Cultural Ties in the Arts

I apologize for not writing as much this year, as my Sunday School lessons and grad school studies have taken up a lot of my time.  However, a few weeks back I was reflecting on something in my journal that I needed to share, and it is going to give a different perspective on something that is part of my own cultural roots.

Anyone who knows me will know that my music library plays a big part in my personal tastes and interests, and the reason is that I have of course been collecting vintage big band recordings since I was about 11 years old.  This stuff is my music, and it is a big part of my identity as a person now.  However, long before I was interested in big band music, many in my own family listened to another genre of music that I never carried too much interest in myself, but its pervasive influence on the rural West Virginia culture I grew up in cannot be dismissed either, and whether I like it or not, some aspects of it define me as well.  What I am talking about is country music - not necessarily the Garth Brooks/Blake Shelton stuff of today (uggh! Classic country people call that crap "rock music with a twang.") but rather recordings from what was known as the "Golden Age of Country," a period lasting roughly from the early 1950's to around 1975. If any of you get satellite reception, on the RFD-TV channel there is a program called Larry's Country Diner which showcases that sort of country music prominently, as its host, Larry Black, is a virtual encyclopedia of the stuff - Larry did a similar project to Gaither's "Homecoming" videos featuring a lot of these classic country stars he calls "Country's Family Reunion," and although many of the people he featured on those programs are now gone on to their eternal reward, Larry Black's efforts will preserve some historical footage for people who are into the classic country genre and its legacy.  So, why am I talking about this?   Mainly, it is because it was ironically some of the first music I was exposed to at a young age, and I learned a lot about it although I never really cared to listen to it much.  And, that is what I want to talk about here.

My later childhood years were a time of extreme poverty growing up in a little town called Kirby, WV, and oftentimes poverty didn't offer a lot of options for recreation or entertainment, and therefore we had to "make do" with simple ways of entertaining ourselves.  During those years, my mother tended to drink a lot, and often she'd sit around the house for hours lounging in her sock feet drinking beer while listening to records by people such as Ray Price, Jim Reeves, Marty Robbins, Sonny James, and others of that brand of traditional country music.  On occasion, these people did produce some good songs - "The Three Bells" by an early country trio called the Browns was actually a very nice tune with a good message about what changes life brings for instance, and for a very short time when I was about 11 I actually got into Johnny Cash's San Quentin album (Lord knows why, but I did!).  Despite the occasional good song though, much of the stuff Mom listened to was downright depressing, which may explain why she drank more then!  One song in particular which to this day I still despise was an Eddy Arnold tune called "Make the World Go Away," and ughhh - just thinking about that awful song with its bad tune and quasi-suicidal lyrics gives me nausea even today!  A lot of  Mom's records made me feel like that actually, because they were just, well, not that tasteful to me.  That being said, I want to also go on record and say that not all country music is bad, and there's nothing wrong with you liking or listening to it if you happen to - it just doesn't do a whole lot for me.  Also, over the years I have myself fancied a few country recordings, which I will talk about now a little.

My stepgrandfather Lonnie Lipscomb was probably more of a serious collector of traditional classic country records, and unlike Mom, he had a little more finesse with his particular collection.  One song that I remember he liked was an old 1941 Ernest Tubb tune called "Walkin' The Floor Over You."  That song was actually quite good, and to be honest I have felt for years it would make a great big band arrangement.  Another, from around 1968 or so if memory serves me right, was Lynn Anderson's "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden," which to be honest was an uncharacteristic sophisticated arrangement for a country song (Of course, Lynn Anderson started her career as a regular on Lawrence Welk's show, so that may have had something to do with it).  Like "Walkin' The Floor Over You," "Rose Garden" could play well as a big band chart too, and it has been done.  And, although the one Eddy Arnold song was a sucky one, he actually had a really good vintage recording (from 1942 I believe) of a song entitled "I'm Sending You a Big Bouquet of Roses."  Another surprising addition to this list is the legendary Hank Williams Sr., who was actually a gifted songwriter - many of his songs did end up on big band records!  It also helps that ol' Hank was from the same town as my paternal grandfather - Greenville, AL.  These are a few good examples, but there is more.

Western Swing goes without saying honestly - Western Swing is big band, and it is one of my favorite styles of music.  Also, there was the late Tennessee Ernie Ford - I mean, seriously, who doesn't love his 1950 recording of "Sixteen Tons!"  Plus, in later years, Ford produced some very beautiful albums of religious music.   Then there are the classic country comedians - I practically grew up with Homer and Jethro, and still enjoy listening to them today.  These are just a few limited examples I wanted to note.

Bottom line is this - I am actually not anti-country music as well, but I am also not what you'd call a fan of it either, although I can appreciate good talent and musicianship where I see it, and some country artists have shined brightly over the years.  One thing I also wanted to note too that is of interest is this - does anyone reading this often feel that some country artists are better actors than they are singers?  I know I feel that way.  Take for instance Reba McIntyre - I cannot really listen to her records in good conscience personally, but I love her sit-com Reba, as it is one of the best shows on TV in my opinion and I think now I have watched every episode of it at least 3 times over the years.  Then there is Dolly Parton - Dolly is cute, and she is the type of person you'd love to have for a neighbor or a church member, and she has yet to have a bad movie she has starred in.  But, as far as listening to Dolly's records, that is a big fat NO!  Not only country legends in movies, but movies about country music legends tend to get my interest.  Two of the best movies in the past several decades that I have seen are Coal Miner's Daughter (about Loretta Lynn) and Walk the Line (about Johnny Cash).   I don't listen to any of these people's music, but something about those movies strikes a chord with me for some reason - perhaps in the case of Loretta Lynn's story, it relates to me as I had a similar childhood, and in the case of Johnny Cash, there is little I have in common with the character he portrayed, but his life was a fascinating story.  So, the question is then why I like movies about country legends but not recordings by them?  Time to explain that.

Despite the paradox this presents, it is actually totally logical for me - although I don't listen to country music, I know the culture it represents because that culture is the same one I was born and raised in myself.  My situation is similar to a Black person who may not like jazz but can appreciate Duke Ellington - it reflects the culture of that person.  Like it or "lump" it, one cannot necessarily choose or change one's culture (although some self-hating people have tried), but one can honestly appreciate it and in doing so it enriches one's own perspective of his or her roots.  That being said, I still don't particularly like the majority of country music out there today - I will take Ernie Heckscher over Ernest Tubb, and Glenn Miller over Glen Campbell, anyday.   But, at the same time, I understand and identify with the culture that shaped it, because a lot of the same culture shaped me as well.  Therefore, I will defend any of my family's right to listen to it, and I will not ever belittle it as mere "hick music" just because it is not my taste.  Even my mother's listening to depressingly bad representations of that music is at least honestly embracing the culture it represents, and on that level I can appreciate that.  I hope this discourse didn't bore you, and I hope you will be back to pay a visit again soon.  Good night and God bless each of my readers.

