Uncle Blunner and SantaCon

What is the real purpose behind the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus? They seem like greater steps toward faith and imagination, each with a payoff. Like cognitive training exercises (Chuck Palahniuk).

This writer owned an apartment in New York City, right in the middle of Manhattan. For many years, I would go up to the city and use my "Pied d-terre" for a few days about once a month. This was a wonderful launching pad for my many travels and, I did enjoy the plays and other arts-activities of that great metropolis. I lived near the United Nations and, because of my travels, contacts, was invited to many United Nations activities. Going to the UN, I would walk on Dag Hammarskjold Blvd., passing the famous emblem of a sword and plow. How totally foolish that a group of high living diplomats could bring peace to the world. Jesus said, "I did not come to bring peace, but a sword" (Matthew, 10:34). It is good that the United Nations is in Manhattan, a city known world wide, as the modern Sodom.

As if Christmas has not been Paganized enough, yesterday, a Manhattan SantaCon, sponsored by the alcohol industries took place. Thousands of costumed Santas converged in Manhattan. Making a once holy day, a further Paganized holiday. Drunk Santas everywhere. I have my many reservations about the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, but why completely demonize poor old Santa. We were all children one time, and we all loved the thoughts of Santa's largess. Little did we realize that one half of the population of this Country would become dependent on "Big Government Santa."

This writer was a child during the great depression. A time when 9 million of my fellow Americans starved to death... mostly in cities. Country folk were able to survive because they had means for growing things, raising and hunting meat. I still remember my mother cooking large wash pots of hominy grits and pouring the hominy in large containers to feed the hungry people in the community. I still remember the day Mr. Ben, an old black man with a large family, came to my mother's door and told her he would like anything she could give him because his children were hungry. She said, "Thomas, take this paper bag (There was no plastic then) and go to the potato hill and get a bag of potatoes". She gave him potatoes, hominy and some bones from which meat had been cut, so they could make soup.

At our church, a large white clapboard building, built by my great grandparents on both sides in 1874, we always had a Christmas program, depression or not. It was the only time many poor children received anything for Christmas. And, there was a Christmas tree in the church. At the program-party, there was singing of Christmas songs, refreshments. During the time towards the end there would be a large racket at the church door. Uncle Blunner, my grandfather's brother, would appear in his well worn Santa costume. He would have a large fertilizer bag with oranges and candy. I remember some of the children had never seen an orange, my own father had to show them how to peel it. Uncle Blunner was the father of two fine boys, had never known anything except hard work and hard times. He coached the local baseball team, had probably never made one comment at the church, but knew how to love children. DON'T TAKE THAT MEMORY AWAY FROM ME, with this Manhattan foolishness. Our blessed Lord to see the joy of children and I believe He would tolerate such a Santa Claus, as Uncle Blunner. I do believe that our blessed Lord would understand the tree in the church.

This writer does not spend any money on Christmas decorations. I know people who spend much money on Christmas decorations, yet never give any money for God's work.

To the best of my remembering, I did spend one dollar, one time for a Christmas tree. I was having coffee one morning with a friend, manager of a furniture store (Helig-Meyers) and he told me that he was decorating the store. He said, "I have a large box of Christmas trees and I will place them all over the store on tables." This was the time before so much lighting... just trimmed trees. I asked him if I could purchase one of the trees from him. He told me it would cost one dollar. I placed the tree on the table in the reception room of my private practice. After Christmas, I would put the tree back in a storage closet. Each year, I would take it out for Christmas. I sold the practice many years ago, I wonder if they are still using my tree. I have a friend who pays someone $50 to decorate the tree in her home each year. It costs we taxpayers $30,000 to decorate the National White House Christmas tree. It must be repugnant to our blessed Lord that millions are spent decorating stores, streets, homes, even churches, at a time when there are hungry refugee children all over the world.

Everyday of my life, at my time of Communion, (Taking a small piece of bread and small sip of wine) relationship with God, I express my concern for hungry refugee people, especially children, all over the world. The scene will never leave my mind, this world traveler, at the boarder between Afghanistan and Pakistan, refugees lined up with large bags of their belongings over their shoulders. Their children in rags, barefoot, on the icy ground. You are not allowed to take photographs at a boarder crossing, but I had a small camera that fit into the palm of my hand and I did take some photographs. No one cares, the word concern is a lost word in most vocabularies. But, the one celebrated at Christmas, the one in which we place any hope, the one who gives grace to survive is still represented by a tree. If your Christmas is commercialized, it is your fault. Our Savior died on a tree. Think of this, the lights on the tree, He is the light of the world; the briars and thorns of a tree, His crown; the red berries of a tree, His blood.

Wash Pot

The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, And rescues them. O Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. O fear the LORD, you His saints; For to those who fear Him there is no want.… (Psalm, 7-9).

We skate on very thin ice when we consider-promote the foolishness of fairness.

The richest man in America, Bill Gates, and his ten rules of success, stated in rule number one, there is no such thing as fairness. You can have all the silly programs such as "No Child Left Behind" and yet, final analysis, some brains are wired for greatness, some, mediocrity, and others just plain stupidity. How is it possible that a black child, from a ghetto, a mother with a third grade education working several jobs just to support two sons could produce a black boy such as Dr. Ben Carson? Of course he read, studied, but he had the synapses in the brain to bring greatness. History has been punctuated by greatness in lives of musicians, canvas artists, writers, even a few politicians and athletes. Why was Billy Graham such a great preacher? God definitely instills in some the character-wisdom and desire to do great things. Character determines destination. Too many do not comprehend their resources, in the race, take their eyes off the finish line-goal by paying too much attention to temptations and bystanders along the way. How many Christians pray each day not to be lead into temptation?

We even have the malarkey of globalism, "New World Order” as promoted by the Bush's, 41 and 43. Such elitist people... Bush's, Kennedy's, European royal families peeping around the corners of world poverty, think that they can bring all civilizations to a common level, it will never happen. Even Jesus said, God-Man, who created the world "For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always" (Mark, 14:7).

Napoleon said, "Graveyards are full of men who thought they were indispensible." Deliver us from the comfort of prosperity. Pastors, politicians, even poets who have never known what it is to work for a living, who have none of the scars of life. This writer has always enjoyed shaking the hand of a working man-callused-rough. (I wish I could have seen my parents before they were put in the ground. But, the funeral director did put my hands on their hands, hard working hands, neither having never known a manicure).

The founder of IBM, Thomas Watson, puts signs all over his buildings, with one word, THINK. In a world of "canned" messages, "talking boxes" most people I know just refuse to think. A certain advertisement states "The mind is a terrible thing to waste."

