Dicta

General George Patton said, “say what you mean and mean what you say.” I have never had a talent for small talk, useless prattle. Don't waste my time with such, life is too short and there is too little time to do so much. The difference in dreams and goals: anyone can dream, but you put a date on goals.

The first time I was in Israel, you had the immigration stamp on a plain sheet of paper, not in your passport. Many countries of the world would not allow you to enter if your passport contained the stamp from Israel.

Attempting to leave Ben Gurion Airport, Tel-Aviv, an inoculation was necessary because of an outbreak of a disease affecting the Arab natives. Years later, in Israel again, I was talking about such with a British doctor at the same airport. She told me that she had been there in 1972, and was one of those wounded during the terrorist shootings in which 26 were killed. She had just picked up her bag from the carousel, the same carousel which brought in the bags of the terrorists containing the machine guns and the hand grenades. She told me of the death all around her, blood everywhere...most of a Christian group from Puerto Rico had been slaughtered. I will never forget her words, “death is so close without knowing, all the time, you can almost touch it.” Mortality in the world is still 100%.

Death has become so sanitized. I meet young people who have never been to a funeral, they still look at death as a video game, movie experience. The person might get shot, might play dead, but will come back alive.

Death is the separation of the body from the soul. Parts of the body can be transplanted but the soul, the real you, your personality, everything about you that is personal, is without mass, weightless, magical-spiritual. There is consternation, even conflict about when the soul leaves the body. The Muslim believes the soul leaves the body when the body is put in the ground. Jews believe the soul hovers around the body for a few days. These rigid descendents of Abraham believe in immediate burial, no embalming.

The examiners test for circulation, respiration; often you have a neurological death, are declared brain dead, you can have ventilation of organs to keep the body alive for awhile. One must use much care in not allowing immediate dissection of the body, harvesting and farming out organs. There are a critical few minutes involved, though pronounced dead, many bodies revive. There are many people walking the earth today who were pronounced dead.

It is amazing how hastily some examiners will pronounce death. I am convinced from my studies, that many people in colonial times, before embalming became standard, were buried alive . Once that trocar needle is put in the body, your blood removed, the embalming fluid put into the vessels, you are most definitely dead. The purging, decomposing corpse of yesteryear might regain life.

One black funeral home operator told me that he went to a home to pick up a body. He rolled the conveyance into an elevator for the trip to the embalming room, and as he stood next to the body, a hand reached out and took his. He said, “I almost tore up my elevator, but the deceased was not deceased!”

There are thousands of people alive today who were thought to be dead. This is one diagnosis in which you cannot cut corners. Just as soon as the hospital or others find you are an organ donor, especially if you are young, especially with the demand for organs, you will become a donor.

The scientists such as Stephen Hawking are looked for one thing that determines everything. He wants the natural man to be converted to an equation. With the systems involved, man's crowning glory, his nervous system, it is not so simple.

The generosity of God is never more evident or pronounced than in the generosity of His Holy Spirit in our lives. Only God is capable of pulling the plug. Beware of the commerce of body parts...becoming one of the most profitable and prolific adventures of the world. Many hospitals “presume consent”, much mystery surrounds the scavenging of body parts. God is silent on many things, this certainly includes transferring body parts from the dead to the living, from lower animals to man. If there is ever a time for moral certainty, it is at a time of death.

Rich old people do not mind buying the body parts from poverty-stricken young people, especially from third world countries. A moral dilemma: struggling families selling body parts in order to survive. An even greater moral dilemma: embryonic stem-cell research, proliferation and incubation of cells from human fetuses for inoculations.

Families are often ready for the elderly or the disabled to leave this world. The sick and disabled take up so much time, so much money, it is a relief when they are gone. “They would not want to stay around and be a burden”, and you have all heard people say, “I do not want to stay around and be a burden or expense to anyone.” You can be sure that a bankrupt government, Obama-care death panels, inflation in everything growing at tremendous speed. More and more states, more and more minds wanting assisted suicide, death and burial will become more and more a procedural scientific goal.

One of the greatest sicknesses I ever encountered on this earth, standing on a Godless, communist Chinese operating room watching technicians that the viable, strategic organs from Chinese prisoners (eyes, mouths taped, their bodies taped to the gurney) replacing diseased organs in older, sick Chinese patients. I believe Christ took this activity, these diseases, these practices to the cross. (Isaiah 53)

Trustworthiness

In other commentaries I have talked about my walking the streets of ancient Pompeii, as have so many since the eruption of Vesuvius. The cataclysmic event was so fast, instantaneously fixing everything in place with lava-cement for eternity: dogs lying in a doorway, food on a table, people in basements, in bed, at work, at play. The guard at the gate of the city, still standing with his hand on his sword, trustworthy to the end.

Citizens of today's world live in a “matrix”, a gauntlet of deceit. Trust and trustworthiness is difficult to find...whether a doctor, pharmacist, mechanic, sales people... even the proclaimers and purveyors in the spiritual world. A husband should have no problem about trusting his wife, nor the wife the husband. Children should have every right to put full trust in parents.

I purchased one of my Manhattan co-op apartments from a member of the New York Mafia. He owned two apartments in this very remarkable building, sold me mine because it was one occupied by his daughter. The daughter and her husband had become drug addicts...the husband had killed himself, and the daughter was institutionalized. The father, the MAFIA member, was in tremendous debt to gamblers in Atlantic City. It was because of his desperate need for money, that he sold the property as cheaply as he did, and I paid him cash. It was necessary to completely redecorate the entire unit because of the couple's sickness.

After I got everything settled, he asked me to come over one night, and we talked for a while over some pizza which he had ordered. He said to me, “you are the only man I have ever met who I feel I can trust. Members of my family, the people with whom I do business, 'supposed' friends cannot be trusted at all. They'd all as soon kill me as look at me, if I do not do everything exactly as specified by the Mafia.” I did not need any involvement with this man, but it was an educational experience. He told me things that I wish I did not know, things that had happened with the Mafia family, not only in Manhattan, but their summer houses in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He told me about the social meeting places of mobsters, for example the restaurant on the corner of First avenue and 59^th street (almost under the 59^th street bridge). I walked there on several occasions just to see the circus..stretch limousines parked in the streets around the place, chauffeurs with engines running, immaculate formally-dressed men and woman arriving and leaving. He had told me that most Mafia members were Catholic...Catholicism does not care as long as they get their cut.

The remarkable thing about this member of the Mafia, highly intelligent, extremely personable (I have never known a con man I did not like), I believe that such people as him are more aware than others that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). Most Christians, whether Catholic Mafia or cotton-mill worker Pentecostal, likes to think that we can bargain with God, that we are special in our God relationship. We like to fight the good fight from an air-conditioned foxhole.

