Why is the death of an African American man only important when it happens at
the hands of someone of another race, especially a cop? It could be racially
motivated, you say. It could be a hate crime.
What non-accidental killing isn't a hate crime? Remember that term "malice a
forethought?"
When one gang member kills a rival gang member, that occurs because of malice-
hate. Gang members hate rivals. Gang related murders often involve people of the
same race. Is there any less hatred involved?
Why does an event like the death of Michael Brown in the small town of Ferguson,
MO, dominate the news while the death of two dozen Michael Browns in Chicago
over a single weekend barely get a mention? Are those live less important?
What raises Brown's death to such awareness and creates so much unrest?
It gives the outside agitators who make up the majority of those arrested in
Ferguson a chance to create pandemonium. They live for chaos and destruction.
It's not their community, so why should they care?
It gives Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson someplace to be seen. They use the Brown
family's tragedy for their own purposes. They create "racism" even if there is
none. They're just agitprops in suits.
The big city mass tragedies get no mention by Obama or a visit by Eric Holder
like the Ferguson incident. Our Agitator in Chief can use Brown's death to
promote racial division. It gives Holder a chance to put on his "activist" hat.
African-American columnist and author Jason Riley said, "Let's not pretend that
morgues are full of black men because of cops." I would add, "or because of
people of other races," but it is a problem in desperate need of a solution!
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Roadblocks to Truth
Truth fails us early in life. When a toddler is asked "Did you eat the cookie?", the natural response is denial. "No, it wasn't me!", although cookie crumbs and chocolate residue give away the deception.
Adults fare little better. Adults lie for different reasons and their "cookie crumbs" are different, but are symptomatic of dishonesty.
Why do people lie? Let's take a look at all the possibilities:
Truth then is important. Few would want to live in a world where deceit reigns, but that's where we live! Mixed in with the pool of reality is an ocean of lies. We live in a world whose ruler is the "Prince of the Air", Satan if you prefer! Satan is a liar!
Satan does speak some truth. He knows truth and uses it for his own motives. That's deceit and is equivalent to lying for the motives are the same. People use the same technique daily. It's not that mankind lies outright so much, but that we deceive. It's done so that a better picture of is painted. We protect others from seeing our failures by acting. The best actors are those who paint a negative picture of who they are and people sill buy the artwork. We are "artful dodgers" in that we fool the people around us. Yes, I know all about lying for like you, I have lied numerous times. Righteous people still lie, but ask for forgiveness when we do because sin hurts ourselves, others and God.
Philosophers have their definition of truth. Because of Natural Law, their definition corresponds to what God says about truth:
Self-control applies, not only to truth, but to all temptations. We choose to sin each time we do, but we don't have to. We have a choice. Choose wisely!
Adults fare little better. Adults lie for different reasons and their "cookie crumbs" are different, but are symptomatic of dishonesty.
Why do people lie? Let's take a look at all the possibilities:
- Self-preservation from punishment.
- Avoid embarrassment for wrong-doing.
- Embellish a good story.
- Improve ones own situation.
- Reinforce ones own beliefs.
- Pride. Make oneself as good as another.
- Ease of use.
- Habitual behavior.
- To hurt others.
- Tool of revenge.
- For material gain.
- It's expected by society.
- To receive pleasure.
- Psychopathic behavior.
- Deceived by principalities.
Lying is strictly not adhering to truth. So then "What is truth?" From the Encyclopedia Britannica we see an early explanation of truth in philosophy"
The "Correspondence Theory" about truth comes from Aristotle (384–322 bce) who said: “To say of what is that it is, or of what is not that it is not, is true.” In other words, the world provides “what is” or “what is not,” and the true saying or thought corresponds to the fact so provided."Every beginning class in philosophy starts with that question: "What is truth?" It's important! Think of a society where truth isn't important. It would destroy itself in an instant. Think of a society where truth and falsehoods are interchanged. That's the subject of a society described in the novel 1984.
Truth then is important. Few would want to live in a world where deceit reigns, but that's where we live! Mixed in with the pool of reality is an ocean of lies. We live in a world whose ruler is the "Prince of the Air", Satan if you prefer! Satan is a liar!
John 8:44 "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."When a person lies, he's serving his true master, the devil, the father of lies. Satan's desire is not to defeat God, because he knows of his eminent failure! Satan is satisfied with undermining God and kidnapping his children. He may not get our bodies, but he wins when he gets our souls. We've all seen movies or read stories where a person "sells the soul" to the devil in exchange for money or power. It sounds so disconcerting, but people do it every second of every hour!
Satan does speak some truth. He knows truth and uses it for his own motives. That's deceit and is equivalent to lying for the motives are the same. People use the same technique daily. It's not that mankind lies outright so much, but that we deceive. It's done so that a better picture of is painted. We protect others from seeing our failures by acting. The best actors are those who paint a negative picture of who they are and people sill buy the artwork. We are "artful dodgers" in that we fool the people around us. Yes, I know all about lying for like you, I have lied numerous times. Righteous people still lie, but ask for forgiveness when we do because sin hurts ourselves, others and God.
Philosophers have their definition of truth. Because of Natural Law, their definition corresponds to what God says about truth:
John 14:6 "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life..."Jesus has more than perfect insight. He was there when it was all made and when God spoke, it was his voice which was heard. Jesus is "The Word" and whatever he said in patriarchal times and gospel times was, well, it was "the gospel truth"! What God says corresponds perfectly with reality. However, we all have an inclination in accepting deceit (Original Sin) and accepting truth requires faith! Of course we can't see faith, but because one cannot see it doesn't make it non-existent. Hence, truth and faith are twins forever. We accept the truth because of faith that God is true!
