Need For Good Answers

#1776

"From bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great  courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance  to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy,  from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage." - Alexander Tyler

            Churches and governments have fallen into the anti-Christ trap. The horror pit into which the world has fallen, technocracy and the control which god has allowed Satan to hold on to worlds activities. When a telephone in your hand becomes a personality, when person hood of groups becomes supernatural reality (Alcoholics Anonymous, vegans , workmen-ship and security of robots.) The human genome must, if any intelligence left at all, fall upon the alter of humility and seek good answers on every direction of the sun dial. Obfuscation, a confused, bewildered, stupefied world population. Most just going through the motions of living. There is more to life than just surviving... eating, drinking, sleeping, exercising... the essentials to maintain homeostasis-physiology-cytology. Even the Christian, "joint heir" ("And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together" Romans 8:17,) with the creator of the universe have no idea of what it means to have the wealth-resources-comfort of a daily "breathing activity" with the one who threw the stars into space, measures the Himalayas with his fingers, so cares for us, that the very hairs on our head are numbered (Luke 12:7). What a constellation, such an answer for your depression, sleepless-ness, troubled mind.

            IF, as truly chosen, drawn of God, you would study the answer book. In Numbers 29, we find how the old testament, chosen of God, gave ceremonial sacrifices to God. We do not find that they questioned anything, why the unblemished animals of their flocks: why definite measures a flower: why definite goats or rams: why such waste such animals going up in smoke (a sweet savor to God) when probably in a wilderness of destitution, some human beings were hungry. In today's world, the new testament world, we would "compromise" that this sweet savor smoke gets into Gods eyes and he might miss a count. Surely, in today's world, the priest organizing the sacrifice, burnt offerings, might see a particularly tasty looking piece of liver. Would God really miss that?

            Thousands of years later, still, believing Jews, still celebrate "feasts of trumpets." Even in fancy, tall, New York buildings where orthodox Jews live... you still have limbs and tree branches built on to their decks where they sleep under the stars... remembering their ancient family who memorialized their redemption from slavery in Egypt and their humbling in the wilderness AND so many of you do not understand this writers despondency over new testament church members who do not have the time or salvation to observe our Lord's table. If your redemption-Christian experience is worth anything, it is worth everything and this is the most important question of your life. Old testament, believers, were serious about their ties and their offerings. God did not get "tips." God was not just a "bell hop." Prayer was not just a ritual.

            You do not get the answers to your problems or the worlds problems from talking boxes. Most people, with whom I come in contact, are materialistic in every way. Their world evolves money and what money can do. For those who are poor, usually their spending is more than their income... besieged on every hand, on every point on that sun dial, by the Madison avenue concept of keeping you dissatisfied with your world, your living conditions, your clothing, your transportation, your lifestyle. Movies, television, keep us all wanting lives of the "rich and famous." Hell will be filled with the rich and famous. This writer still remembers those saints of old, always in Gods house to worship (not to see and be seen.) Only one Sunday dress apparel-Sunday shoes. Most citizens of 80 years ago, when I was a child, never had but one Sunday outfit. Food was so scarce, exercise so essential, that you kept the same waistline your entire life. You kept your clothes nice and you were usually buried in them. Spring time, your winter clothing, like the bedding, went on the clothes line outside, so Gods good sunlight could detoxify rich resourcefulness of detoxification. Clothing lasted because, like

everything else in your life, you were taught to take care of things. We did not live in a Kleenex-disposable society. I still remember the day when my father and I were moving lumber and a big fat poisonous snake was curled up under a plank. My father killed the snake with a shovel, even though a rifle was close by. "We do not waste bullets." I remembered this many times when as a field grade army officer, I saw so much ammunition wasted, which your tax dollars had paid for. The time for role playing has ended. The time for assuming character on stage is over... church house, school house, court house, even your house. Destination is determined by character. True character, not just role playing on stage, is essential when looking for answers. The scientists looking into the microscope-telescope, forgets the letters after his name-his own ambitions. If a true scientist, he seeks answers.

Choices

#1772

“If the soul is left in darkness, sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but the one who causes the darkness." - Victor Hugo

 

            William Butler Yeats said, "The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time." It is hard to imagine that we can not imagine. It is hard not to believe in the laws of nature, the rules of mathematics, what happiness and misery can do to a human being.

