The Gardener and Easter

In simple humility, let our gardener God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.

(James 1:21)

Christianity is not turning over a new leaf, its starting a new life. The goodness of the gospel at Easter and every other day of our life, is not what we can do for Jesus but what Jesus has already done for us. What is the greater threat to the Gospel? The self righteousness of good people? Or the unrighteousness of bad people?

When this writer was younger and more energetic, I would walk the five blocks from my townhouse in the city where I lived to the church where I was a member. One beautiful Sunday morning on my walk down Front Street, a girl was sitting on a stoop across from the notorious bar called The Barbary Coast. Now there was no doubt that I was on my way to church, suited, carrying my bible. It is unusual for anyone to ask a blind man about anything, but this girl asked me if I could give her a dollar. I said: "Of course I can, here is a dollar for you and I want God to bless you." Of course I knew she was planning to go across the street and spend the money at the bar.

Later, at lunch with some members of the First Baptist Church, I relayed the incident. They felt that I should not have given her money for a drink. Perhaps not, but as I said to them, "This girl knew her condition, today in the church house we had people sitting all around us who I honestly believe, are deceived about theirs." We simply have no idea how much baggage most people carry around, both inside the church and out.

It is at Easter that we share our blessed Lord's agony, the wrath of his father-- sin of the world, which he carried to the cross. Easter is a time of new beginnings. Hidden foliage, coming forth in full bloom. In my city, we have beautiful azaleas, lilacs, dogwood.

The thrill of springtime, Easter; always brings the memory of my grandmother working in her garden, An old lady, Miss.Ida, working in her garden. Like my mother, grandmothers and most of the worlds population, people love the beauty of flowers as well as vegetables growing. How better could God show his love for beauty to us?

There are two Gardens mentioned in the bible. Of course, this world traveler has seen beautiful gardens all over the world; but just think of the beauty of the Garden of Eden: everything perfect there... Every thorn-less flower, beautiful in color and smell. I imagine just miles of God tending to flawless landscaped beauty. You know that when he looked over it and called it good, it was beautiful. (Gen 1:31)

The problem that still exists: God showed us that he is boss, that he has certain parameters. There was just one tree in that beautiful garden, "don't touch that tree." In the garden of Eden, Adam failed, chose the spirit of death instead of the spirit of life. In that other garden, Garden of Gethsemane, ugly-nasty-flies-stray dogs, Christ was crushed. The first man Adam failed, the second man Jesus triumphed; both in a garden... God the gardener.

The Romans crucified thousands of human beings every year. At the time of Jesus, a large percentage of the worlds population were slaves. He delivered us from our slavery and took on all of our rotten sins. The second Adam gave humanity the spirit of life... a free gift.

The best memory I have of my maternal grandmother, returning from her garden carrying a hoe... always with her large apron carrying vegetables which she had picked from her garden. In God's marvelous grace and mercy, he created on this earth every chemical we would ever need for anything. There is no excuse for the multiplicity of sicknesses which afflict our population. There is no excuse for the epidemics involving food intake such as diabetes. When I was in school, cancer and diabetes were rare diseases. It is all a matter of treatment from the Supreme Gardener... The great position. What better time than Easter to center our thoughts on self control? God has supplied our every need, Jesus has supplied our every escape.

Just as 16.4% of our population between the ages 16-64 has sexually transmitted diseases, life is a matter of liberty in Christ, but recognizing that we "wrestle" against the power of evil.(Ephisians 6:12)

The two greatest events in the Gospel message, have been so distorted... Christmas with its spending, spreeing, tinsel and decorated trees. Easter with its rabbits laying colored eggs. The greatest sound in the history of the world was a baby's cry in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. The greatest event in the history of the world was the resurrected grown body, having been crucified for the sins of the world on that first Easter. All history-beauty-intelligence revolves around this one solitary life, God putting on a tent of flesh and dwelling among us. Jesus must have enjoyed, although God, living on this earth with his friends (It give this writer joy to think that Jesus enjoyed good food with Mary, Martha and Lazarus, fishing with his disciples). After suffering cruelty beyond belief, he was still willing to ask his Father to forgive them, for they didn't know what they were doing. (Luke 23:34)

On this Easter and everyday, those of us who bear his name, who have a personal relationship with him, should rejoice in our knowledge of what happened in these two gardens supervised by the gardener who created the world and everything in it.

#1717

The Message of Easter

Everywhere you look, you see the signs of spring, new beginnings, nature awakening from a long, cold winter. God's Will is always accomplished through the activity of human beings, and His Will will be done. In the council chambers of eternity, He designed everything, every life, every season. God is not shocked at anything, He is certainly not shocked at anything I might say, He planned it all. Mere mortals cannot believe the majesty of God, His sovereignty, His omnipotence, His omniscience, His love for you. The first prophecy of God's Word is Genesis 3:15: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

In a hotel in Athens, Greece, newly-arrived, I had studied the Acropolis in college, the great Parthenon, I could hardly wait to climb that Athenian hill. I must have felt like Paul as he made that steep climb and then said to his followers, “here is a statue to an unknown God” (Acts 17:23). Before the time of Bibles, few scriptures before 95 AD, before the time of churches, pulpits, preachers, Paul spoke with eloquence about that which he knew, that there were 400 hundred years between Abraham and Moses, and now we know that most of the world's population are descendents of Joesph's two son Ephraim and Manasseh, Caucasians and Anglo-Saxons. The real Jews are Hebrews from the other tribes just as Isaac and Ishmael were brothers, Abraham had children from other concubines, and as the sands of the sea, all of us are related.

One need not be a minister to be spiritual, one would have thought that Peter would have been quiet at Pentecost, but he had experienced something that few men could express and he preached from an experience, 3000 were saved. He knew what it was to deny, and he knew what it was to be forgiven. Most of his hearers, both Jews and Gentiles, knew little about prophecies and promises, but they recognized the real thing when they heard it from someone who was truly convinced, who like the other disciples and followers had had an cataclysmic experience.

At this Easter season, forget about giving and getting, rabbits laying eggs, even egg hunting. The golden thread of the resurrection runs totally through the scriptures, Genesis to Revelation. The message of Easter is our risen Lord, without that, all is lost.

Take the miraculous, take the supernatural out of Christianity and you have nothing left.

Jesus preached Himself, He told us that He is life, way, door, bread, light. He was either the greatest fraud the world has ever known, or He was who He said He was. He told us that we must make Him our master, that He is more important than father, mother, sister, brother. 15 times in the Sermon on the Mount, He proclaimed His authority. Even His disciples, who He chose, those who saw Him raise the dead, heal the sick, give sight to the blind, feed thousands with a small boy's lunch, did not really understand. Think of John, the youngest, self-centered, the only one who did not die as a martyr asking his mother to request from Jesus to let him sit next to Him in glory. John did not show much love, but wrote the epistle of love. Thomas, the hard-headed one, doubted everything and made incredulous statements. Peter warmed himself by the enemies' fire and denied Him at the most critical time in his life.

