Central Bank of Venus

The younger of my two grandsons, a student at a Christian university, was visiting me. Since his grandparents, parents, and his brother had all been active in Christian activities on campus, I asked him what type Christian organizations he was involved with on campus (Union University, Jackson TN)? He said, “I do what I can on campus and at the local church, but they are all just pretenders.”

In my lifetime, I have seen pretension/acting leave the stage and take over in almost all life activities. The government, with an accrued debt including entitlements of $60 trillion, pretends that there is global warming. We have politicians who actually pretend that our government is in good financial condition.

As a 95 year-old, wheelchair-bound woman with cancer is humiliated with her adult diaper at an airport, we pretend that Homeland Security has our safety at heart. According to the Wall Street Journal, 76% of our population feels that we are going in the wrong direction, but at the same time we are supposed to have confidence in our government. Throughout history, every economy has been built on confidence. With 47 million citizens on food stamps, we pretend about our prosperity (how many times have you heard someone say, “we are the richest nation in the world”?).

With Medicare, Medicaid, the US Postal Service, etc. in bankruptcy, we pretend that the government can better handle our healthcare. With three hot wars and other minor conflicts all over the world, America pretends that she is still a superpower. With a meltdown in Greece, with Europe imploding, with the entire world depending on their borrowing from China, we might as well pretend that there is a great central bank on Venus from which we can borrow the necessary funds to keep our social programs, education, military entanglements, and banking fiascoes afloat.

Mr. Obama is the biggest trainwreck in history, but the train track was laid by George W. Bush. I thought that my country had hit rock-bottom as Monica Lewinsky testified in the well of the US Senate about the President-turned-dirtbag by the name of William Clinton. Of course, Bill Clinton is still on the job, traveling the world, making speeches and millions, and God only knows what else, as his Communist wife, the Secretary of State, provokes America's engagement in conflicts. America will never recover from the presidency of Clinton, Bush 43 and Obama.

Cicero said that a country can recover from a poor leader, and even fools in power, but can never survive treason.” A greater treason than that of secular power is the treason of spiritual power. The world has not realized it yet, but it will; especially in America, with a skyline of church steeples and God referred to in so many songs. In history, honored on the buildings at the nation's capital, pretension by political leaders, how many times have you heard politicians, academicians, the powerbrokers of industry and the secular media use these words: “God bless you”? People who have no knowledge of God, no relationship with the Son of God, people who do everything in the world except please God, insulting real Christians, insulting the memory of real saints, insulting the cornerstones on which this democratic republic was built by pretending their belief in God. Much like those who use God's name in vain (the most unforgivable act of mankind, using God's name in vain in cursing and profanity) and loving the false idols in their world of pretension.

Until the 15^th century, before the invention of the printing press, when the common man's knowledge of scripture was restricted to the word read aloud in churches (the few Bibles were so scarce and expensive, that the average man had never seen one). The King James Bible, unequaled in authenticity, prose, the greatest advance to protestants. In earlier centuries, men might be excused for not knowing better; but now, in the 21^st century, the Word of God available to anyone for reading, for hearing, ignorance is not an excuse anymore. I am convinced that the answer for every problem in the world is found in God's Word. I am convinced that the Word of God will heal anyone of disease. For the sick, just sit and read God's Word and you will improve.

The problem is these pretending pastors, pretending priests, pretending parents. Children recognize the pretension of their parents regarding spiritual, as well as secular, activity. The totally inept, lost hearer of a preacher or pastor might not recognize his pretension, but the erstwhile (formerly lost) bought and paid for child of God, recognizes the fake or flake in the pulpit. I can talk with a minister of the Gospel for 15 minutes and know—without fear of contradiction—if he is genuine. The greater problem: so-called Christian colleges, seminaries, Bible schools...the blind attempting to lead the blind. The greatest disappointment of my life was giving tremendous amounts of money to Christian institutions (colleges, churches and ministries) just to learn that they are playing games with me, God and themselves.

Even in the small country school house, farm children learned to pretend, learned to perform in public. Parents from the farmyard, the fields and woods of farmland love to see their children in crepe paper and other costumes pretending to be something which they are not, even silent movies offered entertainment. The important thing is keeping the real form the imaginary, important to know the three R's, very important in crepe paper, to dance like a fairy or flower. Nothing is as important in human development as human beings learning to perform together (bands, orchestras, choirs, plays). Whether on the Broadway stage or a great amphitheater in mid-America, performing and pretending are a vital part of the American experience, but with age and maturity, we learn to leave the real acting and pretending to professionals.

Remarkable in pretending is losing insecurity. Although raised in Pharaoh's household and raised as Pharaoh's son, God assisted Moses in losing his insecurity before going to Pharaoh. (Exodus 3:10) As America, the world, rapidly slips down the slope of financial ruin, in spite of the hope of financial deliverance from the great banking system on Venus or somewhere up there. The knowledge will be indisputable, the redemption of America, the world, only comes from one Source, now as in the beginning, the almighty hand of the One who set this earth spinning on its axis in the beginning. Pretend, if you wish, at your own risk.

Hippocratic Sleuths

My mother and grandmother talked a lot about their remarkable country doctor, Dr. Lonny Hayes. It was the great Flu Epidemic of 1918, the epidemic that claimed 100 million lives around the world, penetrating even the Arctic and the islands of the South Pacific. This was before the time of the automobile, the telephone. The rural community in which my parents (their grandparents and great grandparents before them) were reared was probably about 30 miles in diameter. When Dr. Hayes came on the scene (by horse and buggy) there were entire families dying from the dreaded disease.

This physician, the only hope of these country people, used my ancient family home at the crossroads for his hospital. This house, having survived the Civil War, still stands at the crossroads, strong and elegant. My grandmother said, “when the coughing started, the men in the community, those not sick or buried, would began building another coffin, because the person with the cough would soon be in a grave.” These gallant country people knew nothing about isolation/quarantine or sanitation. From forebearers who had faced sickness before, they did the best they could with what they had. The news was out in the county/state about the desolation in this community, and people stayed away because they could not afford to be contaminated. Dr. Hayes retired to his home in a nearby town...to die of the disease which he had so valiantly fought.

When I visited Guadalcanal in the South Pacific (where American ships still stick out of the water from the great sea battles there) I could not help but think of my uncle, my mother's brother, a combat veteran there. He never stopped talking about these great south sea battles against the Japanese. Always at the top of his memory was the army medical officer who, with assistance from the native nurses, worked night and day without sleep attempting to save the wounded, military and civilian.

From sea to shining sea, America has a romantic devotion to the healthcare practitioner. Next to the pastor, the family doctor is honored in life and death as an American family heritage. Since the time of Hippocrates (the father of western medicine), in every area of the world, grateful patients have gladly paid with their money as well as with their hearts for the altruistic doctor-patient relationship. They loved their doctor and felt their doctor deserved a good standard of living, a better lifestyle than the average worker.

