As I write on this 56th anniversary of the first atomic bomb, it seems amazing to me that humanity is still alive. Less than a decade after 140,000 persons died at Hiroshima we were into a missile race with the USSR that kept us under the shadow of that monstrous mushroom shaped cloud over Japan. And our global strategy for keeping peace was simply one of "mutual assured destruction" or MAD. It was exactly the right word for those decades up to the nineties, when that evil empire called the Soviet Union finally disappeared. It lasted a lot longer than the Nazi regime of Germany and the weapons were all nuclear as well as intercontinental. We can thank the Almighty that Hitler never got hold of such, though he did introduce missiles. They were called V-1s and V-2s and flew across the channel to fall on London during that aerial blitz before we came into WW II. I felt so much admiration for the Brits holding out back then that I wrote a poem in high school entitled "Attack From the Sky:" The boulevard was empty as sirens screamed despair, for put-put-put of rockets meant death was in the air. Then a loud explosion as some whole block was gone. Yet crowds emerged from shelters and London life went on." I had no idea that I would be spending a month in England two decades later to see some of the ruins left from that strange new kind of assault. I don't ever want to see all the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It happened while I was at Gulfport Mississippi Naval Center and the whole event just seemed incredible. Later, when the GI -Bill enabled me to start college, I got a roommate at OU who'd been a fighter pilot. His squadron was returning from a mission and they saw the cloud billowing up even above their high altitude flight. "We all were so utterly amazed and no one could imagine what it was" he said. Now everyone understands that it was a glimpse into the possibility of suicide by the homo sapient species, meaning human extinction. Was it the good sense of mankind or the grace of GOD that enabled us to finish that century without WW III. I give credit to both. Just call it "Godly gumption" and marvel with me that we made it through. So on we go now into this twenty-first century, with terrorism replacing the madness of those Cold War days. Remember how Ronald Reagan wanted that shield in the sky against Communist ICBMs? Now Bush wants it for protection from all the hate crazies still on this planet. Since Russia doesn't want us to have it, they are trying to get North Korea to stop building up. Their dictator came to Moscow to see Pres.Putin. Putin thinks that such a switch should get Bush to drop the idea. I recall in the Bible when the Jews returned from captivity in Babylon, how everyone tried to stop them from rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem, but Nehemiah came back and got one built that protected them till Christ's first coming. Maybe this proposed wall on high across the sky will last till He comes again. Or maybe He will be here before they get it up there. Hallelujah! I've read a couple of books about the Bible's last book. One is called "Revelation Unveiled" by Jim Lahaye and the other's "Pre-wrath Rapture" but a Jewish believer. Both were heavy on eschatology, but gave more detail than I could swallow. One held that the seven churches are seven ages of church history up to now, but the other didn't accept that. Both laid stress on the seven years of tribulation before Christ's glorious appearing. Then a thousand year earthly reign of our Lord will make ready the transition from time into eternity, when the Son turns it all over to GOD the Father. For some reason the devil has to be turned loose briefly from a millennium of being bound up. It's also when all the lost are raised to life and cast into the lake of fire. Of course the dead in Christ will rise first, to live together in the millennium. The vision of a New Jerusalem coming down from GOD out of heaven in the final two chapters must pertain to the Kingdom coming on earth as in heaven during those thousand years. There's a promise of blessing for everyone who reads or hears the Apocalypse/Revelation. It's in verse 3 of the first chapter. Take a look for yourself.
THE SOJOURNER 1-9-00
As all of America has been concerned about the future of that little Cuban boy who escaped from Communism last Thanksgiving that Castro demands we return, so all of Garvin county has been praying for the Pentecostal preacher's son who was critically injured in that terrible crash that killed both his parents right before Christmas. The first child appears to be headed from Miami back to Cuba, while the condition or our lad in Oklahoma has been upgraded from "critical" to "serious/stable" and he's begun physical therapy (despite wearing a cast, praise the Lord). Now our donations to that Memorial Fund at Christian Life Church, Box 870 Pauls Valley, can add power to the prayers.
If you noticed The Sojourner's absence on Wednesday's opinion page, it was because I couldn't get my column "saved" on the Internet. Thus it vanished somehow and there just wasn't time for a re-write. It caused me some regret because I had started the new year filled with inspiration. In fact, I told Mike it was one of my best. He said that's happened to him too with sports reporting. It was good to know others have had the same problem. Some times I'd re-written stuff that was lost. But you can't get that feeling a second time for something that was inspired. I guess I'm thinking of the old song about a lost chord: "I was seated one day at the organ freting vainly and ill at ease, as my fingers wandered idly over the noisey keys. I know not what I was thinking or what I was doing then when I shook with surprise and opened my eyes at the sound of a great 'Amen.'" The words go on to tell how he could never find the keys to repeat that glorious sound and he knew it would be only be in heaven where he might hear it again. Maybe that's my lost column's fate. Niece sees that it's just "the luck of the draw" instead of looking for a deep meaning for incidents. Another view might be that it was giving you readers a break. How about that? Ouch!
