Wars and Rumors of Wars

I'm not up to date on the latest developments in Syria, but I know that there are several factions fighting against the Syrian government as well as against each other. One of those factions is ISIS, the guys we are fighting against in Iraq, so it would make sense to lob some missiles into Syria if  ISIS installations are being targeted, although I do not know for a fact that's what's going on. I'll try to catch up over the weekend so that I can discuss the current events intelligently.

I think there was a similar situation in Russia for awhile after the Czar was overthrown. One of those factions was called "The Whites", and another one was called "The Reds", probably because of the color of their flags. The Communists were the Red faction, they ultimately won out, and Communists have been called Reds ever since.

Something similar happened in China during and after World War II. Both the Nationalists and the Communists fought against the Japanese and also against each other. After the Japanese were defeated, the Communists drove the Nationalists into exile on the island of Taiwan, which had been called "Formosa" by the Japanese. For a long time, the Nationalists kept insisting that they were the legitimate government of all China, and the U.S. government backed them up until President Nixon reversed course, recognized the Communist Chinese government and sold Taiwan down the river for two teddy bears. Actually, it was two pandas which technically aren't bears, but U.S. labor leader George Meany mistakenly called them "teddy bears", and also mistakenly called Taiwan "Formosa" when he introduced Nixon thusly: "President Nixon just got back from a diplomatic mission to China. It went well. They got Formosa and we got two teddy bears." Anyway, before that happened, there was the Republic of China on Taiwan and the People's Republic of China on the mainland. Because the names were so similar, people started calling The People's Republic of China "Red China" to distinguish it from the Republic of China on Taiwan, which came to be known as just plain "Taiwan".

What, you may ask, does the title of this post have to do with any of this? The Bible quotes Jesus as saying that, in the days leading up to the Apocalypse, "There will be wars and rumors of wars, and earthquakes in various places." So hang on to your asses boys, the end is near.