Reflections on the Baltimore Riots

The craziness of the past couple of weeks with events in Baltimore has made me think about some things from my own past.  The riots there are shameful, and the corrupt government of that city shames its true legacy - my own family's history and my personal story are tied into that true legacy.   I am not going to address the riots so much as I am going to relate my own memories and experiences of spending a portion of my childhood in Baltimore, so I hope that as you read this you can appreciate this perspective.

Baltimore has always been a sort of an opportunity for many West Virginia families, due to its close proximity to the state and the economic benefits working in a higher-paying city job offered many mountain folks who were dirt-poor and had few other options.   Baltimore, from about the 1940's onward, was for West Virginians much like Columbus and Cincinatti were for people from Kentucky, and a great exodus of West Virginians flowed into the city and established many small neighborhoods, in particular the western edge of the city near Wilkins and Frederick Avenues.  My family was one of those, and at one point between 1965 and 1975 we had our own "hillbilly ghetto" there.  The West Virginians who settled in Baltimore were generally industrious people who sought to prove themselves and make a decent life for their families, and many actually did quite well - some even made enough of a living to comfortably retire, as did many of my aunts and uncles - back in their hometowns in West Virginia.  It presents a different picture of the rioters we've seen there in the past couple of weeks, who expect entitlements and the government to allow them to run amok over the city, targeting innocent businesses and wreaking havoc on the city's economy (Baltimore, you should learn from Detroit on that, seriously!).  That being said, yes, I think a lot of the looters and rioters causing the problems are deadbeats looking for an excuse to cause trouble, because they simply don't want to better themselves, and that is their own fault - they have no one to blame except a corrupt government and their own lack of motivation for their issues.

What a difference these destructive hoodlums are compared to our mountain folks who at one time populated many of the same neighborhoods where the riots took place!  Many of the mountain folks were as poor as, if not more so, as the rioters causing trouble.  Yet, the difference is that the mountain folks had the gumption to utilize their circumstance and make it work for them, and as a result many of them succeeded - they may not have produced a lot of doctors or lawyers, but they did produce good families and stable households.  I am proud of many in my own family - in particular my Uncles Teak and Joe Turner, my aunt and uncle Angie and Chod McDaniel, and many of my cousins who even today still live in the city - for what they were able to accomplish back in those days, and they are what the true legacy of Baltimore is.  I also have many fond memories from my childhood days there myself - going to kindergarten at Steuart Hill School on Gilmor Street, eating delicious Chesapeake oysters at Bay Island Seafood on Pratt Street as well as those donut-sized onion rings at Kibby's on Wilkins, hanging out with my cousins in my Uncle Ken's basement on Frederick Avenue, and my mom's job at Caton Manor Nursing Home.   Also, going downtown as a little tyke with my Aunt Angie and having some good fried chicken off a food truck (yes, those were around in the mid-1970's!) and washing it down with an orange soda from the Jewish grocer who had the what-not store down on Pratt.  Those were some great times.  Some of those things - such as Bay Island - are still there, while others have gone away with time.  And, now, new people - many of them not quite as respectful as the mountain people who once lived there - have come into the neighborhoods many of our family and friends lived in, and they have let the place go to hell and a virtual slum has been created where vibrant and clean neighborhoods used to be.  At one point, I remember on a Google street search recently even seeing someone taking a leak on a stop sign - with people like that, who neglect and destroy once-vibrant neighborhoods, it is little wonder that those riots happened.  I also remember the row houses - they had a charm of their own, and were actually nice to live in.  Today, almost 40 years later, many of those nice old houses have become havens for crackheads, rats, and roaches, as they are in disrepair and decay.  It is truly tragic to see a part of my own past deteriorate like that, and these riots incited it more.  Shameful!

Well, I have ranted enough on that, but at some point I think I may do a reflective article on my youth in Baltimore years ago, just to show people how nice it used to be.  The state of Baltimore, unfortunately, may be the fate of the US if we don't watch ourselves - we are allowing too many special interests, funded by big corporations and advanced by corrupt career politicians,  to destroy the American infrastructure (Ferguson, anyone??).  With cops being too scared to actually do their jobs, the "mob mentality" is running rampant, and it is frightening.  That is why many of us who hold to a more traditional values system need to take back what rightfully is our legacy, and not let a bunch of radicals and destructive troublemakers steal it from us.  Have a good day, folks, and just remember that as long as some of us still possess the conviction, a restoration is possible!  Let's hope it can happen before it's too late.

Commemorating the Martyrs of a Genocide

On Friday, it was the 100th anniversary of one of the greatest atrocities ever committed against humanity, ranking up there with the Holocaust that came 26 years after.   This atrocity was the Armenian Genocide of 1915, in which upwards of 1.4 million Armenians were slaughtered in cold blood by the Ottoman Turks for simply being Christians.  Ironically, as this is commemorated, in the past year or so we see evil raising its ugly head in the same region again now, as ISIS is committing the same sort of atrocities.  In addition to Armenians, about a half-million or more each of Assyrian and Greek Christians were massacred, and also several foreign aid workers - the total deaths calculated by those who chronicled the barbarity of the Turks then may have reached 2 million or more people.  Many Americans don't know (or simply don't even care these days) about these events, and if you ask the average person on the street, they probably would not have the foggiest idea of what an Armenian even is.  Yet, this atrocity serves to remind us that we as Christians are in a hostile world, dealing with "powers and principalities" which work through human mechanisms, and those mechanisms would like nothing more than to see all Christian civilization wiped off the map.   The enemies are varied, but they share the same goal - radical Islamists, communism, secularists, the "evangelists" of the "political-correctness gospel." etc.  Therefore, what happened to Armenian Christians and others one hundred years ago may not mean much to many, and many even reading this may not even be aware of what that horrific time was, but it nonetheless has implications for us today.

The ruins of Ani Cathedral - an ancient Armenian church 

First off, who are the Armenians?   The Armenians are an ancient Indo-European people who have been native to the area since probably Hellenistic times.  They once ruled a great kingdom that dominated much of Asia Minor, and although I personally am not sure of their exact origins, opinions have offered that they are descendants of the ancient Hittites, Phyrgians, or Hurrians that lived in the same area.  Perhaps that is so, but the fact is the Armenians have an ancient history connected to the region that comprises their homeland, and their history is also deeply entwined with Biblical and Church history in two important ways.

