Fathers Day and Heros

Nothing between, like worldly pleasure;
Habits of life, though harmless they seem,
Must not my heart from Him e’er sever;
He is my all, there’s nothing between.

There is a balm in Gilead (Jeremaih 8:22). There is a retrovi (rediscovery), magnificence in thinking again of your own father on this fathers day.

My mother and father were singers, at the old family church house, built by my ancestors (1874), They did not just "mumble" the old hymn's, as do most pretending Christians. You could hear them singing above the crowd. Much later in life, in my private practice which I enjoyed for a few years following the military, many members of churches and other communities (and my parents visited churches everywhere), would say to me, "our church revival never got started until your parents came to the meetings, and we could hear them singing."

Perhaps the earliest memory of my own father, was hearing him sing early in the mornings, as he was around the farm, feeding the hogs, work animals, and milking the cows. I can still hear him singing, his favorites, nothing between and, "I'll take my vacation in Heaven." He never took a vacation, in his entire life. He was the workingness man anyone could know. He never had anytime for the "worldly pleasures" of most men such as, hunting, fishing, sports events, he was always busy. could find more work for his sons on a wet day, then most men could find for their boys on a dry day. If nothing else, he would say, "Thomas go to corn-crib and shuck corn." we had a large farm which had been in the family a very long time. Mules or tractor, he would keep us all busy from early morning to darkness. Then, on Saturdays, holidays, he would be up early doing the usual chores (hogs, cows, chickens etc.), and then drive the 5 miles into town, to stand on his feet all day long and cut hair. This he did my entire life. One of the many preachers at his funeral said, "There is no telling how many heads he cut for 10 cents a head during the great depression." Of course his funeral was held at the old family church, with its many additions over the years, which he and my cousins mostly built. I still remember the day that he and I were working on one addition at the church. I was holding up the drywall for him to nail. I said, "why are not others here to help us at the church?" I still remember the tears rolling down his face, as he said, "They don't love our church as much as we do."

Every church member has a 168 hour week. Most think their salvation is adequate just for that one hour on Sunday morning. He believed Christianity involved every hour- second, of every day. Early on Sunday mornings, Winter: building fires in the wood-burning heaters throughout the church. Summer: opening the windows throughout the church in all Sunday school rooms. He would always go the mile to the church to make it comfortable for others. If the weather were so bad that the preacher- pastor could not get there, then he would conduct the service. When I was a child, Church service, only one Sunday a month. But, there was always Sunday school, prayer meetings, visitations, etc. The men of the church were responsible for these services. My father was also chairman of the school board, small- poor country public school. This writer, like his sister and two brothers, like his parents- grand-parents went to this same school for 12 years. I still remember the principal of the school driving to the farm, going up to the field to find my father on the tractor, and discuss problems with him. Often, my father would come to the house, put his toolbox in his truck, and head to the school house to take care of a building. It was much easier for my father and principal to repair something, then to do paperwork and the county finally get around to it.

Once, when I was a student at Chapel Hill, I told the founder of modern education in North Carolina, Dr. Guy Phillips, that story. He said, "Your father might not have been a college graduate but he was a real educator."

Children must have good memories. I so pity those who do not. As poor as we were, dirt road- no power, phone, or running water (the embarrassment of outside bathrooms both at our home and the church). Prominent people would often visit our church because they had heard of its beuty and the great song services there. I still remember the walkers, owners of the Ford dealership. My parents invited them to go to our home for lunch. They hardly knew them, but the Walkers went to our home, and years later, as my patients, they both said to me, "In our many years of church life, that was the first real Christianity we had ever seen."

I remember another time that a couple, the Sassers came to the church, my parents remembered through their ancestors. They invited them to our home for lunch. My mother usually had two large tables of people every church Sunday. In later years, this couple, school teachers, told me the same thing, that they had never forgotten that hospitality.  

At my fathers funeral, packed house, after I had led the family in as the oldest child, one floor reef was brought in late. It was by far the largest there. One of the funeral directors, came over and handed me the card that was on it. I just stuck it in my pocket. Later, a friend read the card to me, "In memorial to the only man I ever knew, in church, or out, whoever spoke to me about the welfare of my soul." The card was signed by an NC state senator.

His last years, my mother having died of cancer at age 62, I would call him and tell him I was coming up for a visit, to take him out to lunch. He was so proud to see me in my Cadillac. My driver would always say, "He will be sitting on the front porch watching for you." He gave me many of the values, that have kept me going during my years of disappointment, blindness. He was the sermon, instead of a message. He was the example of hard work. Disciplined living. I believe he will be sitting on another porch, watching for his four children.  

#1735

The Plight of Phobias

"The only thing to fear, is fear itself." -FDR

John MacDuff, very consoling
Play Audio! Download Audio

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Do not be afraid, for I am with you!

(James Smith, "The Believer's Companion in Seasons of Affliction and Trouble" 1842)

"Do not be afraid, for I am with you!" Isaiah 43:5 

The presence of a friend in trouble is cheering and consoling. But it is too often the case, that our friends, like the friends of Job, prove to be miserable comforters. They do not enter into our troubles--or they cannot help us. The advice they give at times--only aggravates our woe, and adds to our distress. 

