Mothers in Aprons

20 Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.

21 Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

(Colossians 3:20-21 King James Version)

"Love was in the room And new life was born where only death had been Love was in the room And death and hell would never reign again When the glory of the Living God Broke through to the darkness of the tomb The earth was filled with His beauty And love was in the room"

Dolly Parton Hillbilly singer made famous these words in her tune "9 to 5",

"Workin' 9 to 5, What a way to make a livin' ,Barely gettin' by, Its all takin' and never given."

This writer, like Winston Churchill, when talking to his biographer about his mother said, "she was my first and greatest teacher". I thought, how could I explain to anyone that my mother always worked from 5 to 9. How could I possibly explain her tiredness when she sat at the table with her family, after working all day in the fields and otherwise, still preparing a meal and, When I was a child, (85 years ago) she had none of the modern conveniences. Every meal cooked on a wood burning stove. We did not have power lines so there was no refrigeration, no electric pots, toasters, mixers, or anything to make cooking easier.

 If anyone were to ask me the secret of what "propelled" this nation into this worlds superpower status... Super in military, education, research, commerce, Christianity. My answer would be "the mothers of our nation." Most mothers I know, certainly including mine, did not let their children bask in the comfort zone of laziness. Instead of letting them sit on their assets reading trash magazines more recent years, watching trash television, or the only exercise in their life; just moving their fingers on the computer, they made sure they were stuffing away in their minds, the brain power they would need in their chosen areas of endeavor.

Successful motherhood involved tough love. They love their children enough to discipline, made sure their children did not become what THEY wanted them to become,  but what GOD wanted them to become. No mother can be proud to think their child is a leech off their neighbors, or fellow productive citizens. I have never known a parent who did not take pride in productive children, grandchildren, even if as fortunate as this writer, great-grandchildren.

Most mothers I knew, and certainly my own mother, and grandmothers, did not make "idols" of their children... That their children could do no wrong. 

No one can grow or develop in a comfort zone, amid trust funds, amid the spoiling of parents and grandparents. "Into each life some rain must fall" on every beautiful rose bush, there are thorns, every road cannot be bump free, even Jesus said," In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). The apostle Peter told us that our trials and tribulations are worth more than gold. You must have slavery to self, in order to be truly free. The productive life does not come easy, homework, memorizing, reading, show me your books and I can predict your future. Fill me in on your habits, and I can predict your success. You must learn to separate your needs, and wants. We live among broken people, in a broken world. Surely with all the economic successes of this country, we have learned that nothing is forever... The man on the ladder to success, even in 21st century America, often finds that he placed his ladder on the wrong construction site. That is why it is so important to be kind to the little people on your way up, because you might meet them again on your way down. 

I still remember my mother preparing a plate of food for someone sick in the community. No matter what race, no matter what economic class, she wanted them to know that she cared, and everyone liked her cooking.

 How could a farm mother not be a Christian? My mother and grandmothers, were known for their aprons (a protective or decorative garment worn over the front of one's clothes and tied at the back).  I remember each of them with their aprons full of produce from their garden. Or a setting of small chicks taken from under a setting Hen. They knew about seed time and harvest, they understood young animal life... The preserving of excess food. The churning of milk for butter... Did not need a recipe book. My mother, grandmothers, and the women of their time, knew about drowning and drought- dry years and wet years. They knew about hard work, they honored having a husband who through sweat supported his family. They never thought about vacations or retirement... Would not know how to shuffle a deck of cards. But, they did know how to advise the young mothers in the community on the raising of children. They did know how to deliver babies when a family couldn't afford a doctor, lay out the dead when the family could not afford the mortician. 

I am so glad my parents dragged me to their country church to sit on hard benches. Showed me by example the "dignity" of hard work, showed me by example the treasury of savings. Showed me by example to profit and pleasures of reading. In that tomb AND our blessed lord was buried in a borrowed tomb, road on a borrowed staple. Love was all around, "God is love" (John 4:7-10). In the stable, in his tomb, every corner, every molecule of the walls-air-ground, love was "all around". When godly mothers are with children, friends, neighbors, we know that love is all around. 

#1727

Enigma of Rationality

No man is an island

Entire of itself,

Every man is a piece of the continent, 

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less

As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thy friends

Or of thine own were:

Any mans death diminishes me,

Because I am involved in mankind,

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;

-John Donne

The world, particularly western civilization has fallen into a cauldron of irrationality

Our world is seized by the idol of appearance. Nothing rational about this enigma, it is always a matter of LOOKS. 

This writer is an eye doctor. I was always amazed, with the ophthalmoscope The clearness of the interior of a child's eye. The child must be about five years of age before the eyes start focusing correctly. The pairs of muscles attached to the child's ocular structure must learn to work correctly, if not you have what the average person sees as "cross eyed"(Most parents and teachers want the child to read to young. The child does not have the hand-eye coordination to handle this delicate process before the age of five. Most parents likewise, allow the child to sit to close to the television and we have an epidemic of myopia, nearsightedness. There space-world comes in and it takes an artificial concave lens to push it back out were it belongs).

