Once in a while, I tune into KJSL, a St. Louis Christian talk radio station. I do this as part of a conscious effort to make myself listen to people with views that are dramatically different from my own. Perhaps I will understand those views better if I take the time to listen more.
While I was driving last week, the station featured a show called “News and Views,” hosted by a man named “Dr. Larry Bates.” The host repeatedly painted the future of the US as bleak, thanks to irresponsible financial policies by the federal government. Because I have some sympathy with that general conclusion, I continued to listen. It turned out that Bates was predicting the imminent financial collapse of the United States. Although I doubted that conclusion, I continued to listen.
Bates then indicated that he is also a big proponent of religious “End Times.” In short, he believes that Jesus will soon be returning to Earth in order to sort things out. I have no sympathy for this religious view. In fact, I find End Times beliefs to be irresponsible and destructive for the numerous reasons. For example, I do not hold the Bible to be inerrant. Based on my study of the Bible, although it offers some good stories and some reasonable moral instruction, it is also rife with bad advice, contradictions and senseless violence.
“Dr. Larry Bates” wears many hats. He claims to be an economist, publisher, editor, former member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, former bank CEO and a “nationally recognized expert on political systems and the Federal Reserve.” Bates is also the President of First American Monetary Consultants, Inc. (FAMC), an organization that allegedly does “economic and market forecasting, in addition to offering a wide variety of other End Times services. “News and Views” is a syndicated radio show, available dozens of radio stations across the U.S. Larry Bates is thus well known in some circles.
After listening to Bates for only a few minutes, I learned that the United States needs to immediately and mercilessly bomb Iran because of what “those people” have done to “support terrorism.” I also learned that we need to support Israel without question, based upon what the Bible says. I persevered to the end of the show, saddened by and frustrated with the flimsy manner in which Bates attempted to support his conclusions.
At the end of the show, it was announced that Bates was going to be featured at a half-day conference in St. Louis, I took the bait. I thought it would be interesting to better understand the basis for the views of End Times (both economic End Times and religious End Times) proponents. The conference was called “Perilous Times: Significant End Time Events.” I paid $20 and showed up at the Crystal Ballroom of the Renaissance St. Louis Grand and Suites Hotel in downtown St. Louis. Here’s my ticket:
At the registration desk, I received a folder full of information. One of the pamphlets advised me that legalized gay marriage is a major obstacle to democracy:
When the US Supreme Court ruled in Lawrence v. Texas last year that sodomy is a constitutional ‘right,’ the director of the lambda legal fund-a radical homosexual-agenda of pressure group-gleefully explained that this marks the beginning of the end to traditional marriage.
Another pamphlet advised that the United States is officially a Judeo-Christian nation. It quoted William Penn: “Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants.” This pamphlet, printed by FAMC, “proves” that the United States is a Christian nation based upon the fact that the Constitutions of many of the states mention “God,” or “the Creator.” As though non-Christian religions don’t believe in a “God” or a “Creator.”
There were numerous products displayed and advertised at the conference. These products are the sorts of things you’ll need to have if you are going to be prepared for the economic and religious End Times. If you want to prevent cancer, you need to load up on Glutathione. The pamphlet says “your life depends on Glutathione.” To buy it, contact FAMC, according to the pamphlet.
What if you just want to make sure that you have access to “the most universal antibiotic” known to man, colloidal silver? It’s a “tasteless, odorless, non-toxic, purer, natural substance consisting of submicroscopic clusters of silver particles suspended by a tiny electric charge placed on each particle.” According to the pamphlet, you drink it. It kills all those pesky pathogens and protects all your good cells. According to the pamphlet, it is useful for treating allergies, boils, herpes, stomach flu, lime disease, gonorrhea, bladder irritations and chickenpox. The list goes on and on. Colloidal silver can be used vaginally, anally or dropped into the eyes.” You can even make your own colloidal silver out of silver wire, using the $189 generator you can buy from FAMC.
Another pamphlet advised me of my right to participate in jury nullification whenever anyone is being prosecuted for a gun crime. That is because “corrupted, anti-gun prosecutors and judges are common.” This information is distributed by the Fully Informed Jury Association.
After the economic collapse, you’ll need to make better use of all that expensive gasoline that all of us are going to need. Therefore, make sure you buy the “Power Plus Mpg” additive. Using this Power Plus, you can save 25 to $.50 per gallon. During his talk (which I’ll discuss in detail further down), Larry Bates bragged that his 5 mpg SUV improved its mileage 50% (to 7.5 mpg) after he started using this Power Plus. Those attending the conference were even invited to sign up as Power Plus distributors.
Additional Pamphlets were available advising how to support efforts to find those “30,000 POWs [who] were known to be behind alive after WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Persian Gulf and War on Terror.” There was also a table full of conservative-message bumper stickers.
The nice old fellow minding that table offered me a chance to take any one of those bumper stickers for free. I really struggled to find anything that didn’t offend my politics (maybe I am a liberal). After searching for a full minute, I picked up Smoke – Choke – Stroke – Croak.
