All Day Sucker

Those my age, in a much saner and simpler world, will remember candy on a stick, popularly known as a sucker. The large ones were called an all day sucker, because a resourceful child could make the lollipop last all day long, by just taking a lick occasionally. No one knows exactly how the word sucker became attached to the person or personality not in control. The famed carnival entrepreneur, Phineas Taylor Barnum, who got the circus business going in this country, around 1872, billed his menagerie of freaks as “The Greatest Show on Earth.” He was the first millionaire show business personality. His circus is now called the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. He is widely but erroneously credited with coining the phrase, “There's a sucker born every minute” probably because the circus has proven, over the years, to be a place where people are very careless in the spending of their money.

Perhaps the greatest circus was Julius Caesar returning from an expedition to Africa with crudely built cages containing wild animals. When he crossed the Hellespont and proceeded up the Mediterranean coast to Rome, thousands lined the roadways to see animals completely unfamiliar to them. A great giraffe was walked all the way from Rome to Paris, with thousands lining the roadway to see this phenomena of God's creation.

Since I lost my eye sight so early in life, I never went to a circus in America; but in the USSR a lady asked me to accompany her to the famed Russian circus. Since she was afraid to travel on the subway alone, I went with her. I could not see what was going on at that great circus. But, it was the only time in any Communist country (China, Mongolia, etc.) that I heard the laughter of people. The iconic Colosseum in Rome, completed in 80 AD, built to be earthquake proof, had the largest seating capacity of any building in the Roman Empire, with up to 60,000, still stands today as an epilogue of the circus festivities of that ancient empire. It's blood-dripped history was associated with the early Christian church and the martyr of early believers who in a circus atmosphere, were torn apart by animals in it's elliptical structure.

Perhaps the Romans, who attended these events smacked on suckers; but the intent of the Roman rulers was, as in the case of Barnum, to rid the public of their concerns and put a happy face on the world.

As was the case with the Romans, before the fall of the empire, (Gibbons, Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire), the chief mission of a degraded government is to keep the enslaved just happy in paying their taxes and functioning under totalitarian control. Our all day sucker has become the television set, the internet, video games (Game Boy, Nintendo, PSP), Blackberry (a combination of cell phone, computer, etc. all hand sized so that you can carry them around with you constantly). The deception and lying of the government no longer bothers most people. They are so self-absorbed and self-adored completely captivated by their own individual activities.

Their schadenfreude activities (pleasure from the misfortune of others) is reflected in their inability to become concerned about the world around them, with their horizontal activities or their vertical activities, and lack of concern about God and His mission for their life. Eighty nine percent of the elderly in nursing homes never have a visitor. Christians elected the most pro-death culture administration in the history of the world.

The whole attitude of young people today is to be more sleek and chic than anyone else. Our young people spend hours in gyms to obtain sleek bodies. It is necessary to have the most sleek automobile. From grade school it is necessary to have the sleekest clothing. Labels are more important than language. Sleek, illegal drugs, sleek restaurants and night clubs are more important in their social climb than was the country club patronage of their parents. Just last night I heard a national talk show host say, “I want no part of religion. I do not believe in that boloney.”

From the earliest years in grade schools, youngsters are torn between the concept of right and wrong. Like Adam and Eve in the garden, our first ancestors, Satan has beguiled every human being in the entire history of man. It is no different now than it was in the very beginning. The fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, is so tasty and so beautiful. We cannot believe that we are forbidden to partake of it. And, we are so smart, we want to set the parameters of our lives, not God. There is always safety in being right. There is always an emotional conflict in choosing evil. Always, without exception, wrong choices will come back to haunt you.

We have an answer book. The answers there have never been wrong yet. Follow God's instructions, eat correctly, stay honest. Credit is your master not your friend. (Stay out of debt). The most valuable gift God gave you was the gift of free will. But, you should not abuse it by driving a vehicle in a crazy way, by indulging in the lust of illegal sexual activities. (Because of illegal sexual activities 50% of American girls have STD's and 47% of babies are born out of wedlock). The greatest gift to the human animal is a superior nervous system, a brain. Why abuse it with a day-long sucker of addiction (illegal drugs, pornography, etc.). Your senses, sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste are the rarest gifts from God, superlative in every way to the senses of most animal life. Of course, the bird has far superior eyes, the dog, a far superior smell; but man has the ability to think, to reason, to store knowledge. Man knows he is going to die. Enjoy good books, good food, good entertainment, family and friends. You cannot hide anything from God. Trust Him. He is Boss. Enjoy a disciplined life of structure and routine. Learn early that you cannot change people. Once a child is trained by loving parents, only God can do the rest. Do not sink into the oblivion of the sucker, unconcerned about your eternal life.

Only a fool says there is no God. Only a fool believes he can drink and eat anything and get by with it without paying consequences now and forever. (1 Corinthians 10:31) It is only a fool who is not conservative, not just in his political belief, but in every walk of life. You save your body which is the temple of God. You save your earth and the environment around you. You save your God-given talents, time, treasury. Today is tomorrow that never came. You cannot recall one minute. To every young person and to every young group, to which I speak, I always make this one statement, “Enjoy every minute of your life; because in just a short time you will be my age. Satan will try to give you a sucker of unconcern, addiction, lawlessness, pride, and all the other sins that will corrupt your life. You only go around one time. The train is on the track. You will not get a chance to travel this track again. Get aboard, enjoy the trip.”