The pseudo-intellectuals, the Jesus seminar crowd, those who just play church have sought to discount the true power and deity of Jesus Christ. Any person who tells you that they do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, please do the following: ask several questions about the life of Christ, His resurrection, His ascension, you will find they have never spent 20 hours studying the resurrection of Christ, next to His birth, the greatest event in the history of the world. In order to deny Christ, in order to deny His sacrifice for them, knowing that they have no other alternative, except going to hell, had rather cling to their wisdom of unbelief than the miracle of redemption through Christ. The one fact of faith that separates Christianity from every other religion is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Those who knew Him best, His disciples were never the same after the resurrection, it was a cataclysmic event which changed their lives. If they had been weak before, they were strong afterwards. Those of us who have seen the Himalayas can appreciate the disciple Thomas walking across the Himalayas to India, carrying the Gospel, where he was martyred, I have stood by the monument there. Bartholomew was skinned alive in Armenia, Luke hanged from a olive tree in Greece, Mark martyred in Alexandria, Peter crucified upside down, Paul beheaded. There was no telephones, no newspapers, no telegraphs, the word is “alone”; alone, they were martyred knowing that they would never see one another. That even if they had denied in order to save their life, no one would ever know. The cataclysmic experience they had felt and experienced, is the same experience every Christian should feel at this Easter season.

Every one is a expert at religion, particularly at the university level. From the farmer to microbiologist, most can wax and wane about religion and what they think. It makes no difference what you think, the truth is the truth whether anyone believes it or not. The scripture tells us that the disciples, other followers even as many as 500 witnessed His life after clinical death. Some say that the Jews moved Him, some said His disciples stole the body, some said the women were mixed up in the graveyard, the most ridiculous of all, that He resuscitated after a Roman crucifixion, or equally ridiculous the entire matter of the crucifixion was a hallucination.

From that Easter to this Easter, His followers are either liars or tellers of the truth. We know the living Christ, we know the ascension, we expect and await His return. His disciples would not go through what they went through for a lie. Today's Christians will not go through what we go through for a lie.

Thou my everlasting Portion, more than friend or life to me,
All along my pilgrim journey, Savior, let me walk with Thee.

--- Close To Thee – Hymn (Fanny Crosby)

Looney Tunes

#548

I have been one of the largest and best known antiquarian book collectors for many years of my life. With my many rare hardcover first editions I have a rare collection of old comic books. By the way, old comic books are worth more than old first editions. One of the first copies of Superman, only 75 were produced in the first printing, recently sold for over one million dollars. I owned one of these first copies of Superman, which was stolen out of my house by one of the University students here...a student supported by your taxes...a student paid by me to help me in my work but who came here with his mind focused on one thing, to steal some of my best books. Of course, the University, law enforcement, as usual, did nothing. I called the boy's father, who lived in Cary North Carolina, and the father said, “I am not surprised”. I can say without fear of contradiction, as one who worked his way through eight years of University and who has always tried to give college students a chance to work, we have a new day of college student...young people who have no respect for anything or anyone...not even an old blind veteran.

Some of the first comic characters were called “Looney Tunes”. From 1929 to 1970 Looney Tunes characterizations were played in theaters. The shorts were usually played before the main feature, funny nonsensical, activations, which got the audience relaxed, in the mood for the main feature. Let's face it, we have become a world “seeking escape” from the harsh realities of life. This has been brought on mostly by television, a system which brings the world right into your living room or bedroom. No matter what it is, going on in the world, Olympics, ball finals, beauty pageants, political hyperbole, you can watch anything in your own house but, it is often more enjoyable to watch it with someone else.

In large bars and clubs near sports arenas and mostly in sports centered cities, bars are now selling season tickets for the viewing of sports activities. A table in one of these bars sells for $500. This includes a free drink for everyone at your table, and your viewing the activity on a large screen TV. In most cities, such as Fenway Park in Boston, the season tickets have been sold out. You will notice that even in this time of depression, when unemployment is edging 20%, when inflation is edging 20%, when there is moaning and groaning from every direction about the economy, the future of this country and the world, the sports arenas are still filled. Movie houses are still filled with patrons. There seems to be no depression in attendance at private clubs and bars. People always have money to spend on what they want. People still expect the government to supply your needs so you can spend your money on your wants.

It did not start with Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI, who said when informed that the people did not have bread, “let them eat cake”. I thought of this when I stood in the hall of mirrors in the palace at Versailles, where the WWI peace documents were being signed and a young waiter, Ho Chi Minh, brought from the French protectorate Vietnam, appealed to Woodrow Wilson for help for his country...enslaved by France. I stood in the largest arena in Rome, the Roman Colosseum, which seated 50,000 people, where the people watched the circus...just keep the people entertained...they will become easily enslaved. I stood in the amphitheater in Ephesus, Turkey, which seated 28,000. Here the people were entertained and could briefly escape their enslavement. Even in 1975, when the USSR still had back breaking control over the Russian people the only time I saw any smiles in the entire country of Russia, was at the world famous circus in Moscow.

Many lives could have been saved, much grief and pain would not have been experienced, if “Looney Tunes” world power brokers would have paid attention to the problems of the underclass. In his 1978 Memoirs, the biography of David Rockefeller, on page 405, we are told that he is a globalist and the most famous quote of his existence...this man of the trilateral commission and the World Commission on Foreign Relations, “some men are born to rule, most are born to be ruled”.

Life is in the blood. A historical, Biblical fact, which no one can dispute, Abraham, first Jew, brought by God 600 miles from his birthplace to a land to which God led him, knowing that his “chosen people” would spend 400 years in slavery and then leave slavery richer than when they went in, one man, Moses, taken from an ark of salvation in the Nile river, an ark made of brush, pitch and slime, actually given room and board, the best education the world had to offer, from the hands of Pharaoh's own daughter, his own mother Jaquebed, raising him, and yet, after 40 years as Pharaohs' son, after 40 years as a shepard/learner in the desert, was finally ready for God's service.

In any nation, including America, a soldier is decorated for the shedding of blood. It takes persistence and discipline to be ready for service, not the type service the world recognizes in a Rockefeller, Kennedy, Bush, or even crowned royalty.

In the year 4990 B.C., God destroyed the earth with a great flood. (Gen 6:12-13) Next time, and it cannot be long, the earth will be destroyed by fire. (2 Pet 3:5-7) WHO CARES? Man wants what he wants when he wants, moral, spiritual, physical. You can listen to the “Looney Tunes”, music played on your radio or television, you can listen to the “Looney Tunes” of your supposed pastors and protectors of your spiritual salvation. You can listen to the “Looney Tunes” of the politicians and power brokers of your government, both local and global, and know that most are just puppet characters, strings being pulled by Satanic forces of evil, who's loyalty is only with self, not you. The American Constitution is punctuated by checks and balances. Americans are insured by it's Constitution being the only anti-government Constitution in the world. This is the genius of the American constitution, we are permitted to rebel.

Even Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his four freedoms, were expressed as follows;
The first is freedom of speech and expression -- everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way -- everywhere in the world.
The third is freedom from want -- which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants -- everywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom from fear -- which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor-- anywhere in the world.
Our Constitution also permits us to bear arms...essential not only for our own defense but for the hunting of food if necessary. Americans also knew that it might become necessary to defend self against government. Anyone who trusts the government is too dumb to vote. Not one living American should have trusted Bush 41 or 43, certainly not Clinton, and who would trust Obama except a real retard-ate? At the top of every ballot should be one question, “do you trust your government?” If the ballot is marked yes, the ballot should be immediately thrown out.

