9-11-02
The Living GOD works in all kinds of ways to bring good out of evil, as Romans 8:28 tells us. So here's a joke I got from a reader in Waurika to illustrate it: Two men crashed in their private plane on a South Pacific Island. Both survived. One of the men brushed himself off and then proceeded to run all over the island to see if they had any chance of survival. When he returned, he rushed up to the other man and screamed, "This island is uninhabited, there is no food, there is no water. We are going to die!" The other man leaned back against the fuselage of the wrecked plane, folded his arms and responded, "No we're not. I make over $100,000 a week." The first man grabbed his friend and shook him. "Listen, we are on an uninhabited island. There is no food, no water. We are going to die!" The other man, unruffled, again responded. "No, I make over $100,000 a week." Mystified, the first man, taken aback with such an answer, again repeated, "For the last time, I'm telling you we ARE doomed. There is NO one else on this island. There is NO food. There is NO water. We are, I repeat, we ARE going to die." Still unfazed, the first man looked the other in the eyes and said, "Don't make me say this again. I make over $100,000 per week. I tithe 10% !!!!!!!!!! My pastor WILL find us.
Today's been called "a national day of mourning" but 9/11 is most familiar in this culture of our's that shortens names. The slash is to prevent confusion with 911, which is our phone call prefix in emergencies. How fitting that slash seems to me, since it signifies such a great difference: 9/11 recalling destruction, disaster, and catastrophe through airlines; while 911 promises rescue, help and healing via telephones. It compares to how the meaning of "live" is changed if we spell it backward as"evil." On Sept.11 the devil took our most magnificent achievements in aviation that were created to help humanity LIVE more fully and perverted them into just the opposite, instruments of DEATH. It's the same madness that first caused the archangel Lucifer to lead a third of heaven's host in rebellion against the Crreator GOD. I think 9/11 might be called "satan's coming out party" right here before the consumation of human history. The crucified King of Israel, from Whose birth the whole world now measures time, will suddenly appear to establish forever His throne of David. His FatherGOD called Him "beloved' and that's what the name David means. No wonder all eyes are on the Mideast. Of course the radical Islamic hatred for Israel was driving those 19 terrorists and their al Qaeda network, with ObL as the spider weaving the web. I found an Internet site that presents number 19 as the key to proving divine inspiration for the Koran. It goes on and on about everything being in nineteens far in excess of coincidence. So I'm turning away from numerology the same as astrology, witchcraft, psychics and all the rampant surge of occultism that are rife today. If nineteen proves anything to me now, it's the reality of Satan. That was how many were killed in the Kobar Towers destroyed by terrorists some years ago. We remember it here in Oklahoma from April 19th in '95 when those 19 helpless little children were among the 168 killed in that OKC bombing. How could that number be a sign of divine inspiration, unless it's Lucifers rallying cry. Could someone like ObL finally be the Antichrist? I don't think Saddam would fit because he's going to be taken out despite the appeals of Scott Ritter, who seems to have switched sides. We must pray for president Bush and stand firm with him, is the way I see it.
extra ANELFIRE
As we move toward the November election, I'd like to share one my broher's articles in a Colorado paper where he writes as "The Observer:"
With your indulgence, your observer begs to share some thoughts on the subject of voting, and each citizens rights and responsibility to participate in the election process.
If we study the thoughts of our founding fathers, over two hundred years ago, we learn their original idea was to restrict voting rights to taxpaying property owners. Their widely held opinion was that those who paid the taxes to support the government were the responsible citizens worthy of making important decisions in governmental matters.
Where did they get that idea? At the time, there were no democracies from which to borrow or copy. But students of history knew that over two thousand years earlier, the ancient Greeks had conceived and established a democratic society. It eventually failed, at least in part, because every citizen could vote, and the have-nots outnumbered the haves. When the poor voted themselves unwarranted benefits at the expense of the minority, the world's first experiment in democracy collapsed. Is there anything we can learn from the ancient Greeks here in 2002 and 2003? The Founding Fathers were aware of the risks inherent in unrestricted voting. It is human nature to vote your own self interest, without due regard for the whole of society. When the masses come to rely on Government to solve all their problems, the condition is not unlike ours in the U.S. today. When ratified, our Constitution granted voting rights to all male citizens except slaves and felons, and the slogan, "One Man-One Vote" evolved. Eventually, when women won the right to vote, it became "One Person-One vote."
It is generally assumed that all voters are both citizens and alive, but evidence abounds that in hotly contested elections many voters are neither. And some, especially in Chicago and New York, have been guilty of voting both early and often. Now a question to rile some readers. Just who in the electorate should vote? That's right, jump up and down screaming, "Everybody! Everybody!" You learned that is highschool civics class. But wait. Let us reason together.
Your Observer suggests that only citizens who are informed on the issues and care enough to make the effort to vote should determine the outcome of elections. He/She further suggests that is a long way from being "everybody."
Isn't it ironic that 18 year old highschool dropouts can vote and can enlist in the military, but cannot legally buy beer or cigarettes? Is there logic here? Idealistic and impulsive teenage voters can and do offset the reasoned votes of their parents and others who have a more mature, if imperfect, understanding of the issues. It can also be argued that votes of the mentally handicapped should not be counted, but that might include more of us than we like to admit. Whose to decide?
Some think it disgraceful that in important general elections, fewer than 40% of eligible voters bother to exercise their franchise. But doesn't such a low turnout tell us something? Doesn't it say that less than 40% of voters know what is going on, or care, and that the other 60% feel too uninformed, too disinterested, or too disillusioned to bother?
Before elections, do-gooders often launch massive "get-out-the-vote" campaigns. If we examine the motives of those behind such efforts, we may find their cause is one most likely to benefit from uninformed voter participation. Voters who care don't require urging and incentives to vote. Such get-out-the-vote efforts can also foster abuses.
The question might well be asked, "Why should the well considered vote of an informed and concerned citizen be 100% canceled by the vote of an illegal alien who knows no English, but pulls the lever he is told (and perhaps paid) to pull? Can there be any doubt such things happen, perhaps thousands of times in each election? Ignored documentation abounds, and abuses continue. The OBSERVER'S CONCLUSION: Well intentioned schemes such as "Motor Voter Registration" and get-out-the-vote campaigns may benefit someone, but it is not the responsible, thoughtful taxpaying citizen who values his franchise and casts an informed ballot without coercion to do so. Think about it.
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