I wasn’t really at the conference to dwell on the End Times products, however. I was there to listen to “Dr. Larry Bates,” just like the 200 other people who attended. Although the crowd included a handful of young adults, most of those attending were in their 60s or 70s. As is often the case with groups of conservative Christians, this was an extremely polite and orderly group. People held doors for each other and took time to exchange pleasantries.
Dr. Larry Bates introduced himself and then introduced a local preacher who opened the meeting with a prayer. Almost everyone bowed their heads respectfully. Then it was time to offer a few door prizes. The winners had a choice of two books: The Coming Financial Wipeout or America’s Christian Heritage.
Then it was time for four-hours of lecture. Bates bemoaned the lack of pastors in the audience. He complained that too many church leaders were “eating the sheep rather than feeding the sheep.” He asked for a show of hands of those who believe that we were in the last days, and perhaps a third of the audience raised their hand. When he asked whether we were in the very last days, 15% raised their hands.
Bates informed the audience that their job was to “raise up wisdom.” This has to be done by taking back the media, he explained, although “Fox news is one of our best news channels.”
He explained that the next election is the most important one ever. It will be about “class warfare.” The election whether we’ll have less government and bigger government. It’s between monopolistic versus competitive capitalism. Although the Republicans are imperfect, according to a distressed Bates, the only real choice in this upcoming election is Republican. More on this further down.
The United States is under attack by economic and political elitists who want to keep the middle class trapped as pawns and serfs in this elitist version of a caste system. These are desperate times, because “There are only two countries in the entire world where the middle class runs the government or has the opportunity to run the government: the United States and Israel.”
The elitists are “One World Socialists” according to Bates. They want to level everyone out to make everyone equally poor, except for themselves. A repeated target of Bates was the Federal Reserve, which “only looks federal and has no reserves.” Bates could barely contain his scorn for the Federal Reserve, which, he repeatedly emphasized, was totally owned by private bankers.
Bates is highly suspicious of George W. Bush’s “New World order.” It is a conspiracy against the people of the United States, and it amounts to “one world socialism,” an attempt to make everyone poor except for an elite ruling class. He exhorted that the creation of the Federal Reserve was a conspiracy to rob the American middle class. The Federal Reserve is a “criminal syndicate.” According to Bates, the head of the Federal Reserve is more powerful than the president of the United States. In all earnestness, he told the crowd that the 1938 panic-provoking radio adaptation of “War of the Worlds” was not entertainment. It was a test by the government elite to see if the federal government could maintain control over the New World Order.
What are the elitists trying to do? They are trying to create a North American Union. They want to merge the United States, Mexico and Canada and to destroy the sovereignty of the United States. That’s why we have a lax immigration policy, he warned. What’s the solution? “Build a fence and keep them out.” If the rate of immigration exceeds your rate of assimilation, “you lose your country.” Throughout his talk, Bates insinuated that the impending economic collapse will coincide with the religious Second Coming.
The Democrats are the party of big government, militant homosexual “rights and domination.” The Democrats are Socialists, from the party of Karl Marx, where the government owns and controls everything, including all means of distribution and production. “Liberals hate property rights.” Bates drew numerous parallels to the Soviet Union, where people had to wait in long lines for everything. That’s what the Democrats would bring us, he urged.
He warned that you can’t overlook the Republicans just because are imperfect. He understands that “Jesus Christ is not on the ballot.” If you hurt the Republicans, “you hurt yourself.” “Dingy Harry Reid “is corrupt and Nancy Pelosi is “a disaster.” Whenever you have a strong economy, you’ve got limited government. “It’s that simple.” Are there any litmus test for politicians? Absolutely. Don’t vote for anybody who believes in any right to abortion. “Nothing tells you more about politicians that sanctity of life. If they don’t get this right, they get nothing right.”
What else did he think about some the candidates? There was no holding back. Hillary Clinton shouldn’t be president because God has a natural order for things. Bates paused to caution the audience, “I’m not a chauvinist.” Then he forged on: “God is the head of man and man is the head of women. A two-headed family is a freak.” He offered this evidence of his position: Indonesia is struggling because it is a matriarchy. To allow women to run the country is to violate God’s order. God says there should not be a woman president. It is as aberrant as “letting children run a household.”
According to Bates, “Barack Hussein Obama” (he repeated this full name several times) is a radical muslim who was educated in a radical muslim school. His Church is full of people who, according to Bates, hate white people. [For those who are concerned about Obama based on Bates’ outrageous claims, check out this and this].
Are there some good Republican candidates? You bet, according to Bates. For instance, Tom Tancredo got it right when he recently got tough with Muslims. Bates described it like this: “if you use a nuclear device in the United States, then we will use a nuke to take out Mecca and Medina . . . [applause] . . . Brutal force is the only thing these birds understand.” Upon hearing and seeing this, I was stunned. Though I tried, I couldn’t recall the particular verse of the Bible where Jesus said, “If someone shits on you, shit on them.”
But Bates wasn’t done with the Muslims. According to Bates, the goal of Islam is “world domination under sharia law.” There are three types of followers of Islam, according to Bates. Type 1 is a revolutionary who sets off bombs. These people are terrorists. The second type is an evolutionary follower, distributing propaganda and prolifically “breeding.” The third type is a westernized Muslim who probably hasn’t even read the Koran. Nonetheless, those westernized Muslims will fall right in line, especially when those other Muslims threaten to cut off their heads or attack members of their families. The Koran “tells you “to kill and who to kill,” according to Bates. It tells you to kill Christians and Jews.
