REI

I have been a member of REI since 1972.
A gift membership from my uncle Douglas.
One of the few times in my life when someone actually gave me something reflective of me!
Back then I spent all of my time climbing and hiking.
So, much appreciated!

Much more than the brief case some thought I really needed.
I used it for my suitcase when I travelled for 20 years!
Yeah, wholly impractical!


Bored, over the weekend, I did some reading on the history of REI.
Got to reading about James Whitaker and his Everest climb.
Side tracked by b5zarre 1990s alternative rock groups w Whitakers son.
And I slammed into Robert Kennedy!

Robert was the first person I was aware of politically.
Even though far too young, I thought he would make a good presidential choice!
My guess, so did someone in our shadow government,
and he was killed.

Last night, I thought about him.
All he said,
All he stood for,
All that could have been.

And, I remembered a song ...

Waking Up

Halloween excitement has past, thank Heavens!
Not much of interest happened around here at all this year.
But, the political parties were out in such great numbers, they should have been trick or treating!
Washington is apparently a battleground state.
Socialist versus the last of the conservative groups.
If the socialist deal a death blow to the rule of Republican law and common sense, then welcome to California North!
Such is the price a nation pays when it turns its back on God.
Stay tuned, we are holding our breath!

I was able to take the weekend to actually pre-plan my future posts, for the first time since 2010!
Yeah, been reactionary mode for most of the decade.
Maybe some tiny part of my brain is working again?
Be nice if true!
I am so tired of not being able to THINK!

My son is getting more comfortable with his pending marriage.
They finally have taken care of their arrangement for the wedding.
We rented tuxes on Saturday.
My artificial foot caused a bit of frustration, as I wear a size 12 shoe.
But, we ended up with a size 15 in their shoe!
Getting it on again before the wedding is going to be interesting!
And I may well wear a clown nose to go with the canoes on my feet!
Twenty days more to go.

Met up with his son as well.
He was hateful towards me for the two hour visit.
But, when it was time to go, suddenly he was all tears and "loved" me.
Thank God I take rejection like rain off a duck's back!
I gave him a book about sea life and some gummi bears.
:)
I know what four year olds like.

How I wish his father would be in his life!
But, Ivan has always been super sensitive to any form of embarrassment.
And I am not so sure his to be bride is excited about him being a father ....
cough - cough - cough!

Gaelic Girl is getting ready for a knee replacement.
So your prayers are needed, December 4 is the day.
I am more nervous than her.
I am too aware of the problems which may arise.
She only sees all positives!
So, I get to prepare for her worst.
And with her lack of friends, guess who will be doing as much as possible!
Albeit that three days a week I am in dialysis and worthless for the rest of the day.
Gonna be interesting!

And of course how can I close without venting my frustration at the time change?
Beyond stupid.
Conceived of by power hunger politians.
Forced on the sheep, whom only follow.
But never think!
aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!
It has driven me crazy since I was old enough to understand what is going on.
Yeah, I was in second grade - 7 years old!
ARGH!

Many I know agree with me but like me they realize you can not wake up slumbering sheep!

Thinking of which - time for bed!

Grease Spot

I have NO comfort level when it gets above 75 degrees!
I would much more prefer 65 degrees!
Of course all of my children and friends love the hot weather.
Imagine my joy of having lived in Arizona or Portugal, at 123 degrees!

So, it is HOT!
Kris is a grease spot on the floor.
In front of a 30" fan!
Now if only I had a spray bottle of water ....

Of course, this is Tuesday evening, when I am writing this.
Floor grease spot, watching the 1948 Superman Serial.
So, in reality, today - Wednesday, I am sitting in a soft chair, in an air conditioned room, and having my blood sucked about 6 times - while my craps like no tomorrow - until I pass out.
Sigh .....

Yeah, there are things worse than trying to stay alive.

Or perhaps I am waxing poetic ...
Or perhaps because I just finished watching '71 last night.
A British film about the summer of 1971.
A time of open warfare between the British Forces in Northern Ireland and Irish Nationalists.
Utter nonsense.

I hated high school in America.
I hated my Colorado high school above all others.
I hated the '70s and the confusion of those years!

And I hated America where wealth made right.

The wealthy Americans were suspected of financing the Irish War, later proven.
Americans were channeling funds through "humanitarian' organizations to destabilize all unfriendly governments.
And when that failed, America used CIA assassins to correct the politics of the wayward governments.
If you think the world is a mess today, want to guess why?
Blame lay squarely with the policies of Presidents Johnston and Nixon.
And for heat, they both get to experience that for eternity ...

But that is just my opinion!

Iron Sky

So Swede brought over, "Iron Sky", thinking I had not seen it.
He was right.
And at minute 5 he was having to calm me down!
He forgot how touchy I am on the subject of NAZI's!

So no spoiler alert here, it is about a NAZI base on the moon, accidentally discovered in 2018 by US astronauts!
This 2012 film looks forward from 2012 to 2018.
Sarah Palin is the President looking forward on to how to get re-elected.
And into her lap falls what she thinks are play NAZI's from the "moon".

Okay, I will not spoil this one for you.

The Finish and Australian writers do not understand what lay behind the politics.
But that is not surprising in an age were history has no meaning.
They do however understand Wagner's Rings.
So, quietly this movie revolves through the story of the Ring.
Hilariously!

Were it not for my amnesia, I would know when the last time I have laughed so hard was!
And probably in all of the wrong places, judging by Swede and Gaelic Girl's responses!
But it was funny, incredibly so!
Yeah, I am a sick German!

Whomever the writers, they did a good job in creating a fantasy and making it work!
That is a statement you will not hear from me often!

Costuming was good.
Dialog rough! Though they used "swear" words I had no recollection of in German...
Concept straight out of Mars Attacks.
Music by Laibach - always a favorite!

Problems:
Brutish treatment of women by the Oberführer, all to historically accurate.
Women have a place, but .... yeah ... not politically correct.
One very uncomfortable sequence where I hit fast forward, can't tell you if they did or didn't!
And it had NO place in the film!

Outside of the fact that today's audience may find much of it shocking, due today's political correctness,
this is quite a good film!
But due to the one sequence, crude humor and language - it is on you if you see this!
You are warned ...

My father was a NAZI to the day he died.
So, I have no love for the subject matter.
But am painfully aware of the extent to which National Socialism went.
Thankfully, this film does not go that far.
Would I own this?
Probably, just as in Mars Attacks - the invader gets theirs!

And I learned on the internet, that there is an Iron Sky 2 and 3!

White Christmas

I have commented before that the only being viewed on cable is the Hallmark channel.  My youngest daughter is completely addicted!

So I watch and I think....
First observation is that the story lines are shallow and predictable.
Hollywood values being pushed on to small town America.

