Lamar Howell's Weblog

America asked for change. That change was undefined. We are getting change and we hope it will be for the better. What the President and Congress are doing – extending federal power over many aspects of our lives – doesn’t disturb me as much as the sentiment I feel all around me: People seem to be welcoming the power of the state to solve their problems. We seem to have a strange vengeful taste for economic fairness.

Equality is a value that is held dearly by Americans. It seems to have trumped freedom itself. If we choose equality over liberty, we may all be equal – except of course for those who mandate our equality – but I am sure it will be a miserable equality.

My hope is that such a state of oppression will ignite a cry for a return to  values of honoring the family, virtuous moral choices,  and true spirituality.

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Friday the doctor will biopsy the man’s liver

by running a line down a vein in his neck

To check for fat, pressure, and damage

Like the Borg on Star Trek.

Last year the doctor checked his heart

by running a tube up an artery in his thigh

To check for plaque or rhythm

He got a comforting word from Lamentations:

“You have pierced my thigh with your arrows.”

(Sounds like a syringe and needle)

He needs a scripture for the liver thing

Like, “God delivers” maybe.

How they will take the pressure – in pounds or kilos

Since when do livers give off pressure?

Next year, they want to check his brain

By running a tube through a capillary in his backside

Is  there a scripture for that?

If there is no pressure there, they will pump some in

Then check for signs and synapses

In ten years, the tubes will be wireless.

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THE VAULT

I saw Big Brother’s secret guarded vault

Where all things sacred to our hearts are kept

We gave them up by logic or default

By silence, or by dreaming as we slept.1

He locked them there on grounds it kept us “free

from tyranny’s religious rule,” he said.

He did it to fulfill the Court’s decree,2

but never told us where the hallways led.

He started with the Bible’s Holy truth:

He called it dangerous, then placed it there –

in case it might contaminate our youth

with Psalms of praise or maybe the Lord’s prayer.

Then like an Executioner he stood

with Ten Commandments on the chopping block.

We couldn’t see the irony for the hood-

that iron can break so easily through rock.3

We sewed his hood with threads of our own flag.

The rest we used to make our Warden’s cloak.4

Now we salute him oft’ and proudly brag

about the Guard who wields the lawful stroke.5

Then down the darkened hollow wells he tossed

our manuscripts of great antiquity.

The records of our heritage now lost-

Our sacred truths, and moral history.6

He ignored how generations measure time7

by the stroke of Jewish blood across a board,8

and denies that history’s concluding sign

Is drawn not with a pen but with a sword.9

Then from his jangling keys our Guardian State

Removed two bands of covenanted gold10

And made a mockery of man and mate

By locking matrimony in the hold.11

Still feigning love for earth and living things

while making bloody graves of mothers’ wombs,12

he takes our sacrifices – sighs – then slings

life’s sanctity down deep forgotten rooms.13

Our forebears all lie quiet in the grave

as we fulfill their unimaginable fears14

by sacrificing all they died to save,

yet stand with fatted fingers in our ears.15

Let God my helper be, with all the saints

To prove those pillars false, those doors a lie,16

and honor Him whose justice never faints

I pledge my life, if pledging it means die!17

 epilogue:

Our conquerers, when sifting the remains

of this grave palace, on its broken shelves 18

Will find the faded cloak, the hood, the chains . . .19

And a plaque that reads They did this to themselves.

1 apathy

2 Supreme Court decisions

3 Iron is authoritarianism, rock is God’s law

4 we sacrifice freedom for security

5 state becomes all-powerful and we devote ourselves to it

6 denigration of great leaders and moral literature

7 BC/AD Before Christ, Anno Domini (in the year of our Lord)

8 Crucifixion of Christ

9 Denial of Judgment of God

10 State subordinates institution of marriage

11 State degrades institution of marriage

12 State sponsorship of abortion

13 State sanctioning of abortion

14 Loss of the sacred trust of our freedom

15 Our denial of any responsibility

16 Protect freedom, uphold God-given rights

17 Martyrdom

18 Palace is the United States; broken shelves means our failure to know and preserve our history

19 Faded cloak and hood – the flag; the chains –  unjust laws

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In Alexander Dumas’ book The Count of Monte Cristo someone said that King Louis XVI’s followers had commmitment, dedication, and enthusiasm, but that those qualities were not enough. Napoleon’s followers had those qualities and one more: fanaticism. And that is why they would triumph.

