Business As Usual

When you look in the mirror, don't hate the mirror because you are ugly. The mirror is not going to change, nor will the world. The only one who can change anything, yourself or the world, is looking back at you.

Today's born again real Christian patriot has many reasons for discouragement, especially one Army war veteran, totally blind, 100% disabled.

This week, I learned that one Christian college campus where I have given so much of my funds, as unto God, (endowment loan fund in six figures, endowment heritage fund in six figures, awards to students, staff, faculty, pastors, and other workers, much more money than I ever spend on myself.) Two rapes on the campus in residence halls. (girls “hanging out”, according to the newspaper, in boys rooms) What a bitter pill for me to swallow, what a bitter pill for those poor country church people who have supported this school with church suppers, etc.

In India, and I have traveled through India many times, always, without fail, a large bird sits on the back of a Water Buffalo, feasting on the insects which pester the Buffalo. This is called a symbiotic relationship. We have such evidence throughout nature, even in microbiology.

Modern day America, preachers ride on the backs of politicians. Jezebel, priest of Baal, praying, cutting themselves, were sincere... sincerely wrong, with tax exemption. (each preacher has a number, each building codified) There is an unholy alliance such as the Catholic Pope crowning Kings. Always, without fail, the ecumenical-evangelical priest-preacher associates Hitler's favorite chapter, Romans 10. The Oral Roberts, Jimmy Bakers, Joel Osteen's and probably your preacher, gets the religion he wants and the world wants.

With any Pharaoh, you must gain more by overthrowing a regime than you gain by staying under bondage in the same regime.

A perfect example of world conditions, present day occupiers. They represent everything wrong in today's world - pride, anger, slothfulness, lack of hygiene and healthcare, lust and, most of all, envy. These people show the same decadence-morality of the world, no shame or embarrassment about anything... physical indecency, spiritually profaneness but, of these, mostly young people is there any difference from the hyenas of banking. Children, putting there parents on welfare roles, such as medicaid in order to preserve their wealth for their own use (parents net worth of millions placed on medicaid so their children can inherit their wealth.)

Jon Corzine, billionaire, former governor of New Jersey, manager of hedge fund Capital Management, has probably stolen $600 million from depositors but, you can be sure, he will not serve one day in jail, and his friend, President Obama, will bail out the fund. Why do these occupiers not protest decadence in congress and their democrat party? (last year, congressional democrats increased their stock portfolio value 750%... just from insider trading (It is not unlawful for congress people to use insider trading practices))

Perhaps the occupiers are following the example of the Christian church, failing to resist the adversary-satin, regardless of the cost, in spite of the world, the flesh, the devil. With Christians, if the salt has lost it's savour, what good is it except to be trodden under foot. (Matthew 5:13) The congressional political whores give long speeches about their hatred of taxes, what would happen if they loved taxes?

Nimrod, great grandson of Noah, attempted to rule the world with the great tower of Babel. (equivalent of today's bilderbergers) His heirs, Semiramis (wife) , supposedly had an immaculate conception of a male child referred to as a “sun god”. There have been other self-proclaimed sun gods... Louis XIV. At Louis XIV funeral at Nortre Dame, the Cardinal, looking at the gold casket, the large burning candle lighting up the splendor of the cathedral and those in attendance, snuffed out the candle. “He thought he was the sun god but now knows darkness like the rest of us” I fully believe Mr. Obama and other of today's world leaders, feel they are gods. But the God of the universe, who knew space before there was space, who measures the height of the Himalayas with His fingers “will not be mocked” (Galatians 6:7) Mr. Obama, his ilk, all those who hate God, pretenders and prostitutes, may not give answers to occupiers or others, but will answer to Him. (Ezekial 22:26)

A Pender county, NC Sheriff located a Mexican alien fitting the description who robbed a 7 eleven store. He put his revolver to his side and said, “You look like the robber of the grocery store”. The alien said, “No speak English” The sheriff called to a friend who understood Spanish, and said, “Interpret for me. Ask this man if he robbed the store”. The friend said yes, he said he robbed the store. “Tell him that if he does not tell me where the money is located, I will fill his guts with lead”. The interpreter reported to the sheriff that the robber said, “I hid the money”. The sheriff said, “I will shoot him if he does not tell me where it is hid”. The robber told the interpreter where the money was hid. But the interpreter told the sheriff, he said ,”go ahead and shoot”. So it is with occupiers, people who work for a living, real Christians who want a better world... business as usual.

Bundling

In colonial America, what seems strange to the oldest of us must seem weird and mystical to the youngest of us.