We now know of what Greenspan spoke, when he said, there was too much “irrational exuberance” in the stock market. The crooked bankers just turned over worthless mortgages to government, Freddie and Fanny crooks, who turned them over to the unsuspecting world. It started with the bubble on the stock market, then the bubble in the housing market, then the bubble in the bailout market. Bubbles have been squashed all over the enslaved taxpayer who is now just trying to survive as “Looney Tunes” politicians and bureaucrats tell him how dumb he is for having believed them and not believing them now in getting him out of this quandary. The inmates are running the asylum singing “Looney Tunes” as the whores on the Potomac get ready to sell you to the highest bidder. 90% of the GNP will now go to pay the national debt.

George Washington, richest President to ever lead this country, who said, “I had rather be on my farm than be Emperor of the world”, at another time further said, “government is a dangerous servant and a fearful master”.

This week, Mr. Obama had an after Easter prayer breakfast...with such theological greats as Joel Osteen and several black preachers. He will dance to the “Looney Tune” of anyone around him, “Supposed” Christian ministers, Islamic radicals and today Russian Atheists as he signs away Americas defense shield. Washington and those in Washington do not yet realize we are in a moral free fall, abortion, homosexual agenda, eugenics, radical bankruptcy (California and Los Angeles are already in bankruptcy). Most municipalities, states, on the verge of bankruptcy.

We have the prescription for cure, but do not chose to use it.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2Ch 7:14)

Opining

#546

This very morning, a University student told me that many of his classmates were born in the early 1990s. They do not even remember Clinton as President. Today's young people, particularly University students, so need a hero...people they can look up to...not these vermin...today's politicians...full of corruption, projecting themselves as leaders.

Think of Jeremiah Denton, retired Admiral, retired U.S. Senator from Alabama, who spent 8 years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam conflict. Read his book, When Hell Was In Session and see what it was like to have served your country...to have survived the torture of Vietnam. Weep when you realize that your own country is now involved in torture that, reportedly, the CIA sent back live pictures to Washington D.C. pictures of Iraq prisoners being tortured so that Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld could watch the atrocity.

“The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” (Isa 9:2)

We have just observed Easter weekend, a time for revival and renewal, a time for self evaluation in the Christian world. If we missed the true meaning of Easter, prayer, praise, fasting and repentance, we have become just as our unbelieving neighbors. Today's “Christians” are afraid they will embarrass their unbelieving neighbors by living their Christian faith in front of them. Most churches are more concerned with changing God than with God changing them.

There were three men on crosses on Golgotha's Hill. The thief on the right, second person into heaven, chose to believe in our blessed Lord. The thief on the left, only interested in self, wanted to be delivered from the cross, (the thief on the street), Barabbas, had been delivered from the cross in the center because the church people, like today's church people, chose a thief in a popularity contest. To them and for all eternity, our blessed Lord said on that first Easter, “forgive them, they know not what they do”. (Luke 23:34)

Christ spoke the Aramaic language, a Semitic language still spoken by about 40,000 people in Syria. The words he spoke on the cross are the same as those found in Psalm 22:1. “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mat 27:46) Every person, throughout life, whether personally or because of a family member has a bewitching reality with those words. The Apostle Paul, writer of 14 books of the New Testament, had finally arrived in Rome, and from his prison cell, wrote his love letter to the church at Philippi. On one of his three missionary journeys, God had stopped him in Troas, and there, he got the Macedonian message to go to Macedonia. Arriving in the city of Philippi, he was beaten and thrown into the inner part of the prison. There, in stocks (wood restraints), at midnight, he sang hymns, and then an earthquake so shook the prison, that he was instantly freed, his jailer, and the jailer's family, became the founders of the first church in Philippi. It was now 11 years later and Paul was riding to the church. Over and over in the verses of this short book, Paul in prison again in Rome, used the word joy. In Philippians Chapter 4, 4th verse he said, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” This is the true Easter message, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death (Phi 3:10).

This is the joy of today's living. Remember, no one has a nervous breakdown over today's living, it is always the life of tomorrow. “Tomorrow will take care of itself”. (Mat 6:34) Betty Smith wrote the book ,Tomorrow will be Better but in today's world, that is not necessarily true. We can only take one day at the time, never doubt in the dark what God has promised you in the light.

There is more than your present economical conditions. Muslims, from the very beginning, had two houses, the house of Islam and the house of war. Supposedly, peace was an early concept of Muhammad's' but with the progression of the house of war, all Jews and all others, Gentiles, will be put to death.

Turkey is the world's 17th largest economy, even larger than the economy of Saudi Arabia. Europeans and others think they can live with the Muslim threat because of Turkey. The earliest Muslims were dealers in human slavery. Areas of the world where the Muslims are still in control show you their profligation through Sharia law.

I was in Nigeria during the Biafra conflict resulting from the British bifurcation of Nigeria leading to the non-ending conflict between the Muslims and Christians. Thousands have died in murder and inconceivable starvation very much like that going on now in Darfur (Sudan). Most of the political troubles in Africa come from what I call, a new tribalism. There were always tribal conflicts and then with colonial exploitation by the British, French, Belgian, Dutch and Portuguese, the exploring of mineral rich Africa for oil, copper, diamonds, gold etc. the poor and the disenfranchised, as always, are the victims, then and now. I never cease to be amazed that nations, thoroughly exposed to decency of religion, are so excited and so adapt thievery. When you go to the great museums of London and other colonial powers you see the art and hear about the wealth transported from the colonies (sculpture from the Acropolis at Athens etc.). Even more opining and deleterious is the culling of bifurcated nations by Marxism which reared it's ugly head into these bewildered nations under the guise of tyrants mostly of the people's own choosing (Liberia, Niger, Somalia etc.)

It is never the mothers and children of these depressed countries who are responsible for the pride, anger, lust, greed, laziness (you note these are all carnal sins) involved. There is not record of one failed woman in the bible. The people on the streets in Jerusalem were not concerned with the thief they had freed on the street (Barabbas). Materialism and consumerism is more a threat to the soul than persecution. If you were the only person with sight, would you not be concerned with the blind? If you were the only person left on the battlefield would you not try to care for the wounded?

The thief on the right recognized not only his physical condition but his moral condition. With Santa Claus and flying reindeer, Christmas, the birth of our blessed Lord, was turned into cash register bells and brawling. Now, the celebration of our blessed Lord's resurrection, we have “Peeps”, marshmallow candies, found everywhere, creations of small animals.

Eric Berne's book Games People Play is a good opining concerning what has happened to these two Christian monuments, Christmas and Easter. Our Savior is real. He is either the truth, what he said he was, the way, the truth, the life, the light, the bread of life, the water of life, the door, or he was the greatest fraud in history. The thief on the left would have accepted our blessed Lord if the crown of thorns were a crown of gold. The nails through his hands could have been turned into gold and he could have been loosened on the streets to resume his stealing. The world would accept Christ, his way of life, if they could return to the streets unchanged. If the crust of the earth were gold, the world would still lie, cheat and steal for a handful of dirt. Stop playing games! The five most important words, in Holy scripture, Christ's mother's words at the wedding in Cana, “Whatsoever he saith unto you” (Jhn 2:5)

The Case For Christianity

#545

The Case For Christianity

Albert Einstein, one of the world's greatest minds, Jewish, said Christianity was the greatest topic he could discuss, particularly the Eucharist, Holy Communion, substantiation, meaning Thanksgiving. The symbolic taking of the body and blood of Jesus Christ into our body...in memory of what Christ did for the believer on Calvary.

