Signs the Redemption is near?

It’s the end of the month again. That means it’s time to take another look at Redemption.



For years, the American magazine, Sports Illustrated, has run a weekly mini-report entitled, “Signs of the Apocalypse” (or something like that). It contains a one-or-two sentence announcement that features some weekly occurrence in the Sports world. Typically, it focuses on someone doing something really stupid. It highlights how incredibly awful highly-paid sports figures can be. Such behaviour by those we honour, the piece suggests, is surely a sign that our world must soon end.



Mostly, these incidents entertain.



That magazine comes from America. We live in Israel, which follows a different religious and spiritual orientation. So if someone in America thinks about Christian-inspired world Destruction, perhaps we can think about something different--a Jewish-inspired New-world Redemption.

Consider now some recent examples from the news that, in some way—humorous and not so humorous—suggest that the world might be preparing for something New. If you don’t see how these headlines might pre-sage a Jewish Redemption, that’s okay. That just means that your ‘Redemption training’ isn’t up-to-date.

 

For January 2014:



- TV ratings: NBC leads State of the Union night with 'Biggest Loser' (Los Angeles Times)

- College athletes take step toward forming union (Dayton Daily News)

- How to talk 'Noo Yawk' in 13 easy steps (New York Daily News)

- Joe Biden: ‘In my heart’ I could be president (New York Post)

- Man uses first-class plane ticket to eat free for a year(New York Post)

- John McDonogh High School official explains $1 million audit discrepancy (New Orleans Times-Picayune)

-Is the Pacific Ocean radioactive? You can help find out (Los Angeles Times) ------

January, 2014 has turned out to be a bonus month for Redemption-followers. Here, the Truth has prevailed. In New Orleans, for example, someone accused local school officials of fiscal mismanagement—or worse. Seems that an audit revealed a million–dollar discrepancy between audit results and a recent budget filed by a local school. Accusations found their way into the media. It got messy, as school politics often get when they hit the papers. Then it was discovered that that discrepancy wasn’t fraudulent. The news story above (“John McDonogh High School official explains $1 million audit discrepancy”) wasn’t clear, but it seems that the million-dollar problem came from how the school had handled one budget item in their budget. It was an accounting issue, not a fraud issue. As one school official said, " any imputation of mismanagement was unsubstantiated and, frankly, untrue." Wow. If truth can be so easily revealed, perhaps the Redemption has indeed begun—or is nearer than we think. Is that possible? In another story, we got a look at how Redemption might look at US President Barack Obama. Many feel that today’s US President is anti-Jewish. Some non-Jews feel he is anti-truth. Which is it? Anti-Israel, anti-Truth, both—or neither? Now, The Los Angeles Times tells us how a majority of 330+ million Americans feel about their leader (“TV ratings: NBC leads State of the Union night with 'Biggest Loser'”). Well, okay, so the Biggest Loser isn’t the US President. It’s a TV show. But it sure looked that way for a second. For some, that’s a disappointment. Does their disappointment mean that Redemption isn’t coming as fast as we thought? Maybe not. College athletes have been trying for decades (not years) to protect whatever collective rights they have. People have whispered that college athletes are foolish to fight for something so impossible; they’ll have to wait for Redemption before they’ll get any rights. Now we learn they’re actually taking steps to form a union. (“College athletes take step toward forming union”). Does this mean Redemption has come? Maybe not. US Vice President Joe Biden thinks in his heart he can be President (“Joe Biden: In my heart I could be president”). That’s another conflicting signal. For some, Biden as US President is surely a sign that a New World Order has come. For others, it’s a certain sign that Hell has frozen over. Score so far: Redemption--2, Hell—2.

Look around. Our future beckons. The world reveals hints. It’s up to us to understand what we see.

For example, there is a reference in Jewish Heritage that, when the Redemption draws near, a man will have trouble finding a fish to eat. Well, if the Pacific goes radioactive, you gonna eat fish (“Is the Pacific Ocean radioactive?”)?

Don’t think so.

Then, there’s the belief that, when Redemption comes, we will all have enough to eat. That means you won’t have to worry you don’t have enough money for food.

Today, we discover that a man has used a single airline ticket to eat free for a whole year (“Man uses first-class plane ticket to eat free for a year”). That may not sound like Redemption is here, but before you draw that conclusion maybe you should telephone the guy and ask him how it’s been to eat free for a whole year!

Naturally, it’s possible that all these headlines are meaningless. The prospect of radioactive fish may be nothing more than a boon for the egg industry. These news stories may have nothing to do with the Jewish Redemption. Perhaps they simply prove that nothing changes—except our perception of Redemption.

But then we see odd headlines. For example, we read about Noo Yawk—and how to tawk like a Noo Yawker (“How to talk 'Noo Yawk' in 13 easy steps”).

You tink dat’s meaningless? Fuhgeddaboudit!

Yes, a world of foolishness envelopes us. January ends just as it began—with enough news to give us all a headache.

But then, there’s tomorrow: does February’s rebirth mean that something New is before us?

Until the end of February, here’s some wise advice from a Noo Yawka: our new [City] traffic lanes are designed so that if you get out of a car on the left, you’ll get run down by a bike, and if get out on the right you’ll get run down by a car. Take the damned subway, OK?

From Noo Yawk, that’s the Truth!