Next is that they reuse the same actors oiver and over.
To the point that many could be called serial stalkers!

And then there is the white Christmas phenomena ....
So far there have been NO America Indians,
No religious message,
Nothing to do with Jesus what so ever!
You will across All of the productions only see 5 colored people!
No Hispanics what so ever!
And no main characters ...

Pssst, Hollywood - the minority in America is white .....

So althoiugh it is interesting to see a minority catered to,
Perhaps representation of what Americas racial mix really is would provide wider viewing?
And less basis for phobias ....

Interesting

It has been interesting watching all of the politicians running for cover as hard questions are being asked and answers demanded!
Oh how I have laughed at completely inept public "seervants" try to cover their butts with weasel words.
I hate weasels.
And our government has been filoled with less than intelligent weasels, hoping to stall the backlash against them.

But, even the Canadians are unhappy with the severing of the only real road south from Seattle.

:)

It is unsettling that it has taken the deaths of many, hospital stays for about 100 injured and of course the shutting down of the highway to show the corruption in planning - where safety should take an important role, was not even a consideration!

Will the future be changed?
Probably not.  They will weasel word things for a year and then try to quietly sweep it all under a rug.
Business as usual in Washington State.
The news here deflected to the appearance of a fuzzy bunny in a baby stroller!
No kidding.
Someone dumb enough to push their rabbit around in a baby carriage and reporting staff dumb enough to think this is news ....

Will ANYONE ask any probing and meaningful questions?
Doubtful ....

Terrorism

So I awoke yesterday morning to nothing but news about the Congressional shooting.

Really a political shooting is inevitable.
America has fanned the flames of hate speech for decades.
It is called "freedom of speech".
Now I am sure that those whom hate what stands for are quietly cheering.
I am sure that thoise whom generate hate speech are cheering.

The talking heads are the ones directly responsible.
It is just that simple.

Now to watch for all of the calls for gun grabs.
After-all we can not hold people directly responsible.
sigh

But one can hope and pray for common sense to come into vogue once again!

We may have home grown haters, whom this society has refused to hold accountable.
But, the world has imported haters, under which they must endure.
Until the horror of what the populations must endure touches their leaders.
It sickens me to read daily of what goes on DAILY in Germany, Denmark, France and Britain!
But in the US news you would never know what really is going on!
No, just a steady diet of Trump-hate speech.

Expect worse to come, without change.

Pray for this world and a return God.
Pray for this culture and a return to values.
Pray our leaders that they will be men and women of quality.
Pray for our religious leaders that they may not fail.
Pray for your families and children - often!

We are in this situation because those whom are believers have not been doing this,
Have failed in their personal walks,
Have allowed the godless to force their agendas,
For generations ......

Good luck if you seek real change.

Happy Valentines Day

 

A little humor from my politically correct cousin!  (not!)

Call To Mourn

I am so tempted to call for a national day of mourning ...
Maybe a year too late.

Tody is the drop dead on voting for the next American president.

And we have two of the worst candidates ever to attempt to run for office ...

Ask me how I really feel!

I have prayed for months for a REAL candidate to appear on the horizon I could vote for!  And there are none.  I could not care less if someone is male or female, what your race is, all I ask is that you be a person of character - not a character!

So many of my Christian friends have cast their votes already, opting for a worse qualified third party candidate with no ability or hope to win.  Just to make a statement.  Like the major parties are going to listen to someone throwing their vote away?  Really?  It just means their worthless candidate has a better chance than before ...

I still do not know how to vote.
Historically, NO one I have ever voted for has managed to attain office.

I really ought to sell my vote.  "Hey, want your opponent to lose?  Pay me to vote for them!"

So, you know whom I am voting for - the person whom did not make it on November 9th ...

*****
So, at 7 am, I walked over and voted.
I took a Wet Ones with me so I could cleanse my hands of the foul deed ...
Took myself out  to breakfast and just listened to converstations.
Topic of the morning - the Seahawks game, everyone avoiding the elephant in the room.

I continued my way home, thinking on this.
Maybe I need to run for office?
Lord knows what media would dredge up on me!
With amnesia, it would be impossible to defend against anything said about me!
LOL!

Boris Kornfeld

(I wrote this back in 2002, near as I can date it.  This was a part of my very first blog - destroyed by hackers and apparently, I never re-posted it!  Very surprising to have run across and then discovered I had not re-blogged.  I only learned about it via an old email from a publishing company wanting to use this as one of their devotionals!  Wow, someone liked something I wrote!  I think the original title was, You Can Change The World, back then.  I re-titled it Boris Kornfeld in the second blog, which was also destroyed, and the follow four!  This was part of a long conversation I had with Francis Schaeffer, on a Lucerne, Switzerland bridge - perhaps during spring of 1967?  His story moved me so much, I wrote it down that afternoon back at the hotel! Hope you like the memory ...)

-----

Whether you realize it or not, your faith in Christ is not without cost to you. 

Unfortunately, you live in a country where, if you live the typical American dream, about the worst thing that can happen is someone might make fun of you at school for being a Christian – assuming anyone even knows or cares.  But, this has not been true throughout the past two thousand years – to hold fast to your faith in Christ does come with a price and often that price is your life, the love of your family, fellowship with your friends and/or financial freedom. 

We have a God who promises “…all things will work for (HIS) good…”.  What good can possibly come from the loss of your life, family, friends and/or possessions?  Well, just ten years ago, the world changed mightily, though you may have been too young to care.  And, that change can be directly traced back to the workings of God during the winter of 1956, in the lives of three men.  

Our story takes place in the old Soviet Union, in order to rebuild their country destroyed during the war, they were in need of massive amounts of wood.  To gather the incredible amount of wood needed, required millions of men to build railroads, river barges, terminals, sawmills and ships, plus the cutting of wood and getting it to a river or railhead.  Along the way, gold and platinum were found in great amounts throughout Siberia and even more men were needed to mine these precious metals – conquering the world is expensive business!

So, let us see exactly how God used this situation and the lives of three men to change the world:

Boris Kornfeld, was a Russian medical doctor who ran a foul of the post war Soviet government and was exiled to a Siberian wood cutting camp for an unspecified political crime.  Siberia was more than a land of slave labor camps, it was a land of death camps – to be condemned to Siberia was to be condemned to death.  The hard work and danger of cutting timber, combined with a poor diet and lack of warmth, guaranteed few survivors and no successful escapes.

Unlike most of the prisoners, Kornfeld was a Jew – and not a very religious one at that.  With a name like Kornfeld, he was probably also of German extraction, perhaps a Volga German, exiled by Stalin by the millions to Siberia following the war.  Of the estimated 50 million Russians Stalin exiled to Siberian camps, about 32 million were Christian’s - sent in order to purify the land of their influence.

