Letter to Paul

Dear Paul,

I am enclosing a check for you to use in your expenses, pre-graduation and post-graduation. It is an honor to graduate from a prestigious university with a degree in engineering. So many of today's young people become just another college graduate...just a piece of paper. You see, you prepared yourself in high school to meet the challenge of a higher calling. Anyone can read a book on sociology, communication, government, and understand and know about all such a college major would give you, but it takes to brain to study engineering and the other sciences. Almost anyone can become a psychologist, but it takes a brain to become an engineer. I am very proud of you and as I told your father, if you fail in life, it will not be mine or God's fault, because I talk with God about you every day.

Since you were raised on the foreign mission field, you hardly know me. Last summer when you were over, sitting in this large room where I work every day, your father was sitting on one side of the fire place in a wing chair, and I was sitting in a matching chair on the other side. You and your mother were sitting across the room, of course your father and I were having one of those animated Morris conversations. All of sudden you said, “you two are just alike.” This has been the story since he was very small, his mannerisms, brain, etc. You and your brother Andy have a real hero in your father. It is so tragic that so many sons never appreciate their ancestry. I have had young men working for me who had never seen their father, did not know who he was. I don't know which is worse, the prodigal son or the prodigal father.

Even at best, at age 80, I do not have that much longer, I don't seek death, but my later adventure with our Heavenly Father will be a great relief. I have about done everything else with my life which I intended to do, which God had directed me to do. Someone said, “with all your travels in the world, your military experience, your business experience, having faced most of your life as a blind person, why not leave something in writing.” And of course, I am doing most of this writing, the blog, for my two grandsons and others can just “overhear”, or look over your shoulders, if they wish. The tragedy of the Christian life, those who claim the name of Christ, they have never studied and learned the challenge and privilege they have, in knowing both the horizontals and verticals of the Cross. You probably know more than most young men about claiming the name of Christ. I want you to be forever proud of having the name “Morris”.

None of my relatives ever spoke much about my ancestry. We are taught in the Bible, the New Testament to be concerned about others. The Bible is a racial book, a history book, a history of the promises and prophecies of the Jewish family. You note in the Old Testament that they always gave genealogy in speaking of anyone. Your genealogy is genuine, my father's family, Morris and Lucas, were two of North Carolina's first families. One of my cousins, Dr. Clement Lucas, a physician in New York State, traced the Lucas line into Europe and beyond (In Wilson County, a town, Lucama, named for the Lucas family, he was raised on a farm on one side of the town, I, on a farm on the other side of the town, both of us graduated from UNC-CH). The Morris family was well known in New Jersey and along the east coast. My maternal family, Pittman and Underwood, well known in this state. As you will learn in your study of history, many of the early families in the south were just hard-working, land-owning people, they did not own anyone, slave or otherwise. The black people who lived on the farms, even after emancipation, stayed on the farms. Everyone's lives, black or white, involved safety, security, survival, for a long time they went to the same church, but then separate churches, always claiming the same church names.

The beautiful problem you have now is getting started, always look at every phase of your life as an adventure, following a plan already designed by your Creator in the counsel chambers of eternity. You see, He knows the end as well as the beginning of the parade, every nation, every life. You will always be able to get a good job, because you are in a profession which is in demand. Surely, what I have written must have hit you right between the eyes. Creator God who designed every snowflake that has ever fallen, the voice, the iridial flex of every eye, the fingerprints of every hand, knew what He was doing when He designed you, a very special person. (Psalm 139) You can depend on His Word, because He honors His Word more than anything else. (Psalm 138:2)

Trust in God.

Love, Your Grandfather.

Home Sweet Home

I was in Russia (then, USSR) for the first time in 1959, Russia was textbook communism at that time. Boarding the TWA flight to return, the pilot said to me, “America will never look so good as it will when you return from here.”

Today's spoiled young person, one who has never seen an outhouse, kerosene lamp, hand water pump, linoleum rug, would think that the homes in which most Americans were reared in the mid-20^th century were no better than those in Russia or China where most still live that way. The house in which I was reared, and my father before me, had survived the Civil War. My ancestors had planted oak trees, which, like my ancestors, became great strong fortresses. There were cracks in the walls of the house, but our house was much better than most because we had plastered walls (today, sheet rock is used; back then, plaster was used in the better homes, wood strips to which smoothed mud/paste was attached and then painted or papered). We had glass in our exterior doors, even shutters to the windows which we closed in times of storms. Air conditioning and central heat were unknown, the great oak trees shaded the house in the summer.

Lawns were unknown to the early rural homes, rather, you swept the yards. Lawns began to appear around public buildings and the finer city homes. The difference in American homes and communist homes, in a constitutional, democratic republic, capitalist nation, you can own your own home via payments of some sort, whereas in communist or police-controlled countries, the government owns and controls all housing. This is what the Democrat party, the communist-controlled news media, wants for Americans. This is what has led to the housing debacle, the mortgage scams, the foreclosure epidemic to which we are subjected everyday in news broadcasts.

Las Vegas, Nevada, 71% of the homes are upside down (more owed on the house than the house is worth). Across America, known as the housing bubble, into which government loan agencies, Freddie and Fanny pumped $150 billion, avoiding every known control of lending procedures, normal borrowing of money, people who could not pay anything down, many without jobs (mostly black), moved into housing which they could never dream of affording, simply because liberal government agencies told them they could do so. Now, the houses are deserted, everything of any value in the house (AC systems, light and plumbing fixtures) stripped from the house. Millions of such repossessions on the market, prices going lower every day. You can now go out and buy one of these foreclosures very cheap, but with a greater depression (food, energy, transportation), your living will be much more expensive.

My first house as a returning army officer, many years of education, paying the usual 20% down, was a duplex which sold for $9000, even then I was thoroughly investigated, my credit checked. Before I moved into a house for which cash had not been paid, the lenders were assured I could pay for the house, and so it has been with every real estate transaction I have made in my long life of active real estate buying and selling.

The thing that went wrong, stupid, crazy government officials, pawns of the Democrat party, putting people to their own homes, who could not afford to pay rent. I hired a black, middle aged woman to drive for me, she worked a total of 2 days before she struck me, because I cautioned her about her driving. “Dr. Morris, slavery is over.” She was a public school bus driver, she could work for me between her morning and afternoon driving of the school bus. Her husband was enjoying a social security disability welfare check. In her interview she told me in no uncertain terms, that her home was much better than mine. That the government had moved them into one of the finer homes on the eastern side of the city, and the government was helping them make their payments. Nothing was required down. She was a member of the A.M.E. Zion and that most of the members of her church lived in such houses. She had driven me to one of my buildings, I said to the tenant, Mark, “she is a public school bus driver.” He said to her, “that must be a real challenge.” She said to him, “after they see me hit a few on the side of the head, I get them under control.”