We watched in the Y2K on TV as it happened around the globe. Was like having a ring side seat for the dawn of a third millennium. What a fantastic night on New Year's Eve. After seeing the ball fall in Times Square, I even got to see the one slide down a pole in Ardmore as covered by channels 10 & 12. And at last I've learned it's a maritime tradition from the age before radio. Ships at sea would watch a designated pole on shore to get the noon hour as a ball slid down. Had wondered about that custom for years. "Dropping the ball" usually means some kind of goof we've made, but not with the start of a new year. If I'd drawn a cartoon of 2000's arrival, I'd have showed the baby being big as a house instead of the usual tiny tyke, and labelled it "baby new century/millennium." Then I'd have drawn John Q Public running ahead lest it land on top of him when the stork turned loose of it's gigantic diaper. And that bird would have been huge too (a winged dinosaur, I suppose). Do you remember 1997XF11? That was the mile wide asteroid sighted in the spring of '98 which was set to impact Earth in just 30 years, or 2028. That's when I began to think seriously about human existence being terminated as compared to what happened to the dinosaurs. But the scare disappeared when recalculations showed it would miss us by a safe margin. Nevertheless, that's always a real possibility since biological studies show mass extinctions from eons past every so many millions of years on our planet. Along with global warming, disappearing species, add giant asteroids (or even comets) as threats to deal with now that Y2K's arrived. Of course there'll be another observance of 2001 since it's the actual starting year. We just let the media carry us away with hype a full year early. Jim Hood and Arthur C. Clark both kept telling us, but who listens when we get so excited?
Have you met Rudy and Janet Renteria? They's leased the food counter at Alpha's and call it "Janet's Crabtree Express." I thought it should be "Renteria Cafeteria" but realize they did better by keeping the "Crabtree" name. Besides, it isn't a cafeteria. The couple lives at Blanchard where they first had a cafe. Then they started one in Purcell and have now added PV's. I'll bet they know ever mile up and down I-35 as they come here each day to the heart of town. Both friendly folks with a nice and handy place to eat there.
Did you see Billy Graham on Larry King Live? After Larry's questions to him, Billy said "And now I have a question for you, Larry." Then he gave a testimony of what Christ had meant in his own life and it was obvious that his question was the big one he's asked nillions throughout his career. But Larry shied away by turning to the telephones for calls from those wanting to speak to "Dr. Graham." And Billy never put in words what he meant. Larry's secular friends would have been shocked if he's said "yes" and Christians would have been offended if he'd answered "no." So he dodged it. Maybe Larry will be in politics next. We've had a black "King," and now Larry's our Jewish "King." If only he'd accept the King of kings. Shalom/Salaam
The PINKHOUSE PAGE 2-6-00
What a full house we had at Rotary! And the agenda was full too since we hadn't met the week before. Mary Lynn introduced Brent Grimmett as her guest who is running for school board membership. I think he would be excellent since I know him to be a generous and community minded person just like his father and grandfather before him. What a gift the Grimmett family has been to Pauls Valley. So I hope you'll vote for Brent on Tuesday. Tim Smith inducted a new member into the club, Steve Boggs who is now the publisher of the PV Daily Democrat. Joe Colley presented as speaker who has recovered from cancer after being given three months to live back in '96. He told us of "Essiac tea" which he began using instead of radiation and chemotherapy and ow he's now cancer free. It was a folk rememdy among American Indians and a woman was cured back in '26 that he learned about. Merle E. Bollenback is now with an investent company in OKC but promotes this tea on the side. His number 800-447-0349 and I feel sure he'd take time from business to tell anyone about it. What an exciting program it was.
Have you ever received a phone call over the Internet? I got my first last night (Friday) and it wasn't very easy to hear. My son in Tulsa has a web page that affords him such access, but when I would respond there was a play back of everything I said. Donna, his wife, came on and tried to tune out the echo. Surely it can be improved but my first experience seemed quite hectic. Maybe the telephone people are trying to sabotage this Internet intrusion. If so, they were fairly successful Friday. Seriously, that will cut into the market already so competative that we're worn out wilh calls to switch and ads about more time for less cost. Do you recall that the first words sent by the telegraph was a question from Scripture, "What hath GOD wrought?" That was in 1844 when Samuel Morse demonstrated it to Congress. Only in the last year or so have all telegraph lines been finally dismantled. But what an age of instant information was beginning back then. Now it seems that half the folks you meet are carring telephones (wireless of course). I understand that soon they'll connect into the Internet too. I read that book about the information age back in the eighties, "The Third Wave," and it sure was on target about data replacing gold or even petroleum as the basis of value. Amid all this communication I ask "Did GOD really start all this or was Morse just passing the buck instead of taking the blame?" Data certainly answers questions of "how," but for the "Who, what, when and why" we have to seek a higher Source. There's a verse in the Bible that says "forever learning and never coming to an understanding." The former yields knowledge (which is power) but the latter adds wisdom (which is ultimate). I saw a book on TV entitled "The 4th Wave." Maybe that's about wisdom. I hope so, though it was a lawyer who wrote it. Well, so was St.Paul and even Martin Luther before his conversion.
Did you hear that report of ABC about AIDS being identified way back in the twenties? Seems it didn't just begin in the eighties as everyone had thought. But the globalization of civilization spread it all around and that's when we discovered it. Now Africa is being utterly devastated by so much HIV. And can you believe that experts are only now admitting that it can be spread by oral sex? Why have they been so blind? If it's a sign of divine wrath, then Sodomy would be exactly the place for it to happen as I see it. But our worldly wise "experts" are slow to get the message it seems as we rush ahead toward approval of gay marriages and rights of gays and lesbians. Just because Y2K wasn't the explosion some predicted, don't think we're out of end time events. The good news is still "Jesus is coming soon," so let us rejoice and be glad. Shalom/Salaam