2 Timothy 2:18 "Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some."In short lies undermine faith and truth builds up faith. People want something to believe in,but buy into "the lie" without a blink. Let's look again at why people lie:
- Self-preservation from punishment - We fear pain and mental anguish. Our first impulse is to protect ourselves from pain, be it mental or physical. Babies lie about eating the cookie to avoid a scolding or a spanking.
- Avoid embarrassment for wrong-doing - There are acceptable behaviors set by God and/or society. If we go too far and violate acceptable behavior, if we're discovered, normal people get embarrassed. We fear that others will think less of us and most people desire respect and acceptance. Embarrassment is the fear that our true self will be revealed and many of us are something we don't wish to be!
- Embellish a good story-Sometimes truth isn't interesting nor funny and to be funnier or more interesting extra information is added to make oneself more accepted by others. There are even "Whopper Contests" where people are rewarded for their imagination in making up humongous lies!
- Improve ones own situation-Most people want to be more important, wealthier, more powerful and have more respect than what we have. As a child I would lie about what I got for Christmas so that others wouldn't know that I was poor. It was my way of keeping their acceptance because poor people often lack the respect that the wealthy have. I remember telling people that my Dad was a General Foreman so that he would be respected by the other kids. (It turns out that unknown to me, if I had known and told the truth about Dad, I would never have been ashamed!)
- Reinforce ones own beliefs-Some people want to believe a lie to reinforce what they believe. That sounds like circular reasoning, but people do a lot of that! One Christian told me that he accepted the propositions of the book Trail of Blood out of faith, although the book entirely misrepresented the facts. This Christian was afraid of truth and accepted the "stretching of the truth" to reinforce his own beliefs in Baptist Succession from John the Baptist! I believe, from a theological point of view, what I believe because I accept it as truth. If scripture did say something other than "God is truth", I wouldn't even bother to read it!
- Pride. Make oneself as good as another - I'm not an advocate of self-esteem! We have differences in worth. To God all of us have the same spiritual value, but some are failures and some successes in life. Some are a burden to society and some an asset! Some are less intelligent than others and on and on. However, whatever our essence we're still important to God! Self-esteem is being prideful of what we are when we are not what we should be. If one is a Christian, that's something of which to be proud! It's God-given and a gift; not something we are! Our only pride is that God gave us a gift and we were blessed by accepting his grace. We too have pride in our kids. That's not sinful if it's a healthy pride, remembering that they are what they are by the grace of God!
- Ease of use - Sometimes it's just easier to avoid the truth. People lie for shorthand because the subject matter just doesn't matter.
- Habitual behavior-Lying one time leads to another lie. Sinning compounds itself. With one violation another becomes easier. (1 Corinthians 5:6 (ESV) "Your boasting [sinning, pride, lying, etc.] is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?")
- To hurt others- Lies are weapons! Just as Satan lies to undermine Jesus, people lie to bring harm to others. It may be to build oneself up by belittling others, but the intent is to diminish the stature of others. Gossip often includes lies and deception so that the subject of the gossip is thought less of. Competition and self-pride are the reason for lying to hurt others. We look better when others look worse... or do we really?
- Tool of revenge-Because another hurts us, we rationalize that we are justified in hurting others. I once made a driving error and got flipped-off. I chased the other driver down and was going to hurt them with insults, totally ignoring my own cause in this cause/effect situation. The Holy Spirit "checked" me and I was courteous to the man and told him that I had made a driving mistake. (He flipped me off again as I was walking away, but I never revenged his behavior.) Many use lies for the revenge, whereas I was going to inflict pain! Lies can inflict pain too! (James 3:10 "the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.")
- For material gain-Some even lie on resume's. It's the belief that if one is to lie, this is the place to do it! Oftentimes much is true, but it's embellished. It presents the person as something they are not! People lie on their tax forms and about items which they are selling. Salesman lie as a "good sales technique". The "love of money is the root of all evil" (1 Tim 6:10) and people will lie for that love!
- It's expected by society-We live in a fake world. It's a world designed by the ruler of that world. Society sets the standards, unfortunately and if we don't meet the standards of the world, people live false lives. In the past the television show Ozzie and Harriet presented a close to perfect family. Staid people wanted their families to be like that. Because that was a standard of society people kept their failures in a closet. As the family screamed, hit and fussed at home, to the world they lived in perfect harmony! Now we're out of the closet. Most families now admit malfunction because the standards have changed. Ozzie and Harriet are no longer role models, but Hollywood and the music world is. There anything goes! People may not lie as much, but living the sin is as bad as living the lie!
- To receive pleasure-As a teenager it was well-known that about any boy would say "I love you!" to the girl to "get in her pants"! Of course the love wasn't there and the girl often fell for the lie. Adults are no different. In order to satisfy our carnal desires it's almost a necessity to lie to get it. Even if we want a larger piece of pie, we contort the truth to justify why we should! In Ferguson, Missouri right now, the mob is creating a myth to receive the pleasure of seeing revenge. I don't believe that it's revenge against Darren Wilson, but revenge for what they see as white oppression. They are receiving pleasure by getting even!
- Psychopathic behavior-Habitual lying leads to psychopathic behavior. A person begins to lie even when there is no reason to lie anymore. It's their modus operandi and they do it without fore-thought nor hesitation. These folks become reprobate. They are damned because their hearts have become calloused to truth. God now leaves them alone because truth is of no interest to the reprobate.
- Deceived by principalities-Some people either are possessed or under the control of demons. Yes, demons are real! They don't lie because they desire to lie, but the principalities use them as a vessel of deceit. Those who're possessed face destruction because before they can be reached, the demons have to be prayed and fasted out. I believe that many people that have been analyzed as psychopaths are even worse. They're possessed!
