Rainmaker of Liberty

(A Veteran's Day Tribute)

"Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened." - Aleksander Solzhenitsyn

This old veteran, old warrior (84), was chosen by God, not only for salvation, but to see the world... a world for which men have fought and died.

Ancient pagans as well as terrorists of the 21st century, axis powers of evil (Nazi and Asian Armies of WW2), and even the progressive Atheist in America, all think that the smoke from warfare, the sounds from warfare, have put so much smoke in God's eyes that he cannot see the horrors of war, that he has not turned up his hearing aid so he can hear the horrors of war. Men have always lived in a world where breeds of badness move in. Explaining the horrors of war is like explaining red to someone who is colorblind. And yet, we expect our young, sensitive children to return from war unscathed after having seen their best friends picked up piece by piece on the battlefield. There are more suicides among veterans than any other group of Americans. Across America, more people die from suicide than from car crashes... most of these are veterans. In the state of Oregon, where suicide is legal, over 1,000 people buy the suicide packets of prescription drugs each year. The suicide promotion campaign in America is called "Compassionate Choices".

Studying the history of wars, I have found that most start because people and nations are trapped by acceptance, sometimes without question, of the value system of others. In warfare, we invest in the enemy, strengths which they do not possess: 

16 And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. - Isaiah 59:16 King James Version (KJV)

In warfare, as in daily life, we often forget the real, thinking only of appearance. Pride is the beginning of every sin, nation or individual. Satan laughs when we plan, trembles when we pray. As we find in this marvelous verse Isaiah 59:16, God must "WONDER" why mankind, especially believing Christians, do not use the awesome power of prayer. All of my long life, I have heard people talk about "they and us". We are so afraid of the "theys" of this world. The "theys" are the tears which God sowed amongst the wheat... the weeds, destructive sinful forces of the world. I still remember the day my Daddy showed me the root structure of a weed... how it would choke the good plant. Many of us saw the destruction of weeds-munitions of warfare. AND, many, those who did not give the supreme sacrifice, came back to live with warfare. 

My Daddy's brother, called to the war in WW2, left a young wife on their farm. I can still see she and her younger sister hitching up the mules, bringing in the harvest; corn, beans, cotton. He was gone to war, there was no one else to do it. After the war, as well as while he was in the war, she worked in a hospital. Coming home, he, a disabled veteran, laying at home, she would take her lunch hour from the hospital and go home to feed him... get him to the bathroom etc.

To the uninitiated, everything is obscure, even war, even the Democratic way of life. In one of Stalin's Five Year Plans, Joseph Stalin, who slaughtered 50 Million fellow Russians to establish Communism, was at a Farmer's house on one of his trips through Russia, the farmer complained of controls, government regulations. Stalin said to the farmer, "Bring me one of your chickens." He took the chicken, jerking out all the chicken's feathers, then threw the chicken on the floor. The dazed-bloody chicken began to wobble around. Stalin said to the farmer, "Watch." In his hands, Stalin offered the chicken some grains of corn. The chicken gratefully ate the corn from Stalin's hand. The Russians, Chinese, Cubans, others, have fought for this way of life! This writer was asked to speak at an old veteran's funeral, I had known this truck driver for many years, a committed Christian, who left Christian tracts, a printed Christian message of salvation, across the Nation. The funeral was at Saint's Delight Holiness Church, a very large white clapboard church in a tremendous grove of oak trees out in the country. The church and the yard were filled with a tremendous crowd. I remember saying, unlike the person in the Jefferson Starship song, popular on the radio at that time, "This fine veteran knew from where he came, what he was fighting for in the south pacific."

When our Blessed Lord was laid in a cold, dark tomb, the enemy rolled a great stone and placed a seal. They paid soldiers with money to guard, making sure he would not escape. You see, often unbelievers know more than believers. His disciples, even his friends, were surprised at his resurrection... that first Easter morning. Even after the large sums of money paid the guards, pessimists-Atheists have said that the guards were asleep, certain death awaited any Roman soldier who slept while on guard duty. 

Many of us remember how little soldiers were paid in historic wars. Many of us remember the "pounding" of preachers (church-members bringing food for the pastor). Defending our Christian-Democratic way of life today, too many preachers on the golf courses, too many warriors using robots... and we think we will stay free. God's greatest gift, our redemption through his son, REAL liberty.

Living close to my own beach house (Wrightsville Beach, NC), my accountant and his wife were dog-sitting for his sister in their beach home. My accountant, graduate of the Naval Academy, retired naval officer, one of the finest men I have ever known. The dog acted up, Jane took the dog outside, a distraught woman ran down their pier. A woman had fallen into the sound near the ocean from their boat. My accountant, Michael Brown, grabbed his flashlight, at age 67, ran down to his kayak and went paddling out into the water, searching. Law enforcement rescuers had not arrived. The tide was moving out. Michael, almost totally deaf, with his flashlight, spotted the floating body. He could not get her into his kayak, but jumped in the water and swum to the shore with her. After the rescuers got there, she was revived and is still alive. GOOD NEWS, THERE ARE STILL REAL MEN WHO MAKE REAL DECISIONS.

