Lamar Howell's Weblog

John Kerry said that East Jerusalem is eventually going to be the capital of a country called Palestine, which historically has never existed. So that is the position from which he is brokering.

If we force Jerusalem to be divided, then God will cause the United States to be divided. I’m not sure if that means a physical divide, but I know it will mean a divide of some sort.

Ariel Sharon is on his death bed. Immediately after he signed over Gaza to the Palestinians, he went into a coma and has been in one ever since. His body shrank down to a mere 80 pounds. He diminished the mass of Israel, and his physical mass shriveled as a sign of judgment. If he dies, this may signal a swift change to the situation in Israel. What, I just don’t know. Maybe war? And it would seem the war would be unfavorable toward Israel.

I know that Israel will ultimately triumph, but the role the U.S. plays could shape our destiny in a major way. We will have to see.

“He who blesses Israel will be blessed; he who curses Israel will be cursed.”

I don’t care if people think this is a radical view. What’s radical is to try to take away territory that God clearly gave to the Jews. The Bible is a more binding document than the Balfour Declaration. Even the Koran never mentions Jerusalem nor does it suggest that Allah gave that territory to Mohammed’s followers.

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Prophets, to be heard, must masquerade as poets. Their soliloquy, once admired, seeps into the soul, like raindrops through a nylon tent. But the art lover must reach out to touch the lining and break up the droplets. Then truth’s moist kiss moves from fingertips to shirt, then to the breast.

The fiat sword is masked as a letter-opener; the fiery words as a warm dancing glow; any divine ultimatum laid out like a lover’s desperate lunge across the threshold of a fleeing paramour. The prophet’s goat-hair garments hidden beneath a spider-web-thin sheer of rhyme and rhythm; its earthy smell muffled by lows and highs, no–aloes and hyacinth–of intonation, and the whirr and myrrh of accented, scented speech. His hewn, crooked staff doubles as a poker, ribbing now and then with eye-rolling puns amid small doses of cherry-flavored satire. He taps on the stony path, as if to clear the way for the truth-blind, yet poetically inclined 20-20 mind.

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Anatoly Siedem . .

Doctor whose daughter married a mafia boss. The mafia sandwiched him in between two cars and caused him to have an accident. They took him and demanded ransom. His daughter’s boss gave the ransom, which also included the right to marry Anatoly’s daughter. This is a true story.

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A teenager named Bratt rebels against his parents and leaves home, vowing never to return. He has his last name changed, essentially divorcing himself from them. Thirty years later he returns, demanding they give him everything he could have had during all that time and the best room in the house. Bratt wants the property and his inheritance spelled out in the will. He will not speak to them nor acknowledge their presence in the home. He lives like he is the only one there. He pays no bills, buys no groceries. He hates his so-called parents and all they stand for. Do you think the parents would accept Bratt’s terms?

A woman named Luz gets a job as an intern at a Fortune 500 company. The company requires her to start a training program, which involves college hours. Luz is asked to contribute to a 401B for her retirement. She has three weeks vacation time and seven sick days. But the woman refuses to go to college, doesn’t do what is required of her, nor does she contribute to a retirement plan. She takes more sick days than she is given.  Luz comes in late and often leaves early and takes a longer lunch. Eventually Luz is fired at age 25. When she turns 65, should the company give her a service metal and a full retirement package based on her history and performance?

You probably said “No” to the two above scenarios, but it is surprising how people are unable to transfer these obvious truths into the realm of spirituality. I know so many people whose lives reflect the following scenario:

I live my whole life rejecting God. I do not care for his life handbook and I reject his words and his authority. I decide daily to live for my own pleasure and goals. I have no fear of the consequences of living this way. I choose not to change my actions or my character to be compatible with his.

However, at the end of my life I expect him to accept me regardless of the forbidden pleasures I’ve love, the harmful secrets I’ve held, my disdain for him and rejection of his plan to save me. I insist on him accepting me into his presence where everyone is in love with him but me, where everyone worships him but me, and where I can continue to curse and laugh at his son and his followers.
It seems we normally live our lives based on logic and cause and effect. But we mystify revealed truth and live defying our own logic and ignoring cause and effect. Why? I think it is simply because we do not believe anything will happen if we are passive.

We can imagine a child predator getting life without parole. We can accept a mass-murderer getting the death penalty. But we see injustice written all over a God who cannot forgive us for rejecting his forgiveness, his exoneration, his gift of life, and most of all—the way out of our moral morass: his son Jesus Christ taking the fall.

If there is any injustice in all this, the mortal wrong is that God made the hardest of choices, and we cried ‘Foul!’ God’s toughest verdict is not turning people away from heaven’s door. He already made the hardest decision: becoming one of us at the risk of wholesale rejection.

If we really want absolution and a fresh start, we would take it while we have the chance. If we reject the saving of our souls when it is the better choice, how can we arrogantly demand it when it is no longer a choice?

