Truth On The Scaffold

James Russel Lowell (1819-1891), American writer, looking over history said, “truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne.”

We think that things cannot get much worse. During the years of Jesus Christ's ministry, the Romans were the worst of ruthless occupiers. Of course, the liberal religious Jews befriended their occupiers; remember, it was the popular, religious Jews who gave Judas thirty pieces of silver to betray our blessed Lord.

Exactly 74 years ago, today, Europe saw the worst of hatred of one group toward another, the first blitzkrieg in history. General Franco allowed the German Luftwaffe completely to destroy a Spanish city, Guernica. The bombing lasted for 5 hours, every building in the city was destroyed, along with most human life. It was a small religious Basque settlement involved in the Spanish Civil War. Picasso painted a marvelous canvas depicting the terrible destruction.

A friend in New York City told me of his father's escape from the holocaust. A family of wealth in the town, his father escaped into the hills, carrying with him a bag of his mother's inherited jewelry. The jewelry was later placed in a lockbox in Madrid bank, only he and his father had the combination to the vault. Since he had suspicions about his father's political relationships in Spain, he flew to Madrid without informing his father, went directly to the bank, emptied the box, and brought all the jewelry back to America. In this we have an indication of the values placed on things by people, and truthfulness involved...Franco's relationship with his fellow Spaniards, Germany's willingness to spatter one small city in another country, the willingness of one group to fight another, even in another country (as was so clearly described by Ernest Hemingway, writing about the Spanish Civil War), a father's value system in leaving his family in a blitzed town as he ran away with their wealth, a son knowing so little about his father's political aspirations, more concerned with the wealth that his mother had inherited.

74 years later, have things changed at all? Planes blitzing Libya, killing women and children, and if you can believe anything the government tells you, planes swooping down in the most affluent area of Rawalpindi-Islamabad, Pakistan killing Osama bin Laden. Instead of the ruthless killing of so many innocent civilians in the most prosperous country in Africa, even more prosperous than South Africa, instead of the destruction of Libya, why not swoop in with helicopters and SEALS and rid the world of Colonel Gaddafi, bury him at sea...or even Dr. Assad of Syria? (Assad, ophthalmologist, involved in London hospital when his father died)

Much like the lies of babies being thrown from incubators in Kuwait, other killing in other places, a burial at sea, with all our gadgetry, electronics, we are expected to believe anything at any time. The best example of our expecting to believe anything, anytime: President Obama's newly-produced birth certificate. What a hoax, what a fraud! In 1961, his father might have been referred to as “black”, “colored” or “negro”, but not “African”.

Abraham Lincoln said, “God made our country for serious purposes. God help us to find these purposes.” God knows what He is doing, when will we realize that? Remember, it is our country, our votes that put the present power brokers in control. It is our tax dollars used for evil as well as good. Just as it was the German people's tax dollars that bought the bombs which the Luftwaffe dropped on the innocents of the town Guernica (1,600 killed), so it is our tax dollars buying the bombs, depleted uranium, and other weapons of disaster that are dropped by drones in Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Libya.

Has it occurred to anyone, particularly the spenders in Congress, that this warfare, these killings cost American tax dollars? You, me, and the man behind the tree. In just a few years, 2020, it will take every American tax dollar just to pay interest on the national debt. History reminds of us of the Wiemar Republic, or even present day Zimbabwe where, exponentially, prices double on everything each 31 hours. Traveling the world, I have been in countries where inflation was on a rampage, (such as we can expect soon) there people in stores whose only job was to mark through old prices and write in the new, increased price...every article covered in prices of inflation. The truth hurts, but this is truth.

Moses came up with 630 laws because our first ancestors could not keep one (not to the touch the fruit on one tree). In the longest chapter of the Bible, Psalm 119, we find the words “whole heart”, for example, Psalm 119:10. Those who have experienced tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, know terror to the heart. The most vital element of survival is faith. Even the German-Jewish holocaust survivors with faith have lived the longest. Over and over, we heard the survivors from Tuscaloosa and other tornado-ravaged areas speak of their faith. The most expensive and fastest growing population in America are those over 85. 50% of those over 85 will develop senile dementia, but we find that those of faith do not go into dementia.

The most important element of faith is forgiving. In this time, celebrating national day of prayer, there should be much prayer for forgiveness, the forgiveness of America, as well as its citizens.

Confrontations

At my age, having traveled every continent of the world and studied most things concerning world history, very few news items shock me any more. Today, the President of the United States, just at a convenient time disclosed his birth certificate.; a matter of conjecture for many years, something he should have done long ago. Tomorrow, a future king of England will be married to a commoner with whom he has been fornicating/cohabitating for years.

There was a time when leaders of moral principles would have confronted the world on these and many other things. For instance, America and Europe played footsie with Colonel Gaddafi despite of his atrocities, but now with the 143 million tonnes of gold in his bank and the oil under his desert, it is expedient to get rid of him. Just as soon as new valuable antiquities were discovered in Baghdad, along with the known reserves of oil, the Iraq war started...and so it goes with wars and diplomacy around the globe. Much of the hypocrisy and down right lying and cheating has been revealed by Wikileaks. From one side of the world to the other, controlled citizenry confronting tyrannical leadership.

In a world of spineless politicians, spineless pastors, spineless parents, there is very little confrontation. The psychiatrist or psychologist may confront parental abuse in the home, but the professional usually takes the side of the person paying his bills. The father may be a dictator, but the mother will yield the welfare of her children to have harmony in the home. We think we are not a communist society, but we have all the authoritarian, totalitarian control features that you find in every Marxist country. In the Marxist country, your freedoms are killed from birth to death, the womb to the tomb, there is no need for ambition, dreams.

Even in America, don't expect anyone to understand or appreciate your dreams or ambitions, don't expect appreciation for productivity or accomplishment. You must get the joy and pleasure of living and giving in the good life from the One who has given you life and your ability, don't expect recognition from anyone else. My soul has ached my entire life, mostly associating with supposed Christians, to hear someone say, “I pray for you.” It is time to have the confrontation with your fellow Christians, family, friends. Ask them if they are a real believer, or just an imposter/pretender? Are our interconnections, our interfacing with family, friends, or even children, genuine, or is it just a matter of getting something we want? Is our interaction with God, if any, just a matter of confronting Him when we have a particular need?

You cheat yourself if you do not put flesh and personality with the bones of the great people of history. There is a reason that Elijah and Moses stood with Christ in their glorious reappearance...Elijah was not afraid to confront, even the hundreds of prophets of Baal. He did not care about political correctness...what the world's population of that time might think of him, he said, “in whose presence I stand.” (1 Kings 18:15) Like Moses before Pharaoh, Paul or Luke when confronted, they knew how to stand. Paul had planned to go to Troas, but God led him to Macedonia, Philippi. Think of the value of Paul's love letter to the church at Philippi (Philippians) There is no record that Joseph, a 17-year-old going through the trials of life very young, ever shedding tears in prison, or out. There is no record that he did anything but stand straight at age thirty before Pharaoh.

Today's world is bewitched with silliness, traditions and exaggerations, parents afraid to confront even their own children, much less the abusers of their own children. One of my young employees told me of how he was sexually abused by a babysitter, a friend of his mother. His mother would not believe him, would not confront the abuser, and so it continued, only more violent. I know of abuse in nursing homes, children of the abused, employers of the abusers, all are afraid to confront anyone about anything.

I hear of unbelievable abuse in nursing homes, the patient, afraid to say anything, and the abuse worsens. 79% of the people in nursing homes never have a visitor. Family members will say nothing because they do not want the responsibility of taking care of the abused patient. A long time friend, Udi (now 92), ill, in a nursing home right across the street from New Hanover hospital. An attendant came in with her breakfast, and she said to the attendant, “I need to go to bathroom.” The attendant said, “you can to the bathroom after you eat your breakfast.” My friend's son, just arriving, standing in the door, hearing the conversation, got his mother into the bathroom and when she emerged, put a robe around her and said, “you will not stay in this place one more minute!” There should have been a confrontation with law enforcement about such treatment.

My secretaries over the years have been amused and amazed with the letters I have written about abuse in the business world, the political world. Their first words, “you know that no one is going to do anything about this.” My words, always, “as long as no one says anything, does anything about these horrific practices, it will continue.” You always just hope that some concerned person will take the time to investigate. There was a time when investigative reporters had the spine to confront. In this politically correct world, no one confronts anyone about anything any more. This is the reason that so many dreams are shattered, a country that at one time enjoyed the respect of the world, it was the ambition of the world to come here in order to escape tyranny. The American dream depended on confronting everything, evil, wrongdoing, hypocrisy.

Like a withering plant, we are told that in five years that China will be the world's superpower. Contradictory to everything we believed about the American spirit, American know-how, Satan has drawn us away from God's mercy. We have too much pride to take Jesus at His Word, we should look in the mirror and confront our problems.