America's Original Sin - Happy Republican Victory Day!

 

4 The serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die! 5 For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate (Genesis 3:4-6a)

Once upon a time, many European nations believed that owning slaves was legal. Family legend says that elements from my fathers family came to this country as impressed servants, white slaves who somehow got their freedom in the late 17th century. The Jamestown colony did have slaves in 1619, who were freed after a period of time of service, like my white ancestors. (This fact is ignored in the New York Times 1619 Fantasy that has been polluting this nation for the past few years)

Two hundred years after the settlement of the Jamestown colony, the British Empire outlawed slavery and were very active in looking down their noses at the upstart colony that broke free from the empire, us. The Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon said this about slavery to a personal hero of mine, freed slave and a fervent Republican Fredric Douglas:

“I do from my inmost soul detest slavery . . . and although I commune at the Lord’s table with men of all creeds, yet with a slave-holder I have no fellowship of any sort or kind. Whenever one has called upon me, I have considered it my duty to express my detestation of his wickedness, and I would as soon think of receiving a murderer into my church . . . as a man stealer”  (Pike, The Life and Work of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, p. 331)

Spurgeon was detested in the Democrat controlled slave-state South. Here is what my new home state, the freedom loving Florida had to say about Charles Spurgeon back in 1860:

Spurgeon is a “beef-eating, puffed-up, vain, over-righteous pharisaical, English blab-mouth.” A Southern Opinion of the Rev. Mr. Spurgeon,” The New York Herald (March 1, 1860).

Because he spoke up for what was right, because he poked the tiger, Charles Spurgeon was attacked and vilified by the American Democrats, they lied about him, burned his books and threatened him with bodily harm. Charles Spurgeon was the Donald Trump of the 1800's with the added bonus of being an actual Man of God.  Even though he was not a political person and disdained politics in the pulpit, Spurgeon opposed socialism. He didn't believe in movements and protests and riots, he believed that the world would ultimately be changed, not by large scale systemic reforms, but by individual men and women coming to faith in Jesus Christ who would in turn begin to live lives in accord with God’s law. 

The Democrats of 2021 would hold the same views of Spurgeon today as they did in 1860. He would be cancelled. 

The Mayo and Me

Just the beauty of the campus is healing

After returning to this blog, I immediately went on vacation, it's my way of letting you know that I'm just as useful as your senator or congressional representative. I have been inundated with military, political, medical, theological, and familial issues over the past few months and had to step aside to deal with them. I'll be dealing with them here too, and unlike real life, here I can deal with them one by one at my leisure.

Let's start with Medical. 

Twice a year I make a pilgrimage to the Mayo Clinic. Since leaving Denver and the care of the angels at National Jewish Health for my lung issues, I've been seeing Dr. B at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville (or "Jax" to those of us who get tired of spelling it 8 times a day). Mayo Jacksonville is a big, sprawling campus with four (I think, maybe more) huge buildings dedicated to helping shattered people with shattered bodies. Just the landscaping with tropical trees and plants, streams and lakes, is so beautiful that I will park as far away from the main building as possible so I can meander through the lush scenery, and sit in the shade by a cooling fountain and have a chat with God.

Not having to carry an oxygen tank is so wonderful, especially with my back issues that sometimes just standing is too painful to do long. My lung issue is a very rare condition called Pulmonary Hypertension, the capillaries in my lungs are restricted causing the transference of oxygen between the lungs and my circulatory system to be restricted, which in turn causes me to run out of breath quite easily. Even down here in Florida where the barometric pressure of the atmosphere is so much higher than in Denver making it easier for me to breathe, a flight of stairs is a fond memory. I can still make it up the stairs, I just have to go slow and stop several times to get my blood/oxygen level back up. It's called Pulmonary Hypertension because the restriction in my lungs (Pulmonary) causes the blood pressure in my heart to skyrocket (Hypertension) putting a strain on my heart. Using an echocardiogram and occasionally sticking a probe in my heart, my doctors can determine the blood pressure in there. For healthy you the reading is 8 to 12 mmHg. For me it's 35 mmHg.

Don't let the word "Hypertension" trip you up, my blood pressure reading at my arm this morning was 100 over 60, "normal" is 120 over 80. I don't have high blood pressure, I'm a carrier. 

I give it to other people.