But, believer, your God says, "Do not be afraid, for I am with you!" What a thought is this! God, the great, the glorious, the omnipotent Jehovah--is with me!
With me to help me, 
with me to comfort me, 
with me to sanctify me, 
with me to save me, 
with me as a kind benignant Father,
with me in every place, in every trouble, in every conflict,
with me through all my journey and for evermore, 
with me on the bed of sickness,
with me  to hold communion with me,
with me to listen to my sighs,
with me to number my tears, and
with me to secure me from all injury! 

Appearances may be very dark; the night may seem very long; and your pains, weakness, and fears may be many and great. Still, if the Lord is with you, you may sing, "Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty--yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!" Habakkuk 3:17-18

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We have published J.R. Miller's insightful short article, "The Blessing of Quietness".

The word phobia added to a word means "morbid fear of." For instance, if you are sensitive to sunlight, you have photophobia: xenophobia, fear of other countries: claustrophobia: fear of small spaces. It is truly amazing what words can do to add to or subtract from ones vocabulary. One political campaign, some years ago, the opponent hired a man to stand at the edge of each of his opponents speeches, and just say these words, "You know that he is an octogenarian." Of course it only meant that the man is 80 years old, but, to the un-initiated, everything is obscure. And the man lost his race because everyone thought he was a pervert of some type. The word fear is used 365 times in Gods word. The 1189 chapters of the bible, the chapter just halfway, Psalm 1:18, the mid verse of the entire bible, " It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man." All god requires of us is trust. My question, always, how does anyone live in this world, without being able to trust in God? You certainty cannot trust in anyone else. If you have one friend whom you can trust completely, you are a very blessed person. This writer has always been a loner, perhaps, and because, I learned early in life the heartbreak of betrayal... The fact that I found so few people with whom I could put any trust. You could put your feet under the same eating table with family members your entire life, and still find that you cannot trust them. Particularly when it comes to the division of your parents estate. You can sleep in bed with a wife or husband, and learn later, what real hatred is all about when you go to the divorce court. Or the custody of children.

Even Jesus bride here on earth, his kingdom, his Church, mostly grows with addition and often subtraction, multiplying by dividing. Some of the worst comments I ever heard from people who are supposedly created in the image of God, came from the members of dividing Churches.

For those of us who are disabled, who must depend on others just to stay alive, life's greatest disappointments involve caretakers to whom you pay good money, whom you trust, pilfering through your property and taking your things. For the blind, you never realize your losses. We must cling to the "blessed insurance" that the God we serve is able to take on our fears, just as he is able to take on our needs, that he is able to subtract from the thieves, as well as add to those who have been harmed by theft.

Fear probably adds more stress to the homeostasis of an individual, that any other neuron stimuli. I am convinced that most strokes, most cancer, most heart-attacks, cripple and kill because of stress, and that stress because of fear. Most of the things which we fear, fire- vehicle or plane crashes- heights- depths- starvation- etc, never happen. The Christian, of all people, should not have such fear. He tells us that he knows every sparrows fall, that the very hairs on our head are numbered.
"And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin" (Matthew 6:28). ^" Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?" (Matthew 6:26).

Perhaps it was like that with Alexander The Great, or even those troops with General Joseph Stilwell. There is no fear like battlefield warfare. It is beyond my comprehension that parents will spend the time and money, give the loving care which they give to their sons and daughters, and then send them to useless wars, which give great financial profit to the elates who keep them going. These young people, mostly just old enough to get a drivers license, not old enough to drink alcohol, often away from home the first time in their life, never having been exposed to the harshness- brutality of mankind or even animal life on any level, see their friends battered- bruised- butchered, right in front of their eyes. Many are often physically battered themselves, but if not physically disabled, mentally and psychologically disabled for the rest of their lives. And then, the talking heads, people who make more money in one month, than most Americans make in a lifetime, cry great crocodile tears about veterans, and what they have given to their country. The Veterans Administration is the greatest fear of every veteran, the family of every veteran. The most inept agency of federal government it laments about veteran suicide. Face the facts; the VA would like to see every veteran commit suicide... Get them out of the way. It is far, far cheaper for VA and the government to bury every veteran in a cheap casket with a cheap flag, than to give every veteran healthcare and a pension. Believe me, I know. This old blind veteran never got so much as a white cane from the VA. Found my white canes at junk stores. It took 50 years for VA to send me a machine that could read books to me.

The fear for you, the public, your treatment is on the way.

#1734

Mandala

(Search for Completeness)

"Make me a channel of blessing today,
Make me a channel of blessing, I pray;
My life possessing, my service blessing,
Make me a channel of blessing today."


No human being blessed with life, blessed with nominal intelligence, can escape the knowledge of cause and effect, cannot recluse himself from the responsibility of cause and effect. It takes courage to live life. 90% of the Christian faith is just raw courage. In Mexico, in North Africa, and other areas of the world, this writer- world traveler, has seen young men dive from high cliffs into water depths below. This takes courage. As a field grade Army officer, I have seen young men jump from airplanes, hoping that their parachute, prepared by someone else, will open. This takes Courage. In the inter sanctum of the human mind, gods greatest creation, the most amazing thing in life, hope. Most of life's activities, even its sacraments, involves hope. 

Hope is involved in marriage, if it works out, fine, if not, expected.