According to Bates, Sam Brownback of Kansas is misguided (too liberal) on immigration, perhaps because of his Catholic conversion. He doesn’t understand that we’ve simply got to keep those immigrants out.
What are some of the big issues of the upcoming election? National health insurance is a big issue. If we have national health insurance, it will “ruin the country. The country ends when we enact national health insurance.” What’s the evidence for this dramatic prediction? Tennessee has free government medical care, yet (according to Bates) nobody signs up for it. Therefore, there’s no need for national health insurance. Under national health insurance, Bill Clinton would have had to wait six weeks to get an appointment and six months to get his necessary surgery. National health insurance involves the “efficiency of the post office and the compassion of the IRS.” Furthermore, it will “drive the cost of health care way up.” National healthcare will bankrupt the country: “The government that can give you everything you want must, by definition, take everything you’ve got.”
Bates warns that people need to quit concerning themselves with the healthcare establishment. In fact, he’s suspicious of the healthcare system. People need to focus on preventing disease rather than treating it. They need a laugh more. “Laughter is better medicine.” People would “rather be victims-our diseases are other people’s faults.” People need to take responsibility for their own good health, said Bates, who looks to be a few pounds overweight. It all starts “with what you put in your body.” Bates then spent a serious chunk of time touting the healthcare products displayed on the tables in the lobby.
Bates explained that churches will need to get more into the healthcare business, because they have more to offer than the healthcare establishment. Churches have the courage to “tell the bums that they are bums” (I wondered what the bum lobby would think of this statement.
We have too much Blue Cross and Blue Shield. We depend too much on man and not enough on God. We’ve replaced God on the throne with government on the throne. We look to Jehovah government instead of God.
Bates announced that if anyone gets sick, it’s that person’s own fault. There are plenty of things you can do so that you don’t get sick, according to Bates. You can take regular doses of that colloidal silver I first learned about from the handouts. He announced that colloidal silver kills all bacteria. Someone in the back of the room then announced “Amen!” Gee, Larry, I wondered. Are you sure you want to kill all the bacteria in your body, including the beneficial bacteria that reside in your gut? He marched on, undeterred. Bates claims that he puts silver in his milk to keep it from spoiling. It will never spoil as long as you put silver in your carton of milk. He urged the audience to buy the colloidal silver generating kit, so they can make their own colloidal silver. He warned the audience that the FDA does not want people to know about the amazing healing powers of silver. The FDA doesn’t want the competition—it would put some big pharmaceutical companies out of business. In fact, the FDA is about to try to outlaw the use of silver as a medicine. Modern pharmaceuticals are “witchcraft.”
What else can you do to stay healthy? If you’ve got cancer, make sure you consider getting vitamin C injections. These have been phenomenally successful, according to Bates. This new knowledge about the healing powers of vitamin C reminded him that the Bible predicted “God’s plan of healing.” This kind of “new important knowledge” is another sign of “the last days.” We need to be the “salt” (disinfectant of the evil people) and the “light” (spreading wisdom). Bates warned that many believers are going to have to do God’s work on their own because churches “have been corrupted by world government.”
What would you do if you’re laid-off in the impending economic collapse? You need to get a trade. You need to do something with your hands, such as plumbing or electrical work. “The time will come when you have to barter your skills for someone else’s skills.” The End Times are apparently not going to be pretty.
The last section of the presentation was an indictment of US monetary policy. Bates pointed out that the United States now has $25 trillion in domestic debt which must be serviced, whereas the M2 money supply is only $7 trillion. This sets the stage for the economic End Times. The government can either go into default work or print fake money to dilute real wealth. He warns that the U.S. is busy printing lots of fake money. That’s what the recent $300 billion injection of “new money” was. It was used to allegedly stabilize the stock market. He warns that it would take a 7.1% added payroll tax to service our current debt, an amount that would break the backs of most families. Bates sees a massive restructuring of the social security system forthcoming, including raised taxes and reduced benefits, as well as means tests.
What can we do about the impending economic collapse? One thing is that we can make sure that no one takes away our guns, said Bates.
There will be no total economic collapse until there is total gun control. The tyrants don’t want to deal with an armed populace. The enemies of liberty hate your guns. The Second Amendment protects the First Amendment.
Here’s what else you can do, according to Bates. Elect people who will build fences to keep out the immigrants. Hone your communications skills, because the upcoming wars will be wars of world views. According to the Bible, “when you see the enemy, you’ll need to warn the city.”
As far as protecting your assets, Bates gives this advice: Stay away from “Loanership” assets, such as Money Market funds, T-bills and CD’s. They are “pieces of paper: IOU’s. Beware of real estate, in this age when the government is taxing it heavily and abusing eminent domain. Instead, load up on precious metals, such as gold and silver coins. This is especially important, given that the U.S. has long been off the gold standard, which has invited the dollar’s slide versus most currencies. He claims that you should not get gold or silver bullion because federal law gives the government the right to confiscate these in times of economic emergency.
