Turbulence

It took me five years to realize the fact that I did not recognize Benita from her facial features, but from the black and white dress, her Sunday dress, which she always wore when she came to my office. She worked at a Cherry Hospital, a mental hospital, as did her husband, both low paid attendants. She had told me that they had one precious son, who was in college, studying to be a preacher. In fact, he had already graduated from college and was in seminary (United, Trotwood, Ohio), she brought him by at least twice to meet me. A very fine young man, a very fine Methodist minister. He wanted to be ordained in their home church, a small Methodist church called Fellowship. Several of the relatives called, insisting I attend the ordination service and the meal that followed.

The ordination took place at noon on Sunday, the little church filled with excited people. The new seminary graduate, wearing proudly the handle of “Dr.” was an enthusiastic speaker, a tribute to his community, his church, his family. Like so many women, his mother only had one Sunday dress, his father one Sunday suit, because it had taken everything they could rake and scrape for his education, the blessing of this day. It was even more obvious at the home, there was not enough flatware to set the table. They had enough food, but a very humble home. The joy of the occasion was marked by their humility.

Dr. Styron preached that day on death, clinical death, the ticket to a better life. He spoke of the rewards of heaven, the resurrection of Christ and everything that makes Christian redemption possible.

Every time you pass a cemetery, every time you pass a funeral home, as much as you do not want to think about it, you know that death, your death, is inevitable. Many physically plan for it ahead of time, my grandmother kept her burial shroud in her cedar chest. I heard one woman say she wanted to wear a dress in the casket that would not make her look fat. I still do not like open casket visitations or funerals, I believe there should be as much privacy in death as in life...people gazing at you at the worst time of your existence.

I remember my sister's mother in law, and the closed casket funeral, one of the deceased's relatives went to her and said she would like to see her aunt. My sister said to her, “she would have liked to see you the ten years she laid in a nursing home before she died.”

I don't remember the reason, but I was in the hospital one night, and a family I knew asked me to be in the room to be with them, since her mother was dying. The patient, although almost dead, was still aware. We all know that the limbs are the first to get cold, I noticed that the daughter would keep running her hand under the cover to her mother's feet, finally her mother kicked at her. Death for most is a very lonely experience, I can think of nothing any lonelier than death in a traffic disaster, or a home disaster, unable to get help. I still believe the worst death is the long death faced by victims of Alzheimers...dead while still alive. A long, exasperating and expensive experience for the patient as well as the family.

Just as we know death is real, so we know God is real, we make the choice. Before the Jewish slaves left Israel, the blood of the passover lamb was put on the doorpost of every Jewish home. They made a choice, the death angel passed over when he saw the blood.

At the dedication of Solomon's temple (1 Kings 8), Solomon brought the entire history of the Jewish people amid the sacrifice of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. When the Ark of the Covenant was moved into the temple, the cloud of glory was so great that the scribes could not speak, nor the trumpeters blow their horns. This was the dedication of the world's greatest building, and until this day, considered the world's most expensive building. Books have been written on the building of the temple, the cedar wood from Lebanon, the number of men required not only to cut the wood, but to bring it down the Mediterranean sea, transport it to Jerusalem, where the temple was built without the sound of saw or hammer, cedar wood, gold, brass. The children of Israel knew the prophecies and promises of God, they have experienced the glory, nothing has changed. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

700 years before the birth of Christ, the prophecy of Christ (Isaiah 53). The penalty, the promises, you must take him at His Word, God values His Word more than anything else. (Psalm 138:2) We know the penalty and the promise, we know that by His stripes we are healed, we know we escape death through His blood. If not healed, the ultimate, quickest healing, heaven.

All disciples were martyrs except for John, it took too long for the message to sink in, the eclismic experience of His death and Resurrection changed them totally. They were never the same again, knew they would never see one another again (no method of communication at that time), but each had a mission. Bartholomew skinned alive in Armenia, Thomas killed by a heretic in India, Luke hung in Greece, Mark dragged through the streets of Alexandria, Peter crucified in Rome, Paul beheaded in Rome. All could face death because they knew that Christ was real, they knew Him, the power of His Resurrection, the fellowship of suffering (Philippians 3:10).

You cannot conjure up comfort on your own, trying to understand the actions of God. When a person kills oneself, it is unnatural, it natural to fear death. God in life is a mystery, surrender to mystery. Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. (Psalm 116:15)

Split Rail Fences

Before you take any fence down, survey carefully why it was put up in the first place. At a time when national borders are meaningless to some insurgents, at when a time when robbery is on the increase, fences are more important than ever...property fences, even psychological fencing.

In history, we studied Abraham Lincoln splitting tree trunks for rail fences. At that time in history, there was none of the fencing available now, such as the electric fence, and every type of galvanized wire, wood or plastic fences. Our ancestors in Europe used stones and hedges. Both my maternal and paternal families were among the first settlers in North Carolina, (deeds showing their property lines as the first in the courthouse). On the farm where my mother was reared and several of her family generations previously, as a child I was wandering around and found real, authentic rail fencing. These were fences that had been installed by my family many generations ago.

On the farm where my father's family was reared, and his family many generations before, I found some of the oldest barbed wire known to exist. There are antiquarian barbed wire fence collectors, old barbed wire was very different from that which you can buy now.

I have noticed all over the world, with fences in which wood posts were used, often the wood posts would sprout, and a large tree would ensue, forever binding the wire inside the tree. This shows really fertile soil, the difference in a tree and a post is growth. Another lesson, a post installed vertically, the split rail fence, which eventually would decompose, installed horizontally. The vertical dimension is the most important fact of life.

From the earliest farms it only took about 100 years for Mr. Roosevelt and his acreage controls, government trying to stabilize every area of farm operations, farms became smaller and are rapidly disappearing, just as the yard for the home, where at one time you saw children playing, has disappeared.

From the Garden of Eden, before the great flood, after the great flood, the history of the Jewish nation, people from the garden on have been stiff-necked, disobedient. We have seen values deteriorate, the value of self-sufficiency in your own space. One of the greatest fruits of the holy spirit (Galatians 5:22), the spirit of “joy”. There is a difference in joy and happiness, happiness can be very superficial, often does not last very long, joy has a greater meaning, is much deeper, those with joy are easily recognizable, joy is always there. The courts, and indeed most books and academics, treat men as animals, but we men are made in the image of God, and we are capable of present, constant, and eternal joy.

It is the saddest thing of understanding that man so limits himself, so cheats himself of the joy of the unrestricted areas and disciplines of joy in knowledge. The goat, the dog, the lower animals have no appreciation of knowledge, through fences they will learn of boundaries, but the animals knows nothing of boundless joy, limitless eternity, the satisfaction of knowledge. We can see God in mountains and plains, the animal cannot. 60% of all sins comes from words, the lower animal does not talk or understand.

Man is capable of understanding astronomy, stars, planets, weather. The Queen of England, now in Australia is trying to educate her subjects there, about the great Queensland flood. Much of the capital, Brisbane underwater, 3 million evacuated, “there will be a long recovery.” In the United State, snow on 49 states, with inconvenience, school closings, bad roads, would it not be unfortunate that children never saw snow? Just as in Israel, a land which grows tropical fruit, there is always snow on Mount Hermon. Bible writers knew the significance of white snow, covering everything dirty, filthy and dark.

Man is capable of understanding chemistry, the absolutes of the atomic weights of the periodic table, the absolutes of the balancing of chemical equations, mathematical exactness. It does not take the student long to realize that when God created the world and everything in it, he supplied every element, every chemical we would need for our life.

Man is capable of understanding physics, electromagnetic fields, radiation, energy and the equations of forces. Defy these laws of physics at your own risk. In astrophysics we find that there is bizarre weather every 19 years, the magnetic north pole is moving, there is a variation in magnetism. The lower animals cannot understand Newton's Laws of Motion, only the consequences of disobeying them. The student of sociology or theater, can take the easy academic road of life, and understand minor things, but it takes a brain to understand physics...quantum theory, molecular mathematics, nuclear energy. We forget one of the greatest blessings of God, wiring the brains of man so he can understand engineering, mechanics and the natural sciences.