Hope is involved in rearing a child, especially a strong-willed- mentally challenged- prodigy or precocious child. Most of the geniuses of the world, were unusual children. With parents, it is a matter of working and waiting. 

Hope is involved in investing, stocks, real-estate, inventions, even planting a crop. The greatest investment I ever knew, and I have been a large investor in both stocks and real-estate, was the investment on my parents, in their farm, fertilizer and seed, planting crops. The fertilizer- seed- soil, could produce nothing without god given rain and climate. 

Hope is involved in education, whether grade school or graduate school. The worlds greatest investors- financiers- planners, never went very far in education. They had a drive- mental capacity which ephemera (books and paper) cannot give. A PHD, man or women, without common sense can starve to death in a time of disaster. 

Burying anyone is an act of hope. You think you know, but you never know, the soul condition of the dead. The eternal destination of the soul is within the providence of god and god alone. Many of us, and in fact, most of us, are good pretenders and may have fooled others. Ourselves, we cannot fool. Within the inter sanctum of the mind, our hope is established. Some scientists have tried to measure the weight of the soul. The soul does not have mass- weight- identification. We all have one, and it is what makes us "who" we are. Other body parts can be transplanted. At clinical death, the soul, here now- their then, leaves this worn- torn- used body, and the body is disposed of with hope; resurrected hope. 

All is not well that ends well. You can have a very successful life, living and dying well, by living the simple life... Simple ambitions, simple lifestyle, simple unchallenged job, never wanting more than a simple car- house- clothing. One man said he had no enemies because he had outlived them all. Everyone will love you if you are never a challenge to anyone about anything. If you are just a pushover. 

Science is about investigating the unknown. Untying and looking inside the baggage which everyone carries around. Intelligentsia: medical, psychological- governmental, involves the spending of tremendous funds to uncover the obvious. For instance, the poisons you put into your body, result in slow, if not instant, death. For instance, you cannot bomb into your way of thinking, nationals who have spent thousands of years living their lives a certain way.

When I was a young boy, this was before the military and my time of total blindness, my eyesight was very poor. Back then, parents or teachers, never payed any attention to children s eyes. Especially a child with a good  mind who could learn in spite of anything. I was never chosen on a team to play ball because I could not see how to hit a ball. I had to memorize everything the teacher said because I could not see the chalkboard. It was only when I went to get a drivers license that my myopia (nearsightedness) was discovered, I went to an optometrist for eyeglasses and the world became, in the truest sense, a cause and effect. I could see leafs on trees. Could see as well as hear, birds in the air. 

There are images, from the eyes into the brain, which I can never escape. I will never escape the images of the black- segregated school houses of my youth. Those framed buildings, painted white, with their outside toilets and hand water pumps. While, right down the road, as poor as they were, brick school houses for the white children. And, we expect the black race to forget this disparity. I will never forget images of refuges at border crossings in third world countries. The border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, fathers and mothers with all their earthly belongings in large sacks over their shoulders. Frail shoe-less children, bare feet on icy roads. This writer, raised in the poverty of Eastern North Carolina, dirt road, no power- phone- water lines, working in the hot sun an entire day, in green tobacco to get paid one dollar. Could I ever forget the hard work and sweat of my parents? I still remember their thrill in selling their first tobacco for fifty-cents a pound.

The picture I paint of life is not all darkness. Thank god I lived in a time of beautiful music, even beautiful movies- love stories. Love stories between real men and real women... None of this same sex marriage insanity. 

Can I describe the person I would like to have been? Firstly, good looking... Looks will get you further than anything else. Secondly, a pedigree of wealth and influence... Ancestral prominence. Life is hard enough at best. But is a real tragedy on such an uneven playing field. This has been my main quarrel with god. It would be so much easier to live the Christian life, without trials and problems. If only god would "quick fix everything with prayer." If only god were a bell-hop type deity... just come running when we need him. If only I could hold onto god in one hand, and the world with the other. If only warfare against Satan could be accomplished from an air-conditioned foxhole... Demanding nothing. God wanting nothing from me except pretension. If only I could live like my family, my associates, my fellow church members, and most of my friends, just playing games with god. Nothing settle, nothing complete. 

#1733

Need for Shepherding

"Savior, like a shepherd lead us,  much we need thy tender care;  in thy pleasant pastures feed us,  for our use thy folds prepare.  Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus!  Thou hast bought us, thine we are."

He will carry the lambs in His arms!

(Arthur Pink)

"He will feed His flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in His arms, holding them close to His heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young." Isaiah 40:11 

Our Lord has . . .
  many weak children in His family,
  many dull pupils in His school,
  many fearful soldiers in His army,
  many lame sheep in His flock. 
Yet He bears with them all, and casts none away.

By Christ's gracious aid, the believer is preserved from being totally submerged by his doubts and fears. 

By His renewing operations, the spark of faith is maintained, despite all the fierce winds of Satan which assail. 

By His mighty enabling, the sorely harassed and groaning Christian is kept from sinking in abject despair. 

By His quickening power, hope is still kept alive, and the voice of prayer is still faintly heard.

There is no danger of the individual saint being overlooked amidst the multitude of supplicants who daily and hourly present their various petitions--for an infinite Mind is as capable of paying the same attention to millions, as if only one individual were seeking its attention!