Most have never considered the basis of our nation's wealth. How did we get here, the world's super power, our industry-transportation-universities-hospitals. My ancestors landing on these shores in 1677 had nothing but a few tools they could bring over from England on that small ship, the good ship 'Kent'. They had to eke out an existence. They had, what they wanted most, freedom and the right to worship God as they pleased. True liberty comes with a knowledge of Jesus.

God created everything that a man would ever need. From his hands, to our hands, we can tell the story. The caretaker of the planets, has given us every good and perfect gift. He put in the soil the elements necessary to grow crops, into the earth, minerals necessary for industry. God endowed the earth with plant life, good water, even harbors and rivers for transportation. Most of all, he put into the minds of mere mortals the ideas and motivation to produce. Early Americans mostly produced for their own needs, but then started the indispensible idea of all mankind, the marketing of excess. Money is only made by buying and selling, commerce. AND, from profits, stores were built. Roads and bridges were built. Necessity is not the mother of invention, laziness is the mother of invention. Families were too lazy to care for their sick at home, to educate their children at home, to sew their clothing at home. So, we have public hospitals, schools-industry and, of course the government got into the picture with their zealousness for regulation-taxation-strangulation and a democratic republic, which enjoyed every blessing of God, has become a hodgepodge of manipulation.

This old blind veteran, old school, raised on a dirt road without power-phone-water lines, has seen the world totally change in my 85 years. I remember that every home had a "wash pot." The large black iron wash pot was used for the family laundry, at hog killing time, it was used to produce the lard. My mother-grandmothers-great grandmothers, all women produced soap in the wash pot, it was called "lye soap." Interesting its production, fats that had been saved from the kitchen, mixed with lye (Sodium hydroxide and water). It was cut out in pieces. The pieces used for laundry-cleaning-washing your hands. Store bought soap was called "sweet soap." Can you even imagine one of our modern-educated-manicured wives preparing, much less using, lye soap? But, as was the case was everything, our ancestors were self sufficient, they knew how to survive, they used the elements which God had given to us to live... growing crops-animals-fiber. Our schools produced ambitious-egotistical-gifted men and women who could produce the equations as well as equipment for industry.

The moral fabric of the universe has been tied together by purposeful, probative, even profiteering men and women, who, with the guidance of their Creator have established the finest life systems known to history. We may debate about proper lifestyles, but we can never debate the fact that we enjoy the comforts of prosperity. It was enough to see my ancestors to do laundry in a wash pot, before refrigeration, so careful about cooking. I do not want to see any young mother keep her baby's bottle down in the well so the milk will not spoil. But, God deliver us from those who would destroy people they don't like from encourageable drones. We have taken human nature out of warfare, God help us to not take his grace from daily living.

Just Passing Through

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away (James, 4:14).

Not our home!
(David Harsha, "Immanuel's Land")
"For this world is not our home; we are looking forward to our city in Heaven, which is yet to come!" Hebrews 13:14
We are strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
This present world is not our home. We are coming up from the wilderness with our faces Zionward; we are traveling to the Celestial City!
Our path is rough, but the Savior sustains us.
Our pilgrimage lies through a wilderness, but faith cheers us with a view of the glorious rest of the redeemed in our Father's house, in mansions of blessedness!
Let this consideration animate us amid the conflicts of life. In a little while we shall obtain a joyous entrance into the glorious rest above. The storms of life's ocean will soon carry us into the haven of peace, where there is no trouble.
The language of inspiration is, "Get up, go away! For this is not your resting place, because it is defiled, it is ruined beyond all remedy!"
Your Savior, pilgrim Christian, has prepared for you a nobler rest than this polluted world!
In His Father's house are many spacious mansions, where your happy spirit, after tasting the bitter cup of life's sorrow, shall rest in eternal blessedness!
"For this world is not our home; we are looking forward to our city in Heaven, which is yet to come!" Hebrews 13:14

Many years ago, this writer attended a large conference for Christian leaders in Atlanta, GA. Like it was yesterday, I still remember the Christian president of one of the world's large candy manufacturing companies, addressing the conference and saying "Some months ago, I sent my nice watch back to the, manufacturer, had the name taken off and in its place, the words, "The Night Cometh"(John, 9:4)." "Now, anytime I look at my watch, I realize, just how little time I have to do God's work while I am here on this earth."

In 1932, two years after this writer's birth, Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World. He was not a prophet, but prophesied very accurately what is happening 82 years later. The world has totally changed in my lifetime. Just think, in my business, (Online Selling), via the Internet, one of my assistants can put an item into the computer, anything, book-car-collectibles, stroke one key, and the item is immediately viewed by 4 billion people all over the world. When I was a child, a radio was a strange-talking box. There were very few radios within the community, just a box of static. There was only one telephone in our community for many miles. My cousin had a telephone in his country store. The entire community used that one telephone to call a doctor-funeral home-emergency service AND, neighbors learned to care for one another. Sickness and death were realities. Neighbors new about home remedies, ingredients for poultices, how to dig a grave for a family member or a neighbor. Death has become so sanitized, just calling the funeral home. One of my funeral director friends tells me that some family members never even look at their departed member... just call and make burial arrangements by telephone. I so remember my own wonderful mother, saving up her money so she would have two dollars to take one of us to the dentist. My mother and grandmother delivered all of the babies in the community, "laid out the dead." Now, 50% of the population depends on the government for everything. WHO NEEDS GOD, WHEN YOU HAVE THE GOVERNMENT? AND, this is just what most politicians want, dependency on government for everything.

In our travels, everyday, we pass a graveyard or funeral home... but, most of my friends and family members actually think they will never die. The mortality rate is still 100%.

There was a time when funerals were held at the church house. I truly believe that more souls face the truth of eternity at a funeral in the church, casket at the front, knowing that one day, they might be laying in the box. And, so many think they will get some warning signals. It just does not happen that way, the big three, heart attack, cancer, stroke, happen rapidly and quietly. We are strangers and pilgrims here, "just passing through." Our citizenship, if Christian, if washed in the precious blood of Christ, is in heaven (Philippians, 3:20). Last breath here, first breath there and there is no middle ground (In spite of what the Catholics preach), you are in heaven or hell... no second chance.

This old blind veteran, who has seen the world turn totally toward Satan's advances in my lifetime is ready for heaven.... ready to see again, ready for sight. I am so glad I have been able to walk by faith, not sight (2 Cor. 5,7).