Libraries are filled with books on Christianity. On this Holy Thursday, the day, probably on which Christ was crucified, 200 years ago, we think again of the real essence of Christianity. Antioch was one of the largest cities of he world at the time of the Disciples. Peter preached in Antioch and Antioch is mentioned more than any other city in the Acts of the Apostles. The Gentile believers were first called Christians at the city of Antioch. (Act 11:26) Those who are born again, believers in Jesus Christ, call themselves Christian or, Christ-Like. I do not call myself Christian because I am not Christ like and I know very few who are. Rather, I call myself a born again believer in Jesus Christ. In the act of Baptism, we have portrayed the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. One who believes in Christ, wants to be Baptized by immersion in water. This symbolic act, the initial ordinance of the New Testament Church, shows to the world that you are a new creation in Christ, that you have been washed from your old life of sin and rejection, raised to walk in newness of life...Jesus, when he was Baptized went up, straight-way out of the water. (Mat 3:16)

The recurrent ordinance of the New Testament Church is Communion, wherein you take a small piece of bread representing stripes of Christ's body and a small sip of wine representing his shed blood for your sins. It is Christ's atonement, redemption, the sacrifice made by God that we as Christians have salvation.

It is unbelievable that God would use his only begotten son for the forgiveness of the entire world (John 3:16). It is unbelievable that sin, whether small or large, whether acts of war or acts of defiance, would be forgiven by the God of the universe...omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, the one who knows our every thought. It is unbelievable that God, who breathed into man life and soul, would forgive the taking of life...the most innocent of life...in the abortion holocaust or, the God of life who designed man and woman for reproduction would forgive the homosexual agenda...homosexual marriage, homosexual pastors and bishops...pedophile priests.

It is unbelievable that the very hairs of our head are numbered but, it is unbelievable that every snowflake that has ever fallen was individually designed by God. It is unbelievable that in the nano-technology available at our fingertips is just a small impression of God's power..

It is unbelievable that the first Passover in Egypt, involving his chosen people or our salvation today, is just as profound as our devotion to Christ. How could anyone not be thrilled by the knowledge found in his precious word? We walk either under the banner of Christ or the banner of Satan...there is no middle ground. Many pretend, many participate in the masquerade, particularly at the church house. I find that many cheat themselves of the joy of salvation.

In the mediocrity which surrounds us, most give the excuse of not being able to understand the mystery of God's sacrificial profundity. Those who cannot understand the mystery at the end of the telescope or the mystery at the end of the microscope should rejoice in the knowledge that even a small child can know the joy of eternal life. I heard the dean of the Union Theological Seminary say, “the thirteen most important words in the world are these; Jesus loves me, this I know, for the bible tells me so”. On this day, when we rejoice in the sacrifice made for us, we know that the tender heart of Jesus Christ forgives, and so should we. We know, from the shortest verse in the bible, “Jesus wept”...just two words that he still weeps because of our disbelief. We do what we do because we believe what we believe. The second shortest verse in the bible is just three words, “God is love”. Take refuge in the fact, in this Easter season that God loves us and will, according to his last words on earth, never leave us.

[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.
So that we may boldly say, The Lord [is] my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. (Heb 13:5-6)

#544

Pernicious Republicans

Archimedes, Greek mathematician and physicist said, “give me a fulcrum and a place to stand and I will move the world”.

The world's only hope, next to the intervention of God, is the hope of the Republican party. I can trace my American roots on paper, back to 1766, a survey map of the first farm, surveyed by the early American surveyor, Adjionah Peacock (Burlington County, Morristown New Jersey). From these early pioneers, until now, Republicans have held on with tenacity to the conservative principles of biblical values, low government interference in lives through taxation and regulations, values of decency and home, family, God and country. We have been in the minority because the world, the flesh, the devil is so attractive to unsaved, decadent minded control types...those who believe that government is the answer to all problems and that “big brother” knows best.

Even in the Republican party, we have had a steady infestation of parasites known as RINOs (Republicans in name only). These liberal, imposter Republicans reached their height during the George W. Bush administration. The Bushes, both 41 and 43, sold themselves as Christian conservatives. They were neither Christian nor conservative like the grandfather, US Senator Prescott Bush, of Connecticut, who made the family fortune dealing with Nazi Hitler's Germany. From then until now, they have traveled under a veneer of fakery...much to their financial success and we could give the names, Neil of the infamous savings and loan debacle, Marvin of the 9-11 explosive debacle and the ex President, 41, who is reportedly enriching the family by buying up much of the world's oil reserves. It would have been a complete idiot, such as 43, in the White House, who would have held on to Rumsfeld and Rice as they destroyed the government. Number 43, as he nicknamed all his “fraternity boys”, never used his veto pen, spent most of his time vacationing, allowed the Republican party to sink into the muck of charlatans...great preparation for the corrupters succeeding him. Judicial Watch just came out with the ten most corrupt politicians in Washington;

1.Senator Dodd
2.Senator John Ensign (Only Republican)
3.Barney Frank
4.Timothy Geithner
5.Attorney General Eric Holder
6.Jesse Jackson Junior
7.Barack Obama
8.Nancy Pelosi
9.John Murtha (Dead)
10.Charles Rangel

The ancient Egyptians would never have believed that the Nile river would have turned to blood. King Herod, wicked beyond words, interested in Christ “doing some tricks”, Governor Pilate, more interested in his 15 year old wife than justice for our blessed Lord, like lady Macbeth, thought he could wash his hands of demonic activity.

During this Easter season, when we think of the earth's renewal, our new birth through the atonement of our savior, it is good to evaluate just what has happened to this Democratic republic...of all nations...in history...blessed beyond words to describe. We know there are about 50 million American citizens who claim to be Christian. How can so many people allow things to go so wrong, our morals to sink into such depravity? Have we become a society of pretenders? Have we so confused the person of Jesus Christ and the purpose of Jesus Christ?

Five years ago the nation chose sides in the Terry Schiavo tragedy. A disabled woman who could have lived, whose family with exception of her demented husband, wanted her to live (a husband who had decided to live with another woman, more interested as a financial opportunist than the feelings of a concerned people and a concerned nation). Politicians, who for their own expedience made the life or death of this 41 year old woman a matter of votes. A nation tainted by the holocaust of abortion, embarrassed by the treatment of it's disabled citizens.

