THE ARMAGEDDON GENERATION


And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.(false beliefs about God in Judaism, Christianity & Islam. written some 500 years before Islam, the 3rd arm from the Jewish religious record appeared)
For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth (the 1%, Presidents, Prime Ministers, CEOs, and other Idols of the People) and of the whole world, (the rest of Humanity) to gather them to the battle of that Great Day of God Almighty. (the war is already underway between Judaism, Christianity and Islam leading to the climax of that Great Day)
Behold, I come as a thief. (when you least expect it)
Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
 

Armageddon was derived from Har Megiddo, located in Judea and Samaria of occupied Palestine 2000 years ago. Israel as a kingdom disappeared some 800 years before Jesus walked in that area during the occupation.

Har Megiddo/Armageddon still exists as a physical place in this material world, but is now under the control of temporal Israel re-created from the Bible after an absence of some 2800 years. After all those years, the occupation of Judea and Samaria in Palestine is still an unresolved, violent, open wound in the Middle East and this material world.

   Revelation 16:13-16

Armageddon, which even the most extreme Atheist understands to be the horrific final Battle of the Nations, is a 2000 year old term from the Bible. For those who have eyes to see, Armageddon is taking shape on the horizon developing around temporal Israel recreated from the Bible in this real, non-religious world Today.  Those thinking the Bible is a myth and dismissing it so easily should take a 2nd closer look.

People from 158 Countries have found this Blog and I would estimate 98% were not looking for it, finding it in the results for an increasing number of various search terms through Google or some other search engine. Most people are looking for images of Angels, Armageddon & CanaDa.

The Statistics for the Blog are very revealing as to people’s interests and habits. They tell me which newspaper records are expanded to be able to read, and which pictures people look at in the 80 articles posted to date. Most of the people finding this Blog did not expect to see this world’s current secular political-economic-military realities described in a real world Spiritual-Religious Framework.

Unfortunately, most people just glance and skim, but that’s the way the people are these days. They don’t like to read unless it confirms or affirms their preconceived notions. They prefer to take their information from 30 second sound bytes on  TV, or escape from even thinking about the dire straights the world is in that will effect every human on earth.

Money, Sex, Drugs, Booze, Gambling, Sports & Video Games are the greatest escape for a large segment of our population feeling powerless to change anything, including themselves, and oblivious to the Present Danger hanging over all our heads.

A PRESENT DANGER

 I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.
I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walks in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;
A people that provokes me to anger continually to my face; that sacrifices in gardens, and burns incense upon altars of brick; Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;

Which say, Stand by yourself, do not come near to me; for I am holier than you. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all the day.

Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom,
Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, says the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.   

Isaiah 65

The following video is the 1st of 9 parts. This is scary stuff so far removed from any reality we have experienced to date.

You don’t have to believe in God to know such scenarios are possible. You don’t have to read the Bible to know this. The TV news is making more people aware Armageddon is shimmering on the horizon, increasingly projecting the word or variations of it to describe many real world situations. The many 2012  type movies subliminally project end times themes to those who don’t follow the news.

The world knows or should know Israel is straining to launch a preemptive 1st strike on Iran starting the war in “self-defence,” the 1st step on the irreversible Road to Armageddon once that happens.

For those interested in watching the whole program, the next part can be viewed at the end of each segment.

Armageddon the word is mentioned only once in the Bible, but since the economic meltdown/Pearl Harbour/tsunami of 2008, the word or variations of it have been broadcast worldwide by the mainline news media along with similar words like doomsday and the abyss.

The fact words like these are now floating in the air may be THE LAST SIGN AND WARNING to the people of the Earth. It is in the self-interest of everyone, great and small, to become vigilant, watch and weigh, so you will not be taken by surprise.

As part of my CV, in 1963, I was a labourer for The Foundation Company of Canada on the Distant Early Warning Line in the Canadian Arctic before spy satellites existed. For those who expand and read any the many newspaper reports chronicling my Mission of Faith in Almighty God spread over many years inserted in this Blog, it is obvious the Foundation is laid, but the Line is no longer Distant and it is getting Late.

What about the event of Armageddon? Most people are not aware Armageddon the word, is derived from Har Mediggo, an actual place in Israel, the epicentre of the Jewish/Palestinian conflict. When Armageddon was introduced into the human psyche 2000 years ago, Har Mediggo was located in the Roman Province of Palestine. The conflict has very deep roots.