 

            When I had sight, I often thought the most marvelous thing in the world was to be born as a good looking man, or a beautiful woman and yet, we all know, that know one escapes the age scars from ones own history. The greatest cause of the death of human being, around the world, abortion, the killing of the most innocent. Only human beings abort their young, lesser animals do not AND those of us chosen for life know how quickly innocence fades. Ever since our first parents Adam and Eve, chose the spirit of death instead of the spirit of life, the sin nature has been born in all of us. It is not necessary to teach a child to sin.

 

            The older I get, the less I understand why people make the choices they do involving the only life they have to live. In visiting by phone with church friends around the nation, I hear the same lament, empty churches. Churches are empty because we have reduced Jesus in order to accommodate the world. Most church members have a self-imposed purgatory, wanting to hold onto Jesus with one hand and the world with the other. "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked." (Psalms 97:10)

 

            This writer was never a member of a social fraternity, not even a fraternal organization such as masons, moose, woodmen, etc. Once, one of my friends, an elk, invited me to go into his elks club with him. I will never forgot the sign hanging in that fraternal-secretive-social group's building. "What you see or hear here, stays here." Then, I knew why the members of the fraternal groups have their closeness to one another, their protection of one another, their knowing the sins of one another, secreted in a building away from the prying eyes of those who might not agree with their alcohol-gambling-pornography. I now know why, so many of us were never asked to pledge college social fraternities. I now know why, young Christian men, fresh from Christian homes, were stupefied when invited to a fraternity house where alcohol, drugs, pornographic films were shown so that shock or failing to "fit in" could be observed. After all, sinners have never felt comfortable in their sinful actions around those who have principles and character. The sinner does not fit in, feel comfortable, in places with the purpose of decadence. Christianity is not difficult, just tough... choice making. God chose you before the foundation of the world and he expects you to make certain choices.

 

            Many of us were raised in churches of negativity. "We do not smoke, drink or chew. Do not chase girls who do." We were raised in churches of "checklist" redemption, may have read Charles Shelton's, "In His Steps," but in clothing, in language, in interests, we were not very different from those who never darkened a church house door. This writer was in church houses, not that much different from fraternal houses... "what you see or hear here, stays here." In many of the great cities of the world, indeed in my own city, cold-icy mornings, homeless people hovered at locked church house doors.

 

            The world has a great problem in separating morality from Christianity. Someone asked Burton Russell what excuse he would give when God asked him why he lived his life as an atheist, an "unbeliever." The famed philosopher said, "you did not give me enough evidence." The universe is filled with evidence, everything of beauty, everything of goodness, everything of truthfulness, straight from the heart and mind of God.

 

            It is the universal law that an object in motion will stay in motion until stopped by an external force. There is a big elephant sitting in the room while everyone talks about a small mouse. The great choice of Christianity, birthed twice, death once ( clinical death.) The greatest comfort of Christianity, we will have a longer time to spend with children and believers who died early, than unbelievers who lived long lives. God give us the grace, your mercy to spare to introduce choices to a lost and dying world intent on observing very insignificant things.

SWEAT and Labor Day

#1771

"Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun." Ecclesiastes (2:11)

        "Man plans, God laughs." There is not a maverick molecule in the universe. "God is boss." He is in charge of everything, every element, every virus, every act of nature, the fall of every bird, the drawer of every soul, "rebirthed" in Him.

        The most difficult thoughts of my long life, the "why's" of human existence... the un-evened field of life's battles. Every time I have considered my own sightless-ness, thought of the pain and the grief so many tender-innocent hearts have had to bare. (People not being able to understand what has happened to them.) The grief of death, afflictions of small children, the fact that the greatest cause of death on Earth is abortion. I can well understand why the agnostic trembles in an effort to understand.

        I have written many times about my boyhood life, the poverty of the farm. 80 years ago when I was a child, there were few conveniences to life. The 50 percent of the population who now spend their life in indolence... mostly living off the work of others... own "lazy boys" watching trash from a talking box, having nothing to do with the very creator of the universe on whom they must depend for their next breath. Despising the very government that gives them their "ease" of life... worshiping this idols of addiction, popularity, political correctness, self gratification, having no desire to know what our ancestors have gone through just to give us this nation. They have no desire to know about less fortunate areas of the world, where human beings spend their entire life just striving for food and water. This writer, world traveler (passport stamped in 157 countries,) eight round the world trips, traveler to every continent, has seen deprived villages, destitute children who have never known the joys of a sweet piece of candy.

