Month: July 2016

Contemplating the Tyranny of the Immediate

The Eleventh Hour

William Cowper (pronounced Cooper), a man whose name you probably do not recognize, suffered mental illness, attempted suicide and was locked away in a mental hospital for a year and a half. It was the prospect, the specter, of appearing for his bar exam that caused a nervous breakdown. It was the tyranny of the immediate that broke his spirit. But, there is more to his story.

It was his study of the Bible while in that mental hospital that liberated William Cowper. He entered the hospital a hopeless mental case; he emerged a triumphant believer in Jesus Christ. He experienced the power of the blood shed for his salvation.

Practically all of us at one time or another fall prey to the tyranny of the immediate, that situation before us that threatens us whether separation from family, health issues that mark the end of your life, or imminent financial disaster.

This tyranny of the immediate bespeaks an imminent point of terror at which it appears all hope will be lost.

There was a time when I was experiencing this tyranny, the summer of 1974 to be exact. I and my young family left a good-paying aerospace position to take a new job in Dallas. But, when I arrived, the prospective employer sent me to a company doctor for a physical. The outcome was not good. The doctor said to me, “Your boiler is about to burst. [The company] will not be hiring you.” My blood pressure registered 196/96.

So, here we were. Here I was, stranded in Dallas with a pregnant wife, two small boys and no means to support them. It was a time of reckoning for me. Truthfully, I was terrified of the immediate future. What appeared to be an end for me actually marked a whole new beginning. In the solitude of our small apartment one Sunday evening, reading my wife’s red-cover Bible, I had a divine encounter with Jesus Christ that changed my life. Forever.

Overnight, my blood pressure which had always been high was suddenly 120/70 and that report to that employer made me acceptable. I went to work in a totally new career field on September 15, 1974.

William Cowper was delivered from the tyranny of the immediate and became a prolific hymn writer, writing  some of the most beloved hymns of the modern church, the one you are most apt to recognize is There Is A Fountain Filled With Blood.

The blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, was shed to blot out all your sins, past, present and future. I forego deep theological discussion and instead repeat what a young Christian man said to me a few months before my miraculous deliverance: You need Jesus Christ.

Yes, there are those religious folks who will tell you how God stopped doing miracles way back there. Here are some suggestions for you.

  • NEVER reveal your problems to anyone who cannot help you solve them.
  • There is no such thing as an unsolvable problem or a terrifying situation for which there is no hope. So long as there is life, there is hope.
  • Avoid religious persons who would talk you out of your miracle.
  • Miracles don’t happen when you need them; they happen when you expect them and you are willing to move toward seeing the miracle happen.

Does God heal today? Ask the hundreds of persons who have experienced them through the Gateway Church Healing Ministry. Here is a link to testimonies by real people who have experienced the healing power of God in their own bodies and lives.

John White
Rockwall, Texas

Texas Confirmed Safe From Attack by Air Conditioners – Kerry On

News Flash: Secretary of State John Kerry discloses secret plot by manufacturers of air conditioners to kill us.

Look! Up in the sky! It’s an intercontinental ballistic missile from Iran! No! It’s a rogue air conditioner that’s come to annihilate us!

john kerry says air conditioners greater threat than isis
Fox News – Kerry: Air conditioners as big a threat as ISIS

What an opportunity for sarcasm, but I defer to the Fox News channel master, Greg Gutfield who highlights one of the DNC’s priorities: Climate Change. You have to hear for yourself.

john kerry video on fox news air conditioners as big a threat as isis
Click on image above for Fox News video

One of the topics on which John Kerry and his wife Teresa Heinz-Kerry agree is overpopulation, as recorded in the book John F. Kerry: The Boston Globe Biography.

Conservatives frequently point to pecuniary interests that drive the pro-abortion and Planned Parenthood proponents, but I see something more sinister than the love of money. I see a religion that is willing to de-populate the earth to preserve a high standard of living for the elite among .

As Mr. Gutfield points out, contrary to John Kerry’s claim that air conditioners kill more people than ISIS, in fact air conditioners keep millions of people alive all around the world.