The Biblical Mount Ararat, with an ancient Armenian church in the foreground

The first example is the fact that Mount Ararat is at the heart of the Armenian homeland, and people who read the Bible know that this is the traditional place where Noah's Ark landed after the flood.  Even today, the evidence of the Ark's presence is still on that great mountain, and as far as the Armenians are concerned, Ararat represents the national soul of their people.  Unfortunately, today this great wonder of nature is in the hands of the Turks, even though the modern nation of Armenia still lies in its shadow.  

St. Gregory the Illuminator preaching to the ancient Armenian king Trdat (Tiradates)

The second major tie that Armenia has to Christianity is that the Armenians lay claim to being the first Christian kingdom on earth (although this is contested by their Assyrian neighbors, who believe that King Abgar Ukomo of the ancient Kingdom of Oeshrene was the first).  Armenia was indeed converted early in the history of the Church, as in the third century the evangelist St. Gregory the Illuminator brought the message of Christ to the Armenians, even converting their king, Trdat, and exorcising an evil spirit from him, as the tradition goes.  As one of the oldest of Christian civilizations, the Armenians hold a special mercy I believe with God for their perserverance in keeping the faith all these centuries, despite the constant onslaught by radical Islam and years of repression by Soviet communism.  That all says much for their testimony, which indeed confirms the miraculous survival of this special people. 

Armenians, like many other Christian communities in the Middle East over the centuries, have always been subject to Islamic oppression, but this culminated just after the turn of the 20th century in the Ottoman Empire due to a variety of factors.  At the end of the 19th century, change was afoot, and as European powers began to expand and build colonial empires, the "glory" of Islamic "civilization" began to fade, so much so that the Ottomans were slipping quickly into obscurity.  As a matter of fact, a prominent European politician referred to the Ottomans at the time as the "sick man of Europe."  However, were the Ottomans really European.  Sure, in the years leading up to the collapse and conquer of the Christian Byzantines in 1453, many parts of the Balkans had already been subjugated by the Ottomans (Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Albania, etc.) and for the first time since the Moors held Spain a couple of humdred years earlier, Islamic powers had a toehold in Europe. However, in the 1800's. many of these people in the Balkans began to declare their independence, most notably the Greeks in 1821.  Additionally, the Ottomans were being chipped away at by rival Islamic kingdoms - specifically the Persians - and the French, Russians, and British began colonial expansion into what were lands held by the Ottoman Sultan.   By the end of the 1800's, the Ottoman Empire was but a shell of its former self, and the reactionary elements among its leadership, led by a sadistic butcher by the name of Abdul Hamid, used Islamic Sharia to subjugate those - namely non-Muslim minorities such as the Armenians - whom it believed to be enemies of the Empire which were "collaborating" with its enemies, and that subjugation led to a revival of an evil practice called dhimmitude, which in essence reduced Christians and others to second-class status.  The demonic drive behind radical Islam also inflamed local Turks as well as Kurdish collaborators, and the result was barbarous massacres of whole Christian villages in the remote areas of Asia Minor.  When Turkey entered WWI in 1914 on the side of the Central Powers, a type of xenophobia set in which led to the events of the 1915 Genocide that claimed so many lives.  I know this is an inadequately brief historical synopsis of the situation, but it is meant to give you an idea of the factors that led up to this atrocity in the preceding years, as it had been building for about 100 years previous or more. 

Lest you think all of this is just some emotional appeal by the Armenians to advance an agenda (as the Turks continue to baselessly accuse them even today) there are eyewitnesses to these atrocities from that time.  One of them was British Viscount James Bryce, who published a compilation work entitled The Treatment of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire 1915-19.  On pages 594-595 of that book, Bryce records the systematic way these Ottomans carried out their atrocities, and he notes that there were several things they did:

1.  The population of the village was disarmed by the gendarmerie (local Ottoman cops), aided by criminals they released from the prisons to assist them.

2.  The mass imprisonment of the Armenian residents of that village, on trumped-up pretexts of possession of firearms, contraband literature, etc. 

3.  The Armenians were deported from their homes.  Money and valuables were confiscated, the people were shackled sometimes in gangs of five or ten, and women and young girls were forcibly abducted, raped, and molested by the local Muslim population.  After the Muslim locals had their way with these unfortunate people, they were marched away usually into the desert, where many of them died of starvation or were attacked by bands of brigands. (V.L. Parsegian, preparer.  Human Rights and Genocide, 1975.  New York:  Diocese of the Armenian Church in America, 1975.  pp. 19-20.)

The Italian Consul-General at Trebizond at the time, G. Gorrini, confirmed that the execution of these atrocities came directly from the Sultan's own government, and he even noted that these actions were even opposed by some Muslims too (Parsegian, p. 20).  Further, Dr. Martin Niepage, a German ambassador and teacher at a German school in Aleppo, wrote a pamphlet entitled "The Horrors of Aleppo" in which he documented this:  "Such monstrous news left me incredulous.  I was told that, in various quarters of Aleppo, there were lying masses of half-starved people, the survivors os so-called 'deportation convoys.' In order, I was told, to cover the extermination of the Armenian nation with a political cloak, military reasons were being put forward, which were said to be necessary to drive the Armenians out of their native seats, which had been theirs for 2500 years, and to deport them to the Arabian deserts....I came to the conclusion that all these accusations against the Armenians were, in fact, based on trifling provocations, which were taken as an excuse for slaughtering 10,000 innocents for one guilty person, for the most savage outrages against women and children, and for a campaign of starvation against the exiles which was intended to exterminate the whole nation." (Parsegian, p. 21).  However, some of the most graphic reports came from American Ambassador Henry Morgenthau, who documented much of these atrocities in his work Secrets of the Bosphorus 1918.  What Morgenthau reported, if it were on film, would be so graphic that it would turn the strongest stomach, as what the Ottomans did ranks up there with the mass exterminations of Jews that Hitler would carry out some 20 years later.  The Turkish troups would seize Armenian women, and then would indiscriminately open fire on a village shooting everything and everyone in it.  Elderly Armenian men and women, on these forced marches into the desert, would be strewn on the path in the death throes of typhus, dysentery, and other disease, while little children would be seen lying on their backs wailing for food or water.  Women would beg strangers to take their babies, and if that failed, mothers would actually throw them into wells or leave them in brush patches that they at least might die undisturbed.  Soldiers would force young Armenian girls into sex slavery, and the way-stations (read concentration camps) along the march route were littered with the unburied and half-buried bodies of the dead, and buzzards were constant companions of these unfortunate people. However, it was especially horrific along river banks, when either soldiers would push people into the water to be "target practice" or those who would seek to preserve what little dignity they still possessed would jump in themselves, including women with their young babies (Parsegian, pp 21-22).  