As I heard the brilliant physicians talk about the treatment of the patients involved in the Tuscon, Arizona massacre. I thought of the blessings of those willing to explore the darkness of the science involved. It is a combination, compilation, of printed words, gleamed from centuries of investigation...men and women willing to “split the rails” leading to knowledge that they could use in fencing off invaders and violators of man's morphological intricacies affecting every discipline, every art, every science. The fences of the judiciary, from the first two laws of the garden of Eden, until the 21^st century, those willing to split the rails and establish fences of legal control.

One of the greatest fallen leaders in the massacre was Judge John McCarthy Roll, a father, a grandfather, an active Catholic. This Republican supported the fallen Democrat congresswoman, and was with her on this occasion, as he was on most of her visits. They were friends, friendship that blurred party lines.

Thank God that man is capable of understanding music, balm for the soul. Understanding between people regardless of language skills. In 1883, a magazine was produced called Etude, those of us fortunate to play an instrument are familiar with it's pages. Music is a universal language, the pianist in Moscow uses the same sheets and instrument as the musician in Taipei, Taiwan. It takes one year to build a Steinway piano, each built from scratch individually. First, the soundboard is stretched, the rails are split. Just as the one who plays the keys, just as the one who puts the last coat of varnish on the wood, each important and there is never any doubt about the real thing, the real instrument. Life is a gift, our eternal relationship with our Creator is the greatest gift. How unfortunate that so many act and react as lower animals.

Dialogue

At a time when the perimeters of every airport should be under surveillance, when checked baggage and packages should be scanned or sniffed by a bomb-seeking dog, at a time when Americans are put through scanners like radiated meats and perverts roam their hands around in your clothing. We understand the importance of dialogue, talking to one another.

I have been through many checkpoints in my life of travel, the most famous, Checkpoint Charley, dividing east and west Berlin. How well I remember the dogs, the mirrors, as they looked under vehicles. Of course, the inspections were on the east German side, no one from west Germany, west Berlin were trying to get into the east German, Russian-controlled side, where communism has made a once beautiful city and country a place of wanton desolation.

The story is told of a West German going to work in east Germany, each day passing through Checkpoint Charley. Each day he had a wheelbarrow with a bail of hay. One day a guard said, “I know you are smuggling something.” He and the other guards began to search the hay, “you might as well tell us what you are smuggling.” The west German said, “wheelbarrows.”

Over and over we have seen lives and industries ruined, such as the airline industry ruined because of our failure to communicate. My grandfather was the last farmer to sign Mr. Roosevelt's soil conservation and crop control, local farm legislation, legislation which controlled all farming operations on the family farm, acreage, livestock, marketing. He said, “it is like putting a noose around a farmers neck.” From then until now, worsening with every socialized control, American farming is disappearing. 70% of all produce is now shipped into America from other countries.

About 50 years ago, because of conflicts affecting the Christian church, the Catholic church and the Jewish community, I became active in the National Conference of Christians and Jews, (now the National Conference for Community and Justice), started in 1927 by Supreme Court justice Charles Evans Hughes. Because every religion is interrelated historically, Judeo/Christian, Judeo/Catholic, Judeo/Islamic, all from the same beginnings. It was founded in response to anti-denominational furor around Al Smith was running for President, the conference tried to reach all areas of discrimination, particularly that affecting the disabled, the poor, and those generally disenfranchised because of class.

America is supposed to be a society of equality and justice, but Roosevelt, influenced by such communists as his vice President Henry Wallace, his Chief of Staff Harry Hopkins, Supreme Court appointments such as Hugo Black (member of the KKK), increased discrimination and lack of justice at one of the worst times in American history, the Great Depression. Today, we have a greater need for dialogue than ever before, never has the clamor about things with which we might personally disagree been greater. We seem unable to compromise, even listen, because of the noise of controversy.

I remember in the city of Hong Kong, the noisiest city of the world, how quiet it was to go into a Buddhist temple. I remember how quiet a plane becomes just before touchdown. In a country of the big band sound, fireworks, the constant insane beat and lyrics from radios tuned to low-life radio stations which abound from cars at every traffic light.

The world's attempt to show solace and sadness at times of personal community grief, the effort not to offend anyone at a graduation, this matter of a “moment of silence”. Only one who is blind misses the joy of sight, only one who is crippled misses the thrill of walking. Only one who is deaf really appreciates sound, from the first breath of the new born child, sound. We like sound, because then we know the world is alive. Our blessed Lord said, “he that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matthew 11:15) At Pentecost, 50 days after our Lord's Resurrection, there should have been more hearing and less talking (tongues). I believe that God wants to hear our petitions, praises, please.

At a recent university graduation, the serenity was ruined by a moment of silence, instead of vocally pleading with God for guidance. Yesterday, Mr. Obama had a moment of silence, concerning the Saturday massacre. He being a Sunni Muslim, as Colonel Kadafi has said, “Obama is strict Muslim, he probably does not want to offend the Christians, Catholics, and other cults of America by participating in a prayer service.” We know that academics, politicians, pragmatists, look upon prayer as a moral superstition. But you will find very few, only those who are truly self-destructive, who do not believe in God. God in the spirit of man is as natural as breathing. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. (Romans 1:28-32)

If there has ever been a time when voices should be raised heavenward, seeking the mercies of God, it is now. We have been silent too long. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. (Psalm 2:12)

The Genius of God

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)

In my long life, I have known very few people who actually knew the magnificence of God. We do what we do because we believe what we believe. Many sincerely believe that they know enough about God so that they go to a place of worship, but very few know the omnipotence (all-power), omniscience (all-knowledge), the omnipresence (forever presence) of the One who stands on the edge of eternity, who threw every star, every planet into space, who counts the very hairs on your head, and like every snowflake, designed you completely different from any of the billions of people who will ever live on the earth. He knows our every thought, stands at the center of everything, knowing both the beginning and the ending of the parade, and to think, simply by believing in His Son, we are joint heirs with His Son, ready to inherit every promise of life, now and eternally.

Before the foundation of the universe, in the sanctuary of eternity, He called us, He did foreknow, did predestinate, justifiy, glorify (Romans 8: 28-30). You do not play church, do not play games with God when you understand His sovereignty, His love, His wrath, He is Boss, He is in charge, all He requires is trust. Of the 1189 chapters of the Bible, the midverse: It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. (Psalm 118:8) His Word is forever settled in Heaven. (Psalm 119:89) Because of His genius, because even God wanted the fellowship of human beings, He made man.

It is a shocking experience for a boy, in this effeminate world, to meet a real man. I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word. I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me. How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (Psalm 119:97-104) Read these words and learn about a real man.

From the beginning, God separated light from darkness. (Genesis 1:4) He has been the divider of everything, good from evil, bitter from sweet, ugly from beautiful. He came to earth Himself as a baby, put on a tent of flesh, dwelled among us, a God-man. When those He came to save, crucified Him, He left, in His place, His “Holy spirit”, the triune God. God chose for Himself a people, after the Great Flood of 4090 BC, after the people He had designed became so sinful, He destroyed all of them except for eight human beings, and other life which He chose to save. It did not take human beings long, because of the gift of freewill, to sink into sin again. Noah's great grandson Nimrod even tried to build a tower to heaven. From these people in Ur, Mesopotamia, middle east, Babylon, He started His chosen race with Abram, the first Jew. If anyone doubts the Bible, God's Word, you just point to the history of Judaism, three letters: J.E.W.

From natural law, then through Moses, God gave to his chosen race 613 commandments, 10 general commandments, 603 ritual commandments, even then, these stiff-necked rebellious, disobedient people refused to follow His laws, and we have a record, both secular and scriptural of their successes and failures, prophecies and promises. We have a record of this nation's slavery, God dealing with them, their dealing with the seven nations they must conquer in the promised land. After the cross, 33AD, the disciples, the apostle Paul, we have the relationship of the Old Testament law, the Gospels and the church, established by both Jews and Gentiles. The most marvelous story one can ever perceive, the history of the church, was told mostly by the apostle Paul. God's genius in using both unlearned fisherman, and then the most educated man of that time.

