Ripple, Not A Rock

When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.

- Billy Graham

Every one of us has seen the ripples in a lake after a rock is thrown. Most of us will never have the wealth to be a rock (Gates, Rockefeller, Rothschild, Carnegie, etc.,) but by careful living, any man can use the blessings of life and work, to make a ripple. There is no shame in honest labor-- honest work. We have grown several generations here in America, and in socialist countries around the world, surviving on the work of others.

80 years ago, when I was a child, before the time of Social Security and the welfare department, those who did not prepare always had the ultimate destination of the "poor house." Each county had a residential facility called the "county home," or "poor house," where those who were destitute lived at the taxpayer's expense. When you passed the place-- and I remember them well-- the old men and women, dressed in the bare necessity of plain clothes, sat in the yard or on the porch. They had not won life's lottery. For a myriad of reasons (lack of education, illness, disability, etc.,) they had never been able to own anything, and, at the sunset years-- with their children often in worse condition than they-- were at the mercy of the government for livelihood and burial.

Any time I was in London, I always came in from an airport to Victoria station and stayed at a hotel nearby. This way I could always attend the great church founded by Charles Hayden Spurgeon, prince of preachers. Along with his great church, he maintained a home for the poor and disabled-- people who had no other place to go. Once, while he was visiting a very old woman in the home, he noticed a framed letter on her table. A friend of the illiterate woman had told her she should always keep the letter. Spurgeon took the letter, read it, and found that the woman was heir to a very large fortune, left by the friend to her. The old lady was rich and unaware of it. So it is with many in today's world, not understanding the wealth of good health, the ability to work, the wealth of family, friends, and the all-seeing eye of God. For those with the anxiety of poverty, disability, or despair for any reason, God tells those who believe in Him, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." (Hebrews 13:5)

The writer was born and raised in the poverty of an Eastern North Carolina tobacco farm-- no power, telephone or water lines. My greatest wealth was parents who taught their children the value of a dollar, the honor of hard work, and the struggle for education. We did not live beyond our means, and did not buy anything we couldn't pay for.

When you talk with young people in today's world, their main ambition is to have money. I often ask, "How much is enough?" When I was young, a million dollars was almost unheard of. The president of the United States had a salary of $50,000 a year. In today's world one is not considered wealthy with less than five million dollars. There are more billionaires today than there were millionaires just a few years ago. In most circles, people are more concerned with what others think of them than what they know about themselves. We should be concerned with what God knows about us-- the pride we get from things, the greed for more things, envy of other things, lust for the things of the world.

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1 John 2:15

God only had to say it one time.

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

1 Timothy 6:10

Lack of morality is the rule-- more than the exception-- in every area of life. Lies and deception are the message of the day. The Truth is Truth, whether anyone believes it or not, and in today's world, as the famous movie line said, we cannot handle the Truth. With blasé, we speak of 9/11. No one questions how or why the third building, building number 7, fell 7 hours after the twin towers, or why the towers were pulverized in mid-air. The 16 trillion admitted national debt, which when considering all debt is 56 trillion, seemed of no concern to the gullible, and greedy, in government. They just want to win another election and remain politically correct. The same corporations finance the campaigns of both political parties.

At the birth of a child, parents want an average child-- four fingers and a thumb on each hand, toes, feet, etc.-- but, in a few years, parents want more than average. They want an above-average child. Then, some will even spend a small fortune to get their child into a prestigious university, because they want a well-connected child-- one with influential and powerful friends. They want to be able to say my son/daughter the doctor, the lawyer, the senator. Learn early the integrity of accomplishment. Don't confuse accomplishments with fame-- think of Helen Keller and Madonna. Forget vacations and retirement. Bask in the pleasure of having the energy to work. It is not necessary to be a power broker in this world; just do the best you can with what you have. Give back to God part of His blessings to you-- whether the tithe or much over the tithe. You will never have money unless you learn to take care of money. From college days until this day, under my bed, you will find a loose-leaf notebook. In my "daybook," each day, I enter every dime I spent that day for anything. You plan your next day ahead of time. Happiness and prosperity is going to bed each night, anxious to face the trials and rewards of the next day. You can be rich in money and many other ways.

And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses.

Luke 12:15

Lectio Divina

There's a holy hush around us,
As God's glory fills this place.
I've touched the hem of God's garment,
I can almost see God's face.
And my heart is over flowing
With the fullness of God's joy.
And I know, without a doubt,
That I've been with the Lord.

Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.
I can feel God's mighty power and God's grace.
I can hear the brush of angel's wings,
I see glory on each face.
Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place

"Surely the Presence of the Lord is in This Place" by Lanny Wolfe.

Lectio Divina means divine reading or in a more practical sense-- and something which should be evident to any thinker-- is putting yourself into the meaning of each word, person, place and action. It is by putting yourself into every situation that you gain an appreciation and knowledge of others-- and the actions of others. When studying biblical traditions, even the warfare of patriots, you must put flesh and blood on the individuals involved. When you do so, it is much easier to remember scripture, events of history and to have empathy for your fellow man. When you consider a 16-year-old boy named David-- already annointed by Samuel as future king of Israel-- delivering food from a concerned father to his sons in the army, you understand why David-- with a few stones and a slingshot, and before at least 100,000 warring soldiers on both sides-- ran towards the giant, Goliath. (I Samuel 17:48) When you consider the stonings/ beatings/ ship wreck of the apostle Paul, then you can understand why, when thrown in a cistern-prison, 19 feet under ground, he could still rejoice. (Philippians 4:4, Philippians 4:12)

Talk is cheap. It's easy to talk about our love for God, family and country. It is only when you can put yourself in the place of those who have given up everything to serve God, mothers and fathers who have sacrificed to raise children, and veterans who have been blown apart defending their country, that you know the real from the counterfeit-- those who just play games with God, parents who just use their children to showcase themselves, and the people who have never given anything but lip service and taxes to support their country (those who complain the most about taxation, do not pay enough taxes to cover the pavement under their car on the street.)  

Spiritually, God speaks to us through his sovereign word. Let the heathen react; His word has stood the test of time. Not one of his 7,000 promises (found in the Bible) has been broken. The American constitution is written in the patriot's heart.

⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
¹⁰ For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
¹¹ So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Isaiah 55: 8-11

Unknown are the psychological, remedial conflicts of early lives. Five to ten percent of all children are now considered ADHD-- a condition unheard of in my early life, and even in my early years as a university student. In my youth, you never heard the phrase-- which you now hear from the lips of everyone, a rubric of society-- "You know what I mean." Say what you mean and mean what you say. Now, if a school child seems normal--talking, active-- Ritalin, the same drug that was given to the Nazi dissenters, is given to the child. Most cities, including the city in which I live, poison their water supplies with fluoride and chloride, just as was the case in Nazi Germany in WWII. It makes the population more passive/docile.

In 1964, Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs defined the still questionable pseudo-profession of psychology with the basic needs of water, food, love, sex, safety and self actualization. After 2000 years this side of the cross, man still has not realized that Jesus, the God man, is still the answer for all the problems in the world. The most important need the world has ever known is Jesus-given liberty-- to be reborn (old man replaced by a new creation,) leaving behind the old man of sin and rejection (as symbolized in immersion-in-water baptism, death chosen by the first man Adam, raised to walk a newness of life given by the second man, Jesus.) (2 Corinthians 5:17) The most important super-natural act in history-- something which the unbelievers/ spectators/ pretenders cannot understand-- is the salvation of man by God, his creator, and is the only answer for all the problems in the world. It is the only way the puny mind of man can understand this supernatural grace of god.

⁵ Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
⁶ Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
⁷ But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
⁸ And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Philippians 2:5-8

This world traveler, while in Citron, China, talked with an old man who, after an earthquake was covered with earth for three days before he was found/recovered. He said to me, "I did not know the person who comforted me [Holy Spirit of God], but He gave me peace through the ordeal." Peace is a cessation of "againstness."

You may gamble with the stock market/ lottery/ trials of this world, but the one place you want to have security is in your heart, placed in the Lectio Divina of choosing eternal life in the splendor of heaven or the horrors of hell.

Cobwebs Between Bookends

I participated at the funeral of a 100-year-old friend-- the first graduate of NC State University.  I said to one of the ministers at Mr. Matthew's service, "When we bury a man of his greatness, we feel we are burying a library-- the volumes of knowledge between the bookends of his life." I have met great people all over the world, saints "of whom the earth was not worthy" Heb. 11:38

Old age is not for sissies. Just keeping up with the insanity/inventions which infect and inflict the world is a full-time job.