God is not playing with us, expects total dedication. Constantly our minds are crowded with thoughts, from these thoughts proceed action, and these actions show our trustworthiness. This scripture in God's Word gives us His expectation of our trustworthiness. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

In these times of national uprisings, protests, efforts at reformation in many countries, the story is being told of a group of men led by a reformer/crusader. He with his 1000 men had sought refuge in the mountains. The king, the ruler of the country, with his army, had pursued them, sent an envoy to the bandit demanding surrender. The bandit chief told the envoy, “pick out any man behind me and tell him to come here.” The bandit leader said to the chosen young man, “go and jump off that cliff.” The young man jumped, was spattered dead below. The bandit leader said, “call another one.” He said to this young man, “stick this dagger in your heart.” The young man did so and fell dead at the bandit chief's feet. The bandit leader said to envoy, “Go tell your king that I have 1000 other just as dedicated , just as trustworthy as these.” The King and his army turned around and went back to their home, not willing to go to battle against this dedicated group.

Satan is in charge of the “heavenlies”...the earth, the air and everything that surrounds us. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12) We have become a world of weasel words, trite hypocrisy. Dominique Strauss-Kahn was one of the world's best speakers on diversity...rich, sophisticated, with friends in high places, politically correct. The spontaneity, unexpected consequences of diversity of dragging an African girl across an expensive Manhattan hotel room. Just to think you could trust this man with the world's money, and a maid could not trust him in a hotel room. This shows the acceptability of sinners on the world scene. In South Africa, girls are being raped by men to cure their lesbianism, called “corrective rape”.

It takes 51 million Americans to elect a President. There are 64 million Catholic voters. If the Christian/Catholic church actually believed in trustworthiness, actually believed in stopping abortion, gave no credence to same-sex marriage, a Sunni-Muslim president such as Obama would not be in the White House. If the American Jews believed in the trustworthiness of the prophets of the Old Testament, they wouldn't support anti-Christian liberal causes such as abortion, stem-cell research, the homosexual agenda, the most anti-Israel President ever and give the anti-God Democrat party 75% of their votes. Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Stoopers

In this time of recession, when 2.2 million Americans' homes are in foreclosure. When last month the inflation rate was double that of the previous month. When unemployment, if the truth were known, is approaching 20%, a new term has come on the scene: “stoopers”. These are people who walk around the racetracks searching garbage cans for parimutuel betting slips, attempting to find a winning ticket. One man admits to making $45,000 a year, just by searching for winning tickets that someone carelessly threw away.

In Raleigh, NC this past weekend, we receive a detailed story of a dead husband found under a flowerbed in the yard. The elder couple did not have children, and evidently did not have anything to do with their neighbors and more importantly, their neighbors had nothing to do with them. The mailman complained to the next-door neighbor that the mailbox was so full of mail that he could not fit anything more in it. The police were called, and a policeman entered the house through a window. The female was dead in the house and had been dead for months. After further investigation, since her husband's checks were still being deposited in the bank, his remains were found in the backyard under a flowerbed. This is the extent to which people are going now, just trying to survive.

Books are being written about economics in the home, people trying to survive rough, tough times. One author interviewed said, “I buy the meats for my family after holidays. The stores are stocked for the holiday and want to get rid of the overstock. I fill my freezers with meats after Thanksgiving, Christmas and the other holidays.” She did not say what she did with the meat in the freezer after a storm with the electricity being off for several days or weeks.

Another said that she bought most of her groceries from a salvage store...dented or otherwise abused cans. Another said that she bought much cereal when it was on sale, and put it in the freezer. “You should always get acquainted with the manager of the store, he will tell you about the items on sale, or when things will come up on sale.” One said that she always finds out if a store will honor other store's sales prices; then, all that is necessary is for her to do is take the sales papers for all the stores to her favorite store, where they will give her the best price for any item. She said that she also spends much time on the computer retrieving coupons, saves 40-50% just with coupons, and that it is best to do your grocery shopping on Monday or Tuesday.

One lady said that when she walks in any type store, the first thing she says to the sales clerk approaching her is “where are your bargains?” She said, “many items have been marked down, or they know will soon be marked down.” “Going shopping is like going to battle; if you are timid, don't get into the fray. If you are afraid to ask about bargains, mark downs, doubling or tripling coupons, you are not prepared for the engagement.”

Only those who know the value of a dollar are interested in saving a dollar. Most Americans have never known what it is like to go without one meal. Most have never known what it is like to be really hungry, to have real want for anything.

A very foolish government, about 20 years ago, started selling homes to people who could not afford a full tank of gas. Expensive homes were sold to people who did not have any money to pay down on the home, did not own anything, and in many cases, did not even have a job. Surprise, surprise, they did not make their mortgage payments. Many times, after having destroyed the home, they just put the keys in an envelope and sent them to a bank (the jingle mail). Now, with millions of houses in foreclosure, blotched urban areas, lawns growing up, houses besieged by addicts and thieves, much real estate being sold is amassed to the pets of the bankers. Real estate fortunes being acquired by those with the knowledge and money to buy these houses at “fire sale” prices. One man's asset is another man's debt, and the taxpayer is the victim of Democrat party largess attempting to make homeowners out of people who could not afford homes.

The people who could not afford these homes are not the savers of this world...those who live frugally, who buy their clothing at thrift shops, who buy their groceries from salvage stores, who clip coupons, who buy online. Those who took advantage of government largess, moving into houses they could not afford, are the same ones who move into government-subsidized housing and destroy it. So much of America's economic decline is simply rot from within, immoral people who are intent to live from the work of others. Almost as bad, the cyber-warfare being taught in communist China, a system whereby hundreds of thousands have been taught the science of hacking, implanting viruses. Americans simply are not prepared to face terrorism...we now know that bedbugs are vectors of the microbiology of MRSA and smallpox.

What is the answer, the solution? One man, when he was young, found a quarter on the sidewalk. He spent the rest of his life looking down. Are those of us who have lived frugally in our shopping, in our lifestyle, fools? Is it better to spend and spree, like the 50% of our fellow citizens who do pay any taxes, the 50% who depend on government subsidies, the 59% who expect to live on government entitlements.

I have admitted in past commentaries that I am probably the most frugal man who has ever lived, conservative in every way (living, giving, believing). Young people who have worked for me have told me that they never price shop, they just buy what they want and pay for it. At least 50% of the population are not stoopers, they never walk around looking for good buys, good finds, they'd probably live much longer, happier lives.

Pretending Not To See

I had just explored the Arctic areas of the world in an expedition ship, but was returning to the states by plane. Going through customs and immigration in a western provinces' Canadian facility, the customs official told me that he was pretending not to see the skeletal bones I had put in my suitcase. On a remote Arctic Island, perhaps unexplored for many years, I had retrieved what I thought was an elephant vertebra and the jaw bone from some animal. knew, just as the customs official knew, that I was not supposed to remove any bone from any island and certainly not supposed to bring such back to America.