Safety Net Under the Tree

In a sense, the central story of my life is about nothing else ..... it is that of an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction. I call it Joy, which is here a technical term and must be sharply distinguished both from Happiness and from Pleasure. Joy (in my sense) has indeed one characteristic; and one only, in common with them; the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again. Apart from that and considered only in its quality, it might almost equally be called unhappiness or grief. But then it is a kind we want. I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasures in the world. But then, joy is never in our power and pleasure often is. 

C.S. Lewis

 
Christianity is not complicated, just tough. I bask in the joy of my salvation. BUT, I am conflicted by the consistent inconsistencies surrounding my faith. I truly believe that ninety percent of my faith is just raw courage. I need the courage to abound. It is so much easier to abase, to go along with the crowd. For instance, to enjoy, peeping through the keyhole, the commercialism of Christmas.

I am perplexed by the Christmas tree in the church sanctuary, the tinsel, the lights, the shopping--spending--stressing of this holy day, which has become a Pagan holiday.

And yet, for me, and you, my fellow Christian, if your Christmas has become a Pagan festival, it is your fault. When I see the lights, regardless of color, I think of Jesus, the light of the world. When I see the thorns on the holly tree, red berries, I think of the crown of thorns that was placed on his precious head and the drops of blood he shed for my rotten sins... as well as the sin of the world.

With the Christmas tree, with gifts, we can test the boundaries of grace. The greatest gift the world has ever known, a baby in a cattle cave in Bethlehem, after God's quietness for several hundred years. (One of my professors had said seven hundred "dumb" years. Preachers have said four hundred years. After Malachi to Matthew, old to New Testament, no message from God.)

Of course, God could have delivered his only son, full man, to the earth, to quickly die on the cross. We instead, have a long suffering savior, his life and message. HE PREACHED HIMSELF. As his feet nourished the ground around the Sea of Galilee, Roman enslavement was tyrannical.

Good news to a confused world, the grace of God. I have thoughts about "back door" revivals, unsaved people in the church, a hypocrisy testimony to the world. Perhaps God allows many to come to him backwards... like pouring water on a rock, it takes a long time for some to "get it". His grace is sufficient for the Mennonites, the Amish and many others of the thousands of denominations.

I was always so depressed with church members dragging in late for worship, clothing smelling of cigarette smoke. Knowing the holiness of God, his long suffering, even toward me, who am I to judge. Our blessed lord knows what people can comprehend. Just think of the thousands of missionaries taking the message of Christ to a lost and dying world of unbelievers whose language, traditions, cultures are so completely indifferent. Surely, God has a safety net of grace under the tree at Calvary for people who stumble and fumble at its base. Surely, God has a safety net of grace for children who understand gifts from the church Christmas tree. Surely, God has a safety net of grace for those who should know that his gifts to us, throughout life (Even the very air we breathe) could be taken away. Learning to trust God is a way of giving... gifts. God gave his Son, his Son, gave his life. It is impossible to show our love for God, our greatest act of worship other than by giving gifts of our blessings (Ties and Offerings) back to him. We cannot love without giving and perhaps this is the greatest message of Christmas... however we get it across.

A news reporter came to me for a story about the many places I have traveled at Christmas time. I was at the South Pole at Christmas, spent one Christmas Eve in Bethlehem, etc. I told her the greatest Christmas decorations, the greatest joy among people at any time of the year, particularly Christmas was in those places where Christ had been taught and preached... the Christian world. There is no joy at Christmas or any other time in the forty two-plus Muslim countries and most other countries with false religions (Buddhists, Hindus). Joy came to the world because of Jesus. Every check you write, every date on your calendar, every good gift in the world... hospitals, orphan homes, most colleges, all because of the life of one solitary God--Man in history. Gift to the world from the Creator of the world. Oh, there have been spinoffs--rip-offs such as Saint Nick, Santa Claus, etc., etc., but the only joy of the world came as a baby in a cattle cave in Bethlehem. Can we even imagine, that hillside with shepherds and sheep, God putting on a show with millions of angels, music beyond compare to celebrate any happiness this sin soaked world would enjoy?

"Joy to the World, the Lord has Come", AND IT IS ALL A GIFT OF GRACE.

Benches, and a Faraway Harbor.

See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many (Hebrews, 12:15).

God has always been victorious, throughout the history of mankind, through our pain and our suffering, our inability to understand his ways. BUT, mere mortals, how can we worship a God, which we understand. For God to be God he does not need anything, he could have established a world free of warfare, problem free to those to whom he had given freedom. He could have provided three million fiery chariots to deliver his chosen, three million Jewish slaves, from Egypt. He could bring the entire city of Chicago to its knees and in repentance, salvation, if he desired. He is Boss and we are to trust him.

This writer's closest companion is the radio; I keep several on all the time, particularly the short wave. Sunday, December 7, is Pearl Harbor Day. All of the programs today, Sunday, religious and otherwise, I have not heard Pearl Harbor remembrance mentioned. Just think 2,400 men were killed at this faraway pacific harbor. Like the butterfly effect, motions--movements of distrust from Asia, turmoil in Europe, every evil entanglement slowly moving toward the worst world war in the history of man.

Back then, 1941, as now; this ten-year-old boy was listening to the radio. I was in the fire room, (Houses, even in the cities, knew nothing of centralized heat. Country homes, heat in the sitting room and the kitchen) it was a very cold December Sunday of my grandparents home. I announced to others in the room, "The Japanese have attacked America at Pearl Harbor." Of course, then as now, my relatives did not think I knew what I was talking about. They could not understand my smart mind. Most Americans have never heard of Pearl Harbor, even the Hawaiian Islands. The Korean conflict is the war in which I was involved... Years Later. But, there were still WWII veterans under my command. Several told me that they went to a war not knowing anything at all about the geography of the world. Such as our school systems then and now.

My parents, both my mother and father were raised in houses that survived the Civil War. Most American families back then, were large. Furniture was handmade, very expensive. In my grandparent’s homes, there were not enough chairs to seat families at the table. I believe every home had a long bench, where children were seated. Some had a bench on each side of the dining table, my grandparents, just one side. Most of the young men who fought in WWII came from poor homes. It has always been the poor and disenfranchised who fought the battles for our nation. In the Revolutionary and Civil war, wealthy young men took along with them a slave to do their fighting.