This week, I purchased my first "smart" phone. I'm that far behind. My employees, associates-- even school children-- already own them. My old cell phone was purchased second-hand, online. It had been previously owned by a female of questionable reputation-- it took quite a while for my associates to clean out all the pornography. The so-called Razor phone-- one I could speak into-- had well paid for itself. And, like the rest of the world-- even the poor people in third-world nations-- I have learned to depend on it. I'm told by fellow world travelers that even some natives in the African bush are using cell phones. My seminary-professor son, Dr. John Morris-- many years missionary to Korea (I am a veteran of the Korean war)-- tells me that everyone in Korea is talking on a cell phone. It should be of interest to all Baptists that there are 300 Korean students at the Southwestern Baptist Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas.

I am old enough to remember the time when there was only one telephone for many miles around at my cousin's country store. There was not a telephone in my family's home until long after I graduated college. I never received a call the eight years I was away from home at college, or the many more years I was in the service. My wonderful maternal grandmother was the first in our family's community to have a telephone in her house. Like the TV, she simply could not understand it (she would wave at the people on TV, trying to talk with them). Marvelous were the last years of her life, when she could talk with her sisters by phone-- having lived through a time in history when a penny postcard was their only method of communication. I still remember my mother thrilled on receiving a postcard from a relative, saying that they would be arriving for church and dinner on a church Sunday (when I was a child, church Sunday was once a month-- the pastor had 4 churches). Even Dick Tracy and the Science Fiction magazines could not predict the marvels of the smart phone: talking to the phone to get a number, listening to scripture read by the phone-- even the phone looking up a particular passage-- one of the best cameras one could use, and, for those of us in sales, the immediate transfer of photograph and details to a world-wide audience.

Everything has changed in my lifetime and the lifetimes of the billions who died before me, all technology, everything, except human nature. It would be hard for this old man to socialize in today's society. I still believe in courting, dating -- the guy pursuing the gal. Today's young people just "hook up." It is a matter of quick sex. One girl said recently in the media, "I don't even like him. He is just a quick fix without any entanglements."

The great preacher, Ray Comfort, gave me the idea for this illustration, which so describes today's culture. Two men boarded an airliner. The hostess said, "You need to put on this parachute. If you the plane goes down, this will save you." One passenger, sitting in his seat, parachute strapped on, found himself very uncomfortable. The whole ordeal bothered him-- other people were looking at him, sneering and laughing. He took off the parachute and threw it out. The other passenger, remembering that the hostess had warned him of the possible 25,000 ft drop, sat back, comfortable in his parachute. He had the eternal security of knowing safety. The sneers, stares and laughter of parachute-less watchers did not bother him.  

And so it is with the marvelous (parachute) grace of a holy God. In his marvelous plan of salvation and redemption by his son Jesus, we have eternal security/safety. Regardless of the cobwebs between the bookends (doubts, fears, trials, and tribulations) we will have a happy landing at the bookend.

The writer C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters said that people are unaware of the darkness that surrounds them. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Eph. 6:12 It still bothers me that most, who know ABOUT Jesus Christ, do not have the security/safety of Jesus Christ. They are just playing games with God-- pretending-- more concerned about what people think about them, than what God knows about them.  There are two happy hours in today's world among people who live in our community, even our relatives, even our fellow church members. There is the happy hour each Friday (usually 5pm) at the clubs and bars, when working people end their work week with a time of drinking and relaxation at their local "watering hole." Then there is the other happy hour, Sundays, 11-12, when religious people, through habit-- or perhaps some conviction-- go to a house of worship-- more to see or be seen, than to understand the "worth-ship" of the grace given by God. Happy are they that understand the true worth in God's plan of salvation for those whom he has called/chosen. It is not a time of pretending, but rather a time for dealing with the cobwebs of life. The church house, whether it be a store-front meeting place or a great, ornate cathedral, was always intended-- even from the one in the wilderness/desert-- as a covering for the altar. We often forget the altar, seldom see a cross. So many infrequent rather than frequent the Lord's table.

Christianity is not complicated, just tough. It is real. In this world of technology, the only thing that remains certain. From the beginning to the end, pictured as either bookends or the hyphen on your tombstone between your date of birth and date of death. Wearing the whole armor of God protects completely. You learn not to care about the deceivers in the world, Satan or his demons, BECAUSE, "greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world."

Show Business

There's no business like show business

Like no business I know
Everything about it is appealing
Everything the traffic will allow

Faith is a matter of degree. God is not concerned about our doubts.