He looked at this mostly blind man and said, “I know you don't know what is in your suitcase, and I know you don't know that you are not supposed to bring what looks like whalebone to America. I am going to pretend I did not see it.” Often, in the military, where a large part of a retiree's pension is based on disability, you will have malingerers, those faking a disability of some sort. In the case of vision, since I was a vision specialist, I was asked to qualify and stipulate the disability. It is difficult to fake any medical problem, particularly a visual problem. There are too many instruments, too many ways to check. Most do not realize that retina impulses from each eye makes a cross over at the optic chiasm. With a tangent screen you can rapidly discover if you are being played with, people pretending not to see.

We do not like to see anyone turn a blind eye to, pretend not to see, anything. Particularly a surgeon pretending not to see diseased tissue, a dentist pretending not to see cavity, an optometrist pretending not to see an lens opacity. So much of the expense of living is from shoplifting in the stores, many store employees turn a blind eye rather than get involved. In fact, it is easier to turn a blind eye, pretend not to see, than to involve yourself in many things.

It the famed television program Hogan's Heroes, Sgt. Schultz of the German POW camp would often say, “I see nothing.” Parents had rather pretend not to see misbehavior than to administer discipline. A pastor pretends not to see what is going on with a church member or church family rather than having to face or confront it. Often, teachers see the signs of abuse and pretend not to see. My niece stopped teaching school after her first year because of abuse she saw concerning children. She had her mother, my sister, go to her school and observe one small black child...so abused, so wanting love and attention. After her mother investigated, with her knowledge of county government, the child suddenly disappeared. God alone knows how many children are abused, or are even killed, in a destitute home.

It has been said that Abraham Lincoln could not understand the loss, the deaths from the Civil War until his child, Willie, died. Mrs. Lincoln never mentally recovered from the death, and the President probably never recovered either. President Lincoln had only one child to live past the age of 18. He professed that it was only after he experienced death in a real way that he did everything possible to bring the war to an end.

Often, particularly on patriotic holidays, we pretend to defend the indefensible...the warts of our democratic republic. We know we have been drawn into military conflict because of the greed, power, and decadence of the military-industrial complex...the very thing which President Eisenhower warned the country about. Foreign entanglements, the very thing that George Washington warned the country about. We are so anxious to honor the promoters and achievers of our great superpower status and wealth, the defenders-patriots of the homeland, that we turn a blind eye and pretend not to see the disease affecting capitalism.

We can understand John Dewey's mantra, the communist mantra, “the end justifies the means.” But we pretend that we have not swallowed this decadent doctrine hook, line and sinker. Like the judiciary (legal minds), the pastors (spiritual minds), we have become so politically correct, “go along to get along” in our fantasia of survival, exploiting any avenue for revenue. Jumping out of the recession bubble machine, we pretend that God does not have an “all-seeing eye” even though it is on every piece of fiat (almost worthless) currency.

We pretend not to see or not to know that the RAND Corporation, now mostly financed by the government instead of private endowment, has reportedly developed tracking computer programs and equipment which can keep up with mileage on vehicles, boats and many other areas of life in order to support expanded taxation. In my lifetime I have seen efforts to “save the children”, “save the animals”, “save the poor”, “save the environment”. It was only a historic snowstorm in Copenhagen, historic blizzards across North America which saved us from global warming taxation.

We are learning just how fast a person's life can go into upheaval...the most tornadoes in history, most earthquakes in history, meltdowns of nuclear reactors. In the time of modern man we have sicknesses from the most primitive effects of sewage (water contamination, cholera, radiation, etc.). Not in history have we ever witnessed such weather bombardment, thunderstorms across Africa, flooding in South America, drought in Australia, typhoons across Asia, tsunamis and earthquakes along the Pacific rim, tornadoes, which are inland hurricanes, across America (1200 reported, 875 confirmed tornadoes in 2011).

God left us His Book, written by His hand, by His dictating to others, a love letter, guidebook, answer book. Still, He talks to us again, in language which anyone should be able to hear and see, are we still pretending not to see, are we still turning a blind eye?

Memorial Day 2011

My English guide and I were at the St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cemetery, North London. We had become friends and he wanted to help me find one of my favorite poets, Francis Thompson's grave... best known for his famous line, “[love] is a many-splendored thing” from his poem The Kingdom of God. At that time, I had a shadow of vision in my left eye.

He said to me, “you will not believe what I see coming down the walk.” A cemetery employee was pulling a small three-wheeled cart on which was a coffin covered with a tattered American flag. Walking behind the cart was a Catholic priest, along with a very frail woman in a wheelchair, being pushed by,evidently, the driver of the vehicle which had brought them there. This was the extent of the funeral cortege.

Earlier, we had almost walked into a freshly dug grave, and I spoke of the danger of such for a blind person. They stopped at the open grave and two other cemetery workers put the casket in the ground and began to fill the grave with dirt. The priest was saying some words as we walked up, he turned to us and said, “she is not very cognitive, but will appreciate your being here.” She looked at me and reached out a gloved hand, which I squeezed. I told her that I was American. She handed me the folded American flag.

The priest said they were in separate nursing homes, but had been married 50 years, he was an American veteran. You note that I said to her, “I am American.” It is like saying, “I believe God.” Many say, “I am an American” like those who say, “I believe in God.” All sorts of people believe in God, even the devil; many American citizens, traitors, say “I am an American”, but when you say “I am American”, you believe this country, just as you believe God. When you believe this country, you believe all the history, the patriots who made this country.

I sold that old, tattered flag many years ago, along with several other 48-star flags I owned. I do remember that on the hoist edge of the flag was written these words, “Battle Flag, December 1944”. This flag was possibly flown during the Battle of the Bulge. You will note that there was nothing pertaining to veterans or the military at this grave service. Like so many WWII veterans, they had probably met in London after the war, and he stayed there. But, he probably wanted his casket covered with the American flag, it still meant something to him (and her).

On this Memorial Day, we think of the 126,000 buried on foreign soil (not in a casket, just wrapped in an American flag), the thousands buried in Arlington and other national cemeteries. They believed America and would be dumbfounded to see what has happened to their country. Until Korea, most of the fallen were buried on foreign soil. I stood at the great national cemetery in Manila where 18,000 are buried, and on the 25^th anniversary of D-Day, I stood at Normandy at that great cemetery there. What a waste! What a expenditure of life: 50,000 in Korea, frozen bodies stacked like cord wood; 58,000 killed in Vietnam.

