Thalidomide

Once I stood on a hotel balcony in city of Tiberius, just above the Sea of Galilee. This Sea, 17 miles wide, 39 miles long, can have a storm almost instantly. It was during one of these storms, that the disciples were on a ship, and they saw Christ walking towards them on the water (John 6:19). When the impetuous Peter walked on the water towards Jesus, he began to sink, not because he took his eyes off of Jesus, as is so often the claim, but because he looked at the pounding world, walls of water, around him. Those who try to understand life, understand God's Word, are trying to use their natural minds. All the fullness of the godhead in dwells us as believers, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. It is then that we are able to face the questions and quandaries of this present world.

I was still a medical officer on active duty in 1957 when the news of Thalidomide made the headlines. Probably 10,000 babies born with birth defects throughout the world, because of one drug given to pregnant mother to relieve nervousness and morning sickness. Think of it, over 2,000 babies born in England, 2,500 in Germany, and about 44 other countries in the world, because of one drug...babies without hands, feet, or legs, etc. Only because of Dr. Frances Kelsey, one of the FDA inspectors, had insisted on the holding-up of the drug in this country, that America was not splotched with such horrific debasement, even though the drug had been produced in this country by Richardson Merrill, USA “Big Pharma”. It is still sad to think that men and women will study medicine and pharmacology as long as they do, to become educated by representatives of drug companies who call on them at their offices. We have learned from too many deaths, that exotic new chemicals in drugs will kill as well as deform. It is so necessary that anyone investigates any medication, any pill before you put it in your body.

You know your body better than anyone else, and most of the time, you can handle yourself, most sicknesses with common sense methods. Remember, Jesus took all of our diseases and deformities to the cross, along with our sins. (Isaiah 53) When you go to the Lord's table, you take the bread for your healing, the wine for the remission of your sins. Within the power of almighty God, we have deliverance, redemption from disease as well as from sin.

One would think that with the progress made in healthcare, psychological understanding, we would not have the horrendous problems facing us today. But, we are bombarded with the conflicts, moral, physical, spiritual, which keep us dumbfounded about what will happen next.

Each day we squirm with news of the loss of human dignity: abortion, euthanasia, stem cell research, ill treatment of the mentally ill, our total inability to get along with one another, it is not just the embarrassment, indignity, insensitivity of body searches at airports, but criminal activity, even in families.

I was on the edge of mental depression most of my life, because for too long I looked at life, living, healing, with a natural eye and natural mind. I would have bouts when I just wanted to get away from everyone, had very little to do with anyone, simply because I could not understand the complexities of the human mind and those around me. Most of all, my family and friends, who should know better.

Only after I assisted in the rehabilitation of a mentally ill young man, did I discover that God is capable of healing anything. Different with birth defects, innocent children entering this uncertain world minus providence from the sanctuary of the womb, most of these children died early, but those who did survive, are glad they have life. A minister asked my help, a young man was in the depths of manic depression, it was difficult to even think of such a snake pit home-life, that one could be born into such a horror story; today, authorities would have probably intervened, but even that is questionable.

He told me how his father would beat his mother in his presence, just about every piece of furniture in their home had been broken. She had lost all desire to live, totally mentally incapacitated, much of the time, little food in the house, mostly bread with lard to spread on it. When not at work, the father would sit around drunk watching television, cursing, despising everything and everyone. “I am sure he had killed and buried a sister older than me, he would warn my mother of the backyard, and what could happen to her there.“ His only refuge when not in school, visiting his mother's parents who, on a small farm, poverty-stricken, likewise were demented. His grandmother mostly sat around crying, and in prayer; but, his grandfather, seeking to escape the world, would take him on walks in the woods, telling him about animals, birds, trees.

It was only after the father had been hit and killed by another drunk, driving a car, and his mother had been arrested, stealing food and silverware from a neighbor's house, that the law, the minister and I became involved. Try to talk about the love of God with someone who has never seen anything but hatred, who has never seen anything but want and fear, who has never seen anything but mental depression and mental illness.

My only niece, a Salem College graduate, teaching her first year as a teacher. A black female child, totally hungry for love, coming to school each day, ill-kept, abused, beaten, one day never came again. My sister, a former teacher, said to me, “can you even imagine what happened to her?”

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. (Isaiah 55:8) The cure to one's depression comes in the reality of this scripture, as well as the words of the William Cowper hymn, “God works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform.” It was in my world travels, seeing how people in the word live amid every form of poverty and degradation, that I found solace and solution to my questions. The longest chapter in the Bible, the 119th Psalm is filled with the hope coming from God's abundance. One will never understand bioethics, man's inhumanity to man, sin's ruin and Christ's redemption until one realizes that parents give the body, but God creates the soul. Your body, abused and misused by the world, the flesh, the devil, will deteriorate, but your soul will live on forever, having been embossed and embraced by the short sojourn here on earth, as a stranger and alien, chosen by God, before the very foundation of the world, our citizenship is in heaven. (1 Peter 2:11)

Space Odyssey

The 1968 movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey, was ranked among the top ten movies of all time. It forecasts much of the technology which we are witnessing 40 years later. In this busy world where everyone is in a hurry, time and space have become life's greatest reward. Imagine trying to read a book without margins, trying to drive on a street without lines, having no guideposts at all in our daily activities.

Totally blind, I have a watch which talks to me. My microwave has a bell. My washing machine has a buzzer. My beautiful new car has a backup whistle. Everything in our lives regulated by elements of space and time. What happened to the rocker on the front porch? What happened to croquet on the front lawn? What happened to the fishing pole and just sitting on the bank, waiting and watching the beauty of the world around us? My grandmother never starved, yet once a week, she would put her fishing pole in her car and go to the mill pond and catch a nice 'mess' of fish. My other grandmother never starved. She would sit on her shaded front porch with a couple of neighbors and dip some Sweet Society snuff. These elderly ladies, as well as their friends, lived to very marvelous ages, considered quaint by today's matrons, stressed trying to hold down two to three jobs and clipping coupons to buy necessities. Leisure time is time well spent.

Our blessed Lord said that the lilies of the field were clothed more beautifully than Solomon in all his glory and they toiled not. (Matthew 6:29) Every time someone calls me about problems, my first words, which usually knocks them for a loop, “Do you still have any birds down in your part of the world? Do you notice that they are still singing?“ And then I say, “Is there anything any more beautiful than birds singing in the morning? God takes care of them, and I believe He will handle all of your problems.” (Matthew 6:26) I can still hear those experienced Christians singing in that country church in which I grew up, “Take your burdens to the Lord and leave them there.”

Recently, I had occasion to go to a city on business where I had not been for many years. The entire city had changed since I was there. My driver kept telling me about streets and businesses which I did not remember. I have an aunt and uncle who live there and are in their 90s, whom I had not seen for many years, but who I have made it a custom to call at least once a week, as I do all of my elderly relatives. Most appreciate my calls and my visits when possible. I called early that morning and told them I was going to be in their city and would like to go by for a few minutes. This could be the last time I could ever see them alive and it could be the last time they could have seen me alive, considering their age and my age. When in the city, I called and said, “I will be at your side door in a few minutes.” My uncle said, “We are just leaving the house, going to lunch.” He did not say 'we will wait a while for you, or please go to lunch with us.' Nothing. I said, “Enjoy your lunch.” Now, this was a hurt from which I will never recover. The last thing this couple needs is food. Both are overweight; both have had knee replacements from carrying excess weight and both have digestive problems. It is obvious, in their advanced age, that they have never learned the importance of putting a little space in their activities. Am I wrong?

On the same trip, another couple, relatives, came to meet me for lunch and spent several hours with me. They had not seen me for many years either. Their time, although as important as anyones, could be filtered through the delicate space of opportune importance.