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are . . . Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Hebrews 4:15-16

 Dr. Morris, world traveler, has seen shepherds in the 20th century. Both in Africa, and the Scandinavian countries. I remember talking with a Shepherd near Bergen Norway. He talked about how dumb sheep really are, "That he must keep his eyes on them all the time." Of course, Christianity was a foreign language to him, but I said, "We are all so much like dumb sheep, so easy to stray, we so need direction."

In my personal life, I so need direction, so wish I had a shepherd tell me what to do with most decisions I have to make.

I was talking with two officials from a local University just yesterday. I said, " I get so tired of these paid advertisements about how people should respect veterans, do you know the VA pays the NFL and other sports programs to tell the public how they should respect veterans? The VA does not respect veterans at all, they talk about the disgrace of so many veterans committing suicide (3 each day). The VA would like it if all veterans committed suicide, it would be so much cheaper for the country to buy a cheap 'tin' casket and a flag, and burry every veteran. Instead of the continued expense of sick care, such as it is, at a veterans hospital." I have written about this before, and will not go into it again. The insult to the veteran, and the embarrassment to the nation, is the VA "sick care." Each time a VA doctor asks me, a totally blind- 100% disabled- Medical officer veteran, if I have any thoughts of suicide, my reply always, "everyday." But that gives me the opportunity such as the opportunity I get in every area of life, to present my Christian testimony. Because, without flinching, "my faith keeps me going." I did not wear the uniform, to get free healthcare. In fact, I keep paying for my healthcare. Not that I have not paid for VA care, but my civilian doctors want me to keep coming to them.

In the poverty ridden home were I grew up, and the images just as vivid now in my blinded eyes, as it was as a child when I could see, there was a picture which my parents had acquired early in their marriage, of Jesus carrying a small lamb next to his heart. I used the scripture above, I would always say in prayer at any church or institution were I was asked to pray, that we can "find grace to help in time of need." Our faith is all based on grace and I so need that grace to walk blinded in faith. "For we walk by faith not by sight" (Corinthians 5:7)

#1732

Narcissism

Vanity and narcissism — the compulsive need to be admired and praised — undermine one's courage, for one then fights on someone else's conviction rather than one's own.

    Rollo May - Man's Search for Himself (1953)

Most of us make the mistake of weighing and measuring others with the same scale and yardstick that we measure and weigh ourselves. When this writer lies down to die, he wants to think and remember that every fellow human being he ever met, anywhere, on his many trips around the world, even among his most personal associates and family members, that in the souls of them all, whichever way they went, Heaven or Hell, that their was some goodness in the soul of all of them. Please don't let me think that I was narcissistic enough to judge anyone else, when I was only a sinner saved by grace. 

When Hitler started his book burning, attempting to cleanse the third right, everything bad in his nation, the first book on his list was the biography of Helen Keller. There have been many great person hoods in the history of the world. But, perhaps no person as great as Helen Keller... A women born deaf, and blind. Most of us who heard her speak, could not understand anything she said. But, other than Jesus himself, few people have had the influence on the lives of others that she had. 

Is it a coincidence that she is buried in floor of the National Cathedral, in Washington DC, right next to president Woodrow Wilson, who has been declared the most Narcissistic man who ever lived. It has been said that president Wilson was so narcissistic, that he wanted to be the bride at every wedding, the corpse at every funeral. A more recent president, William Clinton, is said to be just as narcissistic... That he wants to be the commanding prescience in every room that he enters. We have all known people so narcissistic, that way, because they were blessed with good looks, A truly gravatosk personality, or had in some way become powerful because of money, or ancestry, or brain accomplishment. Lets face it, their are those who just stand out above the crowd. 

God despises pride- narcissism, he allowed the children of Israel to wonder around and then die, for forty years in a wilderness desert in order to "humble" them. Jesus, God- man, God who put on a tent of human flesh and lived among us, said in the most famous sermon ever preached, "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5).  Paul said, "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves" (Philippians 2:3). Would it not make 21st century Christians, Christians so despised by the world, feel better, if Jesus, when harassed by Pilate, and his unlawful judgment, had done some small miracle, such as a swarm of bees going in circles around Pilate's head, and showing the accursed Roman leader, as he has always shown the world, just who is "boss." But would it have made any difference? Those Romans who arrested him in Garden  of Gethsemane saw him restore the ear to the servant of Malchus which Peter had cut off with his sword, and it did not seem to have any affect. Jesus broke up every funeral procession he ever met, healed the sick, fed thousands, with one boys lunch, still he had very few followers. I am convinced that only his resurrection  made an eclylsmic change in the lives of  his disciples.  Jesus, Paul, saints throughout history, "those of whom the world is not worthy" (Hebrews 11:38), were humble in their greatness. Many humble grandparents, teachers, pastors, neighbors, have died never knowing their influence on someone's life. Those who have had the greatest influence on this old blind veterans life, have not been people with power or money, but those with a humble and contract spirit.  

