In early 2012, best-selling novelist Joel Rosenberg came to Capitol Hill for a meeting with an unidentified member of Congress to discuss the end of the world. “I thought the topic was going to be the possible coming war between Israel and Iran,” Rosenberg explained on his website. “Instead, the official asked, ‘What are your thoughts on Isaiah 17?'”

For the better part of an hour, Rosenberg says, the writer and the congressman went back forth on something called the “burden of Damascus,” an Old Testament prophecy that posits that a war in the Middle East will leave Syria’s capital city in ruins—and bring the world one step closer to Armageddon. As Rosenberg put it, “The innocent blood shed by the Assad regime is reprehensible and heart-breaking and is setting the stage for a terrible judgment.”

But Rosenberg and his anonymous congressman aren’t alone in viewing Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s actions through a biblical lens. With Congress set to vote next week on the authorization to use military force in Syria, the Damascus prophecy has taken on a new significance among the nation’s End Times industry—writers and pastors who believe the world is hurtling toward the return of Christ as forecasted in the Book of Revelation—and its adherents in the pews and in public life. On Saturday, Rosenberg will travel to Topeka, Kansas, at the invitation of Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, to discuss the situation in the Middle East.

The idea behind the prophecy is a fairly straightforward one. In Isaiah 17, the prophet explains that, in the run-up to Armageddon, “Damascus is about to be removed from being a city, and will become a fallen ruin.” The implication is that it will be leveled by God on behalf of Israel as part of the last great struggle for mankind…

Rosenberg may seem like a fringe figure, but he has a large base of support and friends in high places.

Confirming again the importance of flat-earth wankers among America’s Rumplestiltskin Republicans.



  1. noname says:

    Let me know when it’s over!

    • Dallas says:

      Don’t worry about anything except when you’re new iPhone ships.

      President Obama’s got this one covered.

  2. AdmFubar says:

    well i’ll tell ya what… all you end of timers if you want to unload your property for preparation for your next life.. i’ll gladly take it off your hands!

    • noname says:

      Ok, I have a bridge over the East River I will sell you! I won’t be needing it anymore.

      I have already had two big-money offers, so you better hurry!

      • Tim says:

        “” When it comes to the tale, cherished by London cab drivers, that the Americans thought they were buying Tower Bridge, locals are dismissive. At the Lake Havasu City Visitor Bureau, Jan Kassies insists the story hailed from McCulloch himself. “He made that up. He was a jokester. He did it just to get the media attention.”

        Sore loser schmuck ^^

        http://theguardian.com/travel/2013/feb/03/arizona-london-bridge

  3. Christopher says:

    There are two things every one seems to forget when they try to predict or prevent the end of the world.
    1. The bible says you can’t know when it will happen.
    2. It is inevitable.

    So all the fretting over the coming of the end has no real point unless you’re on the fence on faith in God. Either you believe, in which case you know it’ll happen and there’s nothing you can do to either predict or prepare, or you don’t in which case all the prophecy talk has no point at all and its all geopolitics as usual.

    Those in the middle should probably make up their mind sooner than later, but that’s true any day regardless of whether or not WW3 looms as anyone can drop dead on any given day. Much as you can’t know when the end of the world is, we can’t predict or control the time of our own death (in most cases )

    The end tines prophecy talk is good for ratings though

    • Tim says:

      That particular Work of God also advises not to rely on the IPCC when pricing fire insurance —

      “”He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.

      Matthew 16:2-3

  4. MikeN says:

    Why isn’t Organizing For America sending out mass e-mails and organizing lobbying of Congress with regards to Obama’s agenda in Syria?

  5. dcphill says:

    Put your head between your knees and kiss your ass goodby.

    • The Monster's Lawyer says:

      And i was doing it wrong all this time…
      Let me get this straight. “Put my head up my ass and kiss my niece goodbye?”
      I think i got it now. Thanks.

      • Tim says:

        Ohh myyy (ly) ; That only works for second generation conjoined twins — Much more common these days because of phalates and BPA in plastics.

  6. Guyver says:

    Confirming again the importance of flat-earth wankers among America’s Rumplestiltskin Republicans.

    Could be worse. Liberals may be hypocritical if the question was with respect to a non-religious mythological fable or simply some historical story with a moral.

    • Tim says:

      “”Liberals may be hypocritical if…

      Or if it had anything to do with ‘the fact of the matter’.

    • Dallas says:

      Don’t speak in code. Be specific.

      • Tim says:

        A first-order pass Turing test indicates you are a bot on a ti-99/4a and not a particularly good one.

  7. LibertyLover says:

    I just find it funny that the Obamessiah is wanting to be a warlord just like his daddy, Bush II.

    He must have been too stoned during the Bush years because he seems to have forgotten that Al-Quaida is the bad guy.

    I just saw a report that the calls coming into Congress’s switchboard are phenomenally high. 99.9% of them are NO BOMBING.

    I guess he was believing his own propaganda when he said he would bomb Syria. The people don’t really want this and they aren’t going to support him on blind faith anymore.