Your most important possession, more important than stocks and bonds, land and bank accounts, are those who carry your genetic equation: your children and your relatives. God designed your children before the very foundation of this universe. They should be as important to you as they are to Him. Take time to talk about your ancestors. Establish family expectations. My mother did not allow any complaints about any food on the table. My mother never allowed us to come to the table unless fully clothed. We had a time of prayer at the table, thanking God for our food, even though many times it was very sparse. Meal time should be a family time of enjoyment. The saddest picture I ever saw, and I have seen sad pictures around the world, was my father sitting at the table eating alone, after my mother's death; I had come to our beautiful family home to check on him. Like me, and everyone else who lives alone, we prepare our food and sit down to eat it. But in his case, it was sad to the extent that he had never eaten alone before in his life. He came from a large family, he had my mother and his children his entire life, but after all his children had left home and it was just he and my mother, with her death, he was all alone. But, as I have said to so many of my older relatives, “You must prepare for the inevitable.” I learned long ago, that no one cares about the plight of a disabled person who lives alone; preparing food, eating, and trying to keep his house clean. Everyone should store in his memory bank the certain knowledge that life is unpredictable and you must have the space to adjust when the unexpected happens.

A good friend retired here, moved to Jacksonville, Florida where he still wanted to work and worked in an expensive nursing home. He said the average cost was $6,000 a month. He had to leave this job even though he loved it, because he could not tolerate the treatment of the people in the nursing home by some staff members. One male attendant would slap the old men around, even leaving bruises on them. He said these old men would just cry because there was nothing they could do. If they complained the treatment would only get worse. Within the empathy of the human soul, some space should be found whereby oversight could be exercised over these facilities since it is obvious that the management is only interested in the money which comes in, mostly from the government.

Dr. James Dobson said on his program recently that 87% of people in nursing homes never have a visitor; the only ones who get attention are the ones who have family members who love them and check on them. One of my aunts was the dietitian at the O'Berry Center in Goldsboro (a hospital for 'throw-away' children), this was the NC supported center where retarded and deformed children were taken care of until their death. (macrocephalics and microcephalics etc) She said some babies were taken to that hospital and the parents were never heard from again. Some, aged enough but still wearing diapers and yet had a beard. Older people in the community were hired to act as 'grandparents' to these children, whose most desperate need was love from someone.

Years ago, someone told me, if you live your life and have 5 friends you can count on, you are very fortunate. The great preacher, Dr. RG Lee, said, “A friend is someone you can go to and ask for $20 and they not ask you any questions about why you need it.” How many true friends do most of us have? Space should be allotted in your routine for the cultivation of friendship and as Mark Twain said, “Friendships must be kept in repair.”

The 3 'big ones', heart attack, cancer, stroke, are all directly related to stress. Keep stress from your life, learn to relax, you can lower your blood pressure simply by relaxation. Many people left home this morning, stressed with work and expectations of their daily routine. They thought they would return home, but many will wind up in the funeral home. The greatest joy of my life, is committing scripture to memory and as I have traveled, even when I could see 50 years ago and could drive, I was constantly reciting scripture to myself. Take time, with a legal pad, weekly, to make a list of all the concerns you have and make this your 'prayer list'. You will be amazed what “God can do”.

A real estate broker came to my house recently, concerning some business. By the time she sat down, every few minutes, about the time we would start discussing something, her cell phone would ring. And, like a fool, she would excuse herself and take time to answer it. I got up from my chair, walked her to the front door and said, “You are much too busy to help me.” These aggravations of technology, cell phones, PDA's, televisions, etc. have crippled 'normal' people more than disease. It is a known fact, already being used in Japan, that on the pre-conscious level, in music, perceptive messages are being funneled into your being as an advertising mechanism. In large department stores, they use the message, “Don't Steal”; shoplifting decreased by 40%. But, with the big money involved in advertising and the complete lack of regulation, they learned to sell merchandise by the same method. This pre-conscious, subliminal message, is in the flicker and pulsation of the television. They experimented with this first in movie theaters, and found they could sell so much popcorn and drinks. It is being used in every form of advertisement because PLEASE DO NOT TELL ME that people in this country are so stupid to vote for those who get elected, IF they were making a conscious decision!!

Some things are important. A real old lady who lived near us, could barely get around. But, when her house caught on fire, Mrs. Lutoria Waddell, came running out of her house carrying her sewing machine. Her sewing machine was the most important thing she owned. (Only those who have done all your sewing by hand can appreciate a machine) Those on the 103rd floor of the World Trade Center, did not have much time to think of the most important things in their lives, as the flames roared upward. They might have said, “I wish I had spent more time with my children, more time with my family and friends.” Abraham Lincoln, marvelous president, said, “We go down on our knees when there is no where else to go.” Learn to put some space in your living for the most wonderful time you will ever spend, time with the one who made you what you are, and will determine your final destination.

Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right way (1 Samuel 12:23)

Reset Button

The reset button is as normal in the 21^st Century living as the handle on the water faucet in the 19^th Century. The garbage disposal, the cable box many such technologies have such.

Our Nation is almost evenly divided now, 50/50 the producers who pay most of the tax responsible for most of the nations progress, and the 50% taxeaters dependent on the other 50% through their food stamps, section 8 housing, welfare checks, supplemental income checks, NIT (a progressive income tax system where people earning below a certain amount receive supplemental pay from the government instead of paying taxes to the government). Disgorge of dependency extends from one generation to another. We have an entire population addicted and dependent on government subsidy or out right government grants. The children of welfare parents brought up by a politically correct school system, actually believes the country is supposed to support them. They never know the honor of work or the integrity of responsible living. Anxious to get the communist totalitarian collectivist system operating in this nation. The only thing they know how to do, like sheep to the sheerer go to the polls and vote in lockstep the straight democrat ticket.

When the 9-11 terrorist attack caused President George W. Bush to mount his Presidential Jet and flee, pity he did not go on to his 100,000 acre ranch in Paraguay. Our nation would have been much better off if he had just stayed there and the Republican Party which he damaged beyond repair, might have a chance of recovery. So, the reset button was pushed and, beyond comprehension a Marxist Sunni Muslim easily won the Presidency, due to this 50% population of welfare users propped up by the Liberal academic community and the state-supported controlled media who “carry their water.”

To date, the national debt has increased by 1.3 trillion, the automobile, banking, financial, insurance communities have been taken over by this culture of death. The unemployment is now officially 17.5% and is probably 20% (it was only 18% during the Great Depression). The female secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, like the vice-president Biden, both of whom have agendas as want-to-be presidents. And like the two immediate past secretary of state, Rice and Albright, are bringing disaster to our economic, financial and diplomatic future. We are involved in two wars which we cannot win. We have a $50 trillion deficit future which we cannot repay when you consider the entitlements. We have a lackadaisical outlook when a Muslim Doctor, right under the nose of the Nations capital under the nose of Walter Reid Hospital, is encouraging returning service members not to fight Muslims. Certainly, knowing this psychiatrist was attending a Mosque in Maryland and just off base at Fort Hood, a warning flag of some type should have been a concern to the Military outside the combat zone. It is time for a reset button involving our national security at all levels of government, pushing the American people into a health care system which at least 50% of the tax payers oppose should take a back seat when surveying mental problems among those who think they are physically and mentally healthy.

During my years attending functions with UN Officials in New York City I found that imagery is all important, not just with 3^rd world nations who want to give a sense of progress but especially Russia and China hardstrapped by the Marxist control system. Russia, trying to escape the stigma of the czars and China, trying to escape the system of the dynasties. “The end justifies the means.” The authoritarian systems of government are intent on improving on their image from a system of escaping enslavement to capitalistic opportunities. Many Americans, are perfectly content to trade capitalism for authoritarian enslavement.

A young man and his live-in girlfriend had trouble. He left home with their baby in the baby seat of the car. As he was driving the baby began to fret. He reached around, took the baby out of the baby seat and threw the baby out of the window. A fifteen year old girl waiting outside the school building for her father was lured to another place, gang raped by as many as 10 for 2 ½ hours while another 10 or 15 looked on taking pictures with their cell phones and was then left half naked beaten under a bench.

Where was the compassion in either of these cases? Have we reached the place in this country that our hearts are cold as stone? It is time for the reset button to be pushed, homes, schools, government, military and certainly kicking out “political correctness” from the Church. We do what we do because we believe what we believe. It is time for the absolute button of right and wrong to be pushed.

The darling of the liberals, those who have never seen the need for a reset button will continue to sing with Michael Jackson “Because I'm bad, I'm bad-come on (bad bad-really, really bad) You know I'm bad, I'm bad-you know it (bad bad-really, really bad) You know I'm bad, I'm bad-come on, you know (bad bad-really, really bad) And the whole world has to answer right now Just to tell you once again, Who's bad . . .”