Intersecting Roadways

The Eiffel Tower, one of the wonders of the world, built in Paris in 1889, or the great ferris wheel of Earl's Court in London, built in 1895, or the Empire State Building in New York City, built in 1931; with these and other such landmarks of height built all over the world, at the top people with eyes can see for miles around. Now, I have been to all three, the Eiffel Tower, the Great Ferris Wheel, and the Empire State Building, but I have never been to the top because I do not like heights. I have traveled the globe many times by plane, at much greater height, but I had no other choice if I were to go on these long trips than to fly.

I had a choice about going to the top of these tall structures and I chose not to go because I have a morbid fear of heights (acrophobia). I remember so well helping my father put the roof on a barn, up a long ladder. I was scared to death, but I did not let him know because I did not want him to think he had raised a sissy.

Viewing intersecting streets, roads, crossroads, both in an urban and rural setting, you realize that most activity occurs at the crossroads. Across America, across any country of the world, always without fail, at the crossroads you find all human activity...stores, schoolhouses, church houses, garages (and before that, a blacksmith's), meeting halls for fraternal and other groups. It is easy to pinpoint a location in a city where each street has a name, but in the countryside each crossroads had a name, usually for some family who owned most of the land around the area.

More vitality was given to the crossroads if a train track came through (or later, an airport). If enough businesses and residencies grew up around the intersection, eventually it became a town. Early American towns and cities were built on waterways, rivers and bays. Before trains and trucks it was ships who provided commerce and methods of travel. The loading wharf was the center of civic activity. It is only when you study political geography that you realize pragmatic economics, how industry and agro-business grew and built this great system of free enterprise called America.

50% of all people living in the hinterlands, farm areas, have moved into the cities. Even in foreign countries such as India, cities such as Bombay and Calcutta are choked with an onslaught of people moving from the countryside. In my many travels through India, I never ceased to be amazed at the shantytowns, the poverty of the great cities. But they all made it eventually, moving up the chain in prosperity as others climbed up the ladder behind them. In India you still have rickshaws. One rickshaws runner, an old man, told me that he made a good living taking people like me from place to place. He said, “somedays I don't make much, somedays nothing, but then someone like you comes along and pays me along with a tip.” This is commerce, people willing to work. It still goes on in India and China as it once did in America.

We have forgotten the distinction between private character and public character. Character is what you do when no one is looking. To date, neither government, your neighbors, or your friends watch what you do in your own home. We have rapidly lost the work ethic because we have so many who just want to sit at home and do nothing...live off of the taxes of others because they do not know the joy of accomplishment, the passion and honor of labor.

Same with so many activities at the crossroads...the store, where young clerks cannot make the simplest change without a calculator. Same at the schoolhouse, always built at the center of traffic, and “child-raising activity”. You are forced to send your children to schools, forced to pay the taxes to support the schools, what redress do you have if your children do not learn anything at the school?

Same at the church house, having lost the essence of worship, the tares having taken over the church. The human propensity is towards sin not away from sin. (Philippians 2:15) You are unable to tell (their dress, their language, their commitment) the difference in those at the church house, from those at the clubhouse (private social clubs, country clubs, fraternal organizations).

Mid-twentieth century, every crossroads community, every town of any size, set aside athletic/sports fields. At first, families and onlookers would just stand around outside of the field itself. Then, some enterprising community member built stands where they could sit, then came stadiums, arenas. Larger public areas became lavish golf courses, soccer fields, etc.

The nexus for athletes, businessmen, politicians, pastors: preparation and encouragement at home and at school. Each crossroads community, as it grew into a village, town or city, could justifiably take pride in it's development, its streets, sidewalks, traffic lights, public places (parks, assembly halls, libraries although until this minute, the largest minority of the population, the disabled, are not able to participate in these areas even though they pay their taxes to support such), likewise any municipality could take pride in sons and daughters raised there, becoming outstanding in some area of endeavor.

Each municipality, each division of landmass, assuredly wanted its best to represent them anywhere and everywhere, most certainly in government. How did we reach the place in which we find ourselves: corruption in government, the greed of business, hypocrisy in religion, failure in education. Somewhere, somehow, everyone started taking shortcuts. I found in my own town, with prolific traffic, if you do not know the shortcuts you do not get many places very fast!

