Dear Americans:
Many times over the last few years, my mind as gone to the mystery of the “abomination of desolation standing in the holy place,” spoken of by Daniel the Prophet and Jesus the Christ.
Jesus is reported sitting upon the Mount of Olives when his disciples asked him what would be the sign of his coming and the end of the world. He listed a slew of such signs, all of which are clear, present, abounding and abominable in life and death today on earth. And he included this one sign as a mystery:
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
Matthew 24:15, KJV
As opposed to the other signs Jesus listed, this is very specific, with its definite article and its implication that everyone should know what “the abomination of desolation” is, and should know it when we see it.
“The holy place” appears to be specific, but is not identified beyond that. Either the writer or Jesus, or both, acknowledge that there is a mystery here that requires understanding. The commentaries I’ve read agree that this “holy place” is a geographic location; e.g., the Temple Mount, Al-Aqsa, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Kaaba, the Imam Ali Shrine, Jerusalem, Mecca, Rome, the Holy of Holies, the Holy Grail, etc.
All the commentators I’ve seen also agree on the vital truth that what makes a place holy is God’s presence. What makes ground holy is God’s presence. When God commanded Moses, at the burning bush, to bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt, He also told him to take off his sandals because the place whereon he, a murderer, stood is holy ground.
There is nowhere God is not present. “Omnipresence” as a word does not appear in the King James Bible, which is what I have commonly read so far in my reading. A Google search for “omnipresence,” however, gets six million six hundred twenty thousand results. People are understanding and realizing God’s omnipresence. That is one of the great and difficult messages in the Bible.
Even in the Old Testament, although the term is not used, God’s omnipresence is a key teaching. E.g., from Psalm 139, a Psalm of David:
7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
Every place is a holy place. Everywhere we stand is holy ground. It doesn’t matter if the whole world doesn’t understand this, or deny it if they do understand, which the world largely does. It is still true and will always be true. It is truth that can be known, but ignored or even jeered at. It is a serious truth, because it is the path to peace, and hated by the provokers, profiteers and masters of war.
Then a few days ago, I saw the abomination of desolation. It was on CNN, drone footage of a bombed urban district in Gaza. Daniel and Jesus didn’t know of big guns and all the bombs, but they knew of desolation. And they knew of abominations. Gaza is the holy place and its abominable desolation is brought to us by CNN.
A day or so later, I saw another abomination of desolation has blown into the Jabalya refugee camp. There is no holier place on earth. Yes, there are abominations of desolation being bred and blown into many holy places right now. Yes, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were holy places and their desolation was truly abominable. And yes, we might see worse desolations yet in this generation.
But wait, the end is not yet. Here’s what you do. Since we’re still on the money system, give the Gazans US citizenship and a million dollars each. Take them to America, give them a home they can care for, and medical treatment they need, that sort of thing. They’ve survived and raised children in horrid conditions imposed on them for many years, so for sure will have qualities the US needs in its citizens.
Wikipedia gives Gaza’s population as 2,375,259. They’ve lost, let’s say, 9,000 in the past three weeks, so it would come to: $2,366,259,000,000 or two trillion, three hundred sixty-six billion, two hundred fifty-nine million dollars. This is nothing for you. You have pretty well all the money in the world, and can print trillions more as you wish. You can do it with one finger, and one click. You have spent untold trillions killing people like a nation of drunken sailors. In fact you have created a national debt killing people that is fourteen times what it would cost to save 2.366 million people.
Your leaders are largely responsible for the Gazans’ condition these past several years, including dehumanization and desperation, so there should be no moral opposition to this plan. You could look good. I just saw that your President is reported calling for the creation of a “national plan to counter Islamophobia.” What an excellent and immediate way to counter it and demonstrate how Godly Americans are: compensate the Gazans richly and bring them to safety in your country. Your Secretary of State is reported today “pushing for humanitarian aid in Gaza, protection of Palestinian civilians.” Two carrier groups right off shore, and they’re not able to protect every Gazan on the Strip? GMAB! You’ve got military bases all over the Middle East. What more excellent and immediate humanitarian aid can there be than rescuing the Gazans and bringing them to America?
In the US, the Exgazans will have neither the ability nor the desire or duty to fire rockets into Israel. The Israelis would be overjoyed that the threat of rocket attacks is over. They can settle the whole strip, go swimming in the Med, and possess the Gazan oil and natural gas they covet. The border wall can come down and be melted into plow shares, the desolation can be brought back to life, the tunnels can be used for spelunking classes or something (whoso readeth, let him or her suggest a good use.)
It has to be understood that this is just an offer, and the Gazans could very well request more than a million per citizen and a decent, safe and peaceful home near Yankee Stadium or some other holy ground thousands of miles from any desolation abomination. But it is a sincere and substantial offer, which ought to bring everyone to a holy chair at the negotiating table in the presence of former enemies.
The UK has a big part in all the suffering, so the British could give some of the Gazans UK citizenship if some of them wanted, and a million pounds, a home, medical, etc. The immediate situation is spookily similar to Dunkirk in 1940, with the British Expeditionary Force pushed to the English Channel. Here it’s a Jewish Wehrmacht pushing the Gazans to the Mediterranean Sea. But the UK can still send its thousands of little ships to rescue them.
Canada, my country, could take all sorts of Gazans, build really sensible housing, teach everyone hockey, hire fifty-thousand new teachers, who can teach fifty-thousand new medical professionals, that sort of thing. We are so frightfully in need of people right now, there aren’t even enough to pick up the litter, or the dog shit.
In my lifetime we have been spared any real abomination of desolation here in our nine million, nine hundred eighty-four thousand, six hundred seventy square kilometer holy place. I am quite sure our armed forces have participated in desolating holy places in other countries, and there have been several domestic bombings, such as by the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ), but the bombs and shells of nations warring on people create real abominations of desolation, which TV, computer and the masters of war, for profit, make us see.
Forest fire aftermaths here can come close to abominations of desolation, and Daniel and Jesus knew that burning was one of two key components in making places desolate. The other essential part in desolating places is smashing things. The smashing was done by sledgehammers, chisels, crowbars, battering rams. But bombing or shelling smashes things into abomination and into history in a way Daniel and Jesus could only prophesy.
Don’t sit back and watch as the death count gets higher. Bring the Gazans home to safer holy ground.
One of your favorite sons said it this way sixty years ago:
Come you masters of war
You that build the big guns
You that build the death planes
You that build all the bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masksYou that never done nothin’
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it’s your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets flyLike Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drainYou fasten all the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you sit back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
While the young people’s blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mudYou’ve thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain’t worth the blood
That runs in your veinsHow much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I’m young
You might say I’m unlearned
But there’s one thing I know
Though I’m younger than you
That even Jesus would never
Forgive what you doLet me ask you one question
Is your money that good?
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could?
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soulAnd I hope that you die
And your death will come soon
I’ll follow your casket
By the pale afternoon
And I’ll watch while you’re lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I’ll stand over your grave
‘Til I’m sure that you’re deadBob Dylan 1963
Gerry Armstrong 2023