American people have been patient.  I don’t know how long that will continue.  The last election was the voice of the people saying, “Drain the swamp”.  All the elites hear is the anarchists and snowflakes chanting, “Not my president”.  My fear is that they will keep it up until the only answer is violence.  My other fear is that the masses will be complacent until violence is the only answer.

Vote the suckers out.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-224: Critical Mass: Litter

Society has many bumps and potholes.  What happens when those potholes become sinkholes?  What happens when a small blip reaches Critical Mass.  Today I want to talk about litter.

Daily experience:  I walk across campus and see strategically placed trash cans.  At no spot are you more than a few feet away.  Guess what is all over the ground.  Cups, wrappers, apple cores and things that defy imagination. 

Daily experience:  It is impossible to walk to the school building without walking on the black spots that signify “gum was dropped here” and not cleaned up.

Daily experience:  You pass a sign on the highway that advertises what business has adopted that segment of highway to pick up trash.  The business seems to have gone bankrupt.

Daily experience:  I am at Panera for my bread and coffee.  As I walk to the seating area I am forced to pass several table because the previous occupant has left their trash on the table.  It would be no problem if they left a tip, but they don’t.

One person dropping a gum wrapper is no crisis.  An entire school of children who throw their gum wherever they feel like it is a coming disaster.  The adult population that modeled that behavior is a disgrace.  Forget how unsightly it is.  Don’t worry about the spread of germs and disease.  What does it say about how these children will live in a society that demands responsibly and cooperation in order to allow liberty?  We already have laws and penalties for littering.  Are we going to need Gum Police to enforce that law and keep our streets clean?

Have you seen the movie “Idiocracy”?  It was released in 2006 and is a scary film.  It shows what I see happening at school every day.  When the hero wakes up in the future one of the visual effects is a city almost covered with piles of trash.  Picking up after yourself is a sign of good home training and responsibility.  It is a sign of higher culture.  If you don’t believe me drive through Los Angeles and watch the sidewalks.  When you go from one neighborhood to another you see dramatic difference.  One has pristine sidewalks and gutters.  The next has trash and weeds in the gutters and trash and gum on the walkways.

Which future do you want to see?

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-88: Critical Mass: The Death of Courtesy

Society has many bumps and potholes.  What happens when those potholes become sinkholes?  What happens when a small blip reaches Critical Mass.  Today I want to talk about courtesy or the lack of it.

My life was made difficult today by two ladies.

One was a little old lady who cut me off in the parking lot.  It was totally unnecessary.  The lot was mostly empty but she had to turn in front of me so she could get out of her car and beat me to the counter.  I didn’t honk or gesture.  I was calm and dignified.  Irritated, but dignified.

Then as I approached the door of the bakery I held the door for a lady.  She was one of those people who probably has diabetes because of weight and exercise issues.  She was having a hard time walking.  I felt her pain.  I was far enough ahead that I could have ignored her, but I held the door and waited for her.  She said, “Thank you”.  So far, so good.  What I do when people are courteous like that is wave them ahead.  Others have done the same to me.  It is mutual courtesy.

Not her.  She hurried to get in line ahead of me.  No big problem but an indication.  What was a problem was that she began a long litany of an order with many small details and questions.  I waited while the lady who cut me off and her friend completed ordering and moved on.  I placed my order and received my bread and coffee.  I went to my seat, filled my cup and tracked down some butter.  The lady I held the door for was still ordering.

Courtesy would have not moved to the head of the line.  Courtesy would have known that they would be holding up others who are waiting and let me go first.  Courtesy is a choice.  Fewer people are choosing it.  When the choice reaches critical mass it will be another sinkhole for our society.  People will be forced to get aggressive to survive. 

I may soon add myself to the growing crowd of people who have given up on courtesy.  I am not there, nor does my Bible allow that option, so I am stuck.  But I might start looking for loopholes.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-54: Critical Mass: Approaching the Red Line

Critical mass is a concept that comes from nuclear physics.  Radioactive materials give off radiation.  A certain level of radiation is natural and harmless.  Higher levels can be damaging to living tissue if the exposure is extended but there is no problem if the uranium is left in the ground and not processed.  In attempting to produce what is called a nuclear reaction, it is necessary to purify the elements and jump through a lot of hoops.  If done right you can reach a point where the radiation can produce nuclear energy to power electric generators.  If done “right” another way it can produce nuclear explosions. 

Critical mass is the point at which the radioactive material is dense enough to start the chain reaction.  At certain levels you can harness the energy for constructive purposes.  At another point it leads to an explosion.  At that point it is obviously destructive.  I am not sure if it is realistic to talk about “after” that point because the explosion takes almost no time.

I think we can apply this concept to social and cultural actions.  I am going to be looking at things which at a certain level are irritating but not deadly.  At the present time they damage the fiber of society but they have not reached the point of destruction.  When they reach that point then there is a chain reaction that forces change whether it is wanted or not.

Mine is a developing list.  It starts with irritation and moves on to realizing the results of an irritation out of control.  Remember that a minor cut not treated can lead to gangrene and death.

The idea of Death by a Thousand Cuts may have started in China but it is living and well in America and the West.

homo unius libri