GREECE – WHAT JUST HAPPENED

by | May 24, 2010 | Howard Katz | 24 comments

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    The events of the last few months have been far more important than I had originally given them credit for. The bottom line was when a group of European nations, together with the International Monetary Fund, gave loans to Greece to pay off the rioters. That very day Jean-Claude Trichet was in the financial markets buying bonds

    Of course, Trichet was not buying bonds with his own money. None of the political figures we read about in the newspapers and who parade about pretending to be full of love and generosity actually give their own money. Indeed, even the European Central Bank did not give its own money. Further, if we search through the countries of Europe, we do not find a single one of them with extra money to give to Greece.

    Then what was this all about? Why were markets rushing up and down? Why were the newspaper headlines screaming? Why was there violence in the streets, with people being killed? Everybody wanted to borrow, and nobody had any money to lend. That, of course, is the way of the world. If you don’t like this fact, then I suggest you take it up with the Creator of the world. If you don’t like the Creator you have now, then just change your religion and get another Creator. No problem, human beings have been doing that for a long, long time.

    So Jean Claude Trichet did not have any money to lend to Greece. Where did he get the money to buy European bonds? The answer is that he printed the money out of nothing. That is, he counterfeited it.

    Now Trichet is not the worst of a bad lot. He is more like the best of a bad lot. And that is the problem. If Europe could not stand up under these pressures, they can not be trusted to stand up to similar pressures in the future. And whenever someone in Europe in the future wants to spend more money than he has earned, this will be the “solution.”

    Of course, the printing of euros will depreciate the value of the euro. Thus, when the people of Greece go to spend their money, they will find that there has been a general rise in prices. The printing of money does not create wealth, and they are just as poor as they were before.

    There are two dramatis personae in this sad tale. The first consists of the protestors. These are mostly members of the Greek anarchist movement which dates from the protests against the Greek military junta in 1973. These protests led to the fall of the junta in 1974 and its replacement by a democracy in 1975.

    These people live in a world where there are only two political parties, a party of love/peace and a party of hate/war. (Supporters of the second party prefer to call it a party of strength or practicality.) The party of love and peace is called the left. The party of hate and war is called the right. These two parties are continually contesting with each other. First the left wins. Then the right wins, etc. For example, Julius Caesar was on the political left during his lifetime (1 st century B.C.). But those who followed in his footsteps and called themselves “Caesars” morphed into the political right (Kaiser, Czar)

    What characterizes the political left is their ability to explode into violence while still maintaining the self-image of love and peace. The typical leftist will have the idea firmly fixed in his head, “I am a person of love” while he is throwing a bomb or murdering a fellow human being. For example, Stalin was described in the media as a person of the left even while he was murdering his fellow Bolsheviks and killing millions of his own countrymen. (Stalin killed, not only Trotsky, but pretty much all of the original Bolsheviks who made the 1917 revolution with him.) Frequently, these leftists will switch over to the right (Mussolini and Hitler). Then, a person of the right might feel remorse for his crimes and switch over to the left. Both sides have lost the concept of a middle ground where human beings have rights and where everyone’s rights are respected.

    This ability to twist one’s mind into a pretzel and believe what one wants to believe is very characteristic of both left and right. The Greek protestors, you remember, were trying to get more wealth by rioting n the street, setting fires and killing people. Yet these actions characteristically destroy wealth, not create it.

    The second dramatis personae in this story is the paper aristocracy. All central banks in the world today create money out of nothing. This has a set of consequences which transfer wealth from one group to another, as follows:

    The most important task of any central bank is the manipulation of the rate of interest away from its free market level. Prior to the 1780s, charging interest was banned in all countries. (In 1786-87, it was legalized in the northern U.S. and Britain.) Since there are always many people who want to go back to the past, there is always a political force for zero interest rates, and it is the bias of all central banks to lower the (real) rate of interest below its free market rate (which was about 5% real for over a century during the period when the U.S. had little or no central banking).