Mrs. Dickinson

My first grade teacher was Mrs. Mary Dickinson. A personality whom I have studied is Dr. Russell Ackoff of the Wharton School, Philadelphia. Both of these Americans lived until the age of 90. You have never heard of Mrs. Dickinson but Dr. Ackoff is one of the most famous business consultants in the world. Both are heroes of mine.

Mrs. Dickinson taught first grade at that small country school which I attended for 12 years. For over thirty years the school, which was on the very site of the one room school which Gov. Charles Brantley Aycock and my two grandfathers attended, drew in students from the swamps and back roads of that area of Wayne County. The school, which had less than 300 students in the entire 12 grades (there were 13 in my high school graduating class), was the most remarkable education resource one can imagine. I feel confident in saying not one student ever left Mrs. Dickinson's first grade who could not read and write and more importantly, knew how to behave. My father, chairman of the school board, said there was not one known complaint about her teaching methods any time in the history of the school. Everyone knew she knew what she was doing and no one was going to tell her what to do.

The very first day, she got these first graders in line and marched them into the front of the auditorium where the first graders always sat for the opening assembly. There, they saw their older grade brothers, sisters, cousins, file into the assembly. There was a security, a wholesomeness, in this school which could never have been surpassed. The principal would always walk over and talk about this new first grade and he would always says this, “You listen to Mrs. Dickinson, she is going to keep you in line, and if you stay in line you will advance every year into a new class”. Early in life, these farm students learned you get in line, and stay in line, to move forward in this world.

Dr. Ackoff, of the famed Wharton Business School, is known for his systems thinking and management science. He discovered that the better educated the worker, the more dissatisfied the worker. At the beginning of WWII, the average worker had an 8^th grade education. As education has increased, high school, college, etc., workers are no longer satisfied to be cogs in a machine. Rather, every worker wants to be the boss, knows best what to do, does not want to be told what to do by anyone and every worker now, especially unionized, is dissatisfied at the work place. This, I truly believe more than anything else, is the reason industry has moved into the poor areas of the world where distressed people, glad to get jobs and support their family, will take instruction, not want to be the big deal, or everyone the boss, glad to get a paycheck. The average worker, the discontented whatever, in this country, not contented anymore to get in line and stay in line, rather to knock down, jump over, lie, cheat or steal, to get to the top.

Some fool in Hong Kong paid $350,000 for the left, white, sequined glove of Michael Jackson. Some person paid $225,000 for his jacket. Don't confuse celebrity with accomplishment.

Don't get caught in the bondage of bitterness (disability, lack of opportunity). Don't get caught in the bondage of being on the wrong side (political mistakes, careless investing). Don't get caught in the bondage of the death culture (abortion, euthanasia). Don't get caught in the bondage of debt (credit cards, mortgages). Don't get caught in the bondage of disillusionment (family, friends, associates). Don't get caught in the bondage of disobedience (God, family, country).

From bondage to freedom it's always possible, but certainly delays the journey. Life here on this Earth is not a very long trip. Believe me, after you pass the age of 50 everyday seems like Friday!

Often, I have drawn on the resources of my heroes. When I was in Mali, Africa I wanted to visit the Dogon area of Africa, the oldest civilization in the world. In the city of Bamako, my Dutch guide became ill and in order for me to keep up my itinerary with the flights it was necessary for this blind traveler to get to the Bamako airport alone. They got me into a plane, one of the only two planes of the Mali air service, and on the runway, the two planes ran into one another doing some damage to the wings. I exited the plane, along with some goats and several other passengers, back into the small airport about the size of your living room. There, as here, there is a lot of loitering in public places by the natives. They have nothing else to do except witness the activity at the airport and, of course, they take up all the seats.

I was sitting on the floor over at the side, totally in the bondage of bitterness, disillusionment, disappointment...as so many times in my blind life...ready to quit. Alone, in absolute darkness, in probably the most uncivilized corner of the world, I was in a bondage of helplessness. Suddenly, God in all his majesty, whispered to me “Arise, get on your feet, I am not finished with you” (Acts 26:16). Immediately, I stood up and about that time the airport manager took me by the arm out to the plane for the flight to Johannesburg. One of the natives had been trying to sell me a hand made sword, earlier. He even came down to my price, $10 (this sword was sold with my collection of Civil War swords some years ago). The plane engines, all the way to Johannesburg, were singing my favorite hymn (Great is Thy Faithfulness). In the airport at Johannesburg, an airport official got me off the Mali plane and led me through the airport to the U.S. plane taking me back to America. As I walked through the airport one smart woman remarked, “Look at that blind man with the sword, I wonder who he is mad with?”. Today, you cannot get on a plane with a nail clipper. It is dangerous to go into the country of Mali because of drugs but, God is still in charge of everything.