I’m a Texan and I say to Mr. Kerry and his elite fellowship, “Come and Take It!”

John White
Rockwall, Texas

Friedrich Hayek: A worldview tempered by religious illiteracy

Though raised a Catholic, Hayek abandoned the faith of his parents. He, instead, assumed

friedrich hayek - old age
Friedrich Hayek  | 1899-1992

the philosophical worldview of an agnostic who based his beliefs on his observations of human folly.

 
Friedrich, an economist, ardently opposed statism, socialism, and communism. The latter he recognized for what it truly is: a religion.
 
Near the end of his life, Hayek wrote a book titled “THE FATAL CONCEIT | The Errors of Socialism” published in 1988. In this book, he wrote about the effects, the influences, of religious beliefs in a society. [link to book in pdf format http://ow.ly/1rjY302yjqG]
 
 
“The undoubted historical connection between religion and the values
that have shaped and furthered our civilisation, such as the family and several property, does not of course mean that there is any intrinsic connection between religion as such and such values. Among the founders of religions over the last two thousand years, many opposed property and the family. But the only religions that have survived are those which support property and the family. Thus the outlook for communism, which is both anti-property and anti-family (and also anti-religion), is not promising. For it is, I believe, itself a religion which had its time, and which is now declining rapidly. In communist and socialist countries we are watching how the natural selection of religious beliefs disposes of the maladapted.“
 
Although Friedrich Hayek, a truly brilliant man, a thinker, lived to a ripe old age without ever reading the Bible, he came to a somewhat biblical worldview. Property rights and the sanctity of the family underlay the foundations of successful nations. God’s Ten Commandments demand respect of individual property rights (commandments 8 & 10) and the sanctity of the family (commandments 5 & 7). Why did he come to think this way? It was natural: Romans 1:20-22.
 
The “least religious” founding father, Benjamin Franklin, said, “As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of morals and His religion as He left them to us, the best the world ever saw or is likely to see.” (written response to Ezra Stiles, March 9, 1790) Benjamin Franklin was biblically literate and demonstrated his literacy frequently in writing and speech.
 
Libertarians strive to define true liberty and to construct society around that theme.
 
Holy Scripture says, “But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil [of blindness] lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns [in repentance and faith] to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty [emancipation from bondage, true freedom].” – 2 Corinthians 3:15-17 AMP
 
In the years of his youth, Hayek was given a Bible, but by the time he was inclined to read it, it was nowhere to be found.
 
There is no shortage of Bibles in this country. By reading only three chapters per day you can read through the Bible in one calendar year. You possibly have several versions in your home now. Always keep in mind this simple truth: to be ignorant is a choice.
Are you a libertarian in search of true liberty? All you wish to know about a life, property rights and genuine liberty rests between Genesis 1:1 and Revelations 22:21.
religious literacy
 
I recommend “RELIGIOUS LITERACY | WHAT EVERY AMERICAN NEEDS TO KNOW – AND DOESN’T” by Stephen Prothero. http://ow.ly/fN9K302ymhU
 
John White
Rockwall, Texas

Correction Herald-Banner​:John King does NOT cause discord -Ignorance is the cause

The Rockwall Herald Banner reported Proposed John King swap causes discord, Friday, Herald Banner Discord Report 7-22-16 croppedJuly 22, 2016.

Apparently, Herald-Banner staff writer Joseph Alderman doesn’t look back into the paper’s archives. Public discussion around a bypass for SH-205 (Goliad) began over thirty years ago. “On November 8, 2005, the citizens of the City of Rockwall passed Proposition 1 to fund the design and construction of the new location SH 205 Bypass.”[source: http://ow.ly/jPv1302vEp0]

Rockwall voters approved a bond election in 2005, which financed the construction of the “205 Bypass” by an overwhelming majority, with more than 70% in favor of the proposition. The “205 Bypass” (later named John King Blvd.) was then built as a four-lane roadway with sufficient right-of-way to add two additional interior lanes in the future. John King Blvd. now serves as a bypass route for SH 205, but is not officially designated as a state roadway. Construction of additional ramps on I-30 at John King Blvd. will soon be underway to enhance the functional use of John King Blvd. as an effective bypass route. [source: http://ow.ly/SqM8302vE4s]

Five years later, the Rockwall Herald-Banner reported a public groundbreaking on May 14, 2010.