    The way it manipulates interest rates is by buying government securities, Treasury bills being a good example. A one-year T-bill is redeemed at par (100). It is issued at some price below par, and the interest consists of the difference between the issuing price (or current price) and par. For example, a T-bill may be issued for 95. It is redeemed at 100. Thus the interest received by the buyer is 5/95 = 5.26%. The current U.S. rate for the 1 year T-bill is 0.35%.

    Modern central banks have no capital of their own (although historically central banks started out as ordinary banks and then got special privileges from the government). The only way that a modern central bank gets money is by printing it (although this is usually covered over with a collection of lies. For example, modern American money contains the words “Federal Reserve Note.” But a note is a credit instrument. It certifies that one party owes money to another, and all notes specify the interest rate which the borrower has agreed to pay to the lender.

    It can be proven in economic theory and has been the case in every society in which money has circulated that notes (or other credit instruments) cannot circulate as money. This is because people will not use them as money. When a person has both a note and ordinary money and wants to buy something, he decides to keep the note (because it pays interest). He pays for his purchase with (non-interest bearing) money. Thus, it is the non-interest bearing instrument which circulates and acts as a medium of exchange. In other words, a “Federal Reserve Note” is not a note. And calling it a note was simply one of many lies which emanated from the group around J.P. Morgan at the time they slipped over the Federal Reserve System on a country which had regressed badly in its knowledge of economics.

    In modern central banking, pieces of paper, which have been printed up by the central bank (emblazoned with all kinds of fancy words and symbols to impress the ignorant), are declared to be money by the government (in what is known as a legal tender law). This says that you must treat this fancy paper as though it had more economic value than similar pieces of paper. The original paper dollars issued by the Federal Reserve in 1933 were required to be treated as though they had the same value as 1/20 oz. gold. This value does not come from it being a note or a security. It comes because the government has “blessed” this piece of paper with the words “legal tender.”

    It should be noted that, although the situation may differ from country to country, here in the U.S. the legal tender enactments by Congress are illegal, hence null and void. This is because we have two levels of law in the U.S. There is the government’s law, imposed on the people. And there is the people’s law, imposed on the government. The people’s law is the Constitution. This is the supreme law, and any statute law which conflicts with it is null and void. (Those interested may read the debates of the constitutional convention, Aug. 16, 1787, in The Madison Papers. The authors of the Constitution were very hostile to the paper money which had been issued during the 1770s and early 1780s and intended to ban it. The vote to ban paper money in America was 9 states to 2 states, and this has never been changed.) Thus, our current government is illegal. This is not a laughing matter because the Coinage Act of 1792 imposes the death penalty for debasement of the currency, a fact which should give Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspan and Paul Volcker serious pause.

    “SEC. 19. And be it further enacted, That if any of the gold or silver coins which shall be struck or coined at the said mint shall be debased or made worse as to the proportion of fine gold or fine silver therein contained, or shall be of less weight or value than the same ought to be… every such officer or person who shall commit any or either of the said offences, shall be deemed guilty of felony, and shall suffer death.”

    Our current U.S. money has not only been made worse as to the proportion of gold therein contained. It has been made zero.

    As the central bank buys Treasury Securities with its printed money, it forces their price up, and, as we have seen, this forces the interest rate down. But low interest rates are beneficial to borrowers (which are primarily the nation’s large corporations). They are harmful to savers (who are primarily the middle class). In this regard, the central bank is stealing enormous amounts of wealth from the nation’s middle class and giving it to the very rich.

    As noted, as a side effect of the lowering of interest rates, the central bank acts like a counterfeiter, printing money out of nothing. This causes all prices to rise. However, they do not rise equally. The wages of labor rise more slowly than the prices of goods. Thus real wages go down. Because of this, real wages have been declining in this country since 1972 (one year after Nixon completed the abolition of the U.S. gold standard). Since real wages are declining, real corporate profits go up.

    I call the people who benefit from the printing of money and easing of credit the paper aristocracy. The paper aristocracy always wants more paper money and is trying at all times and in all countries to urge the central bank to issue more money. To accomplish this, there have to be a continuous series of crises (real or imagined) to serve as an excuse.