One of my uncles, whose brothers took up one bench at his family's table all went to war. Several in Europe, two including my uncle in the pacific. He was young, had never been anywhere. He told me, "I was so homesick, I thought I would die." Three of his brothers were wounded, but they all came back and resumed their lives, raised families and to the best of my knowledge, never asked the government for anything. I never knew a boy from a poor home to get nominated to a military academy. Because of inadequate education few poor boys were ever commissioned as officers. But, today, 100 years after WWI in which many of the fathers of the WWII service men served, we know that 126,000 are buried on foreign soil. One of my maternal grandfather's brothers was an officer in WWI, having served with President T. R. Roosevelt and was killed. Somehow, perhaps because he had married into wealth or political influence his body was returned. It was a time when all families depended on horses for transportation. My mother, just a child, said she had never seen so many beautiful horses, soldiers and guns at a funeral. Until recently, America knew how to honor its warriors.

In this post Christian world, when even church members love the world more that they love the WORD, everything has changed at the church house. As a child, I saw those old people, at that old country church, get up from hard church bench pews and go to the front of the church to kneel at hard benches around the pulpit. They believed in the power of prayer, believed that the same power that had raised Jesus from the grave, the same power that had taken a small boy's lunch and had fed thousands, the same power that had delivered three million Jewish slaves through the red sea on dry ground could save their loved ones and could save their country. Hanging behind the pulpit in our country church was a large banner with a blue star for every man fighting in the war  affiliated with the church, probably 100. At the end of the war there was not one gold star.

In my Christian experience, it is easier to be a base than to abound... Easier to go along with the crowd and their disbelief than to abound--wrestle, using the full power of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians, 6). My favorite hymn "Standing on the Promises". His promises were secure in the past, now, and always, as Rudyard Kipling said "Lest We Forget."

Scar Tissue and Cobwebs

Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me (Psalm, 139, 7-10).

God has told me in no certain words that I am tough, that I have been a real problem to him. But, God knew how to deal with me, how to straighten me out. This alpha male could learn or memorize anything. I was not very kind to others. I had a very caustic tongue, always in a hurry. I had much to accomplish. It is the grace of God that I did not kill myself or someone else with my car. Always driving to fast and before the time of the bottomless ocean of technology and information, I did not have a recording machine, flying down the highway, I would be writing notes on the legal pad on the other seat... After my years of education and military service, often speaking somewhere two or three times a day.

I was editor of a professional journal and writing for several magazines. Plus handling all of my investments: real estate, stock market, etc. I look back now and cannot comprehend how I did it. Especially, and this is the most dangerous of all, I had lost the vision in one eye in the military and the other eye was rapidly fading.

Along the sun visor of my car, prescription glasses were lined up, a pair of glasses for anything. It got to the place that I could only drive where I could see white lines during the day, never at night. My most desperate minutes, minutes devoted entirely to conversations with God, were spent on the side of the highway after a rain shower... Waiting for the highway to dry enough that I could again see the white lines.

I will not go into the details of everything involving my life at this crucial time. Without saying, it was necessary to limit everything, give up my private practice, all social--church--fraternal--professional activities. God had slowed me down because I had been fortunate enough to prosper financially, had made big money on the stock market. He told me that he wanted me to sense the entire world, to study his creation.

It was in a small, clapboard church on the island of Samoa, Pacific Ocean, that one-woman missionary--preacher changed my life. I was staying at the famous Aggie Grey Hotel and one of the employees had walked me to the church, filled with natives. All were excited at their American visitor. The missionary walked down the aisle, and said to me "I am speaking from Psalm 84, blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them" (Psalm, 84:5). My life has never been the same since that time, when I had to learn that I must depend entirely on God... Nothing I can do, my strength is in him.

130 years ago, Henry David Thoreau said most men lead lives of quiet desperation. This writer, world traveler, has found that most people feel as they will get some sort of warning from God before their final seconds on earth. Most men who put on their socks in the morning do not realize that the undertaker may take them off that night.

God wanted me to sense the entire world, his creation (Dr. Morris has been on 8 around the world trips, traveled through every continent, passports stamped in 157 countries and trips to both the North and South Poles). My blindness has been my greatest blessing, which may seem strange to one living sightless, studying the world, leaning on God. BUT, I have truly learned why God is so long suffering toward his chief creation. People pretend about everything. Pretentions reign supreme... Much like the stage, the movie house, or puppets attached to strings. Concern is a lost word in most vocabularies. For instance, I learned that the most basic need in the world is water. Most of the world's population spends most of their lives (And they only have one life too) dealing with water. All over the world, women; the mothers of children spend their entire day looking for and bringing home water. At a time, when the greatest amount of money spent in the world is for destruction... Dropping explosives, making warriors and builders of war materials richer. Just a small amount of this money could put water in every village in the world.

Once, the Chief United Nations Executive of Africa invited myself and the President of Dusseldorf’s Medical School to have dinner with him (Tree tops in Africa, where Queen Elizabeth learned she had become the Monarch of England). I had been in the markets of so many poor African villages; I said to him "how much of the world's largess actually reaches the poverty stricken people who need it?" He said, "less than one percent because all of the funds from your nation and the world are siphoned off by corrupt African leaders". I ask you, is it much different in America, the world's most blessed, greatest power? Martin Luther saw this in 1521 even with the Catholic Church, high people wanting more money.

Read again the 84th psalm of David. Our lives are not mountain top experiences. We spend so much time in valleys, often weeping, often in pain, often asking the question, why me? To the God haters, the evolutionist, "Where do you turn, where do you go when knee deep in the mire of despondency, the valleys of life?" Your spiritual satirist, poking fun at people of faith will tell you to just take your sorrows like a man, to just die and become fertilizer. The Christian life is consumed by faith, plus nothing. By faith, often through "scar tissue" we can manage the "mud--holes" of disappointments in the very bottom of the valley. The Christian always keeps his eye on the goal, never pays much attention to the onlookers who are either cheering or booing him. His eye is on the goal, the mountaintop, NO not the mountain peak, but rather a lofty plateau from which he can reach down and in many ways encourage and help both the pretenders and deniers of the grace of God.


One killer bee will not cause death, but a swarm of killer bees probably will cause death. We worship and give praise to the Creator--God of the universe who designed the bees, as well as the scar tissue for every trial and problem, small or large.

True Christmas Message

        To my friends, neighbors, associates, family members, & everyone else who can read.

 Beyond the lights,  tinsel, thorns and berries of the holly tree; AND, in spite of the spending and spreeing of this season, I give to you the message of Christmas.

You Can Trust Him

"He is unparalleled and unprecedented - 
     He is the centerpiece of civilization; 
He is the superlative of all excellence; 
     He is the sum of human greatness; 
He is the source of divine grace; 
     His name is the only one able to save; 
And His blood is the only power able to cleanse; 
     His ear is open to the sinner's call; 
His hand is quick to lift the fallen soul; 
     He is eternal lover of us all; 
And thus, under all situations, everyone... 
     And you can trust Him. 