I was still in the hospital from the Korean era, when the Vietnam tragedy was going on, I still remember the screams of the woman across the street from me when her son's casket was brought into her home on his “return” from Vietnam. We have a tendency to forget the civilian tragedy of war, on both sides. Even today, while several wars are going on, drones overhead dropping bombs, missiles being fired from oceans as well as from “the enemy's” homeland...do not forget the children who will never recover from the sights and sounds of warfare, children on both sides, in the clutches of man's inhumanity to man.

Never forget that many prosper from the greed of war, fortunes have been made from war. The veteran caught in the dilemma of warfare, the one who survives...blind, crippled, sown back together, is the blessed survivor; those in the soil are the heroes. Many of us worked very hard, while others were having a good time, to get the schooling necessary to sufficiently serve our country...doctors, engineers, weapons/utilities experts. Disabled, we give up everything, accept the patriot's zeal.

The tumult and the shouting dies—
The Captains and the Kings depart—
Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!
Recessional – Rudyard Kipling (1897)

Required

And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul. (Deuteronomy 10:12; Micah 6:8)

In this time of “political correctness”, “if it feels good, do it”, “government will supply your wants as well as your needs”, we understand more than ever writer H.L. Mencken's quip, “if a politician found he had cannibals in his constituency, he would promise them missionaries for lunch.”

Yesterday, my only child, my son, professor at a well-known Christian seminary, and his younger son, who had just graduated from college, were visiting me. I was advising this young, new graduate, an electrical engineer, on the importance of seeking God's guidance in all of his activities, even in his new location. I believe with every fiber of my body that the Christian, one who trusts in God, can depend on God's guidance on earth, as well as eternal life in heaven. I said to him, “look at those large plastic tubs in the dining room. I know that God has taken care of me every step of my life, right on into my 80s. I suppose someone looking on would think that I have given up, that I am now hoarding food...I am storing much food (rice, tuna, dried fruit, etc) in case of a terrorist strike, natural disaster or some other catastrophe. I have written about this eventuality for years: on the coast, a hurricane, or as we well know, hundreds of tornadoes this year. The store shelves will be empty, there will be no delivery trucks on the highways, electricity in the wires, or water in pipes. You show your dependence on God, by depending on Him to guide you in preparation for everything, just as He has provided you with an education in order to make a good living, to have a good life here on earth, and to be able to share with and with others. I am sure that God will continue to care for me, but having my reserves of food and water will enable me to care for myself as well as to help others as I have been able to do so far in my long, eventful life”.

Many in this world do not care about anything: God, family or country. Every generation becomes more self-centered. Some still live modestly, but for many of us it has been a matter of living frugally in order to have the ability to give with our living. You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. God's chosen people were instructed to give. The tithe is the Lord's whether you give it or not, 1/7 of your time is the Lord's whether you give it or not.

Use common sense in your planning, but remember that God has the ability to change your plans. Do not put all of your eggs in one basket, the secret to success in investing is diversity. Solomon, the richest man who ever lived said, “Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.“ Carefully buy so that you can conveniently sell. Other than expendables (food, clothing, etc) everything you buy is with an eye for resale. All of my furniture is antiquarian, can be resold, so it is with real estate, securities, you invest in that which others will want.

Success, like conservatism, like Christianity, is a mindset. You don't just decide to be successful, Christ-serving; beware of instant salvation, instant political change, deciding to be successful overnight. The ne'er do well is usually born and reared as a ne'er do well. Only Christ can give a rebirth, but it has to be seen, it cannot be hidden, the world will know if you are a conservative or a libertine. The bed is too short and the blanket is too narrow, something is going to always stick out to let everybody know, most-assuredly the Creator of the universe, if you are just a pretender in anything. There are some, but human beings are not smart enough to fool everyone all the time. The genuineness of your life, your personality, your soul, is a matter of comprehension even to a blind person. This blind man can hear hypocrisy in a voice, the vibes come through your skin, it is like the sales person who tells you to have a good day.

It is the unexpecteds of life...fluctuations in the stock market, real estate bubbles, the storms (tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, floods) which cause us to want a hedge of faithfulness, hedge of protection, the courage under the cloak of God's love. Years ago, Jesse Jackson, the philandering black preacher and politician suggested pilfering all pension funds for the benefit of the government. He said all pensions should be confiscated and every citizen treated equally with social security. In 2006, the total assets of the 300 largest pensions funds was $10.4 trillion. Since the social security trust fund is just one big IOU, you can expect Mr. Obama and his fellow socialists to confiscate and use these funds to pay out social security and medicare, which is bankrupt. Other entitlements, and 59% of the population depends on entitlements, 50% of the population depends on a subsidy of some type, will get their check from some stash, somewhere.

I would advice any young person to be very careful about marriage, at least those who still believe in marriage: man and woman. The Answer Book, the Manufacturer's Handbook, the Bible, tells you not to be unequally yoked. (2 Corinthians 6:14) Not just a believer with a non-believer, spiritually; but a believer with a non-believer, economically. You can be sure that if you came from a family who lived frugally, wisely, prepared for any eventuality, and you marry someone from a family who spends every dime they can beg, steal or borrow with no regards for the future, there will be trouble. I can ascertain very accurately, without fail, the future economic success of any young person with one trip to a restaurant, just from the way they order. One does not eat the next month's tithe or investment! As I have said and written many times, most of life's activities is simply a matter of sowing and reaping. You reap what you sow, you sow foolish living, you will reap foolish everything. You sow to the wind, you will reap a whirlwind (Hosea 8:7) Regardless of the struggle, in spite of disappointment, I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:3)

Empathy

The first time I realized and recognized the true significance of empathy was at a toastmasters' club meeting. The word empathy means “the capacity to recognize and share feelings that are being experienced by another [human being].” It has been a long time, and I do not know if toastmasters' clubs are now in existence, but 60 years ago, toastmasters' clubs were important in every community. In these clubs, men (mostly young men) learned to communicate, articulate themselves, learned the craft of speech-making.

I was a member of a toastmasters' club, among its membership, professionals (lawyers, doctors, teachers), military officers, people who needed to learn to express themselves before others, especially aspiring politicians. A middle-aged man came to our group from a nearby small county. He was one of the most humble persons I have ever known. He had done well in business, and was now encouraged to run for political office. He wanted to run for a seat in the NC legislature; he did run and was elected. He was a product of the North Carolina school system and in spite of his wants and needs, he had been given very little remedial education; he simply did not know the meaning of words or how to use them.

I was caught up in the empathy of what he was trying to do, having known so many relatives and good, honest people who had the desire to serve, yet were “crippled” by inadequate preparation in public schools. He simply could not express himself, get his thoughts across to an audience...an intelligent audience would have made a mockery of him! It was the club's mission to courageously and correctly help him, through tender care. He learned through criticism, was not antagonized by those who wanted to help him.