Two of the worlds great politicians are eye doctors, Dr. Rend Paul, and Dr. Bashar al-Assad. president of Syria. Too many doctors forget they are scientists. Dr. Assad is condemned as a killer of Syrians but, he does not permit foods with GMO'S (genetically modified organisms) in the foods of his country. It is much like the rationality of Big-Pharma in America spending big bucks on "erectile dis-function" while three-thousand African children die from malaria everyday.  It is much like Obama speaking of the death of innocent  "Our counter terrorism efforts have prevented attacks and saved innocent lives both here in America and around the world and that determination to protect innocent lives only makes the loss of these two men especially painful." This writer is concerned about this pretender-presidents unconcern about the three-thousand innocent babies killed-aborted in this nation each and every day. The irrationality of abortion, the killing of any innocence both young

and old is a matter to which god will hold him, as well as this nation to account. 

I heard 19 trillion used the first time this morning. Our nation is 19 trillion dollars in debt... Money that can not, and will not ever be repaid. 

Each morning, when I am putting on my necktie, without fail, I hear the large mobilized street sweeper in the street in front of my house (This old soldier still wears a necktie everyday). The streets are swept everyday including Sunday, same time every morning... 7 am. So irrational, appearance of streets, little attention of what goes on off the streets. Same block, college student killed for the few dollars in his pocket. Have you noticed that every housing project, streets so clean, lawns and grass manicured around the housing project, WHO DO WE THINK WE ARE IMPRESSING? God, each other, he knows and we surely know the basis for our problems, here, Iraq, Baltimore or anywhere else. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). You can bath, perfume, put lipstick on a sow, but she is still a hog. 

Read all the books, study all the charts, listen to all the experts, but the bottom line, age, particularly old age, is the cause of every disease. If you go to your doctor sick, make sure you look sick. 

William Cowper hymn writer, (There is a fountain filled with blood) wrote in one hymn, "God moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform." Cowper, minister, hymn writer, suicidal, on the brink of insanity most of his life. To those who knew him he probably appeared normal. Your congressman probably appears normal but, for the salary of 175-thousand he makes a year, he must spend two-million dollars to gain his congressional seat. The next president will spend two billion dollars to gain the presidents salary which pays an average of four-hundred-and-sixty-thousand. Most politicians- bureaucrats, seek office or get appointments in order to be near the government money. Much of it winds up in their pockets. Have you ever written down how many government services you get for the taxes you pay? You can write a list of these services on a very small piece of paper. It is all appearance, looks. We have these large government buildings, all these firetrucks, police cars, and we think we are getting something for our money. President Roosevelt conducted WWII with one secretary. Now, as of 2014 the executive branch has 2,079 employees. 

49% of Americans get a government check, of some type. It might be a check from welfare, student aid, housing, military or other retirement. It just looks good, if everyone looks good. When Jesus nourished the ground around the Sea of Galilee with his feet, the world was under Roman rule, Roman slavery. Yet, even Jesus, god in man, creator of the universe, said, "For ye have the poor always with you" (Matthew 26:11). 

Off the clean streets, the manicured lawns and public places, inside most communities life is like that in an internment camp. Most of us are just striving to survive. As on the College-University campus, their are those who have the financial largess to "hang out" at a fraternity house. In my city, many citizens can "hang out" at the country club or golf course. But most of us are just striving to survive. 

Recently, in my city, a long living- hard working- god fearing grand-mother died. In order to get her checks, (SS, housing, food stamps, etc.) her daughter just left her in her bed, dead. She would go in each day and spray her with a disinfectant- deodorizer. Grand-mother slowly dried up, but a grand-child "let the cat out the bag." A fireman told me that in the welfare ghettos of New York City, almost every closet contains a dead "old cadaver", covered in lime. What is the answer, the longest distance in the world, that fourteen inches from the human brain to the human heart, "Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life" (John 6:68)

#1726

Acquiescence to Evil

"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself."-Oscar Wilde

This writer, did not understand for a long time but does understand today the fact that I had a restless  conscious and learned to act upon it. Every minute of every day, I have the cognitive kaleidoscope of images which my sightless eyes could not see, but which my other senses have enhanced. I realized the foolishness of what goes on in America, the challenge of the Christian life, when "Quick fix prayers do not change things." I am an American by birth, like the apostle Paul speaking on Christianity, I have the scars to prove it, "From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus" (Galatians 6:17).

Their is not a maverick molecule in the universe. I know that god, creator of the universe, is "boss" in control of everything. From the time Satan was kicked out of heaven, god put limitations on him. With the first two people our ancestral parents, who he created, Adam and Eve. AND in the perfect Utopia, he prepared for them, the garden of Eden. He established his rights, his parameters "Don't touch that tree."