He supplies mercy for the struggling soul - 
     He sustains the tempted and the tried; 
He sympathizes with the wounded and broken; 
     He strengthen the weak and the weary; 
He guards and He guides the wanderer; 
     He heals the sick and cleanses the leper; 
He delivers the captive and defends the helpless; 
     And He binds up the broken hearted; 
He's for you... 
     And you can trust Him. 

Jesus is the key to all the knowledge - 
     He is the wellspring of wisdom; 
He is the doorway of deliverance; 
     And He is the pathway of peace; 
He is the roadway of righteousness'; 
     He is the highway of holiness; 
He is the gateway to glory... 
     And yes, you can trust Him. 

Jesus is enough - 
     He is the all sufficient King; 
He is the King of the Jews; 
     He's the King of Israel; 
He is the King of righteousness; 
     And He is the King of the Ages; 
He is the King of Heaven; 
     He is the King of glory; 
He is the King of kings and He is the Lord of lords...
     And yes again, you can trust Him. 

And rejoice in this my friend - 
     He is a sovereign King; 
There is no gauge to measure His limitless love; 
     There is no barrier to block His blessings outpoured; 
He is enduringly strong; 
     And He is entirely supreme; 
He is eternally steadfast; 
     He is immortally faithful; 
He is imperially powerful; 
     And He is impartially merciful; 
He is Jesus, God's Son... 
     And you can trust Him. 

I wish i could accurately describe Him to you - 
     But He's indescribable; 
He's incomprehensible; 
     He's invincible, He's irresistible; 
You can't outlive Him... 
     And You can't live without Him. 

The Pharisees couldn't stand Him, 
     But they found they couldn't stop Him; 
Pilate couldn't fault Him; 
     Herod couldn't kill Him; 
Death couldn't conquer Him... 
     And the grave couldn't hold Him. 

My friends, 
     He is the Alpha and the Omega; 
The First and the Last; 
     He is the God of the future and the God of the past; 
We rise to speak His name again and again - 
     "JESUS, JESUS" 
He is JESUS; 
     He is for us... 
And we can trust Him."

Unknown Author

Thanks-Giving-Living

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

God's arms are not shortened because you do not have academic credentials. Indeed, throughout my long interesting life and travels around the world, I have learned that the smartest-greatest persons I have known had very little formal education. One can easily find a college faculty in any prison. the jailhouse, the courthouse, the state house, AND, much to my sorrow, the White House, filled with people with good formal educations and yet few values and principles... Low people in high places.

Before the Lord; for he cometh to judge the earth with righteousness and the people with equity (Psalm, 98:9). This writer, knowing the holiness of God, learned long ago, not to judge others and not to judge myself.

We are observing a time of thankfulness, a truly American tradition. Like so many other things to which Satin has sunk his tentacles, the time of Thanksgiving like our time of Christmas has been turned into spending and spreeing. Just think, Thanksgiving-Living captured by blackness: Black Friday, stores open on Thanksgiving day, where at one time Christian churches claimed the day. Why should we be surprised, men love darkness rather than light. “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John, 3:19).

Early Americans knowing suffering, the desperation of survival on these shores wanted to express there thankfulness for life, their living, giving on these shores. I can well imagine my own ancestors who disembarked from the good ship Kent in 1677 thanking God for survival. I have here in this room where I sit the cast iron pot which they brought from England... Few tools and supplies, cooking their meals in one container over an open fire. In a day, when my young relatives know so little about wanting or needing anything. How could they understand? And, these are my relatives, 1/3 of all young people have had no experience with religion in America. God deliver me from young people and even old people, without scars, who do not walk with a limp. Like most politicians, pastors, today's parents, they know nothing of suffering.

Thanksgiving is not new, not just an American tradition. Of the “Feasts” are Jewish traditions, perhaps the greatest, observed for thousands of years. Even until this day, by many Orthodox Jews, “the Feast of Tabernacles”. The Jewish people were instructed to remember their wilderness experience, when God humbled them with a tough life in the desert... Water from a rock, food-like seeds on the ground. They had witnessed God's miracle of deliverance from Egyptian slavery... Escaping by dry land through the red sea. They were instructed to remember their deliverance by moving out of their houses and constructing temporary shelter, (booths covered with tree limbs). I am sure the early socialists-psychologists in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the “Promised Land” warned them that they were not sanitary, breaking codes. They were probably warned about child abuse, as those who above the age of 40 inherited their promised destination. Cannon was not heaven, they had to fight there way throughout, but, they remembered their shoes of iron which did not wear out, the cloud of fire by night. They remembered, from the stories of their ancestors, that all were healed on the night of the great Passover (Psalm 105 tells us that there was not a feeble one among them). Those who crossed the Jordan into Cannon, nearly 3 million strong saw the walls of Jericho fall.

At the Feast of Tabernacles, even in in some of the world's great cities, penthouse roosts and, on the ground, behind guarded gates, some Jews still observe their heritage... Remembering their supernatural, God fearing, religion that has determined the world history.

This writer, world traveler, was in the Himalayas, the kingdom of Bhutan. The Buddhists are probably the most pleasant-happiest people in the world. I had walked from my hotel in Phim Pau the day before, I had been thrilled by a band and procession taking food to the monks at their monastery. Several young Buddhist monks came out to great me, dressed in their scarlet robes, barren heads (In Bhutan, about 50% percent of the male population are monks) One of the old monks had died, and they were having a long ritual. In Bhutan, the sign of grief, white flags on poles, I had already seen white flags everywhere. In a large cloister of flowers, incense burners, the decaying body of a monk laid on a platform. In this world, then and now, only 7 out of 9 persons have any religious belief at all and most of these religious beliefs, as we all know, are all shallow, just a system of pretending. The thought occurred to me as now, after a man's entire life of pursuing a false religion, of probably doing much good to some people... Such a waste, such a tragedy. Did this monk or anyone else who gives pretensions of religiosity have any sovereign to whom he can say thank you? We do not have a sovereign who we fully understand, and for God to be God, He does not need anything from us, mere mortals, mere believers, he only wants trust and, I believe he expects thankfulness in everything that comes from him.

This writer was in Greenwich Village Manhattan, on the way to meet a friend for dinner, (I still remember the name of the restaurant, Big Spoon) suddenly, on a park bench, an EMS truck standing by, a street woman, her “grocery cart” near by was giving birth to a baby. Do we think the mother or child, or those attempting to assist had any idea of what life and our thankfulness for life is all about? Or, will this baby from such humble beginnings know anything about the love of God and the supernatural protective arm of God. His redemption, his salvation, the greatest assurance-insurance known to man “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews, 13:5).