After she struck me, a totally blind, 100% disabled, service-connected medical officer veteran of the Korean war, I wrote the local school superintendent and told him about the character of this bus driver. Often, parents whose children ride the public school buses are not aware of the character of the driver, nor the school. As usual, in the communist-controlled totalitarian, public school system, but I believe this is typical of the type who were moved into expensive housing by the government, and now the bankers who control everything are busy spending their bonuses on such activity, and it is left to the taxpayers to pick up the pieces of such policy. Moving ingrates into housing which costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Mr. Obama, the stupidest man to ever get close to the White House, appointed an 18 member commission: 10 Democrats, 8 Republicans, headed by Bowles and Simpson, to ascertain why “our country” is going through a recession. $10 million and 700 witnesses later, they have produced nothing. I am telling them, free of charge, the insanity of liberalism. Is it conceivable, that after 230 years of this democratic republic, the greatest universities of the world, with many professors of economics, banking, real estate, a cadre of successful businessmen, who have made this country the zenith of world commerce, no one could have predicted what was going to happen. Peter Schiff wrote the book, Crash Proof: How to Profit from the Coming Economic Collapse, like the dot com bubble, the housing/bailout bubbles were disasters just waiting to happen, have we lost all common sense? Now Mr. Obama, his protege and confidant, ass-tro-nut Barney Frank are ready to give up on Fanny and Freddie. I remember the day that Maxine Waters said that she had every confidence in “Frank Raines” (former chairman of Fannie Mae).

Face it, there are those who hate America, can hardly wait for her downfall. University of California at Berkeley, wanting Guantanamo war prisoners to come to their area, as if enough Arab speaking people are not coming across a Mexican border, education officials mandating the teaching of Arabic in some school districts. The Fort Collins Examiner in Colorado reports, “15-year old in the United States rank in the middle of 34 countries around the world in reading, and yet, the U.S. government is spending tax dollars to make Arabic mandatory in five school districts around the country."

Many of us bear the marks of His cross, just as His hands and feet, His sides were marked, so we are crucified with Him.” We all who believe on Him, died 33 AD, as we always bear the marks of the cross. Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. (John 20:19)

Many of our ancestors cut the trees, sawed the timber, and with hard work, built their own houses on which they have paid taxes, kept maintained for the benefit of their community and fellow citizens. Most of us made payments for someone else to build our house, have been honest in our transactions. Many Americans who have a deed to their home, never really own their house, if you think you own your house, try not paying your taxes and other requirements of living, and see how quickly you are thrown to the street. This entire housing mess is a matter of politics, as with every form of welfare, a politician buying the votes of the least desirable citizens...those who, in every way, contribute the least. Most care nothing about the marks of the cross, those of us forever scarred in their defense, the patriotic cost of citizenship.

The power of the cross is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18). Remember, the power of the cross will cover the righteous and will uncover those who care nothing about the deity of God, or the deity of this country.

Rippers and “Rippees”

If you were able to get off the bed this morning, can still take care of the fundamentals of starting a new day, still enjoy a refreshing shower (I thank God every time I take a shower, because I realize the number of my ancestors who never enjoyed a good bath. Just think of the children of Israel in the desert, our ancestors crossing the plains in a covered wagon.), still enjoy the smell of fresh coffee, can still hear birds singing outside, you have much for which to be thankful.

Every morning of my life, for as long as I can remember, before my breakfast to satisfy my hunger, I go to the Lord's table: a little piece of bread, thanking God for His healing, a little sip of wine thanking God for His salvation through His precious blood (Isaiah 53, 1 Peter 2:24). I know it is symbolic, but God help those who claim the name of Christ, and do not recognize His redemption and healing...the bread for healing, the wine for remission of sins.

Even though I have lived in total blackness, blindness, for most of my life, I am still anxious to hear happenings around the world, via radio. One story after another of corruption, government decadence, religious hypocrisy. When you have achieved my age, it bothers you to think that young people, those who are just beginning their lives, those who must face the uncertainties, those who may be called on to defend their country, those who will be taxed to support madness, hear the same thing I do. What incentive could they possibly have for patriotism, for hard work, for defending and supporting the ripoff segment of our society. For whom is more prayer needed, the rippees or the rippers?

We hear so much about the present recession, or as many call it, great depression. I lived during the Great Depression, nothing even resembles slightly the Great Depression, nine million Americans starved to death during the Great Depression, and during that time 90% of the population lived on farms. What we are going through now is just the overture for the opera, the real drama has yet to begin.

In grand opera is the colloquialism, “it ain't over til the fat lady sings”, meaning that many operatic sopranos are greatly overweight. I will assure you that there will not be many overweight people at the opera, the movie house, the streets, or anywhere else after the next, real, great depression heading our way. We are depending on the very ones who got us into this mess, the Congress of the United States, and the legislators of states to get us out of it. Most of these people will be sitting pretty, retired somewhere, living of the graft which they have stocked away.

The PBGC (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation), the organization guaranteeing pension for the many business and government agencies has already assured Americans that most pensioners will never get their money. The government has been eyeballing this cash cow for a long time, and like social security recipients, military retirees, all will be thrown in the same blender of socialistic, “dividing of the wealth”. Like Bell, California where city retirees received ludicrous retirement checks, like Wilmington NC, where the manager of four state liquor stores receives ludicrous retirement benefits. All this insanity of inequity toward working Americans will end.

It is truly amazing how far the American spirit has strayed in my lifetime, the insanity of thinking the well will never run dry, no matter how much water is pumped out of it. Everything in life involves money, money and possessions are talked about in the Bible more than anything else (2352 times). I believe God had a suspicion about how addicted man would become to money. Everything involves sowing and reaping, you cannot understand God's Word until you understand the parable of the sower...you sow sparingly, your reap sparingly, in every thing, you reap what you sow. If you do not give much to God, do not expect much in return, you cannot out-give God. On the farm, my father knew where to plant certain seed, in this world, the field, there was planting time and harvest time.

As important as the parable of the sower, the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15). I think it is important to call this marvelous story, the most beautiful story in all of literature, the parable of the prodigal father, so much to learn from every precious word in this story, the rearing and discipline of sons. The younger son (ripper) did not even say “father, I have worked for a large part of your estate,” rather he just said, “gimme.” He was willing to rip off his own father. The father (rippee), so willing to forgive, running to meet his stinking son (stinking from the hog pen), realizing he did not have a taste for slop, finally realizing the wonderful home from which he had fled.