This old soldier found that veterans don't talk about the war, they just get over it. The healing profession should be more humble, our immune system is all we have going for us. The poisons we put in our body from most doctors, generally do more harm than good, shutting the healing process down. Effectively killing the kidneys and liver. This old veteran, world traveler, is made happy knowing the enjoyment of life by others, than in the darkness- loneliness- exasperation of his own. I have concurred the feeling that I had contributed something to the world. I believe there is healing in forgiveness. I have forgiven the employees whom I was paying good money to help me, as they were stealing from me. I have forgiven the many dealings with people who I knew had only one thing on their mind. Whether a real-estate transaction, car repair, or even shoe repair, "how much money can I get out of him." It was my business that I have lived so frugally, never bought anything unless it was on sale. I once found a Kennedy silver half dollar in the mud, it was so ugly, but I washed it and it shined. That is my hope and joy. I have been so rotten and dirty, like everyone else in the mire. But, Jesus took me up and washed me of all my narcissism, even my sinful nature. 

#1731

Gawking

"Calvary covers it all,

My past with its sin and stain; My guilt and despair Jesus took on Him there, And Calvary covers it all."

At the heart of liberty, is the ability to make decisions because of free will, the liberty given to man by god who makes the ultimate decision about everything. MAN PLANS, GOD LAUGHS.

The writer is a blind veteran, often in contact with the BVA (blind veterans association). In talking with one of the officials, a much younger veteran, he said, "I see you are from North Carolina." We found that we were reared in nearby counties, that he knew some of my relatives, the Rains family from Princeton NC (my paternal grandfathers sister, was a well known member of the Rains family). He further told me how he had lost his eyesight, while in the Air force, traveling on a highway which we both knew, a horrendous curve in the highway which we both knew, the location of many terrible highway wrecks, he was a survivor of a multiple collision at that curve. But lost his eyesight. It was amazing that there were so many traffic hazards made by men, men falling under the spell of politicians... Politicians indebted to a vote-getter and party-giver. North Carolina roads were known to be under the purvey of politics. 

"The Democrat party controlled everything in North Carolina for 140 years...All roads, all the people who worked on those roads, you could not get a job working on roads in North Carolina unless you were a democrat, a job in a hospital- school teacher- post office, etc. To this day, Democrat controlled counties, not even a job driving a school bus."

This BVA employee- blind veteran told me that his worse adjustment was the gawking of the public, even his own family, he said, "I was always an accomplished athlete, well mannered with great potential, and now I'm like a lepers, citizens gawking at me"

This has always been the plight of the disabled, The gawkers- starrers do not think anything bad will ever happen to them, and any veteran can tell you that no one much cares. Oh, like the church, there is those words of pretending. How many disabled people do you see at your church? Jesus loved the disabled, lepers. Most of his attention- miracles were spent on them. In the 21st century, there are other sounds for justice and freedom. At the state-house- courthouse- church house- even at your house the 21st century attitude towards the disenfranchised is "political correctness." On the talk shows- political reports, the "talking heads", speak of race- sex- gender- discrimination. But never go near the topic of bigotry toward the disabled... The nations largest minority. 

Life is not a destination, but a long rough road. There can be an unexpected curve in anything. There can be an unexpected "wreck" on any highway. 

One half of the nations population already has cancer. It is believed that in 20 years the entire population will be cancer ridden. When I was in school, just 50 years ago, cancer and diabetes were rare diseases. Diabetes is the disease of rapid aging, Cancer, a disease of just living. We know that, the prevention of cancer involves 3 things; nutrition, exercise, and water. We know that sugar "feeds" cancer cells. Sugar is the most addictive substance known to man. Every foodstuff in restaurants now invaded by sugar. Cancer is one of the worst curves in the road. In the case of any downfall, downfall of any type, disease, immorality, habits, there are "sign posts" along the way. Warning you about what is about to happen. With all of the technical knowledge, the bottomless ocean of technology of today's world. The phenomenal money spent on education, people still do not read the sign posts. Like jumping off the Empire State Building, just before hitting the street, all jumpers- livers think, "so far so good." 

At the heart of liberty, freedom of choice, knowing the absolutes of right and wrong, everyone wants to jump into shadows of grey...Even knowing what to do, even wanting to do . And yet deciding to take the low road instead of the high road, paying no attention to sign posts, such as one like "deer crossing." Most of the millennial generation are more interested in animal life, for instance deer or turtles, than human life. At nearby Topsail beach NC millions were spent on a Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation center. This blind veteran never had one minute of rehabilitation to assist me with my life as a blind person. This blind veteran was not even supplied with a white cane from the Veterans Administration. The Veterans Administration pays radio, T.V, advertising, purporting interest in veteran suicides (3 veterans commit suicide everyday) THE VA WANTS VETERANS TO COMMIT SUICIDE. A CHEAP TIN CASKET WITH A FLAG IS MUCH CHEAPER THAN A VETERANS HEALTHCARE FOR MANY YEARS. 

Stroke has moved into the second cause of death. Most Americans think stroke only happens in old age, but strokes happen to young people. 

The common denominator in the risk of all your problems involves just one person, you. I have very clear images in my mind of my problems, me. It was always a problem with me of clinical depression which no one recognized, family, school, military, etc. Clinical depression is what cause my social and even marital problems. With the problems that afflict all of us, that our fellow man only recognizes- appreciates accomplishments. We can easily get trampled in the rat race toward the finish line. In my lifetime, schooling, military, one recession after another, the financial harshness of me-ism ( everyone looking after his own interest) it is almost impossible to maintain financial sanity. I have lost more money with wealth advisors than I ever gained through them. Every stock-broker, only one philosophy, if you have a hole in your roof just drill a bigger hole in your floor. 

When your fellow man, even your friends and your family. are gawking at your life, finding fault with your life, get over it. The message was given to us long ago, it has never failed, take the weight off your shoulders and put it on the shoulders of Jesus... He is always at the cross roads, the curves of your life, before you get there. "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls" (Matthew 11:29). "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you" (Peter 5:7).

#1731

Taxonomy and Transformation

Sunset and evening star,

      And one clear call for me!

And may there be no moaning of the bar,

      When I put out to sea,

   But such a tide as moving seems asleep,

      Too full for sound and foam,

When that which drew from out the boundless deep

      Turns again home.

   Twilight and evening bell,

      And after that the dark!

And may there be no sadness of farewell,

      When I embark;

   For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place

      The flood may bear me far,

I hope to see my Pilot face to face

      When I have crost the bar.

-Tennyson

In my lifetime, 85 years, the world has transformed. I can sit in any business, among any civic, church, or political group, and tell you exactly about its taxonomy, a routine for doing things, its accepted method. Through technology, technocracy, global control has been achieved because, even into remote areas, everyone is exposed- educated to all world lifestyles... Taxonomy- transformation of the world. Some call it, "new world order." Those in the African bush, those in the Gobi desert, those in the Himalayas, all know what is going on all over the world. This writer was in the Sahara desert nomad encampment. Under a tent these people were watching American TV.

           Learn early as did the prophets of the old testament, as did the puritans who landed in our country it makes no difference what others think, we are responsible only to god, and he is all we need, don't think for one minute, that the world, even your own family, appreciates anything you've done in life, don't think for one minute your nation appreciates anything you've done in service to your country, we hear all the time of the concern of the veterans administration for the suicide of veterans, more veterans commit suicide than are killed in battle. The VA does not care about the suicides of veterans, the more suicides the better. It is much cheaper to put a veteran in a tin casket in the ground, than for continuous care.

Perhaps the greatest transformation in the taxonomy of the American Republic, the upside-down treatment of citizens. It is the unproductive- irresponsible, lazy citizens, who reap the benefits of our democracy. They get government checks for doing nothing, are rewarded for sinful living- bad habits. With a national debt admitted at 19-Trillion, with future entitlements of over 100 trillion, the most naive politician knows the waiting calamity. Just as the medical profession knows that the epidemic of diabetes is just rapid aging, the politician knows that emphasis on climate control is just an agenda for population elimination (ever since John D Rockefeller and John Foster Dulles made a trip around the world seeing the seething- increasing populations of destitute countries, intelligentsia  has perused the idea of population control... Planned parenthood in this country, abortion holocaust). Again, like medicine, when you don't know what to do, it is WW, watch and wait. With wars incinerating men and means, a nuclear balancing act in the wings, we can no longer watch and wait. exponential disaster.

In a world of political correctness, political and pastoral compromise, we hesitate to judge our fellow man. Next door or around the world. The fall in the garden of Eden effects all hearts. If you knew my heart the way I know my heart you would not want my opinion. but, If I knew your heart the way you know your heart I would not care. The whole message of life, giving and getting. The gospel is the good news of believing as well as living. Jesus loved the widow when she threw her mite into the treasury because she gave all she had. But, remember, from that same treasury, religious treasury, came the money given to Judis to betray our blessed lord. The world is built around the mystery of giving. From nothingness to somethingness, god gave us life. In the fullness of time, god gave us his son. And his son gave us his  life for our redemption. Man has the taxonomy to give because it is in his nature to give. One can give without loving but cannot love without giving. The truest sign of gods dwelling in the human heart, is ones desire to give. Because this is your manifestation of love.

The question for the 21st century Christian, the 21st century citizen, how much would you give if it were not tax detectable? The christian should give for gods work in spite of everything. Do you think you could actually pay a warrior to give his life for his country, to come back from war crippled or blind? Most healthcare workers, I have found as a medical officer in the war and in other areas, work blindly. Just going through the motions, without knowing what or why they are doing anything. Most employees in any business work blindly, not knowing what or why they are doing their jobs, never realizing the taxonomy, or purpose involved in their activity. The time has come for a transformation in thinking... Explanations for work- jobs, explanations for college courses, explanation for curriculum of study.
The Trojan horse of global control, the fact that everyone everywhere, knows much about the world. The never before ability to teach and train the taxonomy of every man, being every mans brothers keeper. Christians even have the opportunity to show, as well as teach, the transformation power of god working in the hearts of men.

#1730

Loose Pieces

"There is a place of quiet rest, near to the heart of God; a place where sin cannot molest, near to the heart of God. Refrain: O Jesus, blest Redeemer, sent from the heart of God, hold us who wait before thee near to the heart of God."

If the root is rotten, the entire tree is rotten. This writer has stated on national radio talk shows, from pool pits and speaker platforms. "I am amazed that most young people turn out as well as they do considering the 'homes' from which they come."

