I Refuse to Go Green

 This week a friend sent me an email about how my generation is the cause of all the damage to the environment.  After taking a “carbon footprint” test I find I am a world destroyer.  But I want to take exception to those who would blame my generation for all the “environmental damage” we have done to this planet.

As my grandfather would preface his story with—“Back in my day, we. . .  “Well, back in my day we didn’t have green jobs, green technology, green buildings or green cars.  What we did have that might be called a green job was, we walked along the road side picking up pop bottles that we returned to the store for money.  The store then would return them to the pop company where they washed the bottles and used them over and over.  We had glass milk bottles that we returned the same way to be used over and over.  We didn’t have plastic bottles that ended up in the landfill or in the ocean to float around for decades. 

 We didn’t have environmentally save refrigerants in our air conditioning system.  We used cross ventilation.  You open the windows on one side of the house to bring air in and opened the windows on the other side to discharge the air.  We had 100% air infiltration for cooling.  If that didn’t work we used a fan.  We learned to live in the environment not change it.  

My mother washed baby diapers and they were wind and solar dried on a $.99 cloth dryer that hung from two posts in the back yard.  There were no throw away diapers. The only designer clothes we had were when mom sewed a patch on the knees of our overalls.  We wore faded blue jeans because they were second-hand or hand-me-downs.  The only time we worn tennis shoes was for gym class.  Clothes with advertising on them we most often made from feed or flour sacks. 

Back in my day most families had one TV and one radio—not one in every room.  The large TV size was 19” not 56”.  There was no microwave, blender, automatic dishwasher, ice maker, electric can opener or garbage disposal in most kitchens.  Food was baked in an oven, dishes were washed by hand, cans were opened with a hand opener, garbage was fed to the dogs, cats, or pigs.  Aprons were worn to wipe your hands on not rolls of paper towels.  We did not consume thousands of KWH to make our life simpler.  Our life was simple because we made it simple.

Just as a side note-- the garbage disposal dumps food into the sewage system which was illegal to do before 1950.  One of the last areas in the United States to allow garbage disposals was New York City. It didn’t change the law banning them until 1997! Garbage disposals are also less prevalent on other continents, such as Europe and Asia. In all honesty, the only place on earth where the amount of food thrown away is large enough to become a systematic concern is here in the USA.  Elsewhere they can’t afford to throw food away.  I find it interesting that in America today 10-20% of the total waste generated by a family is FOOD!   What happened to eat all your food? Or, “Finish your plate, think of all the starving kids in Africa.”

Back in my day, we drank from a pump with a tin cup hanging on the handle when we were thirsty, not from a plastic bottle from the refrigerator.  We didn’t have health clubs-- we worked for exercise.  We had replacement blades for our shaving razors.  We didn’t have electrical outlets every six feet we had only one with single light in the center of the room.  We had hardwood floors that used a dust mop for cleaning, not a vacuum sweeper that required electric energy.

We mowed our yards which was an assortment of grass and weeds.  We did not pollute the streams and rivers with lawn chemicals that would run off into the water supply.  We raised our food and canned what we raised.  Very seldom did we go out to eat.  We didn’t jump in our car and run to the nearest fast-food to get a sandwich.  We ate our meals at the table with the rest of the family.  

I guess we might have been more “green” back in my day than we are now.  My “carbon footprint” would have been non-existent back in my day.  But things have changed we have more time saving appliances, we have cell phones, we satellites that feed us the latest in entertainment, track our movements, located and start our cars, and find our lost animals for us.  We cook our food in minutes or have it prepared for us at a fast-food place.  We buy our water and soft drinks in plastic bottles and throw them away to end up in a landfill.

While the numbers may be difficult to grasp, consider this: with the garbage produced in America alone, you could form a line of filled-up garbage trucks and reach the moon. Or cover the state of Texas two and a half times. Or bury more than 990,000 football fields under six-foot high (1.8 meter high) piles of waste. According to WM Recycle America, LLC, Americans alone throw away enough aluminum to duplicate the full commercial air fleet of the US.  Back in my day we would have collected the aluminum and sold it-- not send it to a landfill.

But the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?  Well, I happen to like having all the energy consuming devices that have increased my “carbon footprint”.  I like beef.  I don’t like chicken, pork or fish.  I like beef, even if it increases my “carbon footprint.”  I like large cars, air conditioning, fast food, microwave ovens, garbage disposals, and automatic dishwashers.  I don’t like plastic bottles, plastic cups, or the new light bulbs.  I don’t treat my “lawn” with chemicals or even water it during the summer.  I “mow” my leaves in the fall and pray for high winds to move them into the next county.

Don’t blame my generation for the environmental problems we were content with the simple life but this generation had to have all the things that made life easier.  You messed it up--you fix it.

