	id AA18622; Mon, 21 Nov 94 21:38:11 CST
Subject: Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 2 Num. 93


              Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 2  Num. 93
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                    ("Quid coniuratio est?")
 
 
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IT IS *NOT* WRITTEN
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Editorial by Brian Francis Redman
Editor-in-chief, Conspiracy Nation
 
 +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +
 
Regarding the future, my puzzle used to be: How can you see the 
future, but still have free will? If the Book of Revelations 
foretells that, say, the "evil one" *will* establish a kingdom on 
earth, then why do anything? *It* *is* *written*, so why not just 
go with the flow? After all, we are told that the evil one will 
eventually be defeated, so why sweat?
 
Like Pastor John Hagee has said,
 
  There is going to be a New World Order. I say it. There 
  *will* be a New World Order. God is going to let the Devil's 
  crowd have their way for 7 years, which the Bible calls "the 
  tribulation period". The next "World Order" is going to be a 
  satanist "Order". What Satan desired at the very genesis of 
  time, God is going to allow him to have for 7 years.
 
 
But if we indeed have free will of some sort, then the future may 
*not* be fixed. It may be that the future predicted in the Book 
of Revelations is a *possible* future. Can more than one "future" 
exist? The Russian philosopher P.D. Ouspensky thought so:
 
  We consider the past as *no* *longer* existing. The future 
  does not exist for us either; it is *not* *yet*. By the 
  present we mean the moment of transition from the future into 
  the past, in other words, the moment of the transition of a 
  phenomenon from one non-existence into another. But in actual 
  fact this brief moment is a fiction. It has no dimension. In 
  a sense, we can say that the present does not exist.
 
  The past and the future cannot be *non*-*existent*, for, if 
  they do not exist, the present does not exist either. They 
  must exist together *somewhere*, only we do not see them. The 
  present, as opposed to the past and the future, is the most 
  unreal of all realities.
 
  Our concepts of the past and of the present, though vague, 
  are uniform. But as regards the future there is a variety of 
  views. The two main theories are of a predestined future and 
  of a free future. The dispute between the theory of a 
  predestined future and the theory of a free future is an 
  endless dispute. Both theories are too literal; each excludes 
  the other. Both theories say: "Either this or that."
 
  At every given moment all the future of the world is 
  predestined and existing, but it is predestined 
  conditionally. The condition is that no *new* *factor* must 
  appear. This new factor can only come in from the side of 
  consciousness and the will resulting from it.
 
  In addition, our poor understanding of the relation between 
  the present and the past hinders us from having a right 
  understanding of the relation of the present to the future. 
  Our relation to the past and to the future is more complex 
  than we realize. The past, like the future, is not fixed. In 
  the past lies not only what was, but also *what* *could* 
  *have* *been*. In the same way, in the future lies not only 
  what will be *but* *also* *all* *that* *may* *be*.
 
 
I have been thinking lately that maybe we will beat these guys. 
We might *win*, better than we have been expecting. The Book of 
Revelations and other Bible prophecies may have tilted the scales 
in our direction; they may have given us just that little bit 
extra of "intelligence" that will alter the future.
 
In case you are puzzled at this concept, let me give an example 
from a famous story by Charles Dickens, *A Christmas Carol*. In 
this well-known tale, Ebenezer Scrooge *sees* his own future. But 
by *seeing* this future, it gives him that little bit extra of 
"intelligence" that helps him to *change* what had been foretold.
 
  The Spirit stood among the graves, and pointed down to One. 
  He advanced towards it trembling. The Phantom was exactly as 
  it had been, but he dreaded that he saw new meaning in its 
  solemn shape.
 
  "Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point," said 
  Scrooge, "answer me one question. Are these the shadows of 
  the things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that 
  May be, only?"
 
  Still the Ghost pointed downward to the grave by which it 
  stood.
 
  "Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if 
  persevered in, they must lead," said Scrooge. "But if the 
  courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is 
  thus with what you show me!"
 
  The Spirit was immovable as ever.
 
  Scrooge crept towards it, trembling as he went; and following 
  the finger, read upon the stone of the neglected grave his 
  own name, Ebenezer Scrooge.
 
  "Am *I* that man who lay upon the bed?" he cried, upon his 
  knees.
 
  The finger pointed from the grave to him, and back again.
 
  "No, Spirit! Oh, no, no!"
 
  The finger still was there.
 
  "Spirit!" he cried, tight clutching at its robe, "hear me! I 
  am not the man I was. I will not be the man I must have been 
  but for this intercourse. Why show me this, if I am past all 
  hope?"
 
  For the first time the hand appeared to shake.
 
  "Good Spirit," he pursued, as down upon the ground he fell 
  before it: "Your nature intercedes for me, and pities me. 
  Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown 
  me, by an altered life!"
 
  The kind hand trembled.
 
 
Scrooge's dire future was *changed* by the fact that he was 
forewarned; his knowing what the outcome of his current actions 
would lead to, enabled him to change. And thereby, what had been 
foretold was changed.
 
Maybe we can do likewise.
 
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Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et 
  pauperem.                    -- Liber Proverbiorum  XXXI: 8-9 

 Brian Francis Redman    bigxc@prairienet.org    "The Big C"
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"Justice" = "Just us" = "History is written by the assassins."
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