    So behind the Greek protestors are the paper aristocracies of the world stirring up the media into a hysteria. The paper money Trichet is now issuing will raise prices throughout Europe, including Greece, and the Greek protestors, instead of getting richer (as they think) will get poorer (in real terms). Trichet’s claim that he will sterilize the money he is now creating is a standard central bank lie. I have heard that promise many times, but I have never seen it kept.

    That is what is going on in the world today: a group of stupid and venal people who think they can get something for nothing by throwing a tantrum and acting like children and a group of sophisticated and shadowy rich people who manipulate these fools behind the scenes and use them to steal from the ordinary people of our time.

    This may be the end of the attempt to make the euro into a semi-sound money, which started so auspiciously a decade ago. The idea of a paper currency bound down by rules now appears as a failure. The only money which has prevented the depreciation of the currency in world history is gold or silver, and this is the only system which has brought prosperity to mankind.

    I invite interested readers to subscribe to my fortnightly (every 2 weeks) newsletter, the One-handed Economist. This applies my general theory of economics to specific stocks and commodities, making recommendations as to what to buy and what to sell. You may subscribe by visiting my website, www.thegoldspeculator.com, and pressing the Pay Pal button ($300) of by mailing a check for $290 ($10 cash discount) to The One-handed Economist, 614 Nashua St. #122, Milford, N.H. 03055. Thank you for your interest.

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      24 Comments

      1. What a great article. You showed me an angle I didn’t consider before.  Thank you.

      2. Howie Katz (nice name) wants $290 buckeroos to tell me what to “buy and sell”? Sounds more like a one-armed bandit than a “one-handed economist” 😮 Never saw him mention a “money-back guarantee”, either. These “financial adviser” gurus are “a-dime-a-dozen” – but not cheap!

        Hey, what’s with this “paid political announcement” ad, Mac? – or is this just a gold thread?

        Caveat emptor!

      3. Mr. Katz has been a regular contributor here with a weekly Monday column for quite some time. We try to post a bio and a link out to contributor websites and products as a thank you for them taking the time to share their insights.

      4. OK – I get it.

        Here’s some (free) advice on what to sell:

        “Sell all you have – and give to the poor”

        Here’s some (free) advice on what to buy:

        “Stairway to Heaven”

        Under the present circumstances, that’s the best advice you can get! 🙂

      5. Godsend…Christ told the rich man to sell all he had and give it to the poor because he (the rich man) valued money more than anything else…most of us who live here aren’t rich, so your advice is pretty bogus from someone ‘saying’ he believes in Christ. There is no ‘stairway to heaven’ (except that from the Led Zeppelin world – they were and still are Satanists), but there is a door – His name is Jesus, maybe you should introduce yourself to the real One before it’s too late and the door is closed to you.

      6. Thanks for the (free) advice, LJ – but you read too much into my “buy and sell” advice. Try to remember that most things are relative (including being rich)  and try to catch the drift, instead of taking advice literally. Trust me, LJ, I am well acquainted with Jesus. 🙂

        If you visit my Blog and look around a bit, you’ll find a wonderful stairway to Heaven (the real one). No kidding!

      7. ‘Godsend’ (and I use the term quite loosely) I’ve been to your blog, and it is filled with pure double mindedness, and if you actually read the Bible, you know what happens to a double minded man. Your blog is so filled with nonsense, I couldn’t determine what you believe by anything you say or have posted on it. I won’t waste my time doing the diaphrax dance with you…suffice it to say that there are ‘many’ who come ‘saying’ they are the Christ…you’re just another, but the good news you’re still breathing, so it’s not to late! Thanks for the ‘free’ advice.