Armageddon the Biblical prophecy would be impossible to fulfill until the recreation of the temporal State of Israel from the Bible in 1948.

While the shock and awe of the Gaza war has receded from world consciousness and the front burner of media attention, the war continues below the radar, just simmering until the next explosive event.

Now that the US has already delivered the big bunker busting bombs to Israel, and Israel straining at the bit to use them and start a war with Iran in “self-defence,” the prospect of that leading to Armageddon is very real Today more than ever before this Generation. If we ignore that threat to our existence and way of living, we will deserve it if it comes.

There are too many news reports to ignore. The US & Israel, supported by England, CanaDa and the West, is already conducting a covert, undeclared war on Iran with targeted assassinations of their nuclear scientists, cyber war, sabotage and now economic warfare.  These facts, already in the Public Domain, are calculated to try Iranian patience to the limit and push them into taking some kind of retaliatory action to show how bad they are our governments and media will propagate. We ignore this at our own peril.

Iran and Israel: Comparing military machines

THE NUCLEAR QUESTION? IRAN – DIFFERENT FROM THE REST?

IF Armageddon the event happens, it is starting over there now, building to the climax, where two peoples with different cultures,  both religious descendants of Abraham, are fighting as families do, over the inheritance God promised his children.

My personal reference Bible, printed in 1855, is the same Edition on which Presidents Lincoln and Obama took their Oath of Office. The verse of Revelation above comes from it.

It goes on to list anything that could be bought or sold from the limited items available in those days 2000 years ago, and by extrapolation, everything the Global economy produces Today. Is the buying and selling of the merchandise we all use religious or non-religious?

The G8, the G20, the Presidents and Prime Ministers all see this on the way and are trying to find a money solution. They don’t realize it’s a Spiritual problem

It is firmly established everybody was taken by surprise by the Financial Meltdown-Economic Pearl Harbour-Tsunami of 2008, as the Global economy suddenly went into a free fall. The politicians and economic experts were stunned. No one saw it coming! The Writing Was On The Wall and the whole world could see it for the 1st Time at the same Time.

And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buys their merchandise any more:
The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,
And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.

Revelation 18: 11-13

Are those words in the BIBLE, with all their implications, primarily religious?                      Are they Secular-Atheist-Materialist?

Or do they tell us existence and being in this MATERIAL world is all inclusive, that every aspect of our individual being, Day by Day, is only a small part of the much greater whole?

It is up to each and every Individual to make up their own mind on that. At the end of this fleshy, material Existence, for the short time humans have on earth, the bodies of both believers and non believers go to the grave.

In our Flesh bodies, we will all die one way or another and if there was no chemical embalming, we will all return to the dust of the earth quickly, the very dirt from where the food that keeps humans alive comes from.

Only those flesh beings who have invited the Eternal to live in their hearts, minds and bodies, will see the Eternal Spirit working in their lives Day by Day, knowing at the End of the world for Individuals, and possibly the larger world, as everyone can see the powers of this material world are talking War talk, their Spirit will be returned to the Eternal who gave it. The rest of the flesh ceases to exist forever.

How can the Finite Human Mind reason with The Eternal? Obviously, Fundamentally, Logically, with Patience, Respect, and Reverence. We all have to live with our own thoughts 24/7. Either we are at Peace with them, or troubled, angry and disturbed with them.

It’s been 2000 years since The Eternal revealed the Way in the flesh body of Jesus, The Christ Alpha, to achieve Peace on Earth and bring the Joy and Plenty of the kingdom of Heaven to the world. Bringing the Promised Land to those individuals who HAVE FAITH and Love God Loving others no matter where on the land of earth they live, even if the others around them don’t see it.

As to Jesus, in whom the Spirit of Christ Alpha 1st became known to this world, being fully fleshy human like you, me and everyone on earth TODAY, Christ Omega makes this invitational offer to all humans in the Flesh Today;

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and AM set down with my Father in his throne. He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Do you have what it takes to overcome, as Jesus himself, in the flesh had to?

Blessed are the Peace Makers, for they shall be called The Children of God.

Then where do the War Makers come from? That is explained in the opening words at the top of this report.

The world leaders, who thought they had power, were terrified when the traditional levers of power were powerless to stop the drastic fall on a slippery slope to chaos as they stared into the abyss for the first time with the 2008 Global Financial meltdown.