        On our farm, where my father-grandfather before me had worked, There was one very large field, many acres. I still remember the feeling of desperation-depression-despondency , when, with a two mule plow, I would start the process of turning over the soil for a new planting year. Behind this two mule plow, you would turn the soil about ten inches at the time.... round and round that huge field. After the land was turned over, then it was "leveled-graded" by large mule drawn equipment so that rows for planting could be established. It was endless hard work, crops in season, year after year, to eek out our meager existence. This was before the time of mechanized equipment. My grand parents had a large tractor, large metal heels with spikes, but tractors were not used for cultivation. I will never forget the sweat of my father, my brothers, the tenant farmers, as we endured. BUT, we are not stuck where we started. Hard work, frugal living, industrious study at a small school house (thirteen in my graduating class.) Me, my brothers, my cousins, all left this existence. Through the hard work of our ancestors, we left the sweat of the farm for responsible professions, God given blessings and yet, perhaps our greatest blessing... removing the toxins of life from our bodies through sweating: and yet, learning the HONOR of hard work: and yet, committed-convinced-controlled by the creator of the universe who knew what he wanted for us before the world was formed.

        In thinking of this great field, and the many other lesser fields, where the same work was involved, such is life. It seems impossible looking toward the future, but one day at a time, we just "plow on" and so quickly, the seasons are over, the harvest is in and we are ready for new beginnings.

        Many of the days, that great sun rose on this boy plowing mules. Now, 85 years later, hard work, frugal living, conservative life, I can watch the sun rise over the ocean from my beach house. Our fellow man, generally speaking, resents-hates those who achieve. I can not understand people who do not enjoy their job. The highways are full of men and women rushing home from a day of work... accomplished, satisfied in well doing. I truly believe that happiness is going to bed at night, tired from a days work, but anxious to get up and do it all over again tomorrow. God help our people and our nation that has sunk into the bottomless pit of laziness-indolence. 

Nakedness

#1767

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (Isaiah 5:20)

                                           

            The older I get the less I understand WHY, with only one life to live the way sane people will let their body go, knowing full well that what they put in their throat, their nutrition, determines their health... even their ability to fight disease. Incrementally, in my lifetime everything just gets worst. When I was a student, 70 years ago, cancer and diabetes were rare diseases. Today one half of the population have cancer and almost the same percentage have diabetes.

            This world traveler can tell you, without fear of contradiction, that there is only one nation in the world with so many obese-overweight people. Americans have a love affair with food, one in ten Americans say they spend 300$ a week on food.

            In one of my office buildings, one group of psychologists, fourteen rooms, a group specializing in eating disorders. When I was in practice, a patient talking to me about going on a diet, I would say, "There is only one effective diet. You must start eating each meal each day, for one week, with four other fat people. All of you eating your meal naked." There is nothing as ugly as a naked-flabby-fat individual. This is the reason clothing is so important, but I want to speak about nakedness.

            The earliest report of nakedness is found in scripture, when Moses and the three million children of Israel arrived at Mt. Sinai. Moses went up the mountain to converse with God, to receive the commandments. When he came down the mountain, those he had rescued from Egyptian bondage, were dancing around a gold calf naked.

            Nakedness has always been associated with sin, in every dark "strip joint," you will find nudity, even some beaches on haven islands. When this writer arrived on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean, I put on my swimming trunks and went down to the hotel swimming pool. Everyone around the pool, except me, was naked. It is when you see nude ugly people, you'll appreciate clothing.

            I was sitting on the front porch of my beach house, on the ocean, with friends... one lady said to me, "Tom, I'm glad you cant see. There is a young girl in a bikini coming down the street and she seems to be eight months pregnant." Just the thought of such a sight, the thought of the disrespect to others at the beach, young children, her baby, I went into my house and vomited into my kitchen sink.

            And yet, our not thinking-concerned-committed church goers, even Christians, even in America... not showing the nakedness of themselves in their unconcern for what is happening to our nation... to the world.