This world traveler-- always interested in the news around the world-- is now interested in the happenings in Mali, West Africa, where French and American troops are seeking to restore some control in the Saharan nation.

It was one of the worst days of my life. I had returned from a visit to the Dogon country-- perhaps the world's oldest civilization-- an almost impossible over-land trip. In Bamako, I had left my guide, sick in the hotel. He insisted that I go to the airport so I would not miss any flights on returning to London. There were only two planes in the Mali air service, and they ran into one another on the air strip. The terminal, about the size of a large shoe box, was filled with sight seers who took up all the seating. Over many years, I have found that airports (Tokyo, Rio, most of the world's large cities) are a place of great interest and enjoyment for the locals-- they have little other excitement in their lives but the excitement of planes and the strange people they brought. I had found a place to sit on the floor in one corner of the building. One lady had pestered me to death, trying to sell a handmade sword.

Old, blind, and tired, my faith in God was exhausted. My doubts about him taking care of me on this trip were soon to end. I said to myself, "I don't believe I can go through much more. It's time for me to leave it all behind...." What better place than one of the most unknown, deserted nations in the world. In the bleakness of the Sahara.

About that time, God said to me, very articulately, "Get up. Get on your feet. I'm not through with you yet."

Just then, the manager of the airport came over, put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Doctor, your plane is ready. I'm taking you to it." Evidently they had repaired the plane and as I flew to Johannesburg the engine sung the hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness.

Johannesburg's airport manager there came to the airstrip and retrieved me from the plane and walked me through the terminal to my London-bound flight. Most memorable-- as we walked through the terminal-- was a young girl saying to her mother, "Look at that blind man with the sword. I wonder who he is mad at."

In the sicknesses and disappointments of life, even the Christian-- even one who knows our longsuffering savior-- often finds trust replaced by doubts and fears. Those who are disabled, those who have followed the casket of a small child to an open grave, those who have seen the horrors of war (the inhumanity of men toward one another) ask the question, "Where is God?" No man will worship a god whom he understands. For God to be God, He needs nothing-- certainly not our understanding of him. He expects trust, with faith that He will do the rest. Faith is a verb. Action, based on belief sustained by confidence. We faithers trust God.

Even the disciple Thomas, walking/ living with Jesus, seeing him break up funeral processions, heal the sick, feed thousands, doubted. “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” (John 20:25) Yet Thomas, after the resurrection (a feat which seems impossible to me because I have seen the Himalayas) walked- crossing the Himalayas attempting to bring the gospel to India (the most religious country in the world, thousands of false gods.) This writer has stood at Madras, where Thomas was martyred by a Brahma sword.

But, not just the New Testament-- Jesus preaching himself. The old testament is filled with men and women who trusted totally in God, but who had their doubts. You must put flesh and blood on these people to understand them.

Gideon, threshing wheat in a wine press, was attempting to provide food for his family. From Gaza to the Red Sea, the entire nation was starving. God had a mission for a reluctant Gideon. Read about the test, but most of all, God strategizing Gideon's army, from 30,000 to 300. As was the case with David facing Goliath, standing before 100,000 men. God made sure he received the glory. He teaches us to use what we have-- Gideon's 300 men: trumpet, pitcher, and torch; David, some smooth stones.

In my lifetime, those who sought prestige at the church house have fled. The spectators and pretenders are leaving because the world desires to terrorize Christianity. The church always grew under persecution. Just as the persecuted church is growing in China. Terrorism is nothing new, just the terrorist. It was terror in Vietnam, terror in Waco, Texas, terror in Oklahoma city, terror in lower Manhattan on 9/11, and certainly terror when JFK and his brother, RFK, were murdered by their own country. It was terror for General George Patton to be murdered by his own country.

I was in Romania during the reign of Ceausescu, the 70-year reign of terror. Think of a terror in Stalin's Russia, Mao's china, Pol Pot's Cambodia.

Americans love the horrors of tragedy on the screen-- after all, it is just a story/ movie/ play. Are we ready for the show business of terrorism which our enemies can inflict on us. Do we actually understand that there are terrorists in the world, who-- in a show-business type display-- will actually eat a dead man's heart while being filmed.

http://www.presstv.com/detail/2013/05/13/303319/syria-rebel-cuts-eats-soldiers-heart/

Shooting Spitballs at a Battleship

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me God.”

Presidential Oath, U.S.A.