The greatest fear of most people is the fear of speaking in public. Before the time of self-help development books, Dale Carnegie courses, talk-radio shows, such programs as toastmaster's, pilot clubs for women, only the college-trained, classic debaters of the university-type possessed the courage to speak before a group. Like the great education governor, Charles Brantley Aycock (1901-1905), spurred on to improve his education and the education of others by seeing his mother, who could not write, make her “mark” on a deed”, I heard my father say he wished he had the education to express himself before a group.

I first realized the number of honest citizens who wanted to serve their country, their fellow man, when I worked with the WRO (Welfare Right's Organization) of the early 1960s. These were the disenfranchised, mostly-black, almost always poor, products of the despicable eastern North Carolina education system, just trying to improve their lot in life. Cotton-mill workers, tenant farmers, day-laborers, moving through the eastern counties, working in green tobacco, produce markets, hand-picking cotton, they knew that they were not sharing in the American experience, the so-called “American dream”. They knew that their children would never have the opportunities planned by our forefathers. They knew that the American Constitution did not apply to them. They knew that they were the victims.

The owner of a furniture manufacturer told me without any hesitation (his son was in the legislature, one of the good ol' fraternity boys at the university when I was there) that he would shut down his factory before he would yield to any of our health-safety demands. One of my aunts went to the owner of the Spaford cotton mill, Mr. Davis, about washing the windows so that more light would come in, and they could see better to do their work. She was told that if she did not like the working conditions, she could find another job. This was the 20^th century eastern North Carolina mentality: rule by the Democrat party, keeping the people poor and ignorant, but still enticed to vote the straight Democrat ticket.

I ceased my activity with the Welfare Right's Organization when Mr. Saul Alinsky (Rules For Radicals) hitched these groups to the civil rights, black desegregation movement of the Lyndon Johnson administration. Now, 60 years later, there may be more rights, but the discrimination, disenfranchisement, racial attitudes are as bad as ever.

The bankers, the political powerbrokers, the Bilderbergers, the Satanic forces of the New World Order are as evident as ever. Islam is the mindless mass that will assist the New World Order in gaining control of the earth. Many Muslims countries are aflame; three hot wars, some cold ones. China, supplying Pakistan with planes, holding 40% of total US debt, is in the driver's seat (If the US debt was calculated with today's figures, not as presently calculated with figures of 30 years ago, the debt would be $75 trillion, not $14 trillion...a debt which is un-payable).

We have brief interludes in our nation's plight, such as that of brother Camping, who is solving the problem for many of us, the Rapture of Christians to the glory of Christ. Interesting that most snickering unbelievers/pretenders think they will be part of the group. I think that even Mr. Camping would assure you that Christ is not returning for a prostitute: those with one foot in the church house, one foot in a house of worldly pleasure. Christ is not returning for those who think they have some fire insurance, “just in case there is something to this thing called religion”.

We are children of light (1 Thessalonians 5:4), walk as children of light, not as the thief of darkness, stand as a defender of right. Get ready to speak for your faith, to defend the absolutes of right. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear (1 Peter 3:15).

Garbage Dump

This morning I ordered myself a new paper shredder. I shred my ton (each American citizen “produces” ~1 ton of garbage each year) of paper waste (credit cards, advertisements, etc.), all unsolicited material, which comes in my mailbox every day. I can use this shredded material for packing the products which I sell in my business. The time has come when everyone must start thinking about garbage and the effect of garbage on our country.

The most famous example of garbage disposal is the barge from Manhattan Island which traveled 6000 miles to Belize, South America, and after 8 international refusals, was finally incinerated back in Manhattan, where it departed. The 400 million tonnes of garbage produced by Americans each year is mostly buried in landfills, some of it is incinerated. This does not include the many backyard “burn barrels” and other ways of eliminating garbage like compost piles and private landfills.

From one who has traveled the world, I can tell you that in spite of our many shortcomings, we do a better job with waste than most countries, particularly third world nations such those as in Africa. The most disgusting site in a country is garbage lining otherwise-beautiful thoroughfares. Some rivers are so full of garbage that they can be set on fire! So many people think that rivers and oceans, on their own, dispose of garbage. It is predicted that most of the world's marine life will be eliminated because of waste in the ocean...mostly plastic, which can never be eliminated from the ocean.

Plastic simply does not decompose. I challenge you to do this research: bury a plastic cup in your backyard. It will be there forever, ready for use (after being washed). Most pottery, glass or metal will eventually decompose; not so with plastic. Bury a body in a casket of cardboard, wood, or metal and these caskets will eventually decompose, go back to the earth. Bury someone in a plastic garbage bag, and it will never decompose. The funeral homes have discovered this, and this is why so many expensive caskets are rented for just a few days. The casket is taken back to the funeral home and the body is left in plastic, particularly if there is reason to believe the family will not pay the costs.

The chemicals for plastics were developed mid-19^th century. The useful plastics such as Nylon, Bakelite, PVC were developed in the first half of the 20^th century. I well remember the earliest plastics, the so-called “wax paper”. Today, nearly every human utensil, every expendable is made from cheap plastic (toothbrushes, razors, kitchenware, construction/lawn products of every type) and we find these plastics in the bellies of most sea creatures, as well as other animals. Today, most of the materials used in our life, whether a toothbrush or your vehicle, are made of some form of plastic along with the bags used to dispose of it.

Because “Big Pharma”, “Big Chemical”, “Big Academia” and “Big Government” are all involved in “Big Plastics” and government grants controls the scientific community, nothing will be done about the effects of plastics on the health of the American people. Just the thought that every day, millions of Americans drink hot drinks from plastic cups, buy meats wrapped in plastic—leeching chemicals into their drinks and food, and then into their systems, destroying their health—is enough to cause some concern.

“Concern” is a lost word in most vocabularies. In 1830, it was determined that fluoride was a dangerous chemical to both animal and plant life. Industry was emitting so much fluoride into the air that smoke stacks were built higher. IG Farben, Hitler's chemical war machine, the maker of synthetics that kept his WWII going for 5 years, as with so many other things...determined that fluoride in the water supplies dumbed-down the people under their enslavement.

Some “smart” American scientist decided that fluoride and chloride put in municipal water systems would prevent tooth decay. The questionable research started in the 1940s with the knowledge of Hitler's romance with chemistry. In the 1960s, many of us were concerned about the “rat poisons”, fluoride and chloride, being put in the so-called treatment facilities of municipal water supplies. I remembered how a retired Navy medical officer, Dr. Stenhouse, and myself stood before the politicians questioning the veracity of their actions. Of course, as always, in order to get anything passed, there must be a line of physicians and scientists to approve it. There must always be antagonists such as a Castro, an unpopular politician, an unpopular preacher or Christian activist, held up against such “progress”. After all, everyone wants to prevent tooth decay; even though if you swallow toothpaste containing fluoride, you are advised to take remedial poisoning action.