    The guy’s a douche. He should step down. Only Biden could make his presidency look good at this point.

    • Dallas says:

      Are you one of those pussies that want to do nothing about the use of chemical and biological weapons?

      What a pussy putz you are

      • Tim says:

        I want to see Obama’s 1/4 hatian daughters raped with vinegar-dipped hedgehogs over his false flag gassing of those people.

      • Tim says:

        “”biological weapons

        You are right. I’m out of the loop. Clue me in??

      • jpfitz says:

        Screw you Dallas, you get on a plane then a boat and storm your way to the Syrian beach in your camo thong. The Great idea of your boss is to kill more innocents to control the country? Righteous man he is as well you.

        What proof do you have of chemical weapons? Sarin kills in one minute, don’t tell me those vids on the msm and web have you convinced.

        • MikeN says:

          One of the good nutball Senators has spoken:

          The last thing America needs is to get in another ground war in the Middle East, requiring tens of thousands, if not well over 100,000 American forces. That — they are the facts. They are the facts.

          Now, every time the president is asked about this, he doesn’t say anything. He — he goes up with a whole lot of verbiage, but when he gets pressed he says, no, he would not do anything different than we are doing now.

          Are they proposing putting American troops on the ground? Putting American aircraft in the airspace? Is that what they’re proposing? If they do, they should speak up and say so, but that’s not what they’re saying.

          • jpfitz says:

            Are you referring to me? Or quoting some unnamed senator?

          • MikeN says:

            Quoting a Senator of course. Hence my use of the term Senator.

            Now, when I refer to bobbo as the honorable bobbo, I am in fact making a complicated joke that people might not get, based on some of bobbo’s recent posts. Some hints, I’m implying that he will eventually be homeless due to tenant issues, and I use the term because bobbo amuses me, named after like a clown.

          • bobbo, the pragmatic existential student of History who knows what rolls says:

            I don’t recall you ever using the word or concept of honorable in any post to date. Maybe I missed one?

            I thought it was THIS thread I posted one of my better ones regarding EMPIRES and BLOOD. Mere replication when the fire has cooled is not worthwhile….. I’ll just wait another few months when the response is worthy once again.

            I’d call that honorable.

            PS–your tangent on bobbo is actually fairly close to my own purpose. Imagine that?

          • MikeN says:

            Yes, you’ve mentioned that, but that’s not why I wrote it. It was a convenient hint to the joke, as to why I use the term honorable.

          • Tim says:

            A king displaced from his castle may become a Bonorable Hobbo.

          • jpfitz says:

            Yes aircraft would be used for either bombing and definitely reconnaissance, and bomber refueling. B52’s and B1 bombers were brought up as the attacking aircraft.

            http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/B-1B_over_the_pacific_ocean.jpg

  8. bobbo, the pragmatic existential evangelical anti-theist says:

    Every group including society has its outliers, its nut cases. But it is Troubling when there are enough of them to form a hair ball in the other major political party in the USA. They could be laughed at in a parlimentary system but in our two party winner take all system they constitute a clear and present danger to all our liberties, privileges, advantages, and joys.

    “….. and the priests in black gowns
    were making their rounds
    and binding with briars
    my joys and desires”

    NOT by Archibald Macliesh (sp) which my idiot brain has fixated on. It was by the guy on the other side of the page.

    The Religious. What are you gonna do with those goon faces?

  9. bobbo, the pragmatic existential evangelical anti-theist says:

    Confirming again the importance of flat-earth wankers among America’s Rumplestiltskin Republicans. /// Rumplestiltskin?? I don’t see the connection other than being an asshole.

    Well, that is close enough.

  10. SteveD13 says:

    “About the time of the end, a body of men will be raised up who will turn their attention to the prophecies, and insist upon their literal interpretation, in the midst of much clamor and opposition.” ~ Sir Isaac Newton
    Newton predicted that the end of the world will occur in 2060.

    “The prophecies are to be unintelligible to the ungodly but intelligible to those who are properly instructed.”
    ~ Blaise Pascal

    “The Earth is degenerating today. Bribery and corruption abound. Children no longer obey their parents, every man wants to write a book, and it is evident that the end of the world is fast approaching.”
    ~Allegedly, this came from an Assyrian tablet, c. 2800 BCE.

    “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.”
    ~ Mark 13:32, King James Version.

    Matthew 16:28: “…there shall be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

    Luke 9:26-27: “For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels. But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.”

    William Miller, founder of the Millerite movement, predicted that Jesus would come on MAR-21-1843.

    Ellen White, founder of the Seven Day Adventists movement, made many predictions of the timing of the end of the world in 1850.

    Mother Shipton, a 16th century mystic predicted the end of the world: “…The world to an end shall come in 1881.”

    On FEB-14-1835 Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon church, announced that Jesus would return within 56 years — i.e. before FEB-15-1891.

    Herbert W Armstrong, founder of the Worldwide Church of God, predicted that the Day of the Lord would happen sometime in 1936.

