Ronnie

Gnawing at every fiber of my body, every neural pathway of my existence, if the human being is here in the image of God, if we are supposed to make a difference, if there is the type reward that Christians expect, why is the world in the condition it is in?

My ancestors were some of the first from England to the new world because of their religious convictions. I have inherited every one of their concern precepts, the first image I have in my mind as a child: my mother on her knees at the old family church, washing another saint's feet. In that church, built in 1874 by both my mother and father's great grandparents, the portrait of a distinguished old man. His name was John Henry Whorley, as a child I remember him preaching there, probably his last sermon before his death, a very old man. He brought out something that was as real then as it is today, that God points to ants in His Holy Word, as an example of what human beings should follow. The human being, 23,000 genome; the ant, far, far less. He pointed out that an ant colony took care of one another, prepared for hard times. I remember he pointed out that you put a drop of syrup on the table in the kitchen and before long you have a whole trail of ants, One had found something good, and soon others knew about it, and so it should be with God, Christ, our faith; if we are really serious about our lives and the lives of others, my soul and the soul of others.

I could not help but think, my family, and the many other families in that community, as well as the world community, who go past houses everyday of their lives in which people live who know nothing of the values that make life more livable, religious convictions and traditions, healthiness, discipline and discipleship. For many years of my young life, I would think of the children living on the very road where that church is located, never reached, or even approached by the church. At the schoolhouse, religion was precursory preemptive expectation, college and the military was not bothered by religion even though there was casual references to it, the do-gooder, be better syndrome. I was active my entire college and military career in the local church, but no one seemed to care very much, I was just unusual. I remember at the great Parker Memorial Church in Alabama, since I was not one of the “blue bloods” in town, I was giving the cold shoulder, especially by the other professional people in the church who seemed to be there as just a cover for their lifestyle, pretending, family habit, not really serious about anything but their own success.

I remember speaking at a small baptist church outside of town, a major general (two stars) retired, was in the audience. He said, “you are the first young army officer that I have encountered with a Christian testimony.” He further said, “I spent 35 years as an infantry officer, WWII, never once in all those years did a military chaplain say one thing to me about my soul.”

I can say without fear of contradiction, my many years in the military, never saw a chaplain in any activity except bobbing around with a cocktail glass at the officer's club. My encounters with most ministers of the Gospel has been a disappointing experience. I am sure there are many who have a real conversion, real salvation, real Christ in their life. Religion and church has become so sanitized, organized, rationalized, God convicts through His book, the manufacturer's handbook, which answers every question one ever wants to know about anything. His word is forever settled in heaven. (Psalm 119:89) He honors His Word more than anything else. I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. (Psalm 138:2) The problem with most Christians, most churches, enough time is not spent with His Word, if the Christians of the world really believed God's Word, the world would have been changed long ago, and we would certainly not be in the mess we are in today.

We have the mistaken impression that we can just put some money in the collection plate, in the Salvation Army kettle, a civic club project of some sort, and we have done our part. There are 1,300 United Way collection points for giving in order to relieve suffering in the world; the second largest charity, the Gates Foundation. If you cannot measure what you want, you do not want what you can measure. There is so much need in the world that we cannot measure it, nor do we actively try to do anything about that which we can measure, there is too much need in the world for an entrepreneur. Most philanthropists collect less than $500,000 a year, we have found, much to our sorrow that this money, so accessible, so unaccounted for, disappears down the black hole of greed. The national president of the Red Cross gets $500,000 a year, The national president of the United Way gets $1 million a year, it is a Christian embarrassment about televangelists and many religious charities.

I have a great interest, not only in the souls of mankind, not only their spiritual needs, but their physical needs as well. What happens to the large percentage of children who do not graduate from high school, the children from single parent homes, the children caught up in the gay agenda, sex slaves on the streets, we read about these things, but have no idea about the real story.

I got a glimpse of human depravity talking with young girls and young men from abuse and want, who had entered the military services. Most of us have no idea about the baggage so many young people carry around. When you talk with them, you can only imagine what is going on in their mind, what they have experienced, the distrust they have for everyone. I learned early, that those who have been unable to trust people whom they can touch, have much difficulty trusting one who is supernatural, praying to, or believing in an inanimate spirit.

