Remember the Ebola virus? The first cases were reported in West Africa in 2013; it became an epidemic in 2014; it faded from prominence by 2016. In between those years, it killed about 11,300 people.
Although it had a 70 per cent mortality rate, Ebola was actually less lethal than the Spanish ‘flu in 1918, which took over 50 million lives – more than all the deaths caused by World War I. The Black Death of the 1300s killed even more, wiping out half of Europe’s population.
Ebola didn’t even exceed the deaths from car accidents and gun violence in the U.S. – each taking around 33,000 lives that year alone.
Nevertheless, Ebola evoked terror.
And a few people capitalized on it.
Direct from Jesus
In October 2014, I received an email purportedly a revelation direct from Jesus, via a prophet named Linda Newkirk. For some reason, I saved it – and discovered it again while clearing some dormant files.
The email asserted, in part: “Our Blessed Saviour gave me several visions relative to the Ebola plague.
“I saw an angel, who poured out a large vial of a dark substance upon this nation, which I understood to be one of the plagues from the Book of Revelation. I saw dark tributaries flow outward across this nation, until a deep red mass began to cover this nation from north to south and from east to west. It seemed that the whole nation was covered in blood and I knew that I was seeing the rapid advancement of this Ebola virus!
“Then I heard our Saviour say, ‘Because you have loved the shedding of innocent blood!’ (How many slaughtered babies in this nation? Perhaps as many as 100 million?)
“I saw piles of dead people. I saw workers who tossed the heaps of dead bodies into open box cars and onto long flat-bed trucks. Thereafter, I saw them unload masses of these dead bodies and throw them into empty houses and set afire those houses, and they burned the bodies and the houses together!”
More lurid details followed, describing the Ebola virus spreading like a river of blood through China, Europe, and Africa. The visions included a nefarious conspiracy by President Obama to inject Ebola virus into packaged meats and drinking water.
Not one true prediction
Jesus graciously granted the “prophet” an explanation: “No more, says the Lord, our God! No more will I mercifully withhold My judgements regarding your wicked ways! All over this nation, you parade your wickedness! I will rise up now to judge in righteousness; as you have loved evil and despise truth, I will cause you to fall and to serve evil and to fall to every lie. I am Jesus!”
Maybe. If so, it’s not the Jesus I know.
Four years later, not one of the prophet’s predictions has proved true. Not one. But it certainly is a revelation – about the mindset of the prophet, who clearly relishes the misery of others.
I suggest that’s true of all such revelations, including some in the Bible. They tell you more about the prophets – their obsessions, their nightmares, their grudges – than about the will of the God they claim to represent.
Think about that, the next time someone claims to bring you “the word of the Lord.”
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Copyright © 2017 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups, and links from other blogs, welcomed; all other rights reserved.
To comment on this column, write jimt@quixotic.ca
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YOUR TURN
After last week’s column on the bubbles of reality in which each of us live, Bruce Fraser set me back: “Today was another piece which circled around to your favourite theme: traditions. I haven't actually kept count, but my estimate is that at least one-half of your columns harp on that subject.”
Bruce then drew my attention to a New York Times article on how traditions get passed along: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/31/sports/football/quarterback-signals-hut.html. “The gist of the article,” Bruce wrote, “is that football quarterbacks have been saying ‘Hut!’ for decades, but no one knows why!"
Towards the end of that column, I wrote about “the blank spaces on maps that ancient map-makers called terra incognita. Sometimes they added, ‘Here be dragons.’ Maybe dragons. Maybe possibilities. It’s a matter of attitude.”
To which Isabel Gibson responded, “Not entirely a matter of attitude, is it? Sometimes there DO be dragons.
“My favourite story about the exploration of the coast of Africa was that the King-of-the Day took the map brought back by the latest explorer, extended it with some imagined coastline squiggles, and gave it to the next guy. That guy sailed as far as he had a map for (right or wrong, as it were), corrected any inaccuracies in what the King had inserted, sailed on into terra incognitaas far as his nerve would let him, and came home. Likely saying, ‘That last guy’s map started out well, and then was a mess.’