A barrel of fluoride at the Rock Island water treatment plant was accidentally spilled in the parking lot; it ate away the cement! The tragedy, as in my local city...taking water from a dirty river, in which sewage from many other cities has been poured, treating the water with poison before it goes into your home, the sewage leaving your home being treated with more poison before it is put back in the river.

We know the dangers of cooking in aluminum pots and pans. Do we realize that fluoride is connected with aluminum? The aluminum found in chem trails, the aluminum enclosing us as we travel in a plane, our vehicles, our soft-drink and beer containers, and we wonder why so many people have Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases.

Sickness is not normal. Sickness comes from what we put in our mouth...food and chemicals. Next to fluoride in drinking water is aspartame in soft drinks; there is nothing more deadly to the human body than diet soft drinks. Coca-Cola sold nearly 927 million cases of its diet soda in 2010, eclipsing Pepsi's 892 million. “Oh, but if I drink a diet soda, I will not put on weight!” Why not drink the fluid God put on this earth for you to drink: H2O? Your life depends on your ingestion of oxygen; Ozone, O3, is the most important element for your life.

When I was in school, diabetes and cancer were rare diseases; today both are epidemic, simply because people treat their body (the temple of God) as a garbage dump. Diabetes can be cured with correct diet and exercise. The “Thickburger”, which tastes so good, contains over 1400 calories! For a very long time we have known that fats, sugar and salt are the causes of most sickness. In my practice, over and over, a patient would come to me with blurred vision. I knew their trouble without asking one question! When you would look in the eyes with the opthalmoscope you could see their diabetic condition. But, they did not want to give up their foods which caused their sickness, they had rather take a pill or a needle and keep on living the way they want to live, enabled by their loving family members.

I would say to my diabetic parents, raised on southern cooking (put it in a frying pan with lard and fry the hell out of it), “you need to leave off salts, fats and sweets.” they like most of my patients would not follow instructions. My father would always say, “I have outlived all my doctors.”... and this was probably true. Their doctors did not care either; if the reception room was not full of patients, who was going to pay for those two Mercedes in the driveway, the expensive home, the expensive wife, expensive children going to expensive schools and colleges? As one of my doctor friends said, “I can look at my appointment book for the day, and tell you how much money I will take home at the end of the day.” Early American families had meal times, no eating between meals. Today, you eat just anytime. On any street, there are many places serving food...stimulation, arousal, activation, rewards.

The same Book which gives us answers to questions about everything else, gives us answers about eating. The Jews actually believed that the body is the temple of God, nothing unclean went into the body. If a mouse went into a pottery dish, since it cannot be sterilized, it must be thrown away. (Leviticus 11:33) There is nothing dirtier than a rodent, with no control of their excretory system, excreting everywhere. As a student, I worked for awhile in the college cafeteria; there were rats everywhere. This sophisticated, scientific, liberal, heathen center of learning...poisoning their students and staff. Much like their counterparts in the public schools, promoting politicians who support abortions...ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 2:3). Made in the image of God, His chief creation, treated like a garbage disposal.

Ordinary People, Ordinary Day

Other than those who have studied Bonnie and Clyde and their bank robberies there, or perhaps Mickey Mantle being born there, Joplin, Missouri is full of ordinary people and yesterday was an ordinary day. One can hardly imagine the tornado winds with so much force that they could strip the bark off of the trees!

This was the weekend in which Family Radio and its 89-year-old owner and founder Harold Camping, civil engineer and Bible scholar, had predicted the end of the world. Family Radio owns 66 stations worth $100 million, broadcasting around the world in 61 languages. Many of us were waiting with great expectation, the Christians of the world, to be caught up in the rapture. I was looking forward to having sight again. Some fruitcake denominations/religions, all-mixed-up, along with confused/lost unbelievers actually thought this sacred event pertained to, and included, them.

Amid the scoffing, joke-playing on believers, Neal Boortz, defamer-of-faith, said he would put empty clothing (all the apparel that a man would wear) by the street so that some would think they have been left behind. Another, on a local radio broadcast, actually said that nothing about religion could be believed, “for years they have been looking for Noah's Ark at the top of Mt. Everest.” Much like the woman at First Baptist Church (Wilmington, NC) who said that Golgotha was the giant that slew the disciple David. Or perhaps, like the one who worked for me, in an Episcopal Church every Sunday, who did not know there was an Old Testament and a New Testament in the Bible.

Harold Camping, the 89 year-old Bible scholar—for 60 years answering questions on radio about the Bible—may have been wrong, but always, even from the 1^st century, Christians-believers have been wrong about many things. During the 1^st century, they were looking for the immediate return of Christ.

Things at the church house have not improved, “a falling away”. (2 Thessalonians 2:3) Can one even imagine the newly-converted-to-Catholicism Tony Blair, going to a party with his priest Father Seed, being greeted at the door by a transvestite wearing a nun's habit? Even more beyond imagination, “falling away”, the Baptist Union University (Jackson, Tennessee) having Blair as the graduation speaker!

Ted Haggard is the bisexual pastor of St. James church (Colorado Springs, CO) . Ted was accused of a three-year relationship with a gay escort. After three weeks of counseling with some other pastors, he was pronounced as a bisexual. Not to be accused of racism... Bishop Eddie Long (De Calb County, GA) pastoring a mega-church with 25,000 members, lives in $4 million home. Not to be a gender discriminator...Dr. Robert Schuller of the bankrupt Crystal Cathedral, turned the pastorate over to his daughter, Sheila Coleman, who has preached against homosexuals in the choir and the congregation...much against her father's wishes: “I have a reputation worldwide of being tolerant of all people and their views”. Hitler's SS troops of WWII, professed tolerance. On their insignia, they had the words, “loyalty is a virtue”.

Brother Camping—as he is affectionately known by his millions of followers—like so many, is better known for his failures than his successes. 4000 books have been written about Abraham Lincoln, most pointing out his many failures; his one great success: becoming President in 1860. Babe Ruth struck out 1300 times, but he is remembered for hitting 714 home runs. Van Gogh painted 1700 canvas but only sold one in his lifetime...the last Van Gogh painting sold to the public sold for $71.5 million. Michael Jordan, reared in this city, was cut from the Laney High School team after he was ruled too short to play. Michael Jordan said about his failure, “I have missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game-winning shot... and missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why... I succeed. “

A real friend stands by you when you are in the wrong. Pitiful the individual, accused of anything, that is not supported by his family, even if he is in the wrong, even if he is guilty. This is the peril of politics. This totally blind, 100% disabled, service-connected medical officer veteran became active in local politics. At the time, believe it not (because I am now such a rabid Republican), I was President of the NC Young Democrats. The Democrat Party in North Carolina has been in power for over 100 years, mostly because of demography and decadence. Another Democrat had accused me of immorality, that I had been arrested at the Hotel Sir Walter in Raleigh with a prostitute. The local newspaper editor wrote, “how do these vicious rumors get started?” They start by vicious, jealous people at cocktail parties! Members of my family were the biggest purveyors of this gossip, especially one of my mother's sisters. She did not ask me if it were true.