The Exploited American

There exist in America a struggle between those who have exploited, controlled and oppressed the citizens and those who wish only to see the fulfillment of the promise of our Declaration of Independence which declares in The Preamble of the United States Declaration of Independence-- We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. 

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

From the time that the Serpent entered into the Garden of Eden and Adam made the decision to disobey God’s command, the history of mankind has been plagued with authoritarians who only want to dominate, control and exploit mankind.  

Our country has had a long line of oppressors starting with Woodrow Wilson up to the present oppressor Barack Obama who has a Marxist philosophy of redistribution of wealth.  Obama is using a class warfare strategy of pitting the “oppressed” against the “privileged” to sow discord, strife and discontent among the people.  He would have us believe that making everyone poor will solve our economic problems. 

 Obama has preached not only to the American people but the whole world the need to change what democracy is all about.  He is more concerned about eliminating our sovereignty than protecting it.  That is the bases for his decisions to support causes that destroy the sovereignty of a nation. Going into Libya and supporting the overthrow of the government, supporting the overthrow of the Egyptian government, threatening the overthrow of Syria by supporting the rebels, threatening to overthrow Iran,  all of this is because he does not recognize the sovereignty of any nation, ours included.  It is evident that he has chosen to redefine sovereignty.  The support of anarchy has not brought democracy to these countries but rather removed any chance for a free society.  The Arab nations have been forced to accept the oppressive rule of Sharia law.   

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! - Isaiah 5:20

I do not want to leave the impression that only Democrats dominate, control and exploit American citizens. Both parties left and right work from the same agenda and have both acted to expand the size and scope of a centralized government.  Both parties have ignored the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.   The Republicans and Democrats have enslaved Americans with a monstrous debt that can never be repaid while handing over the wealth of America to the enemies of our country.

The founder of international finance, Mayer Amschel Rothschild, who was named by Forbes magazine as one of the top twenty most influential businessmen of all time.  He made the statement, "Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes it's laws."  Our federal government has surrendered the wealth of the middle class to the upper ruling class of wealthy bankers.  

Under Old Testament Law there was a prohibition of charging interest on borrowed money.  The purpose of this was to prevent the formation of a permanent underclass of poor in Israel.  By the time of Ezekiel the charging of interest was a practice of the unrighteous man.  Nehemiah gives us the account of those who suffered dire poverty because of the practice of charging interest.  Today, the unjust interest rates charged by banks on their credit cards have created an underclass of American citizens enslaved to the masters of debt.  The real value of gold and silver to back our monetary system has been replaced by a private banking system called Federal Reserve which has no Constitutional authority to control the printing of our money.  All they have given us is paper and plastic having robbed us of our real wealth. 

This past week we have watched the replaying of the same unrest that brought about the French Revolution.  It was 1789 when a mob from Paris marched to the palace and stormed the gates.  For the next ten years there was mob chaos.  It was the modern equivalent of the “Occupy” groups which are spreading around America today.  Before the French tired of the self-made poverty Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were beheaded and the church lost its property from government confiscation.  The people were mad and took their frustrations on anyone they considered wealthy.  Stores shut-down, people lost jobs, the results were shortages and more riots. France was falling apart.

After ten years people were tired of revolution and chaos.  They wanted a stable government.  The paper money was worthless.  There was a push for gold.  Gold gave the monetary stability that France needed, but only after an emperor seized power as a means to restore order.  France found stability but at a greater cost than they imagined. 

Today, there are those who are pushing Americans to invest in gold and re-establishing a gold standard.  From the lessons in history we should understand the bankers will not go quietly.  The power of the Fed will never surrender without a fight.  Only the rich will be able to invest in gold and with 16 million unemployed and who really knows the true number we must prepare for more chaos and anarchy.  Our hope is not in gold and silver.

Add to this the rising cost of food which will have a greater impact on the 44 million who are food stamp recipients.  The economic problems of the world or even our country will be hard pressed to solve the food problem by promises of hope and change.  The whole attitude of entitlement has created an atmosphere of envy, greed and discontentment among those who have become dependent upon the government to meet their basic needs of food, clothing and housing.  This same discontentment is starting to grow among those who have lost their jobs, homes and ability to provide for the basics needs of their family.  When there is no more unemployment benefits left, there will be more riots and chaos.  Americans will grow weary of all of this and like France accept a leader who may solve our financial woes at the cost of our freedom. 

