Upside Down

For many years, I owned a Manhattan apartment near the United Nations building, knew many people who worked at the UN, and because of my extensive travels all over the world, was invited by UN friends to certain receptions. I know more than I even wanted to know about the United Nations. It is a useless group. Just a party place for the international jet set. In front of the UN secretary building, is the Dag Hammarskjold boulevard. Dag Hammarskjold Swedish diplomat was secretary general of the UN. He was killed in a plane crash on his way to Moise Tshombe in 1961. In his Bible were found these words written by him, “If you are a Christian, you can always face death when it comes.”

A story which we have all heard, involves one of the worlds greatest warriors, Alexander the Great. A soldier was brought to him for some infraction, Alexander the Great asked him his name, it just so happens that the soldiers name was Alexander. Alexander the great said, “either change your name or change your way of living.”

Once in Northern Greece, I was at a historical event where supposedly was located the home of Alexander the Great. It was all so near there that a farmer plowing in a field discovered the sculpture of 'Nike” the Greek goddess of victory. Most of you have heard of athletic shoes by that name but if the sculpture was standing when Alexander the great was living there he probably grew up thinking about victory, and the thinking of victory always leads to victory whatever the task. In speaking to the minister of music at a local baptist church, he expressed his disdain of the liberalism of the church and said, “You will never hear “Victory in Jesus” at the church.”

And so it is in this upside down world, and it has been turned upside down in my lifetime, we do not think of victory anymore in anything, anywhere. We do not considered “victory in Jesus” anymore then we consider victory in some teenage, ragtag, uncivilized pirates molesting the world's greatest naval powers.

This is an age when bad is called good and good is called bad. A person is born healthy, physically and mentally, parents spend hard earned money to give this child the very best specialized care, nutritious food, designer clothes, and yet will send this child to a totally broken education system where the child is exposed to more decadence in one hour than the goodness and decency can be instilled in the child in many hours.

If a foreign power had come to this country and installed the insane education system, which we endure, we would declare war on that foreign power for having destroyed the education system and the future progress of our nation. If a foreign power, had come to this country and jeopardized our health care system with toxic chemicals in pharmaceuticals easily purchased over the counter and even more toxic chemicals in the pharmaceuticals for which the FDA is responsible, we would declare war on that foreign power.

If a foreign power, had come to this country, taken over the entertainment industry with the forfeiture of every decent story, replacing it instead with the slimiest features a depraved mind could imagine, we would declare war on this power. If a foreign power had come to this country, published the most decadent comic book characters, the most intrusive pornography including nudity and perversion, we would declare war on that country. If a foreign power had come to this country, had declared bacteriological warfare on our foods, while they were being processed, while we were watching, we would not be withdrawing many more from the shelves than we are at present and we would declare war on that country.

Albert Einstein, mathematical genius, said, “The most incomprehensible thing about our universe is that it is comprehensible.” Millions of our tax dollars will be spent by atheists in the fields of science and astronomy, trying to prove the “big bang”, trying to find the “black hole”, and even trying to find “antimatter”. Aristotle said, “Politics is nothing more then three people trying to reach a decision about “common welfare” without one intimidating the others. There are 1,189 chapters, 31,300 verses of scriptures in the Bible, but if all the precious words of God were destroyed except John 3:16 this is sufficient to save your soul. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Dwight L Moody, who only had an eighth grade education but became one of the worlds greatest evangelist, founder of the Moody Bible institute, memorialized at the Moody church in Chicago, used John 3:16 in every sermon he preached. In the public square, in the pulpits of the nation's churches, in the homes where children are being reared to the glory of God, this verse should become a matter of our soul's existence as we become more embattled by Satan's demons who have “almost” successfully turned the world upside down.

Perversion has replaced the peace of God.

Political correctness has replaced patriotic Christianity.

Greed has replaced grace.

Filth has replaced faith.

Same-sex marriage has replaced security of the family.

Government checks has replaced dependence on God's mercy.

Lies and deceit have replaced love and decency.

And, this could go on and on, you have your own list. It is past time to choose sides, who's side are you on? I believe that 90% of faith is just raw courage, it takes a lot of faith for this old blind man to face everyday in darkness as he has done for over 40 years. Those of you who do not have faith and even those of you who have given up, you need to get your brain in “gear”, your soul replenished, start using the backbone which God gave you.

To have faith is to defy logic. It takes faith to think positively. It takes faith to believe that there is a loving God who cares deeply about our pain. To believe in life, the universe, or yourself after numerous failures is to have courage. Faith is an act of courage. It is choosing to get up in the morning and face our fears and believe that God will help us. Faith is choosing to believe that even though we may have failed one hundred times before that we can succeed the next time.

What Has Happened?

About forty years ago, I attended a funeral that is still fresh in my memory. One of my good friends was a very prominent black physician. He came from one of the finest families in our city. He told me once, “my grandmother told me that if I went out and got into trouble, I need not call any of my family. Your family has worked too hard, and is too well known and respected in this town to put up with any meanness on your part. If you go to jail you will stay in jail.”