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I am the one who goes to garden centers in late fall

to look for something that can dare the coming frost

I’m trying desperately to keep the cold away

where everything turns brown and gray

and go against the grain with green

Plant the lonely holdouts who wait

stuffed and root-bound in buckets.

I trust the life still inside them.

I am the one who longs for the first green of spring

the first sprig of grass or yellow of dandelion

and I too am lifted up with the buttercup.

I often go out in the dead of winter to scrap the skin

of any planted stick, and discovering green

lament the scar that I made in my doubt.

Yes, I am the guardian of the extremes,

the limits of life.

I could care less during the verdant, soggy

growing season where everything sprouts

climbs and twists around posts or rails or trees.

In a time of prolific green it all feels too common

too easy too abundant too mow-able

Of course, I can crush anything underfoot with no remorse

in the heyday of fertile fields and gardens and lawns.

But let it struggle, let it be rare,

let it await a life-detective like me

and I will give it mouth-to-mouth and CPR,

constant care

put all my faith in a single stem or bud or pale flower.

Because I seek life

Not for its fulness

but for its rarity!

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Jesus was

Afflicted for our arrogance

Beaten to a pulp because of our behavior

Cursed for our carnality

Denied rest because of our addiction to pleasure

Exposed in the nude because of our sexual fantasies

Forsaken for our fallen nature

Gutted for our godlessness

Hurt because of our hatefulness

Injured for our insolence

Jacked up for a generation of jerks

Killed for our crimes

Laughed at for our license to sin

Murdered for our moral morass

Nailed to a cross for our narcissism

Ostracized for our outrageous acts

Pierced in his hands because we shake our fists at God

Questioned because of our crimes

Robbed of human rights so we could demand ours

Stripped to cover our shame

Tortured because of our autonomy

Undone because of our unworthiness

Vilified because of our vanity

Wounded for our transgressions

Xcommunicated by the religious

Yelled at by young and old alike

Zeroed in on but had done nothing wrong.

Jesus Christ . . .

hung naked for our pet sins

took the fall for our guilt

bled for our blood-borne pathogens

sweat, praying for our sorry souls

was separated from God for our restoration

He forgave despite or mockery

He loved despite our rejection

He prayed despite our carelessness

He suffered disgrace to win heaven’s grace for us

He smelled of blood and raw flesh to take away our stench

He laid down his life to give us eternal life

He was humiliated to restore humanity’s honor

He poured out his life so we could be forgiven

He was marred to restore our beauty

He starved in order to fill our lives

He died as a common criminal to save criminals

He died in darkness to save darkened souls

He died alone to save one person at a time

He died willingly to save whoever will receive Him

He died with the sins of the world charged against him

He died to impart forgiveness

Jesus tasted death for every person

Jesus was tempted in every way that we are tempted

Jesus suffered as the Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice

Jesus Christ died for our sins

the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God.

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American Atheists have adopted a stretch of Davis Blvd near my home.

I guess after having brought about the end of Roman infanticide, polygamy, and child abuse,

then the abolition of slavery, women’s sufferage, and turned abortion on demand around,

established the Salvation Army, Red Cross, built hospitals and orphanages around the world,

established Feed the Hungry, Prison Fellowship, Catholic Charities and World Relief,

brought about child labor laws, founded Social Work, and Save the Children,

then wrote the Magna Carta and established a new nation.

I guess they still have some breath left in them to do something on a local level –

like buy a green sign and stick it by the road.

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I am not so much bothered about the Supreme Court’s DOMA and Proposition 8 decision. Those decisions are only reflections of the mentality of many in our nation at this juncture in our history.  What bothers me is where these decisions and our current philosophy is taking us. Let me make some predictions as to where this line of thinking will take us as a nation:

This movement about ‘gay rights’ is now commonly referred to as the new civil rights movement. I agree with this assessment, although I disagree with its premise. The civil rights for blacks was based on what is called ‘immutable characteristics,’ meaning color of skin or gender–things a person is born with, like being Jewish.  What happened in this new so-called civil rights movement, is that the culture and popular media, as well as politics attributed the immutable characteristics test to people promoting certain types of  behavior: homosexuality. Once that happened, it was only a matter of time before argument, protests, advocacy, and legislation established people practicing homosexuality as a minority group. It only follows that the rights of minority groups will be enumerated, defended legislatively and culturally, and finally – codified into law.

So, will ‘same-sex marriage’ become the law of the land in every state in the union? Yes. It is only a matter of time. But this is not what concerns me; it is the mentality that so widely and readily accommodates such a re-definition of a millennially-dominant culturally-given institution: marriage, or should I say traditional marriage–to qualify it, as if it needed to be qualified.

Here is what I see as a possible scenario in America: Homosexual ‘marriage’ will become common, and commonly-accepted. Churches and evangelical christians and Catholics will have to concede to this new phenomenon. Pressure will be put on churches, legally and culturally, to sanction this twisted meaning of marriage. It may sound extreme, but there could be arguments over the tax-exempt status of those institutions who reject a legitimate minority. Activists will monitor the activities of churches and statements by church leaders and report them to a sympathetic media.