Christianity is not complicated, just tough. It must be to tough for most Christians to understand. Jesus did not tell us to remember his birthday, said nothing about a Thanksgiving day but, he did tell us to remember him at his table, Thanksgiving for his broken body and shed blood. Taking upon himself the sin and sickness of the world.

Worthy is the Lamb That Was Slain

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by his

blood, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour,

and glory, and blessing. Blessing and honour, glory and power, be unto

Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever.

(Revelation 5:12-14)

Amen.

Pleasures forevermore!

("Solitude Sweetened" by James Meikle, 1730-1799)

Alas! with what desperate madness are those chargeable--who are taken up with transitory trifles, and neglect the realities of the everlasting world? When I consider the vanity of all earthly greatness, I cannot help concluding, that such as pursue after it are intoxicated with poison. But even if the pleasures of this world were real and solid, yet they are so transient--that they are not worthy our pursuit!

O how wise they are for earthly trifles--but how foolish for eternal realities!

Once a great king made a vast feast for his nobles for a hundred and eighty days; nothing less than a royal treasury could support the expense of such an entertainment.

But the King of kings shall feast and satiate all His mighty angels, and all His chosen people on His own undiminished fullness through eternity itself! Here is . . .
bliss without ceasing,
abundance beyond all bounds,
and possession without end!

"In Your presence is fullness of joy! In Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore!" (Psalm 16:11)

Addition Dr. Morris:

We live in a world of absolute lunacy, lunatics making the decisions, very low people ruling in very high places. 

Is there any child who would celebrate parents of the same sex... regardless of what they call themselves. Over the years, I have employed many young people to work for me... many businesses, MY many opportunities to have some effect on young lives. Perhaps the most mixed up-messed up young man I ever knew was raised by two lesbians who claimed to be married. He despised both of them... what they had done to his life. There is an old song, be it ever so humble, there's no place like home AND, what made it home was a father and mother, and the children remembering the struggles of their parents. 

This writer was raised on the land, in the community where his parents, grandparents, great-grandparents etc., had farmed and lived for many generations. They were land owners but just hard working people. Their homes-houses had survived the Civil War. They never owned slaves... never owned any human beings, just farm livestock. And, their livestock was treated well. I still remember that my father always put the hard-working mule teams into the pasture so they could graze on Sunday, the day the family was in church and resting. I don't know how many times I used the psalm above in public speaking and public prayers. If I could only get that message across, "in thy presence is fullness of joy, in thy right hand, pleasures evermore."

Most church members I have known want a checklist Christianity, a bomb shelter faith, a bellhop God. We want to live very much like the rest of the world except when we need our religion. If we do not get a thrill from hearing someone sing that wonderful hymn, "Worthy Is The Lamb", if you do not get a thrill from hearing God's word anywhere at anytime, if you do not get joy from the security of your faith, then something is wrong. Family members-cousins etc., who returned to our old family homes, to our old family church, were always choked up with emotions... often would weep openly at the church because they knew that it was the struggles-faith-grace-power-mercy, not anything they could gain by working-buying-acquiring that made the joy of their home and church possible.

If a person could actually earn points, in some way buy, study for degrees of attainment in order to gain Heaven, most would be busy doing so. Perhaps some of the degree work secretive-fraternal groups have attempted this (You know I speak of the Masons and to some extent, civic groups) always, without fail, the nearer I got to the top of any ladder I was climbing, in any organization, spiritual, political, military, civic, the more I realized the compromises necessary to get there. It is in the salvation provided all of us chosen-drawn-called by God that we find attainment simply because of His mercy. There is nothing we can do, it is a free gift. One man told me that if he could keep his family and friends out of Hell, he would crawl on his hands and knees across the continent. Once in Tibet, once in Canada, this world traveler saw pilgrims crawling up mountainsides in an effort to please their God.

Known But To God

12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

In these radical times, when history can be wiped out without notice with a worldwide nuclear conflagration OR, more slowly by engineered viruses, the living-breathing member of genus Homo who knows he has a soul, will take a few moments to think about his identity. Those who dance to the tune of the New World Order believe that Christians are spiritual lunatics-patriots are political extremists. God chooses many of us to deny self, bear His cross, be transformed by His eternal truth. He draws us, and the call by God on a person's life makes him or her different, if not different, there is something very wrong with your identity (I Peter 2:11). Our citizenship is in Heaven, we are just passing through (Philippians 3:20). In modern times, among Madison Ave. trained church workers, Christianity is based on what you can get by with, not the absolutes of right and wrong. How quickly we learn that life is a wrestling match, warfare against powerful forces in high places (Ephesians 6:11-12). 

Born into the poverty of an Eastern N.C. tobacco farm, on a dirt road without power-phone-water lines, I just knew the integrity and sweat of my parents and ancestors. From a small country school, thirteen in my graduating class, life became a matter of destination at the University. World War II had just ended, my father and other relatives were returning to the farm-jobs-communities. One of my uncles, wounded in the South Pacific, said, "Let's take a walk." A neurological mess until he died, constant spasms of his body, he said, "My best friend killed next to me and in pieces, I thought I was dying and realized that no one knew my true identity. That I was 'known only to God'. But, I did not die and regained life in a hospital." This uncle, married to my mothers sister, went on to raise a wonderful family, marvelous job with the state prison system, mayor of his town and family members said they had never seen so many dark blue suits file into one funeral... when he did die. Character determines destination and we are not all biological robots. His words to me that day, "Don't forget who you are, where you came from."

It was necessary for me to work my way through eight years of professional education, first at Chapel Hill, then at Tennessee. My first job at Chapel Hill, working at Lenoir Hall, the student eating center. We hauled food for cooking from a warehouse. The place was totally infested with rats. Rats running all over the food containers. Even though rats, in their genome, are within a few percentage points of human beings, the rat does not control his excretion, is one of the most dangerous disease carriers alive. As a British Ambassador said to me in Africa one time, "Rats cause more disease in Africa than anything else." BUT, when I said something to UNC Food Management about the rats, I lost my job at this prestigious learning institution (UNC-Chapel Hill, first state-supported University).  North Carolina's first student at its University was Hinton James, from this town where I live, who walked all the way to Chapel Hill-200 miles in order to get a college education. It did not take long for this poor farm boy, working his way through college (at that time, no grants-loans or other government largess) to learn that the large, elitist state universities were intended for rich families, that the sons of legislators-judges-wealthy were coddled and coached by special university advisers. I did not care then or now, my objective there and elsewhere was an education. I had the assurance of a protector-defender-provider. 