I have found that most people do not want to hear the answers to many questions, “the truth hurts”. God wanted me to see conditions around the world, sent me on many round-the world trips, exposed me to life on every level. He blessed me so I could afford a home in New York City as well as in North Carolina, and it was in New York City, completely away from everyone who knew me, that I found the answer to many of these questions for which everyone should be interested.

The first apartment I owned in Manhattan was on Beekman Place, one of the most exciting streets in the city, on the East River. This apartment was on the corner right across the townhouse of Irvine Berlin, across from the South Korean consulate, near the home of Helen Hayes. It was indeed, the supreme transitory existence for this country boy.

About this time Irwin Shaw had written his book, along with the movie, Rich Man, Poor Man, most people with whom I have shared this, which I am sharing with you, have told me that I am crazy. At that time almost totally blind, flickering in and out of New York's richest and poorest postulant properties. One day, I would be in tux at a fancy United Nations soiree, the next day I would be in worn clothing talking with vagrants on the street at a cheap movie house, or questionable bar about their life experiences and what would happen to them at death. Some just thought I was just a crazy, old fundamentalist evangelical, most were fascinated by my life, my interest in them, that someone in this world really cares. I always had religious tracks, often would take someone who was hungry, to a fast food place to eat. I tried to never let them know about my disability. In all the years, only one or two were ever taken to my apartment. These apartment houses, the two in which I lived (12 Beekman Place, 136 East 56th), full-time doormen, elevator men, fresh cut flowers in the lobby, and I had beautiful, well-appointed homes.

I am talking about Ronnie, because he was one who I brought to my apartment, he had the mental agility, the trustworthiness, that he could assist me with cleaning and shopping. Ronnie lived in Spanish Harlem, one of ten children, he was either 17 or 18 at the time I met him, begging on the street. He told me that his entire life, 12 in the family, most meals, 1 dozen eggs, 1 loaf of bread, each person had an egg sandwich. His own father had impregnated all his sisters, he told me about other people who lived in the tenement, about a child in an apartment next to theirs, totally mentally deranged, at home, all day, alone. At night when the father came home, he would hold him out the window and tell him he would drop him if he made a sound while the father was at home.

In order to live, Ronnie had pushed the envelope about as far as he could in every direction. He had been sent to a cooking school which he liked very much, but because of his background, could not get a job. From what I could tell, he was an attractive young men, and have been hit on by the gays in New York, which had turned him against most men, and having seen the decadence of his mother and sisters, was totally against women. In fact, he was mentally antagonistic toward everything in life, like most of these Spanish and blacks in Harlem, he had been baptized into the Catholic church. The entire matter of Christianity, religion was just an unnatural mystery to him.

Ronnie liked music, other than buying food and giving money for pressing needs, I never let any of these desperate people believe that I had money. I did give Ronnie an electric keyboard for Christmas. He was totally amazed that someone would do something for him, asking nothing in return. As I found with so many young people, tossed around by the world in the sea of life, very intelligent, quick learner. I would have him come by about once a week to help me with my house. When in New York, it was obvious that he wanted to spend more time with me, and since I was in New York just one week, each month, I only saw him about once or twice a month.

One day, much to my surprise, he showed up at my home in North Carolina, he had taken the bus from New York, and then walked from the bus station to my house. I will never forget what he said, “you are the only person who has ever been nice to me. You need help, I would like to work for you.” The fact of the matter is, he could do nothing, he could not drive for me, the projects in which I was involved at the time, he knew nothing about. I was restoring a large building on Oleander Avenue, a former famous restaurant which I was restoring into a night club building. I had some people working for me, someone driving for me. After one day, I told him that he was just in the way, that he should go back to New York, I gave him money for the bus, honestly I had done everything I could for this young man, and never saw him again.