Kornfeld, across time, came to understand Christianity and, under the influence of a devoted Christian in his barracks, accepted Christ as his savior.  This Christian friend and him were deeply troubled by the treatment of prisoners by the guards and began reporting beatings, thefts of foods, etc. which they witnessed daily.  First, they complained to the camp commander and then the International Red Cross workers who would come for an inspection.  His Christian friend was not to live much longer and died from an accident with a mallet in the camp wood shop one night.

Fearing for his own life, Kornfeld moved into the camp hospital, in hopes that the guards would not be so brazen as to kill him in the hospital with 24 hour witnesses present.  He understood he was a marked man and that he could die at any time – and having accepted this as fact, he found the freedom to take a stand for Christ in that camp.  He continued to report on the inhumanity he observed in the camp and to witness for Christ – not only to other prisoners but also to the guards.

One night, a young prisoner was brought in from another camp, who had been operated on for stomach cancer.  As he cared for this unknown man, Kornfeld began to talk with him, during those times when the young man was awake.  All through the night he shared the story of his life, what Christ had done for him and the freedom he had now found.  The young man, also a Jew and also with a doctorate education, could not believe what he was hearing.  But, he continued to question and discuss throughout the pain filled night, the story Kornfeld shared with him.  Eventually, the young man was to drift off into a deep sleep.

The following day, once he was awake, he asked an intern to speak with the doctor whom had been with him throughout the previous night, only to learn that his caregiver had an accident with a large mallet during the night and was now missing a part of his head.

As he lay confined to his bed, he thought long on the discussions he had with Boris Kornfeld during that long and fateful night.  “Of what value was life, if a man could comfort him and yet the next second be obviously murdered beside his bed?”  The question haunted him until the night he too made the decision to accept Christ as his savior.

That man, who was to come to Christ, was Alexander Solzhenitsyn - Nobel Peace laureate, a major player in the creation of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb and future author of the “Gulag Archipelago” - the book smuggled out of Russia, a few pages at a time, by Swedish Red Cross workers.

It wasn’t until 1969 that a sufficient number of pages had been assembled in Sweden so that the book could finally be published in 1970.  Prior to this work, the world only saw the Soviet Union as a country of tremendous military and scientific achievement.  No one knew of the horrors of the Soviet Gulag system – not about the 8.5 million Christian dead, nor the estimated 32 million killed without “due process of law”, nor of the 18 million barely surviving in Siberian camps, nor that there ever was an insignificant Jewish doctor named Boris Kornfeld – whose legacy was to change map the world.  And, this book told the entire world for the very first time the shameful secrets of the Soviet system.

People were in disbelief - the story could not possibly be true.  Numerous governments and the UN began investigations to find out exactly what was true.  But by 1973, the truth was fully known.  Not only had satellites mapped the locations of thousands of camps in Siberia, but a botched attempt to expand Soviet influence into the middle east, by wiping out Israel, had left Soviet military might in question.  It still took 19 more years and millions of lives more before the Soviet Union finally collapsed.  The country that had once banned God, burned Bibles, leveled church buildings and killed more believers than had died in all of history’s persecutions combined, was now itself dead - as were many of its leaders.

Today the threat of communism is mostly gone.  But, the price paid by the Russian believers trapped under the dictates of their government was high.  Where will those opposed to Christ raise their banner next?  Russia still struggles – torn between those who still believe in the old system of godlessness and those who are pushing for religious liberty in their land.  The lesson they have learned is that government can not be trusted to protect your right of religious worship.  But, they also have seen that God will call into account those who oppose Him.  And, now they struggle to live in a country that is under God’s judgement – life is no easier for the Christian than it is for the atheist.

If one man could be pointed to, as being solely responsible for the downfall of the Soviet state, it was Alexander Solzhenitsyn.  Yes, the western countries, lead by the US economy and military innovations, forced the Soviet Union into bankruptcy through excessive military expenditures, but the “Gulag Archipelago” showed the world that the Communist hierarchy was morally bankrupt as well.  And, with this bankruptcy, God raised up a tiny army of people willing to put their lives on the line to bring Christ to this atheistic country and comfort to the persecuted believers.

But, that will be another tale - for me to share another time.

The Apostate German Church

Cardinal Woelki, is the Archbishop of Cologne, Germany.  A country racked by rioting almost to the point of civil war.  The Muslim masses are rioting, raping, murdering lone Germans and burning their camps.  The Germans are rioting, beating the tar out of any Muslim they find in retaliation.  The German government is trapped between the opinion of its people and the politics of the world and wealth they are being given to host these immigrants.  Chancellor Merkel has got to be feeling the stress!

And Woelki gives a speech, yards from where hundreds of German girls were raped by the Muslims on New Years Eve and calls for tolerance for these immigrants.

And in a twisted allegory, Woelki compares Jesus call for us to care for one another, to that of the refugees plight.

There is an argument there.  If you spiritualize Jesus' teachings, we are to care for the world, but that was never said nor asked by Jesus.  We are to care for one another, even the dogs of the faith, remembering that they are our brothers and sisters.  We are to house, feed, clothe, and witness to them.  Jesus never asked a Jew to do that for a Roman or a Scythian .....  Interesting.

That is the difference between knowing your Scripture and seeing it twisted for an end goal.

End goal?

Yeah, you had better believe he and/or Cologne are being subsidized by the UNHCR - the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which oversees the rescue and settlement in host countries of refugees.  And these days no one is going to take 10,000 refugees without some Deutsche Marks attached to the deal ....  Which by the way, more than likely came from your tax money paid to your government.

What follows is a translation of the address, read it - consider how reasonable it sounds - then put it into context and see how damning this propaganda piece really is.

*****

Transcript:

