Had God really "grown tired of us" as Osama binLaden had recently wailed? Could the United States of America, a country whose motto was "in God we trust", actually have been abandoned by the Supreme Being??
Miffed because they ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of eternal life, God forced Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden. Paradise quickly became a Hell on Earth as the "first couple" found themselves ashamed of their nakedness instead of rejoicing in the pristine innocence of au naturel. One of their many sons, a cumbersome man with a renegade temper that sometimes exploded into psychopathic jealous rage, became the world's first murderer. The lushness of the Garden was replaced by scorched earth, fierce overgrown weeds, annoying bugs, inclement weather conditions, and incalculable human frailities such as greed, sloth and lust.
When God handed Moses the Ten Commandments, He had come to the end of His Omniscient rope with the idolatry of the Israelites. Roaming a godforsaken desert for forty years, God's chosen people fell out of favor only to suffer persecution for all generations to come.
Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by God because He was angered by the people's wicked ways, corrupt lifestyles, immoral behavior and complete disregard for His law. Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt; Lot himself became drunkenly entangled with his own daughters as they ridiculed his aging sexuality and took pleasure in their own depravity.
Furious with all of Noah's contemporaries, God waited until Noah built an immense ark, then brought on the Great Flood to rid the world of its sinful ways. Once Noah released a dove with a sprig of greenery, God charged him with returning to dry land to rebuild and reform the world.
The great Roman and Greek empires fell into ruins once the populace chose debauchery over decency. Could it be that the good old U.S.A. had finally - royally - pissed God off?
God had promised Noah He would never, ever flood the globe again. But, He never said anything about bombs detonated by cell phones, unprecedented hurricanes and an epic earthquake.
According to the Bible, God had given Man "dominion" over all living things. Man could find beauty and health in plants, grow seeds and grain for nourishment, use animals for food, clothing and shelter. All because God had made Man in His own image. God charged us with being stewards of the Earth He had created, told us we were His caretakers on this infinitesimal "third rock from the sun". We made that pact with God: "Okay, God, you got it. We'll treat this good Earth like it was our own!"
And in just ten thousand years - a tiny speck in the eye of God's eternal time line - we managed to screw it all up.
Some Biblical scholars, who were also part of the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. army of volunteers, had - early on - questioned the moral consequences of the 'Rebellion of '08'. Would God see the assassination of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, and hundreds of thousands of others as justifiable? Would He concur that it was the only way to rebuild and reform the great U.S.A.? Or, might God take vengeance against all of those who joined the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. effort and condemn them all to eternal Hell? Members of the clergy, religious teachers, and a congregation of pious evangelicals had pondered these questions ever since last January. Now, just twenty-two days from the Christian celebration of Christ's birth, some were beginning to question the veracity of what they had done. To provoke God's wrath - again - couldn't be good.
Months ago, when search-and-rescue teams discovered George W. Bush's personal diary and other personal effects, they also came across Christmas cards that had been leftover from the dead President's mailing just a month before he was killed. The irony was unmistakeable: the cover of Bush's custom-designed and engraved black greeting card was a silver embossing of the three wise men following the Star of Bethlehem. On the inside, the ornateness of the silver-embossed text against a pure black background was starkly eloquent, reading "Peace on Earth" It was signed: George W. Bush, President of the United States of America.
One rescuer, upon seeing the cards, sarcastically observed, "Damn! I thought sure George's Christmas cards would've read, 'Merry Christmas. More War!'. That just would seem so much more appropriate for a 'war' President, don't you think?"
On Wednesday, December 3, 2008, leaders of the United Methodist Church, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and the
Church of the Latter Day Saints appeared on the O.U.T.R.A.G.E. television broadcasts expressing 'regrets' that they had urged their members to participate in the events of January 17, 2008. 'In principle," they read from a prepared text, "we recognized the need for reformation within our country. We convinced ourselves that this was God's will. Had that not been the case, could the Oppressed United Taxpayers Revolting Against Government Excess ever had become such a large and powerful revolutionary organization? Still, we wonder if - in the eyes of the Almighty - we did the right thing in recommending that our members get involved. We cannot undo whas has been done. We can only ask for God's guidance and forgiveness. If He in any way approves of what we did, we are confident He will direct our actions as we help to rebuild and reform our great country. We implore all Americans to follow God's lead. We pray that He will help us all to make appropriate decisions."
The United States of America was at a cultural, political, moral and spiritual turning point, and the church leaders who had survived the January 17th holocaust were now looking to cleanse themselves and their conscience.
Man had managed to destroy the environment; ignore the delicate balance between all human life, plants and animals on the planet; take away human dignity; hoard his wealth to keep it away from others of lesser means; mock God; besmirch the sanctity of motherhood and the female essence; promote and encourage more war; lust after money and material goods; covet things of the flesh; endanger many of God's creatures; demean the importance of fatherhood and the male presence; destroy the innocence of childhood; accept violence, rape, murder and torture as appropriate human conducts; and invalidate the holiness of humanity. Had we really - finally - pissed God off? All but the significantly unchurched were beginning to take note and ponder such a possibility.