Here’s what I see in the schools: homosexuality is already entrenched in academia and the educational system, with student clubs, acceptance of the ‘educational’ input of groups like GLSEN (Gay Lesbian Straight Educational Network) under the pretext of bullying. There will be a flurry of videos and books sent into schools nationwide to ‘educate’ children on the evolved definition of marriage, expanded definitions of sexuality, and various genders. Homosexuality activits are already using children as tools of their ideology: “children in gay families need to feel that their parents are just as normal and dignified as other families, and the children need to feel dignity.” Schools will be given the chance to have their own ‘pride’ celebrations. Schools are already doing things like ‘mix-it-up’ day, a way to promote tolerance of various people and, by extension, lifestyles and sexuality preferences. Teachers for example will be hesitant to do  games which separate the sexes or identify them, for fear of being called down. A good citizen will only be the tolerant citizen.

Teacher training will go beyond diversity training and sensitivity seminars. They will be taught how to bring ideas about homosexuality and marriage into lessons, and be pressured to treat all ‘marriages’ as equal, good, and desirable. Teachers will be given opportunities to present such lessons for fellow teachers. There are already school which promote lessons about ‘LBGT,’ Lady Gaga, and the like. Lessons teachers can print, and videos they can show which define, describe, and promote homosexuality to school children.

As for the business world: no business which advertises will not be allowed to aim ads at traditional families or couples. Billboards, printed material, public posters–anything that shows a traditional couple or family will become suspect, and there will be a outcry of discrimination, and lawsuits will clog the courts.

As for television: Activists will demand equal time (equal protection under the law as the rationale) for advertisements on networks and on television programs. Portrayals of traditional families will be balanced out with depictions of the new ‘families.’ Embarrassing to say, but even companies which produce medicine for ED and other disorders will be forced to advertise using men only. Traditional marriage will not be tolerated as being superior, preferable, normal, and yes–eventually as traditional. History will be re-written, and obscure, despised-at-the-time relationships will be drudged up from the sea of history.

Politically, it will be Pandora’s box, Hollywood’s Ark of the Covenant, the opening of a hoarder’s closet. There will be a greater move to de-emphasize gender, gender roles, and even titles such as Mr. Miss and Mrs. will become a landmine. People will not be able to identify people as man or woman in police reports, and any references to a person’s masculine or feminine looks or attire (profiling) will eventually become anathema and political suicide. Gender-confusion on any side will eventually bleed like grape juice into all groups and affect individuals and all society.

The calendar will take big hits from this too: Father’s Day and Fathers’ Day; Mother’s . . . you get the picture. And so will businesses, capitalizing on a new source of revenue. Every holiday parade and city-sponsored public event will have activists and representatives, booths, and literature on hand.

Sounds like fiction and fear-mongering? Bizarre? What–nothing bizarre has happened in America this week? . . .

The second most dreadful part of this will be the fallout from action government takes when reverse discrimination and affirmative action policy regarding homosexuality are instituted, codified, and forced upon society. This may be long in coming, as some of the other possible scenarios I outlined, but it will come. If lawsuits are even hinted at being superfluous, more outrage will follow.

People who write essays like this one you are reading will be attacked, marginalized, and fired from their jobs for ‘unknown’ reasons. Yesterday’s homophobes are today’s bigots, and will be tomorrow’s racists. Anyone who resists this new marriage ideal, it would be just as well if he or she were Jim Crow or a Nazi-sympathizer.

The  thing to most fear about this whole path the Supremes seem to be leading us down is the total loss of freedom: freedom of speech, because you cannot say anything critical of this new civil rights movement; freedom of religion, because you cannot say anything about its morality; freedom of the press, because unless you agree with this new sexual-revolution anything you say is verboten; and freedom of assembly, because like the Scouts, you will not be able to meet with groups who voice opposition of the new, improved marriage culture. As an aside, silence in the public sphere will be seen as disapproval. Spokespersons, employers, administrators, and public officials must openly praise this new civil right: its relationships, its virtues, its history, and its rightful place in a modern equal society.

Fifty years from now, those who survive this cultural moral suicide will be met with an onslaught of anniversaries of landmark decisions, historical events, biographies of heroic ‘gay activist’ Americans, and new holidays to celebrate.

A strange twist of irony which will result from ‘same-sex marriage’ will be the defensibility of marriage for any and every reason, and possibly for any and every number of people. For example, if Joe Schmoe has lots of money and his friend Fred Schmed is disabled, then Joe and Fred may marry–not for love, not for family, not for sex–but simply for monetary reasons. And if Mary and Lucy love eath other and  both love Jose, why can’t they all get married. What will stop it?

Nothing. Wait, there is one thing.

If a culture with traditional, moral people holding a Biblical worldview do not act to stop this insanity, then there is another force that will.

Islam.

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