The infamous "death marches" of Armenian exiles, this one possibly taken in the Syrian desert

A sadistic Turkish official teasing starving Armenians by waving bread at them

Armenian casualties of a massacre by Ottoman soldiers in a remote village

An artist rendering of Turks ravaging Armenian women and slaughtering their children

The most ridiculous thing about all this is that despite the unprecedented number of eyewitness accounts by Western officials and aid workers of these events, the Turkish government to this day denies and refuses to take responsibility for it.  Even the Germans have come to terms with the Holocaust, but the Turks have yet to atone to the Armenians and others for their sins.  That is not to say all Turks are bad though by any means, as over the years there have been honorable Turkish individuals who have spoken out about this, and who want to reach out to the Armenians - those people are true heroes for their efforts, and should be commended, because they too face obstacles in their home country.  It is a crime punishable by imprisonment in Turkey even today, as a matter of fact, to even mention the Armenian Genocide,   And, what is worse is the chicanery of our own elected officials in Washington - despite many efforts to push for a recognition of the Armenian Genocide, it seems that President after President (Republican and Democrat) ignores this historical fact, and although other nations - recently both Pope Francis and Vladimir Putin recognized the Armenian Genocide and commemorated its victims - have had no problems with this, our government (which, off the record, is made up of worthless career politicians too lazy to do their jobs although they love to lie and make a lot of promises) still stupidly tries to placate the Turks!  Bill Clinton, as an example, will bomb innocent Serbs to defend KLA terrorists (which he did in 1999 to deflect from the fact he couldn't keep his pork-sword in his pants and was molesting his interns, so bombing Serbs was his way to distract the public from that!) and our current President, Barack Obama, is increasingly friendly to our enemies in the Middle East while alienating our allies - both of them, ironically, made hollow campaign promises to cater to Armenian-American voters in California to give national recognition, and both failed.   And, now you have ISIS and its kind, committing the same atrocities a hundred years later, and our leadership does nothing!  Then there is this Erdogan guy  (who I call Gog, due to his similarity with the leader it talks about in Ezekiel 38) who is the leader of Turkey - he has been becoming increasingly more Islamist in his tenure as President of Turkey, and the man has the potential to become another Abdul Hamid or Talaat Pasha, yet our lazy bureacratic fat-cats in Washington are letting that all happen too.   The Armenians and others have suffered enough over the years, and it is time they be vindicated, and if our government is too chicken to do it, we must do so as individuals.

As mentioned, other victims of the Genocide also included Greeks and Assyrians, and one in particular was the late Assyrian Patriarch Benyamin Shimun, who in 1918 was assassinated in cold blood by a Kurdish thug named Simkoo, who was in the employ of the Turkish government.   Mar Shimun's famous quotation in regard to this atrocity sums up the sentiment of the resolve these courageous people had, and it was:

"It is imposible for me and my people to surrender after seeing the atrocities done to my Assyrian people by your government; therefore my brother is one, my people are many, I would rather lose my brother but not my NATION"

Mar Benyamin Shimun (1887-1918), sainted Assyrian patriarch assasinated in cold blood.

Christians around the world today need to heed the lessons of the Armenian Genocide, as there is a growing hostility even in America toward people of faith.  Forces out there, demonically driven, are attacking Christian-owned businesses, as well as even trying to dictate to pastors what they can and cannot say in their sermons (a clear Constitutional violation).  That, coupled with the continued persecutions that barbarians like these ISIS clowns are inflicting upon Christians in the Middle East, should be getting our attention.  It was the philosopher George Santayana I believe who said that "those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it," and we need to take that to heart even today.  This is why it is important that we commemorate the lives of many innocent Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek Christians who were killed simply for who they were by an oppressive, monstrous regime that had demonically-possessed leaders who drank gleefully of the blood of their victims, and we need to be prepared, because who knows - in the future, we could be next!  My prayers for both the Armenian and Assyrian families in the US in particular, as they mourn the loss of their loved ones who were martyred in the Genocide.

The Scoop on "Amish Mafia"

About two years ago, this so-called "reality show" premiered on Discovery Channel of all things that supposedly documented a sort of subversive underworld among the Amish communities of Lancaster, PA, and Holmes County, OH.   That show was called Amish Mafia, and from the first few minutes of the first episode, it was evident that there was nothing "real" about this "reality show."  To give the background on this show, Amish Mafia portrays the dealings of an enigmatic "Amish Godfather" they call "Lebanon Levi" Stolzfuss, and what he primarily does is collect something called "Amish Aid" from the local Amish communities - apparently, if he is not paid, there are consequences.  To aid in this enterprise, Levi employs several minions - one is a spineless goober named Alvin, who is Levi's right-hand man.  Another is a dumbass (pardon the term, but it fits) named John Schmucker, whose sister Esther also gets in on the action (they have a third schizophrenic brother named Freeman who was sent away to some Amish psych ward in North Dakota or something) - apparently their father was the original "boss" of Amish Aid, and they are trying to wrestle it back into their control.  A third is a big retard they call "Big Steve," who serves as the "muscle."  A forth is an alleged Mennonite hired gun named Jolin, who later is replaced by a young Brethren hothead named Caleb (who is about as Brethren as the Pope, but I am getting ahead here).  Also in the cast is Levi's rival, an Amish Rasputinesque nut named Merlin, who has a dwarf second-in-command named Wayne (Merlin and Wayne though later have a parting of ways), and they are headquartered in Holmes County, OH.  Later, Merlin is found in the company of a fat woman who resembles a Yorkshire pig by the name of Mary, who operates a "bundling school" in Ohio for engaged couples (this is where it gets really ridiculous, because Mary supposedly teaches the young betrothed clients about "soaking," meaning that the position of intercourse is allowed without actually having intercourse - this is pure BS).  Rounding out the regular cast is a Black man (called SchwartzAmisch on the show) named Alan Beiler, who was supposedly adopted by an Amish family and raised by them, but later turns into a criminal, ends up working for Levi, and is betrayed by him and ends up in jail.  In the recent season, Alan joins up with a rogue Mennonite leader named Doug, and convinces Caleb to ditch Levi and work for the Mennonites too, which Caleb does, and a sort of "turf war" over Lancaster that supposedly rivals the Crips and Bloods in LA ensues - the Mennonites think the Amish have too much control apparently, and want to wrestle it back, doing so with violence against the Amish.  At any rate, there you have it - the plot of the show, its main characters, and what is currently going on in the third season airing now.  As you can see, there are already some glaring problems with this whole enterprise from the start, but I want to get into specifics now.