            Think of the unequivocal evil, the burning alive of a Jordanian pilot in a cage, in Syria. Closer to home, think of the evil involved in planned parent hood, "chopped up" innocent babies... selling tissue and body parts.

            My seminary professors son told me that recently he was asked to speak at a large Texas church, located in a county seat. He said the church, which would seat hundreds, only had a small plump of about 20 people there just on one side of the building. Their church had died and these remaining old members did not seem to realize it, unconcerned that there was no young people in the church. Unconcerned about the great commission. In Shakespeare's "Hamlet"... "to thine own self be true." (Act 1) Generally speaking, everyday of my life, we lose ground. Only about ten percent of the population are interested in changing things: most of us hiding behind a shell of deceit, not even realizing the controls media, government, political correction, envy for popularity and acceptance, has on our life.

            We know about corruption, we just want to blame the wrong corrupter. "Ye that love the LORD, hate evil." (Psalm 97:10)

        

Squirrel Cage

#1766

Like dogs in a wheel, birds in a cage, or squirrels in a chain, ambitious men still climb and climb, with great labor, and incessant anxiety, but never reach the top.

            The most important fact in this life, a sin in which I have been caught many times... knowing the gospel, knowing the forgiveness of God, I still get enslaved by the troubles and trials, problems encountered on each new day. Were slaves to sin, often try to keep Gods laws even though we have been given liberty from law. Abandoned freedom, returning to the law, abandon our freedom, lust of the flesh. We want relationships of law, rather than relationships of love.

            Christians of maturity, Christians of age, become dismayed  from the electronic media and even from the pul pit, by those who have exchanged their liberty through Christ, their freedom through redemption with entanglement by those who mix and confuse law and grace.

            I so remember my confusion-consignation as a young person studying the gospel. There were poorly educated preachers at the country church who had never been able to separate law and grace. There were older women in the church who would not build a fire in their cook stove on Sunday, very few would cook on the Lord's day. It was much as I experienced on my travels through Israel, the holy land, which according to Jewish law, observed at hotels, you ate cold food on the Sabbath... no maid service, orthodox Jews in their costumes walking everywhere.

            And then I was in Muslim countries (there are 42 Muslim countries in Africa) on a bus, the driver would get out of the bus and kneel in prayer on his prayer rug. Called to prayer from the mosque, men rushing to their place of worship... hand washing spigot outside the mosques.

            As this writers approaches the problems, aggravations, pains, trials, which are certain on every day of my life, I just pray that God will have an excess of mercy to see me through "it all." 

            "Through it all, through it all,
            I've learned to trust in Jesus,
            I've learned to trust in God;
            Through it all, through it all,
            I've learned to depend upon His Word."

            I have stated it from the pul pit, before many groups of veterans and I might as well state it here... "Sightless, wrought by pain, the victim of every aggravations and crime that employees can exact against me, knowing full well that most healthcare individuals and agencies are just going through the motions. IF NOT FOR MY FAITH WHO WOULD CONTINUE IN THIS LIFE? Do you actually blame any unbeliever for ending it all and knowing that God knows all, would he really hold suicide against the salvation of a believer?"

            And yet the two thieves on the cross of Calvary, who died with him, one on either side, never having experienced anything as far as grace... evidently, both were believers. One wanted belief on his own terms, like most modernists in the religiosity of today's world. "If thou be Christ, save thyself and us." (Luke 23:39) The other thief, humble, promised heaven that day, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." (Luke 23:42)

            As today's churches wither, most members depending on Christ to save his church and them, little humility by most of us to simply depend on grace. We get into the squirrel cage and just keep running, attempting to solve everything ourselves. It is too great an undertaking, it is truly remarkable that Jesus lived during the slavery and tyranny of Roman rule, perhaps the worst tyranny known to man. IF the saints who have gone on before us, IF my ancestors could survive through the horror story of their existence in the early years of this nation... SURELY I can bare up in this rat race, squirrel chase, anti-Christian, politically correct, broken culture in which God has chosen me to live.

