Secret_History

2 The Secret History of the World
broken down into deaths caused by Communism vs. Capitalism, they are almost
equal, with the figures slightly higher for Capitalism which may surprise some
people who believe that the Capitalistic system is the “right” one. “By their fruits
you shall know them.”
Turning to mortality statistics that are not related to war and famine, we find that
it is a bit difficult to get an actual number because the statistics are nearly always
expressed in terms of percentages rather than in hard population numbers. One
gets the feeling that the actual count is so frightening that this approach is used for
the express purpose of avoiding having to face the facts. One thing we do know is
that deaths from cardiovascular diseases and stroke are the leading cause of death
in 31 of the 35 Western Hemisphere countries that report disease related mortality
statistics. The highest of these mortality rates are found in the English-speaking
Caribbean, USA, Canada, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. Mortality rates from
these causes are increasing in the Central American and Latin Caribbean regions
as they come more and more under the sway of Western capitalism. Again, “By
their fruits you shall know them.”
What we are talking about above are the “quiet” statistics, from our present
reality. They are quiet because nobody ever makes a big deal about them. The
headlines of our newspapers do not trumpet them on the front page where they
rightly belong. Even now it is easy to forget that there were 65 million deaths from
WW II alone and that deaths from disease and starvation continue as a quiet,
steady, drumbeat of increasing mortality behind the blaring headlines of school
shootings, sensational murder trials, and little Cuban boys who become the center
of international custody disputes.
I don’t think that one single person on this planet will disagree that they want a
better life for themselves and their children; and most of them will add that they do
not presently have the capacity to make it a reality. Except for a very small
minority of very sick people, I don’t think anybody really likes to see misery and
suffering, disease and death and despair, in any context. And again we must ask: if
these things are so detestable to human beings at large, if so many people are
working and thinking and praying to improve the conditions of our world, why
isn’t it happening?
Seekers of Spiritual Verity - a large number of whom could be considered
“Intelligentsia” - are always aware of these things, and they are asking, “What is
the origin of all the misery and suffering? Does it just happen? Do people and only
people cause others to suffer? Is it that God is good, but allows bad things to
happen?”
“Don’t forget the power of prayer”, we are told by our religious leaders, or
“positive thinking”, as the New Age gurus tell us. The only problem is, prayers
and positive thinking do not seem to have improved the world very much on the
occasions when it is certain that nearly every human being was praying for a
certain outcome.
Jesus promised: “If any two of you shall agree and ask... it shall be done”. (Matt
18:19) That’s a promise. What do you want or need? Just ask!
But it doesn’t work and we see it!
Over sixty million people died because God didn’t do what everybody thought
he should do. C.S. Lewis struggled with this issue in the latter part of his life. He