The "disclaimor" statement that airs at the beginning of every Amish Mafia episode in poorly-spoken Plautedeutsche by the actor portraying "Lebanon Levi."

To begin, let me say that I am not exactly evaluating this as an outsider - my own family was Brethren by heritage, and I have roots in this whole culture, although not to the degree an actual Amishman or Mennonite from Lancaster would have.  That is why the majority of what this show portrays is an affront to all three groups.  I am not going to document every ridiculous thing that this show has portrayed as "true," but I want to deal with it generally.  I have watched every episode of it, and in doing so I can also see the entertainment value in it - the show is good fiction, and if you are into intrigue and suspense, the producers have that talent down well.  So, as long as you know better, watch it.  However, my concern is like that of many others - too many who watch stuff like this think that the Amish really live this way, and unfortunately in today's world, too many people who watch this show are too dumb to actually pick up a book and do a little research, and they are using Amish Mafia as eyewitness authority (which it is not) on Amish life.   There are many capable scholars out there who have rejected the authenticity of Amish Mafia, one being David Weaver-Zercher, a professor at Messiah College, who said, "“When I first saw the (show’s) trailer, I thought maybe it was a ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit on reality television because it was so far-fetched,” as well as Donald Kraybill, a scholar whose works I am very familiar with as he has written some excellent reference books on the various Anabaptist groups in Pennsylvania, who said this: “When I’ve spoken about this program with Amish friends they’ve just kind of laughed and said they never heard of this kind of thing . . . It’s just sort of an example of the foolishness and stupidity and lies — misrepresentations I should say — that are promoted [about the Amish] in television . . . These production crews should be ashamed of trying to say that represents Amish life.” (Michael Mullins, "Experts Dispute Existence of 'Amish Mafia' as Reality Show Debuts."  Article originally published on 11 December 2012. http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/amish-mafia-dispute-reality/2012/12/11/id/467251/ {accessed 13 March 2015}).   Even a number of ex-Amish have come out against the show, saying most of what Amish Mafia depicts is so bogus that you would have to be totally uninformed about the Amish to accept it, and they are right.   However, what it amounts to is a couple of bottom-line facts, and let's briefly talk about those.

First, it is money.  Discovery Channel, if it were truly as educational as it claims to be, should pull the show off the air immediately being it does misrepresent a whole community, but they won't because they have ratings.  Ratings are the only things that big corporate broadcasters like Discovery understand, because they will push any agenda that sells their product.  And, the reason they are exploiting the Amish is simple - the nonviolent nature and convictions of the Amish religion make them a viable target, because the Amish don't fight back.  If they did this with Evangelicals, Catholics, or Jews, they would have so many lawsuits hitting them that probably Discovery would be out of business, and rightfully so.   And, unfortunately, as long as the Amish (who eschew using media for religious reasons) refuse to fight this, Discovery will continue to slander their community with many of the lies spewed by Amish Mafia and similar shows (yes, there are more of them!). And, the reason for that is Discovery is making a filthy profit off this sensationalist stuff.

Second, there is a propensity to slam and slander traditional religious groups in the US now, as we become an increasingly secularized culture.  Whenever religion is portrayed in a positive light - such as that mess called Preachers of LA, which chronicles the lives of several primarily super-wealthy African-American Pentecostal megachurch pastors and their playboy lifestyles - there is often a motive;  the reason many of the "pastors" in shows like Preachers of LA are viewed positively is because they represent a compromised Christianity and not the true faith of millions of faithful Evangelicals in the US.  Or, it is due to trying to sensationalize what many view as an eccentric religious practice - such as the serpent-handlers in the Appalachians - but it backfires because for some reason a real picture of those people comes through (take that series Snake Salvation - which was actually good - that was also on Discovery - once the serpent-handlers on there looked like normal people, the show was cancelled - go figure!) that endears them.  Bottom line is, Discovery and others are not about the intellectual enhancement of their viewers, but rather the spatial enhancement of their own bank accounts.  So, if slandering a certain religious community draws ratings, then it will be exploited to the limits, and what better target than a community of Christians who don't even watch TV and espouse a conviction of nonviolence?  

Again, for us who know Church history and have some familiarity with the Amish and Mennonite communities, Amish Mafia is an obvious exercise in fiction that can safely be watched.  But, unfortunately the audience Amish Mafia is reaching is made up of mostly ignorant people who know little about the Amish, and who for some reason feel that Discovery, due to its educational-documentary reputation, can do no wrong - therefore, it's gotta be true, right?  To most of those viewers - and I mean no disrespect when I say this - I would say that it would be better to set down those cellphones and other gadgets and actually pick up some books (surely you remember what a book is, right?  That bound paper thing with thousands of words on pages - very enriching activity if you take the challenge to read one!) that, if you don't have them at home, you can easily find at a little place called a library.   If more viewers would actually take the time to inform themselves about stuff like this, we might be in better shape as a country.  Also, it is worth mentioning that there are efforts to combat gross misinformation about the Amish as conveyed in stuff like Amish Mafia, and they are worth taking a look at.  For one, the Governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Corbett, has made a commendable stand against media propaganda against the Amish and others.  In a statement the Governor signed with 19 other state officials, it was stated that "By misrepresenting the Amish as a crime-ridden culture, the show gives, by association, the same impression of Lancaster County. It changes the image of the county from one of pastoral beauty, where people are devoted to faith, family and friends, to one of banal ugliness." (http://www.pennlive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2014/08/governor_corbett_amish_mafia.html). The Governor has been accused by the producers - and they ironically wrote it into the story line of the season's episodes (go figure!) - of protecting Lancaster tourism, political leveraging (which makes no sense, as the Amish don't vote - again, go figure!) and other nonsense.  But, Gov. Corbett and the statement are correct, and I would stand by it myself.  Also, a new group called "Respect Amish" has been formed to combat the negative propaganda spewed against the Amish in shows like Amish Mafia, and this is the Joint Statement they issued, which was a very commendable effort:

