American News

“Look at the nations and watch – and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.”   Habakkuk 1:5

Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn saying, “Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?” Will not your debtors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you will become their victim. Because you have plundered many nations, the people who are left will plunder you. For you have shed man’s blood, you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them. “Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of ruin! You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life. The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it. Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by crime!”   Habakkuk 2:6-12

American News – proof that in today's age of sophisticated mass communications, if you say something often enough and loud enough, eventually it becomes truth to many, whether there is any factual basis for it or not.   W.F. Rhoads

America,

land of mindless sheep,

led by corrupt shepherds

and hidden agendas,

blindly running to and fro,

searching for the latest ‘miracle’ cure,

spending time and money,

listening to anyone offering answers,

speaking lies disguised as truth,

slaves to their greatest fears;

a land beyond promise or hope;

seeking shelter from the gathering storm,

not willing to accept the consequences,

unable to confess the guilt,

killing in the name of justice,

denying the greed and self-preservation,

turning a blind eye to the haves

against the have-nots,

deciding who is right and who is wrong,

who lives and who dies,

a land of hypocrisy and dry bones,

dying before they are dead;

trapped within chains

of their own making.

.

.

Desperation

now the end begins,

lost in this swirling

world of never,

eyes dressed incognito,

egos disguised by humility,

enemies in the shape of friends,

make for the worst

of them all,

you never see them coming,

until they have passed you by;

and by then,

it’s always too late;

the movement continues,

like liquid wildfire,

consuming all there is,

right or wrong hanging within

a delicate balance,

fools following forsaken

roads of folly,

on their way to this or that,

innocence never the issue,

something for nothing,

one for all,

everything for anybody,

some things for nobody;

this garden no longer grows,

fruit lies dying on the vine,

hope has no future here,

fertility fails,

fixations no longer provide a thrill,

sinking deep into the

oblivion below,

sink or swim,

desperation makes a strong argument

for justification,

survival separates the living

from the dead;

words once spoken,

can never be returned.

.

.

Wept (Omega)

As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes.”  Luke 19:41-42

I do not weep for the truth,

I weep because of the truth;

I weep for the futility,

I weep for the loss,

I weep for the waste,

I weep for the hopelessness;

I weep for the children,

I weep for the tragedy,

I weep for the sorrow,

I weep for the suffering;

I weep for the inevitability;

what now

America?

Sand Creek remembers

.

.

Babylon Fallen

standing on the edge;

if you listen hard,

you can hear

the last dying gasps

of dreams gone bad,

betrayed by their lusts,

abandoned by their principles,

strangled by their self-righteousness,

drowning in their hypocrisy;

destroyed by their greed;

the children shake with fear,

burned out shells,

well-preserved corpses,

waiting to collapse

into the beckoning grave,

of their man-made utopia,

trapped within the walls

of their self-made

wisdom;

Babylon fallen

forever.

.

.

A Midday Dream

on a bright blue morning,

I saw the end,

as the city went up

in flames,

you turned to me

with panic in your eyes,

screaming “WHY?! WHY?!

I said we must not

cry,

so when it is all over

we can face the truth

and say

we remained

human beings.

…..be still,

my tired,

beating,

savage,

heart,

your day of rest

will come

all to soon.

.

.

Babylon

After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. With a mighty voice he shouted: “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird. For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.” Then I heard another voice from heaven say: Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues, for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup. Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, ‘I sit as a queen; I am not a widow, and I will never mourn.’ Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her. “When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: ‘Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power! In one hour your doom has come!’   Revelations 18:1-10

O Babylon;

land of opulence and luxury,

kingdom of self-indulgence and lust,

home of instant gratification and decadence,

you use until there is nothing left to use,

you take until there is nothing left to take,

you lie dying in the filth of your own greed,

where is your pleasure now?

O Babylon;

trampling on the backs of those who have less,

stealing from those without the resources to fight back,

killing under the guise of righteousness and the greater good,

how long can the hypocrisy  remain hidden?

how long can you pretend

the misery and suffering doesn’t exist?

how long O Babylon?

O Babylon;

surrounded by wealth and excess,

your children grow restless and bored,

turning to technology and machines,

ashamed of a legacy stained with innocent blood,

unable to reconcile the truth

in the name of liberty and justice for all.

.

.

Frenzy

the storm clouds gather,

rising on the distant horizon;

this new place,

this other reality,

this far off land where

nightfall never ends;

what is left?

what more can be said?

does no one listen?

does no one hear?

does the madness never end?

today I would have given

you everything,

yet nothing is all you took,

tomorrow’s troubles

brings fresh sorrows

all their own,

as freshly killed bodies

float like chum on the surface,

being devoured by ravenous lizards,

frantically joining in the

morning frenzy;

I wish it were not so;

this life is no life,

it changes and rearranges,

ebbing and flowing,

never coming to completion,

creations of a creator,

children of light,

trapped within the darkness,

temporary, transient

and conciliatory,

blinded to the truth hidden

before our eyes;

the great illusion

we choose to believe;

deceiving and being deceived,

wounding and being wounded,

hurting and being hurt,

feeding off the leftovers,

running for the scraps;

hiding within the cracks.

.

.