Who’s going to buy your precious metal coins in the time of economic collapse? Bates is convincing to me when he answers that question with another question: “Who is going to buy your paper dollars?” He characterizes gold and silver as “money.” Everything else is only “credit.”
So Bates’ program includes both saving and eating silver! Where are you going to get all of those precious metals? From a reputable company like FAMC, of course. Bates tells you to buy precious coins and his company is happy to sell them to you. He told the crowd that precious metal coins are “real money” and that they will be exchangeable until the absolute end of time. Didn’t the Bible say that people will throw their gold and silver into the street? Absolutely, says Bates. But that will be toward the end, when we’ll see a “large scale transfer of wealth from the wicked to the righteous.” It’s all in the Bible, according to Bates. Up until those End Times, then, rely on precious metals, says Bates, citing Ezekiel 7:19 (“Precious metals very valuable until the time that God’s wrath is poured out”) and Haggai 2:6-9 (End time transfer of wealth using precious metals”).
Bates is not embarrassed about having money. “God doesn’t mind if you have nice things.” You should use and enjoy your money, he stresses. Have as much of it as you need, even if you use it to buy expensive houses, cars and vacations. No problem. It’s only the “love of money” that is the root of all evil. His literature cites Proverbs 28:20 (“Eager to get rich; will not go unpunished”), Ecclesiastes 2:26 (“One who pleases Him receives wealth”) and Genesis 2:11-12 (“God put gold in the earth for a reason”).
—
It’s hard to know how to sum up this Perilous Times Conference. The lessons taught by Bates are laced with radical conservative values, that is true. His characterizations of both Republicans and Democrats are cartoonish. His xenophobia and racism (especially toward women and people from the Middle East) are intense. His plan to capitalize upon the fears he drums up, both economic and religious, is predictable and obvious.
Bates has a ready and willing audience, because his targets are big and fat. Anyone with energy and creativity can vigorously hack away at pharmaceutical companies, drug companies, bankers, politicians and bureaucrats. If you can convince your audience that it might lose much of what it has worked for, you could readily stir up their deep fears about out-groups such as gays, women, atheists and immigrants.
Bates is playing a game that is played by many people who have some legitimate credentials. During the final portion of this conference Bates sometimes sounded like someone who was giving some reasonable economic advice based on sophisticated training. He sometimes spoke as person who relied on his training and experience in economics and banking. I am not an economist or a banker, and I have not read nearly enough to know the extent to which Bates is giving decent economic advice, though what I have read about United States fiscal policy also concerns me greatly. I’ve seen similar admonitions regarding the United States fiscal policy on “liberal” shows such as Bill Moyers. I think it is this part of the show that gives Bates the foot in the door with his audience.
Nonetheless, it is a standard trick to parlay one’s legitimate credentials far beyond the realm of one’s expertise. When Bates talks with ultra-assurance of the alleged Second Coming of Christ or when he touts the medical quackery he is so happy to peddle, he looks both naïve and devious. Shame on his audience members, though, if they really step up to buy that little bottle of fuel additive that will allegedly make their humongous SUVs get 50% better gas mileage. Shame on the people who think that the FDA is trying to outlaw silver potions because drinkable silver is so incredibly good that it would put pharmaceutical companies out of business. Shame on people who trust people who sell snake oil.
I couldn’t help but conclude that there is much in common among the sorts of people that listen to Bates and the sorts of people with whom I more commonly associate. We are all worried about our corrupt government, our poisoned food and water, our shortsighted fiscal policies, our many failing schools, our own deaths, about numerous people illegally pouring over our borders, about the many people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol and about a media with an agenda secretly dictated by those who hold disproportionate power. Many Believers and non-Believers are downright suspicious of organized religions. We differ profoundly, however, in the ways in which we would address these threats. What Bates offers is a bomb-shelter mentality. He relentlessly warns his audience of the need to hunker down and protect one’s own and let everyone else be damned.
As I left Perilous Times Conference, I wondered whether it would be an impossible task to convince the people in that audience to put down their Bibles and roll up their sleeves when they discuss politics. I wondered whether these people would ever be willing to open their minds to diverse ideas from people who might look and act differently than they do. I wondered whether Bates’ fans would ever be willing to look at their own cherished ideas as skeptically as they look at the ideas of others. I wondered whether they would ever be capable of pretending, even for a moment, that they were not under attack by all of those people of the world who they don’t know well. I wondered whether they could ever be convinced to consider that strangers are, for the most part, people with hopes, dreams and fears much like their own.
After mega-doses of Larry Bates, is it even possible for people to consider that there is a vast commonality all people share and that this could really be a starting point for a functional world view, one that is not based on paranoia?
Luke: you seem to be railing against the etymological evolution of words. To me, that is a little like Cnut trying to command the tides.
You are authoritatively proclaiming what seems to be a "No True Scotsman" defense of your particular definition of 'conservative' and 'Christian'. 'nuff said.
You also rail against supposed 'deceit' by EbonMuse, and, by direct inference, every other poster at this site. Surely, such epic conflation can only be wrong in your eyes, since it goes so firmly against the strict semanticist's stance supporting your first point.