      8. In my opinion the article is very detailed and clearly presented. One basic factor is missing though. Greece didn’t have any globalization problems. In other circumstances the country would have avoid the “crisis”.
        The problem with Greeks, was the continuous robbing of wealth by politicians. Mainly through direct stealing from public funds, or briberies by big companies such as Philips, Siemens, and others.
        320 billion euros is a lot of money to be lost.
        Today you can feel an increasing anger or hate, “moving” around. It’s a matter of time when the boom will explode.
        And you know the next in the row is Spain, Romania, and Portugal.
        Now, there is an increasing movement to deny paying the income taxes. If this happens the system will go bye-bye in the next months.
        We will see.

      9. I can’t find zukadoo anywhere, is he holed up in his bunker right now?  I hope he isn’t mixing any cheap, colored, sugary  drinks up right now…..

      10. LJ – humility is the beginning of wisdom. The fact that my Blog confuses and overwhelms you just means that you are not yet ready for it (it’s entirely possible that you will never be ready for it). Like Jesus said: “Those who have ears to hear – hear, and those who have eyes to see – SEE!” It’s sort of like that with you and my Blog – but that’s OK. Keep studying your Bible and stick to what you know. Remember, just like God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts, so some of my thoughts may just be higher than your thoughts. It’s the same principle. The stairway to Heaven is long – and we are not all on the same step!

        And NO, I am NOT “the Christ” – and I don’t claim to be. I am His witness and I have His testimony – that’s all!

        End of discussion.

      11. There is no doubt the U.S. government will continue to watch Europe with regards to their citizens response to the debt crisis. One might view Greece as a precursor to the demise of the European Union. And a similar view may well be taken of California becoming a bankrupt state that the U.S. will have to contend with.A daisy chain of bankrupt states lacking the funds to finance their entitlement programs and government pension funds, could give way to much more than demonstrations and protests. Money printing will eventually be the only thing left to postpone civil unrest and riots in this country. It may turn out that Federal, State, and Local government employees become the angriest of the angry as more of them begin to lose their jobs and benefits. The U.S. may find itself  “kicking the can”  down a dead end alley.

        This is yet another reason to gear up and prepare for economic hard times to come. Things could easily get worse quickly, and many will be unprepared.

        Google search,,,state’s debt woes grow too big to camouflage nytimes,,,,half of commercial mortgages to be underwater: warren cnbc,,,,another doomed plan to prevent foreclosures marketwatch,,,.

      12. Its a sad day in hell when even the Christians are fighting each other.
        I think I’m gonna make some more wine.

      13. Mr. Katz should have mentioned that Article I, Section 8 empowers Congress to coin money, i.e., to stamp coins out of bullion. It does  not empower Congress to print money, or to create money out of thin air.

      14. Comments…..Great article, informative. One sidebar: These manipulations are not about greed, they are about power and enslaving the masses. We are entering tough times. Only a few will survive. Stay faithful.

      15. I laugh my butt off every time I read comments by the Jesus freaks on this ‘blog. I’ve noticed some of them complain when articles are written which may have a religious comment within them as they wish this ‘blog to be only political. On the other hand, the comment sections are continually filled by references to Jesus and inane arguments back and forth on silly points of religious doctrine. No scientific reference is given in these arguments. Just the use of one book. The Bible! And, the Jews are using you and laughing all the way to the bank.

        Get it straight people:

        1) All politics mix religious belief’s. Whether it is “In God We Trust” on our money, our own politicians references to God and Christianity or Middle Eastern Islamic belief which is the law of their land.

        2) The “White Shoe Boys” that Gerald Celente continually refers to are the Jews running Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and other huge financial entities and multi-national corporations. The elite of the elite. Type in “White Shoe Firm” in the Wikipedia for an in-depth explanation.

        3) Jesus was a Jew. The Apostles were Jews. The Sadducees and Pharisees were Jews. And the Jew Jesus, who was a religious Zealot (a fanatic – similar to non-violent Muslim fanatics or Buddhist fanatics today), was in constant conflict with them.