From the darkness of indignity toward human intelligence, we daily face news cast describing the horror story of this present world. Incomprehensible challenge to ones intelligence. At the very time that working-sweating citizens in servitude, were presenting their taxes to the government for national security, we find landing on the capital grounds, a homemade gyro-contraption, built and flown by a postman from Florida. At the same time we learned that many of our nations young people-products of government schools and talking boxes, are heading towards the Middle-East to join the forces of ISIS. Intent on the chopping off of heads- the destruction of the Christian religion. We learn that many of these young people are attracted to ISIS, just as they are attracted to comic book action figures. There minuscule brain cells, connect ISIS warriors with the figures of Super-Man, Spider-Man, Iron-Man and other action figures. From a country and from homes with every convenience, a country were one third of its population is obese, they convent lands were children still have distended bellies from hunger. Walk around with begging bowls. This writer knows because he has been there. Like Communism, this writer has see what Islam does to the human person-hood as well as countries. We live in a world of consistent inconsistencies, an acquiescence to the low rungs in the ladder. Politicians, like civic minded "do-gooders", are attracted to the non-producers. Emphasis in government, and even churches, is built around the platitudes of service. Yet, those who serve get little recognition... Homemakers, Law abiding citizens, protagonists of the family.

Everything has changed, but are the important things better? We find Job, 1500 B.C probably the richest man of his time. It was only after he had lost everything, wealth, children, servants, even his own wife said, "Curse god and die." That he realized the gains and loses of life. He was probably the first man with aids, sores covering his body. God showed him the intrangency of things, the callousness of friends.

Today is tomorrow that never came. We can do little about the future, nothing about the past. It is always good to have a mental cleansing. To think about what "could have been":

What could have been, if it were not for that baby cry in Bethlehem when god put on a tent of human flesh.
What could have been, if my ancestors had not been brave enough to cross the Atlantic in 1677.
What could have been, if I did not have the parents in which I had; who had me sitting on those hard benches in the family church, teaching me the honor of hard work-saving money-preparing for the future.
What could have been, if this writer had not entered the military service, stayed married to one women. Not burn the midnight oil in hard study-live frugally-invested wisely.
What could have been, if I had died in car crashes which I managed to survive.
What could have been, if I had yielded to the evil in which always presented itself. God has forgiven me for every one of my rotten sins. But what could have been, if god had not chosen me to live with him eternally.

The history of Christianity is so beautifully described with two people, two places, and gods hands. The creator-god pushed Adam and Eve out of that perfect garden because they chose death instead of life. But, god walking and eating with two men, after the resurrection, with his two nail pierced hands, showed us forever our escape from evil. He had been walking-talking with two men on their way to Emmaus. Eating with this two men, breaking bread, They recognized his nail pierced hands. Like us, the world around us, we escape our acquiescence, by thinking of Jesus' nail pierced hands.

#1725

Plight of the Disabled

“In time of war, when truth is so precious, it must be attended by a bodyguard of lies”

-Winston Churchill

Truth is truth whether anyone believes it or not. Perhaps in war, truth must be protected by a body-guard of lies. And, Since, in my lifetime, America has been constantly at war, we are "jaded" by war, "tainted" by oppression. Most Americans, under the oath of servitude taxation, have little time to philosophize about freedom or truth. Only a blind person can understand the life of another blind person. Only a person who spends his or her life in a wheel-chair, can understand the crippled. My good friend, Dr. John East, who served in the US senate from North Carolina, said to me from his wheel-chair, "The disabled life is hardly worth living." He was called a cripple on the floor of the US senate by another senator, his reply, "You're right I am a cripple." DR. East later killed himself. America does not mind sending its young men and women from its poorest homes to fight for her lifestyle. When they come back battered, they're mostly disowned. More veterans kill themselves than those killed in battle. Without a peep from the churches, America kills 3,000 babies each day. Without a peep from the school house, courthouse, church house, tax paid buildings were any type of exciting activity is going on (libraries, concert halls etc). Americans are able to totally ignore the disabled.

The disabled do not like to play the victim card. Even though, in my lifetime, I have seen politicians and pastors become profanely politically correct and interested in correcting discrimination against other minorities such as blacks, gays, women. The disabled, is the largest minority.

There was a law passed supposedly giving some attention to the disabled, "Americans With Disabilities Act" (ADA). Believe me, this is a totally useless legislation, I have brought many matters to their attention. Discrimination in stores-parks-cell phones (It is impossible for a blind person to use a cell-phone unless you have one you can speak into). I always get back the same letter from ADA, telling me to "hire a lawyer."

This totally blind, 100% disabled service connected, medical officer veteran of the Korean war era, was born in poverty, on a dirt road without power, phone, or water lines, In the dearth of Democrat debauchery of eastern North Carolina. I will never forget, as a small child (sighted then) seeing what went on at the negro insane asylum (now called Cherry Hospital, Goldsboro NC). The black men were all castrated, the women tied on the porches of the buildings, I still remember seeing those with the intelligence and energy to pick beans, picking green beans in a field, a man on horseback riding around them with a whip. This was the treatment of the disabled- mentally handicapped, in  North Carolina

Blessed to later travel the world (DR. Morris' passport has been stamped in 157 countries) I could not see but could sense what goes on all over the world. There are images which I wish I could erase from my mind... A burden to me in my prayer life...Refuges and hungry children at borders. Much of the turmoil of earth, so senseless, "we will bomb them until they want freedom." Bush 41 said, "a world in which there is the very real prospect of a new world order" (Speech before congress, Sept 11, 1991).  To president Bush 41, Bush 43 ,and anyone else who will listen, The only promise of a "New World Order" will only be when men have learned to love one another, "be kind to one another" (Ephesians 4:32).