Early colonial homes, conservation of space, quilts, beds were often shared. This was known as Bundling. I'm sure they were feather beds. A partition down the middle of the bed “supposedly” limiting intimacy. I am told this took place during “courting”. There were no vehicles, for one reason or another, a male courting a female could not return home at night. Often it was a matter of age, visitors. Perhaps this is where the many stories about traveling salesmen originated.

I still remember the partition down the middle of our country church. The females sat on the left side of the church and the males on the right side. A wooden separation barrier ran down the pews. “Young fellas” on the right might sneak a wink at the girls on the left. The only place my married ancestors sat together was at the side of the pulpit (The amen corner) I am not sure how old my ancestors couples were, before they were allowed to sit together.

In the early southern, rural churches, just as in the early, southern movie theatres, a balcony at the rear where the blacks sat. The only time, in my old country church that the married couples, both black and white, sat together, was at a funeral. It seems that at this time of sadness, barriers were taken down.

We are not sure about the Bundling techniques of the bedroom, anymore than we are informed about the Bundling techniques of the smoke-filled rooms of the political camps.

There have been many great mysteries of mind in my life. I have never understood how certain people obtained political significance... how they actually found enough people to vote for them to gain office. Some of the least competent less intelligent people I have known actually were elected.

In colonial America, even George Washington just stood for office. They were asked by their fellow citizens to stand for office. It was simply a matter of paying a filing fee. Political expenses such as advertising were almost unknown, certainly no more than posters, flyers, billboards. I well remember the first political advertisements on radio. We thought these people had lost their minds begging voters to vote for them and, then, big time organizations. Politicians actually going into the communities to meet and greet people, give speeches.

I well remember, this veteran asked to introduce politicians to civic groups, veterans groups.

In a politician's resume, his flyer, early newspaper ads, an always smiling photograph of the candidate, a list of his/her community involvement. It was very necessary for them to have a church membership, served his/her country as a veteran, member of civic clubs, social clubs (Elk, Moose, Masons, etc). and, always must be a family person. Of course, in the big cities, unions and organized labor played a tremendous part. Among the democrats, machine politics such as Tammany Hall in New York, Daley in Chicago, Pendergast in St. Louis, etc. Corruption in politics keeping campaign workers in line, getting out the vote, promises of future jobs, importance of ethnic minorities, giving blacks “walking around money” for their vote has become a matter of American duplicity. Absorption of the tremendous money involved is attributed to the state-controlled media. In my lifetime, a local politician, even US Representative or Senator could run a respectable political campaign with just a few thousand dollars. Now, if you cannot raise millions, you are out of the game.

Joseph Kennedy, rich from bootlegging, womanizer, embarrassment to America at the court of Saint James, father of JFK and RFK, so deceitful, that Eleanor Roosevelt would not even attend the inauguration of JFK because she refused to sit on the platform with his father. Joseph Kennedy said there are 3 rules for success in politics Rule #1 money, Rule #2 money, Rule #3 more money. Obama bought the last presidency just as Clinton bought his presidency... the cost about $1Billion.

Federal, state, even local elections depend almost completely on money. Locally, I supported a man who I never expected to win with my vote and some money. Now, I find he does not have a job, is messed up with a strange woman, his fellow politicians asking him to resign. This shows what can happen when you do not investigate, incompetence can win.

Representative Ron Paul is the only candidate running for president, either party, worthy of the job. His legal advisor, Bruce Fein said it all. “He is the only candidate in the field who understands and practices the constitutional principles and philosophy of the Founding Fathers that made this nation a government of the people, by the people, for the people. He is the only candidate who knows that limited government and war are antonyms, not synonyms. He is the only candidate who repudiates aimless, endless wars at extravagant expense. And Dr. Paul is the only candidate that recognizes that the glory of a Republic is liberty, not domination.”

Bruce Fein is the last person I would have thought Paul would have picked as his adviser. But, then, Paul recognizes talent, temperament, trials. Such legal expertise is usually not found in the head of one person... national, international, all aspects of government. Now I understand that his brilliant mind has been used and abused so that he can well serve Paul.

Pity, an embarrassment, that North Carolina's first incompetent woman governor does not have such an adviser.

I still remember those model “A” Fords, drivers being paid a few dollars for work, bringing in registered voters from the hinterlands and swamps of the county. Whites being given a plate of Barbecue, blacks a candy bar and a Pepsi, for letting someone mark their ballot a certain way. Politics is a dirty, grimy, grisly business. Perhaps, the last fledglings of Bundling.

Authenticity

The poet Alfred Tennyson said, “knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.”
It is so refreshing to find a person of wisdom. We all can find knowledge, when I was young it was the Encyclopedia Britannica, now most of the knowledge of the world is at your fingertips, awaiting to be rescued, on the screen of your computer. Every book, (even the library of the British Museum) every author, every artist, transparency of the world, but it is the wise person, man or woman, who can digest all this knowledge available, an incalculable formula, and come out with an authentic, learned, time-tested result.