“It's a lovely story about the power of at least thinking we know what we're doing. Sometimes it IS a matter of attitude.”
Gary Taylor found a contradiction between two recent columns: “In your Sharp Edges column on Sunday you wrote, ‘the laws of physics and chemistry (as we currently know them) preclude such [a resurrection] happening.’ Then today in Soft Edges you wrote, ‘I think I’m sitting in a chair, but quantum physics tells me there’s really no chair there at all.’
“I am thinking that quantum physics allows for the resurrection. It is just a rearrangement of the ‘infinitesimal packets of energy whizzing around that can only be described as probabilities.’ Therefore, God -- if you believe there is a God who has created all things -- has created, through quantum physics, the probability and possibility for resurrection.”
James West mused, “The fear of expanding the bubble of our awareness might have something to do with it bursting and discovering that there’s nothing there, i.e., losing self. My fallback positions are resting in Seven Stanzas at Easterby John Updike and Who Am Iby Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Scripture is pretty good too.”
Bob Rollwagen: “It is unfortunate that few people understand the scope of life in this universe. Some of us only impact our immediate family, others impact a local community, and yet others impact those beyond this and so on. Each level is integral to a society which is subset of the whole.
“Given how small the impact of each of us is in the whole reality, it is sad we spend so much energy keeping the disadvantaged down, while the wealthy feel entitled to take more than they deserve each day. It is always a challenge to move beyond the immediate to impact the future when few know where we are in the struggle.”
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PSALM PARAPHRASES
Hotel rooms feel cold and impersonal, compared to staying in the home of a friend. That feeling prompted this paraphrase of Psalm 4.
1 In the middle of the night, Lord, I wake.
This room is strange; I can't find the light; I can't find the door.
The hall is long and dark.
2 I am afraid.
4 But this is your house, God.
I was a stranger, and you took me in.
I was alone, and you made me welcome.
4 In your house, I have nothing to fear.
I can sink back into my bed and set my mind at rest.
5 I put myself in your hands. I trust you.
6 Am I crazy? Am I a fool?
Some would say so. They doubt you.
7 But I know the peace I felt when you opened your door
and the warmth when you invited me to share your table.
8 I can let my eyes close;
in your home, I am at home.
For paraphrases of mostof the psalms used by the Revised Common Lectionary, you can order my book Everyday Psalmsfrom Wood Lake Publishing, info@woodlake.com.
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TECHNICAL STUFF
If you want to comment on something, send a message directly to me, jimt@quixotic.ca.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, send an e-mail message to jimt@quixotic.ca. Or you can subscribe electronically by sending a blank e-mail (no message or subject line) to softedges-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca. Similarly, you can un-subscribe at softedges-unsubscribe@lists.quixotic.ca.
I write a second column each Sunday called Sharp Edges, which tends to be somewhat more cutting about social and justice issues. To sign up for Sharp Edges, write to me directly, jimt@quixotic.ca, or send a note to sharpedges-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca
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PROMOTION STUFF
To use the links in this section, you’ll have to insert the necessary symbols.
Ralph Milton ’s latest project is called “Sing Hallelujah” -- the world’s first video hymnal. It consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at wwwDOTsinghallelujahDOTca
Ralph’s HymnSight webpage is still up, http://wwwDOThymnsightDOTca, with a vast gallery of photos you can use to enhance the appearance of the visual images you project for liturgical use (prayers, responses, hymn verses, etc.)
Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,”an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://wwwDOTchurchwebcanadaDOTca>
I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, wwwDOTtraditionaliconoclastDOTcom
Alva Wood’s satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town -- not particularly religious, but fun; alvawoodATgmailDOTcom to get onto her mailing list.
Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony”-- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’sreaders. Write him at tomwatsoATgmailDOTcom or twatsonATsentexDOTnet