Lying ceases because we want to please God! Although the Holy Spirit will help us, we have a responsibility too! It requires more than praying. It requires self-control.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV) "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."As with any indulgence "self-control" is required! That's how we demonstrate to God our love for him. You can see that although God helps us, we still share responsibility! By "enduring it" (the way of escape) we work with God who "provides the way". Those who believe in sola gratia (grace alone) fail to see that we're saved by grace, but live by works! Works are the assurance of our faith. Why would we want to control our actions and behaviors? Simply to please God and we do just that to show our love!
Self-control applies, not only to truth, but to all temptations. We choose to sin each time we do, but we don't have to. We have a choice. Choose wisely!
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Why? Slaves and Indentured Servants
Slavery in the north and south in colonial times was "justified" (rationalized) biblically. Later on the north had little use for "servants", mostly housekeepers and shop "helpers", but the agrarian economy in the south required cheap labor. Previously, most of the "free" help was indentured servants who pledged from four to seven years servitude for passage to the New World. Many of these indentured servants lived the lives of slaves and some never regained their freedom.
Indentured servitude wasn't anything new! The Jews had indentured servants ages ago!
Slavery is not ordained of God. It's the workings of man! All men were born to be free, and all were to toil to prosper. It was by disobedience that some became servants to others, but servitude is a noble profession. There is scripture that defines fair treatment for servants and how servants are to serve with respect. However, the intent is not to justify slavery, but slavery was reality, not only for the Negro race, but for all races. For the Hebrew people there was hope. At the end of seven years all Hebrew servants were to be freed! That was a "type of salvation" and since Egypt represented slavery and sin, there was hope! In seven years the servant shall be free!
Pagans were not protected by God since they were not "his people". They suffered more dire consequences!
Just as Jesus offered the propitiation for sins by grace, available to all, God with mercy caused a jubilee every fifty years. At that time by grace every slave and every servant whether heathen or Hebrew were put at liberty. They were to be freed at last! This is a "picture" of Jesus, who was rejected by the Hebrews, but accepted by the Gentiles (heathen). In the end it was the gentile people who obtained the same freedom available to all!
Just as Hebrews had servants which were kept in slavery, in America it was a Negro who enslaved another of the same race. Truly "there is nothing new under the sun"! However, slavery in colonial America originally wasn't about race! It was about the heathen. Just as in the Bible Hebrews were allowed to have heathen slaves (because of their heathens not accepting God), in colonial times Christians were allowed to have heathen slaves. Only after African trade was commenced, mainly by the Dutch, did slavery and the Negro race become nearly equivalent. The exception was the aboriginal Americans. Because most were heathen, many Indians became slaves as well!
Before 1700 there occurred Bacon's Rebellion, a battle between the alliance of Negroes and white poor against the landed gentry. Gov. Berkeley won out and Nathaniel Bacon died. However, a legacy was left. There was distrust between those aristocrats with land and the "common people" who had allied themselves in the rebellion with the Negro race. After that time, the relationship between servant and owner deteriorated. There became a larger gap between the common man and the landowner and with the advent of a new nation, only land owners were enfranchised.
Religious people rallied to free the slaves. They didn't always use righteous means. The Constitution was shriveled to free the enslaved and still suffers. Violence was used and the remnants of the class and regional warfare still taints race relations in this nation! Church denominations were split, both using scripture to justify their position. Those churches have yet to fully unify again and probably never will. Both groups believed they were correct in their interpretation, but both were right... and both were wrong! Slavery was sanctioned and controlled in biblical times, but it wasn't because men were "good", but because of disobedience!
The conquest of America brought about the conversion of the American Indian. Christians often used violence erroneously to champion the Lord. Conquest was done by prayer, but oftentimes with gain in mind. However, the end results is that most of the Indian population is Christian! Slavery too was an evil which brought an heathen people to their knees; not to the white master, but to the Lord of the Universe! Blacks are in heaven because of the sacrifice of their antecedents. Sometimes the Lord uses a crooked stick for good.
"But things aren't yet good!" you say. Jesus said that we shall always have the poor with us (Mark 14:7). He could have ended poverty right there forever. Likewise, God could have ended slavery way back in Moses' time. He didn't, but he offered hope! Just as the slaves looked forward to a jubilee and freedom, we too look forward to a jubilee! We have hope too; even a greater hope. Whereas the heathen were freed for a lifetime, our jubilee is freedom forever. Just as God offered mercy at the time of jubile. Jesus provides the grace for all, heathen gentiles included, by his death on the cross! Heaven is jubilee!
When slavery was ended, not by the Emancipation Proclamation, a faux document, but by the 14th Amendment, some in slavery were afraid. They had hard times, but they were housed, clothed and fed. Many chose to remain with their former masters. They chose slavery over freedom. They denied that hope existed! Likewise, many enslaved today by their modern masters fear freedom. They don't feel comfortable around a righteous environment because slavery (to whatever) and pleasures them is all they know. Righteousness is out of their comfort zone just as freedom was the fear of the freed slave. Neither slave nor sinner is entirely free, because they choose slavery as something superior to freedom in Christ!
Freedom was available. It was going to happen. Landowners were finding it too expensive to care for a slave from cradle to grave. Some believe that in a few years costs would take it's toll and slaves would be freed by those of their own accord. This is speculation, but is probable. Rather than using our system of justice, America took an extreme shortcut. 700,000 people died in a war that would not have been necessary if the Constitutional system had been used! The ends don't justify the means. Hate abounds today because of the improper use of power. We're seeing lingering hate in Ferguson, Missouri right now because things were done wrong way back them.We chose to end slavery by rebellion when it should have been done out of obedience (to the Constitution and to God). They year of jubilee was at hand and America went a different route! It was a noble endeavor and those Radical Republicans had good intentions, but radicals are the root cause of the animosity which still exists today.