Dietrich Bonhoffer, Lutheran preacher, hanged naked by the Nazis toward the end of WWII, said, “it is a righteous man that lives for the next generation.” In all our doing, we forgot to drain the swamp to give our communities necessary cleansing.

One of my neighbors, a 95 year-old man, sent for me. the newspaper at his death determined him to be a founder of the community, persistently wanting “the best for everyone”. I remember so well him saying to me, “it is too late for me, but I wish I had given myself, my time, my wealth in sustaining your ideals, your conservatism in faith and actions, these are the only things which will restore the country to the greatness which it once had.”

Crossroads

Alexander Pushkin, most famous of Russian writers, wrote just before the Revolution, “graze on ye sleeping cattle and sheep.” I have used this phrase a thousand times in speaking before groups in this country who refuse to realize what is happening to this Democratic republic. Pushkin's cousin was Leo Tolstoy, who wrote War and Peace. Tolstoy's life was much more exciting that Pushkin's. He was the father of 13 children and established schools at crossroads around his native land, in the Tula region of Russia.

He was persuaded because the communists under the Tutelage of the American Columbia University Teacher's College, John Dewey, who had set up the communist system of education, which closely resembles that of the education system in this country today, gave little variance to academics rather indoctrination with social politics. Shame on Russia! More shame on the United States of America! Those of you who have seen the products of our modern education system promoted by the God-less NEA, students graduating from high school who can barely read and write, with little knowledge of science, geography and the other subject matter that determines knowledge, sit idly by and see your education totally corrupted by totalitarian insolence.

The most beautiful and rewarding architecture of landscape in this nation, state by state, has been a road system which always leads to crossroads. And in the beauty of Americana, we find country stores, the post office and almost always within a certain district, a country school house. It was at these country school houses, which started out as two and three room structures, but which with increasing populations and the beauty of increasing children and families (this was before the time that killing of babies was the process of democrat party prestige) the school houses grew in size with playgrounds, ball fields, teacherage (a home where teachers lived) and even a cottage for the principal. Many crossroads were the building sites for churches. In “America the beautiful”, the crossroads were the center of activity for many miles: the center of education, worship, and a place to buy needs at a store and get delivery of mail. These crossroads often grew into small villages, and then into towns. If near a river, there was river traffic. Railroad tracks often connected these villages which had grown into towns, and then into cities. When you study political geography, you will find that this is the way civilization developed, not only in America, but throughout the world.

I pity the citizen who never knew the aroma of a country store, the joyfulness of a country church, the academic stability of a country school, the expedience and kindness of a small post office, the drama of a small railroad station, the delightful smells & sounds of a river or seaport harbor. We have become a country of large cities, crime and human degradation, street alley and roadways of rage, housing projects and exercise found only with finger-pushing video games.

At my beach house, a house next to me was rented to male university students whose entire existence, when not failing classes, was playing video games inside the house while addicted to beer, fast food and illegal substances. Their only exercise consisted of walking to their cars. (This is not limited to males.) Parents cannot understand why 50% of all children are diabetic, obese, fathers and mothers of single-parent children born out of wedlock. The grandparents of this permissive generation gave them their heart's desires and they consequently had children whose children are not able to compete and survive in today's world. Adults have no one to blame for these valueless, Godless children than themselves. You believed Dr. Spock when he told you in his book that your child would thrive without any training (50 million copies in 39 languages). Most of you do not know that Dr. Spock apologized before he died for the writing of that ridiculous book.

Possessions have become the hallmark of success. Your life consists of more than possessions. (Luke 12:22-34) Most things that people covet, you will find in yard sales. Each human being, named and made in the image of God, elected before the world, was formed to have the greatest blessing of life, free will, and the ability to stand at the crossroads and start moving. At the crossroads, you discover the integrity of God. The birthright of every human being is to determine your own destiny. You will be surprised just how rapidly life goes by. When you get my age, it seems that every day is Friday. You do not have to travel very far down any road to determine that you need more than prestige, money and honor to attain success in this most unpredictable world. You need the satisfaction of knowing you've done right before God and your fellow man. You need the internal God-given empowerment to pick yourself up in spite of whatever happens. You may not always stay in good health. You certainly will not stay young. Like so many of us, (largest minority is 38 million disabled) you may become disabled. You will never encounter a person with Cerebral Palsy, a wheelchair bound citizen, one who is deaf or blind, who thought we would like living in such a condition. But, THOSE OF US DISABLED (I am 100% blind for 40 years) WERE CHOSEN BY ALMIGHTY GOD TO LIVE A LIFE OF VERISIMILITUDE BEFORE YOU TO DEMONSTRATE THE SOVERIGNITY AND GOODNESS OF GOD AND PERHAPS CAUSE SOME INSPIRATION IN YOUR THINKING TOWARD THE REALITIES OF LIFE.