This writer knows about traveling distances-- 8 round-the-world trips, passports stamped in 157 countries-- just one trip containing 48 flights.

Yet, the greatest distance know to man is the 14 inches between a man's brain and his heart. God made the heart. For centuries of belief, no one questioned the sovereignty of God. Saints, of whom the earth was not worthy (Heb 11:38), suffered and died for the cause of Christ. God will showcase, for all eternity, those who trusted him--- who knew his son worthy of fellowship. Fuzzy thinking has caused academia, the scientific world, and certainly the world of "political correctness," shown forth in a elitist-atheist media, to bring on greater Christian suffering than ever before. It is not the atheist of the world--such as a Dawkins or Hitchens-- which concerns this blind writer, but rather the spectators and pretenders who fill church pews.

In my lifetime, 83 years, the fantasy world of Roger Baldwin (founder of the ACLU) has come to pass.

“I am for socialism, disarmament, and ultimately, for abolishing the state itself as an instrument of violence and compulsion. I seek social ownership of property, the abolition of the properties class, and sole control of those who produce wealth. Communism is the goal. It all sums up into one single purpose — the abolition of dog-eat-dog under which we live. I don’t regret being part of the communist tactic. I knew what I was doing. I was not an innocent liberal. I wanted what the communists wanted and I traveled the United Front road to get it.”
–ACLU Founder, Robert Baldwin

Even on the day he was married, he said there should be no limitations to the sexual activities of he or his wife. Margret Sanger, founder of planned parenthood, called blacks and other "less desirable" humans, "weeds." We truly wrestle against the powers of darkness (Eph 6), much like the "post-birth abortion" activities going on in the Texas legislature at present (children killed after birth) or America exerting its eugenics influence around the world (trip by John D. Rockefeller and John Foster Dulles) after WWII-- seeking to limit populations below the 30th parallel, where most of the worlds poverty is found. An innocuous 13-word prayer removed the bible and prayer from public schools in 1963. Prayer was replaced by police patrolling the halls. A fraud lawsuit, (Roe v. Wade, 1973,) brought on the abortion of 53 million innocent babies-- babies which had done no harm to anyone, only wanting a chance to live, pay taxes, and work for this nation. Now, the zenith of paganism-aspiration of the gay-agenda supreme court legitimizing same sex marriage (2013) -- positively bringing Satan's ambitions and destroying our national motto (found on every fiat currency, whether a 1 or a $100 note,) "In God We Trust."

All god wants from those who love him is TRUST. He sent his son to redeem a fallen world. Jesus "paid it all" on a cruel cross, but even that would not be enough without his resurrection. Even 2000 years ago, some questioned his resurrection-- the Jews stole the body, his disciples moved the body, the women in the graveyard were confused, or, the silliest of all-- as if one could overcome the brutal piercings of a roman crucifixion-- he was resuscitated in the grave, or worst of all, everyone was hallucinating.

He rose from the dead, ensuring our resurrection from the dead. Like shooting spitballs at a great battleship, the world has tried to conquer the Christian faith. The hope of the world-- the only hope-- is the Christian message.

There are five gospels in God's book: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John AND, the most important gospel of all, the gospel of you. Most people never read the other four gospels, but they do know the gospel of you. From 1799 until 1892, the supreme court-- which has now destroyed the home-- declared America a Christian nation. My ancestors landed from the good ship Kent on the shores of New Jersey in 1677 and founded the city of Morristown. Moving south, dirt farmers knew, not only the love of god, but also the love of country. Since the founding of this nation, they celebrated Independence Day and the opportunities given by this nation. 

The one thing my parents/ grandparents talked about until their deaths, was the yearly 4th of July picnic on the grounds of the local two-room school house. All of the families in the countryside would come for ball games and a huge picnic. This was before the time of power lines, phone lines, water lines, even vehicles. My old uncle would take a wagon with a team of horses to a nearby town and buy a block of ice. One day of the year, there was ice tea, milkshakes, and homemade ice cream. There might be a local politician making a speech, but parents took pride in the programs of their children-- the land owners, tenant farmers, black-white, Baptist, Quakers, Methodists-- they knew the love of God and country and they all came together to celebrate.

The year in which 2 of my great-grandfathers were born (1848) Alexis de Tocqueville came from France to write about America. He said, "When America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."

Just below my house on the cape fear river is permanently berthed the U.S.S. North Carolina. It would take more than the spitballs of democrat-liberal-ACLU members to sink such a battleship.