            My driver and I were sitting in a fast food restaurant when black woman had come up to the counter, evidently to get her paycheck. She was obviously an employee who had been fired. Some words were exchanged between her and the manager, she went into shouting with profanity I had never heard before (and this writer is an old solider). She caused chaos in the restaurant, everyone stopped eating. My driver said "she has a small boy with her who acts very unconcerned, I'm sure he's heard all those words before."

            We live in a fractal society, a broken culture of broken people. We walk among loose pieces of humanity. Seventy percent of children come from homes without a father. Children need both a father and mother in the home. The sanctity, sanity of life revolves around the sanctity of marriage and sanctity of birth. There are two things which the church cannot compromise, abortion and same sex marriage. If the church compromises with these two sacraments...no matter what denomination, you might as well nail up the doors and put up a funeral-death wreath.  

New Guinea I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6)

            I have often asked myself the question, what if I had not been born in America? What if I had not had the parents I had? What if my parents had not made sure I sat on those hard benches at our country church. What if I had not had the blessing of attending a public school, a great university. a great professional school? What if I had not had the ambition to work hard and make something of my life, in spite of everything? How could I complain about anything, when god has made it possible for me to see real heathenism in the world? When god has made it possible for me to study the weaknesses of my own country.

            Think of it, America with the greatest healthcare system in the world, spends more on healthcare than any other country in the world. Yet, the mortality rate for babies is 10x higher than that of most underdeveloped countries. One-half of the worlds population lives in cities and growing at 50% each year, poverty in these cities is rampart. Decedent politicians, who do not pick up pieces, but break things makes sure the families are destroyed through legalized gambling and abortion clinics. 72% of all black babies are aborted. The richest nation on the earth, richer than the dreams of Midas, 49% of our population relies on government checks. Every time this totally blind, 100% disabled, medical officer veteran picks up the pieces of his memory, thinking of that dirt road in poverty stricken eastern NC where he was raised. No power lines or water, remembering the sweat of his mother and father. Remembering when he worked in the sweltering heat for one dollar a day. Looking at a cast iron cooking pot which his ancestors used to cook when they came over from England, I know both the blessings in my life and the certainty that he holds those responsible for compromising our great American heritage. Are those who sit on soft church pews, who hold their hands over their heart in patriotic gesture, any better than the heathens who dance in the fires in New Guinea?

            My great joy, my constant constellation, the grandeur of our large table.... communion with him. In solitude, everyday of my life I take the bread and wine in remembrance of what he has done for me, healing and forgiving. 

#1729

Speaking Truth

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32).

Faith never judges god by circumstances. Faith is accepting what god gives us. Our faith should guide us through any circumstance, rather than calling on faith to get us through a circumstance. There is little in life more definitive than death. Although the mortality rate is still 100% we shun death. Every time we pass a cemetery, a funeral home, we realize the inevitability of death. When I was young, the Christian family wanted the Christian family members funeral at the church. The only funerals at the funeral home or graveside were those who were not a church member, who had never made a profession of faith. Now, expensive funerals- cheap families, most Christians have a cheap funeral. The church member, faithful in life to a church, should have their funeral at their church. So it cost more, what better way for a family to spend?

Our world is in a state of confusion. majoring on minor things. A famous nursery rhyme, "Alice in Wonderland", "It makes no difference which road you take if you don't know were you are going." often majoring in minor things, confusion, we are afraid to speak the truth about anything. The world has become politically correct... The pastor as well as the politician. God will surely hold that preacher- pastor accountable, who can stand week after week in front of a congregation, when he knows full well that most of the people to who he is preaching, are just pretending.

One of my pastor friends told me about a recent experience with a death in his church family. One couple in his church had one son, who as a teenager after having been raised in church, took the route of unbelief, settled into a life of drugs, in denial of everything Christian. His family, his parents were unable to reach him in his fall into the bottomless pit of sins... Sin of every type, particularly drugs. In and out of rehabilitation, no one could reach him. And finally, away from home, and the parents who loved him, he died of an overdose. 

His parents asked their pastor if they could have his funeral at the church, they knew that he was well known in the community, not just because he was their son, but he was very popular with many young people. The pastor said, "Only on one condition, that you will allow me to say what needs to be said, and you, his parents, know what that is, that your son is in hell." They agreed. 

Before a full house, after the parents had entered the church, front row, right in front of the casket, the pastor went down and hugged both parents.Then, he said to the congregation, "You will hear something like you have never heard at another funeral. I have discussed this with his parents and they want me to say what I am going to say. You all know, just as I know, that their son never repented... Refused every kindness of this church. Unless, at the last moment of life, god in his mercy chose to save him, he is in hell. Eternally in Hell."

The pastor continued, "I am saying this because, for all you young people who are here, who knew him, knew the life which he had thrown away, knew the sorrow he had brought to his parents, you are heading in the same direction, unless you make a change in your life."

He said he could tell the words had an effect on those young people there. Many having never been inside a church house before. Most did not know how to even dress in respect for a funeral. This writer does not know much about death-bed repentance- salvation. The thief on the cross who repented has always been a mystery to me. Here is a man who was crucified next to our blessed lord. We know nothing about him other than he was a thief. If he had not been a thief, IF he had not been crucified next to Jesus, would he have been saved?