"Many Lancaster County residents are concerned about the negative, inaccurate and potentially
damaging portrayal of Amish religion and culture in the Discovery Channel’s “Amish Mafia” TV series.
These shows vilify the Amish religious way of life, suggesting that a peaceful people devoted
to non-violence are vengeful, violent and criminal.
The Amish are horrified, shamed and embarrassed by the show’s depiction of their religion and
culture. While their religious beliefs forbid them from public objection to this portrayal, their
spokesmen have expressed deep appreciation and support for the efforts of others to foster respect
for their community.
At their core, this television series engages in religious bigotry. “Amish Mafia” is no more acceptable
than “Jewish Mafia,” “Catholic Mafia or “Evangelical Mafia.” The show is an affront to all
people of faith.
By misrepresenting the Amish as a crime-ridden culture, the show gives, by association, the same
impression of Lancaster city and county. It changes the image of the county from one of pastoral
beauty, where people are devoted to faith, family and friends, to one of banal ugliness.
Each of us has a responsibility to consider how we, and members of our faith community, would
feel if these shows attacked us as they are attacking the Amish. All religions observe some form
of the Golden Rule – that we treat others as we would want to be treated. To stand by silently
while these shows mistreat the Amish in our community would make us complicit in breaking that
rule."  (accessed from http://www.respectamish.org/ on March 13, 2015)

I agree with this statement, and the purpose of this article today is to show my support for the efforts of good people like those at Respect Amish as well as governmental leaders like Tom Corbett.  Discovery of course is raising a stink by writing slander against these good people into the story lines of the episodes of Amish Mafia (thanks in part to one of its producers, none other than the supposed SchwarzAmische himself, Alan Beiler - Beiler is no jailbird, never has been Amish, and is a professional actor who for some reason wants to pick on the Amish and pick the pockets of others doing it.  The real crime Beiler is guilty of is picking the pockets of many viewers watching this stuff!).  Discovery is threatened because its cash cow is on the verge of being turned into hamburger by informed citizens who are sick of media exploitation, and by all means it is time to send the Discovery "cash cow" to the slaughterhouse now!  Although I have watched Amish Mafia to stay informed of many gross errors it has in its portrayal of Amish life, it would not be something I would miss personally if it went away.  So, my prayers are with Gov. Corbett and the Respect Amish people for their success - Lord knows something must be done.  God bless until next time.

Sources of Inspiration

It has been some time since I have been able to post a good article, and for good reason.  Now that I have a break for a short bit, I will catch you all up on what's been happening.

To begin, as you may have read in my year-end post last year, I have switched majors at Franciscan University of Steubenville to the Catechetics program.  I probably will finish up in the same amount of time, as it is the same number of credits, but I have a lot of work with these courses that has been keeping me pretty busy the past couple of months.  It more than likely will continue to be like that probably for the next year, so I will be somewhat limited in writing.

I wanted to now talk about some more specific things that have been on my mind lately.  For one, I have recently really taken to a classic work of music, that being Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony (or the Leningrad).  Dmitri Shostakovich composed that great work in 1941, at around the time the great city of St. Petersburg was being beseiged by Nazi offensive forces.  Shostakovich wrote the piece as a patriotic work, and although he was not a great fan of Josef Stalin's, he did love his "Mother Russia" and wanted to awaken a sense of patriotism in his people. It is a very majestic and beautiful symphonic work, and it invokes in my own soul a great desire to stand against forces today that threaten the way of life I hold dear.  This one now can be counted along with Sibelius' Finlandia, Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring (which makes me homesick for my native West Virginia whenever I hear it), and of course Igor Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps as well as Petrouchka and The Firebird.  I don't know how many of you folks reading this can relate, but I have an endless soundtrack of great music like this in my mind that resonates almost constantly, but it is good to hear it this way too.  I am listening to the Seventh Symphony now on a disc as I write this, and something about that great music makes my spirit soar - good music should do just that too.

When I used to sketch years ago, I often listened to certain music that inspired my creations too - listening to a certain piece of music sort of paints a picture in one's mind about what the picture should be, and it often turns out better with that inspiration.  Sketching is something I just don't have the time to do like I used to years ago, but I probably should keep in practice.  Music like this also helps me with my writing, as my flow goes better and I can write more lucidly.  On occasion, that piece of music might be something like Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony, or it could be something as simple as a Chuck Wagon Gang gospel song - I have been inspired by both of those in different ways.  And, that leads me to another part of my discussion.

My distant ancestor, St. Vladimir, Grand Prince of Novgorod

How many of you reading this can attest, when you listen to a certain recording of music, that it strikes at something at the core of your being?  I have had that happen to me many times, and it is almost directly related to my above creative interests in writing and sketching in that it unfolds something that is inherently part of my overall makeup.  Many of you by now know my genealogy, and that I have aristocratic blood via one of my distant ancestors, Sir Thomas West (the Third Lord De la Warr).  One of the figures that pops up in my family tree is Prince Vladimir of Novgorod, or St. Vladimir of the Rus.   In  AD 988, St. Vladimir was baptized a Christian, and Russia has a deep Orthodox Christian identity thanks to my ancestor Vlad's conversion.  When I listen to Russian symphonic music (contrary to the popular terminology, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and other modern Russian composers are not "classical" - they are 20th century composers of their own genre) it resonates with something deep in my soul that connects me to Kievan Rus and my roots there.  I am a proud American of Russian heritage because of that, and I am blessed to have that Slavonic DNA interwoven in my genetic blueprint.  I am equally proud of everything else I am too though - I am a Pennsylvania Dutch, a Muskogee Creek Indian, a descendant of French Huguenots, a Jew, and a scion of nobility, all simultaneously.  WIth the blood of Charlemagne, William the Conqueror, Constantine, and so many other royal personages in my veins, my DNA is a history book of Western civilization.  God has blessed me in that regard, and it gives me a clearer sense of the identity I have been gifted by God with.   And, recently, that identity has given me some reflection on something serious.