        This link will provide (those interested) in an excellent overview of both the Sadducees and Pharisees:

        http://www.gotquestions.org/Sadducees-Pharisees.html

        4) The New Testament of the Bible was written many years after the death (and burial in an Ossuary) of Jesus by Jews for Jews… till later they realized they could rope in a bunch of daft Gentiles. Paul of Tarsus (a Pharisee Jew) called himself the “Apostle to the Gentiles” and his epistles were written anywhere from 55 to 150 years AD (depending which theologian you believe). Furthermore, throughout the ages the New Testament was added to and parts deleted by various priests and monks (notwithstanding John’s admonition in the book of Revelation about adding to it or taking away from it).

        5) Throughout history the Jews have used their religion (both Hebrew and Christian) to influence the mass of people in order to control them. Furthermore, throughout history the Jews have tried to control first the money (gold, silver and/or coin and paper money and convertible notes & debentures of all kinds) then politics which will give them ultimate power. Let’s look at a few historical examples:

        A) CICERO (Marcus Tullius Cicero), a famous first century B.C. Roman statesman and writer said:  “Softly! Softly! I want none but the judges to hear me. The Jews have already gotten me into a fine mess, as they have many other gentleman. I have no desire to furnish further grist for their mills.” (Oration in Defense of Flaccus).

        Cicero was serving as defense counsel at the trial of Flaccus, a Roman official who interfered with Jewish gold shipments to their international headquarters (then, as now) in Jerusalem. Cicero himself certainly was not a nobody, and for one of this stature to have to “speak softly” shows that he was in the presence of a dangerously powerful sphere of influence, and on another occasion Cicero wrote: “The Jews belong to a dark and repulsive force. One knows how numerous this clique is, how they stick together and what power they exercise through their unions. They are a nation of rascals and deceivers.”

        B) DIODORUS SICULUS. First century Greek historian, observed that Jews treated other people as enemies and inferiors. “Usury” is the practice of lending money at excessive interest rates. This has for centuries caused great misery and poverty for Gentiles. It has brought strong condemnation of the Jews!

        C) AQUINAS, THOMAS, (Catholic Saint) and 13th century scholastic philosopher. In his “On the Governance of the Jews,” he wrote: “The Jews should not be allowed to keep what they have obtained from others by usury; it were best that they were compelled to work so that they could earn their living instead of doing nothing but becoming avaricious.”

        D) HILAIARE BELLOC, in the book THE JEWS, page 9: “There is already something like a Jewish monopoly in high finance… here is the same element of Jewish monopoly in the silver trade, and in the control of various other metals, notably lead, nickel, quicksilver. What is most disquieting of all, this tendency to monopoly is spreading like a disease.”

        E) H.H. BEAMISH, in New York Speech, October 30, 1937: “The Boer War occurred 37 years ago. Boer means farmer. Many criticized a great power like Britain for trying to wipe out the Boers. Upon making inquiry, I found all the gold and diamond mines of South Africa were owned by Jews; that Rothschild controlled gold; Samuels controlled silver, Baum controlled other mining, and Moses controlled base metals. Anything these people touch they inevitably pollute.”

        F) W. HUGHES, Premier of Australia, Saturday Evening Post, June 19, 1919: “The Montefiores have taken Australia for their own, and there is not a gold field or a sheep run from Tasmania to New South Wales that does not pay them a heavy tribute. They are the real owners of the antipodean continent. What is the good of our being a wealthy nation, if the wealth is all in the hands of German Jews?”

        G) POPE CLEMENT VIII: “All the world suffers from the usury of the Jews, their monopolies and deceit. They have brought many unfortunate people into a state of poverty, especially the farmers, working class people and the very poor. Then as now Jews have to be reminded intermittently anew that they were enjoying rights in any country since they left Palestine and the Arabian desert, and subsequently their ethical and moral doctrines as well as their deeds rightly deserve to be exposed to criticism in whatever country they happen to live.”

        H) NESTA WEBSTER, In World Revolution, The Plot against Civilization, page 163: “Since the earliest times it is as the exploiter that the Jew has been known amongst his fellow men of all races and creeds. Moreover, he has persistently shown himself ungrateful… The Jews have always formed a rebellious element in every state.”