Herald Banner John King Ground Breaking 2010.png
If there is discord, it’s the product of ignorance aggravated by uninformed news reporting.

We the people of Rockwall voted for it. We’ve been paying for it and the new residents have been enjoying it. The faux outrage over the bypass is unwarranted.

john king boulevard segmentWhat did the new homebuyers imagine to be the future of the widest city street in the whole of the city of Rockwall? Soccer fields for children? Practice greens for golfers? Batting cages for little league players? No, the usual and customary use of right-of-way is roadway construction. It isn’t rocket science.

Some of our new residents seem to think they should be spoon-fed the entire history of the city, that somehow absent the spoon-feeding we the long-time residents of Rockwall conspired to deceive them.

Ignorantia juris non excusat

Ignorance of the law is inexcusable. This principle applies to all aspects of government. We citizens, collectively and individually, bear the responsibility to be informed. The City of Rockwall municipal government faithfully follows state law to assure information is readily available to anyone, including prospective homebuyers.

City staff readily answers questions that can be asked over the telephone, via email or application of the Texas Public Information Act.

Ignorance is not and excuse. Ignorance is a choice.

John White
Rockwall, Texas

2016: A Little Bit of Presidential Election Year History – the Sacking of Lawrence

In recent days, a young man asked my opinion of all the rancor and accusations being thrown about by the two major political parties. He received my explanation with surprise, thinking such august affairs have always before this year been polite affairs. I cite two election cycles that serve to calm the reader’s concern over the name-calling and accusations being thrown about this 2016 election year.
 
The very first rancorous presidential election was the second when John Adams squared off against Thomas Jefferson. However, the 1856 presidential elections out of which Franklin Pierce became our fourteenth president was, without a doubt, the most violent in all our history.
 
I quote from “Franklin Pierce: The American Presidents Series: The 14th President, 1853-1857” by Michael F. Holt. Source: http://delanceyplace.com/
 
Given the rancor of the current political environment, it is worth recalling the extraordinary chaos and rancor in the United States in the months leading up to the 1856 political conventions. The Whig party had effectively disintegrated and was being replaced by three nascent parties — the Know Nothings, the North Americans, and the Republicans. Unbelievably, while two competing governments were vying for control of the territory of Kansas, Senator Preston Brooks was beating Senator Charles Sumner unconscious on the floor of the Senate, and President Franklin Pierce was burned in effigy while seeking the Democratic Party renomination:
sack of lawrence kansas
 
“Meanwhile, the Know Nothings’ national nominating convention in Philadelphia fractured along sectional lines over the slavery extension issue. Most northern delegates stomped out in disgust when the convention nominated former president Millard Fillmore and when its national platform failed to call for repeal of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and for reimposition of the 1820 ban on slavery north of the thirty-six-thirty line. Dubbing themselves North Americans, they called for a sepa­rate party nominating convention in New York City, one week before the Republican national convention was scheduled to meet. The bolt of northern Know Nothings did not assure Republicans that they might join forces with their new party, which styled itself the defender of northerners’ rights against Slave Power aggressions. It did, however, enhance the chances that North Americans might do so.
 
“In May, scarcely two weeks before Democrats convened in Cincinnati, that assurance ultimately came. Friction between the official territorial and ‘free state’ governments in Kansas, both of which were heavily armed, was almost inevitable. One flashpoint concerned men accused of violating the laws of one government who paid fealty to the other, whether or not those violations had anything to do with slavery. This was the case when the proslavery legislature sent a posse, including many Missourians, to arrest several ‘free state’ leaders in the town of Lawrence, Kansas, on May 21, 1856. The posse terror­ized the townsfolk, destroyed the printing press of an antislav­ery newspaper and shelled a stoutly built hotel with cannon fire. No blood was shed, yet this ‘invasion,’ immediately labeled the ‘Sack of Lawrence,’ provided grist for the Republican propa­ganda mill in northeastern states. ‘The War Actually Begun­ –Triumph of the Border Ruffians — Lawrence in Ruins — Several Persons Slaughtered — Freedom Bloodily Subdued,’ hyperbolized the eastern Republican press.
pro-slavery-sack-of-lawrence-kansas
 