God used women in His genius of love, but He chose men, not to be manipulated, confused, to carry on His work. He saw a henpecked Adam, the first man, and His relationship to Eve. He saw an effeminate Ahab and His relationship to Jezebel. He knows that today's church has lost it's power through default (lesbian women, preachers and bishops, homosexuality, pedophilia). He has seen the default of the home, where the father has been put down, where there is a father. He knows that 52% of all black babies are aborted in America, that 47% of all children grow up in homes with just a mother.

We do not need a new book by Mary Baker Eddy, Joseph Smith; the Bible, the Word of God, the manufacturer's handbook, is the answer book for any and every need. When God created the world, the earth, and everything in it, He put every element, every herb, every plant we would ever need for life. The genius of God extends to controlling every cell, every movement of energy, everything that grows, cellular division. Just think, New York City or any big city, millions of building, millions of property features, a city of millions of people, dividing, so exact that every pot of every kitchen is exactly the same. This is what DNA, psychology, our knowledge reveals. We have every technology to make life easier, but human nature has not changed at all, not over the thousands of years in the history of man.

Satan's greatest victory, that men, particularly men supposed to have stoic faith: preachers, priests, can survive on pretending. Not even Luther or Calvin, believers in election, would tell you that one can sin such as adultery, robbery, murder, and then because of election have the eternal security flaunting the gifts and fruit of the holy spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. (Galatians 5:22-23) These words are as important today as 3000 years ago. When we are transformed (Romans 12:1), a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), when we have learned to deny self, we know that in the genius of God there is no limit to His love, limit to knowledge, the Bible a big book, but relevant to every human being. Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. (Psalm 63:3)

Survivalism

It does not take much political courage to proclaim, day-after-day, “tax the rich”, when the rich are just 2% of the total vote. The politician had rather have the vote of the destitute, those who believe they have missed out in life's lottery, than the few votes of the rich. I have personally known poverty, and God wanted me to see poverty throughout the world. Traveling the world, villages in Africa, other than topography, looked very much like villages in Asia or even ghettos in Europe. Always without exception, smiling happy children, it was the helplessness on the faces of the mothers of these children with left me so depressed. These mothers had experienced despair, deceit, and depravity, they knew what laid ahead for their children.

Most people even so called religious people, pay little attention to what I say or write. One of the first sermons I can remember, as a very small child, probably four or five years of age, a big occasion at the family church which had been built by my great grandparents, both paternal and maternal (1874). A great old preacher, John Henry Worley, whose portrait still hangs in the church, spoke at homecoming. When pastor, he had ridden a horse 30 miles each way to pastor. I still remember on that occasion he had ancient photos of the old people of the church. I remember that he spoke on “ants”, I remember what he said 75 years ago, “go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.“ (Proverbs 6:6)

Many animals are talked about in God's Word, sheep, goats, cows, horses, dogs, etc. but nearly 2,000 years before the birth of Christ, Solomon, the world's wisest man talked about ants. There are many other scriptures in the Bible relating to ants, God knew that the ants could teach much about life.

Ants have a culture of their own, thousands or millions in a colony. There are 15,000 species of ants, all living the same way, some nests just a few inches, some a few acres, all managed the same way. One or more queens, just a few males, all the others females, divided into various work areas, most are workers, going out and finding food which they bring back for storage, some are nurses who take care of the young. The queen has millions of babies, the entire ant colony carefully organized: storage facilities, nursery facilities, part of the workers are soldiers, also females. The wisdom of the ant, they have an assignment in their colony and evidently do not question anything. They are extremely cooperative, a unified entity, nice to one another, and you can be sure that if they find something edible, something good, there will soon be a line of the workers taking it their colony for storage. (Experiment: put a drop of syrup on your kitchen counter)

Ants take care of one another, ants evolved from wasps. The queen and the males have wings, the queen self-disposes of her wings because she will never use them again after she establishes herself in a colony. The ant is the 5th most studied insect; compared to the 23,000 human being genome, the ant genome is so small it has yet to be determined. We do know it is the most phenomenal creature of creation, capable of unusual survival, phenomenal homeostasis.

Human beings become so embittered by our limitations, a matter which we cannot comprehend, all God's business, not our business. I will have many questions to ask God about many things I have been unable to understand here on this earth. I grew up at a time when the disabled and handicapped were cared for by the family. There was no social services, welfare programs to take care of the unfortunates of life...the struggle for survival, the courageous Christian of faith.

Less than a mile from our farm, the John Mayo family, one of the last children born in that family, completely helpless, I still remember seeing the child tied on a chair, in the sun, on the front porch of the house. Unable to walk, speak, see or hear well, the mother of the family had a baby to care for many years. It was the unfairness involving this child, the helplessness of this child that caused the entire family, except the mother, to turn their back on God and the church. It was the miracle of the community that Mr. Mayo, however, would take her to the church every service, and then come back, sitting outside waiting for her after the service.

When asked why the father and older children had turned their back on Christianity, the reply “you can go to our home and see how much God loved an innocent child, and the debilitation it has brought on our mother and the entire family taking care of this sibling.”

I am sure all the family had the friendship of the community, I am sure the mother had the friendship of the church, but they could not understand why, they as a family, did not have the friendship of God and that people in the church and community were so reluctant to help out with this heart wrenching problem. I believe the boy died around the age of 15, having outlived the caring mother and father. There is no doubt that the father cared for the child, the doctor was seen making house calls there frequently. It is my opinion that the father of the child, seeing the caring mother of this child, had reliable, real faith. A small amount of real faith is better than much hypocrisy.

The greatest challenge for Americans in the year 2011, is to become a survivalist nation. Our ancestors knew how to grow things, a turnip patch, potatoes; you should be storing food, making sure you have sufficient medications. At a time when birds are falling out of the sky, a path of dead fish in the river, problems from every direction, making the future very uncertain, surviving globalist imperialism is as important now as survival was after the blight of the civil war even through WWII. Australia is the last country to prohibit genetically modified food, you will need real seed, you will need a culture unpolluted by the eugenicist. Incrementally, America has tried to make you completely dependent on government.

There should be one question at the beginning of every voting ballot, the question: Do you trust the government? Anyone who votes 'yes', their vote should be immediately tossed out, they do not have enough sense to vote. These are the people who will be totally dependent on government, and unable to survive. Get ready for survival, the life you save may be your own.

Epiphany

In two days, some Christians will celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany. Like Thanksgiving, Christmas, real Christians should celebrate epiphanies year round. An epiphany is when you come to a realization, a sudden manifestation, a real experience that should have been clear to you many times before, but hits you in the here and now...a beautiful sunset, the innocence of a small child, the indescribable aroma of a flower, or even good food. Thank God part of the beauty of human existence is the experience of epiphanies.

One of my friends, a well-known minister and his wife were on vacation, traveling to visit their daughter in Tennessee. They just wanted to get away from everything and visit their grandchildren. They stopped in a small town, a small restaurant, and were no more than seated when an older man, clean, well-dressed, came over and greeted them. They thought, “now what does he want, we just want to be alone.” This old man said, “welcome to *name of the town* we are so happy to have visitors. Where are you from, and what do you do?”

Annoyed, my friend told him where he was from and that he was a pastor of a church. The old man said, “I must tell you my favorite preacher story: I was from a very poor home of drunk parents. There was a church up the road and I decided to slip up there one Sunday, sat in the back row but something caused me to go back. I would always get up and leave early, before the pastor came to the door. But one Sunday, he caught me because he came to the backdoor to the give the benediction. He said, 'I see you here every Sunday, and I want to meet you. Whose boy are you?'” I resisted to give my father's name, because he was such a menace in the community. The pastor said, 'I know, we have the same father, the heavenly father.' This pastor started a relationship with me which led to my salvation, even my attending college. Don't ever think you are not important.” Then, the man got up and left.

