CHAPTER 1
A Band of Bullies Persecuting Christians
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In October of 2014 the City Council of Houston, Texas issued subpoenas ordering five prominent church pastors to bring their printed sermons before the council. The mayor, an openly homosexual woman, was displeased with the pastors' recent sermons where they had preached the Bible's teachings regarding this sinful lifestyle. The truth is; her honor was stung by some unflattering reference to her from one or more pulpits in recent days. Rather than handle her grievance as a civil matter, she elected to up the ante by making it a criminal case. This is illegal use of the public laws for personal vengeance.
All bullies are cowards. Given authority, they can always be counted on to use their power in the most disgusting manner. On the schoolyard, the most feared bully is the one who has an older brother backing him up. Should the bully have a teacher or administrator in his pocket, it becomes even worse. We don't usually equate the mayor's office with so much clout. The same week this miscarriage of justice occurred in Houston a much worse thing transpired in Iguala, Guerreros, Mexico. There the mayor's wife is implicated in the illegal actions of the local police who shot up three busloads of young college students. This bully action by the cops resulted in six deaths, twenty-five wounded, and forty-three missing, and presumed dead. The stuff happening in Houston is every bit as illegal as that in Iguala.
It has been postulated before that we can expect to see pastors prosecuted for simply reading the King James Bible to the flock. It appears that might first occur in this nation in Houston, Texas. For a better understanding of these things, take that Bible and read the following passages: Matthew 5:11 – 10:22 – 24:9, and John 15:18-25. The Lord not only told us to expect this suffering for His sake – He tells us we shall prevail in the end at John 4:4 and elsewhere. These dastardly deeds are proliferating world-wide at an alarming rate. In Muslim countries the gavel of justice is replaced with the sword of Islam.
Speaking of that; you will not see people like her honor and the council harassing those Imams for their traitorous, hate-laced sermons. She and her ilk will be in hiding lest the sword of Allah should make their heads into bowling balls.
The same Constitution of the United States which protects her kind also protects the rights of the preachers' sermons in its First Amendment. When she and her council attempt to bully those pastors by controlling their sermons, they are violating the real meaning of "separation of church and state."
Those council members and the mayor have exactly as much authority in this matter as you or I have in telling them what color socks they should wear. Hopefully, Attorney General Greg Abbott or someone can head off this inane action before it becomes a further embarrassment to the good citizens of Texas. They really should, in my humble opinion, suffer more than simple humiliation. They should be strongly reprimanded and turned out of office. Perhaps some civic minded group could get a couple of a million signatures of qualified voters to implement such action.
As we see more and more politically correct foolishness replacing the knowledge of right and wrong, we can expect to see ever increasing disregard for the ordinances of our Creator. If those being persecuted are unable to sway the thinking of the masses, we can expect rough sledding ahead for all.
The Scriptures tell us at II Chronicles 7:14 what is required on our part lest we suffer the judgment of a righteous God. Let us pray for His mercy and His guidance for our elected leaders. Meanwhile, let's pray for strength and wisdom for those persecuted pastors and their flocks in Houston and around the whole world.
CHAPTER 2
A Few More Rotten Apples in the Barrel
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The old adage about a few rotten apples prepares us to expect an occasional bad egg when candling the laying hen's output, to expect an under-performer in every school class, an occasional lemon off the production line. We see an occasional typo in reading Martin Luther's sermons that have been translated from the original German and in print for centuries. But for excellent proof readers, this essay here would have a dozen or so. We still let one get by occasionally. In the Bible, at Galatians 5:9 we see reference to a little leaven spreading throughout the whole lump of bread dough, affecting the entire loaf. This was referring to how a little sin in one's life or the church spreads like a cancer to adversely contaminate the entire being. With that thought in mind, let's examine a few apples in the barrel, or some of today's lumps of bread dough.
Presently our legislative branch of the federal government has the lowest approval rating in history, our executive branch is a collection of slimy felons, and our judiciary is a macabre joke. The House is peopled with those who are afraid of their own shadow; unwilling to stand up for what is best for the nation while allowing the president to commit impeachable high crimes and misdemeanors. They are scared to even mention them, while the liberal media covers their eyes like the see no evil monkey. The jesters in robes at the Supreme Court find a right for a mother to commit infanticide in our constitution, after almost two hundred fifty years! Our latest-- greatest hope for a conservative court slaps us in the face by changing a word in the law creating the Frankenstein Obamacare. Justice Roberts had no more authority to reword an act of Congress than you or I do. I heard one news person say something like "Gee, I think that's illegal."