00:02		In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
00:09		Amen. May peace be with you. — And with your Spirit.
00:19		Dear sisters, dear brothers, I wholeheartedly welcome you
00:23		to the celebration of our Feast of Corpus Christi here in the Roncalli Square.
00:30		A boat, a refugee boat from the Mediterranean sea.
00:37		What business is that supposed to have with Corpus Christi?
00:41		Both, monstrance and this boat, they have carried Christ.
00:51		The monstrance carried Christ in the form of the Eucharist bread.
00:59		The boat carried Christ in the form of the poor.
01:05		That is why it is dear to me that this boat today is our altar.
01:11		This boat, with hundreds of refugees, with women and children, and elderly people,
01:19		that was drifting in the Mediterranean sea, until it was detected, and the people were saved.
01:25		“Did you recognize me?”, Christ will ask us one day.
01:30		“Did you recognize me in the form of the transformed bread;
01:35		did you recognize me when I was a refugee and came to your country?”
01:50		Dear sisters, dear brothers.
01:55		Nothing unusual for a town by the Rhine, such a ship.
02:02		For 737 years now in our town the feast of Corpus Christi has been observed with special festivity.
02:14		In this long history, the procession of 1945 is unforgotten,
02:25		Which paraded through the ruins of our inner city, almost completely destroyed by war.
02:32		Trusting that God’s love outlasts all vicissitudes of history, and human distress,
02:41		the citizens of Cologne back then professed their belief in the steady presence of Jesus Christ
02:50		in the sacrament of the Holy Communion.
02:54		The misery and the loss of loved ones were impossible to overlook.
03:00		The consequences of the catastrophe of the Nazi dictatorship were impossible to overlook,
03:06		and with it the consequences of the war.
03:10		In this hour such, or similar, catastrophes take place.
03:19		These days it is easier for us than back then, after the war, to distance ourselves.
03:28		Today, one can simply close the newspaper.
03:35		One can simply skip over reading certain things.
03:39		One can switch off the TV, not open the social media.
03:46		See nothing, hear nothing, say nothing.
03:52		Therefore, dear sisters and brothers, we must be careful at our Feast of Corpus Christi today
04:00		at the gold, the beauty, and the dignity of the monstrance,
04:06		not to close our eyes to what it is truly about.
04:12		So when we carry the Lord through the streets of the city now,
04:16		then, dear sisters and brothers, we must — in the monstrance,
04:22		in the Eucharistic form of the bread —
04:26		recognize and heed his maltreated body, his maltreated face, his wounds,
04:36		in the faces and in the bodies of the people of today.
04:44		And we must act accordingly!
04:47		We will not let ourselves be prohibited from speaking!
04:50		It is nearly a year ago that on this wonderful square, in the shadow of our cathedral,
04:57		in pouring rain, we remembered with 23,000 bell tolls the dead
05:04		who have since the year 2000 lost their lives on their flight across the Mediterranean Sea.
05:12		3,327 deaths have since been added to that, according to the refugee relief organization UNHCR.
05:25		Drowned and murdered.
05:28		Whose hopes, whose sorrow, whose dreams and grief,
05:33		whose families and stories God alone knows.
05:39		The waves of the Mediterranean Sea have closed over them.
05:43		3,327 people have perished in boats like this!
05:54		The pictures that you can now see in newspapers and on TV,
06:00		overcrowded and keeling over, they strike right into the center of the heart.
06:06		They must strike the heart
06:09		of European society, dedicated to peace and human rights.
06:17		The people who were in this boat, hardly conceivable, a hundred of them,
06:27		who set out across the sea, they were found and saved, a coincidence, a blessing.
06:39		This boat becomes our altar today.
06:44		The altar is an allegory, a symbol, of the Lord himself.
06:51		He is right there in this boat!
06:54		In this boat that trafficked people, young and old, women and men, across the Mediterranean sea.
07:01		So when, in a few moments, we carry the body of the Lord, that was sacrificed on the cross,
07:08		in the monstrance through the streets of our town,
07:12		then it is the same body
07:17		that we meet in the streets, in the poor, in the torrents of the sea,
07:24		in the unaccompanied minor refugees,
07:27		in the terminally ill, in the traumatised children from regions of civil war,
07:35		in their desperate mothers, and abducted fathers,
07:39		in every woman, in every man, in every child that hopes for a future.
07:46		Their cry for justice, their cry for dignity, their cry for freedom.
07:55		It is God’s cry!
07:58		Let us hear it!
08:01		Because, dear sisters and brothers, whoever lets people drown in the Mediterranean sea, lets God drown.
08:09		A hundred times, a thousand times!
08:12		Whoever tortures people to death in camps, tortures God to death!
08:17		A thousand and a many thousand times!
08:21		Every death, a death of God!
08:25		That is why one day, Christ will ask us:
08:28		“Did you recognize me? Did you truly recognize me?
08:33		In the body of the transformed bread.”
08:37		“Did you recognize me? Truly recognize me? When I was a refugee and came to your town, your country.”
08:45		“Did you recognize me? Truly recognize me? When I needed your help as I was drowning in the sea.”
08:53		And, dear sisters and dear brothers, when we do this, then the Evangel will become alive, today.
09:02		And what happened back then, happens today, too:
09:07		“They all ate and were satisfied.”
09:12		Amen.

Cassius Clay, Politics, Religion

As you know, I do not wax upon the things of politic - I simply do not care about the subject nor the desires of political parties one way or the other.  The end of politics is always the same: man is corrupt all of his system will only be more corrupt across time.  But ...

My grandfather, John, was a heavyweight boxer.  He was not a big man but he had stood up to the best, had his brains beat out of his head and lived.  Others facing the likes of Max Baer did not fare so well. 
And he taught me to box, though my hand structure is completely wrong and he made sure I understood that if I hit someone straight on - that was the end of that hand and wrist!  Yeah, piano or violin fingers they are called.

So Cassius Clay was someone I watched through the media and respected as a fighter.  When he refused to enlist for the military, it caused quite the ruckus in the early 1960's!  I can remember my father was absolutely livid that anyone could say "NO" to the demands of their country.  You have to remember, he was a NAZI - the state is the supreme being and you will comply!

But, I was born without prejudice nor a desire to kill anyone, by some natural or unnatural means I understood that human life was precious and war was wrong.  Yeah, my father was livid with me quite a bit as well.  And I was unshakable, in spite of the beatings, the government was not the final authority.  And Clay came along, I listened to his words in the news and thought on them.  Something was wrong in this world, but I was too young to fully understand the corruption behind politics nor the history of black America.

While in prison, Clay converted to Islam, changed his name and upon release was not widely accepted by anyone!  He was a disgrace after-all.  But, he was one a heck of a fighter!

Less than a decade later, it was my turn to be drafted.  In the mail came a heavily wax like substance impregnated card telling me that the President of the United States was ordering me to report to such and such place, and time.  Only problem was, I was 17, not 18, and I knew it was not a valid draft document.  For fun I tried lighting it on fire - it would not burn.  I tried to chop it up with a knife or scissors, even an axe - it would not cut.  I tried boiling it - but it remained unchanged.  I tossed it in the garbage.


When I turned 18, I did go and register for the selective service and wrote boldly on the form that I only did so only under duress and would only consider military service as a medic or similar orderly - I would carry NO firearms what-so-ever.  They even had a brochure on how to resist the draft in the recruiters office, I picked one up.

The recruiter was livid.
My father was livid.
Yeah, not a good day a whole lot of livid was going on!

I thought often of Clay and his fight against the military industrial complex, corrupt politicians and the bias in the USA for war - at any cost, for any excuse, against anyone.
But, I was a no one.  I had not won any Olympic Medals.  I had no fame for anything I had done.  No foreign reporters wanted my story.