In my lifetime, I have seen the doctor-patient relationship change completely. It is not just welfare programs, Obamacare, “getting a second opinion”, the drug advertisements via television, and the fact that health-care has become a business, and not a calling. Assembly line healthcare started in my lifetime...cubicles up and down a long hallway, the first stop: weight; second stop: blood pressure. Small rooms, all the same, a desk and chair for the doctor, chair and examining table for the patient, the procedures always the same in any facility, always the same questions, always more time spent obtaining financial information than examining the patient.

You hear the talking heads, the physician-hosted television shows say over and over, “talk with your doctor about this-or-that”, but by the time you go through the menu of buttons on the telephone just to get an appointment, jumping through the hoops of paperwork, maligning by technicians, you are fortunate if the doctor even looks at you, and doubly blessed if he ever touches you. It all a matter of counting seconds on the pay clock. Every figure, word, instrument, paying the great cost of 21^st century care. Never an industrial assembly line so well greased as the 21^st century practitioner's clinic.

The patient is glad to see modern medicine, modern equipment and ideas, glad to see the doctor and his staff living better than most of us. But, one thing never changes, the patient has a sixth sense that recognizes the difference between Hippocratic care and hypocritical care. We know when we are just being run through the mill, having our pocketbooks massaged.

The doctor and his staff have forgotten that the patient needs their care at a time of distress, not only on their well-oiled appointment schedule...a time of “check-up”. God tells us, even if the clinic staff does not understand, that it is the sick that need the physician, not the healthy. (Matthew 9:12) Exercising every rudiment of prevention, utilizing every supplement, being careful in everything you do, the human body will still get sick, always unexpectedly, always at a bad time for both patient and doctor. Would it not be wonderful if we could carefully plan or sickness? Would it not be wonderful if the doctor could carefully plan every day of his or her life, stick to his routine/schedule, so that sick people would not interfere with his or her golf games, his or her family trips, his or her seminars?

There is not a patient on earth any more cognizant of health problems than this writer (exercising, taking supplements). In this day of weird healthcare practices and practitioners, I try to stay away from them as much as possible. I want any practitioner to know that if he sees me it is not because I want him to see me, I am there because I need to be there.

One week ago I became very ill, never so much pain. During good times, on pleasant occasions, both of my doctors had made the same statement, “you are about the age of my father and I treat you exactly like my father.” Strange, but both were out of the office and I couldn't get an emergency contact with either! With the internist, and the totally unconcerned office help, I received the response, “if you come in, a nurse or an assistant (PA) will see you.” Adding to my physical pain: the psychological trauma of technicians calling me, talking with me about the result of tests about which they had no earthly idea, one actually told me that my cancer had reoccurred, that I would probably have trouble walking, and that I should seek pain management! Until I obtained written reports, they had me in a state of shock.

After suffering with the physical and psychological trauma of this new illness, I went to this clinic of over 60 doctors, a hubbub of pathology and paperwork. My driver got me in to see the receptionist, totally unconcerned about patients, and I told her I was there to see a doctor. She said, “they are all busy, we have told you that on the phone.” I said to her, “I am sitting here in this office until I am seen, and I will call the local television station so they can film me sitting here. I want the entire world to see how you treat a decorated veteran, a long-time patient who has always paid his bill in this clinic.” Then, things began to happen.

Barry Goldwater said, “extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.” The healthcare professions have not realized that many wounds are soaked in prayer, that there are many doctors, nurses, technicians who will pay a big price for their indifference (payday, some day). Many external bruises finally appear from internal bruising. The bruising of unconcern which many patients experience from the unprofessional alchemy visited on the wayfarer , the stranger/neighbor in a land of opportunity and responsibility. Servitude is an unknown credit in the souls of the fortunate.

Historically, ancient doctors were slaves. The disciple Luke was a slave before he became a companion to God. Hanged from an olive tree in Greece, he like his fellow disciples, like all those who knew discipleship, desired integrity. In the Obama healthcare plan, spies will be sent into professional healthcare offices to determine how patients are treated. Much like the 2006 German film, The Lives of Others, about the 1984 espionage activities in Germany, it will not take Wikileaks or Homeland Security to disclose how those who receive most of their money from tax dollars are treating the public.

More rapidly than we can imagine, the zeal of Islam, the ideology and doctrine of Muslims has been accepted. Behind the curtain, beyond the screen, the Sharia law against abortion, homosexuality, use of tobacco, use of alcohol (illegal recreational drugs), diet restrictions, sports restrictions, modesty, racial and religious courage, is enforcing the public's acceptance of Islam...the fear of expressing a racial or Islamic bias, even in professional healthcare.

The time has come for a complete evaluation of American healthcare. With the attacks on Obamacare, it may very well be that the opposition to the present ideals of the profession's take-it-or-leave-it approach may bring on the Hippocratic sleuths of discontent. Lets face it, Hippocrates, Joseph Lister, William Mayo, Michael DeBakey would never recognize today's healthcare/public-relations office practices.

Dr. Walter Reece Berryhill, the Dean of the School of Medicine UNC-CH while I was there, said to me, “scripture tells us that the love of money is the root of all evil. (1 Timothy 6:10)” ...government largess, welfare programs and insurance policies were a new thing back then...“ the doctor will not be satisfied with a country ham or basket of potatoes. The years he spent preparing makes him believe that he should be as well-paid as the banker or the industrialist. His family likes nice things too. Money will zap the zeal for zealotry.”

Along For The Ride

A friend/cousin, age 84 (three years older than me) said recently, “have you noticed that so many people in this world are just along for the ride. Never interested in anything, just taking up space in a crowded world, willing and ready to go along with just anything. Never ready to express an opinion, having lived an entire live in the “never, never land” of indifference.“

A fellow army doctor, exactly the same age as me, born on the same day as me, was on leave after the Korean war, we were driving to New York City so he could apply for a fellowship at Manhattan's Presbyterian hospital. This was in 1957, the first Billy Graham crusade was being held in Madison Square Garden at the time and we had trouble finding a place to stay in New York because of the crowds. This young doctor, one of the cleanest men I have ever known, brilliant, good-looking, I never heard a word of slang in his vocabulary, was a committed atheist. He had told me several times that he could not understand my allegiance to the church, and when I expressed my desire to attend the crusade while in New York City, he said, “I should go with you because of your disability, but nothing said there will affect me.” Later, he expressed to me his total disappointment with the church, the hypocrisy of the church as in most cases, the reason he had nothing to do with God. He said, “if the church, if those who call themselves Christians actually believed what they profess, they would stand up as an army against the killing of the unborn, the most atrocious murder in the world.” Now, this was long before the 1973 Supreme Court decision, but as a obstetrics- gynecologist specialist, he had participated in many abortions at the army hospitals.

In another commentary, I have related the first abortion I ever witnessed, and how I wish this experience could be wiped from my memory...the little body of this baby being crushed inside the mother, the little hands, little feet, being taken out of the mother with forceps. There is not one scintilla, not one synapse in my brain, in my thinking that people on this earth who support such an atrocity should not be allowed to call themselves Christian, to just go along for the ride as a member the political party called Democrats, or sit with indifference on the pew of any Christian church.