All the entitlement giveaways of our ruling elite have resulted in their staying in power under alternating banners until we now have a majority of voters sitting on their butts, spending their government checks for beer, booze, and cigarettes. They buy their food with food stamps, live in subsidized housing while whining and voting to keep their checks coming in. All this barrel of rotten apples is sustained by printing trillions of dollars in fiat, funny money and selling paper IOUs in a giant Ponzi scheme. The only difference in this and the original Ponzi scheme is the government's is millions of times larger than the little one Charles Ponzi went to prison for.
We started this discussion talking about a few bad apples in the barrel, and the yeast cake in a large wad of bread dough. What we have regressed into is a further discussion of a barrel of rotten apples that incidentally has a few, very few in some instances, good ones. The yeast has overwhelmed the flour and other ingredients to become totally useless. The words, politics and corruption, have become synonymous in our lexicon. An honest, God fearing person in politics is like an albino zebra-- rare and hard to find. Go to our politician zoo, C-SPAN and watch them perform. They strut like peacocks in their Armani suits and Gucci shoes spouting self-serving rhetoric as they form blocs and alliances to feather their personal beds at the expense of everyone else. They vote outrageous taxes to pay ridiculous prices for insane programs, bankrupting our next three or four generations. You can watch this eerie display for hours and no one even mentions the four ton elephant swinging his trunk with abandon in the china shop; our mushrooming multi-trillion dollar debt. We make fun of England with their Royalty; at least they are largely powerless. While the bozos we have running amok in Washington wield the power to dash our Republic to smithereens.
The few good apples we have left are drowning in a barrel of vinegar that overwhelms them and any sanity they attempt to bring to the floor. We sorely need to clean out the barrel, but we are outnumbered by the non-taxpayers who vote for a living. If we are to survive, the first positive signs will be leaders espousing and practicing the Golden Rule while serving its Author. I don't know what political party they will be with, if any, but we shall know them by their fruits as they show love for their fellow men and women. We need leaders that do good in the sight of the Lord-- for a change.
CHAPTER 3
A Good Name
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A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold."
That short sentence is Proverbs 22:1 taken from the King James Bible, and it says volumes to us. The human author was King Solomon, the wisest man in the history of the world. A good name, whether speaking of an individual, a company, a family or a nation, is what others think of them based on what is known of them and their actions. In other words, their reputation among their peers. A good name, a good reputation, requires lots of time, many years to establish but it can be lost in a second. A thoughtless second, a careless second, a mistaken second, even a deliberate second. It takes a laying hen several weeks to form and deliver an egg but it can be ruined by a single drop to the floor. The Las Vegas chamber of commerce has a snappy jingle about what happens in their town staying there. They're probably right in that lots of people leave home with their good name intact to go there and return without it.
Years ago our town had a very accomplished locksmith who had an excellent reputation. He did all the work for the banks in the area working on safes, vaults, safety deposit boxes and night deposit systems. He also sold and installed most of the floor and wall safes in the wealthy people's homes. Once, I recall, a Dallas architect was upset when his client, a local oilman here turned down his recommendation for a Dallas locksmith and insisted on the local shop instead. This was a family business. The wife worked in the office in spite of crippling rheumatoid arthritis and their son began to work with and study under his dad's direction at an early age. This son was a natural in the art of locksmithing and had a wonderful career promised, but rumors circulated in the community and he was caught, red handed, in a criminal act. And the carefully earned good name was ruined. The old locksmith committed suicide a few years later at his wife's grave site.
Our company, our family company, enjoys a sterling reputation in the community. Not, I might add, just the local geographical community but, in a larger sense, among the industry. Our reputation, our good name, is established nation-wide among the trade. Probably no other alarm company enjoys a better credit rating than we, thankfully, do. This has been true for a long time. I recall Clarence Damon with Damon Alarm Company in Kansas City laughing when I referred to Burns Security and opined that with their deep pockets and good credit they could command good arrangements with suppliers. Clarence told me that his manufacturing company had them on COD and that they weren't the only ones. He then spent several minutes relating information about various other big-boy companies that were less than honest, responsible tradespeople.
