The Happening

The Happening is a movie in which plants are able to communicate, and they decide to emit poisons which will eliminate 'pests', including insects and people. This may, in some way, account for the rapid decline in population of bees, which are absolutely necessary for the growth of plants for food. At the request of the Swiss government, an ethics panel has weighed in on the "dignity" of plants and opined that the arbitrary killing of flora is morally wrong. About 20 years ago, the Christians in America were astounded when Pagans decided that animals should have rights.

For a long time, many vegetarians had preached against the eating of animals, some even to the extent of not wearing leather shoes because they were made from the skins of animals. You will notice that, what at one time was the sign of success and a fashion statement, the wearing of furs, is seldom seen anymore because fanatical animal rights activists now do not mind insulting any woman wearing anything made of fur. A girlfriend of mine, Apple, who I met on an Arctic expedition, father was Manhattan's best known furrier said that his business had been demolished.

When the Pagan society of this country decides that it is politically incorrect to eat plants, just as so many now have already decided it is objectionable to eat animals, it will be interesting to see how rapidly starvation ensues as our once beautifully manicured landscapes become jungles and the entire country just becomes one big rain forest. Of course, I have known some Jews in my time that eat pork. I have known some Baptists who drink liquor, and some vegetarians can not resist a tasty hamburger! The cloud of ignorance, overshadowing the education pertaining to nutrition, has the suicidal aspects of much of human existence. For an educated populous, who are supposed to be able to read, who have such marvelous technology as computers, the necessity for having the vitamins found in meat and vegetables for health, can not be discredited for the love of a small calf or beauty of an elegant asparagus plant.

In my lifetime, I have seen the lower animals and even plants replace the concern for God's chief creation, the human being. Human life has become very unimportant to most politically correct academic and media devotees, particularly the human being called Christian. The world's fastest growing religion is that of Islam, and in this country, there are more converts to Islam from the college campus and prison system than any other place. We believe their interest is founded in the fact that they want doctrine, and the Judeo-Christian religions only present hypocrisy. Always, without exception, the most popular teacher in a school is the 'coach'. The coach has rules. The coach expects you to be dressed a certain way. From the very beginning, God laid down rules and our Bible is a law book. Modernistic, diabetic (too much sugar in the pulpit) preachers and religious teachers have presented Christian young people a haphazard spirituality, just 'anything goes'. One girl recently, left the baptismal pool of the local Baptist church and went uptown to a movie. She didn't even go down to the church service after she was baptized. Do you actually think she was a baptized believer, a new creation?

Forty years ago, I was selected as the NC State Jaycees Young Man of the Year (it may surprise some of you, but I was young one time). The news and pictures had been in the papers, but I was recognized one Sunday night at the church for the honor. The thing that surprised me the most, and to this day bothers me internally and externally, is that a group of people, (Baptists) in the church, insisted on celebrating my selection. I thought they would take me to their home, perhaps have some refreshments, a time of 'thanks giving' for God having given me the energy and education for the accomplishments, but like heathens, they took me to a local bar; where we had nice, cold, soft drinks. Is it not pitiful that Christians feel they must use the world's nomenclature as the measuring stick for Christian accomplishment?

We are a separated people, a royal priesthood, our citizenship is in heaven. We are supposed to be concerned about Christ activities in our short mission here. For instance, July 3, 2009, in Lahore, a city in which I have visited, on the border of Pakistan and India, approximately 25,000 Muslims went on a rampage and beheaded 8 Christians, burned 100 Christian homes and one Christian church. It was reported that 4 police officers stood by, very unconcerned. In this country, where a few drops of rain will keep most Christians from going to church on Sunday, there a Christian asked for the afternoon off, which precipitated the entire rampage and deaths. I heard a recording made by the BBC of the screams while the Christians were being beheaded. Like the many Christians housed in prison #15 in North Korea, known around the world as the most horrible prison situation in the entire world, simply because the prisoners are Christians. Or like the 15 Christian pastors imprisoned in a North Vietnam prison, completely isolated from family and friends. We rely on the famous words of the famous preacher, Jonathan Edwards, there should be one continuous love relationship with God. Prepare yourselves, the attitude towards Christians and the Christian church will not improve. Our only comforter, our only hope, is the fact that we have sovereignty of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit at our absolute disposal.

Every time I was in London, I always stayed at a hotel next to Victoria Station, convenient to the great, metropolitan church where Charles Hayden Spurgeon, prince of preachers, preached for so many years and which is still very active. I wanted to weep each time I entered that great sanctuary, which is still filled with dedicated believers. Spurgeon once said, “Anything that causes a man to get down on his knees to God is gain to him.” Once, 5 young people, had arrived early at Victoria Station to get into the always packed church. They were sitting outside the locked door of the church, when a man walked up and said, “Would you like to see the power station of this great church?” They did not know what he was talking about, but since they had time, they agreed. He went towards the back of the building, went down a long hall, opened a door to a lower assembly, where 700 people were in prayer. He said, “This is the reason I have such a great ministry.” These young people did not know that they had already met the greatest of all preachers, Charles Spurgeon, whose wife, was bed-ridden their entire marriage but fortunate for us, she wrote down every sermon and today's minister has his great ministry in print. There is more to the Christian faith than just playing church. Faith is action, based on belief, sustained by confidence.

Jesus is all the world to me,
my life, my joy, my all;
he is my strength from day to day,
without him I would fall.
(Jesus Is All The World To Me)