The waitress had been kind in waiting to take our order until the conversation was finished. She said, “I didn't want to bother you while the governor was talking to you. You know that Mr. Prentice Cooper was governor from 1939 to 1945?” Think of that epiphany, a Christian with a Christian testimony, even a former governor.

I can think of no greater epiphany than realizing the importance of raising godly children in an ungodly world. Satan is using everything wicked to bring mankind down to his level. I have said to my only child, my son, “Satan wants your two sons.” Both of my grandsons were raised on the foreign mission field, where both of their parents were foreign missionaries. Both grandsons are now college graduates. The greatest epiphany in the world for these two boys, like their father, like their grandfather and the ancestry before me, would be for these two boys to spend time on the family farm as did their father. Now in heaven, two have seen their great grandfather, a solid rock of Christian endeavor and endurance. To have seen their godly great grandmother, both nurturing animals and children, plant life, their daily walk in the simplicity of nature. The good earth, God's rewards of sunshine and fresh water.

For one who is educated, with a life spent in the complexities of the trillion industry of death and disease, the epiphany of health care has been an awakening. Why not treat life instead of disease? Why cover up symptoms, intermediate relief, just to have someone coming back? The greatest player in the New World Order is Big Pharma. Have you noticed the proliferation of drug stores in your community? The same Greek root-word describes both pharmacia and sorcery. The purveyors of death have captivated pharmacy schools, healthcare schools. Since healthcare depends entirely on government grants and largess, no one questions anything anymore, we have become a “pharmaholic” society. Even the big three: heart attack, cancer, and stroke, all controlled by phamaholics. Six million Americans are alcoholic, at least 50 million Americans are pharmaholic. A pharmacist moved out of my building, his library was mostly pharmacy manuals and sales catalogs. The tragedy, pharmacists are educated by Big Phama, prescribers of pharmaceuticals, doctors of every discipline educated by Big Pharma.

It all started in the garden, eating the wrong things; when did you hear that cancer thrives on sugar? Sugar, one form or another, usually fructose, is added to every processed food. God installed filtration systems in our body such as the liver, because He knew the earth would eventually be turned into a big garbage can. If any sick among you, let him pray, if any afflicted (James 5:13, Isaiah 53) Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.(1 Peter 2:24)

Remember when you go to the communion table, you celebrate not only Christ's remission of sin, but His healing of your sickness. America has become a wilderness of corruption, the most blessed nation, corrupted by those not only content to pick your pockets here, but send your means of making a living, your job, over seas. In traveling the world, every continent, I've seen American industry and know-how everywhere. Most religious denominations were started in America, and you would be amazed to see how many churches, most of them cults are strewn around the islands of the South Pacific.

In November, a Carnival luxury cruise liner was stranded 200 miles off of the California/Mexican coast. These 4500 people aboard were imprisoned in a prehistoric world of eating cold food with none of the air conditioning by which we all have been spoiled, without power they had none of today's excesses, games, television, computers, even swimming pools. In an century of enlightenment, when we know more about microbiology than ever before, spoiled people have not learned yet that the swimming pool is a cauldron of disease.

It should be an epiphany to any thinking person that we cannot live without convenience...computerized cash register, instant gratification everywhere. It should be an epiphany that with all our knowledge, billions on research, and the history of human reactions, if drugs are bad for you, don't use them. Alcohol is a drug, 50% of all murders attributed to alcohol, 50% of all divorces are alcohol-related, 60% of all emergency room visits alcohol-related, 75% of all prison cells filled by those who could not control alcohol. Like smoking tobacco, now limited in every way, if these drugs are so bad for you, why not make them totally illegal? We are like sheep and as the great radio commentator Edmond Murrow said, “we are sheep ruled by wolves.”

Personal Inventory

It is the second decade of the 21st century. Those of us who have been around for a long time need to take a personal inventory pertaining to our optimism for the future. I had just turned eight years of age when my grandmother Morris died. The wonderful things I knew about her had just been emphasized by those who knew her much longer. She was from one of the first families of the state, the Lucas family of Wilson county, prominent landowners. I can only remember two deaths before hers, hers was the first showing of “old family class”, a huge service in large family church. I had never seen a beautiful casket and flower arrangements before.

At that time in history, the body was always brought back to the family home, and people came in to pay their respects. My grandparent's family home was on main street in town. I remember having eased back into the living room to take a look at the beautiful setting. I heard two ladies, women I did not know, not family members, standing by the casket...I remembered my grandmother as a vibrant, imposing personality, well-educated for her day, able to handle any situation...one of the women said, “if only she had more love and less fear.”

We are told 365 times in God's Word not to fear. But in uncertain times, in an uncertain world, up against Satan, the world, and the flesh, it is difficult not to fear. Having seen the realities of life, knowing the hardships of family life in that time in history, she probably never had the comfort of complacency. The harbor is very comfortable for those who have never been out in the storm. Today's Christian extends the Christian faith as far as the worship sanctuary...sitting in a comfortable, air-conditioned building, soft-light from expensive stained-glass windows, anthems from trained voices and expensive, soothing instruments, seminary-trained words from one of sartorial splendor who exercises care that no one's feelings are abused. All just blind, deaf, dead “hearers” of the Word, the speaker wants laughing and clapping, agreement and love.

Her father, elder P.T. Lucas (this writer gives two Elder P.T. Lucas pastoral awards of $3,000 each to two NC pastors each year, selected by their denomination) who had survived the Civil War, raised twelve children, and traveled the state in horse and buggy establishing churches while dragging crippled arthritic limbs. He was finally bed-ridden for one year before death, although leaving behind an estate for each child.

One of his daughters, Aunt Sadie had owned one of the more beautiful homes in the state near her father (my great grandfather): beautiful flowers, lawns extending to the highway. As was the case with Madeline Mary O'Hare, lawyer from Austin TX and one of the most famous atheists in the world. In both cases, a firm believer and a firm non-believer, people who did not agree with them would drive over their lawns, destroying their property. My grandmother, like others of her time, knew the disparagement of the political system, locally and otherwise. Life was hard and just like today, Satan's followers were riding high. Satan is a cruel slavemaster, but she, like my other grandmother, and women before them knew that there is no slavery like that of the liberated or non-liberated woman. When Christ lived, all women were just slaves...my grandmothers were not allowed to vote until 1920.

Satan is not intimidated by words, he only understands and fears God's Holy Word. God has put limits on intelligence, but not on ignorance. It has never ceased to amaze me that anyone with one cell still functioning in the brain would not fear more about their eternal life than their casual attitude about the things of this world. You cannot obey the first commandment unless you have your freedom in Christ. If you want to lose your freedom, start buying Satan's lies. The greatest example of servitude, Christ washing the feet of Judas.

It is around the communion table that you experience true worship. My choice of all advice from my personal inventory of advice: at this beginning of a new year, worship Jesus at the communion table, whether in your home or at the church, whether alone or with others, just as often as possible. The archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Roan Williams said, “draw near to the Christian experience by praying our Lord's Prayer as often as possible.” Our Father who art in heaven... (Matthew 6:9-13). God is as close as the dew on the grass, if you want Him to be; I wish for you that personal relationship.

Europe is having the worst winter in 500 years, snow and ice from London to Moscow, two Russian icebreakers desperately trying to rescue 550 Russians in 3 fish vessels in the Okhotsk Sea. We do not have any certainty about what will happen from one day to the next, there have been such uncertainties in my lifetime. This past weekend, 5,000 blackbirds and 100,000 drum fish dead in Arkansas. The federal government blamed the dead birds on a storm. There was no storm, the enlightened have known about the chemtrails/chemistry of the atmosphere. The enlightened have known about the chemistry of the rivers.

Satan uses every evil to drive people down to his level. You cannot be all that you can be until you escape the tares and cares of the world. Satan has had enough influence on us, it is time to get on with our life.