In all these things, the Republican political party supposedly always taking the high road has allowed the RNC to seek footage in the same muck and mire that has dominated the Democrat party...Democrats, only interested in votes, “the end justifies the means”. In the state of North Carolina, Democrats have controlled the legislature, every area of state government, for over 100 years. When I was younger, there was only one political primary...the Democrat primary. There was not enough Republicans to even offer candidates anywhere. In the legislature, and I used to travel and watch the legislative activity while they were still meeting in the capital building, there was not one Republican, one woman, one person of color, all white, well-festooned, liberal, wealthy, white Caucasians. One Senator, cousin Waylon Spruill, would come into the chamber, as if he were calling hogs to the trough...”sooey, sooey, sooey”. Then, they would divide up our tax dollars among themselves. The same goes on today except in the stalls in the men's bathrooms. Representative Black, Speaker of the House, now in prison, passed out money in the bathroom. Ex Governor Easley, his assistant Mr. Ruffin Pool...and God only knows how many more...passed out money and positions, plane rides, board appointments...ABC liquor store enticements with transparency. In other words, corruption has become so acceptable that it is the “rule”, not the “exception”.

In uniform, with all decorations, using a white cane, I stood in the new legislative building with an officer of the North Carolina Jaycees. We were there in the interest of proposed legislation. One of the senators, on the committee, from Columbia, Tyrrell County, was talking with him, explaining his financial problems. My friend put 500 dollars in his pocket. He said to me, “this is the way you get things done here”. It is like the inspector, inspecting one of my buildings, on Oleander Avenue, Wilmington NC, when I shook hands with him I placed a 100 dollar bill in his hand. Of course the electricity was immediately turned on, the building had passed inspected. I apologize to the world for participating in this graft and corruption. God has forgiven me for this act but has not let me forget it. Are we supposed to live, work and prosper in this world of total corruption, on the brink of annihilation, when we know that our republic has sunk to this depth? Or, are we as Christian soldiers of the cross, willing to die and even give up our eyesight for this country supposed to stand up and defend what is left of it's constitutional principles?

I saw my mother sit and weep over the corruption she saw as a Republican poll watcher during the days of the Democrat stranglehold and enslavement of the citizens of North Carolina. She could not believe the corruption, the evil intent of Democrat politicians. The tragedy is, as Democrats, perhaps through the leadership of the Holy Spirit of God, have recognized the debauchery they have learned to vote Republican. Few victories, squeezing out a victory now and then, from the thinnest of margins (Helms, Holshouser, Martin, East, Dole etc.) The Democrats can depend on liberals, all blacks, most women, all academics, most recipients of government checks to vote Democrat regardless of the integrity of the person. You can depend on the Democrats to support anything that will destroy the state or this nation...liquor, gambling, abortion, homosexual agenda, socialized medicine, welfare checks.

I have asked the RNC (Republican National Committee), to whom I had invested funds in the past not to ask me for anything else until they changed their basic philosophy, change back to the philosophy of Lincoln, Goldwater, Reagan. It is useless to try to pull a liberal Republican across the goal line such as we did with McCain and Dole. Many of us resorted to supporting John Anderson and Ross Perot...and other libertarians who are mostly disenfranchised Republicans. I will not waste my vote on a third party candidate again rather, if the Republican party does not have enough intelligence to cleanse itself from the like of the present National Chairman and the neocons who, like pretenders in every philosophy of life will get back to basics we will be forever in the minority, forever eating the dust and fumes from the Democrat “vehicle of hope and change”, filled with Radicals, Communist sympathizers, progressive academics, headed towards the inevitable brink and the fall into the chasm of disaster.

This is Holy week, preceding the greatest atonement sacrifice known to the mid of mortal man. Every republic has fallen because good men did nothing. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Gulag Archipelago said, “evil in Russia took over because Russia forgot about God”. We must believe that Republicans will reclaim the promise of our constitution. The Russian poet Pushkin wrote, just before the Russian revolution, “graze on ye sleeping cattle and sheep”.

Exegesis

#542

Exegesis

In the “roaring” 1920's and 1930's dance contests, trying to prove endurance were the activity of the young set. In the Audubon Ballroom in New York City, Alma Cummings, on March 31st 1923 outlasted all competition, dancing 27 hours. I was not there, I had not been born, all we have are the records of the event from those who were there and the recording of the event.

This is Holy week, recognizing the second greatest event in the history of the world, the crucifixion and resurrection of our blessed Lord, Jesus Christ, only begotten son of God, the creator, atonement sacrifice for the sins of the world.

Real Christians, all over the world, have the discernment of the “exegesis” of this great historical and spiritual event. At your on risk, you deprecate this greatest event in Christianity.

Every Jewish family celebrates the passover, as did our Jewish Lord and his disciples. The youngest male in the Jewish family asks four questions in celebrating passover. Each question begins with this phrase, “why is this night different from all other nights?”

“On all other nights, we eat either unleavened or leavened bread, but tonight we eat only unleavened bread?”
“On all other nights, we eat all kinds of vegetables, but tonight, we eat only bitter herbs?”
“On all other nights, we do not dip [our food] even once, but tonight we dip twice?”
“On all other nights, we eat either sitting or reclining, but tonight we only recline?”

In Egypt, on that passover night, a young spotless lamb had been brought into the family, they had shown their love for it. But the father, as did our Heavenly Father allowed the lamb to be killed, its blood poured on the door post of the house so the death angel passed over. In Pharaohs house, in all Egyptian's houses, even the animals of the Egyptians...even after all the plagues, the oldest son was killed but, the Jewish families escaped Egypt...over 2.5 million...passing through the Red Sea on dry land heading toward the promised land. As with another salvation, many years before, on the other side of the flood, eight human beings were saved. God has arranged for our salvation, through the sacrifice of his only son, the Word (John 1) with him from the very foundation of the universe. The Jews knew what it was to be saved.

Christianity started out stranger than science-fiction, a man being raised from the dead. Genesis 3:20 forever solves evolution...with the creation of Adam and Eve...from the dirt of the earth...the same elements in the human body that you find in dirt. It has never changed and, whether attempts at killing people in Russian subways (7 million Russians travel by subway each day), bullying of a young girl in the state of Massachusetts so that she commits suicide, technology has changed the world but the human heart is still evil and we have only one salvation.

Jesus Christ never offered salvation any way except through him. He presented himself as salvation, a person. He told us that he was the way, the truth, the life...the light, the door...the bread of life. Jesus Christ was either the biggest fraud in history, or the truth.

He was one with us in order to redeem us...putting on a “tent of human flesh” and dwelled among us. The essence of everything is his word. Opening the bible is looking into the mind of God. Don't cheapen God talking about other books, “the Book of Mormon”, “Science and Health” (Mary Baker Eddy, Christian Science, not Christian or science). All authority in Heaven and Earth were given to Christ. You do not need further explanations from Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons or anyone else. The average defiler of God's word, academics, Atheists etc. has never spent 20 hours of study in God's word determining the truth of the resurrection. The skeptics of his day asked him for a sign. God has no intention of giving anyone a sign about anything except, Jonah, who spent three days in the belly of a large fish. We worship the sovereign God of the universe, HE IS BOSS.