The black race are still servants to the same people who enslaved them to start with. Oh, yes, they still have good intentions, but the progressives have created a new class of slavery. The black race is still in bondage to liberalism which must supply cradle to grave for them! Thanks to Johnson's "War on Poverty" and Obama's "Redistribution of the Wealth" the black race has not moved forward. They are more enslaved today than they were before the 1964 Civil Rights Act. That servitude causes stress and keeps them in poverty. Poor people steal and break the law. Some get killed. There's blame in both neighborhoods. Progressives are to blame for entrapping an entire race in poverty and blacks are to blame for failing to see the jubilee. The hope offered with the "I have a Dream Speech". That hope is achieved only through the Peacemaker; not by the National Guard or The "Department of Justice"!
Let's look to the jubilee right now! Let's return God to the Nation and prayer to the classroom. Let's quit caring about offending when we offer alternatives, but offer hope so that others may have joy. Let the purveyors of rebellion go back to their dens of thieves and those who seek change through right prevail. God's command is to love him and others. The nation fails there and the people are accomplices. Change must be toward good, not evil, for hope has one direction.
Indentured servitude wasn't anything new! The Jews had indentured servants ages ago!
Exodus 22:2 " If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him. 3 If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him; for he should make full restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft."
Exodus 21:2 (KJV) "If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing."
2 Kings 4:1 "Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen."Here we see that Jews "owned" other Jews for a period of time for two reasons: theft and as payment for a debt. That is much the same as migrants to "Virginia" in colonial times, "America", being known pretty much as "Virginia". Indentured servants were sent to America who had been criminals. Since most of them had no money, indentured servitude was the only way to eventual freedom. Australia, another colony of the British Empire was a little different. It was a dumping ground for criminals whereas the American colonies had landed gentry and indentured servants. Most of the ordinary people were neither, but the servants were mostly owned by the aristocratic class. It had to be good; it was biblical after all, wasn't it?
Slavery is not ordained of God. It's the workings of man! All men were born to be free, and all were to toil to prosper. It was by disobedience that some became servants to others, but servitude is a noble profession. There is scripture that defines fair treatment for servants and how servants are to serve with respect. However, the intent is not to justify slavery, but slavery was reality, not only for the Negro race, but for all races. For the Hebrew people there was hope. At the end of seven years all Hebrew servants were to be freed! That was a "type of salvation" and since Egypt represented slavery and sin, there was hope! In seven years the servant shall be free!
Jeremiah 34:8 "This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them; 9 That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother. 10 Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go. 11 But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids. 12 Therefore the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 13 Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen (slaves), saying, 14 At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear. 15 And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name: 16 But ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom he had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids."The Hebrew people disobeyed God as they often did! Whereas, the servants were to be free, they were brought back into subjection. In effect indentured servants lost their hope and became slaves! Here it's obvious that it wasn't God who caused slavery, it was God's people who disobeyed! God intended liberty for all.
Pagans were not protected by God since they were not "his people". They suffered more dire consequences!
Leviticus 25:44 "Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, (slaves) which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. 45 Moreover of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land: and they shall be your possession. 46 And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour." "Heathens were to be slaves. Hebrews were to be treated different. Heathens were worked harder than were the Jews because they weren't obedient to God as a community. It's doesn't seem fair, but with God justice prevails. This is a "picture" of justice for heathens who never accept Jesus. It doesn't seem fair to us, but their destiny is eternal damnation, likewise a harsh penalty, not for a time, but forever. There is no hope for the heathen and the Leviticus passage is basically a warning" Without God there is no hope!
Just as Jesus offered the propitiation for sins by grace, available to all, God with mercy caused a jubilee every fifty years. At that time by grace every slave and every servant whether heathen or Hebrew were put at liberty. They were to be freed at last! This is a "picture" of Jesus, who was rejected by the Hebrews, but accepted by the Gentiles (heathen). In the end it was the gentile people who obtained the same freedom available to all!
Leviticus 25:8 "And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. 9 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. 10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. 13 In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession."Now for slavery in America. It started by indentured servitude, but that cost money (land and tobacco). It was found that French, Dutch and later; English slave traders could provide cheaper labor than that of indentured servitude. Around 1640 the slave trade began in earnest. An indentured servant named Antonio, later to become Anthony Johnson, is alleged to have become the first owner of a slave. Antonio was a black man!
Just as Hebrews had servants which were kept in slavery, in America it was a Negro who enslaved another of the same race. Truly "there is nothing new under the sun"! However, slavery in colonial America originally wasn't about race! It was about the heathen. Just as in the Bible Hebrews were allowed to have heathen slaves (because of their heathens not accepting God), in colonial times Christians were allowed to have heathen slaves. Only after African trade was commenced, mainly by the Dutch, did slavery and the Negro race become nearly equivalent. The exception was the aboriginal Americans. Because most were heathen, many Indians became slaves as well!
Before 1700 there occurred Bacon's Rebellion, a battle between the alliance of Negroes and white poor against the landed gentry. Gov. Berkeley won out and Nathaniel Bacon died. However, a legacy was left. There was distrust between those aristocrats with land and the "common people" who had allied themselves in the rebellion with the Negro race. After that time, the relationship between servant and owner deteriorated. There became a larger gap between the common man and the landowner and with the advent of a new nation, only land owners were enfranchised.