            Our senses are besieged by sin that surrounds us. Our senses are bombarded by our fellow human beings. Lies are always used in direct proportion to their use. Almost, without exception, you evaluate the person-hood of EVERYONE with whom you come in contact. "How honest is this person, how far can I trust this person, what is this person attempting to get out of me?" This is not just the quandary of skepticism. Someone has said that a man is truly fortunate if he has enough friends to number on one hand. If he has two friends to whom he can go and borrow money without them asking any questions. As you age, you find that you have fewer and fewer friends... either outlived them or become so disappointed with them. Most do not want to indulge you, show any interest to your squirrel cage. Even our family members, our "so called" friends, neighbors, even those we pay to work for us, want nothing but a smooth road. Most of our friends are not concerned with the horror story of Planned Parenthood, GMO's in food, a nation mired in debt which it can never repay.

            Up until recent years, there was decency in all of us. We had rather work than take a hand out. My parents, ancestors, never thought about vacations/retirements. My grandfather was the last farmer to sign up for federal crop controls. My parents resented their parity check. "The doctrine of parity was used to justify agricultural price controls in the United States beginning in the 1920s-1930s." This writer was honored to work his way through eight years of university education. Now, every college student, regardless of the home from which they come, think that they must have a grant or surely a government subsidized loan AND from the bottomless ocean of knowledge and technology, has come several generations of Americans and even many in foreign countries who are tap dancing-running as hard as possible to keep up. Most are glancing at flowers they did not plant, certainly no time to smell a rose.

            I wish I had the ability to "re-gift" to my young grandsons and friends, the overwhelming desire of my youth for knowledge and success. We know that no man can come to Christ unless god "draws him." You could walk the isle of every Church, sign cards, but only the holy spirit of Christ re-birthing you will change you.

            In India, I saw water buffalo walking round and round, pumping water. The buffalo did not go anywhere except in a large circle. Only accomplished what the pole connected to him and mechanized pump desired. Water flowed because of the buffalo's work. In our lives, with all our activity, work, grief, we just may accomplish something, but life is for living. Jesus came to give us liberty, to set the captives free. This writer is in a cocoon of blackness, sightlessness, and I get exasperated with myself for letting the world, flesh, devil, re-enslave me. One who has spiritual freedom-liberty in Christ. 

Scuttlebutt

#1761

"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people." - Henry Thomas Buckle

            Apparently, no one can be shocked anymore by anything. Our senses are bombarded everyday by things that the science fiction writer of my youth, could never have dreamed. From the talking head newscaster, politician, pastor, everyone talks "slivers" of solution... just chasing one thing until another comes up.

            This writer is always listening, everyone's talking... no secrets anymore. I am told that every living/breathing person, from the school child to the grandmother, either has a telephone in front of their face or they are looking down talking on their phone with their fingers (texting.) I have personally let several female employees go because they had their eyes and mind focused on a telephone rather than the dictation I was giving them for the computer. I went through eight years of university training, the most difficult courses of study in the world, working jobs at night so I could go to classes during the day. Never once during those eight years did I ever have a telephone call from home. I don't believe many students did at that time in our countries history. We knew the real joy of the mail man, "letters from home." During all my years of military service, there were very few telephone calls. The phone was for emergency-business, not visiting. One of my friends told me that his daughter, age 8, wanted a cell phone. I said, "You tell her that I was reared in a time where there was only one telephone for many miles." My cousin had a telephone at his country store. Everyone for miles used that telephone to call the doctor, the funeral home or to get an emergency message from somewhere.

            Scuttlebutt, where the happy hour at the pool haul, the golf links at the country club, women's mission circle at your church, was, is and will always be just scuttlebutt... talking-visiting. Human beings are the same, the world over, very social animals. This writer has traveled every continent, whether the desolate areas of India, crowded streets in Egypt, people talking-gesturing and body language. I was never one to waste my valuable time in idle conversation. I was always, perhaps, too brutally sharp on the phone. Professional people do not have time for the leisure of idle conversation. I can tell very quickly, the future of any professional man by his attitude on the telephone... friendly, fair, fast. I am told that every billionaire gets there because he is fast with a decision.

            There is two things that bother me the most about people engaged in idle conversation. If a person is sick enough to be in a hospital, the patient does not need visitors. People coming in, spreading their germs, talking and bothering a tired patient with unnecessary narrative.