The disabled desire to live productive lives. My friend, Catherine Vasalou, blind from birth, college at ECU and UNCCH, went to work as a typist at a local hospital everyday. An only child, she cared for and supported, both of her parents until their deaths. Catherine died in a nursing home. She told me by phone, just before her death "I have been ignored in life, I do not want anyone around me after my death. I have told the funeral home just to take me to the cemetery and bury me next to my parents." This writer feels very much the same way. The last thing that I would want, is for those who have stared at me and my disabled condition in life, to at last file by and stare at me in a box.

The worst thing for most disabled citizens, the attitude of American commerce (businesses) toward them. It is a known fact that disabled people make the best employees. They want a job, need a job, want to live from their own work, not from the slavery-taxation, of others or government.

I cannot speak for many, only for myself. I started making my living many years ago, selling collectibles online After the computer become popular. Before the computer, I sold rare books, vinyl records, ephemera, antiques. Mostly on a one-to-one basis with photographs to dealers.

With the internet, answer to prayer for home business I started selling online (Ebay, Etsy, OnlineAuction, AbeBooks, Gemm, Bananza, etc). I had 10,000 items on Amazon alone. A sabotaging employee, got my business kicked off from Amazon. I could give the police report, trial data etc. But it would do no one any good. Its suffice to say I lost my selling privileges with this huge company. Amazon has no empathy for the disabled. Any communication with this giant company, just an automatic-response. Most disabled people do not write something like this, or offer any complaint about anything. So many get a small government check, on which they must depend to survive. Many have told me that they will not jeopardize their check. As one women preacher told me, who went to a nursing home to pray for a member of my church, she told the man that she wanted to pray for his healing, he said, "You can pray, but remember I get a welfare check."

One of my cousins came to this city to visit me. I said, "I want to take you to lunch, were do you want to go?" He had just lost his beloved wife. "Lets go to the restaurant that you Marie and I went to the last time Marie and I were here with you." The two of us received no service at all (Middle of the Island, Wrightsville Beach NC). At the cash register, I asked the owner, "Why did we not get service?" I know that most of you will not believe this, why should I lie? The owner of this restaurant said, "I do not want disabled customers, It makes our normal people uncomfortable." Churches, schools, governments, businesses like Amazon, come to your senses, get generous, make everyone's life more comfortable. 

#1724

Court Room Proof

Prove it!

"In thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."

Psalm 16:11

Dr Morris's Favorite Verse off Scripture

(J.R. Miller, "The Glory of the Commonplace")

It is related that the famous French artist Gustave Dore was once wandering in the mountains of Switzerland, when some officials met him and demanded his passport. "I do not have it with me," he replied, "but my name is Gustave Dore." "Prove it, if you are," replied the officers, knowing who Dore was--but not believing that this was he. Taking a piece of paper, the artist hastily sketched a group of peasants who were standing near, and did it with such grace and skill that the officials exclaimed, "Enough, you are Dore!"

In the same way, the world cares little for a mere profession. We say we are Christians, and the challenge is, "Prove it!" If we are of Christ, then we must do the works of Christ, live the life of Christ, and show the spirit of Christ. The artist's skillful drawing proved his identity. Just so, we must prove that we are the followers of our Master by the love, the grace, the beauty, the holiness of our life.

Religion is not merely a matter of creed and profession, or of church-going and public worship; it is far more a matter of daily life. It is not how we behave on Sundays, nor the kind of creed we hold, nor the devoutness of our worship--it is the way we act at home, in school, in business, in society, in our associations with others. It is vitally important that all who profess Christ--shall manifest Christ's beauty in their life and character. It is not enough to preach the gospel in words alone; others must also read it in our daily life. "So that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders." 1 Thessalonians 4:12 

"Whoever says he abides in Christ, ought to walk and conduct himself in the same way in which He walked and conducted Himself." 1 John 2:6 

The favorite author of Dr. T.R Morris, is John Grisham, Oxford Mississippi. Grisham is one of the nations most prolific writers, a master of the legal thriller. Totally blind, Dr. Morris uses a reading machine. His favorite books are legal thrillers

In speaking, many places, many pulpits, Morris often asked the question, "If you were accused of being a Christian, would a capable-experienced lawyer be able to prove it?" Unbelievers have often asked Dr. Morris if he could prove the existence of god. There are two matters with which the Atheist cannot become satisfied in their un-belief. One is the fact that all human beings have a conscious. To know, at least to some degree, the difference between good and evil-right and wrong.

