First story

Many of you remember it. Years ago, we brought you the so-called "1990 prophecy," a prognostication which seemed to claim that the onset of an evil comparable to abortion would cause major chastisements.

"In four years there will arise a new evil the likes of which mankind has never before encountered," asserted this locution, given on December 9, 1990, in a dream to a recipient who requested anonymity.

Following the Bible's admonishment not to despise prophecy, and impressed by its measured and yet potent language, we have studied the alleged missive, presumably quoting the Lord, especially the notion of a new evil, for other aspects of the prophecy have panned out.

"It will arrive almost imperceptibly, with few people noticing the depth of its evil, for it will appear to have beneficial and convenient aspects," said the locution. "It is an evil comparable to abortion -- that is to say, that even if evils as great and widespread as abortion were to be eliminated, this is enough of an evil that it would present mankind with an enormous challenge. This evil is being allowed as a test because of the prayers inspired by Mary to put off chastisements. How mankind responds to this new evil will determine the extent, length, and severity of the first chastisements."

It has been 16 years now since we were made aware of the "word," and as we have noted, 1994, which was four years after the prophecy, was a watershed year -- in many ways, the watershed year -- for research and funding that led to cloning.

Let us also note that although few recall it, the main headline in The New York Times on the morning of September 11, 2001, was: "Scientists Urge Bigger Supply Of Stem Cells, Report backs Cloning to Create New Lines."

In other words, for the purpose of using their cells, scientists were demanding the creation of human embryos, which would be destroyed in the process. Embryos are the earliest forms of life.

This was right after President George W. Bush had signed a new law during the summer of 2001 limiting federal funding but leaving a few loopholes.

Now, fast-forwarding to this summer, some have wondered if the president's recent veto of another bill to allow federal funding for the use of human embryonic stem-cell research may have prevented a similar catastrophe. Within weeks of his veto, which came across as a stronger measure than his action in 2001, it was revealed that this time a huge terrorist attack was thwarted.

You make the call. Are there really connections? And does the veto matter in the long run?

What is known for certain is that the meddling with genes has reached greatly worrisome proportions. While for the moment federal funding will be disallowed in the U.S., privately-financed groups on both coasts are still hotly pursuing human embryonic stem cells, with unknown consequences.

There are hundreds of labs doing such work. In fact, America is the leader. Despite President Bush's actions, all of the top eight stem-cell research labs in the world currently hail from the U.S., including the number one center, a lab at Stanford. The University of Minnesota earned the number two spot based upon work with adult stem cells derived from bone marrow in one of its laboratories.

The Whitehead Institute in Massachusetts came third, the Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center was fourth, and the Walther Oncology Center at the Indiana University School of Medicine was fifth, according to Lifenews.

Other forms of genetic manipulation are equally appalling. Most nefarious: the combining of human and animal genes to create new forms of life.

At Stanford researchers are injecting human neural stem cells into mouse fetuses to study disease. Initial results show mice with brains that are one percent human, but researchers could increase that to close to a hundred percent. Responding to such worries -- that a mouse's brain might be more human than rodent -- the university's ethics committee has assured everyone that if the mice develop indicators of human intelligence, the project will be stopped!

We take little comfort in that.

Nor are we comfortable that in the Caribbean, scientists at St. Kitts Biomedical Foundation are reportedly transplanting human cells into the brains of vervet monkey -- generating a human-monkey "chimera" (part man, part beast).

It's hard to think of a worse transgression.

As the public dozes, there is the similar prospect that current experimentation will leads to injection of human cells into an animal embryo very early in its development, resulting in a humanized animal.

Strange as it may sound, there are those who wonder what would happen if a female chimera with human egg cells mated with a male chimera with human sperm cells. Theoretically, an animal could give birth to a human.

"No animal into which human embryonic stem cells have been introduced at any stage of development should be allowed to breed," stated a set of academic guidelines -- as if that would console anyone.

Listen to what some in the field, such as A. M. Chakrabarty of the University of Illinois' School of Medicine, are saying:

"What is human?" he asked recently. "This is not a question of the moral dilemma to define a human but is a legal requirement as to how much human material a chimpanzee must have before it is declared a part human and therefore falls under the protection of the Thirteenth Amendment.

"We must move beyond moral and philosophical discussions of hybrid human-nonhuman animals and be prepared to tackle the difficult legal questions that will attend not-so-distant attempts at creating such hybrids say for organ harvesting, for use as a subhuman species to perform hard manual labors, or simply for curiosity's sake."

Oh really. Oh goodness.

If that is to be so, let the fire fall.

8/21/06

Second story

Although it is overshadowed by the crisis in the Middle East, President George Bush's veto of the embryonic stem-cell bill is a more significant event, in the short term, and at least is buying some time in a world headed for purification.

Human embryonic stem cells -- which can be used to grow parts of the body that can then lead to cures -- are exquisitely enticing on the surface but would come precisely from human embryos: the earliest stage in formation of a baby, and thus an action that in a less visible way is nonetheless comparable to abortion.

The bill, which the Senate passed Tuesday, 63-37, would have loosened the restrictions on federal funding for stem-cell research, allowing use of discarded embryos. House Republican leaders tried to override the veto, but that vote was 235 to 193, short of the necessary two-thirds majority.

Still, it is chilling to note that a majority in Congress voted for human stem-cell research -- including a number who call themselves pro-life and conservative. It all gets back to a prophecy I have often quoted which seemed to foresee precisely this new evil.

Stated in 1990, the anonymous "word of knowledge" had predicted that in four years a new evil would arrive -- as a test. It is something to consider. To quote it exactly:

"In four years there will arise a new evil the likes of which mankind has never before encountered. It will arrive almost imperceptibly, with few people noticing the depth of its evil, for it will appear to have beneficial and convenient aspects. It is an evil comparable to abortion -- that is to say, that even if evils as great and widespread as abortion were to be eliminated, this is enough of an evil that it would present mankind with an enormous challenge. This evil is being allowed as a test because of the prayers inspired by Mary to put off chastisements. How mankind responds to this new evil will determine the extent, length, and severity of the first chastisements."

Incredibly, it turned out that 1994 -- four years after the prediction -- was the pivotal one in cloning research.

It was during 1994 that federal funding was allowed for such research and technology developed specifically during that year which led to "Dolly," the first cloned sheep.

In stem-cell research, scientists proposed not only using discarded embryos from fertility clinics, but also for creating them through cloning.

This fits the bill, for sure, of a "new evil" and one that on the surface has "beneficial and convenient aspects" -- but would lead to a new depth of evil that if we believe the prophecy would intensify chastisements.

Few have noted that the main headline in The New York Times and USA Today -- on the morning of September 11, 2001 -- was about scientists clamoring precisely for this loosening of restrictions.

If totally unfettered, use of such embryos could eventually destroy as many lives as  abortions -- although that would take a while considering that thus far humankind has aborted about a billion babies, including forty million in the U.S. -- where the annual number peaked at 1.6 million in 1990.

For now, that has been put off. But the fact remains that institutions like Harvard are pressing ahead, as are foreign countries. And the fact remains that pro-life issues must be seen as more extensive than they currently are, encompassing not only abortion and human stem cells but also war, environmental degradation, and the death penalty, as the Vatican has long urged.

7/20/06

originally published as prophecybushveto