I knew the grandfather and grandmother, and when the grandfather died, I attended the funeral as an honorary pallbearer. I knew a little about black funerals... I had witnessed a black funeral procession in New Orleans...carrying the casket down the street accompanied by many New Orleans musicians with creole music. The funeral was held in the cities largest black church, crammed full of dignified, well-dressed people of every color. I remember the pallbearers all dressed in black, wearing white gloves. I remember nurses dressed in white uniforms attending to the inconsolable family members. I remember the carillon (chiming bells) with their mournful drone, the many speakers, the well-expressed music. The service was worthy of the person in the casket.

Yesterday, one of my friends told me of going to a funeral where the pallbearers were wearing flip-flops, jeans or shorts, and t-shirts. I am told that very few people even dress formally for a funeral anymore. There was a time, when we had “Sunday clothes”, we attended church well-dressed, and so we did for funerals. We had enough respect, not only for God in His house of worship, but for the family of the deceased. Every thing you do for a deceased person who knows nothing about what you are doing, is done for the surviving family, to show your respect and concern for them.

What has happened? Friends sit on my front porch at my beach house and describe the language, appearance, and attitude of the young people walking by my house to the ocean. In this time of the “liberated woman”, the girls are more carnal than the boys. It has been a long time since I had a woman working for me who did not smoke cigarettes. It has been a long time since I have known a woman, working for me or otherwise, who cared very much about her appearance: her hair, her makeup, her skin. People describe the tattoos they see on woman's bodies, just the parts of the body that they can see. In the era of bikinis, almost nakedness, there is not much left for exploration. My grandfather, in his day, seldom saw a woman's ankle. Women were almost totally covered, modest, feminine, delicate talk, delicate movement.

As communist ideology takes over, the first thing to go is the idealism pertaining to children or women, women become just breeders. In China, Russia, third world police-state countries, as was the case before Christ was born into the world, women are a little more than slaves. Women have been stripped of their femininity, “butch” haircuts, lackadaisical attitude towards shape, or the qualities of beauty.

An interesting study would be the effect on the female personality and purposefulness when kept as separated through clothing, veils as is found in the Islamic traditions. Do Muslim women, so separated from everything by Sharia law have a direct effect on Muslim men and Muslim children. In traveling Muslim countries you seldom saw Muslim women, they stayed in their homes and cared for their families. Outside the home, always fully clothed, always veiled. In talking with one in a business situation, through the holes in the veil I could only tell if she was wearing glasses. I could tell nothing of her features: hair color, shapeliness, but they all seemed very intelligent, and evidently most are content with their place in life, especially in relation to the men and the children in their lives.

If the Islamic system, the Islamic traditions, the Islamic law did not work, I feel sure it would have been changed long ago. I believe the Muslim believers in America like the Jewish, the Amish, Mennonite, and other religious traditions in America make whatever alternatives necessary for living in this country at this time. Overseas, you respect the traditions of the country you are visiting.

There are two kinds of courage in the world: physical and moral. Most of us have neither...not the physical courage to defend right, or the moral courage to condemn wrong. I believe that faith is 90% courage, and most spiritual believers do not have courage, not even enough courage to correct children, not even enough courage to uphold decent traditions. Not even enough courage to teach or show the absolutes of right and wrong.

Three times in our life, we are called upon to demonstrate courage: physical pain, hardship, and death. When my cancer was diagnosed, I knew that I had experienced hardship in my life, I had experienced physical pain in my life, I had experienced disappointment through blindness in my life. I prayed for the faith and courage to face death. The last thing we must conquer is death, and life is so unpredictable, there are about as many short graves in a cemetery as long graves. It can happen any time, you do not have to be old to die. Courage is a virtue for teenagers, but all should realize as was once said in a very remarkable movie: we are all “walking-dead'.

My life, your life, matters. Life is a gift. When some young girls get old, they will appreciate the beauty of youth, many will wonder: why did I have these tattoos and piercings? Why did I give away my decency, innocence so early?

One girl told me, “I was so infatuated with this boy, I felt that I must give myself to him in order to attract and keep him. I just knew that he would be totally crazy over me because he had taken my greatest possession. The first day I was so surprised that he did not call. The second day I began to get saddened. And then, I saw him on the street and he did not speak to me.” Remember, most people are just animals, wanting what they can get, right now, without thinking of anything.

One of my grandmother's sisters went to visit her only daughter in New York, who was enrolled in a college there. My grandmother, like my mother and most women of their day, wore beautiful hats. My own mother was known for her “wide-brimmed” hats. There were hat shops which specialized in women's hats.

My father never tired of telling this story: My grandmother had her sister bring her back a beautiful hat from New York. My grandmother, after returning home from church, put her purse and her new hat on the bed. It just so happens that in the flowers on the hat was a beautiful bird. The family cat, Lucy Mae, thought the bird looked very delicious, and the cat leaped on the bed and made rapid destruction of this new “big apple” hat.

What has happened? The world has changed, but human beings need not return to the stone age, to the uncivilized conditions of the cave people.