If there are Democrats, members of teacher's unions, industrial unions, government bureaucrat organizations, who can just go along for the ride in supporting such atrocity, thinking that God will hold them innocent in their subjective ignorance, then they are physically, morally, spiritually, intellectually deceived, such deception is hatched out in hell by Satan himself, and they are going along for the ride, in denial that they know the true facts of such subversion. If those supporting such a holocaust, aiding and abetting such with their union dues, party contributions, even votes, are so deceived then we might as well open the prison gates and give amnesty to all prisoners.

From the very beginning, God instilled in the souls of every human being certain natural laws. There is not a paleontologist who ever discovered a civilization, and there are no records of any historic civilization discovered, where certain basic natural laws were not in evidence. Long before Sinai, men knew that they should not murder, steal one another's things, take another man's wife or children, the tragedy is we should not have to have laws to force us to do what is right.

Years ago, as a voracious reader, often I could not wait to see how the story of a book was going to turn out. Often I would turn to the back and read the last chapter. The Book of all books, the Word of God (the answer Book, guide Book, Manufacturer's Handbook) gives us the conclusion, the answers in the last book of the Bible and we know that believers in His Word are winners in spite of the world history of unbelief, the world, the flesh, the devil.

Particularly today, with today's secular, state-controlled news, with the politically-correct, “end justifies the means”, communist system of Obama and his ilk, you may choose to live just a “blah” existence. Gorging your indifferent self on the trash of regurgitated television, distortions of the internet, fitting yourself into the inept majority, just along for the ride, tragic that with just one life to live, just one ride on the merry-go-round, you do not choose to use your God-given ability or whatever talent you possess to make a difference in the world, to have the faith, courage of standing gallantly with those who realize the importance of God's magnificent plan for separated lives.

A recent movie, No Strings Attached, tells us again, as if we did not already know, about how most young people just shack up...only 20% of all couples living together are married. Most American homes have just become halfway houses, filling stations, having forgotten the corporate culture of togetherness. There was a time when families ate together, a corporate attitude of togetherness in a business, attitude of togetherness in a school, a city. The home team advantage is very real, the greatest weapon in the military arsenal is that of esprit de corp, addictive togetherness of the members of a military group. The most humbling spirit of any family, classroom, military unit: “he is one of us, we take care of our own”. Blood is thicker than water, and the weakest family member is cared for as much as the strongest.

The soul is always healed by being with children; it is with the child, the disabled, the elderly, the weak, that we realize that none of us are just along for the ride. Read the books, watch the movies, listen to the sermons, visit with others who can help reveal the best version of yourself.

Old Fogies

Recently, a pastor friend of mine said to me, “you are just an old fogie.” I had just said to him that statistics prove that 91% of all “supposed” Christians do not have a Biblical perspective on life.

Often, young people will talk to me about things which they know should be exposed, which they know are wrong, and which they know will bother them the rest of their lives. A young man told me about a police chief at Wrightsville Beach...I later had the chance to meet the man. He said, “on this beach where so many illegal drugs are circulating, so many college students using illegal drugs such as marijuana, when he and his officers make a raid, he always confiscates the illegals.” The students know ahead of time what he will say, the news has got around, “if you do not want to go to jail, you will stay quiet about this. I will dispose of the drugs. Since you are young, with your whole life is ahead of you, I am going to forget about this incident.” Of course, then what happens? He and his law enforcement officers sell the drugs to someone else. Once or twice a year, this chief would make a big public-relations deal for the “secular, sick, socialist” news media saying he was burning all these drugs that he had “confiscated” at the incinerator.

To the uninitiated, everything is obscure. For the uninitiated, stupid, older voters in this beach town, these practices from the pit of hell continued because they did not know, and they did not want to know about the corruption in their government. Most young people know about the corruption in government, have little respect for law enforcement, judiciary, politicians or pastors, and feel that corruption and hypocrisy is the rule and not the exception. For the rest of our lives, we see it on every hand, locally, state-wide, federal, we will spend our lives just trying to protect ourselves from those hired to protect us.

Further, in discussing law enforcement at this beach town where I owned ten rental units. Since I am totally blind, I cannot always see what is going on, but hear much. I understood that there was a house of drug-dealing across the street from me. One of my neighbors told me that young people would ride up on their bicycle, and leave with drugs wrapped in toilet paper. I knew that police were involved so I went to see the woman commissioner responsible for the police department. I asked her not to involve me because of my physical condition, but she did anyways. One of my neighbors who had difficulty sleeping at night because of a stroke, would sit in the dark and watch the streets. She told me that she saw two police officers put an icepick into my tires. Of course, this was many years ago, but I still have a house there, and the conditions have not changed.

For a long time, farming communities across the nation could predict “corn knee-high by the fourth of July”. This year, there is very little corn growing in the nation. As I have written a thousand times over the years, God talks to us, but we do not listen. Not just in climate changes, but a total change in morality. This year, solar flares, unusual winds from many directions, over-land hurricanes (tornadoes), drought (Texas) and floods (mid-America) just arriving anywhere, anytime, usually without warning, such as this week's tornadoes at Churchill Downs, Kentucky and earlier this month in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Old fogies trusted in the grace of God, but for several generations now: witchcraft. JK Rowling's Harry Potter book has became the Bible of the new-age crowd. Printed in 40 countries, movies still being released, Harry Potter merchandise taking over the market. Adults, who at one time received guidance from God's Word are now reading Harry Potter. A recent poll tells us that a 20 year-old male has spent thousands of hours playing video games. Witchcraft is even recognized in the military, wiccan chaplains.

“I am for socialism, disarmament, and, ultimately, for abolishing the state itself... I seek the social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class, and the sole control of those who produce wealth. Communism is the goal.” Roger Baldwin, founder of the ACLU, could not imagine when he made this statement, how fast Americans would grab at it.

Neutral you cannot be, agnosticism and globalism is on the attack. We know that old fogies are not welcomed at the courthouse, schoolhouse, church house, or I am sorry to say, many times, even their own house, by their own families. The Christian, the patriot is becoming an endangered specie. Our fellow citizens groping and groveling in the deceitfulness of Satanic nonsense, wanting to please the world. The politician, pastor, parent, all seek to please the world.

The one great sharing experience of those who have aged: being able to remember America the beautiful, land of the free, home of the brave, people rejoicing in opportunity, even the responsibility of decent living while aging.

Psychic Jujitsu

Around 1880, psychology became identified as independent discipline from the science of philosophy. The “study of the mind” began much earlier as a branch of metaphysics with philosophers such as Immanuel Kant. The first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders was published in 1952, about the time I was graduating from college. At that time, psychology was a very new discipline of study; the early psychologists were “weird” at best. The first manual of mental disorders listed 106 mental disorders and was only 130 pages long...the most recent edition lists 297 disorders and contains 886 pages. Some mental disorders, 60 years ago, such as homosexuality and transvestism that were considered abnormal then, are now considered normal (pedophilia is still considered a mental disorder).

Grappling in the choreography of obedience has always been a dangerous dance. Early religious instructions: behold, to obey is better than sacrifice. (1 Samuel 15:22) No matter how much we compromise, no matter what multisyllabic name we give to sin, no matter what type veneer we put on sin in order to make it acceptable, evil is still sin, and sin is still evil; wrong will never be right, and right will never be wrong.