What concerns me is the same attitude that drove Bernie Madoff to continue his Ponzi scheme is the same confidence game both political parties have work on the American people for years. They gain our confidence and steal our wealth.  Every four years we hear the same lies from the frauds and thieves that have only one purpose in mind—reduce the American people to the status of poor and gain their own personal wealth.  They bailout the rich, oppress the poor and steal from the working class all under the guise of taking care of us.  The American people have listened to the Serpents of Monetary control and we have lost the Independence of -- We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Diotrephes- The Destroyer of Ministers

I entered the ministry at the age of nineteen.  I have continued in the ministry these past 43 years.  What I find disheartening is the number of those who started this journey the same time I did.  Many had high hopes of doing great things or the Lord.  The ministry, sad to say is not always under the control of the LORD.  This has been proven tragically over the years by the number of ministers who have left the ministry.  Young pastors and ministers have found themselves on the short end of church politics and then out on the street without an income or place to live. 

Many of my friends listened to our homiletic professor who said, “If God called you to be minister don’t stoop to do secular work”.  The advice given to me by my father-in-law was, “If you are going to marry my daughter you will need to learn a trade.”  By the way, my father-in-law was a minister, having served as a pastor most of his life.  I learned a trade and it has provided my family with the security the church would never have given us.

What I have noticed over the years is that those who depend entirely upon the church for their financial support are at the mercy of those who have not been Spirit-led in years.  Church board members who are more concerned about ruling the church than allowing the Holy Spirit to direct their paths.  The “Diotrephes” have ruined the lives of many good men of God.  Furthermore, the damage done by controlling members within the church has destroyed the confidence of the pastor’s children and often the spouse as well.  The petty actions of the church “Diotrephes” is nothing short of devastating to the pastor’s family.

 (OK, for those who have no idea who I am talking about 3 John 9-11 KJV -I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.  Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.  Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.)

Many ministers are left to simply survive and make it through the next season of life financially, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. They are no more than the foot mat to be trampled upon by the spiritual abusers within the church.  Some have been mistreated so severely they are left thinking that God has abandoned them.  The scars can run especially deep with the children of these pastors and some of them fall away from the Church “if that’s the way the Church really is I want nothing to do with it.”  I have witnessed this first hand with friends and relatives.  The stress, both economically and emotionally, often precipitates the collapse of a marriage.  Several of my friends in Bible College have broken marriages and destroyed families.  Embarrassment and humiliation are, at times, mountains that are never overcome it is better to get out than to continue the suffering.  Many have walked away from the church for good; they have chosen a different vocation altogether.

An observation that I have made over the years is that it is not the majority of people who make the pastors life a living hell; it is only a small fraction and often only one “Diotrephes”.

Over the years I have come to the end of my rope and would come home telling my wife our time was up.  I could no longer lead those who refused to listen.  Her reply was she did not feel it was time for her to go-- so we stayed.  Then, she would come home after a meeting and say she was ready to leave she was tired of being ignored, mistreated, and taken for granted.  My reply, I don’t feel it is time for me to leave—so we stayed.  I don’t know what would have happened had we both agreed at the same time to leave. (We have been at our present church 24 consecutive years.)

The one sustaining factor in my ministry is that I did not depend upon the financial support of the church alone.  I have held a secular job my entire ministry and retired from public education after twenty-eight years of teaching.  It was my choice.  I have had several offers that could have been very enticing, but knowing the fickleness of churches there would be no long range future.  Then where would I be?  I have been determined to fulfill my call regardless of what others do.  I truly believe the call of the ministry is for life-- not just for a period of time in my life.  I am convinced God will provide as long as I do not give away the authority of the calling from God to anyone.  I believe the call is divinely ordained and just as valid whether you “have a church” or not.  

My advice to young preachers is become bi-vocational.  Learn a trade that you can use no matter where you live.  Having an outside income will remove some of the stress of, what do I do if I am asked to leave?  Or, if some member says, “We have hired you and you will do as we say, or you will not be paid.”  You must look out for the care of your family.  There is no church worth the sacrifice of your marriage or children.  God did not call you to the ministry to destroy your family.

Another observation has been when I tell people I am a pastor they look at me in disbelief.  Occasionally, some “Bible scholar” will say, O, you are a tent-maker like Paul!”  Yes, I am a “tent-maker”.  What makes my ministry different than most ministers I know is at the end of a long day of work I do not want to spend my time in a committee meeting or board meeting just talking.  Most members in the church feel the same way, they have worked all day, and they are tired and want to get home.  I know what they deal with and I know what they need to hear from the Bible for encouragement.  Being able to empathize with the members makes a connection that full time ministers never seem to understand. The ministry is not a profession that I choose to enter into it is a calling from God.  No doubt the many young minsters that have left the ministry never really had a calling.  They were seeking a profession and did not have the sustaining power of the Holy Spirit to direct their paths.

So where have all the pastors gone?  Many have left not only the ministry but their faith as well.  They were left on the battlefield of life wounded and bleeding with no one to care for them.  If you have a pastor, treat him or her as the servant of the Most High God.  Your respect for God is mirrored in you treatment of his servant.  Don't become a Diotrephes- The Destroyer of Ministers.