So it is with us, our relationship with our heavenly Father, many of us feel like the rippee (those who have served our country in uniform and have received nothing in return). Those who must witness the daily transgressions of the wicked who always come out on top. Remind our young children, those who are bombarded daily about the greed of adults, rippers (bankers, politicians, Big Pharma) that the “all-seeing eye” of God, the perfect accountant, still has everything under control, that there will always be a pay day, one day. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7)

Coddle

If every church member were just like me, what kind of church would my church be? We can go even further, if every man, every father, every Christian, every doctor, were just like me, what kind of world would this world be? This is a question we face as we churn in our minds the reasons for the mess our country and our world is in.

Have you ever met someone who just stands out? When this person walks in a room, everyone is aware of a rare presence...not always because of appearance, usually because of an engaging personality, a magnetism which is infectious, affecting everyone. He is probably long dead, but I still remember him, his name was Charles Ramsey, the most dynamic, magnetic, infectious personality I have ever met.

I had just arrived in Memphis where I was preparing to go to medical school, having just graduated from the University of North Carolina. One of the first men I met on campus was Charles S. Lewis (not the famous C.S. Lewis) but Dr. Lewis did become well known where he practiced for many years. Right off, first conversation, he said, “I would like for you to go to church with me.” He was originally from Kentucky, graduated one year ahead of me, married in Memphis and stayed there. He said, “I'll be by to pick you up, I also pick up some children from a housing project and take them to church every Sunday.” This is the type of man this man was.

One Sunday school class at Bellevue Baptist church was for male professional students. Charles Ramsey was teacher of the class. When I walked in the room, there was an electricity in the man when he came over to shake my hand and welcome me in the class. His Christianity was genuine, his compassion real. He was a marvelous communicator, reached into the depths of his subject. He had been a military officer in WWII, knew firsthand the mercies of God in saving his life. He would stand in front of the class with tears running down his face as he taught the Gospel...it was so real to him. But I noticed over the years, that everyone in that large church was revitalized when he approached them. He had a disease which we all wanted to catch.

I was in the home of Mohandas Gandhi, famed leader in the nation of India, twice. I stood by the monument on the holy Ganges River where he was cremated. Gandhi, a Jain Hindu, an outstanding lawyer, a scholar who studied Christianity. He actually attended some Christian churches, but said he never saw anything there that he wanted...the people were just sad, more or less just going through the motions. Perhaps his most famous commentary on Christianity, “I would have been a Christian if I had not known so many Christians.” Just think of the millions of lost Hindus and Muslims, that through his international influence, he could have won to Christianity.

I don't think parents realize what they are doing when they rear a child...the values instilled in the home, things that no school can teach. You do not realize it, but you may be preparing a missionary, a doctor, a teacher, to face the world with the values they get from you.

There is no other personality like your personality, you are one of a kind, of the billions of people who have lived on earth, there is no other person who has had your fingerprints, your voice, your facial character, or even the flex of the iris in your eye. A new science, biometrics, involves scanning the facial characteristics of every human being. Body parts can be transplanted, but you and you alone are the possessor of your soul (which will never die), your personality. Just as God designed every snowflake that has ever fallen, beautifully-specifically, so he did with you. Don't discount yourself, don't cheat others.

When a patient came to my office, it was not just a treatment, it was an experience, you can be sure they never left the same, they had met a dynamo personality, articulate, convincing, concerned. Why just be a “blah” doctor, teacher, preacher, a nondescript anything? I am the same way with anyone who visits my home, as two black preachers who came to me for financial help, leaving said, “we will never be the same again.” In every speaking engagement, even a commentary such as this, with the mercy of God, I trust I made that difference. Someone may steal your credit card, or other forms of identification, they may think they have stolen your identity, but your identity is all yours. There is not another you.

Suicide is a great cause of death with young people in this nation, especially in the military. I notice that more and more criminals kill themselves after they kill others. Those who hate God love death. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death. (Proverbs 8:36) For so many, especially young, it is a way of escape.

The demise of Christianity started in Germany, at one time the world's pinnacle of knowledge, spread across Europe. Only the uninformed have not noticed the decline of the church in America...large churches, large buildings more like civic clubs than a place to worship a God of mercy and glory. I understand that in some churches you do not see a Christian cross, the baptistry seldom used, some so-called believers go for years without observing the Lord's Supper. The secular-humanist, liberal, phony-baloney impostors, tares have taken over. The greatest personality to ever live, Jesus Christ, the saints who worshiped and adored Him, believed in His Mercy are our example.

In this profane nation, such preachers as Rick Warren and Richard Land, are willing to compromise, thinking that the world's psychology is more important than God's theology. You can always identify the convinced, the convicted, the committed, most church members, most churches, most seminaries need a spiritual defibrillator. God is not an ATM machine. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate. (Titus 1:16) The coddling of children, students, Christians, will not produce the character and personality needed in God's service.

Highway to Heathenism

In traveling the world, I discovered a culture of employment which I had never considered previously. It was a cadre of travel guides, mostly men, mostly bi-sexual, mostly attractive, always multi-lingual, always well-traveled, well-educated and of upper class who spent their lives just taking travel groups, from one country to another, mostly on world wide tours. Most were acquainted with one another and would causally salute one another as they passed in crowded airports. They had the travel business down to a science, knew how to run the gauntlet of borders, knew which guards to bribe, and knew how to weasel out of any political, financial or social situation. Since I was almost totally blind and traveling alone, I always had one of these as a eating companion. They shared with me many things that they did not share with the average traveler, because they knew they could trust me; and after all, I would never be able to identify them, in case of illegalities.

The most memorable of these world famous travel guides, I met in Tunis, Tunisia. He was Dutch and originally from the Hague. He despised Americans mostly because Americans are so gregarious, loud, classless, uninformed and predictably obnoxious and arrogant. To show you how long ago it was, Yasser Arafat was still in Tunis at the time, accompanied by his covey of blond, German boys. My guide told me that he had just put on the plane to make their return to the US, the most impossible group of obnoxious Americans he had ever led. He said, “After I got them on the plane, I was so exasperated from being with them for several weeks that I just went into a stall in the men's bathroom, sat down and cried for a while.” He said, “These impossible people think that their money is all important. But they are totally classless.” Of course, when he told me of the thousands of dollars that he received from each group in tips, I could understand why he was tolerant. These guides are not only paid well by the companies that employ them, but live really well on the trip. The hotel for the group, always provides the guide, as a bonus, a room filled with gifts and liquor. These guides know the best shopping places in the world, the most economical places in the world to live and have picked out a retirement area, long before they expect to retire. One, took me in a boat on the gulf of Siam to a most picturesque village, beautiful beyond compare, where he had already purchased a hilltop vista where he would eventually build his retirement home.

