Comictry

An antiquarian book collector for over 50 years, I have maintained in my home a world class collection of 1^st edition books, magazines and other ephemera which I now sell online. Among the collection, 17,000 old comic books. From civilizations beginnings, once shown in drawings in ancient caves later described in ancient tomes, men have been fascinated-intrigued with differences in one another. In the recesses of the mind, in comic books and other drawings... today even photography and video games. The imagination of men run wild in costume and exploits.

We fantasize about history before the great flood of 5000 BC... Babylon. The first Jew, Abraham, moving 600 miles north, encountering remnants of the civilization of Noah. We know that Cain, first born son of Adam, migrated into Africa... the tribes of Israel migrated from the desert encountering seven civilizations in the promised land. History, warfare, even to this day, marked by man's attempt to bring others into conformity. Most believe that you either master other cultures or other cultures will master you.

At a Medical Museum in Berlin, Germany, Africans recently protested about skeletons, stolen from Namibia during the German occupation of west Africa, studied by the Germans for their differences from Eurasians. They had done the same with skeletons of Aborigines in Australia. Protests occurred when Germans called ;the skeletons THINGS. Amid the music, grand solemnity, words connected with the German gesture toward African differences, the sentiments of the descendants of these people stated that their was no dignity toward the bones which were at one time alive.

This writer has been astounded troubled for years with a lack of privacy and dignity accorded the dead. People at the Vatican were lined up for miles to stare at the dead body of Pope John Paul.

As a totally blind, 100% disabled, service conned medical officer of the Korean conflict. I have been told by others how people stare at me and other disabled in public. At one time, in modern etiquette, it was considered bad manners to stare at anyone any different. WHY WOULD THEIR BE A VIEWING AT ANY TIME ANYWHERE, THE DEAD REMAINS OF A ONCE LIVE, VERY PRIVATE PERSON. You certainly take away their dignity because they cannot look back, have no idea of their appearance to you.

Once, a good friend gave me a tour of his funeral home. He said, “From the time we pick up the body, we show all the privacy and dignity we know how to show to a deceased person. We keep them covered with a sheet throughout the preservation. He, like me, felt that all deceased should have a closed casket with the possible exception of a final look by the family. I have heard of photographing the dead. On the cover of magazines, Princess Grace of Monaco, Emmett Till of Chicago (lynched, started the entire civil rights protest), a spy from National Enquirer paid much money to photograph Elvis in his $8,000 casket (identical to the one in which his mother was buried.) and his photograph on the cover of the magazine.

I was in the nation of Nepal, small village, an old monk had died. Around the clock, the people were celebrating his life, dancing and chanting around the Buddhist temple. I had a small shadow of sight in one eye at the time, enough so I could see what was going on. I was told that it had been several days, the body was decomposing, was asked if I wanted to view him? I do not want to infringe on the privacy of another human being, dead or alive.

In clinical death, the Christian dies once, the unsaved, dies twice, clinical and spiritual. The saved, dying once because born twice, physical and born again as a Christian.

In Hell, there is no light, all darkness. In Hell, no laughter, dancing, music, a horror pit for eternity. Heaven is beautiful, lighted bliss for eternity. I know people who think they will go to Heaven when they die, who never enjoyed worship, God's people on earth. I know those who went to church their entire life, who could not quote one verse of holy scripture... tell you anything about their religious beliefs. The Bible, God's inspired, inerrant word, His love letter to His own, instruction-answer book for everything in life.

The homosexuals number about 3 percent of the American population 0.2 percent gay households, yet the gay agenda, in the media, in the education system dominates the population. 82 percent of all Americans claim to be Christian yet allow this small percentile to dominate their lives, allow such a practice as staring at the deceased, family and friends to persist.

God can forgive any sin, heal any wound. The book of Revelation was not put in the Bible by mistake. God tells us what He thinks of false religions, not doing things His way, after all, He is Sovereign, He is Boss. We cannot sing, as did Sinatra, (I did it my way) and please God. The greatest joy of human existence is preventing sorrow to God because He created us for His joy. Life is not comictry, wild imaginations.