        I) MARTIN LUTHER, Table Talk of Martin Luther, translated by William Hazlet, page 43: “But the Jews are so hardened that they listen to nothing; though overcome by testimonies they yield not an inch. It is a pernicious race, oppressing all men by their usury and rapine. If they give a prince or magistrate a thousand florins, they extort twenty thousand from the subjects in payment. We must ever keep on guard against them.”

        J) WASHINGTON, GEORGE, in Maxims of George Washington by A. A. Appleton & Co.: “They (the Jews) work more effectively against us, than the enemy’s armies. They are a hundred times more dangerous to our liberties and the great cause we are engaged in… It is much to be lamented that each state, long ago, has not hunted them down as pest to society and the greatest enemies we have to the happiness of America.”

        K) JEFFERSON, THOMAS. 18th century American statesman: “Dispersed as the Jews are, they still form one nation, foreign to the land they live in. ”

        L) WORLD FAMOUS MEN of the past accused the Jews of founding Communism. This charge is well founded. The Communist philosophy was drawn up by Karl Marx who descended from a long line of Rabbis. His ideology of anti-Christian and Socialist thought is outlined in the Jewish “TALMUD” which is the “bible” of the Jews. Of the four political groups which overthrew the Czar of Russia two were 100% Jewish. They were the Mensheviks and The Jewish Bund. The other two were the Socialist Revolutionary Party and the Bolsheviks. Both were headed by Jews but had some Gentile members. Today we now know that Lenin was Jewish and all of the leaders of his first government were Jews. They were Trotsky, Zinoviev, Kamenev and Sverdlow. The wealthiest Jewish banker in the world at that time, Jacob Schiff of Kuhn, Loeb investment bank of New York City, gave Trotsky and Lenin $20 million to overthrow the Czar and establish the Soviet tyranny (according to the “NEW YORK JOURNAL-AMERICAN” of February 3, 1949.)

        6) Thousands of Christian churches across America raise millions of dollars each year to send to Israel. Of course ministers of these churches keep a large chunk for themselves as they forcefully or tearfully implore the fools in their congregations to raise money for “poor Israel.” The Jews on the receiving end of this largess are laughing all the way to the bank at the “ignorant Christians” they have fooled. Simply put, they use their dead Jew/God as a tool to earn income by the false promise this Jew will return (after 2,000 years) and raise those “dead in Christ” from the grave and transmute the rest of “the faithful” into some kind of a “New Jerusalem” or a heaven somewhere.

        7) Jews have us Gentiles wrapped around their fingers. If one speaks the truth about the Jews… speaks out against them, we are called Anti-Semites. A derogatory term to fill us full of fear.. then we have to worry about the ADL or the Mossad knocking on our door. On the other hand, if we love the dead Jew Jesus and call him “Lord” and “Savior” and bow down to him and worship him and are stupid enough to believe that he was resurrected to somewhere (somewhere even our fantastic Hubble telescope can’t find although looking into the farthest reaches of the universe) and if we send them a portion of our tithes and offerings… then they will gleefully help promote (in the background) this ignorant belief. All for MONEY.

        8) Jews believe they are the “chosen people” and do want to take over the world. They want to run the political-economic-social system of as much of the world as possible and they WILL dictate to you what to believe, your education (or lack thereof), your type of work and how much you will be paid, your amount and type of health care, how and where you live, and much more.

        Lastly, I want to bring to your attention Revelation 21, verses 10 through 21. I’m going to quote the New Living Translation to get away from the harder to read King James version. I want to show you “Jesus Freaks” out there just how ignorant you are by believing this crazy Jew story. Oh, and if you don’t like the term Jesus Freak.. sorry ‘bout that. Maybe “Unreasoning Ideological Fanatic” (UIF) would be better?

        “So he took me in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone—like jasper as clear as crystal. 12 The city wall was broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. And the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. 13 There were three gates on each side—east, north, south, and west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
        15 The angel who talked to me held in his hand a gold measuring stick to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. 16 When he measured it, he found it was a square, as wide as it was long. In fact, its length and width and height were each 1,400 miles. 17 Then he measured the walls and found them to be 216 feet thick (according to the human standard used by the angel). 18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city was pure gold, as clear as glass. 19 The wall of the city was built on foundation stones inlaid with twelve precious stones: the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
        21 The twelve gates were made of pearls—each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass.”