You may disagree with EbonMuse's interpretation and may indeed wish to indulge him in some scholarly debate to highlight his errors in so egregiously quote-mining passages in support of his theses. However, he merely indulges in the same scholarly tactics that are the foundation of all debate and argument: cherry-pick your precedents and build your case upon them.
The challenge for most Christian apologists is that the bible (and similar sources of dogma) is rife with inconsistency, and is therefore ripe for multiple, contradictory and opportunistic interpretation.
That you disagree with an interpretation not in keeping with your agenda is entirely unsurprising.
That you claim deceit in such interpretation is, unfortunately, all too common among those of your ilk.
Samantha,
Firstly, once in a while a technical glitch has occurred at this site and information is lost. This is not the first time, and I assure you it is not exclusively on this sort of subject. It happens. No conspiracy. Erich likes a lively discussion.
Secondly, you write:—"Where does truth come from. Can we even believe anymore what comes from this web site? I am sure of one truth, that I can walk away from this web site today is that we live in a fallen world and it is corrupt with half truths."
It seems to mean you are talking yourself out of skepticism and critical analysis. Youa re sure of one truth. There is no "one truth" which is the difficult thing about this whole discourse. You see truth as one and the same with Fact and when certain Facts seem to contradict Truth, they must evidently be wrong. Truth, however, is a process—a continual encounter with and experience of recognition. Facts bolster truth, but they are not the same thing. (Which actually makes Pilate's little exchange with Jesus philosophically fascinating, especially given the response, but anyway…)
To imagine that a manmade artifact—like the Bible— could possibly encompass the possibilities latent in a concept like "God" is absurd. And rather pointless. What you're reading there is a story—or, more precisely, a set of stories—the purpose of which is give examples of encounters with a phenomenon that is by definition indescribable and also to present the history of a specific culture and how it responded to those encounters. Some of the history is accurate, some of it is bent through a political lens, some of it (parables) is fiction. The theme overlying the whole thing is a conceptual construct offering a view of what might be at work.
It does not contain the thing it attempts to convey.
Any halfway serious study of the universe would lead one quite quickly to a view that the idea of a god which could be in any way involved with the petty problems, soap operas, and clannish disputes and wars described in the books of the Bible would be the equivalent of a couch potato addicted to bad television. A deity that could make all this, the way it is built, just couldn't care.
How do I know this? Because it bores me and by definition I would be so much less than a god.
What the Bible is used for mostly has less to do with any revelation of what god might be than it has to do with hammering people into approved behavior patterns. The Bible is used to condemn all the stuff people don't like about other people. It is a tool for control.
Control? Ask yourself why a god of quarks, muons, bosons, pulsars, and tachyons be in the least interested in how carbon-based organisms use their genitals. To me, this is ludicrous. All I hear when people start preaching the Bible at me is condemnation of behaviors that offend THEM. But they claim it offends god. Psych 101, this is projection. We can peruse Scripture and find whatever we want to condemn anything we care to.
Which is ironic. Since Jesus was supposedly all about tolerance, about not judging, about treating each other for how we are.
It is not good thinking to take the examples we offer and then say, "well, fine, there's that, but what else do you have?" when you yourself claim to rely entirely on one document and seem unwilling to look at it critically. Bart Ehrman is not the only one. There are many others—he has just managed to write for a general audience. Get a couple of his books and look at his references and you'll find the rest.
But I—and others—have already done this work on our own. We're willing to offer examples and point directions, but you need to go look for yourself and do so with an open mind.
But my reading of the passage I quoted above suggests that you aren't willing to do that and you're just looking for excuses to shoot it all down.
That's arguing in bad faith.
Mark:
I'm cross-posting this comment in the Bart Ehrman post, in that it is quite relevant there (I'm leaving it here too).
Erich, One more thing, who better to critique the critique than yourself, having read the books. You can state whether it is a reasonable critique or if he is misrepresenting or misquoting Bart Ehrman's books.
Who is creating all these economic problems? You say that these up and down business cycles are precisely planned to transfer wealth from us to them. Who are them? How are they connected to these processes?
Central bank is behind money matters. But it is a non profit organization. It returns most of its income back to treasury. Am I correct?
Then why would central bank create such problems as many people are suggesting? Did you answer such questions anywhere in your site? Please let me know if any one has any answers.
Subhendu
Great questions – but so far as most economists can tell, many (a majority?) of the cycles are largely the result of policies favoring the extremely wealthy versus the poor or middle class.
Read Paul Krugman (Nobel prize-winning economist, in the NYT) as a start. Read the Economist. Then, once those have provided a foundation, read more.
The Central Banks have very limited powers. The majority of power in the US lies with investment vehicles – and the deregulation of the past few decades, in conjunction with relaxation of the investment rules for banks, was behind a lot of the most recent problems.
Wall Street calls the shots – and they call those shots on behalf of their primary investors… the super wealthy (the top 1 or 2% of the country).
Hehe… Gold price was ~$665 when you original wrote this article in 2007. Today it is $1337. Yeah, Larry was just all washed up back in 2007. This 200% gain in three years is just an anomaly.
Funny how the "experts" are now predicting $1500 by the end of the year, $2500 by the end of next year, and $5000 within the next 5 years.