Decade of Foolishness

Tomorrow is the first day of another decade, 2000-2010 has gone by so quickly. It has been a decade of foolishness, more so than any decade I have studied in the history of man. You would think that we would have learned something by now, I remember so well our panic with the turnover of the century, whether computers would recognize the new century. In panic, not knowing what would happen in the stock market, I made many transfers into certificates of deposit, and of course, with the government involved in everything, scrutiny needed in order to have sufficient FDIC coverage.

What difference would it have made? We live in a world where no one wants things to be black and white, just a hue of gray. Mankind is repulsed by right and wrong, good and evil. Everything, whether physical, spiritual, financial, psychological needs to be in ambiguous shades of gray.

God talks to us, but we refuse to listen. With our technology, cell/smart phones, computers, nuclear weapons...we think we are so wise that in our wisdom we can get along without Him (Romans 128). At this very time, we have one the largest blizzards, the most inundation of snow on the east coast that has been seen in most lifetimes, more rain and mud in the west coast. From New Mexico to Montana, the roughest weather of sleet, snow experienced in many years. Europe is also experiencing one of its worst winters in history.

Most of the world's population is on land north of the equator. After Noah's flood (4090 BC), a continuous upheaval, water falling for forty days and forty nights until it was 20 feet above the tallest mountain. Cataclysmic volcanoes, the entire crust, topography of the earth completely realigned. Like the eight human beings who God persevered from the water, Ham, Japheth, Shem, Noah, their wives and their children, most living for hundreds of years. It would take a stadium for them to have a family reunion. Noah lived to the age of 850, his grandson, Methuselah, son of Enoch, living to age of 969. They ventured into areas of the world away from the earliest civilization of Ur and the Rift valley (a 2000 mile valley in East Africa), cities formed because of their location near rivers, valleys, economic and climate trade routes.

These people survived, multiplied, prospered because of preparation, and using common sense (exception, Nimrod, great grandson of Noah, who at Babylon tried to build a tower to heaven). As you now witness airports full of people stymied in their inability to cope with civilization, most just want someone to tell them what to do, a TSA employee for whom they have shown compliance and obedience, like human property in the slave market. The psychological and sociological phenomenon, which their tough, prepared, defiant ancestors would not recognize.

So much education has just been garbage, it is no wonder the tyrant takes over so easily: Stalin's 90 million in Russia, Mao's 100 million in China. Today's so-called scientists are more interested in a government grant than pure science, ready to dance to any tune the government plays in order get the “free money”. Most scientists, whether physical, medical, sociological, know that most of the required courses are never used, that information and preparation essential for performance can be obtain in a much shorter time, and that much available research is trash, just someone's opinion. The same is true in the arts, history, theology.

There is no rationale for why people do what they do...so much education, so little learning, so few capable of reacting to an unexpected. Much money is to be made in just taking advantage of a situation, keeping a patient trotting to the doctor, injecting quick obsolescence into every technology, built-to-fail, which must be replaced often. We have learned to accept the “Kleenex mentality”, fast food, the planned obsolescence in everything.

My friend, a prominent doctor, 88 years of age, born into poverty, self-acquired education, a veteran of Pacific combat, was having unexpected cardiac problems. His cardiologist said, “I have looked at all the reports, expensive surgery will prolong your life for a short time; but you have had a good life, go on home to heaven” and then he walked out of the room. Another doctor, one better prepared in natural treatments, removed the toxins of his body, particularly the chemical toxins of exotic medications. Because of this, my friend is still alive.

If the average person, able to read, one who his body better than anyone else and having some computer skills, would study his symptoms and all the information readily available, he would know his options and alternatives. It should be evident to even the most ignorant among us, that our nation cannot continue down the path which greedy corrupters have led us. To the uninitiated, everything is obscure, but anyone should be able to figure out that RINO Republicans such as both Bushes (41 and 43), and liberal communists such as Clinton and Obama (42 and 44) are just opposite sides of the same coin, beating us into slavery. A drowning man will grab at anything thrown to him, he should grab at the rope of intelligence, designed to save him, but as like many, he would grab at broom straw of promises, if thrown to him, and continue to drown.

Go back in history 500 years, before America was even discovered. There were hard working people with values, using common sense, prepared to combat nature's reversals. Go back another 500 years, 1000 years, a man married to a women (none of this perverted marriage, disgusting to both God and man), rearing and educating children. And so it has been throughout history, self-reliance, self-dependence on a master Designer. At the beginning of WWII the American population was one-half of today's population, mostly rural, hard-working, God-fearing, tax-paying citizens, ambitious and optimistic. Their country had been attacked by the enemy, and like their ancestors before them, when attacked, formed huge military forces, huge armaments (ships, tanks, planes, every buildable weapon of defense and destruction) never a thought of defeat. My parents, grandparents, their neighbors around them, sent their sons and daughters to the war, many to employment in defense industries, while they kept the farms going, raising the foods and fibers needed in the all-out struggle.

Today, we would have problems in every area of defense. The decade we are in now may “tell the rest of the story”(Paul Harvey also said, “only a millionaire knows you cannot live like one.”). American survival is no longer a matter of courthouse, church house, schoolhouse, it is a matter of the mind.

Putting On a New Face

A lady told me one time that getting married was like walking into darkness: if it works out, fine; if not, it is expected.

Every Friday night of my life, just as I keep a daily log of my day's activities and expenses (This is the only way you can ever control your life, and save money), I write down my activities of the week. So many of these activities involve unexpecteds, and this is my “thank you report” to God for helping me get through things. Perhaps you normal, sighted people do not need God's help, but I have to depend on Him, He has never forsaken me in darkness, absolute darkness, for the promises He made me in light, when I could see.

When the unexpecteds come, and I do not know what to do, often it is better to wait than to work, instructions will always come. God does not wear a watch, never gets in a hurry, but is always on time.

Why is Satan so successful? He is completely predictable, has never changed, he uses the same method over and over. His first action in the Garden of Eden, the temptation of Eve using doubt, “hath God said?” (Genesis 3:1) From that day to this very day, completely predictable, same tactics, he has put one human being after another into his trap using doubt, always questioning the integrity of God. Four thousand years after Eve, his most famous temptation was in trying to put doubt in the mind of Christ, “if thou be the Son of God.” (Matthew 4:3).

Many things are predictable. In warfare, most generals have studied the tactics of other generals. In the famous movie Patton, General George Patton predicted the North African movements because he too “had read the book.” General Eisenhower, President Eisenhower had evidently not read the book, he thought he could lie about the shooting down of U2 pilot Gary Powers. There are several military books he should have read, including the Holy Bible, the greatest military book. Be careful that the enemy cannot prove you a liar, Gary Powers did not want to die, did not swallow the poison capsule.

For centuries, academia, unbelievers have tried to make Satan a costume character. Since the serpent had become unpopular, a person in a red suit, horns, pitchfork became the most famous characterization in the world. Some say Satan is in hell torturing the lost. Satan has never been in hell, he will go eventually for eternity, along with his followers, but he is now busy walking the earth, prince of this world. God is involved in every event on earth, Satan is given certain work on earth, and he is a real workaholic.

Don't think for one minute there is anything serpentine, devilish about Satan, he is an angel of light, attractive in every way, able to sweep any human being off his feet, usually in beautiful clothing, speaking well, attractive in every way. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.(Matthew 7:15) This verse tells it all, but the devil is not all-powerful (omnipotent), the devil is not all-knowing (omniscient, Psalms 138-139), he has only the power that God gives him.

I am familiar with Project Phoenix in the Vietnam war. In all 44 provinces of Vietnam, CIA agents proffered security. Home Land security is using the same time CIA proffer, doubt, and temptations in today's globalist one-world government. Profane options in our democratic republic, every attitude, action, totally predictable. Approaching the new year, informers, Home Land Security signs in all public places, detention without cause, will cause even liberals to look up at the present administration with caution or fear.