Religious people rallied to free the slaves. They didn't always use righteous means. The Constitution was shriveled to free the enslaved and still suffers. Violence was used and the remnants of the class and regional warfare still taints race relations in this nation! Church denominations were split, both using scripture to justify their position. Those churches have yet to fully unify again and probably never will. Both groups believed they were correct in their interpretation, but both were right... and both were wrong! Slavery was sanctioned and controlled in biblical times, but it wasn't because men were "good", but because of disobedience!
The conquest of America brought about the conversion of the American Indian. Christians often used violence erroneously to champion the Lord. Conquest was done by prayer, but oftentimes with gain in mind. However, the end results is that most of the Indian population is Christian! Slavery too was an evil which brought an heathen people to their knees; not to the white master, but to the Lord of the Universe! Blacks are in heaven because of the sacrifice of their antecedents. Sometimes the Lord uses a crooked stick for good.
"But things aren't yet good!" you say. Jesus said that we shall always have the poor with us (Mark 14:7). He could have ended poverty right there forever. Likewise, God could have ended slavery way back in Moses' time. He didn't, but he offered hope! Just as the slaves looked forward to a jubilee and freedom, we too look forward to a jubilee! We have hope too; even a greater hope. Whereas the heathen were freed for a lifetime, our jubilee is freedom forever. Just as God offered mercy at the time of jubile. Jesus provides the grace for all, heathen gentiles included, by his death on the cross! Heaven is jubilee!
When slavery was ended, not by the Emancipation Proclamation, a faux document, but by the 14th Amendment, some in slavery were afraid. They had hard times, but they were housed, clothed and fed. Many chose to remain with their former masters. They chose slavery over freedom. They denied that hope existed! Likewise, many enslaved today by their modern masters fear freedom. They don't feel comfortable around a righteous environment because slavery (to whatever) and pleasures them is all they know. Righteousness is out of their comfort zone just as freedom was the fear of the freed slave. Neither slave nor sinner is entirely free, because they choose slavery as something superior to freedom in Christ!
Freedom was available. It was going to happen. Landowners were finding it too expensive to care for a slave from cradle to grave. Some believe that in a few years costs would take it's toll and slaves would be freed by those of their own accord. This is speculation, but is probable. Rather than using our system of justice, America took an extreme shortcut. 700,000 people died in a war that would not have been necessary if the Constitutional system had been used! The ends don't justify the means. Hate abounds today because of the improper use of power. We're seeing lingering hate in Ferguson, Missouri right now because things were done wrong way back them.We chose to end slavery by rebellion when it should have been done out of obedience (to the Constitution and to God). They year of jubilee was at hand and America went a different route! It was a noble endeavor and those Radical Republicans had good intentions, but radicals are the root cause of the animosity which still exists today.
The black race are still servants to the same people who enslaved them to start with. Oh, yes, they still have good intentions, but the progressives have created a new class of slavery. The black race is still in bondage to liberalism which must supply cradle to grave for them! Thanks to Johnson's "War on Poverty" and Obama's "Redistribution of the Wealth" the black race has not moved forward. They are more enslaved today than they were before the 1964 Civil Rights Act. That servitude causes stress and keeps them in poverty. Poor people steal and break the law. Some get killed. There's blame in both neighborhoods. Progressives are to blame for entrapping an entire race in poverty and blacks are to blame for failing to see the jubilee. The hope offered with the "I have a Dream Speech". That hope is achieved only through the Peacemaker; not by the National Guard or The "Department of Justice"!
Let's look to the jubilee right now! Let's return God to the Nation and prayer to the classroom. Let's quit caring about offending when we offer alternatives, but offer hope so that others may have joy. Let the purveyors of rebellion go back to their dens of thieves and those who seek change through right prevail. God's command is to love him and others. The nation fails there and the people are accomplices. Change must be toward good, not evil, for hope has one direction.
Sunday, August 17, 2014
A Simple Thought
Mindless people are very much as the pages on a journal never to have seen a pen. However, they have much to say without any ink to say it! The "ink" of the mind is gray matter, and those whose minds are shallow have little of the mind's ink.
Politics: Dr. Tim Hulsey on Obamacare
Despite Michael Moore’s misgivings, you haven’t seen him leave any of his multiple luxurious residences to seek health care in his beloved Cuba. This "one per-center" stays right here to obtain the best health care in the world.
He and I both agree that it isn’t perfect. No human endeavor is, but it is certainly better and more efficient than any government system, for example, the Veterans Administration Health System. We do have to include any citizens who need and want health care.
The inefficiencies denied forever by progressives have been revealed in the last few years on a grand scale, indicating government-wide fraud, abuse and criminal, fiduciary, and political malfeasance.
The private US health care system has the best treatment outcomes in the world for major diseases. These were never considered when the World Health Organization put the US system at 37th in the world, as I recall. It considered how socialized your system was.
Your health care system is fast conforming to that model. Obamacare is failing on all accounts, including cost, efficiency, inclusion, and, I predict, health care outcomes will suffer from rationing (even covert rationing by decreasing numbers of hospital beds, providers, equipment, etc.), decreased choices for treatment, decreased research and development, and discouragement of individualized treatment.
As in business, doctors and hospitals are being further strangled with regulations, computerization (deprivatizing your health information), checking boxes, dotting “i”s and crossing “t”s. All this consumes time needed for patient care.
Nurses tell me they spend more time on computers and less with patients. Each hospital has a different system that has to be learned- time spent not “learning” about patients’ medical problems.
I hope you’re ready for Washington, DC, to be your doctor, because it’s all going to be the VA, now!