And for the next three years I fought that illegal attempt to bring me into the US Army.  It was only through their arrogance that they lost the battle finally before an honest judge - the story is in one of these blogs.

Clay had been an inspiration to me.  Someone whom was willing to stand up to the status quo and say, "This is wrong."

For that, I respected the man.

But, he saw the truth but did not fully understand what so many still do not even see.  Tommy James figured it out.  I eventually learned.  And though Clay never could due to the Islamic base of his faith - a Jewish prophesy, this song still conveys what many know from Revelation 1: the Shekinah Glory of God revealed on Earth ...

Politics

I spend most of my social media time on Seen.Is, an Icelandic site open to people the world over.  There are some real whack jobs on there, but there is also a community which makes me think.   And, unfortunately ...

Everyone is discussing politics!  I hate it!  Aargh!  Like anyone cares day to day the Junior High-ish drama being placed out in the tabloid press, on the news, on the internet over the "to the minute" status of any of these goof-balls running for US office!

Lord, help this country, much less this world, if any of these losers actually ends up in office - and the odds are awfully good one of the them will.  :(

For years I have voted against people, never actually for someone.  My politically suave friends chide me for wasting my votes - but if you are appalled by the choice - is there actually a choice?  And, as a Christian, if the candidate does not actually support what I believe in with more than just words - nope, I will not vote for you.

And now, as I write this, there are still five major contenders for this country's top office and not a one of them is actually qualified that I can find.

As I explained to Swede, as well as other diners listening in on our conversation, when we got into it this last week - can you really imagine Merkel, much less Putin, at a table with one of America's choices and have those actual world leaders walk away from the table without dying of laughter?  Yeah, embarrassing.

Certainly, I have no desire to be president of anything.  Besides, I am foreign born, of a foreign father and constitutionally not eligible - just like Obama and for that matter Cruz.  Of course, anymore the rule of law has been overcome by the rule of emotion.

Even at this late date, I am still awaiting an actual candidate to appear.  No not an agenda driven maniac like Bloomberg nor an egotist like Romney, just someone real and of substance in the realm of humanity.

Where are the Dag Hammarskjöld, of this country?  MEN of COMPASSION, of CHARACTER, of HONOR.  Sure you can throw mud at Dag, but I remember him in my youth as someone to look up to - and I did.

I want someone I can look up to, to vote for now ...

Is that too much to ask for?

Religionless

I finished my reading of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's, Letters From Prison.  I marked a few pages to go back to and think about after I was done.  Terms we have today in Theology really were not in wide usage in the 1940's - much less to a German in a prison awaiting death.

Religionless is one of those terms.  Bonhoeffer had seen during the war, the falling away of a people rich in Christian tradition and he had no way to describe the status of this new people other than religionless.  From April 30, 1944:

" ... What is bothering me incessantly is the question what Christianity really is, or indeed who Christ really is, for us today.  The time when people could be told everything by means of words, whether theological or pious, is over, and so is the time of inwardness and conscience - and that means the time of religion in general.  We are moving towards a completely religionless time; people as they are now simply cannot be religious any more.  Even those who honestly describe themselves as "religious" do not in the least act up to it, and so they presumably mean something quite different by "religious".
.....
Are there religionless Christians?  If religion is on a garment of Christianity - and even this garment has looked very different at different times - then what is a religionless Christianity? ... "

Of course, the issue Bonhoeffer had stumbled across was that society and culture was turning away from God and becoming atheistic.  A thought which would have confounded him mightily.  His beloved German had indeed turned from God.  Well rot starts at the top and the National Church (Lutheran), as well as, the Catholic priesthood had openly accepted National Socialism and the powers that be were more than happy to have lots of photographs taken showing the church leaders all in stiff arm salutes to Hitler.

How would you have reacted?  Your pastor, priest, bishop - what have you, is openly accepting evil in the open.  Your faith is weak because the National Church has no requirement that you have any faith in God what so ever.  Yeah, you are going to abandon that faith and stay home from now on - you become religionless aka an atheist.

Bonhoeffer's predecessor at the head of the Church, Karl Barth, had noticed this falling away as well, but had no solution.  The people had fallen into secularism, they needed to be called back into the congregations ... but ... outside of saying they needed to be restored, there was no wisdom passed on.

Today, we see this problem clearly.  We understand that it is the Holy Spirit's responsibility to call people as well as call them back in the event they fall.  But just as in Bonhoeffer's day, we see that "faithful" using God as nothing more than the impersonal "deus ex machina" - the problem solver to save our bacon when we go astray, foul up, we have no other options to fix the problem ...

Of course, God is the best problem solver, He is even better at helping  you avoid those problems in the first place as well - but that requires a personal relationship with Him, not a superficial one!  And well, mankind anymore seems to think a superficial relationship is just fine.  God exists to serve man and his desires.

So, it seems that the ultimate end to the problem Barth and Bonhoeffer saw 70 years ago is not a drawing back of the believer but rather paganism.  We now create gods to be what we want, that serve us, deride those whom are not willing to do so and go our merry way - ignore those whom care about us and desire to turn us back to the one true God.

Yeah, my reading of Bonhoeffer this time really cleared up the very same questions for me as well - only this time I could see the parallel as well as the ultimate goal Evil has brought mankind to.  And I will address this next month ... lots more thinking to do!

No Easy Choices

Friday I watched a show on ABC, called 20/20, usually I ignore ABC, never have been impressed with 20/20 and certainly anything to do with ISIS is an utter turnoff - I know what affect that subject will have on me - and I already crippled Islamic expansionism out of Yugoslavia once.  Conversely, I also crippled the Slavic Army's attempts to mass murder Muslims in Bosnia.  Hey, am at my core still a Hutterite - I hate war and murder!

But, the program seemed to be about refugees in Iraq, so it might be interesting ...

Link to the program: http://abc.go.com/shows/2020/listing/2015-12/18-2020-121815-escaping-isis

If you are not on a system which allows you to view past programming, you can get the idea via numerous sources here: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=escaping+isis

You really do want to get the idea before you read further:  Rape and murder of women and children, execution for all adult males.

 ... INTERMISSION ...

As I mentioned yesterday, I have been rereading my Bonhoeffer.  He wrote two noteworthy books: "Cost of Discipleship" and "Letters From Prison".  In Cost of Discipleship, he takes a hard look at the cheap grace being sold to the masses through religion and calls for faithful followers of Christ to realize that being a Disciple of Christ comes with a Cost - a very personal and steep cost.  End result however was isolation of the believers and empty piety - the very things he was hammering the Lutheran Church about!  Book backfired because the laity did not understand how to transform from a dead church into a living belief.