           

The other mystery to the unbeliever, that god is care taker of the planets. Like shells on the sea-shore we are discovering one galaxy after another. The Hubble telescope was put into outer-space in 1990, it has been repaired five times since. Each time, its reach into has been expanded... A further and further range, great dark spaces with stars. The universe not expanding, but the ability of the telescope to see further. From nothingness, to somethingness, the creator of this universes has every star named

"He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name." Psalm 147:4

Would the most radical evolutionist, the most stalwart unbeliever doubt this? If only those of us to claim the name of Christ could have such proof-positive identity.

Like the women crawling just to touch the hem of gods garment we need the holiness of god. For she was saying to herself, "If I only touch his Garment I will get well." Matthew 9:21

If only the Christian could realize the power of the creator, the fact that he always meets us at our need.

           

The scientist, the Christian, is not desperate to know the vastness-distances of the galaxies of the universe. But he does need to know his relationship with god. Those around him need to realize his relationship with god. It is the hypocrisy of Christians that keep more of their fellow man from god than their lives lead to god. If the un-believer saw within the life of the believer, a truth-trust so attractive that they would want the same thing, the world would have already been won to Christ.

I am so glad that I sat on those hard wood benches in that old country church built by my ancestors when I was a child. I am so glad that as a boy on the farm, nothing but hard work and hard times, in the good Earth, and from the rain clouds, I learned the proof of gods existence. The professors at the University were not able to wash this proof from my convictions. 

#1723

Waxed Fruit

"This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine.

This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine.

This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine.

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

All around the neighborhood, I'm going to let it shine.

All around the neighborhood, I'm going to let it shine.

All around the neighborhood, I'm going to let it shine.

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Hide it under a bushel? No! I'm going to let it shine.

Hide it under a bushel? No! I'm going to let it shine.

Hide it under a bushel? No! I'm going to let it shine.

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Don't let Satan [blow] it out! I'm going to let it shine.

Don't let Satan [blow] it out! I'm going to let it shine.

Don't let Satan [blow] it out! I'm going to let it shine.

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine."

How long would you keep hoping to find a missing wallet? A week? A month?

And even if you found it, would you expect your money to still be inside?

One man got an extraordinary surprise when his wallet came back to him after 14 years missing — and stuffed with more cash than before.

“First I thought that someone was joking with me so I went to check whether the money was real,” Croatian man Ivica Jerkovic told the Croatian outlet 24 sata on Friday.

It was.

“It was the best greeting for Easter!” Jerkovic said.

His wallet came to the post office in a plain package, and the sender did not reveal their identity, but Jerkovic has a theory.

He believes that when he lost his wallet 14 years ago — stuffed with 2,000 German marks, or roughly $1,200, for home repairs — someone who desperately needed the money found it.

“I believe that this money saved him and for years he was calculating how much he should return to me,” Jerkovic said. “Otherwise, I don’t know why he would keep the wallet for all those years!”

When Jerkovic received his long-lost wallet last week, it contained 1,500 Swiss francs, or about $1,530.

 Jerkovic praised the mystery person who returned his wallet for their care in keeping track of the interest.

“I call on him to contact me,” Jerkovic said. “He is the best personal banker in Croatia.”

This writer was on a photography safari in Botswana, Africa. Earlier, I had purchased in the Sudan a most remarkable ruby stone in a gold setting. I thought it was valuable, but until I returned home and had it appraised, I did not know how valuable.

Anyway, I had put the ring in my camera bag. One morning, my guide said to me " Doctor, I found this ring near your tent, do you think it is yours, did you lose it?" Someway, somehow, in taking one of my cameras out of the bag I had misplaced the ring, and the guide had found it. Of course, it meant nothing to him and I thanked him profoundly. He did not realize how much money he had held in his hand.

And, so it is with our lives. In the marvelous book The Godfather. The last words of the Godfather before he died, "Life is so beautiful." We spend our lives thinking that waxed fruit, artificial flowers, veneer on cheap wood, is beautiful. There is nothing the creator designed that can be duplicated. Satan always pays off with counterfeit.

It is so refreshing to find human-beings who are good for goodness sake... People who want to do good because it makes them feel good. Such as returning to someone something that they've lost... Whether valuable or invaluable. The genuineness of life is good, whether from the smell of fresh fruit, fresh flowers, or even the yapping of a puppy. Why should the world be consumed by greed, whether a politician, business man, or even a family member. Children who ate their meals their entire life with their feet under the same table, often get so insanely grieved-greedy toward one another when their hard working parents estate is settled. When you get my age, eighty-five, like the Godfather, you realize just how beautiful a life with honesty can be.

Several years ago, I gave to one of my cousins a fruit bowl that had come from his great grandmothers dining room table. The beautiful bowl had come down to me and I wanted someone in my family to have it. I so remember waxed fruit in the bowl when I was a small child. She had said to me, "Thomas, the fruit in that bowl is just for looking, not for eating." I still remember the owner of a furniture factory saying to me, "I can take any cheap wood and with a veneer, make it look like expensive wood." I still remember, like a fool, standing in line with other Buddhists, in a temple in Sri Lanka to look at a tooth that supposedly come out of Buddha's mouth. It is so easy to be fooled "fooled by fakery." Please god, here at the sunset of my life, let me know the joy of real things, real people. Not waxed figures like those I saw in Madame Tussauds Museum.

