Cowards die a thousand deaths, the courageous die only once.

We worship at the alter of other people's approval. I can tell just by listening to a talk show on the radio, if a man who calls is married. Attending any meeting: church, civic club, board of any type, it is obvious which men are married, which men have a backbone, which men get their wives' approval about everything they say or do. It makes me sick to go into a men's clothing store and see a man's wife picking out his clothes for him. I do not wear anything that is not bought at a thrift store, secondhand. When I was younger, and had less intelligence, I would often buy a suit in a men's store, where normal people shop. One day, the husband could not get the wife's approval on a suit, she finally said, “go ahead and buy what you want, you are the one who will wear it any way.” He said, “at least the coat and vest.” It had been decided long ago who wore the pants at his house.

I will never recover from today's college graduates, one young man who worked for me for about one year following his graduation, was very energetic and a conversationalist with me. But, he would often bring his wife with him to my house on the beach, then he was an entirely different personality...totally hen-pecked. If he opened his mouth, she would say something nasty. She was the one with the brains, she was the one with the wealthy family, she was an only child. Like the JAP (Jewish American Princess), the daughter of wealthy Jews, you can always tell such women...dominating every conversation, knowing everything about everything, superior upmanship in every category. Many of these women find themselves in politics, Senator Feinstein, Senator Boxer, Kagan, Clinton, Snow...all rich, all Jews. There are many others in the Congress and the judicial system.

The Christian church is floundering, shipwrecked on the rocks of not only a prosperity gospel, but the political correctness of turning the male-established church structure over to the women. At least, most baptist churches have not yet ordained women preachers, nor have the Catholic. Those who have (Methodists, Episcopal, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Quaker, etc.) are dying even faster than the others. One woman preacher even told me that Moses is one of the disciples. Another said that Christ was crucified on the Road to Damascus. Much like the one who said that Golgotha was the apostle who killed the disciple David. Bold denominations, bold churches, boldness in Christianity keeps God's people close to his word. Women have a part in the church, but not in teaching and preaching to adults.

Many years ago, at a SBC conference, I heard Dr. Baker James Cauthen, Secretary of Foreign Missions, say, “the greatest area for evangelizing in the world, is among American black churches.” Studying black liberation theology, black nationalism, centered in black churches, we certainly understand the statement. Even 50 years ago, when I attended Dr. Brewster's great black baptist church in Memphis, women dominated the services, the men just sat to the side...women ushers, women musicians, women's choir, every area of the worship service except the pastor's preaching. No wonder young boys and girls, seeing this type church activity have such a warped theology.

Prince of preachers Charles Hayden Spurgeon, who, in his day, preached to 5,000 every Sunday at London's great Tabernacle near Westminster (a church which I have visited many times) said his heart was broken by an inactive men's laity. Most do not understand that his wife was bedridden most of their married life, but it is because of her, and her writing down all of his sermons, that we have his large collection of work. Most do not understand that he was crippled with bad feet most of his life. God does not want what we cannot do, but what we can do through boldness. Fanny Crosby, blind from birth, wrote 8,000 hymns, many of which are sung in a church every Sunday. On her tombstone in Connecticut, you find these words, which Christ spoke about the woman and the alabaster box, “She hath done what she could.” (Mark 14:8)

Many want to love a “nice Jesus”, many want to hear a nice pastor. When you seek a lawyer's service do you want a nice lawyer or a good lawyer? When you seek a doctor's services, do you want a nice doctor or a good doctor? If you are going to have any job, have success in any field, you must know what you are doing, personality is just the icing on the cake. I'd rather have an ill doctor who knows what he is doing, who knows the right place to cut, than one whose personality keeps a Jaguar in his driveway, and so would his malpractice insurance company. Most patients spend their efforts and money trying to rid their bodies of the toxicity caused by prescription writing.

The megachurches, the churches that are full, preach a nice Jesus. A prosperity gospel, “all you need is love” doctrine...Christ does not need cowards to carry his cross. The Gospel of Christ, the Gospel preached by Paul is a Gospel of sin's ruin and Christ's redemption, the gospel preached by Oprah, the new-age theology of anything goes, any path will get you there, though contagious, is contrary to God's Word in God's “lawbook”.

Many think they are seeing some tough times during this mild recession, I lived through the Great depression. Most do not realize that even in Chicago, school teachers were not paid for two years, men with doctorates sold apples on the street. One of my uncles walked 900 miles to go to study to be an electrician at Coyne College in Chicago. He came back and wired many of the ships built for WW2 in Wilmington. My father built his own trailer in which he lived while working defense jobs. I can still see my old grandparents, my mother, and others, doing work which they should not have been doing just to keep the farms going... these grandparent's only son in combat in the South Pacific. It took everything they could rake and scrape just to pay the horrendous tax burden.

Politicians do not want to hear about boldness, 73,000 blogs were erased just recently because the president was being criticized, who said we have freedom of speech? Muslims of the world know that Obama is a Sunni Muslim. The next world war, which will start shortly, will establish which Muslim group will be superior: the Shi'ah or the Sunni. There is no ambiguity about good and evil, most have tried to blend the world, the flesh, the devil...tried to put a sugarcoating on religion. They have no idea just how bad things really are.

It is a sobering thought that God is still in charge, able to repay for moral decay. The marketplace reality, having taken over science, academia, healthcare, everyone on the fringe of decency because government money is so attractive. In fact, why boldness anymore, what does heaven have to offer when we have a wealth of things which we so love, here on earth?