The authentic is not easily found, amidst the reproductions, the imitations by skilled scam-artists. Disputes over canvas hanging in galleries are almost commonplace, it takes a skilled eye to recognize the brush strokes, the integrity of the real. No one wants a blind doctor, so I have spent most of my mature life doing other things: securities, real estate, collectibles. In the antique-collectibles business I tell my assistants (on whose eyes I must depend), “the collectors with whom we do business know what they are doing. They do not spend big bucks on fakes, they want the authentic.” If you are selling an antiquarian, first-edition book, a malformed letter in a word, better be on a certain page. It is better to have a precious stone with a flaw, the stamp on a piece of silver, every letter on a certain recording, every flaw line in a map better be genuine. The best friend of a collector is the magnifying glass, the world has become accustomed to scam-artists, it does not cost to read about them, but it is a desperate expense to be taken by one.

It is refreshing indeed to find authentic politicians, those not wishy-washy, politically correct in everything they say. It is refreshing to find authentic Christians, even people of character, those who know they are a new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5). Those who know that pornography is not sex, that booseing and bantering is not a social life.

The Amish came to Pennsylvania in 1730, more so than most, they have tried to separate themselves from the world. The world of ease and progress, instead of zippers they have buttons and snaps, instead of vehicles they have horses and buggies. But, on going down the highway at night on their wagon or buggy, they will have a large light on the front of their buggy, so that the horse will see where they are going. It is difficult to live in the world, not divorced from the world. It is difficult not to encounter the unauthentic, physical, secular or spiritual.

God expects an attitude adjustment with the saved as well as the sinners. Hating the sinned, it is so easy to turn away the sinner. It is difficult to be in the world, but not of the world...to be an authentic new creation in Christ.

I was telling one of my friends about picking up a hitchhiker, I hitchhiked so much in my youth trying to get around, I hate to pass anyone. I picked up a man (let me say in beginning that I am very particular about my car; the sign of a real man is a clean car), and without asking, the man lit a cigarette and flicked the ashes on the floor of my car, not even using the ashtray. I stopped my car and asked him to get out, I knew anyone with so little intelligence would not understand my explanation for my wanting him to exit. My friend told me about picking up a stranger, a hitchhiker; my friend, a smoker, offered the rider a cigarette, the rider said, “if god wanted me to smoke, he would have made me with a smoke stack.” My friend stopped his car and said,”if god wanted you to ride, he would have made you with wheels.”

When do we show our authenticity about everything? Do they just assume the present, world-accepted position, “anything goes”? Where are the boundary lines? Where are the accepted rules of behavior? Do we fail to authenticate anything?

We're in the flesh, nothing very saintly about any of us, many of us get through life just name-dropping. Not who you are, but who you know. Never knowing the struggle, doing everything necessary for the position. The most authentic action of any person is to show appreciation, a very rare action anymore. It is so cheap to hear someone in a fast-food place say, “have a good day.” Most of these people could care less what kind of day you have. When you give a large gift anywhere, anytime you do expect some sign of appreciation, shall I tell you how many scholarships and awards I have given and never been shown any form of recognition from the recipient?

A grandmother told me recently that she did not have one child, one grandchild to mention her final arrangement to her. It would make me feel so good, to know they are concerned about my concern. Maybe they just think the city trash department will come and pick me up.

The last years of your life cost more than all the rest put together, you should have learned by now not to depend on your government, I could tell you the uselessness of trust departments of banks, or your church.

One of my neighbors died, one of the most wonderful men I have ever known, graduate of Williams college, long life of service to his community. There were three people at his funeral: myself, his neighbor on the other side, and the man who cared for him in his last years. Not one member of his family, not one member of his church.

Authenticity is not just in things, antiques, stamps on silver, stamps on gold, paintings on canvas signatures, notary public signatures, but authenticity with our dealings with those created in the image of God, our fellow human beings, whether related or not. Authenticity extend to business practices (doctors, lawyers, realtors, bankers, accountants, licensed professionals on whom you should be able to depend), authenticity extends to politicians (those who profess to be concerned about you, enough for you to vote), authenticity extend to pastors, preachers, fellow believers. If the believer is not authentic, he is no better than the unbeliever, the agnostic or atheist who does not pretend to have character or integrity.

Prophet of Thebes

On one of my trips through Egypt I spent considerable time at Thebes in the Valley of the Kings. The great temple of Ramses, with magnificent columns beyond compare has weathered many centuries. I saw one column from the Ramses Temple in Place de la Concorde in Paris, one in Hyde Park in London and one in Central Park, New York City. Egypt sharing this treasury of antiquity with other great cities.