#1722

Soul for Sale

For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Matthew 16:26

Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

1 Corinthians 1:20

Real slavery is attempting to live your life from the approval of others.

"But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions;"

-Hebrews 10:32

Too many of us including this writer, has tried to live life dancing to the music that Satan and other unbelievers played. We did not have the confidence to trust God and instead, tried to "live by sight instead of faith;" 2 Corinthians 5:7. It was after this writer became a blind man, that he had the confidence to walk by faith, depending on the creator of the universe.

What do you do when God's promises fail? We live in a world of "quick fixes." We live in a world of fast food, fast prescription pill for any sickness. Nationwide, the average time in your doctors office is 7 minutes. Your oncologist considers you cured of cancer if you have survived cancer for five years. God does not wear a watch, he takes his own good time in resolving our problems, keeping his promises. We must have the confidence to trust him, all he requires is trust. 

Faith is a verb, action, based on belief, sustained by confidence. We must have the confidence to believe him. It was after I became blind, sightless, that I could trust, that I had the confidence to wait for answered prayer. 

I can well understand why the new Christian loses confidence so quickly when his prayers are not answered. Financially, the past year was one of the worst years of my life. I had more empty rental property, less sales in my business, than ever before. I have always had trouble in business with dishonest employees... people who work for me. I sometimes believe that more of my things have walked out of my business than what I have sold in my business. Yet, everyday without fail, I tell God that I am depending on him to help me with my life. He knows how hard it is for me to do anything. He knows how hard it is for me to depend on people I pay to work for me, even associates, long time friends, even family members. Most people simply do not care. Most of the professionals, businesses, certainly the government, with whom you come in contact with do not care. This is a world of me-ism. Everyone simply going through the motions. I can certainly understand why the new Christian and even seasoned Christians have trouble understanding why God is always late on the scene. After many years, we always find through stress and tears that he is standing at the crossroads of our lives before we get there. Don't throw away your confidence because of the failures of other Christians, don't throw away your confidence because of disappointment, despair.

This writer was born and raised on a dirt road, no power, phone or water lines. Nothing but hard work and hard times. To this day, I cannot understand how my parents, grandparents and the many other people surviving in the poverty of eastern North Carolina had the confidence to keep going. But they did. My heart is still filled with hatred, so much resentment when I consider how my parents were treated in town by people of wealth. I still remember the junk that was sold to them, they wanted us to have a typewriter and a supposedly responsible man, sold them a  piece of junk. But, they had the money to go to town and buy things, they could use the restrooms in the stores - think of our black neighbors, hard working-god fearing-tax paying citizens who were never able to buy store bought things (clothing, food, furniture) simply because their skin was black. Yet, these black citizens too, had the confidence to keep living, trusting, believing in a better place.

I did not realize the "soullessness" of people; both students and professors until I entered the University. Graduating from a poor, small country school (thirteen in my graduating class), I was not prepared to enter any college. In addition to lack of preparation, it was necessary for me to work my way through. At the same time, competing with the elitist sons of wealth and power that had been prepared for university education at preparatory schools. The sons of legislators, judges, wealthy alumni, were treated well. I will never forget the day I came in to full conflict with my creator. It was sitting on a stone fence at the rear of Wilson Library. I quoted a scripture to my Lord, from the book of Jobs; "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him..." Jobs 13:15.

After eight years of frugal living, hard work, jumping through every hoop educators and governments demanded, I had letters before and after my name. Then, as during the Korean War when all doctors must serve, I became an army medical officer. All this has been written about previously, now, totally blind, 100% disabled, service connected 85 year old Veteran. 

Perhaps, next to the stress and unfairness of education was my military service. Right away, still in medical officer training internship at Brook Army Medical Center, a much better looking, more articulate officer (one who to this day I believe was gay) put a move on someone, and got my orders replaced by his. His orders sent him to New York City, mine to wherever.

Incomprehensible, one Army Hospital where I was on staff, the hospital nearest Huntsville, Alabama where Redstone Arsenal was located, and Hitlers boys were perfecting the missiles, the hospital was staffed by German Nazi Doctors brought over after WWII. From the hospital commander Colonel Marx on down, doctors and nurses... all former Nazi troops. I will never forget the day I arrived there, the doctor I was replacing said to me, "I don't know what goes on in this place,  but it is straight from Hell and I am glad to escape." Of course, with me as with anyone else seeking military advancement, you have that constant rivalry between the forces of Satan and those of God... A matter of warfare in the soul. 