He and I both agree that it isn’t perfect. No human endeavor is, but it is certainly better and more efficient than any government system, for example, the Veterans Administration Health System. We do have to include any citizens who need and want health care.
The inefficiencies denied forever by progressives have been revealed in the last few years on a grand scale, indicating government-wide fraud, abuse and criminal, fiduciary, and political malfeasance.
The private US health care system has the best treatment outcomes in the world for major diseases. These were never considered when the World Health Organization put the US system at 37th in the world, as I recall. It considered how socialized your system was.
Your health care system is fast conforming to that model. Obamacare is failing on all accounts, including cost, efficiency, inclusion, and, I predict, health care outcomes will suffer from rationing (even covert rationing by decreasing numbers of hospital beds, providers, equipment, etc.), decreased choices for treatment, decreased research and development, and discouragement of individualized treatment.
As in business, doctors and hospitals are being further strangled with regulations, computerization (deprivatizing your health information), checking boxes, dotting “i”s and crossing “t”s. All this consumes time needed for patient care.
Nurses tell me they spend more time on computers and less with patients. Each hospital has a different system that has to be learned- time spent not “learning” about patients’ medical problems.
I hope you’re ready for Washington, DC, to be your doctor, because it’s all going to be the VA, now!
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Politics: Sr. Tim Hulsey on Christian Persecution by IS
The village of Kucho in the Kurdistan region of Iraq was raided by the Islamic State (IS), yesterday. Eighty Yezidi men we killed. Hundreds of women and children were abducted. There crime: not agreeing to follow the IS brand of Islam.
The IS has taken over 1500 Yezidis and Christians as slaves in recent months, all for the same reason.
Curiously, the Yezidis are a group that some feel is derived in part from Shia Islam. Since IS is Sunni-based, this isn’t the correct kind of Islam, certainly a valid reason for killing.
The Yezidis must not have gotten the memo from the White House: the threat of genocide is over since “most” of the Yezidis on Mt. Sinjar are “safe” thanks to our knocking out a few of the thousands of US heavy weapons controlled by the IS.
I’m not sure how many people constitute the “red line” for Obama to invoke genocide. Since tens of thousands aren’t in danger, He must feel that he can unilaterally declare the genocide over as he did with al Qaeda. All this while IS puts up images on the internet of their flag flying over Obama’s White House.
Much of the leadership of IS are jihadists that were previously in our custody. The five detainees (swapped for Bowe Bergdahl) now “detained” in Qatar may have job opportunities with IS after their “rehabilitation.”
Christians all over the Middle East have been the victims of genocide openly declared by clerics and jihadists for years, but Obama has said little and certainly not mobilized any military intervention on their behalf.
Funny how the president of “all the people” is so selective. His DHS cites right wing religious groups as a threat to the country, but won’t say the words, “Islamic jihadists.”
The IS has taken over 1500 Yezidis and Christians as slaves in recent months, all for the same reason.
Curiously, the Yezidis are a group that some feel is derived in part from Shia Islam. Since IS is Sunni-based, this isn’t the correct kind of Islam, certainly a valid reason for killing.
The Yezidis must not have gotten the memo from the White House: the threat of genocide is over since “most” of the Yezidis on Mt. Sinjar are “safe” thanks to our knocking out a few of the thousands of US heavy weapons controlled by the IS.
I’m not sure how many people constitute the “red line” for Obama to invoke genocide. Since tens of thousands aren’t in danger, He must feel that he can unilaterally declare the genocide over as he did with al Qaeda. All this while IS puts up images on the internet of their flag flying over Obama’s White House.
Much of the leadership of IS are jihadists that were previously in our custody. The five detainees (swapped for Bowe Bergdahl) now “detained” in Qatar may have job opportunities with IS after their “rehabilitation.”
Christians all over the Middle East have been the victims of genocide openly declared by clerics and jihadists for years, but Obama has said little and certainly not mobilized any military intervention on their behalf.
Funny how the president of “all the people” is so selective. His DHS cites right wing religious groups as a threat to the country, but won’t say the words, “Islamic jihadists.”
Friday, August 15, 2014
In Cold Blood
Three-hundred years ago people believed that the body temperature rose with emotion. Hence, those who reacted with passion were "hot-blooded" and those who were calm and without emotion were "cold-blooded". Scientists now say that there is no relationship between body temperature and emotional disposition. While "hot-blooded" is still occasionally used to describe independent and wild women, cold-blooded is in full use, not in a literal sense, but to make one's blood boil. It's the use of demagoguery to incite people.
Rather than a measure of one's body temperature, it has become a way to make a temper hot! Nowadays when people perceive that someone was killed without reason, it is said "He shot him in cold blood!" That's not accurate on any level. It has been proven that those who remain calm have normal blood temperatures and what the speaker is implying is that the killer "killed without emotion". That is a fair description for a psychopath, but not for most people. According to the American Heritage Dictionary a psychopath is "A person with an antisocial personality disorder, manifested in aggressive, perverted, criminal, or amoral behavior without empathy or remorse.
"Shot in cold-blood" is in effect calling the perpetrator a psychopath! In the Ferguson, Missouri shooting of "the young boy", Michael Brown, the shooting by the (then) unknown police officer is described by all as "he shot in cold-blood". Those hearing this type of tripe believe the policeman to be a psychopath! Since the name nor personality of the policeman is known, those pop-psychologists have unfairly labeled a potentially caring and ameliorating person as a "psychopath"! As always the astute person must ask "Why?" The only answer is to incite hate in otherwise law-abiding citizens. It's a propaganda method.