Imagine, in a matter of months, the economy and distribution of goods and services just stopped and millions upon millions of people were without jobs, money, or daily necessities taking to the streets with so many guns in the private hands of the public. These are the very fertile grounds that give rise to power and authority for Dictatorships. It is happening now, before the eyes of those who have the eyes to see.

Current government stimulus plans have temporarily slowed down that free fall, but in Truth, they should be renamed Transition plans as it is impossible to go back to the 2600 year old Imperial Babylonian economic system that has been the framework and model for Empires and Nations to this Day.  It is the end of the road for that system of value.

If we dare to face the Future together united as One in purpose, it need not come to Armageddon or the End of the World.

When the Revelation was given 2000 years ago, the writer could not imagine how important the Islamic Middle East with it’s oil would become to all the kings of the earth in our Times.

But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool?
Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them   WHO SHALL BE heirs of  salvation?       

Hebrews 1:13-14

The dragon wants to see humans destroyed because God gave greater honour to Jesus being fully human, than to the Angels. Lucifer/Satan, the Angel of Light, rebelled against the God of Heaven and the commandment the Angels should serve the humans who are TO BECOME the Heirs of Salvation. Those Angels thought they were superior and should not serve the inferior, an attitude many humans have  Today towards other humans with whom we must share the resources of this finite planet.

The Beast is government of men, opposed and inverse to government of God.

IMAGE OF THE BEAST

The false prophet? The inheritance is given to Abraham and his Spiritual descendents when there was no Jewish, Christian or Islamic religion. All three man made, ritual, traditional religions to the God of Abraham – Judaism, Christianity & Islam – are deceived by the false prophet or the world would not be on the Road to Armageddon.

It is not just a co-incidence that after 2000 years, with Empires and Nations rising and falling, Jerusalem, where Christ was crucified, is at the center of it all. The Roman Governor gave the people a choice? Who do you want? Jesus or the violent insurrectionist, Barabbas? The people chose a terrorist over Jesus, so what can we expect?

Wake up, People! WE can OVERCOME! The End of the 2600 Babylonian Political, Military & Economic system of this world is crumbling before our very eyes. We can ignore it and let it go to the very worst end – Armageddon – or we can change our ways that are leading us to it. The end of that system is inevitable and can’t be stopped. The End of that world is necessary before we can see the New World ahead of us.

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
And I John saw the holy city, NEW JERUSALEM, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
And he said to me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is thirsty of the fountain of the water of life freely.
He that OVERCOMES shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whore mongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second  death.                                                                      Revelation 21

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will eat with him, and he with me.
To him that OVERCOMES will I grant to SIT WITH ME IN MY THRONE, even as I ALSO OVERCAME, and AM SET DOWN WITH MY FATHER in his throne.
He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.Revelation 3


You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink;

You can lead a person to Knowledge, but you can’t make them think!

AMERICAN PIE – AMERICAN DREAM – AMERICAN NIGHTMARE


The Chinese labourer Today is making wages that would be impossible to live on in the nominally Christian developed societies. We could live on those wages of the early 60s when we were creating the wealth in our system. This is their 1st crack at the stuff that makes up the American Pie or Dream.

Now the appetites for material want are unleashed in the 1,500,000,000 people of China.

There are Chinese millionaires and billionaires flaunting their wealth, and inevitably, the 1,500,000,000 Chinese workers will want more. That’s the way of all flesh.

As the cost for Chinese goods rise in tandem with stagnant or falling wages in the West, with increased unemployment, inevitably the Global economy as it is erected now will arrive at a tipping point.

The Chinese Leaders have a very tough job in steering the country with policies that blend the traditional Chinese Culture putting the Common Good above the individual, with American Capitalism that puts the Individual  above any notion of the Common Well being.

The world has an interest in China succeeding in this great challenge  and the world should hope they find the right way and balance so that all individuals are Free within the Greater Free Society.

God help us all if the 1,500,000,000 Chinese mirror American Capitalism as it is Today with it’s notion of the rugged individual acting independently of any notion of the Common Good.

A long time ago when wages in our system were at the level the Chinese are now earning, I was able to maintain an above average life style, definitely not rich except in Spirit, earning the above average salary of $2 an hour in Montreal when the average worker was making $1.50/hr.