At a crossroads, there are four directions you can take. You need to take a walk down each road. Firstly, is the road of spirituality. Until you come into a close relationship with your Creator, you have little chance for happiness. Sin and its degradation might bring you some pleasure for a season, but it always pays off in counterfeit.

Secondly, politics and political resourcefulness is Satan's greatest enticement to shortcut accomplishment. There are enough politicians and professors in any prison to fully staff a college faculty. Politics have been the ruin of this nation and has been the ruin of many talented individuals. My firm conviction: God will have to enlarge hell to accommodate the crooked politicians of my lifetime. A democrat cannot be a Christian. If you do not believe this statement, ask yourself this question: the democrat party, every democrat who supports the democrat party, supports murder. The most profound evil in the world is that of abortion, where and when, like the Nazis, it was determined that one group of people should not live. The Nazis killed the disabled (275,000) and the Jews (6 million). Since January 1973, it has been legal to kill the most innocent of life in this country (60 million). Do you really think God can be so mocked? The most profound hypocrisy in this country is the voting of the democrat ticket by the American Jews and the American blacks who walked lock-step to vote 95% for the democrat ticket. The Jews, six million of whom were killed by the Nazis, the blacks, kept in slavery by state and federal statutes determining them to be only partially human. I have in my possession, a card which was on the front of each public transportation stating that the “Negroes” according to NC State Law, must ride in the rear of the bus. At the time this state law was enacted, there was not one Republican, one woman, one black citizen, in the legislature; only white, democrat males whom the blacks continue to support.

Thirdly, the road of opportunity and responsibility, greatly determined by education. To date, we are not ruled by Ceaser but by a Constitution written by 56 great Americans who risked everything to give us the freedom and liberty which very few people in the world have access to. Education does not determine prosperity but it is certainly the stimulus which propels you to a life of abundance, and gives you the ability to ease the needs of others. General Booth, of the Salvation Army, always used one word in determining the mission of this great, Christian, church movement: the word “others.” Our blessed Lord gave us one commandment which covers all the laws of God and that is to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, and the whole world is our neighborhood. The unbelievers, the God-less, know nothing of this quality of life. Two percent of the Chinese military budget is spent just trying to steal secrets from the United States. This country has political enemies, even in power, who are seeking to destroy this country. Just the indebtedness to every citizen from the bailouts from the past six months, amounts to $80,000 per each person: man, woman and child. To show the hatred for this country by the present administration, the small, insignificant country of New Zealand (which I have visited and have no pleasant memories) received $5 billion in the most recent Obama bailout, which accounts for $60,000 to each citizen in New Zealand and a $3,000 debt for each citizen of the United States. The insanity of American politics and the present administration: the past 6 months $13.5 trillion deficit when the entire cost of World War II was only $3.5 trillion, should “awaken you grazing cattle and sheep.”

Fourthly, mental health is the greatest challenge of this generation. We are just bombarded every day with just the pablum with which the liberal media seeks to indoctrinate us. You seldom hear the truth, only the lies promulgated by criminals in high places, dancing to the talking points put out by those who will certainly destroy us. Early in my university career, I studied subliminal perception, wherein, unconsciously our thoughts were manipulated by pulsations, flickering, undetectable messages on television. The Japanese have gone even further and have perfected the pre-conscientious auditory messages, thoughts from music and other hearing devices, which lend themselves to such thoughts as for instance, in stores, “do not steal.” They have found that their theft in stores has decreased 40%. Since big money is involved and since there are no regulations controlling these things, as with most potentially good things, evil has evolved and instead of the message “do not steal” coming in stores in the music there have been messages of buying certain items. There is a temptation to abuse technology with no better example of this than with the computer. The dirty book stores that were in the grime of town, are now in your living room.

At any crossroads, the decision is yours. You walk towards certain permanent death, death while here and death after there are no clinical brain waves, or you walk in life. Not just the abundant life here and now, but you are already experiencing eternal life.