We in the US are under a cultural onslaught of things that essentially seek to destroy and undermine Western civilization, and something must be done about that.  Especially with the demonic scourge that is radical Islam, which is slaughtering innocent Coptic, Assyrian, and other Christians as well as Jews and other minorities in the Middle East, in particular with the rise of ISIS in the past year or so, it has become imperative that we who are traditionalist, monarchist-leaning Christians need to step up to the plate, and quite honestly, the only way that Islamic extremism can be successfully combatted is by doing so on its own terms - show no mercy.  That is why I believe that maybe it is time we call a Crusade against wicked forces like ISIS, and begin to put Islam in its place.  There are many ways this can be done, and different people may feel called to different aspects of the same work, but it must be done.  If not, we risk a serious threat from radical Islam.  We cannot rely on people like Obama for this either - Obama is a traitor to the country he was supposedly elected to lead (as Rudy Giuliani correctly and astutely pointed out a couple of weeks back), and he is as much a part of the problem as ISIS.  It has to start at the grassroots and work its way up until we neutralize the threat of ISIS and the demonic Islamist agenda it has.  My own ancestors, such as Charles Martel, fought to keep Islam from corrupting and destroying Western civilization, and now I am starting to feel that it is up to me, through whose own veins the noble blood of Charles Martel flows, to do my part to defeat ISIS and those like them.  I don't necessarily feel the need to take up physical arms against ISIS or anything, but perhaps I can inspire and encourage those who have been persecuted by these evil dogs as well as those who are making a courageous stand against them.  I believe that a new breed of Crusader could take the Shostakavich Seventh Symphony, and appropriate it to our cause - we, like the many valiant Russians who fought off the brutal Nazi aggressors back during World War II, can be inspired by the great music that built Western civilization like this piece did.  We need to start by being creative in punishing Islamic terrorists instead of rewarding them, and I have an idea I would like to propose.  In the US - particularly in the Southeast - there is an explosive population of feral wild hogs - they are mean, they cause billions in damage to farmland and other real estate, and they carry disease.  However they are also good meat - if you have ever had the privelege of eating a wild boar porkchop, it tastes like a T-bone steak, seriously!  I believe the feral hog problem and dealing with dangerous Islamic terrorists can be dealt with in one major action.  First, the feral hogs need to be rounded up and controlled in such a way that they can remain alive.  Now, the terrorist part of it.  Islam strongly forbids any association with pigs - no eating pork, no raising them on farms, etc.  If a devout Muslim even touches a pig, they believe their soul is imperiled.  So, I got an idea.  When we catch these Islamic terrorists, why not throw them into an enclosure with a bunch of these feral hogs, and let the hogs dispense the justice?   I will tell you one thing - if we did that, Islamic terrorists would think twice about attacking any American, that is for sure!  I think solutions like this take care of more than one problem, and again it is the only language a radical Islamist will understand.  I would probably get into some hot water for even proposing  something like this, but you know something, who cares anymore??  I hear so much crap that offends my sensitivities these days, and no one seems to take that into consideration, and therefore why should I have to be held to that standard??  If this offends you, suck it up and keep your hatemails to yourself, because I have the freedom to speak my convictions too.

Well, I have essentially said my piece for tonight, so I will end there.  I hope to write again in the near future, so take care, and keep your chins up.

Thoughts For the Week

As I begin this year of 2015, I do so with a lot of concerns, as well as a lot of hopes.  It has gotten off to a busy start, as my MA studies at Franciscan University continue with two intense but very interesting classes on Catechetics.  I really believe that much of what I am going to be learning in those courses though will have a great impact upon my theological writing, and some of you who follow my Sacramental Present Truths blog will start seeing that hopefully soon.  I will be visiting as I am able, being my classwork will be taking up a lot of my time, but I need to continue to share things.

To start this off right, let's just chat some, as I need to get a bearing on what we can focus upon here.   It is hard to imagine that it is already 2015!  And, it is even harder to imagine that just over 2 months ago I turned 45 years old.  I have been on a quest over the past several years to write down as much of my "story" as possible, and it is out of that endeavor that I have developed the idea of the "master book," coupled as well with some of Fr. Norris Clarke's ideas about the Book of Nature and Book of Revelation (not the biblical book, but rather this refers to Scripture and Holy Tradition in general as Clarke designates the terminology) that sort of reinforced my own thinking on that.  All of us, regardless of who you are or what your station in life is, have a "master book," and it is the fiber of the Book of Nature God gave each of us individually.  When those of us who know the fullness of Christianity and accept it take this into perspective, it is the Book of Revelation that perfects and clarifies our Book of Nature so that we can more fully see that God created us as individual persons with a particular and sufficient reason for existence.  What we choose to do in regard to living that out is left up to us, thanks to God instilling in us free will, but nonetheless we must understand too that choices lead to consequences - some of those will be good, others will be not-so-good being we are fallible in our limited human nature and prone to sin and mistakes.  But, all of it together constitutes our own "master book," and as I get older I have begun to understand the importance of documenting meticulously all aspects of my life so that I can one day, in retrospect, see a fuller picture.  I probably will never see the complete full picture until I pass onto my eternal reward, but hopefully I can document enough of it to really create a legacy, thus sharing a significant part of my own "master book" with someone in the next generation to come.

Why am I rattling on about all this?  It's quite simple really - I have sitting adjacent to my desk about 6 volumes of handwritten manuscript that contain about as much of my life story as I could document, and it constitutes about 3 years of meticulous note-taking.  Since writing all that down, I have found out other things, stuff that fills in gaps and clarifies information I had previously written, and I have documented that in a series of about 30 small journal books I have kept up for about 19 years.  As I was reading over a lot of that material the other day, I came across a series of things that I had written down which merit a book of their own.  We all have a worldview, and it shapes a lot of who we are and what we perceive the world to be.  I am no exception, and I had begun to write down thoughts on a variety of subjects, from religion, politics, and philosophy to personal quirks and specific theories I have about a number of subjects.  I have decided to write them all into their own book, which if all goes well I will have published by the end of this year.  The point of this is to provide a sort of codified ideological underpinning to the whole story of my life, as many convictions, experiences, and other things have shaped me and formed me into the person I am.  Some of it has proven particularly complex to write - for instance, as of this time, I am sorta stuck in the middle of my Politics chapter, as I both need material to reference as well as a more concrete way of outlining it, as my political views have been somewhat complex over the years - I have embraced a variety of normally divergent views as a Monarchist, a Christian paleoconservative, a proponent of states' rights, a bioregionalist, and also my long-time involvement in leadership and advocacy with the Christian Falangist movement.  I am drawn, for instance, to people like Pat Buchanan and reference him extensively, but I also like some of what people like Kirkwood Sale have said too.  The dilemma for me is answering the question of how to make all this fit together, but an important part of my own personality and thought process is knowing how to piece the more attractive aspects of various ideas together to create something unique, and I hope that when all this chapter I am working on is written, it will be concise enough to work out a lucid worldview that is easily comprehended and not overly complicated.  And, that is what takes some work!

If you sit down and consider your own approach to stuff like this, I will be the first to tell you that you won't formulate something overnight.  It involves a lot of thought, as well as a lot of effort to be as well-informed on things as possible.  But, I would encourage you to take the challenge and do it, because you will learn a lot about yourself through it.  In the near future, I am going to give a little tutorial concerning that here, and if you are so inspired to take this task on as a personal challenge (a word of advice - do this for yourself, not to impress someone else; it can involve a brutal self-honesty that may not be comfortable to share!) then I hope to give you a pattern to work with eventually to aid your own quest.  That will be something more for the future though, as right now I am still formulating a lot of things myself!