            The other, a place of worship. The church house, the inter court is not a place for conversation. The worst, the Baptist. Their visiting-conversations should take place in the outer-court, the churchyard. I still like the denominations that have kneeling benches. You come into the sanctuary and get immediately and completely in the mode of worship. I often listen to the local Baptist church on the morning radio. Often, there is a interlude between the radio and the church house. The noise from the sanctuary is anything but worship. Talking, laughing, one is a place of worship... to honor god.  All attention to Christ, the cross. So many churches no longer have a cross and the Christian service is no different than that of a civic club, the same noise of a sports arena.

            I was on the staff of the Army hospital, fort McClellan, Alabama. A long desire of my life has been to worship at the Baptist tabernacle, peach tree St. Atlanta, Georgia. I drove the long distance one weekend to attend the service. The great tabernacle was everything I expected, the great choir singing without any hymn books. The great organ, grand piano, great preacher, the thing that ruined in all... before and after, the noise of the people come to worship. I do not know how or why this silly matter of running around shaking everyone's hands during the worship service. We are in the church to honor Christ, not to compliment one another.

           

            The history of the world started with conversation. From nothingness to something-ness, God spoke and the world was formed. God spoke and man was formed and the other animals, all life with its ability to participate.

            In other articles, I have described much of my world travel, many around the world trips... every continent... both the north and south pole. I want to bring two places to your attention, The Great Barrier Reef, near Australia. a 1300 mile coral reef made up of bodies of articulating animals. We are told that all around this great miracle of nature, marine animal life, can be heard to the educated ear. Like the great humpback whales, all marine life has a language and of course this is true with bird life near the great reef, rain island (known for its birds, their noises.) I was in the Indian ocean, bird island, another sanctuary. The place was alive with their communication skills. Life would be tragic indeed if not for the SHARING of tone sounds (music) whether in the great opera halls or in cheap radio. It is the universal language of mankind. The letters may be different on the type writer, in different countries, but the notes are always the same anywhere on a musical instrument.

            Talk radio has revolutionized the world of communication during the past 20 years. It is now an established fact that more people enjoy the different sounds-cadences of the human voice of people talking, than ever enjoyed music. The success of a talk show, radio-TV-platform, is completely dependent on a variety of speakers. Words mean something, words have a way of changing the mind, changing the world. 

Problems & Solutions

#1760

"Open my eyes, that I may see. Glimpses of truth, thou hast for me."

Scatty, cold breath of mentality on the neck. We often project solutions before we understand the problem. Boundaries of all problems have solutions built on eternal values, values already established in Gods answer book, God's word, the holy Bible. One-third of early Americans landing on American soil died from Malaria. They did not know how to handle this disease caused by a small mosquito, Plasmodium Vivax. It is of historical note that most European missionaries seeking to bring Africa to the cross, died from malaria. Many died before they got off the ship, in which they were traveling from Europe to Africa... such a dreadful all consuming disease. Yet, twenty-first century, with a bottomless ocean of technology and chemicals (treatment and cures,) thousands of Africans still die every year from Malaria... when mosquito netting is so cheap, when pesticides are so available. After all, we are not living in a century when 50,000 in London died of the bubonic plague, simply because they didn't know how to handle the fleas on rats. After all, we are not living in a century such as the American Civil War, when 50% of all wounded soldiers died, simply because the doctors did not have sense enough to wash their hands. The greatest cause of disease distribution in the world, civilized or not, are the valuable instruments we find at the ends of our arms... hands with fingers. Hands which hold the dirtiest, germ infested,  much loved, fiat paper money, are holding next, food, which you are putting in your mouth and shaking hands with someone whose hands have been god knows where. We as mortal-mental human beings given by god the brain wiring to think and make decisions, do not have sense enough to control our hands, to wash and keep them clean, as germ free as possible. Microscopic hitch-hikers get into the bloodstream so easily. We have two thousand miles of blood vessels, nourishing every tissue, including the largest organ of the body... the skin. Those of us who study the human body, if we have enough intelligence to do so, marvel that any of us survive. Our institutions of biological sciences have become ivy towered cathedrals of gastrulating manipulation, a wonderland of investigation. Just enough human integrity to pick the pockets of endowment funds, foundations, government grants. Most medical scientists can not get their heads out of the clouds, of complex knowledge, to bring themselves and their patients to a level of common knowledge. When was the last time your doctor asked you about what you eat? The two things that determine health are nutrition and exercise. When was the last time your doctor actually touched you? Most of today's young health professionals can only use their fingers on a computer keyboard... without laboratory studies of your body, they know nothing. This writer has learned, personally, that going to a physicians assistant (PA) you get a better examination and concerned treatment, than you do from "the robber" in the white coat. Most old cemeteries are filled with graves of those who inherited European diseases. The true epidemics of yellow fever, influenza (the early 20th century,) erased entire families and communities from the earth. I'm old enough to remember my grandmothers description of the flu epidemic of 1918. When a family member would start coughing, others in the community still able to work, would start building a coffin. From the old sawmills, used to saw the lumber, for the building of homes and barns (put together with wood pegs.) Wide boards would be "seasoned" to use as coffins. This is what our ancestors endured to build this great nation, which atheists-liberal idea logs are so easily destroying. My progressive friends promote the idea of destroying America because of bad treatment to native Americans. They build hospitals for turtles, rehabilitation for birds, but do not even whimper at the destruction of millions of human babies. Then, to further verify their deity antagonism, they talk of the slaughter of the old testament. The seven civilizations in the "promised land," when the Jews crossed over the Jordan River on dry land, were pagan, sacrificing their own babies in fire to their pagan gods. Have things really changed? Would an aborted baby rather have life sucked from him, or quick immolation. Life and love are essential to healing. God is a great physician, "for I am the Lord who healeth thee..." (Exodus 15:26)