It is important that we, as a company and as individuals, protect our God given good name. We need to be careful that we honor our word and follow through on our promises to others. This includes being punctual at meetings and delivery of items or services. It also is important that we model good, responsible work habits in front of customers, fellow workers, and ourselves when no one is looking.
Be careful that no one, caught in an infraction, can point to you and say, "I saw him doing it." If you observe a coworker doing something wrong or unsafe tell them or tell their supervisor as is appropriate. Better to stop a small no-no before it develops into a major sinful act. We are all accountable for everything we do.
A good name is more valuable than gold and silver and when Solomon said that he owned more gold and silver than anyone in the world. Those words have more weight for us today than our forefathers since it took thirty five dollars to purchase an ounce of gold when I was a youngster and today it takes over one thousand dollars to do it. Let us all do everything we can to protect our good name and our good names.
CHAPTER 4
Absolutely Anybody
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When I was in the first grade the teacher told the class the opportunities in our country were so good anybody could grow up to become president. Over the years I, like other citizens was repeatedly told that anybody could be the next president. Ours is one of the very few nations in the world where this statement has validity. This has always been meant to be an encouragement to everyone. Of course we learned, as we studied the Constitution and laws, that a few rules had to be met. To become president, one had to be born in this country, be thirty-five years of age or older, etc. Social norms pretty well assumed a successful candidate for the nation's highest office would serve in minor positions and work their way up. We now know it's not required that one prove they were born in the country-- or anywhere else, for that matter. Previous political work can be as a low-level ballot box stuffer to be transformed into a U.S. Senator, where the only activity required is to vote "present" while walking the halls of power with a vacant "What--me worry?" Alfred E. Neuman toothy grin on one's face.
Apparently there's no need for commitment to any worthwhile endeavor or program for the betterment of your fellowmen. You can spend millions of others' dollars to hide where you came from, what kind of grades you made in school and what, if anything, you believe in. You need not be a good public speaker, and can use the fill-in grunts of "er" - "uh" - "umm" as often as desired, and the network yonks will still call you a "great orator." You can go to Europe, stand in Hitler's spot and dis your own country and be called a statesman by the left-leaning press. You can be camera recorded bowing to a godless Arab prince, and deny it with the full backing of CNN and all their choir of lies and misinformation. You need not have any character, stand for anything but yourself and your "friends" and your twisted ideology. Yes, anyone-- absolutely anybody can become president. All they have to be is politically correct and without honor. Not only can anybody attain our presidency; the title can be bestowed on a complete nobody. The standards for the First Lady are equally lax. She isn't even required to be glad to be an "American" to get her slot.
It has been dramatically demonstrated that our criteria for the top job has minimum standards to be ensconced in the oval office. In fact there are no minimum requirements to retain the world's most powerful position. The list is very long enumerating the dastardly deeds a president and his regime can commit, while dismantling the national edifice which is the result of ten generations of hard working, God-fearing patriots. Our spineless, do-nothing House and Senate refuse to act responsibly and fulfill their Constitutional duty to impeach and remove a president and Attorney General who have committed a litany of "high crimes and misdemeanors." It is patently obvious to the most obtuse observer that either of these would not be tolerated in their crimes if they were white. At the same time, neither has enough black heritage to really count; since they are both mixed race Mulattos.
It is worth noting here the correct name for some of the crimes being considered here rise to the level of treason against the nation. Such transgressions committed during wartime are punishable by death. The United States has been in a state of war since September of 2001, with the international military forces of al Qaeda. Anyone, president or otherwise, who gives aid and comfort to the enemy during wartime is subject to prosecution for high treason. Our national history has several examples of people who have been hung or faced a firing squad for such crimes. We haven't resorted to these dire remedies in recent years, but there's nothing in the law to keep us from following the law now or in the future-- like next week.
Our Constitution provides for a God-inspired balance of powers between the three equal entities of government; Executive, Legislative and Judicial. Our Executive branch is running amok in criminal activities, while the Legislative branch ignores that, while passing pork laws and the Judicial branch studies its navel for a penumbra legalizing euthanasia for ailing seniors. Our first grade teachers were right; anybody, absolutely anybody can be our president. May God help us all.