Change Our Young Children- Change the World

 One year ago this month I wrote my first article for Ramblings of a Country Preacher.  Since then it has been read in thirty five countries.  I have written seventy-two articles covering the spectrum of history, advice, politics, religion and family.  It has been an interesting year both in the world of religion and politics.  I probably have been more political than I should have been but I just couldn’t let injustice go unanswered.  Even though I understand it is the duty of the wicked to bring trouble to the righteous it doesn’t mean I must like it.   

With that said let me change my ramblings to a subject that has been of interest to me--the brain.

Many years ago, two men were working at the same job on the outskirts of a European city.  A stranger asked them, "What are you doing?"  The first man replied, "I'm hauling rocks."  The second man, enthusiastically replied, "I'm building a cathedral!"

 Train up a child in the way he should go: 

and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Prov,22:6

We are the products of our families, our culture, and our time-- and of these three, family has the strongest influence.  My parents gave me more than they ever received.  They both had a difficult time growing up in large families.  My mother was the next to the youngest of thirteen and my father the fourth of twelve children.  The primary focus in both families was survival; the primary value was work.  My parents transmitted those values to me.  With the best intentions they did all they could for their nine children.

Many people operate under the assumption that since parenting is a natural function we should know how to do it -- and do it well.  The truth is, effective parenting requires study and practice like any other skilled profession.  Who would even think of allowing an untrained brain surgeon loose in an operating room?  Yet we "operate" on our children's brain every day.  Unless you have studied developmental psychology and family systems, you learned to parent from your parents.  Our parenting skills are much like our marriages, for better or worse.  You were taught by the example your parents set: what they were you learned.

Today we are becoming more and more aware of the impact our choices have on our children's future.  Both negative and positive experiences contribute to the development of our children.

Little children have wonderful memories.  They are, by nature, very impressionable.  It is these impressions that influence the development of their minds.  Many children's minds our endangered because they are living in a chaotic home.  You might ask, "Why do children need a peaceful home?"  Researchers who study the social changes affecting children have found:

Forty-two percent of U.S. families with children start out with three strikes against them--they are: lack of education, lack of commitment, and lack of maturity.  These three areas result in brain damage. Brain damage caused by bad experiences can increase the risk of developing a wide variety of ills.  These include: aggression, language failure, depression, mental disorders, asthma, epilepsy, high blood pressure, immune-system dysfunction and diabetes

Let me add, this damage is not caused by a physical blow.  It is caused by the improper wiring of the brain's neurons.  Child stress research has found  developmental experiences determine the capability of the brain to do things.  If you don't change those developmental experiences you’re not going to change the hardware of the brain.

The things that are associated with giving a child the proper developmental experiences are: quality of home life, parent-child relationship, education of the parents and other relationships that provide some security for the child.

Researchers are using terms like enriched environment as the real brain food of children.  In children the IQ's can be raised as much as 20 points by exposure to an enriched environment.  The circuits controlling emotion are laid down before birth.  Then the environment takes over.

Neurons that fire together, wire together.  If a child's emotional responses are consistently mirrored, then the circuits for these emotions are reinforced.  This is done by a chemical reaction in the brain. 

Serotonin is the brain's master impulse modulator for all our emotions and drives.  Serotonin keeps aggression in line.  When serotonin levels fall, violence rises.  When the levels are too high a person becomes fearful.  Lowered levels don't compel you to be aggressive.  It just permits you to be aggressive by lowering the threshold.  That’s why is important to train your child.  Training establishes set points of serotonin.  These are learned levels.

Chemicals which allow brain cells to talk to each other are part of our physiology.  Most people are born with a balance that allows them to act in a reasonable way.  It is the environment which triggers serotonin and noradrenaline to cause an imbalance in people.

Noradrenaline is the alarm hormone which organizes the brain to respond to danger, producing chemical that prepare the body to fight or flee.  Hot blooded people have high noradrenaline levels.  Cold blooded people have low levels.

High levels of noradrenaline are an indicator of Post-traumatic stress disorder.  As parent we are the influences on are children's development.  At 20 months, babies whose mother talk with them daily knew 131 more words than mothers who did not talk with their child.

In the past people taught that the mastery of vocabulary was an innate capacity of the child.  That's not true it has to be learned.  The critical period for learning a spoken language is totally lost by about the age of ten.  You can learn a second language later in life but it is highly unlikely you will speak with the correct accent of the language.  The critical period for learning syntax is before age 3.  Children speak much like their parents.  They model the language and accents.  Movement and muscle control is established by the age of 4.  By the time a child is 3 year of age much of its behavior will be established.

The first few years of a child's development are critical to their emotional and spiritual behavior.  If we are going to shape the direction of the world we must first shape the lives of our young children.

(Information came from a workshop I conducted on Understanding the Brain Development in Young Children)