“Two days before this incident, on May 19, 1856, Charles Sumner, a Massachusetts Republican senator with Free Soil antecedents, began a carefully rehearsed and extraordinarily vituperative two-day speech on the Senate floor called ‘The
Crime against Kansas.’ In it he attacked the South, the state of South Carolina, and, in wantonly cruel language, South Caro­lina’s senior senator Andrew Pickens Butler, who had tempo­rarily returned to his home state. Southerners in Washington were furious, and one of them, Representative Preston S. Brooks of South Carolina, a distant cousin of Butler, deter­mined to avenge the insult to his state and his family. On May 22, he entered the Senate chamber, accosted Sumner who sat at his desk, and beat him into bloody unconsciousness with a gutta-percha cane. No other incident in 1856 so enraged the North or ensured that most northern Know Nothings would indeed enlist in the Republicans’ anti-southern crusade. The more potent the Republican Party appeared in the North, the more remote were [incumbent Franklin] Pierce’s chances of obtaining the Demo­crats’ presidential nomination.
 
“Perhaps a better index of Pierce’s current standing in the North, however, occurred in his hometown of Concord, New Hampshire. In late May its residents, who had purchased a magnificent horse for Pierce when he went off to Mexico in 1847, now burned him in effigy along with Preston Brooks.”
 
Up to this point in time, despite the name-calling and rancor between the Trump and Cruz campaigns, neither has fired a canon or burned down a town. RNC delegates left with all their limbs and teeth, as far as I know. We haven’t seen what will happen at the Democrat National Convention.
 
When viewed through the looking glass of history, 2016 elections are actually quite tame. 

Naturally, with the Sack of Lawrence in mind, we haven’t seen yet what Democrats will do to Philadelphia.
May God Bless America and may God Bless Texas.
 
John White
Rockwall, Texas

Officers murdered in Baton Rouge – What’s behind the vicious attacks on our police officers?

4WWL Breaking news from Baton Rouge, LA: 3 officers dead, others injured in Baton Rouge shooting http://ow.ly/9eBN302konq
three baton rouge officers murdered.png
 
BreitBart.com ‘Officers Down’: Cops Shot in Baton Rouge: http://ow.ly/Wjv2302koyy
 
Cleveland Police Officer on Baton Rouge Shooting: Obama ‘Has Blood On His Hands’ http://ow.ly/2tun302koBK
 
My opinion: Barack Obama speaks from both sides of his mouth. From one side, he claims to support local law enforcement; from the other, he incites anger and justifies attacks on authorities by bringing past grievances to the present.
 
In his address to commemorate ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment on December 9, 2015, he used the present tense verb ‘is’ instead of the past tense verb ‘was’, or ‘used to be’.
 
The root of the problem is one of unforgiveness. Obama’s inflammatory anti-cop rhetoric dates back to his 2009 “Beer Summit” in Boston. Immediately after the lawful arrest of Henry Louis Gates, this sitting president said, “I don’t know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played…But I think it’s fair to say, No. 1, any of us would be pretty angry; No. 2, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, No. 3 … that there’s a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately.”
 
He admits he did not know the facts but assumed Sgt. James Crowley “acted stupidly” and the arrest was solely based on the color of Mr. Gates’ skin. Facts run contrary to his public statements.
 
Obama has fostered a hatred of local law enforcement officers from the outset of his presidency in 2009. To Obama, a black man can do no wrong while cops are always in the wrong.
 
Police Patrolmen’s Association President Steve Loomis rightfully said President Barack Obama had “blood on his hands.”
 