You cannot force people to love you anymore than you can force people to hate themselves. In visiting the Colonial countries on the west coast of Africa, such as the Ivory Coast and the central African Republic, where the French were in power for so long, the Belgian Congo or even the British controlled India and Pakistan, you find that the natives hold onto their culture. In British controlled Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, and in Burma I noted the fine homes owned by British nobility had been destroyed and actual trees were growing out of some of them. The golf courses used by the British nobility and their bureaucrats had grown up. The 48 Muslim countries in the east and in North Africa, were separated and their borders decided by British authorities. I learned that these people had no loyalty for their colonizers. Even the English names given by the British to the cities in these colonies, had been changed. Most had returned to their customs and culture. This is the great problem we are encountering in Iraq and Afghanistan. They simply do not want to be Westernized. Even those who cross our borders illegally want to keep their own identity.

Slave masters learned long ago that they could not force slaves to love them. The hack politicians practicing nepotism, thought those wanting special attention would have a special admiration for them. Just the opposite is usually true.

The cotton mill owner – employer – slave master, who employs people who could not possibly find a job anywhere else thought that these hungry, God-fearing, down trodden, employees would so appreciate economic opportunity that they would have absolute loyalty. As one employee at the Borden Cotton Mills in Goldsboro told me, they never could understand why their looms did not work most of the time. It was a matter of internal sabotage. Most officers in Vietnam were killed by the fragging of enlisted soldiers who so resented the authority and so resented their military service.

When selling books, as a college student, on the dirt roads, on which tenant farmers lived in Eastern NC, I heard many stories about burning down the land owner's barn because the owner had been so cruel to his tenant worker's hardworking parents.

Patriotism in this democratic republic has been virtually destroyed by this authoritarian, totalitarian control. It is now a matter of government manipulation and exploitation. Most Americans regard the government as the enemy and not a friend. Does it bother the elected politician to know that the younger generations of Americans are maturing, despising the very country for which they may be called on to defend? I once asked a travel guide why there were so many children in each family in India. He said, “Most parents in India just hope there may be one or two children who will provide for them in their old age.”

Enslaved people always fight back. We are expected to pay our taxes willingly, to register for military service willingly, to go to the polls to vote willingly, to march off to war willingly. Go to a VA hospital and see how many veterans you can find who have anything good to say about the country or government which they defended.

For one who has spent most of his life in absolute darkness, a 100% disabled, service connected, totally blind veteran, I weep when I hear on the news of the waste and corruption of government. It kills my very ambition for life to know what is happening to my country. The elitists, both here and abroad, who have only lived their lives for personal gain, who expect the veterans and other hard-working, tax paying, God-fearing citizens to eat the scraps from their table of abundance, will surely not escape the wrath of a God of justice. (Psalm 98:9)

After 2000 years, Satan has so penetrated and taken over the Christian church, that the church is no longer effective in the affairs of men. After 230 years in the life of this once great republic, Satan has so penetrated the halls of government and justice that God and government is no longer appreciated or effective in the lives of citizens. Character determines destination. We have tainted character which is testing our destination.

Improvisation

Bertrand Russell, English philosopher, writer, atheist, when asked why he did not believe in God said, “I have not been given enough evidence.” But, his unbelieving mind, his secular humanist quality did permit him to say, and in this we can all agree, “If there were in the world today any large number of people who desired their own happiness more than they desired the unhappiness of others, we could have paradise in a few years.”

A young man was very sick in the hospital, the overwrought father, frantic about the son's condition, came into the room which the janitor had just finished cleaning. The father began to complain to the janitor about the dirty condition of the room. Instead of the janitor talking back to the father, telling him he had just finished cleaning the room, and he knew it was clean, he just proceeded to clean the room all over again. The janitor said to my friend, the chief nurse, I realize a problem, I had rather him see me clean the room again than to challenge him.

Nothing has ever replaced common sense, people respect degrees more than they respect wisdom. It takes much empathy when dealing with people, particularly with children and the elderly. My aunt said, “momma would have lived much longer if Dr. Rand (her doctor) had not died.” She got better just by talking with him. In this time of assembly line healthcare, when the doctor is too busy to spend any time with you, when your diagnosis and treatment is done more from the computer than from the doctor's knowledge, you realize what treatment will be like under Obamacare. Like one doctor at the disaster at Port-au-Prince, Haiti, “you cannot think of the hundreds in the hospital needing you, you just take one patient at a time, and concentrate on that patient.”

We know the greatness of the world comes through improvisation, the great musician plays the music as written, but is the improvisation of the score that causes greatness. Any actor can recite lines, any politician can read a speech, any talking head can read a teleprompter, but it is in the improvisation of character traits, personality, that we see greatness.

When Christ returns, I want to be doing something for His Glory...not that He does not already know, but praying, writing, speaking. Think of the pastors on the golf course, in the movie theater, hanging out at the country club, messing around with a hobby when Christ returns. The whole world heading for hell in a hand basket, the supposed preacher of righteousness, leisurely looking on. God cannot afford a casual Christian. “To obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22)

We are experiencing several generations who object to living by rules; rules at home, rules at school, rules in the marketplace. There is virtue in obedience, toward God, parents, those in authority over us. One young girl who worked for me, Christina, worked for me in the morning, was a trainer of dogs in the afternoon. She said, “it never fails, I can tell exactly how difficult it will be to train a family dog when I see the behavior of the family children.” A foolish son is the calamity of his father (Proverbs 19:13) Solomon, writer of the Proverbs, knew what he was talking about, one of his sons, Rehoboam caused him much grief.

Tough love is the greatest love in the world, like the coach standing on the sled, yelling at the football players as, with their shoulders, they push the sled. He knows that eventually, even though some may vomit with the pressure, they will thank him for making them the team members they are capable of being. It is the soldier in the fire fight, in the heat of battle, that thanks his superiors for the awesome struggles of training, it is not just the rules, not just the fundamentals but that extra measure of improvisation, that makes a difference in the man/product.

For the past 50 years, America has produced a permissive society, our student excel in one area, self-confidence, they think they are exceptional whether they are or not. We are told we are the greatest, even though we have seen our industry and our wealth move into other countries. We have seen our students move further and further down the line in achievement instead of moving up. My missionary son told me that in Asia, where he and his family served as foreign missionaries. Students felt it was such a shame to fail in high school, not to be admitted to a good university, that they would jump off a building and commit suicide.

Politically, in this country, no one gets fired for incompetence, mistakes costing the taxpayers millions of dollars. Governors and other high ranking politicians found guilty of corruption in North Carolina, but because they are Democrats, very little happens, a few go to jail (in prison at present, Valence, Black, Wright, Decker, all Democrats). According to Judicial Watch, the 10 Most Corrupt Federal Politicians: Boxer, Emanuel, Ensign, Frank, Jackson Jr. Obama, Pelosi, Rangel, Rogers, Waters... 8 Democrats, 2 Republicans. There is no doubt that each of these elected officials, pay the price for election along with the 50 assistants assigned to each, did some work for their electorate. It is always the improvisation, mostly greed for the world and the things of the world, which leads to their legacy of debauchery. This is the same satanic trap with snares most of us.

It is not just in the military that we are trained to “snap to attention” around those who have the rule over us...bankers, law enforcement, judiciary. Hillary Clinton said we must be kind to China, our banker. During the visit of the Chinese president, Michelle wore a bright red dress, celebrating red China. The Chinese pianist, Lang Lang, played on the piano music “supposedly” to insult America about the Korean defeat at the Battle on Shangganling Mountain, calling the American fighters “jackals”. We can now understand why our borders are open, a national debt of $14.3 trillion, Chinese shooting our weather satellites out of the sky. Everywhere on the national scene we are too busy with improvisation, Obama playing golf and basketball, Wall Street and Bankers spending their bonuses, tax money paid to them for failure.

The most expensive improvisation, individually or collectively, is that of deceit. In a time of financial turmoil, fat cats paying $5,000 for a seat at the Superbowl to watch millionaires run up and down the ball field. Unconcerned citizens watching advertisements which cost $100,000 a second.

Ubiquitous

We have heard of President Thomas Jefferson's Bible, he had cut out of the scripture, the things with which he did not agree. As if this would change the mind of God, the One Who had dictated it. As great as President Jefferson was, perhaps the greatest mind to ever become President of the United States, God did not care what he believed.

Jefferson's Bible was nothing new, in Jeremiah 36, we find that King Jehoiakim sitting in his winter palace, listening to the words of the prophet Jeremiah, had the words with which he did not agree cut from the scripture with a knife and burned on the hearth in front of him. This changed nothing, to this minute, every prophecy, every promise in the Holy Bible has been fulfilled.

Our lives are a living testimony to everyone we meet, we do what we do because we believe what we believe. A young black man knew me only because he was a member of a crew which worked on one of my buildings. He was 23, living with a girl whom he had impregnated, and to whom he was not married. She took off after the birth of the baby, but he loved his child. He called me for help, thinking that a wealthy Christian man could be approached with his problem. He said, “my child and I did not need her...I left my baby with an elderly lady during the day when I was at work. My baby so looked forward to my coming home to be with her at night, and then I got arrested for theft and put in jail. I was in the cell screaming that I had to go home and take care of my baby. Someone called the social services who found the baby screaming, the lady had left her in the house alone, thinking that I would be there shortly. Ever since I have been out of jail, I have only seen her once, six months ago, I don't think she knew me. My life is ruined.”

You see, this young black man should have learned earlier that Satan always pays off in counterfeit. Who will people believe, God of life, Creator of the universe, Giver of every good and perfect gift, or Satan, the father of lies? Unbelievers in good and evil, the law of God, or even civil laws made by man, whether discarded by a President, King, or young black father, ubiquitous, found everywhere at all times.

Muslims, generally speaking, are the poorest people on earth, I found this in every one of the 40 Muslim countries I have visited. There is no stricter law than Shira law, in every luxury hotel of the world I ever visited, I found Muslims breaking the laws of the Koran...much like Christians, obviously enjoying breaking the laws of God, even the common sense of natural laws. Physical, political, spiritual, we know the value of education, but in our nation's capital, Washington DC, over $20,000 is spent per student each year, yet only 44% graduate from high school. In the Catholic private schools in our nation's capital $3,382 is spent on tuition per student per year, and 99% graduate. It is the ubiquity of our times, worthless pieces of paper, diplomas and degrees handed to student who thought they were working and paying for something worthwhile.

The greatest ubiquity in American lives: what we put in our body. In order for the body to survive, to have energy, there must be replacement nutrition to cells. There is so little nutrition in most food, that the body cannot even remove the toxicity present in its system. You are not destined to be sick, the body is able to heal itself, if you put the right nutrients in your mouth.

The most ubiquitous deception in our financial and economic lives, dishonest bankers. In all my life, constantly in the business community, I have never known but one honest banker, a cousin, T.L. Smith. Bestial bankers, the whores of Wall Street have almost destroyed the nation. We are in the worst economic disaster in history, ubiquitous, world-wide. They knew that this housing bubble was a fraud, now the very ones who caused the disaster are passing the pain on to the taxpayers, while they enjoy their big bonuses. Many books such as Peter Schiff's The Housing Crisis, had warned everyone. The ubiquity, it spread everywhere, derivatives, in full knowledge. In my office buildings, two units, two mortgage companies, with rooms full of people on computers typing mortgages. In how many buildings and how many offices in this town and any other town did this go on? One business had 14 rooms, I was over for something, heard all the computer activity. The manager said, “they are busy typing mortgages for housing all over the country, it's just a big scam, but we get paid for it.” It was ubiquitous, going on everywhere, selling houses to people who could not afford rent, many did not even have a job.

The Federal Reserve owns more US government debt than China and Japan combined. Bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman, wrote his thesis for his doctorate on the devaluation of currency. We are experiencing inflation, and will experience more inflation as well as the devaluation of the dollar. We may not have the inflation of the Weymar Republic (Germany pre-WWII), Zimbabwe or Bolivia (in 1985, Bolivia had an inflation rate of 20,000%), but in a few months with the increasing prices of commodities, food will be double its present price.

I was in Bolivia during the worst of the inflation crisis, you cannot believe it, people in stores constantly marking up items. A wheelbarrow full of money that would buy a car in the morning would not buy a bicycle in the afternoon. In all of life's activities, victory is won, or the war is loss in the prayer closet. A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion. Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. (Psalm 112:2-3) For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. (Psalm 91:11-12)

The blessings of God are here and now, it is not necessary for His own to wait for heaven. There is no sickness in heaven, we can have his healing here, now. There is no economic problems in heaven, the streets are paved with gold. We can have his prosperity here, now. It is ubiquitous in everything, pray for those who do not have this blessed assurance. When you look like the world, talk like the world, enjoy the things of the world, and believe what the world tells you, you can expect the results of the world. If your citizenship is in heaven, and you are just passing through this world, you have a right to expect the blessing of God. That God is going to take care of you, ubiquitous, he takes care of everything.

Yesterday, February 3^rd was World Day of Prayer in Washington DC. God must have winced with embarrassment when President Obama showed up, the promoter of the killing of more babies, and the dragging of our nation into greater debt than any President from George Washington to George W. Bush. He told them that he prayed for guidance in the White House, God pays very little attention to the words of the lost until they repent. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me (Psalm 66:18)

My Mean Parents

Before he died, Dr. Benjamin Spock apologized to the world for his book Baby and Child Care, the book translated into 39 languages, that sold 59 million copies was the epistle of the child-rearing culture for over thirty years. Spock encouraged parents to see children as individuals, very permissive, bringing on a spoiled generation seeking immediate gratification, and having few rules in their lives. This is the present day baby boomers.

I do not know of a book in memory that has caused as much excitement as Amy Chau's Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, in this book she discusses the rearing of two daughters, using the model of Chinese/Asian mothers. It is no secret that Asian students excel, almost all university valedictorians are Asian. She speaks of how each Asian students, her daughters, must excel, no grades less than an A, no extracurricular activities, no sleepovers, no complaints, must play one of two instruments, piano or violin. She describes how the student must have perfection in the instrument, practice until accomplishment. The mother, herself, is a professor at Yale Law School, this is the way she was reared, and indeed, the way most Asian students are schooled.

On a personal note, my own two grandsons were reared in Asia where their parents Dr. and Mrs. John Morris were on the foreign mission field of the Southern Baptist Convention. Both parents have graduate degrees, my son, medical school, and now a Ph.D professor at Southwestern Seminary. They did not accept anything less than an A from these two grandsons, I believe the two grandsons, like their father, my son, received all As in their scholastic careers, except for one B. The grandsons, lawyer and engineer, both played musical instruments, played on athletic teams.

When my grandsons returned to America to enter college, they were so far ahead of students here, both received outstanding full-scholarships. This aging grandfather did not have the opportunity of the preparation afforded my son and grandsons. I went to a small, poor eastern North Carolina country school. Today's youth would not identify the schools of poverty-ridden eastern North Carolina with today's modern matriculation. There was no air conditioning, carpeting, special equipment of any kind, just rented books, chalkboards, and the old uncomfortable wood desks, in rows. There was thirteen students in my high school graduating class, of course, I was class president and valedictorian...but ill-prepared for college.

My mean parents, however, made sure that their four children were in school everyday unless hospitalized, and I do not believe any one of us ever went to the hospital. My father was determined that his children would get a college education. I do not believe there is any man who ever lived who worked harder than he did toward that goal (all his children did graduate from college). In the early 20^th century, there were few college graduates, he too had come from an exceptional family, most went to college, but during the depth of the early 20^th century depressions, he could not go.

My mother, who only had a 6^th grade education (today, probably equivalent to a college education), one of the brightest women I have ever known. Pushed us every step of the way, like the Chinese mother, tiger mom, we did not have much choice in many things. We ate breakfast before we went to school (you will eat breakfast so you can learn). Think of the children bussed from neighborhoods who need education most, who are fed at the schoolhouse, parents too disinterested to even feed their children, mornings or summer vacations.

As poor as we were, we all had piano lessons. I remember the day that beautiful Verdi, mahogany upright was delivered to our house. As poor as we were, a newspaper was delivered to the house everyday including Sunday, several magazines each month (Look, Progressive Farmer, The Baptist). We had schedules, table rules, behavior rules at home, and especially away from home. We had duties, keeping the wood boxes filled, yard cleaning, livestock feeding etc. The most important education pushed on us, the one from which you will never recover, the value of a dollar, the saving of money.

My mean parents made sure we were at the church house just as at the schoolhouse, we had no choice about that either. There was never any talk about options, we were at the church, participating at all church activities, as was our parents, grandparents, great grandparents, ancestors before us. I do not believe that my mean parents ever expected to find one of us in jail.

On radio talk shows, many modernistic psychologically warped parents do not agree with the tiger mom, nor Asian parents in general. Many believe that children are born trained and educated. The Bible, the One who wrote it, the One who designed the cell as well the stars in the Milky Way, the One who designed every snowflake that has ever fallen, the One who designed every feature of their body, including the clotting of blood, think God is just ignorant. Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6) You do not have to teach your child to lie, cheat, or steal. It is up to the parent to train them not to do such. The older I get the more I realize the absolute innocence and ignorance of children. There have been many quotes about the molding of children, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, perhaps Billy Graham said it best, “Only God Himself fully appreciates the influence of a Christian mother in the molding of character in her children.” Jails, mental hospitals, counseling offices, are filled with people whose parents wanted their children to like them, to be their friend, rather than enforce the discipline to train them.

In one of my hospital trips to one of the world's greatest hospitals, Massachusetts General, I ate one evening with a PhD professor friend. It is rare for me to have ever eaten at an elitist restaurant. I could tell there was a child running around in the place, jerking things off of diner's tables. My friend recognized the parents of the child, both professors in the psychology department of Harvard University. They were trying to pretend that they did not know the child. My friend said, “they have written peer-reviewed papers on child-rearing, child behavior.” My mean parents loved us too much not to keep us close, not to be identified with us. They realized that our training was the most important thing for our life, now and for eternity.

Modus Operandi

The coach is always the most popular teacher in school. He may not be popular, at the time, with some, but he or she always comes out on top when students speak of their best teacher. The coach always had the rule book, played by the rules, whether on the athletic field or in the classroom, he expected a good attitude, good performance, he expected one to dress a certain way, sportsmanship more important than victory, push you for your very best in talent and intelligence. The spoiled, lazy, “couch potato” kid could not get along with the coach or other students. The coach always made the plays, actions of the team, simple, easily understood. I have found in my life that KISS (keep it simple, stupid) is the best approach for any human endeavor.

There was a time that a boy could learn to work on a car, build most anything with his hands. Now, everything is so complex, the cell phone has more technology than the first module which landed on the moon. That the average male or female cannot repair anything, it is a matter of sending it back to the company, taking it to a professional, or in this “Kleenex mentality” world, just throwing it away and buying another.

There was a time when the average primary care doctor could diagnose most anything. Today, the primary care physician, or the physician's assistant, is just the middle man, sending you on to a specialist, and in the specializations, there are sub-specialists. In the field of eye care, some specialize in just the anterior chamber of the eye, some the posterior chamber, others, retina specialists. In banking, securities, real estate, every area is specialized, complicated; everyone after a piece of the action, and that is why life has been so complicated for people who have a modus operandi of keeping things simple.

Physical, political, spiritual, keep it simple, life is a battlefield enough for most of us. We will leave from this race to the goal line, battered and limping, but our mental stability while in the contest, race, journey, event will be happier if kept simple.

The Gospel is so simple, sin's ruin and Christ's redemption, God gave us a book which he dictated himself. The book contains all the answers, every problem of mankind, health, happiness, strife, economics, life and death. Several have written books trying to expand or explain God's inerrant Word...Joseph Smith (Mormon), Mary Baker Eddy (Christian Scientists), Ellen White (Seventh Day Adventists), Charles Russell (Jehovah's Witness).

It takes study. A Catholic bishop said, “75% of all Catholics do not know what they believe.” Dr. R.G. Lee, the great Southern Baptist preacher, said, he would like to think 10% of his church members would meet him in heaven. Let's face it, the simple truth is that most are just playing church. The simple truth, they believe that God is easily fooled. The simple truth, most believe that everyone is a hypocrite, but them. We are all good at recognizing the hypocrisy of others. Keep it simple, hypocrisy is not just a Christian property or a requirement. We know what the strict Shira law demands of the Islamic religion. For instance, there is only one country named for a family, the Saud family of Saudi Arabia. Rich beyond words, taking in $1 billion a day from their sale of oil. The 5,000 members of royal family, almost all the people of the kingdom live in splendor. I have seen their beautiful 4-lane'd highways, their beautiful automobiles, their beautiful buildings. Women are not allowed to drive, strict dress codes, religious observance, but in any of the world's famous watering holes, luxury hotels, casinos, find them living exactly opposite their religion: alcohol, pornography, etc. They own large estates all of the world, where they can live like the world, and act like the world.

It is so simple, the knowledge of so many things hatched out in darkness, embarrassing diplomatic sources, critical financial problems, horrific defensive postures, now shouted in the light at the top of the building, Wikileaks. Most nations, most financial institutions, most national military powers thought they had everything under control (top secret). It is simply a matter of not keeping your secrets simple. When anything goes in a computer, it becomes the property of anyone who can suck it out of the air. For instance, through Wikileaks we know that the Blair government in England, instructed their enemy into the release of the Lockerbie bomber. We can only imagine what might come back to haunt us, the 9/11 catastrophe, biological warfare, we know there are nations producing “killer” microbiology, easily spread throughout the world via airports.

God kept it so simple in his instruction to Noah about the building of the first structure known to man, the Ark. This, the world's greatest ship, about the size of the Queen Mary, salvation for Noah and his family, and all the animals on earth which God wished to save. With wood, pitch and tar, exact specifications, as it was with the Ark into which the baby Moses was placed, the Ark of the Covenant into which the commandments written by God were placed. Even the building of the great temples were kept simple, the law, and everything pertaining to it. Is there anything any simpler than God saying “thou shalt not murder”, “thou shalt not steal, commit adultery, etc.”

Keep it simple, stay away from your worship of idols: money, fame, fortune, fantasies. Keep healthcare simple, if you put junk food, junk liquids, junk chemicals into your body, you will have a junkyard body, instead of a temple to God. Education, farming, child rearing, buy and selling, all should be kept simple. I found out long ago, that my modus operandi in life is keeping things simple. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3)

Valley of the Kings

As I have discussed in several commentaries, I have been blessed to travel the world. (Eight around the world trips, passport stamped in 157 countries) Mark Twain said that India is the ultimate travel destination, without a doubt, India is the photographer's dream, unforgettable sights anywhere you look, but I still believe that Egypt is the traveler-historian's Mecca. Just think, the 17 million population city of Cairo, Luxor, Thebes, Abu Simbel, the temples and the archeological greatness of the Valley of the Kings. The great plateau at Giza, the Great Pyramid.

I have traveled through Egypt several times, entered the Great Pyramid, explored the tomb of King Tutankhamen, was in the temple of Queen Hatshepsut when they were uncovering it. She was a female pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty, one of the more successful pharaohs.

I think the traveler-historian-Bible scholar falls in love with Egypt because of its antiquity and the fact that so much of its ancient greatness is well-preserved. Egypt is referred to in the Bible many times. The baby Jesus probably saw the Great Pyramid when His parents fled to Egypt, the only long trip He ever made. In other commentaries I have described my thoughts on the Great Pyramid.

I was in the Hilton hotel in Cairo, the great Egyptian museum is just to the rear of this hotel...right on the Nile. I am not a large man, and I was in the back of the elevator, probably not noticed by the Egyptian officials who entered the elevator. One was complaining about the hotel being filled with Americans. The other Egyptian official said, “we are overrun with Americans constantly, they have all the money, all the influence. Many of our brothers cannot stay here, because we never have a vacancy, we cannot afford to anger the Americans, or even the Europeans.” I believe the thing that amazes every tourist in Egypt, is the same thing that amazes Egyptians in America...disparity, a few very wealthy living off the fat of the land, masses of the poor supposed content with crumbs from the table.

Egypt is the most populated Muslim country, 83 million. Staying in various cities, I found the people very friendly, they are beleaguered by government control. I understand that not more than 10 can assemble in a place. After President Sadat was assassinated 30 years ago, Mubarak took over, he is one of the world's strongest dictators. He has been the pet of American presidential administrations, because they want he and Egypt to be a stabilizing force in the Middle East. America gives Egypt as much money as America gives Israel, about $12 billion each year. Very little of it gets down to the common man, as was the case with Yassar Arafat, who cleaned up from American largess, I think most of it goes into dictator's European bank accounts.

The thing about television, internet, radios (Al Jazeera) you cannot keep the people in darkness, many have seen the light of liberty. With all the tourists who pollute their country, the rewards of freedom. The old mantra of “going along to get along”, just surviving, dictator's promises, knowledge of prison tortures and other corruption has gotten old. The people know they are pawns in international geopolitical intrigue. They know about the 100 ton bomb which Israel set off in the Negave desert last week. They know about food shortages which will afflict the world, that Saudi Arabia has purchased enough wheat for one year. They know that America, in the final analysis, will defend Israel. They probably know that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recalled 180 ambassadors to Washington, probably to prepare them for a greater Middle East conflict. The news is out, mostly from Wikileaks about consistent inconsistencies in Egyptian politics.

I am convinced that great civilizations like Greece, Persia (Iran), Iraq, Syria, Ireland, Portugal, and Egypt, people who have shown their greatness in so many ways throughout history, will not be humiliated by dictators, will not have their humanity and common sense abrogated by other nations, even the United States of America.

One day in Luxor, where horses and carriages are used to transport you to various scenic spots, hot weather, files...I saw one horse fall over dead from being pushed too hard. Much to my surprise, no matter how bad a civilization/culture/society/citizens are treated, they usual profess pride and support for their country. You must really push them to the brink in order for them to turn on you. The dictator of Egypt, the dictator of Tunisia, the dictator of Jordan, even the dictator of America are all learning that the people will push back.

George Santayanna said, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Gamal Abdel Nasser had a heart attack, Sadat was assassinated, I understand there have been many assassination attempts on Mubarak. As with most dictators, Tito – Yugoslavia, Mussolini – Italy, the people have been stripped of their weapons. But, even if Mubarak's army supported him, mass killings will not be permitted by the world. We know that the Pharaohs army drowned as he pursued Jewish slaves. We have found chariot axles in the Red Sea. Again, Egyptians slaves (21^st century Egyptian slaves), hanging onto buses trying to get somewhere, sleeping on the streets, are not making bricks without straw, but have had enough enslavement.

One bad decision can change the rest of your life. You reach the place when you have had enough manipulation, especially in-your-face manipulation. It astounds me that people cannot understand simplicity, the simplicity of the Gospel, the simplicity of the deity of God. The simplicity of one man being humane, decent to another. We cannot control everything, you take life one day at a time and do the best you can with it. These are your days, it is your life, you do not live in submission to any other man.

Drinking From the Corrupted Cup

I remember, as if it were yesterday, in another commentary I described my first office, upstairs over a shoe store, space which I had redeveloped at my expense in order to have a cheap rent.

I always arrived at the office before anyone else, made sure the heat was on, everything comfortable. This gave me time to go through the mail before the first appointment. I heard a strange noise on the stair steps, as if someone dragging up the steps, I went out in the hallway and looked down the steps and a large black woman was slowly dragging herself up the steps. When she got in the office, winded from climbing the stairs, she appeared to be about sixty, overweight, her much abused Sunday hat on. her clothing rather tattered, cotton stockings, torn shoes.

As an eye doctor, I knew that the eyes are the windows of the soul, hers were sad and downcast. She said, “Doctor, Ms. Elmore who worked for you told me to come and see you. So I caught the bus from LaGrange (a small town about ten miles east).” She said, “ a friend met me at the bus station and brought me to your office. I buried my husband yesterday, he grieved himself to death, because of the loss of our only child. Our son Darrell went to war in Vietnam, he had graduated from high school and this was his way of getting a college education, which he wanted more than anything in the world. Now they tell us that he is MIA. I have here the last letter I ever received from him, we had a letter from the army, and I wrote my congressman, but no one seems to know about anything. I understand that if he had been killed his body would have been brought home, but we have had nothing. I just get the run-around every where I go, trying to get answer. My friend told me that you were a high ranking army officer and that you could probably help me.“

I got my pad and made notes, PFC Darrell Carlson Martin, his mother Ms. Loretta Martin, his service number, unit, everything I felt I would need for communication. When she left, there was a renewed vitality in her eyes, her eyes which had been so dead, had come alive, just from her experience with me. In the meantime, my secretary had come in and listened to the conversation, she told her, “if anything can be done, the doctor can do it.” Of course, there was not much I could do. I went to the veteran's office, located in a brick building behind the court house, and talked with the veteran's officer. I wrote the congressman from her district, Senator John East, whom I knew very well, and one or two other contacts in Washington. I would write her, sending her copies of all my correspondence, giving her encouragement, but as we know, so many MIAs have never been accounted for, to her or anyone else. She had told me, “he loved his unit, he would not run off from anything, and his commander had told me that he was an exemplary soldier.” As far as I know, she never heard anything from anyone, never received any compensation. This is the usual story involving sons of the poor, those without political pull.

I think of this type thing every time I experience drinking from the corrupt cup of government...so much money spent just lining the pockets of those who worked for government and even more treasonous, money sent to other governments such as Israel and Egypt. We are told that $12 billion goes to Egypt every year, tainted money, to keep Egypt from aggravating Israel who also gets $12 billion a year. We know that this money goes to the tyrants in power, not to the people who need it. At tree tops in Kenya, Africa, I had dinner once with the chief United Nations representative for Africa, I asked him how much of the largess from private and national sources funneled to Africa ever arrives at the villages of the people who really need it.

I said,”I have seen the poverty in the villages, and this has been a burning question in my mind.” He said, “about 2% of the money sent to Africa from UN sources, US government, humanitarian efforts, actual reach the people who need it.” He said,”first, you have to pay off the corrupt leaders of a country just to go in and talk with them about it. Then they appoint members of their family to distribute the money...any left after they take out their part.” He said, “it is a corrupt mess, but we do what we can.”

I often spend weekends at my beach house on the ocean. On the way there, my driver and I stop and McDonalds for lunch, returning we usually stop at Hardees. In this world of immediate gratification, fast food, etc. I find that in order to save some money on the food, to get it in a hurry, you must, if you are willing, put up with dirty tables. Even though I am totally blind, it bothers me beyond words to explain to sit down at a table in a fast food place which is sticky, has crumbs, etc. Most of the customers will dispose of their containers. If I could see, and get around, I would go directly to the counter, and say, “give me a wet dishcloth, I want to clean some tables.” As long as the restaurant can get away with dirty tables, nothing will change, as long as governments can get away with just treating their citizens any way, nothing will change.

If we have the goodness of God in our heart, we know the closeness of God. Why have we so cheapened humanity? When we suffer, we can know something about His suffering, we have seen nations drink from the corrupted cup before. Stalin killed 25 million of his fellow countrymen; Mao, 63 million of his fellow countrymen. We knew it was going on, we did nothing. In fact, after WWI and after WWII (Marshall Plan), much money was sent to our former enemies while our own parents suffered.

While Americans were losing their homes, think of the money spent in Iraq, where conditions were probably better under Saddam Hussein. While American businesses have gone under, think of the money spent in Afghanistan, where conditions are no better than after the Russians left. Do Americans really care if General Motors went under? Would we really care if a stadium full of people were destroyed? Would we care if ten planes full of passengers crashed each day? This is what happens with the millions of babies who are aborted each day, the millions killed in warfare. In every form of news, we hear about the plight of women and children in other countries, Darfur, Iraq, Pakistan, etc. Do you realize that 41% of all pregnancies are aborted in New York City.

Addictive drugs are now prescribed to overcome addictive drugs. Oprah learned long ago that her programs, her greatness comes from trauma, people describing their problems in detail. Have we arrived at the place in today's culture, today's society, that we can just pass off any cup of corruption, like a former president, I feel your pain. They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us? For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. (Psalm 12:2-5)