5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. - Hebrews 13:5 (KJV)

For eight summers, I covered every PIG-PATH in North Carolina selling bibles door to door. Not only making money but learning the value of a dollar and the most important value of the personhood of real people. In Memphis, living in student poverty, I depended on the "10 Cent Row" of a poor neighborhood grocery store for my food, I sold cemetery property on weekends, and as a young Doctor worked at Millington Veteran's Center helping care for four veterans without arms or legs. Even before my own military service, I have seen what is known to God. On the staff of one army hospital, nearest to Red Stone Arsenal, former Nazi doctors staffing a U.S Army Hospital.

God wanted me to sense the world, sightless. At the Pakistan border with Afghanistan, I saw refugees with all their worldly possessions in bags on backs, their children barefoot on ice. In the bottomless ocean of knowledge, surely mankind deserves better.

Owning-maintaining an apartment near the United Nations in New York, in Manhattan, at an elitist party, a drunk Russian learned of my recent trip across the Gobi desert and China. I told him about making photographs with my telescopic lens, under blankets, which his Russians did not capture. In order to get the film, this Russian diplomat told me about the capture and enslavement of the Americans on the South Korean airline shot down (KAL 007). He said all the passengers are alive and slaves near Vladivostok. When I talked to the South Korean embassy, just across the street from me on Beekman Place, the ambassador said, "Korea nor the USA will start a Third World War over some slaves." (I have written all about this in another article.)

For 6,000 years, Man has known that he is just a squatter on this planet specially designed by God. I know that I was chosen by God before the very creation of the Universe and I know that I have my identity with him, in spite of the world, flesh, devil. When God heard people cry, "Crucify Him," about his own son, he knew then, as now, who is in charge of everything. This writer has known and seen many insignificant people around the world, every continent. Darkness, not light, has become romanticized. With 600,000 young men in prison for drugs, drug activity has also become romanticized-sanitized-"cool." "How shall we escape (Hebrews 2:3)": Before American soldiers arrived in Afghanistan, even the times I was there before the war, Afghanistan produced 7% of the world's Heroin market. Today, after a warfare covering many years, Afghanistan is producing 93% of the world's heroin supply. Nations, like individuals, are responsible for their identity AND, as with Sodom and Gomorrah, known to God. 

Koinonia

(Fellowship)

Some enchanted evening

You may see a stranger,

you may see a stranger

Across a crowded room

And somehow you know,

You know even then

That somewhere you'll see her

Again and again.

God has good sense, he knows that Satan can imitate everything. As a child, I never could understand my grandmother referring to store bought loaves of bread as lite-bread. My ancestors, landing on the shores of America in 1677, like those primitive cooks before them, knew only "heavy" bread. In my lifetime, changes in everything, from the heavy to the light... now referred to as lite... lite beer, lite milk, lite clothing, lite bedding etc. Vehicles are much lighter, housing less bulky, lifestyles much, much easier. To cure diseases, not just treatment, such as diabetes and cancer, we must learn to hate the foods we like, like the foods we hate. Scientists, even your own doctor, will not tell you this, but sugar nourishes-encourages-spreads cancer. Sugar is the most addictive substance known to man. Have you noticed how addictive fast foods are when you eat in some restaurants? In 1900, only 3 of 100 people had cancer. Today, 50 out of 100 people have cancer, and the number is growing. Cancer and diabetes were rare diseases when I was in school, just seventy years ago. Many people cannot accept the diagnosis... some states, example Oregon, provide suicide packets for citizens (Brittany Maynard). Flies do not cause garbage. God has provided clean-up crews for a human being, prize your immune system. Let bacteria do its work.

In a world of deceit, a world of political correctness, as we have lightened up-depreciated everything else, so we have made a "CHEAPNESS" of our spiritual and political beliefs. The liberty we find in Christianity came at such a tremendous cost both spiritually and politically (the ugliness of death on a cross). If I were to have a tombstone, I would want the words "Work in Progress" inscribed on it.("Thy word is forever settled in heaven." Psalm 119:89) Chosen, by God, for life, life is eternal. The word Koinonia means fellowship-encouragement. A greater blight on my life than blindness, so little encouragement. Think of what Moses' life could have been with encouragement. He witnessed the redemption of three million Jewish slaves from Egypt, through the Red Sea, witnessed God's attention to them, yet, the stiff-necked people, even his own sister and brothers were a heavy burden on his life and Moses was kept from entering the Promised Land, UNTIL he appeared with Jesus and Elijah there on the Mount of Transfiguration. I believe Martin Luther realized the burden-heaviness of God's word. For hundreds of years, the Catholic church taught wrongness instead of rightness, just think, years of God's message with just books of law then scarce manuscripts. Think of the enlightenment when the printed page allowed any person to discover the Grace of God. Whether spiritual or political it is all a matter of message. This nation, its churches, built on message, but, nothing excuses the watering down-weakness of the message. We have had several generations of westerners who think the spiritual message is simply a matter of actions, citizenship is a matter of actions...a checklist Christianity, a bellhop God of national security, available when needed. 

History has been marked by God dealing with a man, not a committee... the right man, at the right place, at the right time, for example, a David Livingston or Dwight L. Moody. In the summer, this old blind veteran sleeps with his window open at night. The flight patterns going to the local airport pass right over my house. Looking into the sky, a sighted person cannot see it, but I can hear a plane cutting through it... the underpinnings of God's magnificent design of support to the plane. Just as he is caretaker of the planets. Have you ever wondered why some people are attracted to you and others, seemingly, are repulsed by you? Again, it is a matter of message. The apostle Paul told us long ago, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Colossians 1:27. If one does not like you, rejoice, you are in good company because they would not like my Blessed Lord either. The great mystery of my lifetime, everyone-everything made lighter. From the White House, to the State House, to the Courthouse, to the School House, even to the Church House, and perhaps even to your house, whether decency and morality in government, values-absolutes defended-fought-preached we have seen what happens to a 'flimsy" world physically, politically, spiritually.

Elections and Liberty

Matthew writes that Jesus "healed their sick." Not some of their sick. Not the righteous among the sick. Not the deserving among the sick. But "the sick." - Max Lucado

"Fools make a mock at sin!" Proverbs 14:9 

Sin is a foolish thing. What greater foolishness is there, than to gratify an enemy! Sin gratifies Satan. When lust or anger burn in the soul--Satan warms himself at the fire! Men's sins feast the devil. 