In my lifetime, what has happened to my country? There was a time when inquiring, investigating, reporters would have taken apart the decadents of this nation. I can well imagine my friend Walter Spearman, school of Journalism UNCCH, saying to students "Stay honest, report the truth." The American people will swallow anything, hook, line and sinker. Seeing the sight of the plane explosion in Switzerland, would anyone believe that it was anything other than an explosion? Studying what happened on 9-11 in Manhattan, would anyone swallow the Government's explanation? Only 1% of the American population still does. In my world travels, I've spoken with men in such communist cesspools such as Yugoslavia, Burma, China and Russia. They all said the same thing: "We learned the truth when it was too late." Perhaps an EMP attack, throwing America back to the stone age will tell us that we should have been more alert to the degradation and broken culture of our society.

In my long life, I have never known a man in politics who did not give up his soul. The soullessness of Government is beyond compare. When I was a child in democrat controlled North Carolina (my family on both sides Republican), you could not get a job at any state agency (highways, hospitals, even teaching school) unless you were a proven and approved democrat. Confidence in our nation, its schools,  its churches, must be restored if America is to survive. 

#1720

Recalibrate

"If the world were made of gold, gold would, be the only thing that we could not know, since there would be nothing for us to oppose it to; nothing to which to compare it, no notion of it, and yet gold would be the only thing that we would truly know, for only gold would be in truth, the truth of all beings, being itself."

- Plato: Timaeus

Skeptics, Atheists, Unbelievers, often must recalibrate their thinking in order to determine who or what to trust. Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl said that in order to end the horrors of the Holocaust, all a survivor had to do was to start running towards the fence.

The goal of Christianity is not behavior modification, if this were it, we would not need Jesus. The goal of Christianity is not a checklist: actions you can do, and actions you cannot do. 

Most of us have no idea about the holiness of God, the depth of his righteousness. According to Aristotle, a fish that had never been out of water does not know what it is like to be wet. There are generations of American's, particularly those in California experiencing the worst drought in that states history, who have never known water from a well. 

The enemy of the Gospel is moralism and legalism, and most people think this is what Christianity is all about. Christianity is not complicated, just tough. Most Christians I have known have never realized the depths of grace, mercy and the forgiveness of God. The Christian too must recalibrate their thinking. Do you really think that when God looks at you, through his spectacles of righteousness, he sees Jesus?

The average church member does not realize the shallowness of his own mind, his own Christian belief. We mere mortals, mere Christians, just stumble along thinking we know something about the bible, God's word, God's answer book, God's manufacturers handbook. Most of my family members, associates, neighbors could not quote more than a few verses of scripture from the bible. The ancient Hebrews could quote all of the old testament. They would stand at attention when the Jewish law was quoted to them. The 21st century Jewish cinogauges attempt to read the entire old testament each year, however, they always leave out one chapter. They always leave out the 53rd chapter of Isiah, the most precious words from God to Jew or gentile. We are all attracted to an attractive religion, a cookbook type behavior. We want salvation on our terms. Don't expect me to act, dress or speak different from my unsaved friends and associates. They might call me a religious zealot, fanatic, radical; but we know what happens to those people even in foreign lands where we think we need to bomb the hell out of them to set them free. 

In this writers science studies, in the field of chemistry, I liked analytical chemistry best because it was a cookbook type science, it did not take much thinking. Like a cookbook, you follow certain procedures. To find a chemical unknown you look for a certain color (have you ever noticed the beautiful colors when you burn a log in the fireplace - chemicals in the wood giving off their color?).

In CS Lewis's book: Screw Tape Letters, Old Uncle Devil writes letters to his nephews, Young Devils. He tells them not to worry about being discovered: that most of these believers are trying to trap you, they do not believe that devil even exist.

In the 21st century world, when 72% of our young people, even those raised in church going homes say they do not believe in God, a time when 47% of our young people do not believe in the future of America, when will churches start believing. We have the hoax - tyrant - pretender in the white house now, because Baptists and Catholics voted for him. Baptists and Catholics have the numbers to elect any one president; you see what they did the last two elections? 

I heard a famous Violinist interviewed; he was asked about his greatness in music.

 I will never forget his answer: "I first feel the music in my soul, then it comes out in the instrument." Pretentious Christianity is so easy. It is so easy to say "I am praying for you." This old blind man often hears the words "please let me know if there is anything I can do for you." I wish these people would pray for me. I wonder if there has been any prayers for rain in the state of California? 

When I was a child in times of drought, in times when the crops were parched in the fields; Christian people would gather at the church and pray for rain. The rains always came in God's good time, often just before you thought everything was gone. It was amazing to see revitalized crops. When you have agriculture departments, you have what agriculture agents can do. When you have university educated chemists, you have what universities can do. When you have planes flying around attempting to make rain, you have what planes can do. All this man made knowledge usually amounts to nothing. But, when you have prayer, you have what God can do. Rain-water is God's greatest blessing to this earth. There has never been any evidence that life can form spontaneously. There is no evidence that plants or animals can live without water. There is no evidence that numelism effects God. Even at the church house I have become so disgusted, these times of hugging and hand shaking during the service. Children's sermons, drums and drama, anthems and choruses, anything to lighten the heaviness of God's sacred word: "New world theology."