        Lets take a look at the idiocy of this story by John who was exiled on Patmos island. Let’s break it down into understandable components.

        » The outside of the building sparkled “like jasper as clear as crystal.” Jasper is a variety of quartz and can be found in many colors… including white or yellow. White could look clear I suppose (giving ‘ol John the benefit of the doubt here).

        » The city was “broad and high, with 12 gates.” Note that on each gate was written “the names of the twelve tribes of Israel” and there were “three gates on each side.” That’s a total of 12 gates and makes the building four square. No Gentile is a member of any of the 12 tribes of Israel by the way.  Oh, ministers have twisted logic and Bible scripture to add Gentiles into one of these tribes, but it’s pure hogwash.

        » “The wall of the city had 12 foundation stones” and the angel who measured it with a gold measuring stick established that “it was a square, as wide as it was long. In fact, its length and width and height were each 1,400 miles.”

        That’s some HUGE building! Think of it! 1,400 miles straight up and 1,400 miles in each of its four directions with walls made of solid jasper sitting on 12 precious stones. That works out to 2,744,000,000 square miles cubed!

        » The walls were “216 feet thick.” Houston, we’ve got a problem! Any engineering or architectural student can tell you we’re starting to see a big problem with this measurement. Walls made of weak jasper 216 feet thick going straight up on all 4 sides for 1,400 miles (into space I might add) are pretty damn thin! They would be too weak support the structure. Note also that Space begins at about 62 miles high. The International Space Station orbits between 200 to 250 miles high and we’ve got satellites ranging from 250 miles to 50,000 miles. That puppy’s going to slam into a LOT of our satellites and the ISS!

        » “The city was pure gold, as clear as glass.” We know how big this 4-square building was but how about the city? Did it take up all of the 2,744,000,000 square miles cubed or only part? John lets us down here. And, when is gold as clear as glass? Yes, I know a very thin coating of gold on our Astronauts faceplates helped protect them from the sun as they walked on the moon and they could see through it.. but folks, we’re talking about a HUGE city made from PURE GOLD which is thick and heavy!

        » “The wall of the city was built on foundation stones inlaid with twelve precious stones: the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.”
        Folks, go to http://www.mineralzone.com and check out each of these stones and their hardness value. Use LOGIC and NOT EMOTION. Ask yourself, can a huge two billion seven hundred and forty four million cubed building with a huge city made of gold within it actually sit on a foundation made of these stones? The weight would crush even diamonds into dust and there’s not even a mention of a diamond being in this foundation!

        » “The twelve gates were made of pearls—each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass.”
        John doesn’t say how high each gate was. Six feet? Eight feet? Twelve, 20, or 100 feet? If the each door was only 10% in height relating to the total height of 1,400 miles… that would be 140 miles high. Ummm wonder how wide each door is? About 46.66 miles wide (140 / 3)? Your guess is as good as mine as John lets us down here. Also, have you ever seen a pearl which has been broken? It’s shell is very thin. I guess these pearls are at least 216 feet thick eh? It’s going to take some big oyster to crank out those babies!

        The “main street was pure gold, as clear as glass?” Does that make sense? What a micron thick layer of pure gold like on the Astronauts helmets? If the gold is as clear as glass what does one see when they look THROUGH “main street?” A crumbling foundation? The sewer system? Oh! I forgot, we’re all going to be spirits anyway so we won’t need a sewer system. Heck, we never need to eat so we won’t have bodily waste to discharge. In that case, why would a spirit need such a monster size building to live in? Nothing about this story makes sense!

        Bottom line: This building is an impossibility. Just from the curvature of the earth. Think about it this way – From Los Angeles to Little Rock, Arkansas by air is 1,476 miles. That’s 76 miles further than we need but in the King James version of the New Testament the measurements were 1,500 miles for this building on each side so why quibble.