His collection of letters from prison make up the second book and you can follow his thoughts across time as he at first believes he is going to be set free shortly, to realizing that he hosed up badly and the gallows awaits him.  Yesterday's quote from him came from the point of realizing he was being held responsible by God.

And so, I watched the Escape From Isis, on ABC.  The story of a refugee camp in northern Iraq of families whose town was run over by Isis.  A Christian town utterly destroyed.  Christians running for their lives - literally!  Of Christians asking the hard questions: "Why" and "What now?".  Ten thousand of them, trying to live their faith in the absence of everything!

Bonhoeffer saw the disappearance of the Jews, he had to have heard the rumors of the camps.  And he did nothing.  He saw the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and never muttered a word in public - although in private he did equate Hitler to Satan incarnate.  And that belief, that Hitler really was Satan, led him down a path of becoming involved in the attempt on Hitler's life!  And a corresponding death sentence for himself and all of the other males in his family whom were involved in the plot.

Coincidental with Bonhoeffer's silence was the rise of the White Rose Group (Die Wiesse Rosen) in Munich.  Kids whom saw the apostasy and lies - and published fliers telling the hard truth of National Socialism and the War on the Eastern Front - which also revealed the existence of the concentration camps.  Bonhoeffer was to follow them to the gallows.

I contemplate the travails of the Iraqi Christians and the cost they are paying for their faith.  Here at home - no one actually cares.  "It does not affect me..." syndrome.

And we, as Christians, now stand at a crossroads - the decisions we make, the leadership we follow, will all have a telling effect upon our our Christianity and witness - or the lack thereof.

God never guaranteed to save any of us from persecution and martyrdom.
God never said life was going to be easy.
God did say He would meet our needs.
God did say all was to be to His glory.

We, like it or not, are to be of one body and we are currently represented by an apostate western church, unworthy of the  price being paid in Iraq by those isolated Christian believers.  The same could be said of believers in Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Liberia, Yemen, Egypt, etc, etc, etc!

Get the point?

Christianity is under attack worldwide.
Evil has raised its head.

Now, what are you going to personally do about?  Yes, your choice will be judged and you will be held responsible.  To act is to draw that evil upon you and your loved ones.  To not act will eventually cost the lives of you and your loved ones ...

And what did Dietrich Bonhoeffer think?  Continued from yesterday's poem:
"Until thou wipe out our guilt,
Keep us in quiet patience.

"We will silently prepare ourselves,
Till thou dost call to new times.

"Until thou stillest storm and flood,
And thy will does wonders.

"Brother, till the night be past,
Pray for me!"

So, your move: stand for God and thwart evil or support evil through your disinterest ...  And remember, to fight in God's world is to do so on bent knees - and He will move or He will tell you to.

Thoughts About Paris

Even with my friends I have been uncharacteristically quiet on the issue of what has happened in Paris and the immigration issue here.  Being a student of history, I am seeing the replay of the isolationism which led this country, and the world, into world war twice in the past century.

One group in my face has felt that my silence is because I hate Frenchmen and they got what they deserved.  Unfortunately, I lived in France for many years, spoke the language only - for eight years and was where I studied for my chef skills.  So, been there, extremely familiar with the French and their problems.  But, no I do not hate the French, I still have several online friends whom communicate with me regularly.  Most of them date back to my  life in northeastern France.  I may joke about being one of the 5,000 survivors of the NATO gulag of Laon - but make no mistake - the French are a wonderful people no more deserving what happened to them than anyone else.

And others have this hodgepodge mix of views pro-Islamic/anti-Islamic etc.  But, hey, I have worked with Islamic co-workers for decades from Jordan, Iraq and Iran - with no difficulties at all.  Even if my ancestry is Hebrew (on both sides!) there was never ever a problem.  So, no, I have lived in peace with Islamist's and they with me.  But, with that said, this little atheistic Hebrew boy was smart enough to know not to take that computing contract in Saudi ...

Conversely, importing scores of 17 to 40 year old single able bodied males is really just an invitation to horror!  Not paranoia, just a observations from all over the world across the past 40 years.  Europe and the America's should have learned from over a hundred years of terrorism throughout the Middle East, Near East and Pacific Island countries.  We (western culture) will not be immune.  There is no excuse for such naive stupidity - history is there for all to read and learn from!  And, oh, there is only one view of history - not multiple, and it is based on facts with the appropriate conclusion attached - not well wishes.

Yet, the story of the Syrian issue is one of US and British culpability for having created ISIS in the first place!  Yeah, we have the photos and news reports, even of Biden meeting with these power hungry thugs!  And yet, no one remembers, no one cares, no one wants to hold this US administration accountable for this ongoing apocalypse in Syria and throughout Africa!  And, yet, God will.

And where do I live now?  In the northwestern part of the USA with my family and even extended family now.  Paris is but one occurrence of foreign terrorism and through acts such as a blind immigration policy ... it is just a matter of time I fear.  All I can pray is for the safety of my own, should violence extend to this isolated spot in the world.

Again, prayer, lots of prayer is what is needed for your safety, you family's safety and God to move against those accountable for what happens.  Unfortunately, lots of innocents can be hurt in the meantime but that is in God's hands and His time table.  And lots of innocents can be hurt when we do not allow valid immigration for refugees to occur as well.  A fine line but not an invisible one.

As for Paris, the blind mania to allow immigration based upon an open border and pictures of children (when they are by and large an army of able bodied men) has led to the obvious problem and more to come.  A country which refuses to arm its citizens should express no surprise with high causality counts.  The populaces' allowance of a press' unwillingness to tell of the terrorist acts in Hamburg and Copenhagen only fuels the problem.  To wax poetically on metal fatigue when a tail section falls 3 miles from the body of an aircraft only causes to confuse - it is a bomb that does this - not metal fatigue!  But, we listen to the voices of the uninformed and the ignorant, failing to use the brain each one of us possesses.  To have no uproar over the literally hundreds of thousands of Christian executions in the past year .....  I am sorry if drugs, partying and games fill your life - it does not remove the requirement for you to use your brain.  Nor your own personal culpability before God.

And yes, God is going to allow you to be held accountable for your disinterest and isolation.  ISIS is but a symptom, the disease is this modern "culture", sorry but the cure is a terribly hard pill to swallow.

(Now my eMail audience, aren't you sorry you asked?)

As for me ...  I will continue to live in peace with all men, until such time as they feel empowered to not do so with me and mine.  And just as I have done in the past, those whom are guilty will be brought to justice, but not vengeance, because I am a pacifist and I believe in the sanctity of human life.  For those whom do not, well it is best they learn before they are brought openly to face God.

Death of a Nation

I have been reading a great deal in the book of Isaiah lately, mostly because I have had a feeling for many decades that Isaiah's warnings to an unlistening nation - may well be applicable to this Western Pagan Culture we are a part of (worldwide) - driven by the United States of America.  Certainly no greater spiritual whore has ever existed in millenia than what we are seeing today.