I knew one boy, accused of rape. He was innocent, and was proven innocent, but not one member of his immediate family went to the trial, gave him any moral support. What would they have done if he was guilty, if he was in prison?

Swathmore College has published research on decision-making, concluding that we are corrupted by our many choices...in the grocery stores, even in the inspection of hotel rooms. Even for ordinary people on ordinary days, it may be necessary to make a decision...tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, standing up for a family member or a friend, standing up for your spiritual belief. Faith, action based on belief, sustained by confidence. You need faith in life as well as in death.

Zwieback

It was my first trip to Germany, not that long after WWII and the Korean conflict. At the time I still had some vision in the left eye. West Berlin was well under restoration, even then on the Ku'damm (Kurfurstendamm) there were beautiful stores, prosperous-appearing people. The great Kaiser Wilhelm Cathedral was still in ruins (now, a memorial), but they had built the great Europa Center. At the hotel, I met an American Jewish couple from Minneapolis, who had survived Auschwitz, both still had their numbers tattooed on their arms. They were sent to the Nazi prison camp as children in 1938, so they were both about my age. The one thing that has always amazed me about people who had undergone such horrendous treatment...they could still laugh. He was in the wholesale plumbing business, manufacturing garbage disposals, and they had been very successful.

They asked me to go to East Germany with them, where they had been reared as children. This was the first time I went through Checkpoint Charlie, even though I went through it several times. I still have not forgotten the growling dogs on leashes, the mirrors looking under the vehicle. The vehicle and driver checked totally before we were allowed to proceed, as if someone would want to escape from West Germany to East Germany.

It was like black and white: West Berlin so prosperous, rebuilding; East Berlin still so destitute and destroyed. As the driver went down one street, this couple began to weep. She said, “this is the street on which we lived as children”. This was their first homecoming. After another block or two she began to shriek, there was an old lady on the street, walking with a cane. She said, “there is my aunt Sarah. I thought she was dead.” They got out of the car and I have never known such sobbing and hugging. The aunt had been to the store to buy Zwieback bread, she insisted that I eat a piece of the bread.

I remember Zwieback bread because my parents, probably from their European heritage, bought Zwieback for their children to eat when young, teething. The couple had lost contact with the aunt because in the craziness of Communism there was no way to investigate anything. The miracle: that the aunt still live closed by and just happened to be on the street at that particular time.

In everything, even in dealing with Nazism, Communism, the Holocaust...the mercies of the Lord endure forever (Psalm 118) This Psalm, 118, is exactly half way through the Bible, everything in God's Word on either side of this Psalm proves that the mercies of the Lord endure forever.

Another year, I met the same couple in South America, Rio de Janiero at the time of Carnival, I went with them to visit a friend from Auschwitz living in Rio, an artist/canvas-painter, I purchased two paintings from him, which I have since sold. As they told me, over and over, of the horrors of Auschwitz where most of their families were killed, they often quoted the words of Malcolm Muggeridge, “human life is always sacred.”

Life is a matter of looking back. Looking back, we know that many “so-called” facts in science and history were wrong, but at the time it was the only knowledge they had. Looking back, Jews, even American Jews, understand the ambitions of Nazism, just as the Jews, following the orders of Joshua (he, following the orders of God) marched around the fortress city of Jericho, they had no idea what they were doing. They learned that you trust...to obey is better than sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22).

Looking back, we will see that “homeland security” began in Nazi Germany. Every time you go through inspections, scanning, remember that it began in Nazi Germany. The poisons from chem-trails in the air, fluoride in your drinking water, leeching toxins from plastics, your lack of ozone which purifies the earth, totalitarianism, it all began in Nazi Germany. Safety is not the absence of danger, but the presence of God. You can always look backwards and see the hand of God.

In my youth, our country church, and even the churches in the city, were the refueling stations for the soul...Sunday best, the mantle of the God. Looking back, only a mental midget would say that things have changed for the better, only for the worst, life on the farm or in the city, school, college, the church. Colleges counting numbers instead of making numbers count, in most churches you do not even see a Christian cross, political life is a matter of compromise, you do what the big boys want or you are sacrificed...the monetary fund official accused of rape, the big boys were finished with him (him wanting to become the president of France) as well as Schwarzenegger, as well as bin Laden, as well as Gaddafi.

In every Marian apparition, whether Lourdes (1858), Fatima (1917), Guadalupe (1531), and all the others, it was always peasants who had the vision. The church verified the supernatural, and millions visit the sights every year. We know about the miracles at Lourdes and yet there are over 200 tourist traps lining the roads, selling everything imaginable, even a Virgin Mary cigarette lighter. Looking backward, we know that God moves in mysterious ways; His wonders to performs. (Hymn, William Cowper)

Scales of Justice

If I were not chosen, a born-again believer in my blessed Redeemer, the Son of God—Who saved my soul—I would have a hard time doing what I do, facing every day, because we do what we do because we believe what we believe.

I can understand why so many are caught in the snare of unbelief...television preachers, pretenders, hypocrites, other religious belief systems in the world. A recent poll of Christians tells us that 57% of all Christians polled believed that you can go to heaven for any spiritual belief if you are sincere in your belief.

As a child, my first reflection on the strange, unusual religions of the world was a picture in a magazine of Aga Khan III, the 48^th Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims, the first president of the All-India Muslim League, and President of the League of Nations from 1937-1938. Aga Khan III was instrumental, along with British royalty, in the bifurcation of India and Pakistan, and the father of the notorious Prince Aly Khan, who married America's Rita Hayworth.

On Aga Khan's Golden Jubilee (50^th anniversary) as ruler of this part of the British empire, his followers worshiped him by giving him his weight in gold. Aga Khan III was given his weight in diamonds on his Diamond Jubilee (60^th anniversary), and on his Platinum Jubilee (70^th anniversary), his weight in platinum. Aga Khan III died in 1957, at age 79; his grandson, Aga Khan IV, age 74, succeeded him as the 49^th imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims.

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. (James 1:12) The church in the time of Martin Luther (1483 – 1546) wallowed in corruption. So, impostors who claim the name of Christ are nothing new in the Christian community. The great preacher Oswald Chambers said, “God has not called us to success, but to obedience.” God tells us in no uncertain words, to show up for the fight.