Soon, they will bury Dr.Robert Shooler, of the famed Crystal Cathedral and his Prosperity Gospel. The internet will show you pictures of the homes of Joel Osteen or Kenneth Copeland. The greatest witchcraft on earth is Hollywood, their mansions. Why should men and women who are supposed to represent the purity of Christ, entangle with the temptation of "mansion living." God must have a hard time understanding the mere mortals on this earth who say that they believe in him. 

When I was a child just down the road from us lived a family with a totally disabled child. I still do not know or understand the situation. I do know, that the child never developed. When you passed the home the child would be tied into a chair, in the sun, on the porch. The mother of this child attended our church. Her husband, Mr.John would take her to the church and be there at the end of service to pick her up. He never went inside the church house. One of his "normal" sons, told me that his father never went inside the Church, was not a believer, because he could not comprehend the situation, his deformed child, a wife who supported the church and people in the church, "church members" who never visited the family or tried to help them out in any way. The son told me that the pastor of the church, had never been to their home. Surely you would agree, that there should have been a re-calibration in that community.

#1719

Need To Know

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

Philippians 4:8

The writer CS Lewis said "The most difficult thing in prayer, the real me talking to the real God, not what I think I am, or what I think he is." 

As a Field Grade Army Officer, I knew and lectured about the Military "Need to Know" restrictions. If anything is specific sensitive enough, there are only certain people who are allowed to know. The more sensitive the information, the more qualifications there are for meeting the "Need to know"  approval access... such as espionage. 

We go through life keeping to ourselves many things which we should reveal... The opportunity is just never there. I could not tell you how many times I have been called about ancestry, where people in my family are buried. A cousin called recently to ask me if I had any idea about the age of the "foot washing basins" in the family church. They all know that I am the oldest, they know that I payed attention to such things. WHO WILL THEY ASK WHEN I AM GONE? This is one reason I have written these blogs about my life, my ancestry, my travels, my ancestors land holdings, even the mannerisms-attitudes-intelligence, of the past.

In my lifetime, the entire world has changed. All knowledge now comes from a thinking machine. Today's youth cannot fathom the joy and suffering of mothers over sick children anymore than they can understand the joy and suffering of Christians as they look across a sin ravaged world. 

When the North Vietnam Officials first entered Saigon and gained control of that city which had been headquarters for the United States and the South Vietnamese, these Anti-Christian, false religion, leaders first words were: "we must get rid of all this Western decadence."

Words that so aggravate me, whether they come across in one to one conversation, or the parsing of words on television and talk radio, "Do you know what I mean?" or "Do you know what I'm trying to say?" Of course we do not know what you mean or what you are trying to say. It is in your mind, and do you think we have a right to know? If so, make it plain, speak your mind. It is from the heart that the mind speaks. Most of us are smart enough to discern hypocrisy, deceit. 

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
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 

Do you hunger and thirst for honesty?

Is it possible: that families and nations can unite for the benefit of man kind?

Is it possible: babies can be born loved, cared for? Not abused as children?

Is it possible: that government can be honest with it's citizen's, not deceitful?

Only 1% of the American population believe the Governments account of 9-11.

Is it possible: that modern men can look at news broadcasts without being ambushed by false flag news such as a ridiculous story about a psychotic pilot taking down a plane? 154 college students being slained in Kenya? Or 219 school girls kidnapped in Nigeria. 

Even more ridiculous and they expect the world to swallow such in the bottomless ocean of technology: Malaysian 370 totally disappearing from the face of the earth?

Is it possible: the international bankers could be satisfied with small profits instead of profits from constant warfare, terrorism and spending (America is constantly involved in war, our enemies cannot produce war equipment or the books which radicalizes them)?

General Smedly Butler told us long ago that "War is a racket."

Is it possible: that justice can reign on earth? In this bipolar world, where adults spend an average of four hours per day watching trash on television? Where it is the ambition of big pharma and big medicine to have every human being addicted to prescription drugs?

Is it possible: ever, that austerity would start at the top instead of the involuntary servitude visited on the hard working, tax paying, god fearing poor people who can barely survive?

The atheist can never understand or explain the caretaker of the planets. The conscious in the mind of every man. God's greatest creation is man, the mind of man. This world traveler noted that across every continent, people talked their own language. You know what is in their mind by their words. Just as you know the mind of a man by his conversation. This writer can read a man very quickly from his appearance: if he wears a clean shirt and tie, if his shoes are polished. I can tell the quality of manhood by the way a man keeps his car. It is a sorry man who has a dirty car (cups, cans, trash on the floorboard). I can tell you much about a man by his habits, his correspondence, the books he reads. Most of all, how he treats his mother. 

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Hebrews 11:6

Faith is a verb. Action based on belief, sustained by confidence. For one to be a man of faith, one must have courage and courage is 90% faith. We know about the Martyrs of the past. We know about many of today's martyrs, men and women living and proclaiming Christianity in spite of torture, we know about those in Syria, Iraq. Many church members, who claim the name of Christ do not have the courage to remember what he did for them at his table, his broken body- shed blood. "There is a need to know about his healing, forgiving through his death and resurrection."

#1718