The resurrection is the basis of Christianity and it is a fact. Some doubted then, grieved women wandering around in a cemetery missed the tomb, the Jews moved him, and of course the scientific explanation, he became resuscitated after the cross...the usual answers of gnosticism. Everyone is an expert in religion. Some of the simplest minded people I have ever known, people not interested in anything, knew all about religion. Most people who speak about Christ do not know him. Who would risk an empty, Christ-less grave...your own or that of Christ without thoroughly investigating? The disciples who witnessed the resurrection witnessed, held him, after his resurrection, knew the truth. They convinced the world, from then until now. These disciples were so convinced, so convinced that, alone, knowing they would never see one another again, became martyrs: Bartholomew skinned alive in Armenia, Luke hanged in Greece, Mark dragged trough the streets of Alexandria in Egypt, Thomas crossing the worst mountains in the world, the Himalayas, going all the way to India, Peter the weakest of the disciples, tempestuous, denying our Lord until the very end crucified upside down, John self centered, showing little love for anyone except himself, becoming the giant of scripture. His followers, His church, knew him in life, knew him in the resurrection, knew him in his ascended glory.

This one event, the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord, dramatized in Baptism, completely captivated in one cataclysmic event, the men and women of his day. We either become a new creation in him or it was all for nothing. Peter was a miserable failure but Christ specifically said, after his resurrection, “go tell Peter”, picking him out among all the others. Mark, dropping his white robe in the garden of Gethsemane, had deserted in fear. People do not go through what his disciples went through for a lie. Thousands, who have been martyred, on mission fields, do not go through what they have gone through for a lie. Today's Christians, do not subject themselves to the unbelief, disbelief, and recycled hypocrisy of the world, for a lie.

If your Easter is just a good time, new Spring clothes, chocolate rabbits and colored eggs, you have missed the true meaning of Easter. Even, if you observe Lent, prayer, fasting and repentance, without knowing the relationship of Christ, you have missed the true meaning of Easter. “To know him, the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Phl 3:10)

Narcissism

#495


The great comedian WC Fields said, “Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than what people say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill.” On the Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy show, after Charlie McCarthy had insulted WC Fields about his large nose, Fields told Charlie that he was just “woodpecker food”.

There was a time, before comedy resorted to four letter words that people could laugh at one another...Poles, WOPs, degos, etc. As the great writer Sinclair Lewis said, “you can say most anything if you smile when you say it”. In this epidemic of political correctness most people are too narcissistic, too self indulged, have too great an opinion of self to enjoy one another. Selfishness is the highest form of narcissism. We have produced several generations of spoiled brats...too lazy to walk to school, (school parking lots full of expensive cars driven by students) too proud to ride a school bus, willing to run the risk of jail time to cut expensive labels out of clothing in stores, expensive buttons off expensive clothes to put on their less expensive clothes in order to impress one another.

Early in life, I learned that dressing well could be done at a thrift store...buying expensive second hand clothes. I do not own a shirt or tie which costs more than 25 cents but someone before me paid a tremendous price for them.

My sons mother and grandmother convinced him that he was a prince and he believed it. I was amazed at the labels in his clothes from the most expensive stores. More marriages end because of money than anything else. A daughter, spoiled by parents, thinks she should start out married life with the accumulated wealth of her parents. Parents can work, live diligently, and leave a sizable estate for which children will fuss, fight and become enemies...all because of a narcissistic entrapment of trying to impress someone through the work of others.

The church has not escaped narcissism. Church members who sit at the back when they seldom attend will line up on Easter to parade down the aisle to the front.

Every time I see a city council meeting, a political meeting of any type, where there is a dais, rostrum, pulpit or even chancel I think about the movie, Mission to Moscow, in which Joseph Davies described the attitude of the politburo “talking down” to the little people...”big I, little you”. If there is ever a place in a democracy that citizens should be on a level playing field, it is at a time of church, government or judicial experience. I can pick out seven names from the local telephone directory and have a better representation, of the people about problems of people, than those seven on the local city council. When you see politicians or bureaucrats on the dais above you, talking down to you, keep this in mind. Because of a community organizer such as ACORN or paid for votes, they are in seats of power. The most narcissistic people I have known in my long life are self serving politicians, self serving ministry employees, self serving academics.

In 1941, after the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor, US-Japanese citizens on the West Coast predominantly, were rounded up and put in internment camps by President Roosevelt much like the FEMA internment camps prepared for US citizens in the future. The camps were surrounded by barbed wire. The tar papered barracks, with cracks in the floors, a common latrine, a common dining hall, totally degraded these citizens. Until a few years ago, this is the same type barracks to which America's youth went when entering the military service. Inside the prisoner compound, after all, they were already prisoners, there was a smaller stockade which housed those who did not dance to the exact tune that the government played. Are we not heading in the same direction? Your government owns everything including you and, if you do not dance correctly, you will find yourself in the innermost stockade. To date, in most cities, barbed wire has not yet been put around the city limits because the city is too anxious to annex surrounding areas for tax purposes.

Government has not escaped narcissism either. Instead of making numbers count, instead of taking care of the numbers you already have, governments are just busy counting numbers. As one state politician told me, “I feel the state money is mine to spend as I see fit.” I truly believe most city, county, state and federal officials are so narcissistic that they believe tax payers money belongs to them. I truly believe that most pastors and church officials, both of the individual church and the denomination feel that the money given to God's work belongs to them...the pastor, the church officials, the bishops, etc. One church in this country, who's pastor rode in a limousine, made sure all checks were made out to him. I heard him say, on the radio, it is my business if I choose to take the money for which God holds me responsible on my plane, out to the ocean, and dump it there. He took up two offerings in his church each service. This is not as irascible as most politicians who run on a platform of public service but who expect to be paid for that service and then an additional allowance for vehicle, meals, etc., etc., etc. Last year, the local city council went on a binge to Washington DC accompanied by their “significant other” for which the city tax payers were charged thousands of dollars for lavish accommodations. Of course, news media enables this narcissistic behavior because they will publish nothing about such extravagance.

I once asked a state official how he accounted for his expenses to a convention. He said, “if it is any of your business, I count the money in my wallet before I leave and I count it when I return along with all credit card receipts. Those are my expenses.” I had been told of his extravagance buying his family clothing and many fine gifts on these jaunt-lets. This is politician corruption narcissism at almost it's worst. Recently, in my city, the public was informed of the payment of a long serving ABC controller. Now it is found that he was, under the table engaged in other contract activities. The liquor business, the gambling business, is bad enough, when it is kept clean. It is like the buying of votes or elections. Right is right and wrong is wrong and there is no gray area. “The LORD knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever.” (Psa 37:18)

When you look in the mirror, those of you with eyes, you see your worst co-conspirator. Lord, help me overcome this bothersome thing I call myself. Monks have no sadness because they have no greed. It is only bad things that come back to haunt us. We do what we do because we believe what we believe. Most of our problems come from “stinkin' thinkin'. It all starts in the mind.

