I know Harper's is on a mission to destroy Christianity or something, but remember what a great and interesting magazine it used to be, before it began its bizarre jihad?
Anyway, some of the articles Harper's has published during its campaign have been insightful and involved real reporting. And I rather enjoyed a simple bit of blog reporting that Ken Silverstein did for the magazine's Washington Babylon blog:
It turns out there's an upside to the current conflict between Israel and Hezbollah -- if you're waiting for the second coming of Christ. Here's a selection of excited messages spotted over the last few days on the Rapture Ready/End Times Chat online bulletin board.
Praise God! We are chosen to be in these times and also watch and spread the word. Something inside me is exploding to get out, and I don't know what it is. Its kind of like I want to do cartwheels around the neighborhood.
* * *
In another thread, someone brought up the fact that the kidnapping of the first Israeli soldier that started this whole thing was on June 25th and if you count from that day to August 3rd ... it is *EXACTLY 40 days!!!!!*
I find that to be a HUGE coincidence.
* * *
Whoa! I can sure feel the glory bumps after reading this thread!
My favorite comment is the second one. Anyway, I know that Harper's is covering this so as to mock these rapture-ready, rapture-excited Christians but I think it would be great for mainstream reporters to talk to these folks. You can find stuff here and there. But most of it is laughably bad coverage.
I'd like to see more, particularly of those Christians who may not be getting ready for August 3 but are having their views of foreign policy shaped by their doctrinal views.
Photo via Marcn on Flickr.