Not sure if this is repeatable, but I’m a look right now… (I was going to put this on an AI board, but I think regular intelligence would probably be enough to make the trade. Dunno.)
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That’s better than a CD. I may just have to look at this. I’m quite certain he won’t make an appearance in 2026, either.
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…and of course many Christians (me!) lean far more heavily on the words of Matthew 18 (I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them) and in Matthew 28, (I am with you Always), and see even the “last days” stories and predictions (ah, dear dear Revelations written much much later and with different goals) that are actually in the Bible as valubly insightful and inspirational but NOT ahem, Gospel truth. As to the soap operas spun by the far right religiosi to pack the suckers in…. most Sci Fi has more credibility.
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You know I mean no offense to you. We’ve been posting at each other for -literally- decades. But I find that cherry-picking can go both ways. You can pick a passage, and then I can do the same that will convey something very negative. That’s why xians can be such horrible people, and still justify it by some missive in their “holy” tome. Examples would include slavery and homosexuality, just off the top of my head. And there is zero proof of any of it.
Though I am less concerned about you doing it because, firstly, you pick benign passages, and secondly, you don’t make make crucial decisions (like voting) on bad information. Compare and contrast to the Westboro Baptists.
I do stand by my previous statement: Jesus/Yeshu will not make a bodily appearance in 2026, there will be no “rapture”, though I can’t guarantee there won’t be a (man-made) armageddon. We do seem to be spiraling towards the latter.
So a 5.5% return on this bet is about as safe as any CD.
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Of course not. And I remember and enjoy the memory of many of your posts over the more than two decades.
I cite Matthew primarily because actual studious prayerful theologians have considered the Matthew text as crux for centuries; the “Rapture next week get ready” message has been crucial to televangelists and their antecedent kin (the community of the aether!) mostly for recent disturbed decades; and I fear most people now only have heard the more cinema ready message.
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But are they not still “cafeteria xians”? I know you have your own flavor of xianity that probably doesn’t fit neatly into a box. As I recall, you were berated on “Christian Fools”, and ended up with us “Atheist Fools” because we didn’t judge you because of who you are. Like the xians weren’t supposed to (but did).
Even if I ignore the scientific errors, I have serious issues with the “morality”. Especially the OT, but even the NT has problems. Probably everyone reading this right now is more “moral” than the “teachings” of the bible. I knew an engineer who, during the course of discussion about this, said that if he ever encountered an Amalekite, he would be obligated to kill that person because Yahweh never rescinded that order (i.e. to wipe them out to every man, woman, and child). Because Yahweh orders it, it’s moral? I don’t think so!
So, cherry-picking seems to me to be confirmation bias. You pick the stuff you already agree with. So you really don’t need the book of Matthew. You’re already a good person who rejects the hate and bile of that ancient book, and emphasizes the compassionate stuff (like blessed are the cheesemakers…errr…peacemakers).
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Steven Spielberg has a movie coming out in June, “Disclosure Day” with a plot rumored to be about aliens among us with strong religious undertones. Historically, the Military/industrial Complex has used Hollywood for “soft disclosure” of controversial truths.
I wouldn’t bet against Spielberg.
Steven Spielberg New UFO Movie: Disclosure Day Trailer)%20co%2Dstar.
intercst
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That might explain a lot.
I’ll keep an open mind.
While I enjoy a good sci fi book or flick, I’ve never been down with this particular trope.
The odds that aliens from another world, who presumably evolved from some primordial slime over millions of years would end up looking so much like us that they could pass in our population is just not believable. (I know, I know, a lot of sci fi is not believable. For some reason this one is over the line, at least for me.)
You need only look at Denisovians, Neatherthals, even the aborigines of Australia or elsewhere to see the variations that occur in just a few thousand generations of our basic form. Or, watch Planet of the Apes. Now that’s believable. 
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While I’m secretly hoping for some type of supernatural saving grace, I wouldn’t bet on it. On the other hand, given that we’re just under a year into the reign of the Anti-Christ, if my calculations are correct, we could expect the second coming in 2032.
God willing, the aliens will save us from ourselves.
Agreed! Word on the street is that the plot may be about how we are all living in a simulation controlled by aliens.
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Actually, the mice control us: Slartibartfast was right!
When Arthur encounters Slartibartfast on the planet Magrathea it is explained that mice have spent a lot of their time in laboratories running complex experiments on humans, contrary to the humans thinking that it was them running experiments using mice. Slartibartfast explains to Arthur that “the business with the cheese and squeaking” was just a front for their true intelligence, and that they allowed humans to perform some “primitively staged” experiments on them in order to check how much humans had learned, and to give them “the odd prod in the right direction”.
Pete
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Great opportunity for me to plug my best (and most surprising) read from last year:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/books/review/dungeon-crawler-carl-matt-dinniman.html
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Your maths are off. Said A-C figure began his reign back in 2016…
DB2
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Maybe not if the actual tribulation didn’t start until January 2025…
Pete
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Thanks for sharing! Looks like an interesting read, I’m gonna pick up a copy.
Most would argue his unfettered rule didn’t begin until 2025. That is, if we’re even talking about him. Maybe I was referring to someone else. Susie Wiles? RFK Jr.?
Presumably you mean 2017? And I think the 2nd coming of the Anti-Christ was 2025.
JimA
I have heard of djt syndrome, but not jfc syndrome.
Ah, yes – 2017.
DB2