One thing about a project like this I will mention too.  It will give you a source of comfort and reassurance especially when you are going through times of uncertainty.  At the end of the last year, for instance, I was up against some things - we had some economic challenges in our household, and due to some limited publicity I attracted a lot of people who attacked me for a stand I made on something very important.  It must be understood that there are haters out there, and not everyone will be so enthusiastic to hear what you have to say.  It often takes both a thick skin and a quick wit to deal with such people when they come against you, but more important is a self-awareness of who you are as a person - attacks against what you say can easily degenerate into character assassination, and it can really take a toll on you if you are not prepared for it.  Therefore, know how to choose your battles before engaging an enemy, and also make sure you are well-fortified personally with a clear sense of your own personhood before engaging enemies who attack.  In religious circles, the enemy is also quick to call you "brother" and yet hate your guts - I found that out some time ago, and experienced it in a profound way recently.  Yet, if you know where you stand, often your enemy will back off when they see you know what you are talking about, although they may hide it behind some fancy talk about "Well, we'll just have to sort it out at the Last Resurrection!"  Although it makes them look like they are being "Christian" about things and that they somehow are using some misguided sense of reasoning, what they are really saying is something two-fold - first, the message is, "Well, you don't agree with me so you are not worth talking to," but also the more subtle message is this "I don't know how to respond to this person, so I am refusing to engage them."  Count that a blessing, because a lot of times frankly both you and they have better things you both could be doing with your time.  Which leads to another interesting observation - in the situation I just faced, I was basically dismissed by my detractors as being "merely a disgruntled person" and "just one lone opinion," yet for some reason my self-designated enemies still wasted a lot of time trying to refute me, argue, and justify themselves.  The way I look at that is like this - if you are investing (or wasting!) that much time trying to engage me in debate, I must be somewhat important to you.  Therefore, if I am not that important to them, the question is why they are investing (wasting) so much time trying to counter me?  I mean, if I am just a lone opinion, does it really matter?   This should be reassuring to others who have faced a similar issue, because it reveals some chinks in your opponents' armor.  For one, if they are going to great lengths to justify, refute, and argue, it means that something you said touched a sensitive nerve, and their reaction is a form of damage control for something.   Second, although they don't want to admit it, you should feel flattered that they take you that seriously to think you are important enough to respond to.   That all being said, although it is temporarily making things unpleasant for you, obviously you are on the right track at either exposing something, or confronting something.  And, one day, some of those same people who oppose you may either be thanking or apologizing to you later, because you are probably right in your assessment and perspective.

I hope my little discourse on dealing with opposition is of help to someone reading this, and if so, I am glad to be of service to you.  However, the most vital thing to remember is that these little ideological skirmishes should never detract you from your vocation in life, as you have an objective of some sort you need to reach and you need to keep focus.  Therefore, it is all the more important to have a thick skin, sharp wit, and also the foresight to see that often an aggressive reaction means you may have a legitimate concern that touched a nerve.  And, that is the lesson I wish to impart as I wrap this up.

This is hoping that all of you reading this have a great 2015 ahead, and the blessings of God - + Father, Son, and Holy Ghost - be with you always, amen.

Random Thoughts

I don't know why on earth I keep writing, but there are many things that need be said, and sometimes it can be a lot when the inspiration hits and you have to find an outlet to express it.  I have done year-end perspectives already, philosophized until Descartes was almost resurrected, and have been on this continued piecing-together of my story which has gone on now for a number of years.  So, what is left?

Today is the eve of Christmas Eve, and as I am writing here I can say it has been intense this past week.  In addition to Christmas preparations, there was the Archbishop's visit at church, a Metaphysics exam, and I was interviewed by Chelsen Vicari at the Institute on Religion and Democracy in Washington, DC, about the prevalent liberalism which has emerged in the Religion Department of my alma mater.  This latter issue has caused somewhat of a buzz, and I have drawn some fire from people who take issue with what I said - that comes with the territory, and exposing error at a large institution will get you attention to be sure.  And, although I have managed to handle the feedback for the most part, it has also been exhausting - you find out quickly when you write on-line or your name has public exposure that not everyone is going to like what you have to say (go figure, right?).  At the same time, there is this conviction from deep within that tells you "this is right!" and it encourages you to stay the course.  It may mean sacrificing friends (I lost a few over it), but if they were true friends they may have tried to understand your position.  Some other friends feel more action is needed, and may be encouraging you to take some bigger steps that may be beyond what you can handle - one of my friends of many years, a pastor and practicing attorney out on the West Coast, suggested for instance that the faculty of said university should be reported to the district office of the church denomination which operates the university, and although I would agree that some accountability is necessary, there are some things to consider with doing something like that.  For one, if a pastor of a church or a professor in a denominational college is teaching outright heresy, there has to be documented proof of it in order to proceed with a measure like that.   Second, although I know for a fact that some things at that university are being taught that shouldn't be, and have heard it with my own ears, there are others who sat in those classes (many of whom, in my estimation, have not been properly taught the essential beliefs of their own religious tradition) who think that what the professor is saying is gospel truth, and they would easily start hurling stones at me instead - that is a big battle to step into by yourself.   Third, it is also factual that I am not a member (nor have I ever been) of that particular church denomination, and their officials would probably be less likely to take that as seriously.   At this point, the best policy would be to sit tight and let this one play itself out - those who are teaching incorrect agendas will eventually get theirs anyway, so there is no need for me to even fire the proverbial shot on that one.  The thing about something when it is wrong is that the person (or persons in this case) who is responsible for it will eventually snare themselves, so it is a matter of timing - so, I just smile, go on about my business, and take a "wait and see" approach on it.

As mentioned when I did my year-end perspective a couple of weeks back, I have had three books published this year - two bound copies and an e-book.  I am not planning on doing as much writing in the next few years save the occasional articles due to the fact that I am probably going to be very busy with graduate work and that has a lot of time invested in itself.   It doesn't mean I will be stopping all writing for good, as I will on occasion write some articles and such.  However, bigger writing projects - such as new books - will have to wait.  At this point, we are also planning a move in the near future, as I will be doing my Ph.D. work in Naples, FL, and we are anticipating that within the next couple of years as it will only take about 16 months to complete the MA I am working on now.  Suffice to say,  I have a busy few years ahead!

I just wanted to drop a note, and as I wrap it up I only want to say that I hope each of you reading this has a blessed Christmas season, and also keep in mind why we are celebrating it - it is not about Santa Claus, but is about a small child born in a smelly barn two millenia ago who changed many people's lives - and, not just any child, but God Himself come in the flesh to institute a purpose that would allow us to be reconciled to Him.  For those of you who may be Christians, these final couple of days of the Advent season are also a time to reflect on your own story of Christ's work in your lives - don't ever be ashamed of your testimony, because every story of God's working in a person's life is a precious thing, and it is one of your most valued gifts God has given you.  So, God bless, and will probably see you all again in 2015.