The 21^st century Christian, like the 1^st century Christian, is walking down a straight road with every abstraction and sinful influence which Satan can dream up on every side...addictions, pornography, political decadence, church house indifference, social and moral temptations.

God only requires trust. On the straight road, if there was ever a time for trust, it is now. Chernobyl was the equivalent of 400 Hiroshimas. The recent meltdown in Japan at Fukushima, the radiation drifting across the Pacific—even though your government tries to ignore it—eventually we will all face the inevitable. Japan has tried to put a tent over the expanding radiation, but they know, just as we know, that because of their lies-deception, the people close to the meltdown are doomed.

Radioactive particles attach themselves to dust particles, these dust particles come down in rainfall. Across North America, with every rainfall, more accumulation of radioactive material on food stuffs, the grass eaten by cows...now found in milk and beef. Your government wants you to believe out of sight, out of mind (off the TV screen, out of mind).

It takes real men to stand up against the sorcery of government. Victor Hugo, french writer, said “adversity makes men, prosperity makes monsters.” The prosperity of the American bubble machine...the dot com bubble, the real estate bubble, multi-war bubble, made many men think they were financial wizards...such as the “financial genius” in the White House. We are rapidly learning about our immediate poverty.

From our founding until 1900, we had a constant 10% economic prosperity. With the income tax of 1913, we had the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of the world. America was a country of freedom and opportunity, we had honest police, real freedom of speech. Today, you must have a permit or license for anything...“Big Brother” is watching everything you do, your home is no longer protected. If you ever wanted to know how a communist system is built, you are seeing it done with this American police state, totalitarianism.

As basic to America: FDR's 4 Freedoms, the freedom of the “curb market”...even the Amish are prohibited from selling raw milk. My mother helped send her four children through college selling raw milk, churned butter, and vegetables from the farmyard. Don't worry about a few germs from farm produce, the two ways to exterminate a population: radiation in food and fluoride in your drinking water. All the gold on the earth only amounts to a cube measuring 75 feet. That cube selling at $1500 an ounce, cannot buy you one more second of life when God says “enough” and your trip down the straight road has ended.

Raw Deal

The first time I heard the name Arnold Schwarzenegger, he was to star in a movie, Raw Deal. The local movie studio wanted to use one of my buildings as a filming location. It was then that I was told about this up-and-coming movie star, bodybuilder, and politician.

In 1939, Schwarzenegger's father was one of Hitler's “brown shirts”. In a 1970 interview by a national publication, Schwarzenegger disclosed that Hitler was one of his heroes. Somehow, Arnold married into the Kennedy clan, and a more unbelievable somehow, he became Governor of California. Like several other politicians, (Jesse Jackson, John Edwards, etc.), the terminator-governator became the impregnator of one of his staff members (Mildred Baena), and now he admits to having a child with her. This 14 year-old son is the youngest of his five (admitted) children. Of course, Arnold, like Jesse and John, apologized for his dalliances.

It is only when an innocent child is involved that we learn these things. If an illegitimate child were involved in the fornication-adultery of every politician, every professional athlete (Tiger Woods, Wilt Chamberlain), the world's population would be much larger. When I was young, there was a famous Ivory soap advertisement (99% Pure), few of us can claim purity on any level.

The only girl that I honestly knew to have an illegitimate child was Agnes. When I was in school, pregnancy of an unmarried girl was a very rare thing, you just never heard of it. Agnes was in my class, a friend, “wearing her apron high”, she talked to me about her problem, the stigma, the condemnation by her family and friends. She knew what it was like to wear the “scarlet letter”.

There was a young, “cute”, conqueror of females throughout the county, he was called William the Conqueror like the British warrior before him. “So cute, no girl could deny him, every girl just wanted his attention.” Agnes said to me, “I just knew he loved me, and this was my way of keeping him. You will never know how heartbroken I was after I had given him my most precious possession. He acted like he didn't know me.”

In today's world perhaps she would have had the option of an abortion, not so back in the 40's and 50's. Agnes gave birth to a son who took her family name, and from everything I know—and I never saw her after I left for college—her son was fine in every way. He was my youngest brother's friend in school (my mother had one son after her other three children were almost grown).

Agnes, recognized my mother at the beauty shop where my mother went each Friday. Agnes, who had married a widower and helped him raise his daughter, became a very good friend to my mother. She asked my mother if she remembered “her indiscretion”. My mother assured her that she did not sit in judgment of anyone. That she loved the son of Agnes regardless of his parentage, because he was a friend of her son, my brother. My mother told Agnes that God is not threatened by sin, that God is not shocked by anything. The tragedy of America, and the shame throughout the world: any country or society that kills its young, whether red, yellow, black, or white; God's chief creation, all precious in His sight.

For many years, via shortwave—but he is on 66 radio stations—I have listened to Family Radio on occasion, which in 2008 was worth $100 million. I understand the world-wide radio station and its programs are owned by Harold Campen, an 89 year-old engineer, who answers questions about the Bible on a program called The Bible Forum. It is an amazing expose of Biblical knowledge, he has memorized most of the Bible. In addition to his nightly radio broadcasts from his headquarters in Oakland, California, he lectures across the country and has a tremendous following, I understand that his ministry is 60 years old.

Mr. Campen and his followers have predicted the Rapture of the church this Saturday, May 21st, 2011. I have heard and printed out their mathematical calculations. He has previously predicated the end of the world in 1994, but said he made a mistake in calculations. One man in New York has spent his life savings ($140,000) putting up large billboards warning the public about the end of the world; people around the world are preparing for the event. Of course, the unbelievers, the pretenders, the imposters, and even those of us with the courage of our faith believe that “not even the angels in heaven know the time.” (Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:32)

Clinical death is the end of the world for the unbeliever, it is truly a raw deal for anyone who has never accepted the grace and mercy of our redeemer, Jesus Christ. Clinical death, at any time is a good deal for the born-again, saved, believer in Jesus Christ. 85 years ago, there was one mosque in America; today, there are 3,000 mosques and thousands of Muslims in America, who like the billions of Muslims around the world, believe Christianity is a religion of blasphemy...that all non-Muslims are infidels, to be killed. In Western Europe, there are more Mosques than churches.

A Muslim can never be an American citizen because a Muslim cannot pledge/swear allegiance to the Constitution of the United States. Islam is the only religion in the world combining spiritual and secular beliefs.

Today, we are hearing much about the “mighty” Mississippi, all winter there has be historic snowfall, ice packs in the northern river now melting and flowing into the Mississippi. In 1957, the Mississippi River was 65 feet above flood level.

The beauty of the Christian faith, raw deals or good deals, plenty or famine, death or disaster, whether Christ returns this year, next year or a thousand years from now: all are already dead except those who have life in Him. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10)