It amazes me how so many people who read this think that I'm opposed to everything Larry Bates says. They need to re-read. I admit that I'm terrified of what we've done to our economy. I had these concerns long before I heard Larry Bates. Yes, Jimmy, gold is up. I hope you have a lot of it. That doesn't make Larry Bates correct about everything else he says, and I disagree with much of it.
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
It amazes me how idiots like "Jimmy James" can even find the keyboard.
Effect does not correlate with the cause you think in this case.
Dumbass. (and that's not an ad hom. Merely my opinion based on your statement)
E.C. "That doesn’t make Larry Bates correct about everything else he says, and I disagree with much of it."
Yes, I know. You actually did a great job of documenting what you perceived without providing your own input until the end. Kudos to you for your great writing. I disagree with how much of it you disagree with, but you did a nice job regardless. I just read it and thought "I wonder how much Gold has gone up since he went to this seminar, because I PERSONALLY think it is going to get even worse?"
B.J. "Even a stopped clock is right twice a day."
Hehe, if you purchased gold twice a day then I'd guess that statement would be true. So, was your clock correct, because it looks like Larry's clock has been correct? He even said that once Gold hits $1400 and Silver is above $20 you should start taking physical possession of your metals, that's getting to be pretty soon! It's almost like he knew the bank in Canada had trillions in "Gold" that they didn't actually have physical possession of, and that at some point people would start rushing to take possession of it and find it is not actually there!?! Shoot, that would be as bad as finding out that Fort Knox may not actually have any gold in it.
T.C. "It amazes me how idiots like “Jimmy James” can even find the keyboard."
Yes, it's hard to find it under all my gold that I purchased when people like Larry warned me that the US was heading for a crash.
You seem mad? My guess is you did not listen to Larry and purchase precious metals when it was cheaper? Don't worry, the US Government will be there for you when things go bad (grin.)
read, psalm 14:1 then get on board
Charles Brown: Go find your friends Lucy and Linus, read some good books on science together, "then get on board."
Charles Brown,
I love it—when logic and reason prove too much resort to threats and scolding. (Yahweh wags finger) "You're gonna get in TROUBLE!!!"
Gimme a break.
The Founding Fathers, when they wrote the Constitution, asserted that we receive our rights from God.
Now, there are some in America that say "There is no God".
If that's true, then from whom do we receive our rights?
Beware what you purchase from Larry….
Customers Say Company Is "Preying On Faith"
http://www.wreg.com/news/wreg-famc-,0,469527.stor…
William Moseid,
Where do you think? The same place we always got them—from ourselves.
Ask yourself this: if in fact god gave rights to people, how could other people ever have been able to take them away? And then ask, if the rights elucidated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution did in fact come from god, then how come it took thousands of years before anyone remarked on them? You would think the Old Testament would be saturated with the Enlightenment ideals, but it's not.
People make laws. People decide what is a right, what is a privilege, what is neither. That's why it takes time and so often comes out wrong, because we have to learn.
Some people then say "Well, if that's true, why should I pay any attention to what other people say?"
You pay attention if it makes sense, if it works to the benefit of the larger community. You pay attention because you're not an idiot. You pay attention because otherwise there is chaos and pain.
The central tenets of the American Revolution were that people have the right to decide for themselves and that no one is innately superior to anyone else. I don't see either one of those sentiments expressed anywhere in the Ten Commandments. Nor anywhere else in the Old Testament, which is usually where people go for validation of their beliefs that we are somehow a Christian nation. I have certainly never seen those sentiments expressed in any dogma that has subsequently been based on religious texts.
Allegations of consumer fraud now abound regarding FAMC, the investment firm owned by Larry Bates. http://unreportedworldnews.com/?p=327 One credible source is a woman named Anne Trimble, who once worked at Bates' firm, but is not working hard to warn others of Bates' company:
Bates’ company, First American Monetary Consultants Inc. (FAMC), a Memphis-based, Christian business selling precious metals, is currently sitting on hundreds of thousands of dollars of paid-for quantities of gold and silver that have been purchased by clients but not shipped to them after extremely unreasonable periods of time have elapsed, in some cases many months.
Several clients have been attempting for weeks and months to get Bates to deliver the gold and silver that is due them. Making customers wait any more than a few weeks for precious-metals shipments is extremely unusual and is considered highly unprofessional, and worse, by other financial advisors who sell gold and silver.
For several months, ending last fall, I served as a contractor for FAMC and brought several clients to the company with precious-metals sales. Some of those clients are among those to whom Bates hasn’t delivered their purchases or those to whom he delivered purchases only after an extended time, or with changes he made unilaterally to the order; in some cases Bates made the shipments only after clients’ threats of legal action.
http://unreportedworldnews.com/?p=223
Good Job. We need more Larry Bates.
TruthTeller repeats what he said on August 11, 2010 at 9:44 pm
IRN/USA Radio news?
The mantra of the repro-Bates family, i.e. Dr. (Apparently honorary since it is nowhere to be found) Larry Bates and his son, Chuck Bates have quite the background in the field of broadcast news. (NOT)
Dr. Larry Bates is a veteran newsman, (sic) an economist [PhD in Agricultural Economics supposedly) and best-selling author. (Says who – Larry says!).
