Page 154 - Psychoceramics and the Test of Fire

Operation Belshazzar

“Ah, of course. Well, that should be no trouble at all, Mr. Jenn.
You see, mankind has a need to see patterns; unique occurrences are
subject to far greater latitudes of interpretation than a series of similar
instances. The simple-minded formulation of this is that those who
do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. The Bible, read
rightly, has it somewhat differently: those who do not learn from a
repetition of prophecy are just plain doomed. By prophecy I do not
mean the divination of self-proclaimed seers or the revelations
pronounced by oracles under the possession of nothing but drugs
and greed: no, this is applying God-given intellect to God-given text.
It is not my word against someone else’s; it is my understanding
versus the others’ lack of it.”
The beans, wings and other overcooked things heaped artlessly on
chipped plates arrived at that moment, as if to confirm his words: we
were indeed doomed. I should have known. Perhaps the cold
shoulder we turn to history is just the trailing edge of our hot pursuit
of unlikely outcomes; as the old joke goes, second marriage is the
triumph of hope over experience.
“God moves in mysterious ways,” he continued, speech slightly
impeded by concurrent shoveling and swallowing of greasy forkfuls,
“and often gives us a second chance. We didn’t pay proper attention
to the Old Testament, so we needed a new one—and the revised
covenants that are part of the package. If the circumstances of our
lives do not provide the impetus to reform, we can be reborn within
the church. As far as prophecy is concerned, sometimes we get a
warning, followed by great collective punishment: the Flood; other
times, a whole lot of rope to hang ourselves, and then—pow!—
spectacular destruction: Sodom and Gomorrah. In both cases, only
the virtuous survived, and it was made clear that the wicked would
perish. But we have seen cases where it takes two strikes of divine
lightning to finish off the sinners; and that is why prophecy is not
wrong when I say it applies to both the first and second such
downfall of the mighty. Those who do not get the message after the
initial destruction but survive—they are the ones who must reform,
must obey God’s will—or face the final and decisive blow. That is
the crux of my discovery, sir, and I am convinced that America,
having failed to learn its lesson in the 1860s, will be struck again:
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