I cannot remember his name, but he wrote one of the first textbooks on psychology. I remember very well attending one of the early, fundamental efforts to ground the study of psychology in the professions (This was at the time when educational films were still found on reels, played through movie projectors). He and several other psychologists and psychiatrists were attempting to promote the new discipline of psychology as a profession at the university. There were several educators in the room representing many different professional groups. During the course of the lecture, something went wrong with the projector, and he began to bang on the projector and slap it around. I said to the educator sitting next to me, “his actions give credibility to his profession.”

Through compromise, through disobedience, by the age-old communist excuse, “the end justifies the means” and political correctness...even at the Catholic university in Washington DC, there are co-ed dorms for students. The excuse: “young women have a civilizing effect on young men.” After all, today's college students have a “hook-up culture” replete with binge drinking...why not live together in the same dorm? As one young husband told me, as he surveyed his cadre of golfing friends, “it makes me sick to think that my wife went to bed with most of my male acquaintances.”

In most churches, repentance and redemption are little known...members just cycle in and out of fellowship. In most areas of the financial world, all wealth is on paper, one man's asset is another man's debt, if the debt cannot be paid, the lender just owns an expensive piece of paper. About 1/3 of the world's population has a cancer diagnosis. Most cancer could be prevented through exercise and calorie-restriction, but you do not hear much about cancer prevention because so much of this country's economy depends the unconquered disease of cancer.

With a great sucking sound, America's industry moved abroad. Walmart's parking lots are jam-packed by shoppers rushing to buy Chinese junk. Now, economic zones have been established, the Chinese exports will be manufactured and purchased here, such as at the 50-square mile Chinese city, being built south of Boise, Idaho. You will note that former Senator Christopher Dodd, many years publicized as the most corrupt official in Washington DC, is a lobbyist for the Chinese government.

In the study of psychology we find that habits lead to routine, that routine develops character, and that character determines destination. The results of our destination at the state house, court house, school house, church house, your house shows that we have been willing to allow Satan and his minions to take advantage of the fact that we are not interested in obedience; that the best versions of ourselves, presented to God himself, show a complete lack of morality, integrity and belief in the Creator of the universe, the merciful God of grace and glory. We do what we do because we believe what we believe. Our actions, everywhere, every day, show our unbelief. Think of it, the Creator of the universe, forgiving every sin, wanting to give us eternal life, available in every life decision, relegated and regulated through traditions, symbols, mysticism.

God has given us what we need in order to do what He wants us to do. Who do we think we are fooling? We may fool our family, members of our church, in just “giving lip-service” to God. Don't you think He knows your heart? You may fool your neighbors, your fellow citizens in your whoredom of patriotism...just to get a government job, just to get a government check, just to be more popular among the world, but will you sell your country, as in supporting the Democrat party, as a coward of the Cross, a coward of the Constitution?

Bamboozled

Alex Haley's Roots was one of the most memorable books and movies of the last century. In this great movie/book, a black slave (Kunta Kinte) was beaten by the slavemaster in an effort to get him to take another name, Toby. This black man, beaten until he died, still proclaimed his name.

Many Americans my age (81) feel that we are standing absolutely naked in a state of alternating “chills and fever”. Having been stripped of all privacy in the promise of safety, we know full well that we have neither. As you cling to your faith, remember that God loves fanatics. The world, the flesh, the devil will put you through a gauntlet of trials because of your Christianity and patriotism. It is up to you not to get bamboozled, but you should not be surprised, we have been promised such. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. (1 Peter 4:12)

Like the black slaves, like those clouds of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1) who suffered tortures that you and I will never know, we cling to promises. Your fellow citizens, having elected such characters as Waters, Weiner, Wrangle, Biden, Frans, Pelosi, Obama, only know the deceit and whims of this present world.

In their decadent, drunken stupor, the powers of darkness in the world have made it almost impossible for most citizens to live...social security, healthcare...Medicare and Medicaid are all broke. The US Postal Service is broke, income down $8.5 billion last year, even with the “forever stamps”. Many of us remember, in the city, when there were both morning and afternoon mail deliveries. Every agency of government, broke, and inept to the extreme. I understand that all the computers in the commerce department were recently replaced because of hacking, and so it has been with almost every government agency (VA, State Department, even the White House).

15,000 Lybians have been killed since NATO tried to promote a no-fly zone and safety for protesters. We have seen the grief in Tripoli and other bombed cities: parents walking towards a grave carrying a child wrapped in a white burial cloth. Obama assured Egypt a $1 billion loan, the longest war in history coming to an end with our defeat, and the turning over of a battered nation over to the enemy. The nation of Iraq was destroyed while attempting to eliminate Saddam Hussein. Think of the time, treasure, lives, that would have been saved if he had been eliminated in the same way that Osama bin Laden was “supposedly” killed.

90% of all federal government actions are unconstitutional; there is 98% conviction rate in all federal courts. So you feel you get a fair trial at the federal court house? Insanity prevails. With the new Obama healthcare, you buy health insurance after you get sick. With so many things in government, it is like buying insurance after your house has already burned down...the veteran attempting to get help from the government after his disability, 245,000 widows attempting to get help after losing a husband. Those who have paid the price for government compassion seldom get such. It is only those with their nose in the trough...politicians, bureaucrats, welfare recipients, even illegal citizens, who enjoy the ever-fading largess of America.

Whether at the state house, courthouse, schoolhouse, church house, God is not mocked. (Galatians 6:7) History is replete with men and women who have depended on the mercies of God in spite of being bamboozled by the world, the flesh, the devil. George Muller of England was such a man. At the age of 14 he was just a drunk, a thief and a liar, having just lost his mother. But through a marvelous conversion and marriage he became a pastor and provider of a home for orphans with orphanages all across England. Under Muller at least 10,000 orphans were cared for, and education given to over 120,000 orphans. He is best known for his total dependence on prayer. Once, when all the children where at the table for breakfast, but there was no food in the building, miraculously, a baker came knocking on the door with bread for all of them.

The wars in which America is involved will eventually come to an end. The rotten despicable advertisements for erectile dysfunction, vaginal crèmes, “forever male” will eventually stop. Sin-stricken Democrats will eventually come to their senses regarding abortion, same-sex marriage and ludicrous taxation. Sissy-prissy, lost, so-called “pastors” will be jerked into a knot through the wrath of God. The evil philanders of the world (bankers, Bilderbergers, hawkers of evil...pornography, drugs, terrorism) will be put in their place by decent human beings who have been bamboozled. God will eventually say, “enough is enough.”

Primitive man thought a sling-shot and certainly a bow-and-arrow were great inventions. When I was young, the typewriter was a marvel, the television was miraculous. The magnetism from a cell phone will kill a tomato plant, the chemicals in the public water system, the plastics leeching into all wrapped foods, the glutanates and genetically-modified convenience have all taken their toll on life and mental ability. You must teach truth, particularly moral truth...the essence of your identity.

From the Barbershop

A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects.

When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: 'I don't believe that God exists.' 'Why do you say that?' asked the customer. 'Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things.'