A former Legislator in the Blanton era in Tennessee back in the 1970′s and Bank CEO, Dr. Bates is a (nationally recognized) authority on geopolitical systems, the economy and their impact on people’s lives. (OK here we go)
Chuck Bates, also an economist,(not really – He just knows how to sell gold and silver)(No degree that is known of, except he IS a Bible school graduate). Chuck is Executive Vice President and News Director for IRN/USA Radio News. (And got his start in broadcasting working for dad, and has never done a news shift.) He previously served as an assistant in the office of Political Affairs in the White House. (Dad got him the job when he was in Tennessee politics.)
When did he become a Doctor/PhD?
Is it an honorary degree? Nothing shows up in any search, anywhere.
Larry Bates Bio
Bates, Larry (D)
(believed to be a old former address – Glenwood Drive, Martin, Tenn.)Representing House District 77. Born August 18, 1944. Married; Baptist; Pres., Bates Insurance Agency; Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer Reelfoot Bank; Union City; B.S. University of Tennessee at Martin; Pres. Student Body UTM, two yrs., Pres. UT General Alumni Assoc.; Masonic Lodge, Scottish Rite, Al Chymia Temple, Alpha Gama Rho Fraternity, Kiwanis, Tenn. Banker’s Assoc.. Tenn. Nat’l Assoc. of Life U-w, American Banker’s Assoc., Who’s Who in America; Who’s Who in the South; Outstanding Young Men of America; Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities; Who’s Who in Community Service. Member 87th, 88th and 89th General Assemblies
Source: Tennessee Blue Book
By Tennessee Dept. of State
Published by Secretary of State, 1890
Item notes: 1975-76
Original from the University of California
Digitized Apr 2, 2007
http://books.google.com/books?id=KI0uAAAAIAAJ&…
The ads are calls PI’s. (That’s a percentage for product sales) i.e., no pay IF no sale) and low rates for those commercials. And those MLM products are for the Bates coffers, from Colloidal Silver, Stem Cell pills, health and nutritional products etc., that give then quite a hefty cash flow.
Then there are the books and tapes that sell for a hefty fee, the Economic newsletter presenting convincing information that the call to action is to call the toll free number of FAMC, First American Monetary Consultants, Inc., (the primary arm of the economic and political consulting and newsletter, with editorial & corporate headquarters in Fort Collins, Colo., and additional offices in Columbia, Mo., and El Paso, Texas,
http://www.famcinc.com/pdf/decnfeb01.pdf
FAMC also has a publishing division, which distributes its Monetary & Economic Review and sells educational books, tapes, DVDs and CDs.
BUT the FAMC side of the organization, devoid of Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Communications Commission regulation because it is a satellite delivered service, advising those who want to protect themselves from “Economic Disorder and the massive transfer of wealth” to buy GOLD, Silver and coins that will “only go up in value’ as a hedge against the coming wipeout of the dollar.
Some hefty sums have come in as buyers are told of 30-45 day delivery dates that have been known to drag out.
The news is just a vehicle to sell the books, tapes and financial services and service the network for the lecture and seminars coming to a city near you. The $500,000 satellite GPS full blown IRN mobile newsroom is Larry Bates personal luxury hotel on wheel as he travels the south and western parts of the US on his lecture circuit.
The news is pre-recorded and played hourly from a computer and an alleged “un-spun” to the degree of the anchor on duty and also depends on the “non-rip and read” take on what is really happening and not what the liberal media is dishing out. At least that is the mission statement!
With limited news sources, bare bones staff and time restrictions, news research is non-existent; the wires are limited via Associated Press and Metro Networks. The job is a ‘get ‘er done’ on time thing!
When the family of the late founder of the USA Radio network was drowning in red ink they approached the Bates family and decided to merge. IRN absorbed the 2000+ stations who took the USA Radio newscasts and since yes some are religious, many more are not; the content is just mainstream simple basic news as seen through the eyes of the reporter on duty.
Just listening long enough with reveal how the content can change depending on who is on duty.
No on duty editor or news director or assistant news director is on duty at an assignment desk monitoring for consistency and continuity.
News & Views is a live two-hour, issues-oriented and caller-intensive daily radio news magazine delivered from an economist’s point of view. (That says it all – Delivered from an economist’s point of view.
Larry’s point of view!
Back when you wrote this article, I was leaning far left and was a big supporter of Obama and the Democratic party…. I was (still am socially) very liberal. It was my belief being in labor that the Democrats are who my "class" should support. Since then I have done a complete 180, and am now a supporter of Ron Paul and actually consider myself a "tea-bagger". To my regret, people like Sarah Palin and Glen Beck have latched onto Ron Pauls message and combined it with the neo-conservative warmonger agenda. Which is problematic on two fronts. 1. It misleads mass amounts of uneducated people to more broken promises and bad ideas, and 2. it creates yet another divide between parties by polarizing beliefs.
Ron Pauls libertarian views can be supported by both Democrats and Republicans. I hope everyone would take the time to open their mind to different ideas.
Erich, It's very clear that you are not opposed to everything Dr. Bates speaks about. You are just opposed to the fact that the God of the Bible is the TRUE living God. I don't fault you for this and one day like the rest of us, you will give an account for your life. This will also include why you rejected God's Son and His gift of forgiveness. I feel very sorry for your children because they are growing up without a relationship to Jesus. I just hope that they don't continue on Dad's path.