Everything God does is miraculous, throughout history, He has demanded that we do things His way. For instance, you can inflate a bubble, but you cannot inflate an economy with borrowed money. More banks are failing now than in the Great Depression. When you have bubbles, securities, housing, banking bailouts, then you have what bubbles can do. When God fearing, hard-working, tax-paying Americans become alarmed to what this Sunni Muslim is doing. There is still enough common sense flowing through the veins of patriot citizens to have a cause for optimism in this new year. We have a record of being willing to do anything for God and country until times get rough and tough. Most have been awakened to rough or tough times, and if we do not rise to the challenge we deserve the disaster. Happy New Years

Tipping Point

The main interest in the life of some men is athletics, ball scores, batting averages, Tiger Woods or some other overpaid millionaire. Some men have a fascination with making money, others family, others politics. I know one man who would make a remark about every women he met, his tipping point was sexual attraction. With others, their tipping point is a drug of some sort, a Jack Daniels or marijuana.

From my youth I have been fascinated with cars. I have owned some beautiful automobiles for someone who owns nothing but thrift shop clothing, second-hand store furniture, never buys food unless it is on a special sale. I have owned beautiful automobiles even though I have seen or driven one in many, many years. I still dream about driving, God never makes a mistake, he knew my tipping point: fast driving. Of course, blindness ends driving, now he has me where he wants me, in the passenger seat. Usually, I buy a new car every three years and I sell the used car myself. There is not a baby in town that has better care: low mileage, like new. I have no trouble selling my used car, then I just buy a new one.

One lady came to look at my car, she said was the secretary at Northside Baptist Church, her son a student at Wake Forest. We had a nice conversation, but she was angered because I would not lower the price on the car. She told me there was a rust spot on the car, something that no one else had seen. As she was leaving, she told me, “I hope you will find God.” I could not help but retort, “I did not know God was lost.” I do not have to tell you her tipping point.

God is not lost, still on the job, still BOSS. From our ancestors Adam and Eve, they thought they could hide from him. He said, “where art thou?” (Genesis 3:9) One of the first tipping points for your fellow Christians in the church, punctuality. Have you noticed that the same people come dragging-in late, service after service? I tell every employee who cannot get to work on time, “leave home earlier.” I am going to be sitting here waiting for you, because punctuality is the most revealing sign of character. One of my aunts was always late to everything, I told her, “at your funeral I am going to tell the undertaker to push in your casket after the service is well underway.”

We should all learn early to be magnanimous, benevolent, to have humility. Many have learning issues: autism, dyslexia, etc. When I was young, 1 out of 10,000 children was autistic, now 1 out of every 69, is this what the progress of multiple vaccinations to babies have done to your country? God alone knows the penalty of progress...the more money raised for cancer research, that much more cancer; such a financial catastrophe from the healthy ones involved in cancer: treatment, research, etc. Learning early in life to be content, and you will never be lonely, learn to read for pleasure, we have destroyed the imagination skills of young people with television trash.

I am astounded by those who call themselves Christian, who know nothing about God's Word. The most important book ever written, written by God, the Author connecting you with the greatest power in the world. I have listened to international radio programs, people calling in for answers concerning the Bible, the Christian life, three questions they ask over and over: Women preachers? Divorce and remarriage? Cremation? The same answers given every time by different people: those who were supposed to have an intimate knowledge of God's Word simply do not study. The tipping point when I talk with a preacher, a Bible student, the difference in the southern kingdom of Juda, the northern kingdom of Israel. What happened to ten tribes? The effect of Greece, Rome, Egypt, Syria on Christian history?

The most interesting study in all the world: Abraham, his descendants, not only in the middle east, but throughout the world, much like those saints who came out of the grave at the crucifixion of Christ when the temple was torn, top to bottom, these saints who walked the streets, what happened to them?

Christians, patriots, wars, we simply cannot figure it out. We have war on poverty and we have more poor people than ever. We have war on drugs and we have more addicts than ever. We have war on terror and we have more terrorism than ever...mostly our own country terrorizing us.

Around 1957, I represented North Carolina in Dr. Frederick Schwarz's great organization, The Christian Anti-Communism Crusade (CACC). I actually thought that America was against communism, but in my lifetime, I have seen America accept all twelve planks of the Communist Manifesto. All of communism can be summed up in four words: abolition of private property. The manifesto is now in effect in America. Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness (Psalm 52:3)

The state-controlled media, liberals, academics have convinced the American people that evil is good, that we won the wars in Korea, Vietnam and are winning in the middle east. The truth is wars, police actions, welfare programs have bankrupted America. When entitlement programs for veterans, social security recipients, ludicrous retirement programs for government employees and union members cease to be, we will be tipped off about our true condition. Christ was not joking when he described world conditions, spiritual and political, whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. (Matthew 23:27)

Religious leaders referred to as Reverend, your eminence, etc. Political leaders referred to as honorable, Mr. Chairman, patriot. Take note, the tipping time has come.

Solidarity

To the globalists, the leaders of the new world order, God's chief creation, made in His very image, the human being, has become very insignificant. Like the cheap comic book portrayals of future accomplishments by part-human, part-robot beings, a merger of man and machine controlled by a computer.

The word “solidarity” was little known outside of the physics laboratory until the Nobel Peace Prize was given to Lech Walensa and the word was used describing this Polish worker's following (by one-fourth of the Polish population). When Walensa and others finally decided to establish Polish worker's rights.

A very little amount of sand is left in the hourglass, the year 2010 is almost gone. Through a movement called “Tea Party”, some sleeping RINO members of the Republican party were finally awakened. The enslavement of America is finally brought full face before those who care. The liberals, blacks, gays, academics, media personalities (print and sound), do not care. Someone once asked me, since I traveled through many communist countries and had seen the what the profanity and abomination of communism does to the human being, “why do some Americans promote such a philosophy?” I told him, “they think it will not affect them because they will be in charge.”

In every communist society, every totalitarian group, there is always that very small percentage of the elitists, politburo, who feel they are destined to rule the proletariat. Liberal democrats think things are bad with democracy's fat cats, Wall Street, Madison avenue, K street exploiters, the racketeers; but the MAFIA in the communist system is a nightmare that makes the Jewish MAFIA in Las Vegas seem like Sunday school. I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly. Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help. (Psalm 22:10-11)

There is a cohesion-connectedness between people who are fellow sufferers. There will always be a cohesion-connectedness between those 33 Chilean miners who awaited rescue from the bowels of the earth. I have observed a connectedness surrounding Christians observing Communion at the Lord's table. I have observed a connectedness with family members and even neighbors around the casket of a deceased loved one.

The solidarity, connectedness of a college fraternity, Masonic order, Rotarian or Elk's civic club is far different from the connectedness or solidarity affecting a group of cancer survivors, a military unit at the battlefront, survivors recovering in a military hospital, or even former orphans in a childrens home.

Many of us have had the experience of the closeness involved in a group traveling together...staying in the same hotel, eating together, sightseeing together. After your final departure, you head to your own destination, and in spite of the closeness you experienced, you seldom ever hear from these friends again. It is even rare to have a close relationship with college roommates, sports team members. You felt that at the time there was a solidarity that would preserve a relationship forever; only through the common cause of neurological fellowship, does such friendship persist. In order for the Christian to know Christ, you must daily experience the power of His Resurrection, the fellowship of His suffering. (Philippians 3:10)

The largest minority in America, the disabled, should have an attitude of solidarity, because each has experienced the isolation of their own distinction, whether wheelchair, white cane, disfigurement, or some other blessing which separates them from the normal. Family members should have close solidarity, having sat around the same table, known first hand the hardships of parenthood, the festoon of genes; too often, jealousy, in-law blight, or dwelling on past problems prevent such.

One of the most honest, up-front, outspoken groups who protect and perfect solidarity is that of those with alcoholism. 75% of all crime, 50% of all divorces, 60% of all broken bones are attributed to alcohol consumption. 80% of all young people are experimenting with alcohol, and one 1 out of each 16 will become a drug addict. It all starts with the first drink.