        From Little Rock to Winnipeg, Canada by air is 1,074 miles which is still 326 miles short but let’s use it so we won’t end up in the middle of a lake. Then, by air from Winnipeg to Vancouver, BC is 1,162 miles. We’re still short by 238 miles or we would end up in the Pacific ocean. And, we can’t really complete the route from Vancouver to Los Angeles as a straight line as once again we would be in the Pacific down by Baja, Mexico!

        See how nuts this is? This monster building would not only take up a full one third of the United States, it would be impossible to build with John’s exact measurements due to the curvature of the earth! If it were 1,400 or 1,500 miles square on the ground and the walls went straight up 1,400 miles per side, the distance between each wall at the top would be much, much greater than at the bottom!

        Furthermore, if the building DID NOT follow the curvature of the earth, it would be hanging off of the earth on each corner from the middle. Lets make it simple for you. Get a clear picture in your mind. Take one of those large, 50” bouncing balls the kids use on the playground. Now position a 12” wooden ruler on the top of it. That represents one side of John’s wall. Notice how the ruler hangs off in space on either end? If the ruler you used was one of the thin metal types or a cloth one used for dressmaking you could bend it to the curvature of the ball. But, using two other rulers going vertical from each end you’ll note the distance is very much further than 12 inches between them. Did that clear things up for some of you?

        If you are HONEST with yourself and use logic instead of emotion, there’s no way this building could be built even by God. Why? Because if he did create this universe even HE has to accept HIS OWN LAWS OF PHYSICS! That is unless we suddenly get dumped into some weird parallel universe!! And that’s as nuts as what John says in Revelation 21:1 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone.”

        Looks like we’re in for a helluva ride to some new earth WITHOUT a SEA! I don’t know about you, but who wants to live on Mars? See how nuts this all is? John had to be eating magic mushrooms or smoking something other than tobacco!

        In conclusion, people throughout the ages have made up and believed in whatever God’s they wanted. For example, the Hawaiians had many God’s. Lono the shark and even piles of rocks piled up next to sacred Heiaus. Native Americans had totems and wind spirit teachings to name just a few. And, these are about as sacred as worshiping the “old rugged cross.”

        The problem with Christianity is that it is based on worshiping a Jew and the Jews ARE using Christians as just one (of their many) stepping stones to money and ultimate power. Stop being afraid of death people!

        Stop living in fear and the belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree… Yeah, makes perfect sense.

        Note: I hereby give full permission for this comment/article to be reprinted in whole are in part by anyone. You also have my permission to apply any title you wish.

      16. It is NOT POSSIBLE for true followers of Christ to be fighting each other. A sad day in hell is a delightful day in Heaven!

      17. Harold Johnson:

        Your article should be reprinted many times and rolled up into rolls of TP. God only knows we’ll need a lot more TP when STHTF – it can be part of everyone’s “Preparedness Plan”.

        Now crawl back into the sewer you came from!

        Hey Mac – how about putting a word limit on comments?

      18. This is a great article with some excellent comments.  Why GodSend is allowed to ramble off-topic on so many articles and, more to the point, why anyone bothers to reply to him, is beyond me.  It’s always a HUGE distraction from the point of the article.  This is an outstanding site with great information.  Much appreciated!

      19. “Hey Mac – how about putting a word limit on comments?”

        I love it… the religious nut demands censorship.  Who woulda thought?

      20. Note: I hereby give full permission for this comment/article to be reprinted in whole are in part by anyone. You also have my permission to apply any title you wish.”

        Posted.  Thank you!

      21. You look kinda sheepish, disinter! You sound kinda sheepish, too! I suppose you applied the title: “A load of Atheist BS” to Harold Johnson’s piece of BC (Blasphemous Crap)?! I think you misspelled your name – it should be dysinter(y)

      22. GodSend – I thought your religious drivel preached love, not hate?  Are you a hypocrite?

      23. You have worn out your welcome  GS!!

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