Actions and Attitude

"Men are so simple, and so subject to prone to be won over by necessities, that a deceiver will always find someone who is willing to be deceived.”

-  Machiavelli's, The Prince

Did WE really think God would turn a blind eye to the loosening of the moral fabric in our country? Is it like the director of the new movie 'Noah', "The least biblical, biblical film ever made?"

Each human being, before the Flood of Noah and since the Flood of Noah, has had 1,440 minutes in each day to meet the struggles of life. The greatest distance in these struggles has been the 14 inches from the human brain to the human heart. Most believers and non believers have the attitude shown by their actions: "God save my soul, if I have a soul."

I believe my personal attitude toward the hypocrisy of mankind started with me as a child, nearly 80 years ago. To this day, I still try to reconcile the actions of people to their attitudes. 

In our depression ridden state, most country churches had "preaching" just once a month. Those with transportation would travel to other churches in the community on their preaching Sunday. My Baptist parents would take us, even to the local Quaker church. It was one of the oldest Quaker churches in the South (Nahunta Friends Meeting). There were always relatives and friends at these country churches who would invite us  to their home for Sunday dinner. Just as when these people would visit our church, my mother would invite them to our home for Sunday dinner.

I still remember the Sunday we attended the Quaker Church and a large black limousine was parked directly in front of the church. My inquisitive mind watched everything. At that time in history, many Quakers would go to church in buggies drawn by horses. I can still see the Quaker men helping their wives out of the buggy... those Quaker woman in long dresses, wearing large bonnets. These wives, happy mothers faces had never been touched by "makeup" they did not have small waistlines, but their husbands and children thought they were the most beautiful woman in the world... beautiful in appearance as well as spiritual character. 

Now, who was in the stretch limousine parked directly in front of the church? Most country people had never seen a stretch limousine of that type. The story is, and it is accurate, that many years previously, a local farm boy had left the community under a cloud of crime. Story is, Milford had taken a shot at a Sheriffs Deputy when he had come to serve some papers on his Father for public drunkenness. Milford had fled to Texas, gotten into the oil business as a wildcatter, and made a fortune in the oil business. He came back to the old community (the threat of arrest, his parents now deceased)  showing off his money, and his new position in life. What better place to show off his new self made manhood then at the church where notable people he remembered attended? So there he sat, in that Quaker Church, with his powdered and perfumed wife. 

My family was sitting behind this couple of wealth.  The Quaker service was unique, the time of silence, when any member, as a spirit moved, could stand and testify about the goodness of God. Even to this day, this small boy can still remember the testimony of Ms. Martha Garris, or her brother Mr. Earl Edgerton. These were members of that "meeting" who knew the holiness of God.

This small boy still remembers Milford's modern dressed wife (who probably thought she was in a night club) taking out her compact to powder her nose and paint her lips during the service. Can you even imagine the shock of those Quaker people in seeing such behavior in God's House of Worship?

In my lifetime, this is my 85th year, we have seen America become the world's superpower, capable if so desired, to conquer the rest of the world as did Alexander the great or Cesear in their time. A matter of actions and attitude. 

Milford rode around the area in his limousine, his wife at the wheel. He purchased new-beautiful tombstones for all family member's in their cemetery, as well as new fencing and even a paved road to the cemetery. He purchased land so all relatives could live well, fix up their homes, buy new furniture. His relatives were so proud of his success, his generosity, but to the best of my knowledge: he did nothing for his community. I have wondered many times, how much he put in the offering plate at that Quaker Church on that Sunday morning.

Milford thought he was smart, many of us think we are smart. Satan is so much smarter than we are. Most of us need an attitude adjustment, praying; faith comes much easier in a foxhole, hospital bed, time of poverty. Do we really want a deprived, pretending world? We want friends, family members we can lean on at any time of life, not just after they are rich or successful. 

Old age is not for sissy's, I get so sick of advertisements showing people in retirement, their good teeth, good looks, well sculptured bodies-  is life's objective just to impress? To have the time and money for golfing? God called us to serve, to deny self. 

Luke 9:23 KJV : And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
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