I love that OT quote — I think it speaks to all the warnings we have from God to repent and turn back to Him. Thank you for the reminder. God can do what we cannot.

Mary has also warned Christians of the need to reform their lives lest ever more horrible events would overtake us — read the Fatima warnings and predictions.

Catholics, consider spending an hour of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament as well as fasting on Nov. 3 for our country (on whom so much of the world depends).

If we go Communist and/or fall to terrorism, there is no country that can come and save us as we have done for others.

But the real issue, I recognize, is not as much to attempt to get all of the fingers to point at the culprits, but to stop focusing as much on the problems. I’m not talking about those whose responsibility it is to try to get us out of this mess, and I’m not suggesting crawling back under the covers and putting a pillow over our heads. We who have little power over the decisions beyond the ballot box do need to do all that you said: to turn everything off, to be quiet, to listen to that still, small voice; to fast, to pray, to repent, and to seek the leading of the One (I don’t mean Obama!) who, alone, is our source of strength. ‘Cause I agree with you, we are going to need it.

I wish this one verse could be flashed on the computer monitors and TV screens of every home where believers in God reside; I’m not even saying only where Christians reside, because this is even from the Old Testament: “If my people, who are called by my name, will 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. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.”

And then, go vote.

I notice I’m the lone optimist in this comments section. Fine by me I guess. Some of my optimistic topics are harder to defend than others. The hardest is that American culture in general is getting better. I’ll save that until last. The easiest is that the culture and political situation of the world is far better than the recent past. I’ll start there:

Consider, if you will, the 1970′s. Here is a short history::

1) In 1972 the US had pretty much finished the war in Vietnam. The VietCong was pretty well gone, and the North didn’t have much more it could do from a gorilla perspective. Under Nixon, the US had brought home most of its troops – and was down to about 1/10 of the troops there just 4 years earlier. Then the north Vietnamese tried to invade the country with a conventional army. The Southern army with US Air support beat back that invasion.

2) In 1973-74 Nixon resigned and Gerald Ford took over. The Republicans lost the house and senate and all military support and aid was shut off from South Vietnam. Again, the North invaded, this time taking over the country. Nearly a million Vietnamese fled, a large portion perishing in the south china sea.

3) A year later, Pol Pot started his war in Cambodia, and the leaders of the US informed the Cambodian leaders that we wouldn’t help them either. Eventually Pol Pot won that war and another 2-3 million perished in a most brutal fashion. Prior to the Cambodian holocaust, Newsweek ran an article explaining how Pol Pot was a great humanist who had learned progressive theory in France. Life would be much better (according to the article) for the Cambodians once the dictator was removed and the progressive caring left took over.

You think I’ve picked a decade which was worse than the rest – and that’s not fair? What do you suppose was happening in China in the 1960′s? How about Africa in the 1950′s? How about Europe in the 1940′s?

I submit to you that the world situation today is better than almost any decade of the 20th century. Maybe things are leading up to the big war of the 2010′s, and you can see it coming. But making predictions is hard – especially when its about the future.

You have to make a prediction of pending war to come to the conclusion that the world is a lot worse off than during the 20th century. Maybe you would be right, but I personally see it as a possibility with the odds significantly below 50%.

James