But, the Old Testament is full of warnings to both Israel and Judah, words falling on deft ears - even to the breaching of city walls!  God warns and warns - but honestly, mankind does no more listen to Him than their own conscience!  Then, God moves.  And man laments the horrors brought on him by his own sin and "stiff necks".  But by then their hearts and minds are so hard that none will turn their face to God, except in anger.

So what does bring about the death of a nation?

1.  Religious Apostasy - turning from worship of God to worship of ourselves and our desires.  It is pagan idolatry - pure and simple!  Sure few are actually bowing down to a physical idol, however man has become addicted to greed, power, sex, pleasure, chemical stimulants!  What will it takes for the world to divert your eyes from the living God to the fake one? ... you will be tried subtly, so much so you will never see it coming until one day you wake up and find out that God is no longer there for you!  And He does WANT you, personally, in a relationship with Him.

2.  Loss of Morality -following  on the heels of an appearance of Religious Apostasy, comes the break down in relationships, marriage, sexual barriers, no concept that lying, cheating stealing is wrong, murder increases because man has no value - except in how you can use him.  Warfare, disingenuous politicians, those whom will lead you astray from the pulpit.  Heavens we see all of this happening!  (So guess what has happened already!  Yeah, number 1!)

3.  Political Anarchy - everyone wants to do what they think is best for them and their interests!  No one listens, no one learns!  Since God does not exist then there is moral guidelines, there is no valid law, the is no absolute truth.  The government and its officials will work diligently in their own interest - or at least against you if you truly are a believer in God.  The world will brand you alien, outlaw, attempt to silence you.  I wish I could say this does not happen but I could readily point to a host of countries fighting against God and His desires.  Countries for whom peace is meaningless unless it is on their terms!

*****

Yeah, this is a dismal list!  Heavens, apostasy began in the Reformation Movement!  Our Bibles are good but man injected little things which were never there - but if you can use a Syrian Bible, if you can find one - it does have the original first century texts - because it dates to the first century!  (and Erasmus with his Catholic beliefs could not contaminate it!)  Man rejected the Syrian text because it was not Western (not invented here syndrome!).  And the apostasy began - the fruits of which we see today in churches worldwide!

There are no more morals.  It saddens me to know that my children were part of this hook up culture, not a respectful culture. I have worked for years with youth trying to show them that is approach to life is not only dangerous but un-Godly as well.  Classic answers? "Well, that was okay in old times but we live in another time / another culture!"  "It will not happen to me!"  "It is okay, besides it is fun!"

Yeah, there is little difference between this culture and that of the Roman Empire in sexual freedom terms - with the exception that women have a right to say no these days.  Any time, any where, any Roman male citizen could demand your body for their usage.  You had nothing to say about this as a woman, you were literally a sex slave in that culture - just by the fact of existing!  How is that different than hooking up these days?

Yeah, it will happen to you.  You are not an exception.  Disease, some fatal, all await you and your hormones.  God's displeasure is not something you want to have to endure!  And He does know your sin you think hidden so well, and He does care, and He does know what is best for you.

Sin is fun, face it, no one would sin if there was not pleasure, fun or something to gain by doing it!  And, Satan knows how to play us like you would not believe.  "It" has much experience at destroying humans - you are just one more opportunity for  it to prove to God that mankind is not worth the effort and "its" way is far better.

America is at a major decision point.  Continuing Godlessness or begin the slow turn away from the satanic direction this country has been heading for generations!  The wrong choice in the ballot box and the fate will be sealed - but we have a chance to turn from sin - but it has to begin in your heart!  Anarchy is not pleasant to live through, civil war is horrible, totalitarianism is not going to solve this cultures ills.  But, paganism holds so strong a grip on this nation's people that I hold little hope for a miracle.

But, at least for me, I know I am His, as are my loved ones.  Yeah some of them play their games and believe it does not matter to God, but at least they can be called out sin to wake up because they are His in the first place.

*****

Psalms 2:1  "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?"
Habakkuk 2:4  "The just shall live by His faith."

Sunday Services On the 4th

I really do not look forward to church services on any Sunday around the Fourth of July here in America.  It ALWAYS revolves around veterans getting up and talking about bombing Germans into submission, or diary excerpts read by the children of those whom relished killing Germans.  No exaggeration here guys, I have heard it all and in terms I am sure God does not approve of at how horrible Germans are and how they deserve to die - from the pulpit of my and many, many other churches here in America I have visited around this time of year while on vacation.  Not likely to hear a similar sermon or testimonials in Germany ...

So, you sit there and quietly suck it up.  After service you have to flee, I learned, because after such an uplifting presentation, everyone wants to talk about their and of course your family's wartime history.

"Yeah, my father was a NAZI, he was dedicated to creating an atomic bomb to blow New York City or Washington DC off the map ... and end American aggression in Europe."

No, not exactly what you want to say.  (And thank God that Heisenberg, program head, was so horribly wrong in his approach!  His bomb would have made a major mess for the Earth!)

Even if  you can explain that your father went on to becoming an Operation Paperclip scientist for the US Government - that is meaningless, he was still a NAZI.

So, I tend to just go and bring a good Bible study with me to do in the pew while the voices rant their celebratory memories or their forefather's memories, forgetting that there ever was another side to the story - whose testimonies are just as compelling but are silenced.

It is why I have refused to ever get involved in politics my entire life - I am appalling to the masses.  I think, I study all sides, I form my own opinion.  Not appreciated in American politics where the mainstream is the right opinion and no other is allowed.  Sigh ....

One has only to look at the uproar over South Carolina's Civil War battle flag - now politically incorrect because a minority of racist have defined it as theirs.  Funny, it used to stand for State Rights, over Federal Rights, once upon a time.  It was an "in your face Federal Government" statement.  It never did represent slavery nor any issue associated with slavery.  But sorry, I am looking at facts and not feelings again ...

Now, if you ever want to discuss South African or Rhodesian politics, I am extremely knowledgeable there as well - but you have to throw away your politically correct American ideologies to understand just how wrong the American press was, how manipulated America - where those governments did go wrong and why ... it would not be what you think you know ...  Facts, not feelings are the basis of truth.

Flashback Friday

I was led to do this post about two months ago and have just slept on it.  Because I still have problems resolving some of this with whom I was at the time, my involvement and where as a human I now stand.

It was the fall of 1970 and we had an assembly at Aurora Central High - there were three other high schools in town too.  My school had about 1,700 students, so big hall but this is back in the day when there was still respect within the culture.  The Principal announced a military recruiter, whom came out and started speaking.  Slowly the stomping of feet began in the back of the hall and the clapping of hands.  And, the din grew as more and more students began to copy the beat.  Soon, all that could be heard was the chant, "Just Give Peace A Chance".

