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.