Fanaticism implies a willingness to die for one’s ideals. That is something Christians in America do not have. It is indeed something radical Muslims have, and it will take only one act of terror to strike fear into ordinary American citizens, and the threat of further terror to galvanize America into a police state.

American Christians have no antidote for this because they see Christianity as a cozy sub-culture rather than an over-arching worldview which will shape the values of our future as a nation. We have chosen co-existence with other religions rather than obedience to evangelize their adherents, so we have lost the war already. It is only a matter of time before the prevailing sentiment will be “tolerate all, offend none,” a view which will be promoted, and eventually enforced, by shadowy government watchmen.

Economics and politics will not be the final determiner in this nation’s future. Any nation’s future is shaped by either religious or anti-religious ideology. In a time of crisis, ideology based on one’s deepest beliefs about morality will always triumph over consumerism and hedonism, even political expediency.  That is why Islam will have the effect of paralyzing Americans with fear. Islam as a religion may not prevail numerically, but it will be the wrench that will bring freedom’s machinery to a screeching, sudden, and permanent halt.

We could change all this if we would take it seriously. I pray that we will.

Postscript:

Last year I had a closed vision while attending a church service. I saw a great eagle flying with resolute purpose and pride across the Atlantic toward Great Britain. Instantly a huge lion stood up in England and let out a terrifying and long roar toward the eagle. The eagle stopped in mid-air, turned back toward the US mainland, and with alarm and a fearful eye flew rapidly back to the east coast. As it moved over the mainland to the center of the nation, arrows flew up toward the eagle from every state in continental United States. The eagle lifted its wings and flew up to a high mountain out of sight, hidden from the inhabitants. I somehow knew the eagle would be hidden for a long indeterminate period of time.

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LITTLE SHEPARD BOY

Do you fear what I fear?

Said the little lamb to the Shepard boy

Listen to what I say

Stay out of those bars, Shepard boy

Listen to what I say

Don’t you hit on mean, redneck guys

Those with tattoos and a scruffy beard

Those with tattoos, and a scruffy beard

Said the little lamb to the Shepard boy

Do you see what I see?

Being hailed thoughout the Congress halls

Do you see what I see?

A law, a law, codifying sin

And creating a new protected class

And creating a new protected class

Note: I feel sorry for Matthew Shepard, who needed a father and not sex. Too bad that Congress in their misplaced compassion exploit his death in order to promote a dangerous hate-crimes bill. I wish our society would go after the real problems, lack of fathering,   instead of insuring people in their bondage and insulating them from any true freedom.

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Just suppose God wasn’t rich

Imagine him never coming to visit.

What if he didn’t bring gifts

and never lifted anyone’s spirit,

and the Holy Ghost chose not to be close?

Just suppose you never felt his touch.

Imagine living with barely enough.

What if  he ignored prayer and persuasion

and missed sharing special occasions,

would you still embrace the cross?

Face every loss with courage?

Would you love him simply for life eternal

and long only for his return?

Suppose seeing Christ were enough!

Imagine his life being enough!

What if he came to take everything from us?

To divinely exchange, and leave us with a promise

With a hope that never fails,

one that propels us into the world

with one thing worth more than life

so much more than healing

or emotional well-being:

A mark, a scar, a Christ-brand

something like that –

anything that proves we’re his.

I may be imagining this, who knows?

But just suppose . . .

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For those of you who read this blog, I may not be writing anything for a while because I am busy with family issues. If you want to know more, please contact me.