Let's look at the antebellum book Uncle Tom's Cabin. Those who have studied the book say that it was not a true representation of slave-holders, but was meant to create passion. It was "hot-blooded". Why was the book written? To stir up the passions of the people such that slavery would be overthrown. It served it's purpose. It too was propaganda. Thousands died because passions were stirred! This is mentioned to show the efficacy of propaganda. Propaganda doesn't have to be true to incite emotion, but have only the ability to make people emotional.
With Mein Kampf, Hitler's autobiography, 6,000,000 people were killed because the propaganda made them stand idle without emotion while Europe was rid of "sub-human parasites"! It doesn't matter that they were in fact human beings with a soul, their non-humanity became truth with repetition. Nazi techniques have become the epitome of effective propaganda and most propaganda is to further those who seek control.
In Ferguson the words "shot in cold blood" has served its propaganda purpose. It has incited hate and riots. Even normally law-abiding citizens are using hate as an excuse to steal, pillage and destroy. They are a tool of the media and their own leaders who have used this catastrophe for their own motives. Unrighteousness for whatever reason is the motive of humanity in most cases. Why would people want to stir the animal passions of the populace. What have they to gain?
It's those such as Rev. Al Sharpton who have much to gain! They step in as mediators whose speech incites the passions of the people. Those, as him, use the term "cold-blooded" as a means to show the mean-spirit of the white leaders and authorities. It's as effective as the peaceful speeches of Martin King because they get results through violence. It intimidates people and make kinder hearts have mean spirits. Rioting is just as the child who throws a temper tantrum. They have found that negative behavior gets the reward. Weak people reward those with negative behavior. Negative behavior is toward "self-gratification" and rioters are certainly more interested in self-gratification than justice!
Michael Brown (Senior) was wearing, as he was interviewed, a shirt with his son's photo and the words "NO JUSTICE NO PEACE". At this stage that shirt could incite emotions; make the blood of the crowd boil. It's to make people "hot-blooded". Hence, the term "cold-blooded" in describing a killing without emotion incites emotion in the people. Michael Brown, Sr. may be a pawn in the hands of those with a motive, so let him be forgiven, but those using this as a tool for anger are to be blamed.
The media, in their investigation, should be asking "Who supplied that T-Shirt to Michael Brown, Sr.?" In his sorrow, I don't believe that he went out and had it printed. Someone gave it to him and someone intentionally had this "threat" printed on T-shirts for distribution. There is a motive of a rabble-rouser there. Find who incited the hate and you'll find the people responsible for the rioting!
Rahm Emanuel said "Never let a serious crisis go to waste!" In this case those with a motive found this time opportune to further an initiative. From previous actions the liberal leaders incite racial division for power. It's to insure that conservatives (Republicans) lose even more support! Although this crisis has nothing to do with Republicans, it's those who get destroyed by propaganda. The party of those who died to free blacks from Democrats is the party now blamed for their continued bondage. Wake up! Blacks are still in bondage to the Democrats. They are pawns in a political power struggle! "Wake up!" I implore! "Wake up!"
Inciting hatred is a tool of Satan. We'e called to love others, even our enemies. Love is what God is all about. If we don't love, we can't even commune with God. How can a "Reverend" always be there to incite hatred yet be in communion with God? It seems that most people with "reverend" in their title are the most irreverent because a reverent person doesn't need to broadcast it! Reverence isn't a title; it's a disposition; of one who loves!
The name of the alleged "psychopathic", "cold-blooded killer" cop has just been released (Darin Wilson). I think you'll find that he's just a young man too, trained to do his job the best he can, and did what he thought he had to do for his own preservation and is sincere in his sorrow because he took a human life. The profile released points toward Officer Wilson as being nothing more than a "nice man" doing his job. However, as the days ensue there will be those who strip him of all value. They will go back to his grade school wrestling and raising his voice to his family as a means to make him a "cold-blooded" killer!
This "young boy" turns out to be an 18 years-old man who was stealing and bullying at a convenience store. This, from evidence, seems to be the truth. Justice may have been served. It's tragic that a man lost his life because he did something stupid and immoral, but we suffer the consequences of our actions. However, mark my words, Michael Brown, Junior will be painted as a victim; a victim of white society. Propaganda will continue. Hate will still be propagated!
I had two cousins lynched in 1893: James Harvey and Josiah Gilliland. They were lynched because people incited hatred. 65 years later they were vindicated. They were innocent, but they were dead, because people are "hot-blooded". Wrong "justice" does not make peace. That's injustice. Wrong justice is injustice! Mr. Brown's shirt may as well have said "SCAPEGOAT TO APPEASE". That's injustice and it isn't peaceful!
Demagoguery is hate! God is truth. Whatever happens, let it be true justice, not the use of a slogan to indict the authorities and incite rioting! God wants us to all get along and love each other. Those who use violence to implement change are not righteous. They are a pawn of evil in this world whose god is "The Prince of the Air". Let calm heads lead us, Lord. Let peace be!
Violence is not cured by the use of crime. Crime leads to more hate. Stop the hate. Stop reinforcing stereotypes by becoming the epitome of the stereotype!
Rather than a measure of one's body temperature, it has become a way to make a temper hot! Nowadays when people perceive that someone was killed without reason, it is said "He shot him in cold blood!" That's not accurate on any level. It has been proven that those who remain calm have normal blood temperatures and what the speaker is implying is that the killer "killed without emotion". That is a fair description for a psychopath, but not for most people. According to the American Heritage Dictionary a psychopath is "A person with an antisocial personality disorder, manifested in aggressive, perverted, criminal, or amoral behavior without empathy or remorse.
