Smoke and Mirrors

I saw the play David Copperfield on Broadway, I have seen several of the great magicians such as Doug Henning. We have all heard of Houdini, these magicians utilize smoke and mirrors in order to fool the audience. Today's politicians should know that the public is aware of their smoke and mirrors act.

Life has become a daily activity with smoke and mirrors. Day to day, week to week, you cannot predict what will happen next. Somebody has said that life is a hectic interlude in an otherwise peaceful nonexistence.

On the farm, my hardworking parents faced the daily trials of insects and weather. By the time the crops began growing out of the ground, there were already insects trying to eat the greenery, if not an insect, a new disease of some type. And every time a storm cloud came, blackness, thunder and lightning in the sky, you did not know what would be left in the fields after the storm.

I have yet to send one repairman to a building and not have him notify me of damage he has found from original poor construction, water seepage, termites or some other pest, rot, or neglect of some sort. Life becomes a calculated series of minor and major disasters. Most of these problems are financial disasters. I don't know how the average person, without faith, lives to survive these problems, the risk involved, always looking for answers. Those who you'd expect to be able to give advice seldom have advice to give; everyone is caught in the same bind. I walk everyday by faith, not sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). How I wish there were someone around who could always tell me what to do, on whose advice I could depend. In this self-centered world, the “me generation”, you learn to depend on divine guidance, the One who knows the beginning as well as the end of the parade. I have spoken of just physical things, even more important, medical, spiritual, or emotional trauma.

When we walk through the fire, we get tougher, impurities come out. Money is not the answer, so many lose their health seeking wealth. Money is like drinking seawater, the more you have, the more you want.

Liberal ministers and church members have told me time and time again, “I don't like to be preached to, I don't like people who 'pound' on the bible.” I often point out the most strict scriptural preacher you will ever read, Jesus himself, his woes as found in Matthew 23. Can you even imagine anything more specific than this: “Ye serpents, Ye generation of vipers. How can ye escape the damnation of hell.” (Matthew 23:33) The word woe means “pitiful”, he speaks of hypocrites, the only word not allowed in the US House of Representatives is the word “hypocrite”. Even our forefathers, those who wrote the rules of the House of Representatives, knew that most there would be hypocrites. It is from the Old Testament, and many people do not like to apply the Old testament to them. God dictated every word of the Old Testament, inspired, inerrant, just as He did the New Testament, sovereign. Read Deuteronomy, the 28th chapter, the cursing and blessings. Listen to what he told the Jews: “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth“ (Deuteronomy 28:1)

I was in Kashmir, the country being fought over constantly by Pakistan and India. It is one of the God's chosen beauty spots in the world, more beautiful than I could possibly describe. As in so many beautiful places, unspoiled by civilization, the people were poor and delightful. The house boy on the house boat where I was living, want me to visit his aged grandfather. He was a remarkable man of delightful intellect, having lived as a boy in England, he spoke perfect English. He said, “so doctor, you are a army medical officer, you have a superior education, what then?” I told him about my aspirations for service, always he would come back, “what then?” I would say that I would like to have a family, and then he would say, “what then?” I said that I wanted to be successful, make much money so I could help others, “what then?” I said I would like to get old and be an inspiration to others; “what then?” I said, then, I suppose I will die; “what then?” He said, “only when you live everyday as if it is your last, you are ready to live.” He said, “believe me, in just a short time you will be my age: 90. At 80, I fully realized the intelligence of this wonderful man of India.”

The average person treats life as a soap opera, thinking that each day is a continuation, a never-ending saga. Not just the stock market, not just real estate transactions, not just disease that can enter the body, not just fire or some other disaster, we live every minute facing...what then?

On the radio, on the first day of the Afghanistan war, I said, “these people in Washington have never seen the Hindu Kush mountains...the most anguishing heights of the Himalayas. From the time of Rudyard Kipling, the British, the Russians, no one has been able to conquer this land. I remember the first time I saw the Khyber pass, a camel train was coming through the mountain pass, just as it had done two thousand years before. The tribal people were still living in huts, riding on donkeys. These people can survive drones...can wait for years until their last enemy surrenders.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German Lutheran minister, went to the gallows in 1945, like so many Jewish and Catholic ministers in Nazi Germany, stripped naked, still walking erect, he said, “I never received much encouragement from my church.” He knew, as you will learn, not to expect much from others, that God and His mercy is all that you need.

This totally blind writer can honestly say, “I do not believe anyone can prove otherwise, that I ever received one letter, one word of encouragement, during my long life, living alone, totally disabled, giving the largest part of my income to church and church-related activities, awards and scholarships. But that is nothing, these are just people, people who do not thank God for anything.

I visited my wife's uncle about 50 years ago, he and his wife lived in a very small house, very poor. He told me of his once wealthy lifestyle, they had owned a large hotel complex in a Texas resort on the Gulf of Mexico. A huge tidal wave, tsunami, had erased all his property, worth millions, from the face of the earth. He thought he had insurance on the property, but the insurance, to his sorrow, did not cover such a loss. His only words, “always read your insurance policies very carefully. We all know that insurance policies are written by lawyers, and only lawyers can understand them. They are all filled with loopholes, insurance is for selling not for paying. The great hotels in Las Vegas, were built by losers. I have never collected from any insurance policy of any type, at any time, without a fight.”

Insurance, like your government promises, like warfare, like the daily challenges of living in an unpredictable world, all smoke and mirrors. Now you can understand why everyone wants to work for the government, the whole world is caught up in an enticing, risk-free aroma of entitlements.