The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop.

Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair
and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and unkempt. The customer turned back and entered the barbershop again and he said to the barber:

'You know what? Barbers do not exist.' 'How can you say that?' asked the surprised
barber. 'I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!'

'No!' the customer exclaimed. 'Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no
people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside.'

'Ah, but barbers DO exist! That's what happens when people do not come to me.'

'Exactly!' affirmed the customer. 'That's the point! God, too, DOES exist! That's what happens when people do not go to Him and don't look to Him for help. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world.'

Addition by Dr. Morris:

Until I went to college, no one had ever cut my hair except my father. My father was a farmer, a large successful farmer, but his success, like the success of most people, was built around the around the one, never-failing concept of hard work. He farmed during the week, but cut hair at a local barbershop on weekends.

Just before his funeral, at the large family church built by his ancestors, and attended by my grandparents/great grandparents, the funeral director came over and handed me a card that had been attached to one of the many large wreaths. Totally blind since the war, I could not read the card, but just stuck it in my pocket. Later someone read it to me, it was from one of his customers, the local senator and legislator. "In memorial to the only man who was concerned about my soul. The only man who ever asked me about my relationship with Jesus Christ." You see, he farmed, cut hair, did many other things, but his chief interest was in the salvation of souls.

As a child, and that was many years ago, in my home and community, there was little challenge about faith in God. It was only after I matriculated at the university, was exposed to the hordes and whores of hell who teach in these places, that I began to question my religious beliefs. As always, the deceiver, the tempter, as with Eve, from the very beginning, asked questions about why God does not give us sublime knowledge about everything. God is truth and will teach us the truth if we let Him. (John 17:17, John 8:32)

It is all a matter of grace, and His grace is sufficient. His grace was sufficient to settle this matter of inequality at the cross. Every time I encounter a disabled human being, a handicapped pet, some other form of imperfection, instead of asking why, we should ask: why not? Why have I spent most of my life as a blind person; when because of my education, training, I could have done so much more than I have done.

Books have been written on the subject, but God shows the grace of His beings through His workmanship. For we are His workmanship (Ephesians 2:10), living epistles...ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men (2 Corinthians 3:2)

Intersecting Roadways

The Eiffel Tower, one of the wonders of the world, built in Paris in 1889, or the great ferris wheel of Earl's Court in London, built in 1895, or the Empire State Building in New York City, built in 1931; with these and other such landmarks of height built all over the world, at the top people with eyes can see for miles around. Now, I have been to all three, the Eiffel Tower, the Great Ferris Wheel, and the Empire State Building, but I have never been to the top because I do not like heights. I have traveled the globe many times by plane, at much greater height, but I had no other choice if I were to go on these long trips than to fly.

I had a choice about going to the top of these tall structures and I chose not to go because I have a morbid fear of heights (acrophobia). I remember so well helping my father put the roof on a barn, up a long ladder. I was scared to death, but I did not let him know because I did not want him to think he had raised a sissy.

Viewing intersecting streets, roads, crossroads, both in an urban and rural setting, you realize that most activity occurs at the crossroads. Across America, across any country of the world, always without fail, at the crossroads you find all human activity...stores, schoolhouses, church houses, garages (and before that, a blacksmith's), meeting halls for fraternal and other groups. It is easy to pinpoint a location in a city where each street has a name, but in the countryside each crossroads had a name, usually for some family who owned most of the land around the area.

More vitality was given to the crossroads if a train track came through (or later, an airport). If enough businesses and residencies grew up around the intersection, eventually it became a town. Early American towns and cities were built on waterways, rivers and bays. Before trains and trucks it was ships who provided commerce and methods of travel. The loading wharf was the center of civic activity. It is only when you study political geography that you realize pragmatic economics, how industry and agro-business grew and built this great system of free enterprise called America.

50% of all people living in the hinterlands, farm areas, have moved into the cities. Even in foreign countries such as India, cities such as Bombay and Calcutta are choked with an onslaught of people moving from the countryside. In my many travels through India, I never ceased to be amazed at the shantytowns, the poverty of the great cities. But they all made it eventually, moving up the chain in prosperity as others climbed up the ladder behind them. In India you still have rickshaws. One rickshaws runner, an old man, told me that he made a good living taking people like me from place to place. He said, “somedays I don't make much, somedays nothing, but then someone like you comes along and pays me along with a tip.” This is commerce, people willing to work. It still goes on in India and China as it once did in America.

We have forgotten the distinction between private character and public character. Character is what you do when no one is looking. To date, neither government, your neighbors, or your friends watch what you do in your own home. We have rapidly lost the work ethic because we have so many who just want to sit at home and do nothing...live off of the taxes of others because they do not know the joy of accomplishment, the passion and honor of labor.

Same with so many activities at the crossroads...the store, where young clerks cannot make the simplest change without a calculator. Same at the schoolhouse, always built at the center of traffic, and “child-raising activity”. You are forced to send your children to schools, forced to pay the taxes to support the schools, what redress do you have if your children do not learn anything at the school?

Same at the church house, having lost the essence of worship, the tares having taken over the church. The human propensity is towards sin not away from sin. (Philippians 2:15) You are unable to tell (their dress, their language, their commitment) the difference in those at the church house, from those at the clubhouse (private social clubs, country clubs, fraternal organizations).

Mid-twentieth century, every crossroads community, every town of any size, set aside athletic/sports fields. At first, families and onlookers would just stand around outside of the field itself. Then, some enterprising community member built stands where they could sit, then came stadiums, arenas. Larger public areas became lavish golf courses, soccer fields, etc.

The nexus for athletes, businessmen, politicians, pastors: preparation and encouragement at home and at school. Each crossroads community, as it grew into a village, town or city, could justifiably take pride in it's development, its streets, sidewalks, traffic lights, public places (parks, assembly halls, libraries although until this minute, the largest minority of the population, the disabled, are not able to participate in these areas even though they pay their taxes to support such), likewise any municipality could take pride in sons and daughters raised there, becoming outstanding in some area of endeavor.

Each municipality, each division of landmass, assuredly wanted its best to represent them anywhere and everywhere, most certainly in government. How did we reach the place in which we find ourselves: corruption in government, the greed of business, hypocrisy in religion, failure in education. Somewhere, somehow, everyone started taking shortcuts. I found in my own town, with prolific traffic, if you do not know the shortcuts you do not get many places very fast!

Dietrich Bonhoffer, Lutheran preacher, hanged naked by the Nazis toward the end of WWII, said, “it is a righteous man that lives for the next generation.” In all our doing, we forgot to drain the swamp to give our communities necessary cleansing.

One of my neighbors, a 95 year-old man, sent for me. the newspaper at his death determined him to be a founder of the community, persistently wanting “the best for everyone”. I remember so well him saying to me, “it is too late for me, but I wish I had given myself, my time, my wealth in sustaining your ideals, your conservatism in faith and actions, these are the only things which will restore the country to the greatness which it once had.”