I had introduced him to Christianity, I had encouraged him to take advantage of the opportunities which this country offers. I had told him that if he could not find work, he should go into the military service because he had the intelligence, health, desire to make something of his life. This is just one young person who I encountered with experience, experiment in Christian missionary zeal, there were many others. As my acquaintances who have heard about my work, but have no desire to do any missionary work of their own. Who I have told that the God that I worship is quite able and capable of protecting me, giving me the mission and message with no strings attached. The answer, not once, ever, in my pursuing the answers to my questions and bringing the message of redemption and life to those who would listen, did I ever encounter anyone, from any church, any mission, actually working among those who need it most, on a one-to-one basis.

A more recent experience, in one of my rental properties, in which a young man was living. One day when I was checking on another property, he said to me, “I have really made a mess of my life. How have you kept yours so together?” As most Christians, I made the mistake of inviting him to go to church with me, instead of dealing with him on a one-to-one basis. The hardest work in the world is in dealing with another person's soul. It is so much easier to take the person to your place of worship and hope that they will find their answer there, that something will rub off on them.

I said to him, “I will be by to get you Sunday morning to go to church.” It was about a three block walk for me, I knocked on his door with my white cane, of course, he had forgotten. I said, “get ready, I am waiting for you.” He did not have a suit, but he was clean, and his clothes were clean, it was about a two-block walk then to the church (First Baptist Church, Wilmington NC). As he sat beside me in that liberal, pretending church, I thought what would my mind reflect on if I had never been to a protestant church before. When we left, I said to him, “what do you think?” He said, “it was the saddest place I have ever been.”

My first phone call after I had returned to my house, one of the older ladies at the church, she said, “Doctor, who was that young man with you at church this morning?” I said, “he was one of my tenants, he really needs to be in church.” She said, “doctor, you know we like for our men to wear suits to church, dark blue or brown. Now, you know how to dress, you are always dressed well.”

Whether Ronnie, Robert, or anyone else in America, or anywhere else on this earth, the problem and the answer has always been the same. God gave it to us on both sides of the cross: love one another.

Antipas

A local doctor told me of a friend, he had come to him with critical complaints, was sent to a specialist who found he was dying of terminal cancer, the oncologist told him he had about six months to live.

Anyway, my physician friend could not locate his dying patient, a man of some prominence and wealth in the community, he finally found some hints of where he might be located. The patient's parents had owned a small farm at the edge of Green Swamp in Brunswick county, the farm, very neglected, the small house almost falling down, was the retreat for the dying patient. When the doctor friend found him there, after a long drive through a wilderness of back roads, he said to his patient, “what in the world are you doing out here? You should be at your nice home in town where you have conveniences and the care which you need.” The patient said, “here on this desolate, isolated farm I have an outhouse, a hand pump, a wood stove for cooking and warmth, I do my laundry in a wash pot, and have just the bare necessities of life. Death will be a relief after living like this.”

Antipas, is only mentioned one time in the Bible, he is mentioned in Revelation 2:13, tradition tell us that Antipas was chosen by the apostle John as leader of the first century church at Pergamum. It was a secular, sinful city, and he had to stand almost alone against the satanic forces there. Because of his stand, his life was taken by the evil unbelievers of Pergamum, by roasting him in brass bull. Although Antipas is only mentioned one time in God's word, he lives forever in history as one of the first martyrs of the church.

This week in England, the Druids were recognized, for the first time, as a religion, on the same level as Christianity. The same country which sent David Livingstone, George Greenfield to Africa, Hudson Taylor to China, William Carey to India, now has more mosques than churches, builds more caskets than cradles. As in America, in western Europe, the tares receive greater care than the wheat. Only in countries where government clamps down, as in communist China, communist North Korea, and even communist Cuba, does the church grow. As long as the church is apathetic to God and government, does the government allow the churches to thrive. It is the home churches, the small, excited, devoted groups that governments detest.

The Christian witness is most vital when standing where it is hardest to stand, before family, friends, neighbors, civic groups, political groups. It is becoming increasingly difficult to stand tall in your church, I find most churches are just whispering, whimpering, winless, profligates of habit.