            The Christian should be so ready at the Lords table, to take bread for healing, wine for forgiving. Jews do not read Isaiah 53, it is a precious message for the Christian, written 700 years before the birth of Christ. If god does not choose to heal, "and by his stripes we were healed," (1 Peter 2:24) healed now or later, "Jesus paid it all." In my youth, everything was prosthetic, now I'm living in it. Many times I viewed the "awful" instruments used in surgery and obstetrics, on display in the medical library in chapel hill. It was hard for me to conceive the mental trauma involved, both from the doctor and patient. Yet, with all the advances in knowledge, seeking solutions, have we lost sight of the problem. There are still as many warriors killed from disease as are killed in battle, more soldiers die from suicide then die in battle. More young people die in car crashes and from "exciting" designer drugs, than live to make a better world for everyone. Knowing the value of life, knowing today's opportunities, why do young people seek destruction? If only this writer, from poverty-very poor preparation for anything, could have had a college grant, computer, good diet, maybe I could have made something of myself. No, it is not what we can do with self, as the great prince of preachers Spurgeon said, "anything that makes a man get down on his knees to god, is gain to him." There are those who live in virtual worlds, but we live in a very real world. Jesus, God-man, put on a tent of human flesh and dwelled among us... send us. "If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" (John 3:12-17)

            In the countless years of my life, as I look at the political and spiritual condition of the world, man has been more interested in the politicians platform than the pastoral pool pit. More interested in what God can do for him, than what he can do for God. We, mortal men, want God in our image instead of our being in the image of God. Now, does the solution to the problem become more evident. We have tried to put the plow before the horse, solution before realizing the problem... same problem, same solution for thousands of years. 

A Saturday Experience

#1743

06/06/15

This was sent to the Pastor of Wesley Memorial Methodist Church, and to the Methodist Bishop, who is interested in all Methodist churches.

Perhaps this experience is indicative, of what has happened in the Christian church, what has happened with scouting, what has happened with just mere values.

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

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

Actions and Attitude

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

-  Machiavelli's, The Prince

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Luke 9:23 KJV : And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
#1716

Fool's Gold

Jeremiah 32: 17-18

17 Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:

18 Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the Lord of hosts, is his name.

The Earth does not wobble at the death of one man. The earth does not go off its axis at the death of one million men. Although men, their personalities are the best God has to offer. Like Fool's Gold, fakery, God must be greatly embarrassed by many of us (The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula FeS2. This mineral's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue give it a superficial resemblance to gold, hence the well-known nickname of fool's gold. A real pretender but has no real value.)