Hegelian Dialectics

In the Hegelian dialectic method of conversation, there are three stages, you have thesis, antithesis and synthesis. My thesis, blind eyes studying the condition of the world: why has God allowed the churches, those who know better than to cross the line, support such evident world decadence? At least there was a time that the world, the flesh, the devil and those human beings controlled by such had the decency to stay out of the church. Now, brazen, indifferent, shameless...the gay agenda is working its will in every church, from the largest to the smallest. You cannot always tell who they are, in the old cowboy movies the “bad guys” wore dark hats, the “good guys” wore white hats.

There are churches, people who wrap themselves in a cloak of Christianity, so called “Christians” operating under a tent of church activity, who accept the most horrendous act of God-defiance: the killing of the most innocent of life in the abortion holocaust. There are denominations that put homosexual pastors and bishops in pulpits. There are denominations, particularly black churches, who support politicians and a political party that supports evil, knowing that their God-fearing, hard-working, taxpaying members and the descendants of these members for many generations, are loaded with a tax burden increasing at $4 billion each day!

It is so simple to understand, in the first chapter of God's Word, Genesis 1:6-9, everything is separated, water from land, darkness from light, all systematically, all perfect, and then God rested. History is marked by His treatment of those who refused to obey, refused to separate...the Flood, captivity by enemies, laws and prophets. With Christ there is no confusion about our lifestyle, Christ himself said, “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.“ (Mark 8:34)

Surely, anyone with sense enough to read God's Word, anyone who matriculated through a Bible college or seminary should realize that the church has gone over the line with its music, apparel, and activities. “If gold rusts, what do you expect iron to do?”

God talks with us, but very few listen. Perhaps His judgment has already started...world-wide climate changes, incomparable disasters, fires, floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, atmospheric phenomena. You will not hear much talk on secular, socialistic news commentary about such, but it is time for people to prepare for survival. Basic survival skills are a matter of food and water. Those who prepare ahead-of-time, both mentally and physically, may make it through the dilemma.

Start now...walking, limiting food intake, exercise (there will be no fuel, no vehicles, lucky people will have a bicycle). Learn to live around stupid people, if they were smart, we would not have the leaders we have now. Learn to defend yourself...you think we have gangs now, just wait until there are roves of hungry, desperate people roaming the streets.

In other commentaries, I have talked about being on some of the islands of the world such as the Seychelles where the populace is at the mercy of tyrants. I do not believe the men of America have realized what it will be like to defend their homes, their wives, their daughters. The most basic level of survival is just food, water and shelter, but on the second level of survival, lifestyle activities to which we are spoiled might slowly come into existence. Remember that this could go on for years. Every area, every scintilla of our life activities depends on energy. Just think of what your life will be like without electricity, only the energy that you, yourself, can produce.

The city of Washington DC has not been touched by this great depression we are in now. We send our tax dollars there...there is little unemployment, few foreclosures. The federal government has underground bunkers to house its employee, 176 million MREs (meals, ready-to-eat) have been stored. As bleak as it sounds, from the beginning God gave us hope and assurance in Him. He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great. (Luke 6:48-49)

The modernist, liberal unbeliever, those who trust man more than God, in church or out, know nothing about building on a firm foundation. In my lifetime, I have seen people around me grabbing for government checks instead of the promises of God. In eastern North Carolina, poor black and white sharecroppers, tenant farmers, cotton-mill workers, people who just took the crumbs from the table, but raced to vote for more-of-the-same from promise giving/breaking Democrats who know full well just how far the line has been crossed.

One lady said there are more Baptists than birds in eastern North Carolina. God has continued to care for the birds, but the Baptists threw their weight behind the decadent Democrat party. Baptist churches know better than to support the gay agenda, same-sex marriage, the killing of the unborn. A mixed up, messed up doctrine.

We cannot do much about the world's Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, even the Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, who have all bought a mess of pottage. Pray for vision inside and outside of the church as we face the uncertainties of the future.

Agabus

We do not know very much about him except that he was one of the saints of the early church (Acts 11). Agabus had the great opportunity afforded to very few men: friendship with Barnabas and the Apostle Paul. It was at Antioch, one of the great cities of the Middle East, even greater than Athens, that we find these three...where Christ's followers were first called “Christians”. Agabus prophesied a famine throughout the world...a lesson to Christians for time and eternity: God does not have a watch, does not own a calender, things prophesied may not happen right away, but they always happen. It was during the reign of Emperor Claudius, about 10 years later (45 AD), that the famine came, giving Christians the opportunity of sharing themselves and their treasure with others.

From that time until this, what would the world be like if it had not been for Christian saints sharing themselves and their treasure around the world? No respectable, honest atheist can deny that it has been the Christian who has made the difference in the world's history. Pitiful if the fulfillment of the world's needs depended on atheists, just imagine what the world would be like if not for Christians? Christians in America send out 90% of the world's missionaries, much of the largess of the world is sent by Christian organizations (denominations, Salvation Army, Roman Catholic Church).

On this side of the Cross, starting in the first century, it was the Christians who retrieved so many thrown-away babies (at a time of Roman decadence and sexual promiscuity, birth control limited to sponges with vinegar, new born babies were just thrown into the streets or under bridges). It was the new Christians who adopted unwanted babies, cared for the needy and the sick.

In America, the Christian church built the early colleges and universities (Harvard, Princeton, Duke, Furman, etc.) the Christian church, particularly the Catholic church, built hospitals in every crossroads...orphanages, nursing homes. It's tragic that with the take-over of the greatest healthcare system in the world, Obamacare will put an end to this system. Most Catholic hospitals will close because God's work and that of Satan cannot mesh. Do you actually expect pro-life Catholic hospitals, with their pro-life professionals and staff to commit murder (abortion and euthanasia)?

As with every aspect of government control, the number is 10 years. The most despicable aspects of government control do not develop over night, it takes about 10 years for it to flourish, to mature in all of it heinous, odious captivation. 10 years, it usually takes 10 years for every legislative paradigm/tragedy to develop. Check it out, TSA, FDA, Homeland Security. In a few months, in September, we will remember 9/11...over 3000 Americans killed in the Trade Center disaster in New York City. As the black woman who worked for me danced around my house, celebrating the tragedy because she so despised the people of New York City—where she had lived for awhile—I predicted that day that the world would be hardly recognizable 10 years later...and so it is, 10 years later, the entire world in economic catastrophe.

10 years is a small notch in the continuous parallel of history, but in these past 10 years since 9/11 we have seen “supposed” intelligent world leaders yield to the ineptness of fear and fear-mongering. The entire Middle East is a cauldron of vindictiveness inflamed through the “oil” of greed. Middle East oil is so valuable because it is near the surface, the Sheiks there became more rich than Midas when oil was less than $5 a barrel. Everywhere one finds a “patch” of oil (Libya, Sudan, Yemen, etc.), “fisticuffs” between the hoarders and traders ensues. There is no greed like the greed for oil profits, unless greased by those of opium poppies such as found in Afghanistan. In 10 years, we have seen Afghanistan become the world's greatest producer of heroin...traffic lines from the poppy fields of the Middle East to the corn fields of western civilization.