Mardi Gras

#485


Mardis Gras is a Pagan festival, celebrated mostly by Catholics and unbelievers in America. In South America it is referred to as Carnival. I was in Merida, Mexico during Carnival and have been in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil during carnival. Carnival in Rio has disintegrated into sexual perversion decadence. Nudity and perverse acts punctuate the celebration. Two years ago the President of Mexico, known for his adultery, had his girlfriend on the podium with him during one of the parades wearing no underwear. In the wind, her dress was flying up above her waist, and the President answered her nudity by saying Brazilians are very broad minded. This year a seven year old girl was doing a seductive belly dance. Both in the Yucatan and in the shadows of Sugarloaf Mountain, Brazil, the celebrations, parades, and festivities are about the same...heathen people acting like Pagans, even in Rio, where the very statue of the Christ overlooks the city (O Cristo Redentor). New Orleans is the most famous Mardi Gras city in America, referred to by it's mayor as the chocolate city, recently washed by Katrina. Even around the beautiful St. Luis Cathedral on Bourbon street, again, heathens acting like Pagans. In the tradition of the Catholic church, Mardi Gras precedes Lent which means repentance and a time of fasting, prayer and praise before Easter. The fasting starts today, Ash Wednesday, after “fat Tuesday” a time of hilarity with excessive eating and drinking.

If there is anything Americans do not need it is excess food with nearly two thirds of the population overweight, one half the population obese, and nearly one half the population diabetic. Protestants often complain about the revery of Catholics but Baptists (not Protestants) are the greatest gluttons I know. The Baptists cannot have a meeting of any sort, even a prayer service, without gorging themselves with food. More of the American population dies from over eating than from starvation and America is the only nation on earth where you find fat people, people dieting (I have had my passport stamped in 157 countries around the world).

Lent is a time when Catholics give up something that they enjoy very much...not necessarily food. During the Islamic season of Ramadan Muslims give food to the poor. As was the case with ancient Israel, where the harvest of the fields were not taken from the corners of the fields and the corners along with the gleanings were left for the poor, so Catholics and Christians are expected to give their excess food to the poor. Of course now that most Americans get welfare checks and food stamps providing for the poor from the largess of the churches is mostly a thing of the past. There was a time that this was not true. I well remember my mother traveling up and down the roads of many neighborhoods asking for food for the orphanage. Women would give her jars of food which they had canned during the Summer or perhaps a chicken. I knew one man, reared at an orphanage, former President of a Christian college, who told me he never knew what it was like not to be hungry at the orphanage (but not one orphan has ever wished he had been aborted).

“LORD God, Holy Father, may You be blessed now and in eternity. For as You will, so is it done; and what You do is good. Let Your servant rejoice in You -- not in himself or in any other, for You alone are true joy. You are my hope and my crown. You, O Lord, are my joy and my honor.
What does Your servant possess that he has not received from You, and that without any merit of his own? Yours are all the things which You have given, all the things which You have made.
I am poor and in labors since my youth, and my soul is sorrowful sometimes even to the point of tears. At times, also, my spirit is troubled because of impending sufferings. I long for the joy of peace. Earnestly I beg for the peace of Your children who are fed by You in the light of consolation.” (Imitation of Christ Book 3 Ch.50, Thomas a Kempis)
Most Christians do not know the joy of salvation, the joy of redemption. Most church goers are just “robots”, following a printed program, more interested in formality than the worship of an omnipotent God. Unbelievers are mostly surrounded by other unbelievers and pretenders and never know the joy of the resurrection. It is a matter of recitation...even our lords prayer...singing hymns that mean nothing to them. If the world had no more joy in rock and roll than the Christian finds in hymns the biggest business in the world, the record business, would be out of business. I enjoy all types of music except rap (demonic sounds punctuated by profanity). I have at least 50,000 record albums, mostly 78 RPM classical records but I find the greatest joy to my being in Christian music such as they play continuously on the Fundamental Broadcasting Network, FBN. (This is a fundamental station from Grace Baptist Church, Roberts Road, Newport NC and heard around the world) I have listened to the metropolitan opera from New York City on Saturday afternoons since I was a child. How well I remember Milton Cross and the great measures of music which he introduced. Pitiful is the heart and soul of a human being not nurtured by God's word, hymns of praise to God, great classical and popular music. I have attended the Grand Ole Opry at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville Tennessee. I remember Grandpa Jones, mother Maybelle Carter, John and June Carter Cash etc. The Maasai tribes in Kenya made beautiful music on their drums and so did the musicians at the Shinto shrines in Japan. I would go to radio city music hall on Sunday mornings when the prices were low mostly to see that great orchestra rise out of the stage.

At the recent opening of the winter Olympics in Vancouver a sadistic, atheist production proceeded the lighting of the torch. A lesbian, in mockery to God, used the word “hallelujah” 33 times in a opening diatribe. Many things have gone wrong with these Olympics since the opening, a death, lack of snow, and the electronics not working correctly at the opening ceremony. Each Olympics tries to out-defy God in the previous opening such as the one in 2000 in Salt Lake City. Those who despise God and God's word are lacking in the intelligence of knowing that he is “boss”.

Just recently, in this city, two successful business men, whom I knew well...a car dealer and an ophthalmologist...both died the same week from suicide. A prominent business man asked me, “Tom, why do young successful white men who have been given every privilege in life, family background, great educations, success that few men can ever know, wind up killing themselves, both were active in their church?” I said, “neither really knew the joy of salvation or redemption...evidently both were just wonderful pretenders”. The easiest thing in the world is to end it all. After going through what I went thorough to get through many years of University education, military experience that few men have ever imagined, and then to wind up knowing that I would spend every second for the rest of my life as a totally blind person, if not for my faith, if not for the joy of the Resurrection, the easiest escape in the world would have been suicide, but, as I told my friend, who asked the question, “I would not have so hurt my parents who had done so much for me or so disappoint our blessed Lord who chose me before the very foundation of the world”. The message of Easter is more than rabbits and colored eggs, flowers and fasting.

Easter

In a few days, we will celebrate the second greatest event in the history of the world, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the day specified as Easter. Of course, the greatest event in the history of the world was the birth of Christ, a day specified as Christmas. Christmas was marked by a borrowed manger, Easter is marked by a borrowed tomb. He was rich yet for our sakes became poor, that we, through his poverty, might become rich. Most children know little about the meaning of Easter. The day has been castigated to rabbits laying eggs, bonnets and bouquets. Most church people, who claim the name of Christ, know little about the blessed meaning of the day.  Christians are good for captivating heathen holidays and festivals.  Easter originally came from the Pagan goddess Eostre. Like Christmas, which should be the holiest day of the year, it has become a holiday of browsing and brewing, shopping and selling, and Easter, gorging and gourmet. Church people see a table in the front of the church in which the words are carved, “In remembrance of me.” The only time we were instructed to celebrate his life, was the “blessed” event of his death. His death marked by mockery and mercilessness.

Seven hundred years before his birth, the Prophet Isaiah told us about his death.  (Isaiah 53) Early in the morning, every day of my life, I remember what our Blessed Lord did for me on Calvary by having my time of communion when I eat a small piece of bread representing his body, broken for me, and have a small sip of wine representing his shed blood given for me in forgiveness of my sins. You see, I believe there is healing in the broken body of Our Lord represented by the bread and I know there is forgiveness in the blood of Our Lord represented by the wine. It is tragic indeed, that even at this time of year, this day of the year, so few Christians do not have this time of remembrance.

Recently, a pastor told me that his church routinely observed the Lord’s Supper during the week at a prayer service two or three times a year. With government checks, most needy people are starving to death for God’s care. I am convinced, most do not believe in prayer any more as shown by the few who go to a prayer service. So, one Sunday morning, he announced that they would have a communion service. He said, “Many there had never participated in a communion service and some not since baptism.” He said, “I have never seen so many tears. All of a sudden they realized what their salvation was all about.” This is the true meaning of Easter.