"Shot in cold-blood" is in effect calling the perpetrator a psychopath! In the Ferguson, Missouri shooting of "the young boy", Michael Brown, the shooting by the (then) unknown police officer is described by all as "he shot in cold-blood". Those hearing this type of tripe believe the policeman to be a psychopath! Since the name nor personality of the policeman is known, those pop-psychologists have unfairly labeled a potentially caring and ameliorating person as a "psychopath"! As always the astute person must ask "Why?" The only answer is to incite hate in otherwise law-abiding citizens. It's a propaganda method.
Let's look at the antebellum book Uncle Tom's Cabin. Those who have studied the book say that it was not a true representation of slave-holders, but was meant to create passion. It was "hot-blooded". Why was the book written? To stir up the passions of the people such that slavery would be overthrown. It served it's purpose. It too was propaganda. Thousands died because passions were stirred! This is mentioned to show the efficacy of propaganda. Propaganda doesn't have to be true to incite emotion, but have only the ability to make people emotional.
With Mein Kampf, Hitler's autobiography, 6,000,000 people were killed because the propaganda made them stand idle without emotion while Europe was rid of "sub-human parasites"! It doesn't matter that they were in fact human beings with a soul, their non-humanity became truth with repetition. Nazi techniques have become the epitome of effective propaganda and most propaganda is to further those who seek control.
In Ferguson the words "shot in cold blood" has served its propaganda purpose. It has incited hate and riots. Even normally law-abiding citizens are using hate as an excuse to steal, pillage and destroy. They are a tool of the media and their own leaders who have used this catastrophe for their own motives. Unrighteousness for whatever reason is the motive of humanity in most cases. Why would people want to stir the animal passions of the populace. What have they to gain?
It's those such as Rev. Al Sharpton who have much to gain! They step in as mediators whose speech incites the passions of the people. Those, as him, use the term "cold-blooded" as a means to show the mean-spirit of the white leaders and authorities. It's as effective as the peaceful speeches of Martin King because they get results through violence. It intimidates people and make kinder hearts have mean spirits. Rioting is just as the child who throws a temper tantrum. They have found that negative behavior gets the reward. Weak people reward those with negative behavior. Negative behavior is toward "self-gratification" and rioters are certainly more interested in self-gratification than justice!
Michael Brown (Senior) was wearing, as he was interviewed, a shirt with his son's photo and the words "NO JUSTICE NO PEACE". At this stage that shirt could incite emotions; make the blood of the crowd boil. It's to make people "hot-blooded". Hence, the term "cold-blooded" in describing a killing without emotion incites emotion in the people. Michael Brown, Sr. may be a pawn in the hands of those with a motive, so let him be forgiven, but those using this as a tool for anger are to be blamed.
The media, in their investigation, should be asking "Who supplied that T-Shirt to Michael Brown, Sr.?" In his sorrow, I don't believe that he went out and had it printed. Someone gave it to him and someone intentionally had this "threat" printed on T-shirts for distribution. There is a motive of a rabble-rouser there. Find who incited the hate and you'll find the people responsible for the rioting!
Rahm Emanuel said "Never let a serious crisis go to waste!" In this case those with a motive found this time opportune to further an initiative. From previous actions the liberal leaders incite racial division for power. It's to insure that conservatives (Republicans) lose even more support! Although this crisis has nothing to do with Republicans, it's those who get destroyed by propaganda. The party of those who died to free blacks from Democrats is the party now blamed for their continued bondage. Wake up! Blacks are still in bondage to the Democrats. They are pawns in a political power struggle! "Wake up!" I implore! "Wake up!"
Inciting hatred is a tool of Satan. We'e called to love others, even our enemies. Love is what God is all about. If we don't love, we can't even commune with God. How can a "Reverend" always be there to incite hatred yet be in communion with God? It seems that most people with "reverend" in their title are the most irreverent because a reverent person doesn't need to broadcast it! Reverence isn't a title; it's a disposition; of one who loves!
The name of the alleged "psychopathic", "cold-blooded killer" cop has just been released (Darin Wilson). I think you'll find that he's just a young man too, trained to do his job the best he can, and did what he thought he had to do for his own preservation and is sincere in his sorrow because he took a human life. The profile released points toward Officer Wilson as being nothing more than a "nice man" doing his job. However, as the days ensue there will be those who strip him of all value. They will go back to his grade school wrestling and raising his voice to his family as a means to make him a "cold-blooded" killer!
This "young boy" turns out to be an 18 years-old man who was stealing and bullying at a convenience store. This, from evidence, seems to be the truth. Justice may have been served. It's tragic that a man lost his life because he did something stupid and immoral, but we suffer the consequences of our actions. However, mark my words, Michael Brown, Junior will be painted as a victim; a victim of white society. Propaganda will continue. Hate will still be propagated!
I had two cousins lynched in 1893: James Harvey and Josiah Gilliland. They were lynched because people incited hatred. 65 years later they were vindicated. They were innocent, but they were dead, because people are "hot-blooded". Wrong "justice" does not make peace. That's injustice. Wrong justice is injustice! Mr. Brown's shirt may as well have said "SCAPEGOAT TO APPEASE". That's injustice and it isn't peaceful!
Demagoguery is hate! God is truth. Whatever happens, let it be true justice, not the use of a slogan to indict the authorities and incite rioting! God wants us to all get along and love each other. Those who use violence to implement change are not righteous. They are a pawn of evil in this world whose god is "The Prince of the Air". Let calm heads lead us, Lord. Let peace be!
Violence is not cured by the use of crime. Crime leads to more hate. Stop the hate. Stop reinforcing stereotypes by becoming the epitome of the stereotype!
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