"He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered" (Proverbs 28:26). Clearly
then, to walk wisely is not to trust in our own hearts but to remember that "the way of a fool is right in his own eyes."
Related to this is your unrestrained self-righteousness. Federalist #10 states that
no man may judge rightly in his own cause.
...the Bible says, "The wicked man shows a bold face" (Proverbs 21:29). Instead of showing
any contrition whatever, and calling your people to humility, as Abraham Lincoln did in his second Inaugural Address, you
have hardened both your heart and theirs to assert your own righteousness and theirs. In all this, as you denounce the
wickedness of others and assert your own righteousness, you make God a liar and walk in darkness as John the apostle declares
in 1 John 1:8-10: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our
sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have
not sinned, we make Him a liar, and the truth is not in us."
Indeed, the religion of those who advise you is strikingly similar to that of the Pharisees
in the gospels - full of zeal for God and desire to do good, combined with utter blindness to doing justice, loving mercy,
and walking humbly with your God...
Indeed, any man or nation that appoints itself a savior of the world, as we see in your public
statements, is arrogating to himself a position that God has already given to His Anointed. Anyone who asserts such
a right is certainly exalting himself and insuring that God will abase him (Luke 14:7-11) - and no amount of terrifying military
or economic power will ultimately overturn God's decree. To exalt yourself in this way is simply to become an antichrist,
an enemy of God in the most fundamental way, and God promises that all who act like this will be abased.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it quite well in paragraphs 675-676: "The supreme
religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his
Messiah come in the flesh. The Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim
is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological
judgment.
The tree, as Jesus said, is known by its fruit. The fundamental wickedness of your intended
project in Iraq is evident in the villainy you have resorted to in the entire endeavor. Consider:
You have openly before the world relied on bullying, extortion, bribes and threats to induce
others to support or condone your plans. Truly, you and your servants do fulfill what is written, ". . . in whose hand
is a sinister scheme, and whose right hand is full of bribes" (Psalm 26:10).
You and your servants have put your trust in slander and deceit, falsely claiming that the Iraqi
regime has worked with al-Qa'eda even when your own intelligence agencies know better.
You have nurtured cowardice in men and relied upon it at every point to carry out your plans. You have bullied the United
Nations, threatening to render it irrelevant by ignoring it, although in fact it will be most irrelevant if it rubber stamps
your plans contrary to its charter. You have bullied small nations, especially the Eastern Europeans, threatening them
with economic retaliation if their governments do not support you against the will of their peoples. You have bullied
the Turks, insulting them beyond endurance, as you have seen. You have bullied our Congress, relying on the cowardice
of our representatives to keep them in line.
You have nurtured unjustified fears in the American people, deceiving them into thinking that
Iraq sponsors terrorism and presents a threat to the United States, when you know very well that it does not - indeed, if
Iraq really could hurt us, you would treat them more politely, as you do others who actually have nuclear bombs they can use.
Indeed, your project relies so far on cowardice that only cowardice all around will enable it
to go forward. If anyone plays the man, you will be stopped in your tracks. If the American people stop and think,
instead of yielding to the irrational fears you have cultivated in them to their shame, you will be stopped.
To use and rely on the cowardice of others is to build on sand, because cowardice is evil...and you have built this attribute
of cowardice into your National Security Strategy, wholly against the words of your "favorite philosopher" Jesus Christ in
Matthew 5 and elsewhere... you...if you persist in this course, must certainly be caught in your own craftiness, just as it
is written (Job 5:12-13, 1 Corinthians 3:19).
You are riding off to conquer on the support of the people who bear the name of Jesus - American
"Christians" who trust in the cruise missiles and depleted uranium of man...And your project of conquest will certainly arouse
terrorism, peace taken from the earth so that men kill one another...At the very least, such a resemblance warns you what
spirit you are of. As we know, not knowing what spirit we are of has happened to better men than either of us (Luke
9:54-56). And as in your case, those men thought they were serving God by wanting to kill people with fire from the sky.
From a letter by Peter Attwood e-mail:attwoods@earthlink.net