Samson was called out to amuse the Philistines. Likewise the sinner amuses the devil! Nothing more satisfies him--than to see men sin. How he laughs to see them hazarding their souls for the world--as if one would trade diamonds for straws; or would fish for gudgeons with golden hooks! 

Every wicked man shall be indicted as a fool, at the day of judgment. "But God said to him--You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you!" Luke 12:20

Addition Dr. Morris:

On this November 3rd, 2014, America is gearing up to vote tomorrow in its midterm elections. America is too far down the drain, tomorrow's elections will not make any difference. Like our ancestors, Adam and Eve, we have chosen the spirit of death instead of the spirit of life. I am so tired of the political advertisements, lies and deceit. I have lived through the presidencies and congresses of FDR, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Bush #41, Bill Clinton, Bush #43, and now, worst of all, sunni-muslim golfer B. Obama. It would be hard to say what a masquerade party we've had with both political parties. Satan surely is laughing. Satan's only concern is that there is a remnant, God's chosen, still believing in liberty, liberty which does not come with political changes but only in the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.

Until Jesus came, women were little more than slaves (democrats, women's movements, would have you believe otherwise. But, if they actually believed they could do something for women, women's lives would be different in Muslim countries). Until Jesus came, children were expendable. Mannaseh, longest reigning king in Israel, burned both of his sons to satisfy a heathen god. In the early days of the Roman Empire, newborn babies were placed at the edge of the street so they could be crushed by horses. Today, and most democrats support this, babies before birth are killed. Has anything actually improved? Except, that now we have certain political people, in repudiation to everything scientific and spiritual, supporting same-sex marriage. Satan takes no satisfaction in seeing sinners sin, he already has them under his control. He gleefully laughs when he sees those who claim the name of Christ sin in their living as well as in the voting booth. Satan knows the pleasure of knowing that most church members think their responsibility to God is only on a short time, Sunday morning. The Christian's liberty is Christ and Jesus came to give us liberty, (John 8:32- "And you will know the truth and the truth will make you free") came from the realization that the christian responsibility extends to every day, every moment of his life. Truth is truth whether either political party believes it or not.

President William Clinton told us that he would do what he thought was right... not what IS right but what he THOUGHT was right. He thought what he did in the oval office with an intern was right, the women and children killed in Waco, TX was right. Over my lifetime, it has been impossible for anyone to vote for a true Christian president. Some were better than others, some better pretenders than others, for instance, Jimmy Carter. The Christian patriot is responsible for what he knows and into the voting booth he takes with him what he knows and his best knowledge is asking God to help him mark his ballot.

Contempt for Contentment

Far away in the depths of my spirit tonight

Rolls a melody sweeter than psalm;

In celestial strains it unceasingly falls

O’er my soul like an infinite calm.

Peace, peace, wonderful peace,

Coming down from the Father above!

Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray

In fathomless billows of love!

Christian contentment

(Jeremiah Burroughs, 1600-1646)

"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances!" Philippians 4:11

Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God's wise and fatherly disposal in every condition.

"Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that!" 1 Timothy 6:6-8

"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said: Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you!" Hebrews 13:5

Addition Dr. Morris:

This writer owned and maintained a home right in the middle of Manhattan, New York City, for many years. I used it when I was there, a pied-a-terre away from my usual homestead. It was an excellent launching pad for my world travels. Of course, sightless, I missed the body language so important for evaluating people, but I could hear the rushing tenseness, even anger, in the hordes of people, streets, buses, subways in their workday of survival. I would walk through the garment district and hear men with loaded carts in pursuit of another day's pay, and I'm sure the same mental activity-anguish went on in the great banks, even Wall Street. Every day of my life when I shower-shave in the comfort of my home, I think of my ancestors, who up until my parents generation, never enjoyed any of the comforts of life... never had a good bath. Most only had two pairs of shoes, Sunday shoes and work shoes... most men owned only one suit. Some of my female ancestors probably never had a store bought-ready made dress. Beginning in the twentieth century, industry, movement from the farm into the city, the individual lost much of the joys of living. Governments find it is much easier to control people in large urban areas. Madison Avenue finds it is easy to keep people in stress about the things they do not have. Radio-television-internet advertising keeps people constantly wanting something additional or different. It has become a science aimed at certain age groups, most disgusting, marketing towards children, so, each generation becomes more dissatisfied with their lives than the last. We all want to live like the "rich and famous." Home has become just a filling station-changing room. Everyone is on the go. 

One pastor visited one of his members' homes. A young boy answered the door, upon inquiry, the boy told the pastor that his father was on the golf course, his mother, either at the gym or shopping. His sister either had a dancing class or fencing class or soccer practice. The preacher said, "What are you doing?" "I have our old, large tomcat in our freezer turning him into a polar bear," replied the boy. 

Bring back the time when we had time to look at the flowers which we had time to plant. Bring back the time when the family could enjoy a meal at a table. Bring back the time when students could enjoy a book just for the pleasure of reading. Bring back the time when families and neighbors visited. In my lifetime, I saw front porches emptied where, before air conditioning, they used to be crowded with people laughing and talking. There was a time when the doctors office didn't limit you to a seven minute visit or a lawyer could practice curbstone law (time to talk with you about a problem on the street).

I have been to Communist China three times since it reopened... amazed that those people are more like robots than robots. Your life is controlled by the government from cradle to grave. I was in the so-called "children's palaces" where all children are raised by government workers... the parents, unless hospitalized, are at work at government jobs. All young men are pressed into military service... you see them constantly exercising. All young girls are working in factories turning out stuff for Wal-Mart. I asked one supervising guide, "What would happen if one of these girls actually had an artistic thought and made something different from the others." She said, "We would destroy it." Everything is done according to standard operating procedures (SOP). Every time I go to a Wal-Mart or another of the mega-stores, I think I'm in Communist China, where piles of clothing are just there for purchase, never any displays. There was a time in America when you could window shop... do you remember mannequins? Even in Chinese restaurants, everything tastes the same, same portions, same decor. The first time I was in China, everyone wore the same uniform, men and women, same haircuts, same bicycles. It was almost that way in Russia, when I crossed the entire continent on the Trans-Siberian Railroad.

America, having been brain-washed, mentally tarnished and tainted by government media, is in the process of losing so quickly that which our ancestors worked so long and hard to establish. From the White House, to the State House, to the court house-school house-church house, we have purchased hook, line and sinker, mal-contentment with the values of our wonderful past.

I have often said, why should we be surprised when sinners act like sinners. Faith is 90% raw courage. Those of us who bear the name of Christ should be the most content, joyful people in the world and should have the courage to esteem it.