Tiresias was the blind prophet of Thebes, born to a lowly shepherd, he had listened to the messages of the wind sweeping through the sands of the great Sahara Desert (the size of the United States) compensating for his blindness by the acute awareness of the messages of nature by his other senses. This blind writer can associate himself with Tiresias because he, too, must get messages from all sources. Today, if in America 5,000 years later, he would say, “What has happened to your country?”, a country discovered by a Christian explorer trying to escape the paralyzing ossification of the Muslim hordes who had invaded Spain. Puritans, undergoing immeasurable suffering on the shores of this inhospitable country just seeking religious freedom and the opportunity for responsible living.

America, having achieved the wealth and super power status of history's greatest republic now finds itself entangled in a world of political correctness.

In the historic and very liberal state of Massachusetts, a second grade child was sent to see a psychiatrist because his teacher, having instructed the students to make a Christmas drawing, objected to him drawing Christ on the cross. The liberals in Massachusetts and elsewhere, have done everything possible to take Christ totally out of Christmas. Recent nativity scenes, first showed the baby in the manger as being a black child but since have put Santa Claus in the manger.

In a remote Colombian village, untouched previously by the Gospel, with great effort, a missionary had translated the Gospel of John into their native language. At first, the chief objected to the interference but later the natives, having seen the Gospel in their own language, received the “good news” with gratitude. This was further embraced when one of the village women died during child birth (she was buried under her bed). The surviving girl baby was near death and the village had spent much time in prayer to their false God. Then, the desperately ill baby needing formula to survive so they decided to pray to the God of the Gospel of John. The missionary who had first introduced them to this new translation had been lead to bring formula to them on his trip. The entire village, reportedly, was converted because of this one incredibly difficult translation.

In Santa Rosa County Florida, a court decision promoted by the ACLU, has forced public school teachers to go into the closet to pray about any matter. No public prayer is permitted. Recently, congressional influence was sought in a continued dispute with the ACLU to allow military chaplains to use the name of Jesus Christ in prayer.

With all these, and other matters, involving the constitutional rights of Christians, most churches have remained silent. Most pastors basking behind the firewall of political correctness, unwilling to defend the redeemer who's atonement, once and for all, paid the price for their freedom (John 8:32). And, most inside the church and outside the church have demonstrated how little they care for the thousands who died to give religious liberty (126,000 buried on foreign soil). One of my cousins was superintendent of a Baptist orphanage. He told me of an abusive father, court ordered, to bring his small son to the orphanage for care. The abusive father brought the small boy to the orphanage. My cousin, the orphanage superintendent, had to pry the child's fingers away from the father, who, although he had been abused, was still clinging to him. It is time for Americans to cling to the Constitution with such tenacity that we will have to be pried away from it.

I'm sorry to report that most of today's fathers are just wimps. Our forefathers would not have allowed their daughters on the streets with tattoos, piercings and clothing which make them look like common street hookers. Our forefathers would not have allowed their sons on the streets with trousers hanging down, underwear sticking out, making them look like common homosexual hookers. If an invading army had come into this country with the trash and pornography found in every living room via television and internet we would be on a war footing.

95% of all high school graduates do not believe in any truth at all. Those who go onto college, even though reared in church and filled with doubts and fears, disassociate themselves from all religious beliefs. Then comes Oprah, with her new age religions or witchcraft (fastest growing religion in America), and Satan has done his job. Then, we have 68% of all children in homes without fathers (80% black), 3,000 abortions everyday (1,400 black) and preachers, such as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Louis Farrakhan proclaiming, “Obama is the black Messiah, listen to him.”

White ministers have become more interested in their “pastoral package” than in shepherding the flock. Franklin Graham told his staff recently that he was cutting back his reported salary of $1.2 million. Another T.V. evangelist, Kenneth Copeland, reportedly a billionaire, travels in a jet worth $3.6 million. Dateline reveals that T.V. healer, Benny Hinn's salary is between one half and one million a year.

The Marie Antoinette of American economic depression, Nancy Pelosi, who flies around the world on her taxpayer-provided jet, as well as the black Messiah, Barack Obama, flying around the world in a fleet of taxpayer-supported jets, have little empathy for the many peasants who can barely pay their heating bills in this time of “global warming”. “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. “ (Romans 6:12). These words of God ,written by the Apostle Paul in a Roman prison, apply to pastors and politicians, as well as peasants. I thought of this when Senator Kennedy was eulogized by the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic church. The Gaither's said it best in their song “ I Believe, Help Thou My Unbelief”. The blind prophet of Thebes, Tiresias, would say, “America has come too far to stop believing in itself.”