The soldier of the cross has a real hunger for God's Word...teaching and preaching, he regards each day as a gift, each minute and interaction between him, the creature, and his Creator. This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24) There are 86,400 seconds in each day, everyone has many things to do if you are as busy as you should be. We are all given the same number of seconds, we need to find time in each day to celebrate our relationship with Christ. There is no argument about His sovereignty, His word. For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. (Psalm 119:89) God knew what He was doing when He chose weak, frail, failed human beings to carry His cross, but He does not need cowards. Humility is the greatest sign of character. I never scored a touchdown, never hit a home run, never made a hole-in-one, never honored with a congressional medal, never took a bullet for anyone, but the things I have done, I try to do well. I stand amazed and ashamed that I could not have done better. I know I was chosen, and I know that the One who died for me, deserves better than I have given Him.

Your stand will often be costly, cost family, friends, popularity, business. Because, if you are truly saved, a born again child of God, you are different: transformed, not conformed (Romans 12:1-2), and most people do not want to be different. We are all captives of the world, the flesh, the devil. Most just want to be different in the church house, perhaps even in the court house, or our relative's house. He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:8) Walking humbly with God, all the time, to date, is not as difficult as threatened by martyrdom. The first century church, the church of Pergamum, Antipas, was difficult because of the Pharisees and Romans, church and state, were equally cruel. Because of men like Jefferson, who went all the way to Connecticut to speak at the Danbury Baptist church on the separation of church and state, we have the freedom to speak in church, freedom to even criticize the church and state. The Christian's allegiance is to the Christ who saved him, God of glory Who gave us this country, and our willingness and ability to God and country.

In speaking, I have used many times the apostle Thomas, and the tradition that his knees were gnarled from spending so much time in prayer. Having traveled to India many times, I think of his knees walking that great distance, from the Holy Land to India, across the treacherous Himalayas, and then martyred while proclaiming Christ at Chennai in India. He must have had some converts, in this country, then as now, Hindu/pagan Gods because someone lives to report his stand for Christ.

Anagogic

The word anagogic is unfamiliar to most people, even academics, only the spiritual, the believer in the supernatural, the one who has a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit of God, can know the mystical, scriptural interpretation connecting the believer with God. Our redemption is personal, only the forgiven can understand forgiveness, until you have been forgiven, until you have a relationship with God through Christ, you cannot preach, teach, or even write about this soul-cleansing experience. Only then, can you understand anagogic.

I have found in a long life of knowing “baby Christians”, those who have been Bible students for many years, and even theologians, that when it comes to religion, most people are just playing games with God. They do not know what they believe, nor can they explain what they believe. We do what we do because we believe what we believe, whether pretending in comfort on a Sunday morning or becoming a martyr, knowing the reality of faith. 85% of all people questioned said they believe they will go to heaven when they die, most of these people who think they will go to heaven when they die, know nothing about heaven. It is just a romantic thought, against the otherwise awful alternative. No one thinks he is going to hell, and no one thinks anyone he knows is going to hell. In the greatest sermon ever preached, the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5,6,7), Christ himself said, “broad is the way that leads to destruction, and narrow is the way that leads to live eternal.” Remember, of the billions on earth at the time of the Great Flood, only 8 survived, we do not know how many were in Sodom when the fire fell, when destruction came to the city. But only Lot and his wife survived, she looked back, there is a reason that God put in the scripture, almost isolated from anything else, “remember Lot's wife” (Luke 17:32).

The only book in the world dictated by god, a book that has every answer, that most who think that they are going to heaven, totally ignore, Paul's letter to the Hebrews reminds us to study God's word (Hebrews 4:12). We have for our instruction, revelation not speculation. The real Christian knows God, and God knows that Christian.