The great problem, political correctness. Psychologists want children to like their parents, more important is how well the children like their parents after the child is 25 years old. In AA (Alcoholics Anonymous), only one's first name is used, it can happen to anyone. Across the tracks, in the poor section of town, one who cannot control alcohol is called a “drunk”. On “Pill Hill” or other ritzy sections of town, one who does not control alcohol is called an “alcoholic” or “having a disease”. We are all in this thing together...solidarity. Christ knew what he was talking about when he told us to love one another, the most difficult action in the universe: to love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 19:19)

Even at the church you see few wheelchairs, few white canes, and as I have been told many times as a totally blind, 100% disabled, service-connected veteran of the Korean era, disabled people make the normal feel uncomfortable. There is a certain solidarity in realizing that very few living human beings have escaped challenges of life, if your life has been perfect, solid, careful, you never know what is heading your way. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. (John 17:17)

If I Were Satan

Jonathan Edwards was probably America's greatest preacher. He entered Yale University at the age of 14 and graduated with honors at the age of 17. He was probably America's greatest intellectual, credited as the backbone of the Great Awakening which started around 1730, his greatest sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was delivered in 1741. Edwards was not an articulate speaker, a pulpiteer, he read the sermon close to his face because all he had was candlelight. The sermon had such a great effect on the audience that they actually felt they were hanging over the fires of hell by a spider's web. He died from a smallpox inoculation just before he was to become president of Princeton University, he was the grandfather of Aaron Burr.

American history has been molded through the influence of great preachers, preachers not influenced and controlled by the waves and wiles of the world. I have been fortunate enough to have heard, in person, some of these great preachers: R.G. Lee, George Truett, Donald Grey Barnhouse, Charles E. Fuller, most of today's preachers are just assassins of the doctrine “once delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3) such as Rick Warren, who like Oprah gives the same answers about his ministry, “we go as humanitarians.” We are warned about these churches, Laodicea, lukewarm, Sardis, morgue with a steeple. The old preachers such as Edwards, D.L. Moody, spoke of what would happen with a profane civilization, agnostic churches. America has become a profane nation.

Judgment begins at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17), most young people, raised in the church leave because the church has lost its gravitas on their life, holiness and obedience in worship. Many young people are attracted to the modernistic assembly because there is little difference in the music of the discotheque to that of the so-called megachurch, drama and drums. Many young people like the casual dress, the fact that in modern church music, you never hear the name of Jesus, Grace or doctrine.

If I were Satan, I would destroy the church because it has been the center of American spiritual devotion, physical and political activity. Most seminaries are tainted with denominationalism, young men and women more interested in the package than the promise. The articulate moderation, politically correct “pal in the sky” (quote from one modernist preacher) polite verbiage, certainly not to wishing to offend, especially those with deep pockets, inclusive, sincerely right, whether Islamist, Buddhist, Unitarian, as one fits all, cloak of kindness. God certainly would not send anyone sincerely wrong, sincerely politically correct, sincerely taking care of the needs of the world, sincerely loving everyone, to hell. If I were Satan, I could convince everyone just to be good, nice, the Beatles philosophy, “all you need is love”.

If I were Satan, I would never mention Jesus, I would never speak as if I were looking directly at Jesus. I would try to convince the world that just the worship of God, whether Jewish, Islamist, any cult is sufficient. I would never speak of salvation in a service, after all there may be someone in the service unsaved, it might be the only time they ever hear the Gospel. I would never speak of repentance, or the plan of salvation, except at a revival service. I would never talk about a backdoor revival, cleansing of church roles, only front door revival, “counting numbers instead of making numbers count”. Surely, Satan knows just as all the world knows, that it is only the full house, the full parking lot, the full offering plate, that impresses God and the onlooking world.

If I were Satan, I would use the same methods of warfare which the enemy has used for centuries, infiltration is easier and more effective if you wear the uniforms of your opposition, if you talk the same language, if you have the same habits (Jimmy Carter kissed Brezhnev just before Brezhnev and Russia invaded Afghanistan). In enemy infiltration, Satan knows that you can teach a parrot to talk, a bird to sing convincingly; pretenders, masqueraders, imposters, infiltrating the camp, the easiest way to take over.

If I were Satan, I would destroy the Christian family, particularly in the media. I would start with a single man, an uncle with a butler, then a single mother, divorced or otherwise, then homosexual embellishment, a house with several gay people, or even one or two with adopted children. If a story involving a mother and father, I would make the father look like a dunce, a father with no backbone, no control of the home.

If I were Satan I would have moles or spies involved in every spiritual activity, particularly at the Christian college, Bible college, seminary level. Satan is adaptable, patient, ambiguous, Satan is capable of instilling and installing notions of quackery and quaking, concerning any doctrine, or philosophy. Satan is capable of internal combustion...causing fights and fermentation, attitudes and belief system, translating and transplanting God's word into choking bones of interpretation. Satan will have you ignore the good, succulent meat of courage and encouragement, enlightenment and enlistment.

In the book The Man Who Never Was, we find such a plan as Satan would use, perfected by the British in WWII. A dead man had washed ashore in Spain with top secret plans, it told how British forces would invade Greece and Sardinia, the Germans fell for the trap as the British, as intended, invaded Italy. The operation was called “Operation Mincemeat”, the fooling, the beguiling, started with Satan in the Garden of Eden. We do what we do because we believe what we believe. Eve believed and fell for the doubts put in her mind by Satan. Most human beings are self-delusional.

If I were Satan, I would use the very human thought-process of doubting everything, particularly the non-believer doubting an eternal life. Progressive preachers and pastors of the progressive left certainly those of liberation theology, are the biggest suckers of them all, Satan's pets. Doubting good and evil, heaven and hell, and then the believer, having made the choice, having chosen Christ. There is still the ever-persistent prodding of Satan: “did I make the right choice, am I missing out on something?”

Karl Marx, in his 1848 Communist Manifesto stated that his most aggressive stalwarts would be preachers. Satan has us where he wants us, ten years between the fall of the USSR and 9/11. The Russians, the Chinese, Satan's communists want to live...the Islamists look forward to death. Communism can be defined in one sentence, “abolition of private property.” Christians who have escaped totalitarianism, Marxist or Islamist, cannot understand America's rush toward suicide. We only study history to learn that Satan is liar, he always pays off in counterfeit.

New Suit For Preacher

The Christmas season is over except for the exchanging of unwanted gifts, spending of gift money, gift certificates, and taking advantage of sales. Over and over during the Christmas holidays, we heard the refrain, “sales will be down because of the unprecedented recession, the greatest since the great depression.”

This recent recession in no way compares to the great depression, I was there, I lived through it. My folks did not stop talking about it until their dying day. It is like religion, you know the real from the false. When your Christianity is real, you cannot hide it, one can tell if you are His workmanship (Ephesians 2:10), you are anxious to share it with others.

My father came from two of North Carolina's first families: the Lucas family, prominent in Eastern North Carolina, and the Morris family who had founded Morristown, New Jersey, but all were just hardworking, landed people. My father, a dirt farmer, farmed during the week, cut hair in a barbershop on weekends and on holidays, built houses during the winter, non-crop months. He was not ashamed to tell anyone about his Christ, even a politician. he cut the hair of one state senator, and had presented the gospel to him. I once said, “Daddy you have to be careful who you talk with, some get offended.” Significant, one of the pastors who helped preach my father's funeral had pastored the church through the great depression. One of the nicer memorial wreaths had a card from the senator which read, “in memory of the only man who was ever concerned about my soul.”

I was driven to this pastor's funeral, dying at 95 after pastoring for 75 years. He had told me that my great grandfather took him and his trunk on his buggy to the train station, leaving for college, a college which today would not be that many miles by car, but at that time a good distance by train.

It is significant that the young preacher, following college, was the pastor of this family church. It was the depths of the great depression, 1930-1940. His suit was so patched that the women of the church raised money for a new suit from their sale of chickens and eggs. I could not help but think about that, and many other things at his funeral, as well as my own father's funeral, when he talked about the number of hair cuts for ten cents each.