In 10 years, we have seen stable, mongrelized tyrannies (Egypt, Tunisia, Iran, Turkey, etc.) turn into bastions of protestations and actual civil war. Religious zealotry used in such places as Syria, Jordan, Pakistan, to whip up contempt for the rest of the world. In the next 10 years we will see famine such as Agabus prophesied for the world at the time of Claudius, just 2000 years ago. It does not take the meltdown of many nuclear reactors, the accumulation of radioactive material on plant life to destroy animal husbandry and agriculture.

I have been amazed, during my long life of world travel, to witness the intelligence of many youngsters. Pray that recent highschool graduates, 17-18 year olds, will get a vision of what is going on in the world. After all, it was from the 7 sons of Jesse that the prophet Samuel picked the youngest, David, a beautiful young boy (1 Samuel 16). At 17, David slew the giant Goliath, at 30 he became King of Israel, still until this day, the greatest leader of Judaism. It was at 17 that Joseph, the least predictable one of Jacob's 12 sons, was prepared to become a great leader. He stood before Pharaoh at the age 30 and gave the plans to save the entire world from starvation (Egypt, at that time, the superpower of the world).

America, like most of the world, has become one large Ponzi scheme. Unprepared for famine, nothing saved for a “rainy day”...disaster, warfare, terrorism, or natural acts of God (earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, drought), where will we turn?

The world, the flesh, the devil has spit in the face of Almighty God, killing his youngest and most innocent through abortion, his oldest and most faithful through euthanasia. The world has shown spite to the decency of marriage, even the sanctity of the church pulpit (homosexual priests and bishops) through the homosexual agenda. It has taken just 10 years for the gay agenda, the Antichrist antics of pluralism, despotism to take-over media, education, political entities. We are bound to have young people, recent high school and college graduates, those from age 17 to 30, who, like other great historic world leaders, are competent enough to dig out the knowledge, and dig into the time required for renaissance.

Snooze Button

Operation Mockingbird was a government program started in 1949, whereby the CIA controlled news in this country and around the world. Headed by Frank Wisner, the Office of Special Projects became the espionage and counter-intelligence branch of the CIA. By the early 1950s, Wisner “owned” (controlled) respected members of The New York Times, Newsweek, CBS and other news organizations. Wisner referred to this apparatus as the “Mighty Wurlizter” (referring to the theater organ capable of controlling diverse pipes, instruments, and sound effects from a central console).

Allen Dulles, brother of John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State, persuaded Cord Meyer to join the CIA, but found that he had already been recruited behind the scenes and was spying on other organizations. It so simple to understand that while most of the country has been asleep, the secular media (CIA) has taken over, and indeed, the mentality of a nation has become totally corrupted. If you do not think so, just looked at the controlled media, controlled talking points in every area of news commentary...print, radio, television. The important things are shoved aside, the mediocre, the menial, even the absurd are brought into prominence. While this country is in a great depression, warring against terrorism, drugs, crime, one news broadcast after another brings us all down to gutter level with moment-by-moment details of a crazed New York congressman and crude pictures of himself.

At Elevation Church, a mega-church in Matthews, NC, a working mother took her children to church on easter Sunday, including her 12-year-old son with cerebral palsy. During the service, after prayer, the son voiced a louder than usual “Amen”. Reportedly, the family was asked to leave the sanctuary and escorted to another area of the church. Following the incident the boy's mother contacted the church about assisting in a special service for the handicapped. The churches were cold to idea of a handicapped group, rather wanting a distraction-free service. As a totally blind, 100% disabled, service-connected veteran, I can tell you without hesitation that churches, restaurants, and even family gatherings, do not want handicapped people. As I have been told, right to my face, several times, “your disability makes 'normal people' uncomfortable.”

Sixteen miles from Jerusalem, on a street in Jericho, when blind Bartimaeus understood that Jesus was passing by, he began to cause a commotion, attempted to get the attention of Jesus, asking for mercy. The people around him wanted a distraction-free street for Jesus to walk down. You see, these people do not know the darkness of blindness, just as those at Elevation Church in Matthews, do not know the constrictions of cerebral palsy. Before we say “if this is Christianity, I want no part of it”, think of what Jesus said, “they that are whole do not need a physician.” (Matthew 9:12) There is nothing wrong with Christianity that Jesus cannot fix. We become what we read, think, and are; we need The Book.

In a world of autism, handicapped citizens, it is time to stop snoozing, deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow our Living God. (Matthew 16:24) As is the case with lock boxes outside of apartment houses, commercial buildings, etc in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a measure with which emergency responders can easily get into your property, we give up all privacy for safety. The new system for commercial flight, since scanning and groping is not enough the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) proposes to just give each passenger an injection...putting everyone to sleep, to become alert on arrival at destination, the ultimate travel experience...rested, no food, no bathrooms, no crying children, no threat of terrorism...the savings involved in not feeding, inspecting, and putting more ticket holders on a plane, particularly on a long flight like the 16 hour flight to South Korea or South Africa.

Americans like gated communities. The cellphone, computer, has put us in isolation from one another; it is better to text, tweet or use facebook. Forget the front porch, the back fence, social club, only in India do you see people conversing with one another. The perfect SAT score is 2400, the perfect credit score is 840, educationally or financially, you may not have a professed, possessed need for anything or anyone. The rapid slide of your world into the chasm/inferno of annihilation may not bother you, but for God's sake, think of others, particularly innocent children fortunate enough to escape the abortion holocaust.

Traveling the world, I found that people in socialist countries never speak to anyone. There are 320,000 churches in America, a few hundred megachurches, most congregations of less than 300; too many are just a collection of white hair. We do what we do because we believe what we believe. At a time of our best-educated, most tech-savvy, most prosperous population, climb off your lounge of indifference and forget snoozing, America did not come this far to fall so fast!

Father's Day

The first observance of Father's Day took place in 1908 in Fairmont, West Virginia. This was arranged to memorialize the 210 fathers who had died in the Monongah coal-mining tragedy a few months earlier. There are more phone calls on Mother's Day than Father's Day, probably because mothers are the nurturing figures in the home, and there are more homes where just a mother is present, but both days are among the busiest of the year for the telephone company.

Fortunate is the child who has had a stalwart God-fearing father in the home, a father who is truly the head of the house, who in spite of every conceivable problem, puts his family first. The child who has experienced the stability of an earthly father is ready to appreciate a heavenly Father.

As most of my readers know, I am a life-long antiquarian book collector. Among my many historical books, I own several books on male clubs and fraternities such as the Masons, B'nai B'rith, Knights of Columbus, even Rotarians and Elks. In a book describing the Woodmen of the World, a fraternal organization founded in 1890, founder Joseph Root stated that the stability of any male organization depended on having rock-solid fathers as members. It is the gravitas of fathers that give stability to the community, the business world, school system, and even the churches.

A son or daughter, who sees their father active in a church...singing the old hymns, praying, working, giving to God's work, will not be as likely to drift from such roots. The ability of a tree to withstand a storm depends entirely on its root system. As early as in the 1^st century churches, the fathers of the homes determined the integrity of the church.