I thought of the above as I studied the 8 Christians killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan on August 5th. As most of you know, I am a trained, licensed eye doctor, army medical officer, and I was in school with an eye doctor by the name of Little. His father was also an eye doctor, practicing in Canada, and the one who was killed in Afghanistan, along with other doctors in his group were from New York. Dr. Tom Little, like Dr. Jim Elliot (killed in Ecuador), knew the real meaning of taking the healing arts to those who needed them most. Their healing hands came from healing hearts, evidently Dr. Little had been in Afghanistan for more than 40 years, providing eye care, along with other doctors providing other care. His wife, in America, making arrangements for the birth of their grandchild, said, “We had 40 wonderful years together — of serving together, all those years, doing what we thought we should do. And that’s enough for a life “

“He worked in an area that had terrible problems with glaucoma and was a help to thousands of people” said Rev. Lawrence Roff, of the First Presbyterian Church of Schenectady. Little moved to Afghanistan in the late 1970s and operated vision clinics and eye hospitals through one crisis after another. The Little family survived the Soviet invasion, the shelling of Kabul, endured a long civil war, and suffered through the rise of the Taliban regime. A Taliban spokesman told The Associated Press in Pakistan that his group killed the eight foreigners and two Afghan interpreters because they were spying for the US and preaching Christianity.

Tom’s wife made it clear that this was their ministry. It was their way of serving God by serving those in need, this was not a short-term, two-week trip that some make on occasion. This was a lifetime of serving others. It even included having their children with them and at times avoiding rocket attacks and worse. As Libby put it, “100 rockets was a good day.”

The God haters of the world, the pretenders and counterfeits, who play around with the church and God, “just in care there is something to it,” will never understand the anagogics involved in that 13 inch distance between the brain and the heart of man. Why should bright, beautiful people give their lives on the alter of sacrifice to others when they could have a comfortable existence otherwise? When the holy spirit of God transforms you, and you become a new creation, you will not care what others think, your joy comes from serving God...”wherever he leads, I'll go.” (Hymn, B.B. McKinney)

Rest In Peace, Dr. Tom Little and your fellow Christians.

Cell Phone vs Bible (Repost)

#13

Addition by Dr. Morris: I grew up at a time, and in a country community, where there was only one telephone for miles. It was at my cousin's country store. When he went to deliver a message you could know it was bad news, or if someone went to the store to make a phone call, you knew it was bad news. The person was calling the funeral home, the hospital, or the doctor's office. At the country store, most people had never seen a telephone, never talked on a phone. There was one phone in the schoolhouse, and a phone in the “teach ridge” (nearby building where the teachers lived). So, the students would divide and get the experience of using a phone from that short distance.

My only child's family, Dr. John Morris, were SBC missionaries to South Korea, at the time of the Korean war, there was nothing in Korea. But, he says that now the country is entirely technological, every one is talking on a phone. Technology has changed the world, but not human nature.

Most of my ancestors never knew anything about a telephone, but they did have the answer book, the Bible, God's word. Thank God I was raised by a family, and in a community, and at a time, when individuals knew the happiness of a relationship with God...direct line of communication, never busy, never on hold, divine power sources for any emergency.

I wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone.

What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
What if we flipped through it several times a day?
What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?
What if we gave it to our kids as gifts?
What if we used it when we traveled?
What if we used it in case of emergency?
This is something to make you go... .hmm...where IS my Bible?

Oh, and one more thing. Unlike our cell phone, we don't have to worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the Bill...and no dropped calls!

Myth and Truth

In this day when 86% of Americans, when polled, claim to be Christian and only 1-15% claim to be Atheist, we find that 60-70% of the 86% are either Atheist or Agnostic and will not admit it. How else could the most liberal, pro-abortion Democrat in history be elected President. How else could he get 54% “Christian/Roman Catholic” vote? If the Catholic vote were Christian, if the members of Congress who claim to be Catholic were Christian, if members of the Cabinet who are Catholic were Christian, if members of the Federal Court System (including the Supreme Court (6 Catholic, 2 Jewish)) who are Catholic were Christian, there would be no controversy at all about abortion and same sex marriage. With 70% of the American electorate being Roman Catholic, if they voted their Catholic theology, no question would be asked about liberal Democrat promotions of evil. Voters would take care of the problem. If Christians, Catholic, Protestants, Baptists, etc. were real Christians and voted their convictions, there would not be problems with the evils of abortion and same sex marriage. If the Christians of this country, if the Christians of this world, lived their Christian faith before others, the world would be converted to Christ.