I had heard that the prior year on the East Coast of America and it was a thought which rolled around my brain.  I was not pro-war nor anti-war, I really did not care, no reason to.  Of course, as I grew closer to 18 and mandatory draft filing, I began to wake up a little.



Quickly the assembly was out of control, the speaker stomped off the stage, the kids spilled out into the hallway, the vice principal locked himself in his office and chaos ensued.  But, remember we were still of a respectful age and culture, so nothing really interesting happened at all other than a few of us used the distraction to walk to Winchell's for doughnuts and tea.

But, today this song has rattled around in my head because of the state of the politic of this country.  What should and could be a great land is fractured and the political correctness of those whom decide what is "right" will in the end tear us apart rather than bring us together.

We do not have peace in our souls, in our families, in our homes, in our towns, in our states, in our regions due to the self seeking decisions made by the corrupt whom have seized this country.  Sure open warfare is always an answer, but it is the creation of peace within each and everyone of us that is only thing which has the ability to make change.

And that peace is only possible through, each and everyone of us humbling ourselves before God.  As an unapologetic Christian, I see my contribution to peace in my time as keeping my nose clean before God, helping all around me and for those whom are interested - helping them to make peace with their Creator.

John Lennon thought the road to peace was to tear down norms and revolution.
But, the only road to peace is a pathway through the blood of Jesus.
If you can not walk it, then you never will find it.

Personally, I pray for change, vast change, where - yes, mankind can give peace a chance - but the cost is that of pride, ego and vanity.  Very near and dear to most human beings.

I wonder if there are any cripples needed on the next Mars mission ...

Racism

Very little gets my blood to boil faster than racism and prejudice.  I was raise in Europe and neither of these expressions of ego, pride and sin were evident.  Well, there was the overwhelming fear of Gypsies - of the disease and larceny associated with them.  But, all Gypsies were Romanian and thanks to the Russians were stuck there.  But, heavens!, if someone was seen with brown eyes in a neighboring town, the entire district would be put on alert!  Yeah, a form of prejudice against people with brown eyes, but then again, profiling is not unwarranted.

So, when not so little Swiss Boy came to America, I had only once ever seen a black man, at Ramstein Air Base.  He was a nice man - I thought his skin color odd but, well, of what importance is that?  Even amongst the Germans I was weird because of my not so translucent white skin.  I am a quarter American Indian - I have the darker skin, thick hair on head and curved teeth to prove it.  But, I am also of German extraction, so darker than an average German.  My ability to tan always raised comments like, "I thought you were white, 10 minutes ago!"

Always good for a laugh.

When I cam to America, I lived my first two years in South Carolina.  I pretty much never say another person again, outside of my family.  Bused to a black High School seventy miles away - when the KKK would allow the bus to actually reach the school! - I was a blazing white emblem of different.  Yeah, no one liked me, except for a girl named Laura, amongst the other few whites in the school. 

The move to Colorado was a blessing!  I was a bit tired of spending every lunch hour running for my life from a very hostile student body!  No exaggeration there, Hillcrest High School was brutal on us few.  But, I did not hold this against the race, but that I was different and for some reason Americans had a problem with "different".  A fact I have seen consistently across my 45 years in this country.

Now in tenth grade, I started to notice girls - no not like that but in the manner that they were different in how they dealt with people.  The guys brutal on those whom were too tall ( I was already 6'), needed help to read English, could barely write in English and could out run a jack rabbit!  Square peg in every situation.  Did not help that I was a dork as well.

My mother became a Southern Baptist about now and so I was forced to attend.  Might have been nice if the pastor was a Christian at Aurora's First Baptist Church - but he was not, nor were most of the congregation!  However, I made a lifelong friend and met a girl named Regena Thames (it could just as easily be spelled Regina Thimes, I was so weak in my English back then!)  And I found her fascinating.  She would help me with my problem with English, explain this whole Christian ideal to me and eventually, I was to meet her family.

Uhm, culture shock, yeah, that would be a term for it ...

You see she was black, still meant nothing to me - but oh boy did it ever mean something to her parents!  Her father actually sold the house and moved across Denver to get her away from that weird German!  And, yeah, I was a bit confused.

I thought racism and prejudice was whites hating on blacks, much the same as in South Africa.  I certainly had seen this in South Carolina!  But, this was the reverse - blacks hating on me because I was white and their daughter liked me (get real here guys, I never even held her hand!).  Then I started to understand those prior two years in South Carolina: it was racism I had been experiencing at Hillcrest High School!  Well, I guess I could understand that if you were being discriminated against badly enough for generations, it might be warranted to treat your antagonists poorly as well.  Of course, chasing German boys around and threatening to cut their throats seemed a bit extreme of a reaction to me.  But, then I was one the one being chased.

I have remained color blind in my life.  I moved to Washington State because I had visited Seattle in 1970 and did not see any evidence of problems between peoples based on skin color.  My sister was to marry a black man, whom I admire greatly - three doctorates, a hard worker and he loves my sister.  Cool.

And the thought of racism faded away.  I have lived either in Washington State, Colorado or Arizona ever since High School - save for much time in my native land.  I watched with interest the collapse of South Africa and its politic of Apartheid - and the wisdom of the following trials.  The world was growing better.

Then I talk with my oldest friend from Colorado last week.  It was racism 101 from his lips and I was appalled and may have given him more a severe lecture that I would have in person!  Yeah.

The garbage flowing across his lips - stood in stark contrast - to the young man whose best friend had been Regena's older brother.  Yeah, his best friend in 10th grade had been black.  He had no problem with my running around with Regena, in fact we all hung out together a great deal prior to that move of her father.  And now ..... ?

I will admit I have a problem when any human declares themselves better than any other human.  I grew up in a country shattered by war because an elite seized power and declared themselves better than the disabled, better than homosexuals, better than the Jew, better than the Gypies, even better than Christians whom disagreed with them!  And they outright slaughtered 14,000.000 to prove they were better, stronger, more worthy of godhood than anyone else.

I really do not think that people understand that this was racism in the extreme in Germany, and not much different than that KKK terrorism of 1970 South Carolina, nor the foolish being spewed by my oldest friend.

But, sadly, it is the measure by which I can observe just how far my friend has traveled from God.  He is now better than others, even though he understands that before God - he is just as unworthy as everyone else.  Except in his mind, others are less worthy because of their skin color and he can not understand how God can be so - blind ... about something so important ...

Sigh please be in prayer for him and those whom you may know have a real sin area they need to work on ... Pride, Ego, Sin ... it all the same here - you are saying you are smarter than God, in fact  you are God ...