Rents, Restaurants, movies and entertainment, clothing and food costs were geared to those averages. Two big brown paper bags full of groceries cost $10 compared to two little plastic bags costing $40 Today. Cigarettes cost .29c a pack and the labourers could go into a Taverne after work and get 10 – 8 oz. glasses of beer for $1. The waiter was happy with a .15c tip. A beer in a Bar cost .50c. Gas was really cheap when we measured it in gallons A gallon cost less than a litre Today. The average worker could afford to live reasonably, meeting the basic needs for their families of 2-6 children. Greed and jealousy was muted unlike these days.

The introduction of TV and insatiable want upset that balance between owners, management and labour.

The Developed Nations being a small minority of the earth’s population, have had a long head start in exploiting the earth’s resources enriching ourselves. The world’s system of unbridled consumption is unsustainable as it has been constructed. Without fundamental change, the Global economy will eventually collapse and fall on our heads.

The children will pay for the sins of the parents, especially as this generation puts off making the hard decisions and adjustments that will be necessary to ensure the continuation of the human race.
Related to this article – ‘THE KING´S TERRIFYING NIGHTMARE

“I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.”

— U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 21, 1864 (letter to Col. William F. Elkins) Ref: The Lincoln Encyclopedia, Archer H. Shaw (Macmillan, 1950, NY)

There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that if you just legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, that their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous their prosperity will find its way up and through every class that rests upon it.

William Jennings Bryan, July 9, 1896.

Here it is 115 years later and we are still having the same unresolved debate.

Most people don’t know what’s written between the covers of the “Good Book” a.k.a. the Bible. This gives Christian TV preachers free reign to project a vision based on few of the thousands of Bible verses, each one having an insight or perspective of the total picture of God and this world.

As much as they say you have to live by what’s written in the Bible, you will never hear the Pope, Cardinals, Bishops and Christian TV preachers discuss these express words that cannot be misinterpreted for anything other than implying regime change in this world.

Go to now, you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth eaten.
Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. You have heaped treasure together for the last days.
Behold, the HIRE OF THE LABOURERS who have reaped down your fields, which is of you KEPT BACK BY FRAUD, cries: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.
You have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; you have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
You have condemned and killed the just; and he does not resist you.
Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
Be patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draws nigh.
Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest you be condemned: behold, the judge stands before the door.
Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
Behold, we count them happy which endure. You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest you fall into condemnation.

James 5

EconomicRatRace

GENERAL/PRESIDENT DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER – The Last Real Commander-In-Chief


Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander WWII and President of the United States reached the dual pinnacles of earthly power as a Military Commander and President.

Very few people have had that kind of experience in their lifetimes. He saw first hand how underlings and other people vied for influence with him, ass-kissing and brown nosing their way to the top.

It is now 50 years since he delivered his farewell Military-Industrial Complex speech to the American People. It is only with the benefit of hindsight can we see the Wisdom of his experience and the Truthful Spirituality in his Prophetic admonitions.

The Unites States is now the biggest supplier of weapons of mass destruction to the world, and spends more than 6 times on Defence annually than the closest world rival, China. Chins is spending about $120 Billion on Defence compared to the US spending over $800 Billion

The thrust of that speech was to warn against the rising influence of Lobbyists he experienced 1st hand.

We have ignored that wise council, and Lobbyists for special interests have proliferated to the extent that the interests of the common people and common good take a back seat to the special interests that spent almost $4,000,000,000 in 2010 to influence government and the People’s Representatives to frame Laws that benefit those Corporate concerns.

We are now experiencing the negative consequences he warned would be the result of too much influence by special interest groups in the councils of government.

Congress opens with a prayer every day of Business. Those prayers from the lips will do no good. Reading General/President Eisenhower’s speech everyday might produce better results for the People and their Representatives.

From President Eisenhower’s 1953 ‘Cross of Iron’ speech in the clip above.

The link to the whole speech – Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

President Eisenhower’s January 17, 1961 Military-Industrial Complex speech on Retiring,

My fellow Americans:

Three days from now, after half a century in the service of our country, I shall lay down the responsibilities of office as, in traditional and solemn ceremony, the authority of the Presidency is vested in my successor.

This evening I come to you with a message of leave-taking and farewell, and to share a few final thoughts with you, my countrymen.

Like every other citizen, I wish the new President, and all who will labor with him, Godspeed. I pray that the coming years will be blessed with peace and prosperity for all.

Our people expect their President and the Congress to find essential agreement on issues of great moment, the wise resolution of which will better shape the future of the Nation.