Recently, listening to the 11 o’clock church service on a local radio station, the pastor said, “ We were supposed to celebrate our Lord’s Supper this morning but the great juice we were going to use has spoiled so we will have to put it off.”  The question occurred to me, are the deacons and others so lazy and unconcerned with this wonderful observance that they cannot check the elements ahead of time? And, since it is a symbol, water or soda, or some other type juice could be used. Unlike the Catholics, where the Eucharist is celebrated, non-Catholics use a symbol. Since we are all priest, if we have the Holy Spirit of God possessing our body, we can celebrate the Lord’s Supper anywhere, anytime. The most blessed time of renewal you can spend, I think it should be done daily, is remembering what he did for us on Calvary asking for healing through his broken body and forgiveness through his shed blood.  This time of communion, commitment and prayer can keep you going when you want to quit, I say this especially to the disabled and the despondent. 

Eight hundred miles off the West Coast of Chili, in the pacific, is Easter Island.  I spent one week there many years ago simply because a plane went to the island one time a week.  Now if I had not been able to leave on that plane the following week, I would have done some crying, also.  After all, how many of these Moai statues can you study.  (Moai statues are monolithic human figures carved from rock and stand on the perimeter of the island.  They date between 1250 CE and 1500 CE.)  Most weigh around 75 tons and are about 30 feet high.  Almost all moai have oversized heads and it is still a mystery of their carving and transportation.  The people of Easter Island are beautiful and healthy, probably due to their seafood diet.  They wanted me to see their hospital, there was not one patient in the hospital.

I live in a remarkably beautiful part of the world, coastal eastern NC.  God was particularly good to the people of this area because we have tree and plant beauty unsurpassed anywhere else in the world.  It has been about 50 years since I have been able to see anything, but I can remember the colors of the azaleas, cut flowers, dogwoods, and other floral of the artistry of God. Few people mention the beauty to me because honestly, I think they see very little. Helen Keller in her 1904 book said, “ I have friends who go out and see flowers and birds, and returning home I ask them what they saw. Most say, “I didn’t see anything.”” As my friend Dr. Helen Robinson of University of Chicago said, “ I would give anything to walk from one room to another with out running into something.”

Next to life, your most valuable possession is your eyesight. Put some adhesive tape over your eyes, try living each day as do the blind, preparing your food, getting dressed to go somewhere, etc, just the simple things of life and then think what you miss by not being able to see the floral and fauna around you.  There is a children’s museum a short distance from my house, when I go out to my car, the most beautiful sound in the world, more beautiful then any symphony, are the voices of the laughter of those children. There are trees and bushes in my backyard and other places I hear birds, more beautiful than an earthly choir. The grape had to die to make the wine which we use in the resurrection celebration. The kernel of wheat had to die in order to make the bread we use in the celebration of the resurrection. Easter is a time for renewal, the putting seed in the ground for garden vegetables and garden flowers.

Christ died to give us an abundant life, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)  More then words, Christianity is a way of life, “Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

Dr. Paul Tillich, Union Theological Seminary, one of the four most influential theologians of the 20th century said, “I hope for the day when everyone can speak again of God without embarrassment.”

IOU

I worked for John McCain in his Presidential bid. I sent him money although, in the past, I had agreed with him on very few things, I knew he was a better choice than the one you people selected. We will never recover from the Obama Presidency. Yesterday, I heard McCain's daughter, Meghan, on a national talk show say she is a “progressive Republican”. By progressive Republican she means, pro-choice (pro-abortion), pro-gay rights (gay marriage), and pro-welfare and health care for everyone. Like George W. Bush, “the compassionate Conservative”, neither the McCains or the Bushes...both families rich beyond dreams, have ever known what it is to work or want for anything.

A few real Christians have been in political office. The late Senator Jesse Helms was one. He told me once that the Social Security trust fund was just one big IOU. We know now that Social Security is bankrupt. Starting this year, there are no increases for the next two years and then, with the bankruptcy of the nation, Social Security will slowly disappear.

In the American experiment, debt is a new transition. I remember when there was little indebtedness...you had the layaway plan for merchandise and on the front porch of many black homes was an envelope where you put a quarter for your burial insurance. A collector came around each week to collect it. The promissory note you signed at the bank for your mortgage or anything else was debt property of the bank. But, with the Barney Franks of this world the banks sold these mortgages and promissory notes as bales of derivatives and now, if you are in financial trouble you have no idea who you owe. Of course, most banks will have these instruments recorded at the court house.

I remember the first credit cards. I could not imagine anything so dangerous. We have lived to learn of their danger. Just as the federal reserve took over the banks and all currency, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) took over the reserve banks and they are all instruments of the United Nations. We are now in a cauldron of financial stew involving the entire global “one world government”. The banks learned early to suck everyone into the cavern of debt. What better method than a credit card, mailed to everyone who is still room temperature...children, elderly, poverty stricken. One year, I got 59 credit cards from various sources. Each time one came in I would put it in a box and towards the end of the year I had my assistant photograph all of these credit cards, and then at my expense, I sent all of these credit cards to the North Carolina Attorney General and explained to him, since evidently they were too stupid to know, why the general public has so much trouble with ID theft and debt. There is an average 8,500 dollar credit card debt for every family.

I get so sick hearing rich, liberal Democrats as well as Republicans (McCain-Bush) talk about conservation or conservatism. Older Americans were reared at a time when you paid for your services, your needs, everything, those who went through the trauma of the Great Depression, 1930s-1940, (when the banks closed or only had services for the elitest few) will know the importance of the words of Paul in his letters to the Romans when he said, “Owe no man nothing but to love one another” (Romans 13:8). Neither a borrower nor a lender be;

For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. (Shakespeare's Hamlet)

Look at your children, your grand children. Don't you realize the parasites have taken over? Lies, promises, decadence beyond words to describe. There has been an invasion of intelligence that the profits or poets could never have predicted. The church has not escaped. We are approaching the second most important event in the world, Easter. If Jesus Christ had not risen from the dead, our faith would be in vain, life as we know it would be a waste yet, the world has so invaded the church that the resurrection story is represented by a rabbit laying colored eggs in a basket...almost as ridiculous as Santa Claus representing the greatest event in the history of the world...the savior of the world...the only reason for life or living. Richard Bauckham, in his book Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, reiterates the value of the personal testimony of the early Christians in describing Jesus and the early church.

The third most important book in Christianity is CS Lewis's The Case For Christianity in which he places his entire argument on morality. Humans cannot know to yearn for something that does not exist. Water is the only substance that will satisfy thirst. Only God can give Joy.

Both Cane and Esau were probably “nice guys”. Even these first creations of the Creator wanted life “their way”. It was thousands of years later that Sinatra went to hell singing, “I did it my way”.

Whether individually or as a nation, we are destined to learn of the omnipotence of God. We think we human beings are so smart, that we can get out of a hole by digging, that we can spit in the face of the very One who flung the stars into space, that we can deny His existence, His “so great salvation”. God does not accept an IOU.