For many years, this writer owned a very fine condo apartment on Manhattan's East Side. I was never a New Yorker, never felt like a New Yorker, always lived and maintained my homes in the south, but since I could afford this extravagance, and since it was an excellent launching pad for my world travels, at an energetic-enigmatic time in my life when I was truly concerned with personal-egotistical advancement, this pied-a-terre served me well. I lived on Beakman Place by the United Nations... on the corner, just across the street from the South Korean embassy, just across the street from famed composer Irving Berlin. I enjoyed "hobknobbing" with the elitists in this area of the city, although I was not one of them (I, too, can act-pretend, I felt I was stranded on an island of sanity in a sea of heathenism, these diplomats had a right to their lifestyles. I was flirting with Fool's Gold).

Among my several philanthropic causes, the New York-based Volunteer Services for Children (an organization that provides shelters for homeless children). I was attending a meeting of the national group at the Hilton hotel on Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Ave.), though completely blind, I had no difficulty getting to the building, up the escalator, into the correct assemblage. But, during the meeting, going to the Men's room, I became disoriented and wound up in another meeting. Of course, I dress well, can fit into any group. The meeting into which I ventured was a group of communist union workers. They were having coffee and donuts and one man invited me to join them, actually brought me a cup of coffee and a donut. Several talked with me and since I had on my veteran's DAV cap, with my rank, insignia and medical caduceus, attracted much attention. I guess they thought I was one of them. Later, men on either side, invited me to join another scheduled meeting in another part of town. One said, "Gus will be there." Of course, he was talking about Gus Hall, chairman of the American Communist Party. Always seeking a new adventure, I got right in the taxi cab with them. The meeting was held on the West Side of Manhattan in a large warehouse-type building. Unaware why they had invited me, probably thinking I was a very disgruntled American. During the meeting, they discussed burning down my country, that with the winds just right in the city it was a matter of cigarette lighters lighting curtains or bedspreads from an open window. They pointed out that snipers would shoot out the tires of all firetrucks. "That in a matter of minutes, most cities would have fires, particularly in old, historic wooden buildings, that would burn an entire city to the ground." This is what the communist had in store for us... even fifty years ago. Can we even imagine what enemies have in store for my country with today's radical groups, armed biologicals, nuclear suitcase bombs? It should be evident to anyone with an IQ above their shoe size that the enemy is invading... across the borders, through every airport terminal. IF, with missiles on top of the White House, sharpshooters and guards around the White House, one man can climb the fence, run across those large plush grounds, get inside our nations home of the president through an unlocked front door, traverse most of the mansion, perhaps the NSA, IRS, CIA, FBI insteal of lowly Americans should spend more time on that type of security. In a time of drugged bureaucrats and political low-lifes (very low men and women in very high places), can there be hope for the survival of hard-working, tax-paying, God-fearing citizens. In recent warfare, since WW1, 90% of all casualties were civilians. The bureaucrats have underground tunnels, most of our men in uniform have weapons but for the rest of us, good luck.

God does not blame anyone for jumping out of a burning building but we all have a hunger for life. We need to get this matter of guilt and shame corrected in our thinking. Babies murdered in the abortion process, kicking and squirming before birth, are anxious for life. Perhaps the female, married or unmarried, who is the only one blessed by God to give birth is ashamed to be an unwed mother, but most victims of abortion would tell you that this is nothing compared to the guilt involved in taking that life. Do we actually think that a holy God of justice will allow a nation so blessed, as has been America, to kill 53 million babies just since the infamous supreme court decision of 1973. To allow a greedy military industrial complex to manufacture weapons that have destroyed so many lives in so many countries, that has provided the God-given chemicals and knowledge to conjure the illegal designer drugs which have left so many lives in shambles. Technology which has brought the worst man can offer into every home (pornography, desensitization to violence) and then think that we will escape, even the Christian's have a responsibility for not allowing the Christian message to be polluted by the Madison Ave. culture and designs of the world.

Technology has made life much better for all of us, but human nature has not changed. We are so busy chasing after fool's gold, the fakery of this world. Perhaps the two matters that bother me most, in regards to dealing with my fellow man. I cannot stand the public spanking of a small child. Give any child, particularly your child, the personal privacy even from a very early age of private discipline. The other traumatic matter at the other end of life, most of the time, the public display of a dead body (remember I did not say a person, I said a body). If a Christian, the person in a far better place, would not return. For the unsaved, death is truly death, emotional scar tissue. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. This is real gold.