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I just returned from watching Peter Jackson’s film “District 9” and (apartheid aside)  here’s a perspective:

I see everything through a kaleidoscope with colored jewels forming crosses in various shapes and colors, and so it is with District 9. If find it both refreshing and alarming that filmmakers and script writers tend to go with their intuition, even spiritual prescience, more than do most spiritual leaders of the world.  Let me explain:

I believe that intuition is a faculty of the human spirit, just like conscience and communion. Because of our fallen humanity, or imperfection, people intuitively, as individuals and even on a national level, have an innate desire for a savior-hero. Thus the range of heroes from national epics down to folk-heroes.  District 9 is awash in this intuitive impulse within humankind, as are many modern superhero films. Spiritual leaders, conversely, often get stuck in the sentimental platitudes and prosaic formulas of religion.

There are several symbols or motifs which I saw in this film which had messianic undertones. First of all is the search for and discovery of the indispensible fluid needed for joining the command module to the mother ship. The recovery of the fluid took over twenty years. The vial containing the fluid was to be protected at all costs.

The second strong messianic symbol was in the name of the one who gathered the fluid, along with the help of his son. Christopher Johnson  is the alien hero the film. He leaves earth with a promise to return with help from his home planet in order to rescue his fellow aliens, derisively called prawns, and to restore the hero of the story to full humanity.

Wikus (pronounced Vih-cus), the protagonist of the story, is infected by fluid from the vial and his arm becomes alien. The arm becomes a rare commodity. The government wants to use it to fire the alien weaponry, and a Nigerian mafia boss wants to eat it in a witchcraft ritual for the same purpose.  In a sense, Wikus suffers [vicar]iously because his arm is exposed to humanity.

Near the end of the film, a full long shot of the camera is on the side of a building painted with graffiti. The huge letters fill the background and spells the word “NAME” two times.

Finally, Wikus’ recovery as a human and his restoration to his wife has to be sacrificed for the race of aliens. Christopher has to use the fluid to power his ship’s return to his home planet for help rather than using it to save Wikus.

In summary: The fluid is what can save the aliens, like the blood of Christ saves humanity; Wikus’ [a vicar is a priest] arm is symbolic in that the arm  and the  hand (not the left, but the right  hand in particular) are universal symbols of military deliverance and divine salvation, and especially in that the arm is exposed, or laid bare.

The alien Christopher Johnson (Christopher means “Christ bearing”) prepares 28  years for the fluid which will save his people, much like the preparation time of Christ. He survives a beating where blood runs down his face. Finally he escapes and leaves the earth with a promise to return to save his people, as well as the restoration of the protaganist, an shadowy allusion to resurrection, in three years, compared to three days of Christ’s resurrection.

You may think this is all a stretch, but remember this fact: an overwhelming majority of people think there will be some kind of apocalyptic [hero-revealing] event in the near future, something not even the churches are talking about much now, at least not until they see this extraordinarily crafted film.

This film is rated R because it deals briefly with prostitution and drops f-bombs in strangly-accented clusters.

That’s how I see it!

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I have seen the Death Star,

wandered through the universe —

where I carelessly jettisoned my heart

So many failed attempts at reversing course,

but in my vagrancy I found

the cosmos to be spiral — nearly round

Always bringing my hollow capsule back 

to where it all began —

Somewhere between the flaming start

and the sputtering, gasping end

Lies my heart

Is it too large a thing to ask,

too colossal a task?

To Infinity it must seem infinitesimal

Yes, my heart is small, inconsequential

If you should see it – it looks like this:

It’s shaped like a fist, sorta

With chambers and aortas

And it’s leaving a thin trail

Of red and blue

Unless it’s all bled out

Out there all alone

Somewhere between the Death Star

and its Home

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Where’s my GI Joe? My two-year old son’s first sentence. The almost-six-inch camouflage green, or white, or black-uniformed soldiers with hinged hips, elbows, and knees, always squeezed by Jonny’s baby-fat fingers. His little regiment of toy soldiers lived in crowded and merciless toddler-service in a shoebox quanson hut under little Jonny’s bed. (more…)

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