It is obvious to the non-Christian (Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, etc) that professors of Christianity are not possessors of Christ. With so many pretenders, it's no mystery there are so few 'defenders of the truth' and so many believers in myths. (cults, Agnostics, Gnostic etc.)

Dr. Peter Kreeft, Catholic apologist, author of 45 books on theology, was converted to Catholicism from being Calvinist, after exploring the church. The "central and deciding" factor for his conversion was "the Church's claim to be the one Church historically founded by Christ." For he applies C. S. Lewis's trilemma -- either Jesus is a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord -- to the Church: "either that this is the most arrogant, blasphemous and wicked claim imaginable, if it is not true, or else that He is just what He claims to be." History has been marked by men and women, saints of God, who hung their very lives on the fact that He (Jesus) was who He claimed to be and was worthy of their life's devotion. In Bucharest, Romania, one of the most rewarding experiences of my life was meeting a British Missionary, Jeremiah Balscom, in 1974 during the Ceausescu reign (Nicolae Ceausescu was in power from 1967-1989. His reign of power ended on December 25, 1989 when he and his wife were executed by firing squad) Jeremiah was pleading with the government for release of Christians from the famed prison, Târgovişte, where Ceausescu and his wife were later executed. Jeremiah was sent to Romania by the Mission Board of World Missions. He told me that he and his group were praying for the conversion of Ceausescu before someone killed him. He said, “He has a soul. Jesus died for him too.” When I got word of Ceausescu's killing by the Romanians, I wondered if a Missionary ever got to him. I feel sure that Jeremiah and other members of his group probably died in a Romanian prison, as have so many Christian missionaries around the world. Get used to it, you will hear of Christian martyrdom as never before in history.

One thing that Jeremiah Balscom visited on my soul, which lives with me continually until this very day, was his absolute devotion to Jesus Christ. He told me how he observed our Lord's supper every day of his life. He said, “If I were Roman Catholic, I would make my way to the church every day to partake of the Eucharist. As a Protestant, it is just as important to remember Calvary every day and what he did for us on the cross.” He said, “Every morning I have a time of prayer, take a little bread and a little wine, in remembrance of his sacrifice. (Isiah 53) I truly believe that Jesus Christ died for our healing (the bread) as well as for our sins (the wine) and by knowing that by his stripes we are healed, and by his shed blood our sins are forgiven, I can face anything that happens in my day.”

I studied his actions, as well as God's word, and I started this worship every day of my life, even as I did this morning at 5 am. There are mornings, when I partake of the bread and wine (His body, His blood) and I am so enthralled by his Holy Spirit, that I can hardly sit on the stool where this takes place. The truth is the truth whether anyone believes it or not. The truth of Christ's redemption is not a matter of conjecture and when you know the truth, the truth shall set you free (John 8:32) You will be free of doubts and fears. You will be free of the myths of evolution, totalitarianism, and the other man-made philosophies that will keep you from being the believer you should be and expressing the faith you should have. I believe that raw faith is 90% courage; you will have the courage of your convictions and will not be ashamed to display the hope within you. I believe that 'faith' is a verb, action based on belief, sustained by confidence. If the world, could see the faith of real Christians, the world would be converted and certainly, our nation would not be on the slide to Communism. You have brought up your children to believe in myths; comic book characters, Da Vinci Code creations, television masquerades. Young minds may not recognize truth, but they recognize myths and hypocrisy. The church, (I'm talking about the church established in Acts 2, the day of Pentecost) instead of living the blessed faith of Jesus Christ, and thereby changing the world, has allowed the world to change the church by embracing most of the myths and compromising with the cults in the name of tolerance of every spiritual, political, and physical 'doubt-fest' promulgated by Satanic controlled media, corporate and academic propogation. The church decided, long ago, that it knew more than God. So, we became cafeteria Catholics, buffet Baptists, mere mortals deciding what they want to think and believe, instead of depending on what God has said.

-Blessed are the ears that catch the accents of divine whispering, and pay no heed to the murmurings of this world. Blessed indeed are the ears that listen, not to the voice which sounds without, but to the truth which teaches within. (Imitation of Christ, Book 3, Chapter 1, Thomas à Kempis)