My own relations with the Congress, which began on a remote and tenuous basis when, long ago, a member of the Senate appointed me to West Point, have since ranged to the intimate during the war and immediate post-war period, and, finally, to the mutually interdependent during these past eight years.

In this final relationship, the Congress and the Administration have, on most vital issues, cooperated well, to serve the national good rather than mere partisanship, and so have assured that the business of the Nation should go forward. So, my official relationship with the Congress ends in a feeling, on my part, of gratitude that we have been able to do so much together.

II.

We now stand ten years past the midpoint of a century that has witnessed four major wars among great nations. Three of these involved our own country. Despite these holocausts America is today the strongest, the most influential and most productive nation in the world. Understandably proud of this pre-eminence, we yet realize that America’s leadership and prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment.

III.

Throughout America’s adventure in free government, our basic purposes have been to keep the peace; to foster progress in human achievement, and to enhance liberty, dignity and integrity among people and among nations. To strive for less would be unworthy of a free and religious people. Any failure traceable to arrogance, or our lack of comprehension or readiness to sacrifice would inflict upon us grievous hurt both at home and abroad.

Progress toward these noble goals is persistently threatened by the conflict now engulfing the world. It commands our whole attention, absorbs our very beings. We face a hostile ideology — global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method. Unhappily the danger is poses promises to be of indefinite duration. To meet it successfully, there is called for, not so much the emotional and transitory sacrifices of crisis, but rather those which enable us to carry forward steadily, surely, and without complaint the burdens of a prolonged and complex struggle — with liberty the stake. Only thus shall we remain, despite every provocation, on our charted course toward permanent peace and human betterment.

Crises there will continue to be. In meeting them, whether foreign or domestic, great or small, there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties. A huge increase in newer elements of our defense; development of unrealistic programs to cure every ill in agriculture; a dramatic expansion in basic and applied research — these and many other possibilities, each possibly promising in itself, may be suggested as the only way to the road we wish to travel.

But each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs — balance between the private and the public economy, balance between cost and hoped for advantage — balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable; balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual; balance between actions of the moment and the national welfare of the future. Good judgment seeks balance and progress; lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration.

The record of many decades stands as proof that our people and their government have, in the main, understood these truths and have responded to them well, in the face of stress and threat. But threats, new in kind or degree, constantly arise. I mention two only.

IV.

A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.

Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.

Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.

In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.

Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.

The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded.

Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientifictechnological elite.

It is the task of statesmanship to mould, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system — ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society.

V.

Another factor in maintaining balance involves the element of time. As we peer into society’s future, we — you and I, and our government — must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.

VI.

Down the long lane of the history yet to be written America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect.

Such a confederation must be one of equals. The weakest must come to the conference table with the same confidence as do we, protected as we are by our moral, economic, and military strength. That table, though scarred by many past frustrations, cannot be abandoned for the certain agony of the battlefield.

Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose. Because this need is so sharp and apparent I confess that I lay down my official responsibilities in this field with a definite sense of disappointment. As one who has witnessed the horror and the lingering sadness of war — as one who knows that another war could utterly destroy this civilization which has been so slowly and painfully built over thousands of years — I wish I could say tonight that a lasting peace is in sight.

Happily, I can say that war has been avoided. Steady progress toward our ultimate goal has been made. But, so much remains to be done. As a private citizen, I shall never cease to do what little I can to help the world advance along that road.

VII.

So — in this my last good night to you as your President — I thank you for the many opportunities you have given me for public service in war and peace. I trust that in that service you find some things worthy; as for the rest of it, I know you will find ways to improve performance in the future.

You and I — my fellow citizens — need to be strong in our faith that all nations, under God, will reach the goal of peace with justice. May we be ever unswerving in devotion to principle, confident but humble with power, diligent in pursuit of the Nation’s great goals.

To all the peoples of the world, I once more give expression to America’s prayerful and continuing aspiration:

We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings; that those who have freedom will understand, also, its heavy responsibilities; that all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity; that the scourges of poverty, disease and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth, and that, in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love.

From this video as it appeared on TV that night, we can see how the technology has improved from then to now. We can also see how the Imperial Presidency has grown.

For Now we have Faith, Hope and Love, but the Greatest of these is Love.

1 Corinthians 13

Sunday, December 21, 2014.

This video of a speech by President Kennedy in 1961 was brought to my attention just this morning, and is more appropriate for our Times than when the President gave it.