Due to all the recent publicity about crystal skulls it isn’t surprising to find crystal balls are coming back into vogue, a kind of Roaring Twenties déjà vu when all manner of such things including the Ouija Board were popular. Scrying has an ancient ancestry; the Old Testament Joseph and Daniel had their “cups of divination” and even Nostradamus is said to have been an adept of scrying. But preferring coffee to tea and lacking anything elaborate I have to resort to my coffee cup rather than reading tea leaves. The professionals would be quick to point out coffee grounds don’t equate with tea leaves for the purpose. However, in this modern age teabags are of no more use to the purpose than filtered coffee that leaves no grounds. Maybe Joseph and Daniel had their wine strained or used plain water for all we know; so why shouldn’t I have equal success with just plain coffee?

In my case I have found caffeine and nicotine sufficient for the purpose of scrying without the aid of elaborate hallucinogens or crystals of any configuration; and unlike the “prophets” embarrassing God in so many pulpits by their antics making for very poor theater and being in very poor taste, I sit here quietly minding my own business with the aforementioned aids for scrying and contemplate the demise of America.

As the bad news just keeps coming for our nation it might have to do with the warning by Jesus whom I credit with a spirit of divination: “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Ah, dear brothers and sisters, there is no denying iniquity does indeed abound as anyone watching TV has to admit, and where it abounds you sure aren’t going to find much love. But in my own contemplation of this over the many decades of my life I have concluded you simply cannot make people care; they either do or they don’t, and for the greater part people generally do what they want to do whether for good or ill.

Life on earth is of only small duration on the scale of the universe. And for Modern Humans I believe our species was not intended to be long lived but was a special creation of God, born of and infused with the Spirit of God as Genesis has it. But the conflict between the children of God and the children of the Devil will grow in the magnitude of horror and has to be brought to a speedy conclusion as the New Testament declares. That this might be the reason for the Mayan Doomsday Calendar is at least suggested in my opinion. But the direction the world seems headed gives some credence to such a thought. Some including me wonder how the world is even going to make it to the end of 2012.

The End Times will be marked by a lack of faith in God throughout the world; people will be lovers of their own selves rather than God or others. They will live selfishly and be given over to iniquity and even children will be without natural affection, and a man’s enemies will be those of his own house and the many plagues brought upon the earth as zero hour approaches will contribute to an ungodly world drowning as it were in a sea of iniquity.

It’s a very ugly picture all in all, and most definitely not pleasing to write about. Like most of you I do not want America headed in this direction of growing, increasing evil. But even apart from prophecies and theological interpretations of the End Times I have cause to worry about the direction America is being taken by our leaders. Can they possibly be so purblind as to fail to understand there can be no happy outcome so long as they continue to betray our nation on such a massive scale? Has Satan so successfully blinded them that they cannot see they are leading us in the path of destruction? Given what they have done already with little hope of their doing any better I have to suppose this is the case, and I believe no matter who our next president will be they will not change the present course but only hasten our destruction as a nation.

As a “prophet” I haven’t collected a harem or made any money in the business of prophesying. But I do believe many of the things in the Bible are true, and this does direct my thoughts in many instances. And I believe just as the Spirit of God dwells in me confirming my relationship as a child of God there is also a “spirit of iniquity” that abounds throughout the world. However, even apart from any Biblical considerations if this were not so it would be difficult to miss the “signs of the times” in which I am living and the signs are not favorable for a happy outcome for our species.

Religion is as old as humankind, and there has never been any lack of religious charlatans plying their trade. But these deceivers according to the Bible will increase as the end approaches, and I don’t hold with the many who claim to speak for God no matter what their religious affiliation if they are so obvious in the hypocrisy of only calling attention to themselves for gain. Just as politics attracts only the worst of our species, those that want power and authority over others, in the same way false prophets will want the same thing and thereby declare they are wolves in sheep’s clothing.

My grandfather was correct when he said “God never made a beggar out of any man, and he didn’t make a begging church.” At no time in my life have I believed there is any need to cross someone’s palm with silver in order for the Spirit of God to become operable. I do believe the Spirit of God manifests itself in many different ways, but never for riches or the pride of self. Good people will do good whatever their personal beliefs and bad people will do bad. And while I believe the children of God are able to make the distinction by their family relationship to God it would be well to maintain as safe a distance as possible from the many false shepherds purporting to speak on God’s behalf.

One of the reasons I am drawn to the music and films of the 20s and 30s is the obvious beliefs of the times though this was rapidly changing and not for the better. Along with Prohibition and the villainy in government the family was coming under attack by those considering themselves “moderns.” But for the better part during that era the Bible was treated respectfully and people it seemed were more attuned to faith in God despite Sinclair Lewis and others pointing out the hypocrisy to be found. But it was this faith in God more than anything else that produced the Greatest Generation that was able to save the world from the Axis threat.

The End Times will be marked by a “great falling away” from faith. Fortunately for me I was born into and raised among those with faith in God; and they were known by their works. So if I seem more sensitive to the issue of a lack of faith it is because I had good role models from whom I am able to draw the comparison. This together with having lived long enough to bear witness to this falling away from faith over the past seventy years leaves no doubt in my mind such a falling away has indeed actually taken place in America in my own lifetime.