47th Anniversary

For the first time since we came to Manhattan, Arletta and I were able to actually enjoy our wedding anniversary. Manhattan Christian College has an annual program called "Woman's World" that is held the last weekend of February every year. Thus it always came on our anniversary, February 25. But not this year.

I spoke for a workshop on The Lord's Supper at Woman's World while Arletta attended. