Hyperbolic 197

If the crust of the earth were gold (atomic weight 197), men would lie, cheat and steal for a handful of dirt. The value of gold is greatly exaggerated compared to the immortal soul of a human being, God's greatest Creation.

On an expedition ship to the Antarctic (South Pole), I shared a cabin in the ship with a Fleet Street banker from London. He was perhaps the classiest, wittiest, most captivating man I have ever met...educated at Oxford, knighted by the Queen. He had a tremendous knowledge of world finance. He would have been the first to tell you that the United Kingdom (the British Empire), captured/colonized the world in an effort to channel most of the world's wealth to the British Isles. Until this very day, the United Kingdom controls most of the world's wealth (measured in gold, art treasures, classic political power).

From the time that Nebuchadnezzar hauled away all the gold and treasures of Judaism to Babylon. From the time Greco-Roman wars etched the lines of European civilization, it has not been a matter of land or water rights but who has the most wealth stored up in gold, silver, and precious stones.

The conquistadors landing in South America, were not interested in human slaves or the poor, undeveloped land to conquer, but rather the accrued wealth of the Mayans and Incas. Just as the gold, silver, sculptured frescoes from the Parthenon went back to England, so the wealth from South America found its way back to Spain and France.

“Follow the money” is a historical principle and prophecy which has never failed. Of course, paper fiat money, notes, bonds are relatively new, but the time came when it was burdensome to travel with heavy gold, silver coins or items of bartering value such as porcelain. Early European city-states such as Venice, Florence, Rome started what has become the modern day banking business, such families as the Medici, Doge, Rothschild. Fortunes then, and still to this day, were made and are made by the money handlers. The money handlers are involved with everything, nations, industry, even the church. Christ himself chased the money-changers out of the temple (John 2:14-16). Those of us who have explored Vatican City, St. Peter's, are well-aware of the gold there...the Catholic Church, the richest entity in today's world.

Much to our sorrow, we have seen money so infiltrate God's church, God's work, that the real mission of the church is barely recognized. We know that missionaries, ministers of the Gospel, ministries blessed to teach and preach the Gospel (churches, colleges, hospitals, orphanages, media programs) must have funds, funds from Christian people given as unto God. We find that many preachers/evangelists are more interested in their pastoral package (salary, car, housing allowance, vacation) than they are in the church pulpit and God's program. Servitude is a matter of personal character, whether ministry, healthcare, academia, or even political service. It takes a certain amount of gold, or its equivalent, to live and support a family but we are assured that God knows our needs, and will supply our needs. We are assured that everyone, regardless of vocation will have troubles. That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 1:7)

A historical landmark marks the place in South Dakota, Wounded Knee, where hundreds of Native Americans were killed by the 7^th Cavalry Regiment. This is just one example of the slaughter that took place as early American settlers traveled westward claiming (what is now) American soil from the natives who possessed it. Not only did Americans claim the possessions and wealth of the Native Americans, but just as important as gold to them, their supply of food (it is estimated that 16 million bison were killed and just left to rot on the plains of this great nation) in somewhat successful the attempt to starve these men, women and children.

Like the Europeans who colonized Africa, the Middle East, South America and much of Asia, it was the greed and thievery of their wealth (gold, silver, minerals, art treasures) that will forever be a blight on Western civilization. Just think, England, colonizing/capturing most of the civilized world, to this day still holding on to most of it...Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, etc. (54 total members of the British Commonwealth). It is wealth, but it is not “commonwealth”. As my Fleet Street banker friend said to me, “there is probably not a calculator made that could total the wealth of the British Empire, controlled by just one family, a so-called royal family. In many of the 54 nations of the commonwealth, there are men, women and children who have never had a drink of clean water. Their drinking water, cooking water, laundry water, all coming from a polluted creek or river. Just one of the Queen's many castles, Buckingham Palace, has 775 rooms, 50 bathrooms...this much space for an 85 year old woman and her 89 year-old husband.

Everything pertaining to God's Church is found in New Testament books of Romans through Philemon. The first chapter of Romans tells the world, for time through eternity, about man's inhumanity to man, particularly the homosexual agenda. In spite of what the heathen such as Nietzsche has said, God is not dead, nor is He asleep. He knew about the cruelty of the Romans during the earthly life of Christ, from Sirius of Assyria, from Alexander the Great of Greece to the Caesars of Rome, for every power-grab, every idol worship, the slaughter of every innocent child, the trail of every stolen coin, He has an accounting system. The eraser on His pencil is seldom used. For nations, nationalities, individuals, He only had to say it one time: For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (1 Timothy 6:10)

Hegemony of Imperatives

Mark Twain said that India is the ultimate travel destination. In my years of world travel, perhaps I spent more time in India than in any other foreign country. On one visit, sharing a train compartment with the Indian Minister of Travel and his son (the son was returning to a university in England), I was asked if I had traveled through India previously. I said, “yes, and nothing ever changes. Every time, I feel like I am in the Gandhi movie, the train, and everything on either side of the tracks.” The minister said, “you are right, it has not changed in 2000 years.”

The most revealing thing about India is religion, India is the most religious nation in the world. Everywhere, there are temples of some sort, monkey temples, Brahma temples, Jain temples. You walk up to some place and someone anoints your forehead. Their great, aged temples whose walls are covered with pornographic figures such as those at Khajuraho; at other temples, mothers throw their babies from the tops of the temples in a ritual. I was allowed to cross the bridge and enter the gold temple of the Sihks at Armistar, turbaned Sihks were preparing a great abundance of food for pilgrims. In other areas of the Himilayas, Asia, there are Buddhist monasteries, boys and men of all ages serving as monks. In Sri Lanka, out in the countryside, I was awakened early as a band came down the street escorting devotees, taking food to the monks at their monastery. At Kandy, Sri Lanka, followers of Buddha were lined up in a monastery just to view a tooth of Buddha.

I am sorry to report that the passion and integrity of Christians has disappeared in most parts of the world, particularly in Europe. In my many visits to the Vatican, those visiting for the first time were easily recognized, tears came easy to those went into St. Peter's for the first time.

There is a difference in spiritual awareness and spiritual/physical happenstance (following laws and rules) such as you find in an Islamic mosque. The mosque is much more concerned with your physical appearance...shoe-less, head and limbs covered. I had great difficultly learning the actual devout places of Muslims, but often without knowing it, I would go into a Muslim holy place and someone would come running with a towel for me to cover up my legs if I was wearing shorts, or if a woman companion was wearing a short sleeve blouse. At least, there are some religions that still do have controlled rituals.

I am sorry to report that most “Christian” churches are no longer easily recognized, just another auditorium. I may not be right, but I want my church to be right, I want my Christian church to show Christianity, with a cross, alter, sacred music. I may not be right but I want my pastor to be right, not a Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, Robert Schuller, one who has forsaken doctrinal foundations. The best example of this was shown recently, when Larry King interviewed Joel Osteen. Osteen, who never went to a Bible college or seminary, who has done nothing in his life, except take over when his preacher father died, who smiles and jokes his way through his “sermon-ettes”, mostly for “Christian-ettes”, seemingly does not know who will go to heaven or hell.

KING: Because we’ve had ministers who said, your record don’t count. You either believe in Christ or you don’t. If you believe in Christ, you are, you are going to heaven. And if you don’t, no matter what you’ve done in your life, you ain’t.

OSTEEN: Yeah, I don’t know. There’s probably a balance between. I believe you have to know Christ. But I think that if you know Christ, if you’re a believer in God, you’re going to have some good works. I think it’s a cop-out to say I’m a Christian but I don’t ever do anything

KING: What if you’re Jewish or Muslim, you don’t accept Christ at all?

OSTEEN: You know, I’m very careful about saying who would and wouldn’t go to heaven. I don’t know . . .

KING: If you believe you have to believe in Christ? They’re wrong, aren’t they?

OSTEEN: Well, I don’t know if I believe they’re wrong. I believe here’s what the Bible teaches and from the Christian faith this is what I believe. But I just think that only God will judge a person’s heart. I spent a lot of time in India with my father. I don’t know all about their religion. But I know they love God. And I don’t know. I’ve seen their sincerity. So I don’t know. I know for me, and what the Bible teaches, I want to have a relationship with Jesus.

Dr. Robert Schuller, pastor of the, now bankrupt, Crystal Cathedral, believes that anyone and everyone will go to heaven. Rick Warren, pastor of the “believe anything” Saddleback Church in California, believes it is a matter of thinking good things and doing good works, a part of the emergent church movement.

This past weekend, just a few miles from my home, a large tent meeting called the Wild Goose Festival, attracting thousands with such modernist, liberal religionists as Brian McLaren, Jay Bakker (gay son of Jimmy and Tammy), Shane Claibourne, and musicians such as David Wilcox and Michelle Shocked. The organizers say that they want to distance themselves from the “politicized versions of Christianity.”

One of my friends, Martha, active in this new-age, new-world church movement said to me, “Tom, God loves these people as much as He loves us.” I said to her, “Martha, Christ died for everyone. To the Cross He took all the sins of the world, all the sicknesses of the world, but it is our privilege to follow Him, not Him follow us. He has told us that if we love Him, we will keep His commandments. He preached Himself. 14 times in the book of John alone, we are told that we can know we are saved. He is the truth, the way, the life.” (John 14:6) Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. (1 John 3:1)

Some Will Understand

I sleep with my window open at night. Until someone can prove otherwise, I believe that the secret to good health is fresh air in the lungs and nutritious calories in the body. Near me, a homosexual hodge-podge of gays and lesbians have a cookout at their house on Friday nights. As I lay starving, the aroma of grilled steaks drift into my room. Accompanying this aroma: bellicose laughter, flamboyant cursing, using our precious Lord's name in vain. I have never understood why these lost people always preface every Satanic sentence with “Oh God!”

I have attended several country clubs in my time (private clubs, fraternal groups, etc.). One of my friends who often was invited to local country club said, “one of the more prominent 'Perle Mesta'-types would walk around the elitist groups saying, 'I wonder what the poor folks are doing?'”

Why is it is none of my business how other people spend their money? As a Methodist bishop told me one time, “it is none of my business how Methodists spend their money.” Most will never understand the importance of self-denial, because they do not believe in denying self regarding anything. Those of us with the money to pamper ourselves take much more pleasure in denying self for the benefit of others. Our blessed Lord said, “if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)

It was a shocking revelation to this country boy when I learned about the real difference between classes of people...the fraternity house, “rush week”, “big I little u” mentality. It was at the university that I realized the powerbrokers of the world take care of their own. The university furnished an academic “concierge” to make sure that the sons and daughters of the state's elite are coiffured with good grades, professorial interest, and everything that money and political power can arrange.

Today is the beginning of the Bohemian Grove July encampment in California. There is a 2,700 “pied-a-terre” near San Francisco where, annually, the elitists of the world (former US Presidents and other world leaders, industrialists, bankers, academicians) gather from their summer snoozing, boozing and cruising. At this two week retreat, families are not allowed, only men, all trying to impress one another. This retreat is where the Manhattan Project was started, leading to the atomic bomb. President Richard Nixon who attended several of these Bohemian Grove events said that it was the “most faggy thing you could ever imagine” and that he wouldn't shake hands with any one from San Francisco.

Despite the connotations and denotations of the groups and the groupies, like the local country club, the college fraternity, the fraternal order, many small minds still consider it a big thing to be included with those who discriminate. It gives some people a superior feeling to “step up” with those who “cut down” others

The Yellowstone Country Club is the world's most expensive, elitist country club. The initiation fee for Yellowstone is $250,000, the annual membership - $20,000, the average home near the club about $4 million. Members such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Ted Turner enjoy the many acres, ski lifts, etc. News sources have uncovered that the founder borrowed $375 million against the interests of the club and took $209 million for his trouble. There was a time that the foibles of the rich and famous could be hid for a while but Wikileaks, Anonymous, and hacking in general have exposed international crime and rich criminals to cleansing sunlight.

Most of the grasping for high political office, grabbing by wall street profiteers involved the incessant hunger to be included in this type world-class, superiority-complex hiatus. Can one even imagine that there are those who feel their life is only complete by spending and spreeing?...hundreds of dollars for a meal, hundreds for drinks, impressive iconic vehicles, homes, biography. I have known so many who think that it makes them look superior to hang around people and places that they think are superior. Get real, the thrill of living, livelihood, comes from transforming, not conforming (Romans 12:2).

I go to a thrift store hoping that God has led one of these wealthy people to leave his little-worn, labeled “duds” for me to a buy at a fretful price. The wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. (Proverbs 13:22) I do not own one article of clothing that was not bought in a thrift store. Every time I leave the house I always have on a dress shirt and a nice silk tie, but I do not own one dress shirt or tie for which I have paid more than 25 cents.

At my own father's funeral my wealthy sister said to me, “that is a beautiful suit you have on.” I pull back the coat, showing her the Saks Fifth Avenue label and said, “yes, I paid $5 for this suit.” She said, “I cannot believe you would wear a $5 suit to your father's funeral, as hard as that man worked for you to have the very best clothing!” It is true that my parents clothed us real well, but she had already told me what a beautiful suit I had on, and my father was very proud of the fact that his son knew how to hold onto a dollar, invest wisely and give more to God's Work than all of us together had ever made.

Some of us know the thrill of the chase: finding bargains, getting a good buy from a radio classified program, a good buy from the sales papers at the grocery store or otherwise, buying anything (building, vehicle, fixer-upper). I do not have any piece of furniture in my house that was not bought second-hand, restored, or refurbished...beautiful wood, classical china, silver.

Recently, the local country club decided to assess it members many thousands of dollars in order to redecorate the country club. My banker tells me that some members were desperate to borrow funds, they would not dare let their well-heeled fellow members think that they could not pay the assessment.

The vicissitudes, quells and qualms of life, involve what is important to you. If you spend your life as an impostor, pretending, whether in spiritual or physical matters, you are headed for a life of misery. My friend in the retail clothing business told me about how many women in town would buy a dress on Friday, wear it to a party on the weekend and bring the dress back on Monday, “they had decided it did not fit them well and the color was not right for her. At least she remembered where to put the price tags.”

The love of God never flows in the life of the unbeliever. Idolaters, self-centered, weak people more concerned with what others think of them, than what God knows about them. I said to a fancy matron, floating around the church, “why is this church important to you?” She said, “because the right people come here, it is not because of a Jew born in a stable.”

The Difference One Person Can Make

Now 71 years of age, actress-comedian Lily Tomlin said recently, “when I was young, I really wanted to be someone, now I wish I had been more specific.”

God can work through anything to achieve His purpose. In my lifetime, I have seen the world change completely. At one time, things that were a matter of class, decency, etiquette are now supported only through laws. This very morning, with my real estate representative and my assistant, I inspected a large rental unit that was occupied for 4 years by a large group of psychologists, a practice with expertise in eating disorders. These Ph.Ds, competent specialists who at one time in history would consider themselves head and shoulders above the rest of us because of their education and training, moved out of my building taking with them a beautiful oriental carpet from the hardwood reception room floor. As my assistant loaded other carpets from my house to take to the building, I said, “it has never ceased to amaze me how many times this type thing has happened with people who should know better, who are supposed to set an example.”

This past week, Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees hit his 3,000th home run. A young man by the name of Christian Lopez retrieved the ball. Dealers in memorabilia speculated that the ball could be sold for up to $500,000, but instead this young man presented the ball to Derek Jeter. It has been learned that this young man owes $100,000 in student loans, and still lives at home. Lopez is being whacked by the government for $14,000 in taxes for the memorabilia the Yankees management gave him for being so generous with the ball. Where is the generosity of Mr. Jeter, a man who make millions?

One of the most dangerous human exploits: escaping the tyranny of North Korea (estimated that 2000+ enter South Korea a year). Much money is made on these escapes, must be kept totally secret, technological miracles. Those North Koreans brave enough to make the attempt usually carry a poison capsule with them because they had rather die of poisoning than be captured and return to North Korea.

In this life-long question of man's inhumanity to man, the effect of just one solitary life, we think of the man Joseph Stalin, who was responsible for the death of over 100 million Russians. There was a time when we said, “the death of his fellow Russians”, but we now know that Stalin was not Russian, he was from the Ukraine. Like Mao was responsible for the death of millions of his fellow Chinese, Hitler for the death of millions of his fellow Germans, but usually national genocide is due to someone on the outside.

There is a tremendous difference between a citizen and a nationalized citizen. We know now that Obama is not a nationalized American citizen, there are so many cowards in American government that few, if any, will challenge the fake/forged birth certificate. The world knows about the efforts to cover up his true identity, and eventually it will all come out. In the meantime, like Simon & Garfunkel's Slip Sliding Away, our nation along with any essence of integrity slides down the drain. Those who voted for this mafioso impostor have cost our nation, not only in internal strength, but in international financial standing (in 30 months, $5 trillion in increased debt).

The ridiculous aspects of Obama healthcare, the misery in travel through the TSA, the regulation and terrorism of living through NHS (Homeland Security). It is not just a matter of destroying jobs (mortgage industry, automobile industry), but such impossible to believe tactics as an ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms) program that intentionally let guns flow over the border into Mexico -- and into the hands of criminals -- in order to track drug cartels. The southern border of America, Juarez, Mexico, the most dangerous place in the world (2,500 drug-related deaths in 2010).

In America, prisons are now colleges for crime. 91% of the world's heroin supply comes from Afghanistan where America “supposedly” is in charge. We are a country that has given the world the greatest engineers, scientists, doctors, musicians, writers, religious leaders, we have proudly worn the uniform in support of our constitutional ideas. Yet, at the veteran's cemetery in Houston, Texas, it is against the law to mention God or Jesus Christ in a veteran's burial (Liberty Institute representing the Veterans of Foreign Wars, The American Legion Post, and the National Memorial Ladies).

The real genius of Christ's ministry was its simplicity. The real genius of technology, even hard work, is its simplicity. Silence is defense around wisdom, the silence around America's problems is deafening, particularly from the state-controlled news media. The real genius of living is in preparing. Someone, one person in one chair, is responsible for most of the world's problems. One person in one chair, is responsible for the bad decisions involving you and your country. Patriotism, like pastoring, like parenting, is not complex, it just involves the difference one person can make in doing the right thing.

Raising the Indifferent

C.S. Lewis said it best, “a man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.”

This writer is tired of dealing with those who profess Christ and yet, by every word from their lips, every action, show that they do what they do because they believe what they believe. They believe that they can fool God, and certainly by fooling God, they can fool one another. God is real, worth everything or nothing. If one believes that God is real, that the holy spirit of Christ dominates his life, then every fiber of his being, every cell of his body is separated and consecrated to God. There must be a purity of spiritual expression.

John Bunyan, writer of perhaps the world's greatest book, A Pilgrim's Progress, refused to submit to the world. He was told that in order to preach, he must sign his name, asking for a permit. He refused to do so, spending years in prison squalor. He could have left at any time if he had yielded to the dictates of man, the piece of paper it was necessary for him to sign was just outside of his cell door. Instead, he wrote one of the greatest pieces of Christian literature.

Modern man is increasingly secular. Black liberation theology focuses on equality, but it has fallen because the Christian church does not maintain any type equality/fairness. Skin color is not mentioned in the Bible; rich, poor, smart, or ignorant, we hang our very bodies and souls on the mercies of God, He is boss, He demands trust. Many enter the baptismal pool and do not realize what has happened in their life. Many partake of the Lord's supper and have no idea of what they are doing. Many enter the prayer closet, and do not understand the power involved. In the prayer closet, labels on your clothes manufactured and made all over the world, you learn about missions. Many never learn concern for others, even love of neighbor, even love of one's own family.

I have written several times about assisting my best friend, another Army medical officer, with his obstetrics duties at an Army hospital where we were stationed. It was with him that I saw the horrors of abortion, the most sickening sight the eye can behold. Late one night, one of his patients called, in labor. He did not think there was time to get her into the hospital, so he took me along with the ambulance to the house. It was this 22 year-old mother's first child, and the labor went on for a long time. I, more or less, watched these two trained medics work amid her screams. The thing that amazed me most, and I will never forget, her young husband, sitting the adjoining room, watching a bloody, murder mystery on television. His whole interest was in the movie, never paid one second of attention to the painful birth of his child. I thought, God must have a stockpile of vengeance in His arsenal, not only for this world, but for the one to come.

Truth is the determining factor in our lives. How do you convince anyone that it was not necessary for Christ to die on the cross, that the dynamism involved in any seed is not necessary? How does anyone study secular or temporal history without knowing that life revolves around sowing and reaping?

You fool yourself with tales of biblical mythology at your own risk. History, geography, prophecy, to this very day, is built around the blood of any innocent lamb placed around the door at the first Jewish passover. Some might laugh at the Nile turning to blood, flies covering everything, frogs covering everything, but the death angel passing over the doorposts of the homes with the blood, the first born of man and animal otherwise being killed. This is not a matter of juxtaposition or compromise. Real Christians understand ruin and redemption.

My experience, those who doubt, those who refuse to believe, God does not react according to their plan...why should the wicked prosper, good people suffer? Through trials and tribulations, we are brought closer to Him. Once you make your decision for Him, you can be sure of your testing. If you have not been tried yet, just wait, your tribulations/testing are on the way. The church always progresses in times of trial, persecution. The church in communist China is growing faster than in any other place in the world because of persecution.

This doctor, who worked his way through school; this veteran, who lives every day, totally blind knows about dependence on God. I must have been around 8 years of age, raised in poverty on a eastern North Carolina tobacco farm. We had the genes from old, established families, owned wonderful farm land, but went through the trials of drought like everyone else. It was one very dry year, the crops had dried up in the fields, there was no water in the wells. I remember hearing my hard-working, God-fearing, taxpaying father, the hardest working man I have ever known, leader in the church, leader in the community, on his knees in the corn crib talking to God, “Lord, you know how bad we need rain, the crops are drying up, the animals in the woods are perishing. I see rabbits and birds lying on the ground, dead from thirst. You know how hard Sally and the children have worked in the fields. Without rain we will have nothing. Please send your showers and relieve this drought.”

The rains came, they always came after prayer and destitute need. At the university, I was totally out of money, hungry. God told me in words I could easily understand that there was loose change which had fallen out of pockets in the large chairs in the Medical School library in which I was working.

The time for raising the indifferent toward Christianity, spirituality, prayer and God's mercies is now. Many people have said that old people always thought that times were bad. History tells us that times have never been worse than now. Traveling the world, the difference in the poverty-stricken countries and America: in America there was always the opportunity for improvement; in the destitute countries, always destitution, never any chance for improvement. But, even the destitute were not indifferent

Tests of Manhood

The last year for which I can get a figure, over $412 billion was spent in America on advertising. Of course, we know that almost $1 billion of that amount was spent to elect the man who is in the White House now, which, if nothing else, shows the effectiveness of advertising. Advertising is used in so many ways: the t-shirts which people wear, banners hanging across the street.

The two most effective advertising words are “free” and “sale”. I have one catalog which features nothing except for sale signs on every page, every size, every imaginable color. With enough money and enough advertising and you can be successful in any type endeavor. Hitler said his minister of propaganda had the ability to make a circle into a square, and a square into a circle.

Advertising is nothing more than a pressure to conform, and very few are strong enough to fight the urge. (Romans 12:2) I have been told that when fishing for crabs, you the put crabs into a bucket, and if one tries to escape by crawling up the side of the bucket, the others will reach up and pull him back down. Within self is a great fear of not conforming, you will have your inner most doubts about yourself and even your manhood. Cutting me like a knife, being called a “sissy” as a young boy because I would not sink into the quicksand of sin and temptation as did others. One does not want to be called different, we all want to be accepted/popular. In the college dormitory, when all the others were drunk, cursing, playing with fire extinguishers in the hallways, making a pigpen for someone to clean, even then, I did not like to be referred to as different.

The meanest, most irascible, ne'er-do-well boys in school, were always the most attractive to the girls. The girls thought they were so cute, they loved their acrid, cursing tongues, their intemperate attitude towards their fellow man, their jokes about the disabled, even their own parents: “my old man”, “my old lady”. It was considered weird to be different, to be ambitious, most of all to be Christian. A man with an ego, a man who thinks he is so exceptional can be easily compromised (a “sell-out”). Where family identity is strong, peer pressure will be weak; next to your eternal salvation, your most precious personal possession is your genetics. My mother always told her boys before they left the house, “don't forget who you are.”

I heard General Colin Powell, speaking at a Republican National Convention say, “shame is a lost word.” As a totally blind, 100% disabled veteran I learned long ago that “concern” is also a lost word in most vocabularies. I don't believe it is possible to shame anyone anymore about anything. If the girl of a family cannot be shamed about pregnancy without being married, if the son of the family cannot be ashamed about an arrest for illegal drugs, if the father of a family, the father of children, cannot be ashamed by an adulterous affair with an employee (John Edwards, Jesse Jackson, Bill Clinton, etc.), if the mother of a family, the mother of children, cannot be shamed with her name appearing as a corrupt politician (Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, Maxine Waters, etc.)...IF as in most cases, the well-worn news mantra “lets move on” applies to everything, all the time, then there is little redemption for society.

If a culture which at one time called itself Christian (even the Supreme court called this nation Christian) cannot see the evil in the killing of children (genocide, abortion), the evil in same-sex marriage (gay agenda), the evil in excessive taxation ($14.4 trillion debt), the evil of financially protracted warfare (Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya), the horrendous killing and wounding of innocent woman, children, elderly, animals, then younger generations will think be fooled into thinking that nothing is wrong.

When the proletariat masses of the world see the intelligentsia/elitist opinion-molding leaders of the world, grabbing at every tentacle of evil, they think that evil is good and acceptable because the greatest advertisement for wrongness is its capture of rightness. “How can sin be bad when it feels so good?” “How can unhealthy food be bad when it tastes so good?” “How can illicit, cruel lyrics be bad when they sound so good?” “How can satanic forces of evil be tempting and sensational when they look so good?”

I have found in a long active life that the greatest fear of most people, a fear greater than the fear of death or hunger, is the fear of not being loved/accepted by the world. Most women feel that their appreciation from a man comes from them dressing like a street whore. Most men feel that they must speak, act, show all the animus of the world in order to be accepted or successful as a street hustler. Believe me, more so than the fear of war, fire, disability, is the fear of rejection. The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death. (Proverbs 14:27) The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe. (Proverbs 29:25)

Learn concern for what God knows about you, not for what people might think about you. Forget that age-old umbrella we have all been covered with from youth up, “what will people think?” Who cares what people think! Concern yourself with what God knows, He does not stockpile His vengeance. He Is Boss. You can trust that He will take care of everything.

Attitude Adjustment

Traveling around the world, a total of 120 million miles (4,600 orbits of the earth), the space shuttle Atlantis, the fourth operational space shuttle in the NASA fleet, is about to make its last mission. Today, Atlantis is sitting on the launching pad, ready to explore the stratosphere on a long last trip. From 1958 to 2008, NASA was budgeted a total of $470 billion to investigate outer space. For the professionals and technicians of the space program, space became their big playground. More support would have arisen for NASA from the average “earthworm” (American citizens struggling to survive from the crumbs who have fallen from the table of their own hardwork and the diligence of others) if there had been more developments from this expense. Now, there is more sickness on earth than ever before, more poverty than ever before, more warfare now than ever before. The space program has given good lives...fame, fortune, fantasy, to a very select group.

What else is new? With the advent of the movie house, television, Carl Sagan, science has become theatre. I lost interest in science many years, canceled my membership in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The scientist became much more interested in the package deal provided by the university, book publisher, grants from the government and elsewhere, than actual research and discovery. The scientific method, scientific thrill, research, discovery and progress, gave way to the good life...tenure, vacations, and perks.

As the young officer learns fast in the military, promotions in all fields of endeavor...campus departments, government commissions, commercial hierarchy, is more attributable to what the chief officers wife thinks of you than your actual ability. Particularly, if the well-heeled, well-connected can bed you down. There was a time when we thought these things only happened in Hollywood, but it happens everywhere. In one Army hospital, the chief of each department readily admitted that he had bedded down the commander's wife... the commander, a festooned perishing drunk. Have you ever consider how many young men Potiphar's wife bedded down before Joseph of the Old Testament? (Genesis 39)

This writer had advanced in many organizations until he got near the top. Towards the top I found that most organizations...it makes no difference whether political, religious, fraternal, or professional...those at the top just use the prestige, power and funds of the organization as their own playground. Again, the “earthworms” at the bottom, just of value in working to supply the funds.

I had become vice president of one professional group. We held all meetings in a governor's suite in a large hotel, the best morsels of food were hauled up elevators and lavishly served to those who had made the professional climb. I once heard a famous pastor talk about having dinner with Oral Roberts (President of Oral Roberts University) and his wife Evelyn in their suite at an expensive hotel. I find those who talk most about servitude, gratitude, are the first to enjoy the fruits of others. The politician, the pastor, the professional (scientist, educator) know before they make the advancement or run for public office, that there are costs involved, if not able or willing to pay the price, don't start the march.

I was always as careful with other's money (membership dues, contributions, taxes) as with my own funds. I paid my own way to everything and it did not bother me to economize by eating frugally in the cheapest places around. As an officer in a fraternal group, expected to attend certain conferences, I insisted on sharing rooms, expenses, why should the bank account of member's dues be used as my cushion of comfort?

I once asked the president of a large professional group, “how do you determine your out-of-pocket expenses on a trip for the organization? I know you have hotel receipts, flight receipts, etc.” I had noticed that he was out buying gifts for his family. He said, “ I count the cash in my wallet before I leave, and what is there before I return, everything else is a business expense.” Obviously, he used his accomplishments as president of the group to his financial advantage. The same man told me to make sure he was given a sterling silver tea service at the conclusion of his term. Still, once in a long time, someone gets caught (Wilbur Mills, John Edwards).

Comedy is tragedy + time. A bend is funny, but a break is tragic. A superior can go to an office party, get to drinking and act like a fool, and this is considered funny, but a person of limited intelligence, limited mental ability, very sober, acting like a fool is tragic.

In this politically correct world, where the state-controlled news media spends their time defending the elitists, especially those who make fools of themselves. The world has become a playground for the greedy, a place of struggle for the needy. Like the scientists, everyone is afraid of the peer-review of those in authority, the scientist ventures no further than the accepted procedure, the pastor, so afraid to offend Satan, the politician wanting everything studied by a specialist for blame control. Human beings still think we thrive best in a sanitized playground, but it is interferences, infections from the toxins of the world that give us immunity. Stay willing to learn, even junk science, even late night radio, comics and cartoons, can give insight. Get ready for an attitude adjustment.

Masquerade Party

Otto von Habsburg, 98, the eldest son and last survivor of the Habsburg Austrian dynasty died on July 4th. His life had been spent as a stalwart of western civilization, a giant of the Christian faith, an opponent of Nazism and Communism.

The irrevocable, irrefutable, truth of Christianity: God is no respecter of persons. (Acts 10:34) Faith in God is the greatest wealth a human life can possess. Whether the apostle Paul in a prison cell in Rome or Dietrich Bonhoeffer approaching the hanging gallows in Poland, faith is either worth everything or worth nothing. Faith is a verb; action based on belief, sustained by confidence. We do what we do because we believe what we believe. Most of our actions, whether physical, mental, financial, or political, are based on confidence.

The mystery of the ages, the beautiful, priceless cathedrals all throughout Europe; beautiful priceless temples and churches throughout America, great stained glass windows, the most expensive musical instruments, all built supposedly as places of worship for the Creator God in Whom we have trust and confidence. Do we really believe in what we are doing, at a place of worship or anywhere else, when we show so little confidence? Are many “believers” wasting their time, in holy hypocrisy or milky meandering?

Someone looked at a picture of this writer from when I was a small boy, they noticed that there was a Christian cross on the lapel of my coat. I said, “we were real, believing, happy Christians.” I have been searching for years for another Christian cross to proudly wear on my lapel. You no longer find believers wearing crosses, seldom find a cross displayed in a church building. Happy, proud, and unmistaken in their commitment, in Catholic schools, crosses are displayed in every classroom.

The church that I attended as a youngster, because of my continued giving to the church, includes me in their telephone message service. The phone rang, and the pastor announced that because of the heavy rains, the Wednesday night prayer service has been canceled. My cousins, who still live in that area of the state, where the large farms on which me and my ancestors were reared are located, had told me of this summer's drought, the crops drying up in the fields. There was a time in the history of the church, a time when the attendants at prayer meetings would have been greater than ever because of thankfulness for the coming of rain.

How well I remember as a young child, the long dry spells, crops drying-up in the fields, thirsty farm and forest animals. My father would go around the community and tell everyone that they were gathering at the church to pray for rain. Even cousin Bob Scott, the family “land hog” (men who purchased every farm they could in a community), who never went to church at any other time, would show up at the church when they were praying for rain.

I well remember one of my aunts carrying her umbrella, so great was her faithfulness. She like the others, knew that their prayers would be answered, and with a complete change in outward countenance, smiles on their faces, a new sprite in their walking, they returned to the church to thank God for the outpouring of water. I have written about it many times, how when the rains came, even the farm animals (chickens, hogs, mules, cows) showed a new attitude in their living. The frogs in the pastor croaked louder, the birds in all the fruit trees sang louder, and most of all, the saints in God's house sang louder as they proclaimed His faithfulness.

If Christians really believed what they should believe, what they profess to believe, the world would not be in the condition it is in today. The unbelievers would want a taste of this all-satisfying nectar which we call Christianity. The truth is that most are just playing games with God, wanting to believe, attempting to believe, but because they have never been willing to throw their hearts into the consuming zeal, have never gotten there. Much like Peter in the jail at Philippi, the Christians were at John Mark's mother's house praying for Peter's release; God shook the prison, the shackles came off and God's angel escorted Peter out of the open prison gates. Peter was knocking at the door where the prayer meeting was going on, a girl named Roda came to answer the knocking at the door, but like most young, untrusting Christians, she turned around and went back in the house, not believing what her eyes had seen.

When I walked down the streets of Jerusalem, the streets of Bethlehem, Damascus, Rome, and many of the other beautiful holy spots of the world, the thought kept occurring to me, “with all the history of Christianity, with the beauty of God's world, with the revelation of sin's ruin and Christ's redemption, why is it so difficult for an unbelieving world to believe?” Perhaps there is a greater challenge in play acting, puppeteering, masquerading than in living and believing the real truth.

From 1952 until 1960, a very popular television game show entitled Masquerade Party, a character dressed in costume and make-up, would try to fool a panel of judges by answering yes-or-no questions. The challenge was to ascertain the true identity of the impostor-pretender. It is long past time for God's children to stop pretending, masquerading.

On those same farms, in that same community, where that same church is located and where generations of families have sought guidance, when plowing in the field, you kept your hands on the plow, looked straight ahead at the target/goal. One did not have to look backwards to see where you had been, the farrow would have been straight because you were going in a straight direction.

Existentialism

Every one of us, whether a young child or a person of advanced age, ages as the same rate. Each of us has 86400 seconds in our day, and in each one of these seconds the United States borrows another $33,330 (about $3.5 billion a day). We are each drawn into an existential world-view, trying to keep from being cynical as we seeking to gain the meaning the life. So many are just indifferent; thank God for those trying to make a difference...service, gratitude, faithfulness.

There are about 4.6 billion cellphones in use around the world, even young children have their own private phone. In the some of the world's poorest countries (Bangladesh, India, etc.) human beings who own nothing else have a cellphone. Members of my family, Southern Baptist missionaries, tell me that in Asia almost everyone is talking on a cellphone.

4 years ago, I asked one of my employees to investigate cellphones for me to purchase. I found out very quickly that a blind person cannot use a cellphone...impossible to dial, it is already hard enough with a regular phone. We did find out that a blind person could use a voice-controlled cellphone. I called the appropriate government authorities at the Federal Communications Commission in Washington and talked with them about blind citizens being left out of the cell phone market. The blind, like other disabled citizens, are supposed to be represented in Washington by these highly-paid organizations, but I have found, in a long life of dealing with these “do-gooder” groups that their only interest is their salary. The lawyers at FCC agreed with me and said they would present the problem to the cellphones manufacturers (Panasonic, Motorola, Nokia). Of course, I knew, as you have already surmised, that nothing would be done because the manufacturers of anything, whether cellphones or hamburgers, are only concerned with the bottom line. This nation's largest minority, the disabled, do not contribute very much to the bottom line of industry. Lets face it, in this world of existentialism, self is the only thing of importance. We live in a “me” culture.

Since 9/11, $4.4 trillion US dollars has been spent on wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya...warfare, bombing, protection of protesters, “all for humanitarian reasons”. The state-controlled news media will not give you a look behind the curtain, where elitists know about the great wealth in mineral deposits found in Afghanistan, the great wealth in oil found in Iraq and Libya, the great wealth in rare earth elements found around the Arctic circle where more and more war activity will be centered. As we find daily in Somalia, Pakistan, North Africa, not boots on the ground, but horrendous war activity involving drones and robots. Certainly, you have also noticed that it is only the mourning of western lives, (so many American lives lost), never an accounting of the lost lives in the decimated country.

In 1935, Major General Smedley Butler wrote the book War Is a Racket. This marine, twice winner of the Medal of Honor, veteran of the Spanish-American War, the Philippine-American war, the Boxer Rebellion, the Banana Wars, the Mexican Revolution, and WWI, this man, unlike many cowardly “history sophisticates” knew about the Americans who enriched themselves from the wealth of the Third Reich. It has been reported about how the Bush family laundered Hitler's money, about Rockefeller-Standard Oil globalist oil dealings, Dupont/ IG Farben (produced synthetics to keep Hitler's war machine going for 5 years, synthetic formulas now in the hands of American industry). It has always been the same, nothing has changed, particularly in time of war, the rich get richer, the sons and daughters of the poor pay the price.

A 20 year old drug dealer in the local prison, a 20 year-old young woman prostitute, selling her body on the street, a middle-aged couple living in government housing, government welfare checks (Medicaid, subsidized lifestyle), the Democrat party makes sure that people like these vote in every election. The vote of these people count just as much as the vote of the decorated, disabled veteran. The hard-working, taxpaying, God-fearing family who have denied self, shopped with coupons, worked their way through college, been conservative in politics, lifestyle, healthcare, are much less likely to gain any of the rewards of citizenship than the illegal alien or those who have thrown their lives away and accepted none of the responsibility or opportunity for living in this democratic republic.

Our ancestors would never believe, even those politicians of yesteryear would never believe, that deceived voters put an impostor in the White House (a man who offered a poorly forged birth certificate, no trace of college transcripts, using a social security number issued to another man in 1890, false identity even with the house he professes to own in Chicago). Throughout Biblical and secular history, there has been a paper trail of political corruption. But, just think, Judicial Watch's 10 most corrupt politicians in Washington DC (B. Boxer, R. Emanuel, B. Frank, J. Jackson, B. Obama, N. Pelosi, C. Rangel, H. Rogers, M. Waters; all Democrats except for Rogers).

I submit this as irrefutable evidence, I have traveled around the earth 8 times, passport stamped in 157 countries (even a blind person becomes aware of many things): in every totalitarian country, there is a change of class, a grubby feeling. You will note that the people are different in their attitudes, just an instinct of survival. I ask my sighted acquaintances if they can notice a different in the appearance of American towns and cities: lack of upkeep, neglect of the infrastructure, citizens no longer showing pride in dress, appearance, no longer putting forth the best version of themselves. It happens slowly, but it is happening, a metamorphosis right before your very senses. As America becomes a totalitarian-controlled, politically correct, pastorally dysfunctional, indifferent, heartless political entity, we have lost an existential wealth which will be hard to reclaim.

The American dream has gone into a coma, the secular media has become a lying machine, you cannot believe anything you hear, facts or figures anymore. You cannot make decisions from false information. The economy of any person, any entity, any country, is built on confidence, and one does not invest in a person or an industry unless some confidence is shown. If you have confidence in the government of America you need to have your head examined. There is nothing going on in Washington, and most other places that gives one any confidence. I do not know how one survives without faith. Remember, when all else fails, faith is action based on belief, sustained by confidence.

Zastrozzi

Zastrozzi is a gothic novel by Percy Shelley, published in 1810. The leading character, Zastrozzi was the epitome of irresponsible self-indulgence, a crucible of savage thoughts from a diseased brain. The crux of his mental torture: not being able to comprehend the connotations and denotations involving simple truth.

Truth, the searchable treasure of the ages. From man's earliest paleontological history, tablets on which was written the knowledge of that age...cuneiform script was used in early Sumerian history. Today, libraries containing millions of volumes of the world's knowledge (the British Library contains 150 million items, 13 million books), all of the world's knowledge, online, right at your fingertips.

For those smart enough to comprehend, Jesus said that He is the truth (John 17:17). God has told us that if we seek wisdom, we can find it. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. (James 1:5). This totally blind, 100% disabled, service-connected, medical officer veteran of the Korean conflict, with all my limitations, is ALWAYS able to comprehend the wisdom of God.

The truth, so simple to understand; the honor of work, employment in whatever area, opportunity, responsibility, budgeting, not spending more than you make, saving your money, learning to make money with money. In this democratic republic, the individual blessed with courage and common sense can go as far as the risk he is willing to take. Until the 21^st century, in America, there was little limitation on the ambition of the individual; now, a national attitude of totalitarian control. Welfare mentality is the disease that has afflicted several generations.

The truth, so simple to understand, the morality, integrity, spiritual reality of the Christian life. How can one refute/compromise humility, gratefulness, faithfulness, the Christian fruit of the spirit of one's holy life. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23) How is it possible that the liberal, communist, atheist can challenge such truth? Yet they do. Why do so many young people, even those from supposedly Christian homes, leave the church? (75% of all young people raised in Christian homes, raised in the church, leave the church after college, most never to return) Is it because they want the truth and have not found truth in their church and in their home? Intelligent young people know that spiritual Christianity does not rest in the same category as magic. When the church condones and even features such heresy as the Easter bunny, Christmas trees, gay marriage, gay pastors, bishops, a blind eye towards abortion (murder of the most innocent of life) support for corruption and decadence in government (churches, especially evangelicals and Baptists, supported the decadent Democrat party for over 100 years). The truth is, that if Christian churches and parents support idolatry/hypocrisy, young people, bright young minds, want no part of it.

At the end of life, mature and healthy, you want more than seduction and disease. The real values of life: morality, integrity, sincerity, values that even the world recognizes. As so many who have forsaken both their country and church have told me, “I may not be right, but I want my country to be right. I may not be right, but I want my church to be right.”

Character determines destiny, and it does not take much character to be angry at the world...greedy, lustful, lazy or proud. Who is fooling who? The one looking back at you in the mirror knows more about your character than anyone else.

The truth, the difference in Americans and people in other parts of the world (and I have traveled the world, every continent, passport stamped in 157 countries): Americans can achieve anything they want to achieve, no matter how poor, regardless of ancestry, in spite of skin color. In the rest of the world, poor people are destined to remain poor, destined to never realize their goals even though you are of good character.

The crowning glory of mankind is his nervous system, his mind, his ability to reason. Other animals are far superior in other respects (the muscles of the feline, the eyes of the avian, nose of the canine, digestive system of the equine). In a politically correct cauldron of “anything goes”, “if it feels good do it”, “government knows best”, I would advise Zastrozzi and you to capture the simplicity wisdom of the ages, with the eclismic, unlimited mind.

Flagellation

The whistle sounded at the saw mill; lunch time. Two saw mill workers, Joe and Jim took their lunch boxes out under a shade tree. Jim opened his lunch box and said, “two baloney sandwiches. I can't stand baloney sandwiches.” Joe said to Jim, “why don't you tell your wife not to fix you baloney sandwiches?” Jim said, “you know I am not married, I fixed these sandwiches myself.”

Most of our problems are self-imposed: bad habits, addictions, self-flagellation. In New Guinea, I encountered Catholic ceremonies where self-flagellation was inflicted, large welts on the bodies of those who participated.

There is a certain hypocrisy in the celebration of Independence Day for so many Americans. These people have no conception of independence, so dependent are they on government. The government has become their God; science their religion. Many Americans look to government and science for everything, and much to my sorrow, even those who profess to be believers in Jehovah/God have a mantra of doing what they please and still expecting God's blessings. There are conditions in expecting God's blessings. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. (James 4:7-10)

One of the greatest heresies among today's Christian young people: playing church, walking the aisle, perhaps even entering the Baptismal pool and then living as the world. Dressing, speaking, acting like the world and then expecting the blessings of God. Go to any local night club on Saturday night, watch the dress, the music, the language; then, go to a nearby church on Sunday morning...there is little difference in dress, music, language. Jesus himself told us, “if ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) We are told on no uncertain terms that whether therefore ye eat, drink, whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31) Many so-called Christians have the audacity to call themselves Democrats, Democrats become more liberal, but never more conservative. Even Republicans are apt to become more liberal than more conservative.