Climbing the rungs of ladder of life, the serious- intelligent person looks around. There are so many things that simply do not make sense. The person-hood of parents raising children who are snatched right from their grasp by Satan. Many church going parents have not realized that children see around the corner... That Sunday school and church are not important unless they see their parents taking the bible seriously. How often do your children see you reading the bible in the home? You fuss about the ten commandments being displayed at the court house, what about the school house? Church house, your house?  You fuss about health costs- Obama Care, do you realize that all corn, the most edible food in America, is GMO produced (Genetically Modified)? The most dangerous biological in nutrition. We fuss about so many people dying of cancer. Do you realize that one third of the population of America have cancer? Heading toward one half of the population of Europe having cancer? Like the poverty level of LBJ's time, 15%, poverty, is now more than 15%. With the Billions given For Haiti earthquake relief, Haiti is now in worse shape than before the earthquake or the earthquake funds. But, many big wheels like Bill Clinton got rich from it. What happens to all the money given to study nutrition, to study cancer. To bring relief to a sick world. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Charity, giving churches as well as "do-gooder" groups, need discipline- oversight in a god soaked way. 

Everything about life is a matter of grace, the grace of god... Gift to the undeserving. "I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me" (Psalm 23). 

We can depend on the chastening- correcting, rod and staff of god to guide us in truth. 

#1728

Mothers in Aprons

20 Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.

21 Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

(Colossians 3:20-21 King James Version)

"Love was in the room And new life was born where only death had been Love was in the room And death and hell would never reign again When the glory of the Living God Broke through to the darkness of the tomb The earth was filled with His beauty And love was in the room"

Dolly Parton Hillbilly singer made famous these words in her tune "9 to 5",

"Workin' 9 to 5, What a way to make a livin' ,Barely gettin' by, Its all takin' and never given."

This writer, like Winston Churchill, when talking to his biographer about his mother said, "she was my first and greatest teacher". I thought, how could I explain to anyone that my mother always worked from 5 to 9. How could I possibly explain her tiredness when she sat at the table with her family, after working all day in the fields and otherwise, still preparing a meal and, When I was a child, (85 years ago) she had none of the modern conveniences. Every meal cooked on a wood burning stove. We did not have power lines so there was no refrigeration, no electric pots, toasters, mixers, or anything to make cooking easier.

 If anyone were to ask me the secret of what "propelled" this nation into this worlds superpower status... Super in military, education, research, commerce, Christianity. My answer would be "the mothers of our nation." Most mothers I know, certainly including mine, did not let their children bask in the comfort zone of laziness. Instead of letting them sit on their assets reading trash magazines more recent years, watching trash television, or the only exercise in their life; just moving their fingers on the computer, they made sure they were stuffing away in their minds, the brain power they would need in their chosen areas of endeavor.

Successful motherhood involved tough love. They love their children enough to discipline, made sure their children did not become what THEY wanted them to become,  but what GOD wanted them to become. No mother can be proud to think their child is a leech off their neighbors, or fellow productive citizens. I have never known a parent who did not take pride in productive children, grandchildren, even if as fortunate as this writer, great-grandchildren.

Most mothers I knew, and certainly my own mother, and grandmothers, did not make "idols" of their children... That their children could do no wrong. 

No one can grow or develop in a comfort zone, amid trust funds, amid the spoiling of parents and grandparents. "Into each life some rain must fall" on every beautiful rose bush, there are thorns, every road cannot be bump free, even Jesus said," In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). The apostle Peter told us that our trials and tribulations are worth more than gold. You must have slavery to self, in order to be truly free. The productive life does not come easy, homework, memorizing, reading, show me your books and I can predict your future. Fill me in on your habits, and I can predict your success. You must learn to separate your needs, and wants. We live among broken people, in a broken world. Surely with all the economic successes of this country, we have learned that nothing is forever... The man on the ladder to success, even in 21st century America, often finds that he placed his ladder on the wrong construction site. That is why it is so important to be kind to the little people on your way up, because you might meet them again on your way down. 

I still remember my mother preparing a plate of food for someone sick in the community. No matter what race, no matter what economic class, she wanted them to know that she cared, and everyone liked her cooking.

 How could a farm mother not be a Christian? My mother and grandmothers, were known for their aprons (a protective or decorative garment worn over the front of one's clothes and tied at the back).  I remember each of them with their aprons full of produce from their garden. Or a setting of small chicks taken from under a setting Hen. They knew about seed time and harvest, they understood young animal life... The preserving of excess food. The churning of milk for butter... Did not need a recipe book. My mother, grandmothers, and the women of their time, knew about drowning and drought- dry years and wet years. They knew about hard work, they honored having a husband who through sweat supported his family. They never thought about vacations or retirement... Would not know how to shuffle a deck of cards. But, they did know how to advise the young mothers in the community on the raising of children. They did know how to deliver babies when a family couldn't afford a doctor, lay out the dead when the family could not afford the mortician. 

I am so glad my parents dragged me to their country church to sit on hard benches. Showed me by example the "dignity" of hard work, showed me by example the treasury of savings. Showed me by example to profit and pleasures of reading. In that tomb AND our blessed lord was buried in a borrowed tomb, road on a borrowed staple. Love was all around, "God is love" (John 4:7-10). In the stable, in his tomb, every corner, every molecule of the walls-air-ground, love was "all around". When godly mothers are with children, friends, neighbors, we know that love is all around. 

#1727