I was just a child, but I remember this pastor on his knees in the pulpit, I remember the old men of the church and the community on their knees around the pulpit. Times were desperate, I can still see relatives, children who today are prospering, wealthy citizens arriving at the church on a wagon pulled by a mule, wrapped in quilts to keep out the cold.

I have talked and written about these things many times, my highfalutin, stuck up relatives tell me they do not want to hear about it, they are from outstanding ancestry, educated in great colleges, members of country clubs. They do not want the memory of such long-ago poverty which so affected their families and community. Such times did not defeat anyone, it only made them stronger, better. Fire strengthens and purifies the metal. June 24 was the day in Ireland that Christians would run through the fire, proving that they were chosen of God. In New Guinea, I have seen men walk through the fire. Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean. (Numbers 31:23)

We all need to watch the potter, what he can do with fire, he never takes his eyes of the wheel. God, the supreme potter, never takes his eyes off the earth, those who are His, who He is fashioning to do His work.

How well I remember the hand cranked corn sheller, the buckets of grains of corn which my mother cooked in an outside iron pot, making hominy grits for the hungry people of the community. I remember the sweet potato hills, where potatoes were stored for the hungry of the community. I remember the “rabbit boxes”. Hungry people were anxious to eat anything edible. The butter churn, the buttermilk, the dried beans planted along every fence.

Some books have published pictures of eastern North Carolina towns, just carts pulled by mules, or one-horse wagons, my grandparents were better off, they had horses and surreys (a two-seated horse-drawn buggy). This was a depression, not a today's recession when perhaps a family may be limited to one color television.

Most of the world's poverty is below the 30th parallel. 80% of the world's population lives on less than $10 a day, most on less than $1. If you live in a house, have an automobile, you live better than 95% of the world's population. God wanted me to see the world, to see conditions in the world, every continent, I traveled through 157 countries. The poorest countries are those with the Islamic religion (47). Those that live in communist countries, countries without any type of religion, if fortunate, have one pair of shoes and perhaps a change of clothing.

The moral character of any country can be determined by the treatment of it's citizens: abortion of it's youngest, euthanasia of it's oldest. A country as blessed as America will not escape the abortion holocaust, nor the treatment of old people in nursing homes. God knows what is happening in His universe. It is much too expensive to keep watch of the entire sky, but meteorites are slipping through, we usually just see those at night because of the light they cause. The financial status of our nation, the world, the individual, makes little difference when we consider our eternal destiny

Bottom Line

There is one thing that every responsible adult faces, except of course those that are not responsible, those content just to hibernate on welfare, living off the work of others (47% of the 308 million population do not pay any income tax at all). All these hard-working, God-fearing, tax-paying people have one thing in common: the bottom line.

If in business, farming, are you making more than it costs you to stay in business, stay on the farm? Or, like the government, federal, state, local, are you just going in the hole, deeper and deeper? The difference between the private sector and the public sector, you cannot continue to operate at a loss. The private business man cannot tax others to pay for his losses. You cannot put a toll on a bridge or highway, and charge those who never use a bridge or highway, as does the government. The government does not give up on getting everything it can out of you until there is no breath or pulse in your mortal body.

One of the more popular radio shows in the 1950s, Duffy's Tavern, Archie, the bartender, said to Ms. Duffy, “what is wrong with your father.” She said, “I don't know, he just broods and drinks bourbon.” Archie said, “what is he brooding about.” Ms. Duffy said, “the price of bourbon.”

In looking at the globe, there are bottom lines everywhere. Mr. Obama and the liberals are rejoicing about the new nuclear control treaty...that there will be inspectors on the ground. Have they forgotten about the inspectors, on the ground, in North Korea, Iran, Russia? Again, it is pay-off time for the North Korean sicko, South Korea seems to have paid him off with train-loads of grain for his starving people. He had intimidated South Korea in recent years about many things, blowing up their ships, their islands. South Korea is brave again...100,000 lights on a 98 foot high Christmas tree right on a mountain by the 38th parallel.

The November elections mean nothing to democrats and RINO republicans. Mr. Obama, the Sunni Muslim, communist promoter of evil, sweeping into his corner such Republicans as Senator Richard Burr, voting for allowing gays and lesbians access to everything in the military. Representative Barney Frank, the world's best known queer, again listed by Judicial Watch as one of the most corrupt politicians in Washington, states that it would be discriminating for the straights in the military not to shower with the gays.

Bottom line, 2010's ten most corrupt Washington politicians: Barbara Boxer, John Ensign (only Republican), Barney Frank, Jesse Jackson Jr., Barack Obama, Rahm Emmanuel, Nancy Pelosi, Charles Rangel, Hal Rogers, Maxine Waters. (Judicial Watch, 2010). Again, this year, your President, your Speaker of the House, two of the ten most corrupt politicians in Washington DC.

Again, the health of the nation's citizens hanging in the balance. Eating food that is lacking nutrition, obesity because the body stays hungry for nutrition, health problems because of toxicity from medications and cheap food stuffs. The need for such elements as magnesium and potassium in the system which only comes from organic farming. Mr. Obama, Big Farming and Big Pharma's attempt to control agriculture, food supplies, farming, all now under FDA supervision, leading to the elimination of organic farming, gardening and eating. Again, Senator Burr swept into the Obama trash can. The bottom line, your government is seeking to starve you on your way to the enslavement camp.

The KGB in Russia, controlled the fax machine as well as the xerox copier. The FCC is now made up of even more control-freak communists than the KGB. They will not be satisfied until the internet is totally controlled or taxed out of existence. Inconceivable, the world before the internet, information once sent by copper wires, now by fiber optics.

If you want to know the bottom line, look at Houston, Texas. The first large city with a lesbian mayor, the nation's two largest churches together totaling 65,000 members, the world's largest abortion clinic outside of China. In Houston, retired CIA agent Roland Carnaby, shot in the back and killed by the Houston police, who had a laptop computer in his car containing vital information, probably because he was friends of ex-Presidents and other officials where trust was available. Like the predictions of the ice age, according to the Aztecs, spanning 2012-2040, like the nuclear START treaty at a time when many nations are ready to throw nuclear weapons around, nothing is making us safer or less stressed, certainly not the bottom line you cross when trying to travel on a plane.

In a few short months, you, a hard-working, tax-paying, God-fearing American citizen must be radiated and photographed naked in order to fly on a plane, you are much less safe in a nuclear world, you have seen your country's military forces weakened by Mr. Obama and his friends in the gay agenda. (When he signed the legislation there were so many gays, the signing ceremony had to be moved to an auditorium at the Department of Interior, larger than any White house facility).

Rare that you find any good news...rejoice that since 1979, some of the world's best scientists have been studying the shroud of Turin, knowing that there was some writing on the material. A Vatican scientist has found Jesus's death certificate from fragments of Greek, Latin and Hebrew writing. Scientists now feel that this cloth may have been used on the table at the Last Supper, and then used as the shroud for our blessed Lord. There is so much highly sophisticated science involving in interpreting all these results, air particles from the area and the tomb, etc. You will find this information downplayed on the back pages, but unsupported “life on mars” will be at the forefront of corrupt, disbelieving secular journalism.

As one who remembers the first zipper, the first plastic, the first margarine. In college we knew when a professor knew what he was talking about, if he didn't, we called his comments just a “snow storm”. Climate changes affecting the bottom line of the world started on May 18th: sunspots, BP chemicals, changes in Jet stream and Gulf Stream. The European winter is so treacherous this year, they wanted to cancel Christmas. In the American northern hemisphere, west coast rain, northern blizzards, 32 degree (freezing) weather in Cuba.

Homeland security's new mantra, “if you see something, say something”. I experienced peepholes in Moscow and China. Einstein never trusted anyone checking him, even in publication. Homeland security reports there are 9,000 federal buildings where Americans can “snitch” on one another. The bottom line, your country has been taken over without a shot being fired. The bottom line, is this country you intended on leaving your children? The bottom line, eternal welfare for you, your children, your neighbors.