Not to lessen the importance of the pastor, the music director, or any other staff member of the church, but it is the active, committed fathers of the church that determine the influence of the church. A father who loves his children as much as our heavenly Father loves His bride (the church) will make every effort to support his church in his living and in his giving.

The church was the educational center of early education...elementary, high school and even colleges...it was the fathers of the community who built the school houses. I still remember that no matter how tired he was from working all day, my father would still put on his suit and go to a program at the school (along with my mother) if one of his children was performing in a play or some other school activity, even a ball game.

Fortunate is the student with parents who supported their school activities. Not to lessen the importance of the principal, the teachers, but it is the school board members, the mothers and fathers which determine the influence of the school. The great North Carolina State basketball coach, Jim Valvano said, “my father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person: he believed in me.” The last words Valvano ever spoke in a basketball arena, as he was dying with cancer—and everyone who was there would never forget these words—“don't give up. Don't ever give up!”

Fathers might not be as emotional as mothers, but a father probably takes more pride in your accomplishments. My own son said to me, about my two grandsons, both raised on the foreign mission field, both university graduates, “they are both smarter than I am.”

In the college fraternity house you usually will have young men whose fathers were also members of that fraternity. I still believe the greatest sense of male accomplishment is a father & son practice of law, medicine or other business practice (real estate, plumbing, auto repair/dealership, etc.). The very fact that a son can be so enthralled by his father, that he wants to continue his business. Think of the delight of the father who invests all of his knowledge, good will, with his heir-son.

Many of us were not so blessed...our fathers never belonged to a college or secular fraternity, our fathers were not professionals, did not own a business, did not endow us with his political clout, financial expertise, social standing in the community. Like being born with a talent, those born with genetic ancestry, are far ahead of the rest of us. It is like being the recipient of a famous family name, ancestral family holdings left in a trust...genes giving us advantage in health or appearance. Most of us only have the begotten biologicals which God, in His infinite mercy has granted to us. One man, plus God, and anything is possible, regardless of your genealogy. With the favoritism shown by a loving earthly father, the magnetism shown by a heavenly Father, you can overcome anything that the world did not provide.

On this Father's Day, rejoice in your parentage. In the council chambers of eternity, God selected you. He might not be everything that you would have designed in a father...healthy, wealthy, handsome, intellectual, gregarious; he is not perfect, but very few are, but he is yours.

My father, the hardest working man I have ever known, devoted to God, family and country. At his casket, I asked the funeral director to put my hand on his. I did not think of the things he had not done for me, but of his working hands, hands which helped home-deliver his four children, hands that provided a wonderful home and life for my mother, hands that plowed the fields and milked the cows, hands that built a large part of the church house, helped maintain the school house, worked on an army base during WWII. His working hands put four children through college and provided comfort for family and friends. Thank God that most of our fathers did the best they knew with what they had.

Faith of our fathers, living still,  in spite of dungeon, fire, and sword; (Faith of Our Fathers - Hymn)

Big Can of Worms

Famed novelist Henry Miller, who died in 1980, said that “all of life is a cosmic joke.” You will not hear much about it, only the Bilderbergers, social engineers, bioethicists, eugenicists, totalitarian dictators are thinking about it, many of whom are the slavemasters of the world, but life is becoming less and less important to our fellow human beings,. Through abortion, warfare, chemical annihilation, the genus homo sapiens will be rapidly removed from the world stage. We are becoming robotized, robots are replacing most human activity. Currently, 95% of all tasks can be done by robots.

Thousands of robots have already been manufactured and are in reserve, just waiting to come on the scene, replacing human beings in all tasks, particularly in dull, dangerous, or dirty work. There are very few tasks that these mechanical bodies cannot do. In some places, such as appliance/vehicle assembly or in agriculture, you do not see a human being, just very busy robots. Tireless, without benefits, without expectation of entitlements, insurance, vacation, sick leave, psychological counselors, holidays, union activity...from building a car door, to cooking a meal, these robots can do anything. Already, in a nursing homes, robots give medications, change beds, and do every task that a human being can do with much more precision and reliability. The human is hired to just go in with the patient and share conversation, give consolation for an hour or two.

The mathematically precise, electrical-impulse controlled, computer-programmed genus of the robots are taking over civilian life, and to a great extent, military life. We are learning to depend more on drones and robot intelligence-gathering than the natural human capacity in warfare. Already, the robot has the technical expertise to fight wars.

We have encountered this philosophy previously: it was thought that the assembly line would end man's work in industry, that the type-writer would put secretaries out of work, that the calculator/computer would eliminate most jobs. Instead, the technicalized world of laboratory analysis, computerized imaging, speed of the cellphone, etc. has made production easier and more extensive.

It is hard for one to even imagine life, business, education, travel and leisure before the advent of the computer age, but people lived and loved and probably enjoyed life just as much, if not more, then they do today. Every day, the vast majority of the population with a work ethic combined with moral values, goes to work at a job, showing the capitalistic principles of free enterprise which from time and forever gives men a sense of worth. Strange that men act as conservatives, yet vote as liberals. If such evils as slavery, abortion and laziness are not wrong, then nothing is wrong! Yet the same human beings who have the moral, ethical values of hard-work, have ignored the killing of the unborn, have seen the slaughter of illegal aliens, slaughter of the innocent in warfare and are sitting back as liberal parasites, slowly but surely—following the instructions of the world's power brokers (Bilderbergers and bankers)—destroying productive mankind.

Human history is marked by the conflict between right and wrong, good and evil. Liberals who are lazy, dependent on others; conservatives who are hard-working, productive. In early Judaism, since each conflict has two opposing sides, two Rabbis would offer opposing views, but argue the view which he did not support. In so doing, vital truths on each side always came forth. Christians seek the succinct directions given by the apostle Paul: I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway (1 Corinthians 9:26-27)

There is a morality in hard work; not escaping work, but in doing a job well. In my lifetime, vacation time, retirement, sick leave, benefits, unemployment insurance, breaks, arbitration, tenure, harassment, etc. have all become part and parcel of the employment experience. No wonder industry and military is so happy to employ hapless, hopeless, helpless robots...just pieces of metal without neurons, unaware of clock-watching, insults, sensitivity training, dress codes. In human neuroplasticity, you have 500 trillion connections in the brain, taking input from the environment, every past and present experience, all having an effect on completing the task at hand. The female, thinking about her children, instinctive relationships with males, complications of her female endocrines...the male employee, with his mind on millionaires playing ball, his resentment toward politicians, plutocrats who are do not know the worker's type of dirty work.

Oh, the joy of plasticized metal figures, electrified and programmed to do what you want them to do, perfectly and without complaint. Oh the joy of worker bees, so absolutely dependable, always at work on time, none of the human frailties which make human employment (in 2011) a matter of incredulity...and just think, it is all happening without those most affected even realizing what is going on. Now you can understand why there is so little interest among the politicians, pastors, prognosticators concerning the evaporation of world populations through abortion, the homosexual agenda, increased warfare, terrorism, vibrant viruses and chemical genocide.

If you are ashamed of me
You ought not to be
And you'd better have a care
If too much fault you find you'll sure be left behind
When I'm sailin' through the air

(Gospel Ship – Joan Baez)