Respectfully
Kevin: Since you brought my children into this, and since you somehow think that you know how to raise my children better then I do, I have some advice for you. Please don't scare your children (or any children) with stories about an alleged God who "loves" them, who has created a place where he eternally tortures people. That is a sick, utterly sadistic, concept.
I hope you are teaching your children about ALL of the major religions of the world, because the odds are that your own version of religion is not perfectly accurate. There are many types of Christians. Whatever brand you follow, it is a minority version of Christianity. And please also tell your kids that most of the people on planet Earth are NOT Christians at all.
If, when I die, I find myself face-to-face with the God you describe, I have a few questions I would like answered. For instance, why did He put the eye nerves in front of the human retina? I'm just curious about whether omniscient beings make poor engineers or whether we were simply a old prototype He discarded.
Kevin,
You must be under the apprehension that ending such a bit of puerility with the word "respectfully" somehow inures you to umbrage. Someday your own children may point out to you what an ass you are to presume upon people with fairy tales and spook stories told as if they were anything but. Until that day, perhaps you would be better off trying to imagine that you may be wrong. Even if you don't succeed, the exercise will do you good.
Encouragingly yours,
Me
I have a few questions for the Abrahamic god as well, but as I don't expect there to be one, or that he/it will actually have any answers to the unanswerable questions I have, I don't dwell on them.
As religion is pretty much geographic, Kevin, have you ever thought how your religion might be different if you had been born somewhere else? Then you might have a different one, (or many!) true god(s!) Surely you've stretched yourself to imagine, as Mark suggests, that you might be wrong and, heavens forbid, they might be right? Because you can't all be right, and as Erich notes, Christians are in the minority of the total number of believers in the world. Heck (gentle substitute for that torture chamber created by the Paulians – and the Vatican and Dante – after Jesus, who was Jewish, and we all know there was no Hell in the Old Testament – thank King James' poor translators for that error, which has been corrected since) even Christians can't agree on the rules of their flavors of the religion.
Too many conveniently ignore the sadly few better parts of the Bible that invite followers to turn the other cheek, or be kind to one another. No. Christopher Hitchens, fighting cancer and not doing well, has received the most hateful "wishes" from Christians (to be fair, there have been some well wishers). A short step from the sorrow one might feel for Erich's children. Or mine. See, I've raised mine to think for themselves. If any religion can prove its validity to a rational person, then they (my children) will discern that for themselves as adults and make their own choices. I am not choosing their religion for them. That is presumptuous, the height of arrogance and authoritarianism and, well, wrong. But I am educating them on the principles of all the world's major religions, along with a sensitivity for others' beliefs, even if we don't hold the same. Are you choosing…dare we say…indoctrinating your children, if you have any, in a particular religion?
I will offer two quotes by Thomas Paine:
– Any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the mind of a child, cannot be true.
– Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man.
O.K. Dangerous,
I got as far as your opinion on the Federal Reserve and you really aren't educated are you. All you have to do is Google it and read the history of how it started and you will be eating your ignorant words. By the way, when the church is removed from this earth and I believe it will be very very soon, please find a John MacArthur Study Bible and read and re-read Revelation, Daniel 38 & 39, Zachariah, Matthew. Everything that has been prophesied has come to pass for thousands of years and we are now at the door of a rapture. May you realize how wrong you really are and cry out for Jesus to be your Savior. Call me crazy now but watch what's happening in Israel. Everything is now coming to pass and Israel will never be obliterated from the earth. It belongs to God and He has saved it throughout time. I can't tell you how exciting it is to watch all of this come in to fruition just as the bible said it would. I pray your heart will change soon. Don't moch others because of your own blindness. You will be accountable some day for your hatred of Christians. We belong to the God of the universe and the bible says, " If God is for us, who can be against us". Be careful what you say, it WILL come back to haunt you when you stand before the King of Kings. KUDOS TO KEVIN. See you in the sky brother! I look forward to it with much anticipation!
Amazing, Kathy. A perfect example of starting with an interesting challenge and then descending into the madness of utter nonsense. Obviously the Federal Reserve is part of the Great Plan and only charlatans can be trusted to tell the truth. Orwell would be astounded of your nearly perfect absurdism.
According to this website, Larry Bates has a lot to answer for. http://unreportedworldnews.com/?p=223
I for one will happily follow Kathy's suggestion to call her crazy. Anyone with a modicum of reading in Christian history knows that every few years "all the signs" point to the imminent return of Jesus. This has been well documented for about 1,700 years, and probably was a regular forecast for a couple of centuries before that.
After all, the New Testament clearly states that Jesus will return in the lifetime of his direct disciples. So one of those chaps must still be hanging around, presumably in seclusion.
As for prophesies in general coming true: They are always nebulous enough that one can find something to match pretty regularly. Given the thousands of years since they were made, every Biblical prophesy should statistically have come to pass several times already.
Maybe Jesus has come and gone, the battle done, and we are all living in the after-times. All these pious folks praying that this is not true, because they cannot stand the thought of being descendants of those who missed the deadline.