    The Watchtower magazine quoted a pastor from California, Mihran Ask, as saying that “Sometime between April 16 and 23, 1957, Armageddon will sweep the world! Millions of persons will perish in its flames and the land will be scorched.’

    In 1967, During the six day war, the Israeli army captured all of Jerusalem. Many conservative Christians believed that the rapture would occur quickly. However, the final Biblical prerequisite for the second coming is that the Jews resume ritual animal sacrifices in the temple at Jerusalem.

    Chuck Smith, Pastor of Calvary Chapel in Cost Mesa, CA, predicted that the rapture would occur in 1981.

    Leland Jensen a leader of a Baha’i Faith group, predicted that a nuclear disaster would happen in 1980. This would be followed by two decades of conflict, ending in the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth.

    Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church predicted that the Kingdom of Heaven would be established in 1981.

    Pat Robertson predicted that the world would end in the fall of 1982.

    In 1992, David Koresh led the Students of the Seven Seals (a.k.a. Branch Davidian) group in Waco Texas. He changed the name of their commune from Mt. Carmel to Ranch Apocalypse, because of his belief that the final all-encompassing battle of Armageddon mentioned in the Bible would start at the Branch Davidian compound. They had calculated that the end would occur in 1995.

    Elizabeth Clare Prophet, leader of the Church Universal and Triumphant made a series of statements that many members believed indicated the start of nuclear war on April 23rd, 1990.

    Harold Camping, president of Family Radio predicted on his radio programs that the end of the world would happen sometime between SEP-5 and SEP-27 1994.

    • LibertyLover says:

      I wonder which one was right 🙂

    • Tim says:

      You are forgetting The Voice of the Last Day Prophet of God {seriously} —

      http://overcomerministry.org/

      The Jews did horrible things to Lemmiwinks after they jerked it out of My Obama.

      “I am not a prophet” — former Cthulu mutual-funds investment manager

  11. bobbo, the pragmatic existential evangelical anti-theist says:

    There are a lot of loons around though. The Religious just being some of the easiest to spot…… but there are so many others ….. others closer to our own hearts.

    Politics, Economics, Personal Relationships, Male/Female, Hobbies…. make the list as long as you like.

    How easily we spin out of control.

  12. jpfitz says:

    I always thought the rebloodicans were into this holy war along with the zionists to bring about the end times. If so why is it that most of the democrips want this strike on Syria and the rebloodicans are wishy washy.

    • Tim says:

      Because it is madness and psycopaths on both ‘sides’. “It is not red state vs. blue state but The State against you,” as Clyde Lewis puts it.

      I must agree that it has often seemed that the neocons are pushing for global conflagration to bring Jesus on back. Indeed, some ‘devout’ fifteen years ago would tell me straight up that the ending is to be conflict between muslim and christian faiths. But, I suspect, the leaders are fooling us if not themselves.

      Whether we are believers, or not is not so relevant as that it is they who are fanatical in whatever they believe. Both sides seem to be calling for the ‘final conflict’ and both sides seem dead-set against the teachings of Jesus. Hmm. If they are not out-right aligned with a Satan they are at least pushing for a common global religion of State.

      And now we are being promised nuclear war. The sabre-rattling is getting atrocious — It is hard to top the iranian religious loon promising the raping of daughters and yet, we try. But I’m sure all these ‘players’ are drinking buddies behind the scene, anyways.

      The GroundZero broadcast tonight was disturbing showing how they seem to be ‘possessed’ rushing into wwIII — Pointing out the psychotic crassness of McCain and the seeming demonic ‘melting’ of John Kerry’s face…

      For the last several days, Alex Jones and friends have been on about ‘nukes’ dissapearing from a base in Tx which have no paper trail and heading east. Coincidentally, we get this from top asshat Graham —

      http://fitsnews.com/2013/09/06/lindsey-graham-attack-syria-or-iran-will-nuke-charleston/

      We are being promised to be getting nuked in short order and Mr. “you don’t get a lawyer” spokeshole for whatever it is he serves is just the one to deliver.

      We’ll sit in our holes and ask “who fired first?” and answer ourselves “who cares.”

      2 Suns in the Sunset
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpoj1__XDpA

  13. Mr. A says:

    It probable was a \Blackwater Inc\ that did the gas.

  14. orchidcup says:

    There are a number of religious sects that started up after a religious leader predicted the end of the world on a certain date and then nothing happened.

    The Jehovah’s Witness sect predicted the end of the world a number of times, starting with 1914, if I remember correctly.

    Seventh Day Adventists are another such group. They expected the world to end in the middle 1800’s.

    The world ends for every person on the day they die.

    Fortunately there is an end to all the nonsense.

  15. deowll says:

    Well, according to the good book it’s sposed to be a surprise. That means as long as they is ijuts running around screaming it’s about to blow! It aint.

    Sides the rapture is supposed to happen first and while I spect most of the local posters are bound for hell and going to get left I’d expect a few church goers I know to come up missing before the end times.

    Church busy body.


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