RANDOM STRIKES RAW MATERIAL : DELIVERY AND CONSEQUENCE: THE FEARFUL ROAR

Another bleak view of another failed enterprise in inner Sydney Picture by John Stapleton

To begin at the beginning:

It is Spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black, the cobblestreets silent and the hunched, courters'-and- rabbits' wood limping invisible down to the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboat-bobbing sea. The houses are blind as moles (though moles see fine to-night in the snouting, velvet dingles) or blind as Captain Cat there in the muffled middle by the pump and the town clock, the shops in mourning, the Welfare Hall in widows' weeds. And all the people of the lulled and dumbfound town are sleeping now....

You can hear the dew falling, and the hushed town breathing.

Only your eyes are unclosed to see the black and folded town fast, and slow, asleep.

And you alone can hear the invisible starfall, the darkest-before- dawn minutely dewgrazed stir of the black, dab-filled sea...

Dylan Thomas Under Milkwood

He could hear them rustling in the under-brush, roaring through time. There was no consequence because there was no consequence, here on the surface flash. A different time, an ancient time. So much of it had been about hiding. A muse could always be kept at bay. A voice dismissed. A hunter dodged. They were very frightening, but large and cumbersome. A large dinosaur face. They were not the species which would carry their special gifts. He could hear them, in his veins, in his blood, thundering as they approached, clumsy, deadly, innately stupid. Brute force made up for what they lacked in intelligence. They were the top of the food chain. He had never been.

So it was that he remained, through so many generations, downstairs, locked in a mystery. A dozen undiscovered Dylan Thomas's drinking himself to death in tiny villages along the coastline of the British Isles. So astonishingly brilliant, in such short, grandiloquent phases, a bar room poet, a heart breaker, a courtier, there, so far away, before even the beginning of what they called British civilisation.

They were accustomed to poverty. They sought no material goods, no status, thought nothing of missing a meal or three. But when it came to the drink, well they could drink, and for a time, in those short, bedevilled lives, they would flame so brightly, be spoken of with such fondness and admiration. Until, in their decaying forms, without money and without position, they became sick, not well, beggars not givers, implorers not lovers, and died early, broken down in harsh times. None of them, in that phase, had ever expected to last long. They broke hearts and died young. If only all had been well, but it was never well, a craving for love, one could have said, but love was never enough.

The mother of souls, they all had the same image, or was it fantasy, the same feeling of dislocation, of never having belonged, of being in a strange place at a strange time; feelings which, for whatever period of time, could be turned into an intense lyricism touching on the divine. If only they had been free to squander and to wander, high born, but instead they had been scrabbling, or hunted. So often hunted. In these impoverished villages. The bestiality of survival. The terrible winters. The lonely days. The drifts of snow. The melting ice. The only moments that counted, in the tavern. Where they could shine. And the rivers of alcohol could mix with their blood, and provide account. Could transform the mess of their hearts into a stream of words. Could dazzle the humans, wherever they landed. Whoever they were. Poor villagers. Farmers. Quiet people living quiet lives, shutting out all else.

He didn't know why he remembered them all, here at this point, on the opposite side of the world. But he did.

THE BIGGER STORY:

End-Times Prophecy Author Reveals the Essential Thing That the Next U.S. President ‘Must Understand’
Jan. 7, 2016 Billy Hallowell The Blaze

End-times author Joel C. Rosenberg believes that the next U.S. president “must understand” that so-called “apocalyptic Islam” — a dangerous, end times philosophy — is the “greatest challenge facing the Western alliance in the Middle East.”

Rosenberg, who has repeatedly warned, more broadly, that this radical form of Islamic faith is the gravest threat to America’s security, wrote that “the Oval Office is no place for on-the-job training” and that the next president must be ready.

The author, who recently released the book “The First Hostage,” said that the next commander-in-chief must be prepared to contend, not only with radical Islam, but with the apocalyptic derivative — something that he believes most candidates and voters fail to understand.

“While adherents of radical Islam (such as al-Qaida, the Taliban, Hamas, etc.,) use violent acts hoping to drive the U.S., Israel and other ‘infidels’ out of what they regard as their holy lands, adherents of apocalyptic Islam seek to use genocide to annihilate all infidels and establish a global Islamic kingdom known as the caliphate,” he said, distinguishing between the two.

Rosenberg said that there’s something historic happening in the Middle East that is truly giving him pause and angst about what’s to come.

“For the first time in human history, the leaders of two nation states are being driven by eschatology,” . “The rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran are consumed by ancient Islamic prophecies that predict the end of the world as we know it. So are the rulers of Islamic State (IS). The former are Shi’ite. The latter are Sunni.”

The author went on to say that both believe that the Mahdi, or messiah, will appear on Earth to bring about the end of days — and they’re bent on helping push that process along, using various strategies to try and make it happen.

But it’s not just the Mahdi who they believe will be coming back, according to Rosenberg.

“Likewise, millions of Muslims believe that Jesus is coming back to earth. They don’t believe Jesus is the messiah or the son of God, as Christians do,” he continued. “Rather, they believe Jesus is the Mahdi’s deputy who will force all infidels to convert to Islam or be slaughtered.”

Here’s how Rosenberg explained that dynamic in a National Review op-ed published last September:

Both believe that any moment now their messiah, the Mahdi, will be revealed on Earth as he establishes his global Islamic kingdom and impose sharia law. Both believe that Jesus will return not as the Savior or Son of God but as a lieutenant to the Mahdi, and that he will force non-Muslims to convert or die. What’s more, both believe that the Mahdi will come only when the world is engulfed in chaos and carnage. They openly vow not simply to attack but to annihilate the United States and Israel. Iran and ISIS are both eager to hasten the coming of the Mahdi.

What’s more, both believe that the Mahdi will come only when the world is engulfed in chaos and carnage. They openly vow not simply to attack but to annihilate the United States and Israel. Iran and ISIS are both eager to hasten the coming of the Mahdi.

Citing concern that leaders simply don’t understand what’s at stake, Rosenberg called for more education on the matter among voters and the political class, alike.

Islamic State fighters march in Raqqa, Syria, last year. (Image source: AP/Militant Website, File)

FEATURED BOOK:

Travel the world with Eric Weiner, the New York Times bestselling author of The Geography of Bliss, as he journeys from Athens to Silicon Valley—and throughout history, too—to show how creative genius flourishes in specific places at specific times. In The Geography of Genius, the acclaimed writer sets out to examine the connection between our surroundings and our most innovative ideas. He explores the history of places, like Vienna of 1900, Renaissance Florence, ancient Athens, Song Dynasty Hangzhou, and Silicon Valley, to show how certain urban settings are conducive to ingenuity. And, with his trademark insightful humor, he walks the same paths as the geniuses who flourished in these settings to see if the spirit of what inspired figures like Socrates, Michelangelo, and Leonardo remains.

Buy Now