Narrow-Minded

In 1938, the movie Jezebel opened in New York, the stars were Bette Davis and Henry Fonda. In the movie, Jezebel said, “I have wicked hands.” As we know from the scripture, when the prophet Jehu threw her wicked body down on the street from the balcony, even the dogs would not eat her hands. Traveling from Paris to Nice, I talked at length with a young man who had been a student traveling in America during the 60's, during the hippie movement. He had a sickening attitude towards America and Americans. Hitchhiking across the country as a student, he had come in contact with absolute perversion. He told about riding in a van with some hippies, their decadent lifestyle, his exposure to the very worst in human depravity. Now, to him because of his trip through this country, this was his impression of Americans.

I have been described as narrow-minded my entire life because I honestly believe that human beings are better than that portrayed on the movie screen, or the hippies who brought humankind down to a new low.

The Apostle Paul, an example of everything good and decent in the religious world, as well as many secular men, have taught us that our lives are “living epistles”. When we cease to be evangelical in our lives and actions, we certainly cease to be Christian.

In my lifetime, I have seen young people call good “bad”, nastiness “nice”...it is like saying that cancer is “health”. Turned upside down, politicians make a mockery of decency. Government is more a matter of sorcery than concern.

In this recent Haiti earthquake disaster, so many who wish to help are hesitant because of the hypocrisy involved...organizations who take out a big cut of contributions for overpaid employees (Red Cross, Catholic charities, etc.). It was announced just yesterday, that last year, government largess to Haiti amounted to $500 million. But, under the tutelage of Bill Clinton, only about 12% went to the people. Can one even imagine, in this time of Wall Street bonuses and corporate bail outs, the amount of money given for this disaster that will go into the pockets of the greedy instead of the needy? Just think of the two worst presidents in recent history, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, both international crooks, being appointed by the President to direct all aid in this disaster. In Kenya, years ago, I had dinner one evening with the chief United Nations representative for Africa. He had invited me and the president of a Dusseldorf medical school to eat with him. In the course of the evening I asked, “How much of the largess from the western world...government funds, private funds...actually ever reaches the people I see in the markets and the hovels of Africa?” He said, “This is the tragedy of Africa, it is all a matter of the greed of the dictators. Before I can even go to a country's leader and ask to set up a program to relieve suffering, I first have to go to the duty-free store at the international airport, load up with liquor and gifts for he and his family, then agree to appoint paid family members to any board, before he will even talk with me about anything.” He said, “About one percent of the largess of the “giving” world actually ever reaches those who really need it.”

But, to talk about these things shows you are not politically correct. As in giving to any charity, any church, any ministry, you owe it to yourself, and to the God who gives you the means for giving, to investigate. The charlatans of the world, “wolves in sheep's clothing”, are not easily recognized. They do not go around with signs on them and, much to my sorrow, governments do a very poor job with oversight in this area, as well with every other.

After the last hurricane in this area, the Baptist men of North Carolina set up a cooking facility at Winter Park Baptist Church where they prepared food for the distressed. I owed a black man, who had done some work for me, some money. He and his wife came by to get paid. They lived in an adjacent county and had been untouched by the hurricane. But, they told me that they come into the city, to that church, everyday to get food...food for their dogs and hogs. They said everyone in their community comes and loads up. She said, “Our dogs really love that chicken stew.”

I called the local Baptist center and related what I knew. This sissy, prissy preacher said, “We just hope we help some.” He did not ask where I lived, if I needed assistance, anything about my situation. To criticize the Benny Hinns, the Paul Crouches, etc., of the world, makes me narrow-minded. I well know how well many ministries, Christian colleges, evangelical groups, live from the worship offerings God's people have given for God's work. Again, the world is upside down. The attitude of servitude, as shown by Christ, puts others first, self last. General William Booth of the Salvation Army said, “I got the poor and dispossessed on my mind; then I could not get them out of my heart.” Your mission field is the ground on which you are standing.

Immorality has become a matter of status...you cannot listen to a television or radio program without hearing homosexuality, the gay lifestyle or marital infidelity mentioned several times. Think of trying to introduce the unsaved to Christ's redemption and the perils of sin's ruin when that person knows the hypocrisy of most churchgoers (estimate 5% church members are real Christians, 20% church members never participate in any service). Gay pastors, gay bishops, child molestation, common knowledge as found in the Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopal, Methodist, and other churches. It is a narrow-minded preacher, or Christian, who brings these facts forward. We are expected to overlook such condemnation in God's word. Real Fathers, real ministers of the gospel, need to get the lace off their shorts and become real men, proclaiming the realness of the narrow way that leads to life eternal, or the broad (broad-minded) way that leads to eternal destruction.

In the early years of Baylor University (Baptist, Waco, Texas), twenty students were asked to leave the University, during a Christian service one morning, by the President because they had been caught smoking cigarettes. At Wake Forest, at a student dance, the professors walked around with rulers to make sure the male and female students stayed one foot away from one another. At Meredith Baptist College, even when my cousins were there, the girls could not wear black, patent leather slippers because there would be reflections under her skirt. To today's promiscuous parents and their children, this seems extreme. But, during those years, fifty percent of the girls did not have STD's, and there was little pregnancy on campus. Nor did girls think tattoos and piercings were attractive. Nor did young men think that illegal drugs and effeminate attitudes were attractive.

It may seem narrow-minded, but I honestly believe our population, Christian or non-Christian, needs shock treatment, not tranquilizers.

This morning, the world is in disbelief that even the liberal, Kennedy Konniving Klan (KKK) state of Massachusetts has awakened. The early pilgrim status states of our forefathers, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Virginia...home of the founders...in recent elections have decided that the liberal, Marxist-Democrat party doctrines are leading this great nation on the broad-minded road to disaster. John Adams said that blasphemy against the Holy Scripture in the state of Massachusetts should be punished. Is this narrow-minded?