I quote from Officer Loomis: “The president of the Untied States validated a false narrative and the nonsense that Black Lives Matter and the Media are pressing out to the public — validated with his very divisive statements And now we see an escalation. This has got to end. We need some leadership in this country to come forward and put an end to this. I don’t care if it’s clergy or who it is but somebody has to step up and put an end to this. It’s false narrative and people politicizing the false narrative that we have a president of the united states and governor of Minnesota making a statement less than one day after the police involved shootings. The police involved shootings are what absolutely has triggered in [a] rash of senseless murders of law enforcement officers across the country. It is reprehensible. The president has blood on his hands and it will not be able to come washed off.”
 
This president is moving forward post haste to federalize local police departments, regardless such authority is not constitutional. What can we expect next? I forsee Obama assigning federal marshalls to local law enforcement departments, effectively taking over.When or if this happens, you can bend over and kiss your sweet liberty good bye.
 
I urge my fellow Americans to first pray for our nation and our elected leaders and the second is to register to vote. Historically, when we have substantial voter turnout, the nation turns away from self-destructive ways.
 
John White
Rockwall, Texas

Racism: Nothing to do with skin color

Racial tensions in our country are not due to skin color, nor are they the consequence of enslavement of Africans. If enslavement of a people were  the cause of race riots across our

baltimore riot scene
Baltimore Race Riots – CNN photo

nation, then surely Irish descendants would be in the forefront. One possible reason Barack Obama is so keen on slavery is his ancestry: Irish and Kenyan.

 

One possible reason Barack Obama is so keen on slavery is he knows his ancestry: Irish and Kenyan. Furthermore, he may feel guilt from the fact his Kenyan ancestors sold slaves through the East African slave markets. This paragraph serves only to feed my ‘snark’ (Thank you, Lewis Carroll.)

In his speech on December 9, 2015 commemorating the Thirteenth Amendment, the president, the first Irish-Kenyan to hold the office, Barack Obama revived the injustice of “chattel slavery” using the present tense of the verb ‘to be’ (1:08). He rehearsed in great detail how slaves from the African continent were brutally and callously mistreated. His repeated use of the verb ‘is’ was obvious: he strives to inflame people of one skin color while shaming people of another. You can view and hear his entire speech in the C-Span video below and you can search the text of his speech from the White House transcript of the speech via this link: Remarks by the President at Commemoration of the 150th Anniversary of the 13th Amendment.

Full disclosure: None of the Dutch immigrants on my father’s side owned slaves, but Irish immigrants on my mother’s side of the family tree were slaves.

The present day racial strife is not due to skin color. It will never be resolved by “coming together”. Racial tension that underlies riots in Baltimore and elsewhere across the country has its roots, not in the historical enslavement of black-skinned Africans, but in unforgiveness.

The caustic effects of unforgiveness yield the fruit of anger, bitterness, and frustration which in turn give rise to a desire for revenge. Subsequent acts of revenge exacerbate racial tension. At no time in all human history has it been true that angry mobs, murders, chaos or mayhem bring peace to a society. Unforgiveness can only be resolved through forgiveness.

“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” – Matthew 6:14-15 NLT

Unforgiveness must also be seen as a manifestation of self-righteousness.

So, what is the answer to ongoing race riots, Black Lives Matter activism, and the like? The answer is simple. If you believe somebody owes you an apology, forgive them of that debt. If someone says something or does something that offends you, refuse to take up an offense.

An evil movement across America seeks to segregate us, to divide us. It’s intentional. It’s unholy. This evil movement has the potential to destroy this nation. This sitting president brings the past into the present in every speech he makes. As it is written in Proverbs 6:16-19 NLT:

There are six things the Lord hates—forgiveness - Lewis Smedes.jpg
 no, seven things he detests:

  1. haughty eyes,
  2. a lying tongue,
  3. hands that kill the innocent,
  4. a heart that plots evil,
  5. feet that race to do wrong,
  6. a false witness who pours out lies,
  7. a person who sows discord in a family.

The first step to ending riots and targeting of white people and policemen is to recognize how anti-American activists set us up for discord. The next step is to forgive others of real and imaginary offenses. Third, call on the name of the Lord to ask forgiveness of yourself.

John White
Rockwall, Texas