There are two classes of Republicans, the social liberals and the conservatives. The social liberals, such as the Rockefellers, will quaver and quiver about same-sex marriage and abortion. In the recent New York gay marriage fiasco, because of back-room dealings, four Catholic Republicans (Saland, Grisanti, McDonald, Alesi) were bought up with Bloomberg and Soros money. They were promised social-financial rescue in their next election. Of course, the age-old excuse of “fairness toward gays” was used. They conveniently forgot about fairness towards the innocent, helpless unborn.

You cannot separate the Declaration of Independence from the Constitution. Abraham Lincoln did a perfect job of combining both in his Gettysburg Address. Every time I feel the old cast-iron fireplace cooking pot here in my house, an ancestral heirloom which I have kept, I think of the hardship and heartache they endured while attempting to establish homes and families in this land of the free, home of the brave. All they asked for was independence, opportunity, and responsibility. They did not want dependence on anyone or from anyone.

Babylon fell because of the drunken debauchery of its leaders, so did Greece with the drunken debauchery of Alexander the Great. At the time of the worst government the world has ever known, the Roman empire with all of its excesses and decadence, a country preacher walked around the Sea of Galilee with 12 uneducated followers, their passion changed the world...every check, every legal document is dated because of His birth. They gave us the example which to our great heritage, our ancestors pursued on the American shores. We must rediscover what they had. They would, by today's standards, be considered radicals.

Not flagellation, just discipline, get rid of some things in your life, so you can enjoy the true American dream. The first thing should be the television set in your house, poisoning you and your children's minds. The lead in the pencil of the citizenship is conservatism in everything you do. We do what we do because we believe what we believe. Allow yourself to do liberal things and you become a believer in liberalism. In this very town, two lesbians living together took in a young, good-looking, bisexual male. The three married one another, a bi-sexual threesome marriage. Now, the two lesbians, both professional women, have children at home for the male to nurture.

Like the Einsatzgruppen troops of the SS, used by Hitler in WWII to neutralize/exterminate “undesirables”, the world refused to believe in such until it became a well-documented truth. What will it take for Americans to realize what is going on in their country? Morally, ethically, and spiritually, the divine Architect of the universe will change lives. The spirit of service, the spirit of survival, the spirit of hard-work are gifts from God and no one can take them away.

Independence Day 2011

Since 1777, Americans have celebrated the Fourth of July, the birthday of this democratic republic. I have a survey map of the first family farm in Morristown, New Jersey dated 1766. Just think of the difference in this country from then and now!

Here in North Carolina, my family and the community always celebrated the Fourth of July. At the crossroads, the large two-room country school where my ancestors attended school, the entire community celebrated with a Fourth of July picnic. The entire day was spent with ball games in the large ball field next to the school, families visiting one another, local politicians making speeches, and at noon, the tables spread with food. One of my great uncles would hitch up a team of horses and go to the nearest town, where ice was available and bring back ice for the occasion. It was the only time of the year that children could enjoy ice cream, iced tea, milkshakes.

There were two things my parent talked about until they died: the Fourth of July picnic, and Hurricane Hazel which decimated eastern North Carolina in 1954. There were still American flags at my home which were flown around that schoolhouse every July. These were American citizens who loved their country.

This morning I ate breakfast with a WWII veteran of the US Navy. He told me how, as their ship sank in the South Pacific, and the men aboard jumped into the shark-infested waters, their orange life jackets were a perfect target for Japanese riflemen aboard the ships which had sank theirs. Those who survived gave up their life jackets to take their chances with the sharks and the waves. The millions of America's finest who died in our wars, right on up to the present, loved their country.

This Korean war veteran (I am a totally blind, 100% disabled, service-connected medical officer veteran of the Korean conflict), while the Korean war was going on, was hospitalized on the second floor of the Duke Eye Clinic (right across the street from the Veteran's hospital). Protesters of the Vietnam war, mostly UNC-CH and Duke students, were protesting around the VA facility. A black nurse came into my Duke hospital room, told me how much she despised veterans, and spat in my face. Did this woman, or those protesting on the outside, really love their country? For the first time in my lifetime, those in elected office, those who are bureaucrats, and even those who have raised most of today's working class citizens, have never experienced war.

The brightest bulb on the tree usually gets elected to public office, but there is nothing as easy to control as a man with an ego, one who is blind to everything but self. An egotistical person actually feels that he is superior, but he forgets that he is so easy to control, so ready for compromise, so anxious to keep his elected office, so anxious to please everyone. He is just what Satan ordered because Satan knows his weaknesses.

A young man in my town was elected to the legislature. He and his wife, both fresh out of college, courted me from the beginning of his professional and political activity. As he moved up the ladder, as he incited the wrath of more and more people, making enemies, another friend said to me, “you know him best, what are his weaknesses?” I said, “you will have to get this information from someone else.” Another party managed to get the information and he has disappeared; you seldom hear his name anymore

There is a tremendous difference between what you can give to your country and what you can get out of your country. The number of people in elected office who are trying to milk this country for everything they can get is bewildering. One congressman said to me, “there is nothing greater in Washington DC (or Raleigh, NC) than being called 'Mr. Chairman'.” In my limited acquaintances, my limited world view, I have known many titled (ranked) individuals who did not deserve the title (Senator, Congressman, Commissioner, Councilman, Alderman, Mayor, Doctor, Colonel, General, etc.).

History has been written by the blood and sweat of those who only knew honest work and integrity. Our best did not have their names in the newspaper; our best did not live in the largest homes, drive the largest cars, wear the most expensive clothes. The hands of our best, when you would shake them, had known hard work, compassion.

The real patriot, like the real Christian, is always aware of the unreal, the games that people play. Realize that there is little honestly left in the world among men or nations. There are 60 “Sky-watch” facilities (nests) around the world where nations watch the aerial activity of one another. Nations do not trust one another, the powerbrokers of the world's commerce, the secular news, academia do not trust one another. In my youth, there were “fire-watch” towers across eastern North Carolina, just trying to keep up with forest fires...we need such today in this nation as fires race across thousands of acres. During WWII, volunteers scattered across the country watched the skies for planes, volunteers along the coasts watched the oceans for ships or submarines.

Government is slowly shutting down; trust anywhere, any time is hard to find. It was only among those who have given the devotion of their life, those wounded wearing their country's uniform, those willing to deny self to conserve and preserve this republic, that we find trust. 95% of faith and trust is just raw courage. Do we still have the courage to salvage any independence we have left.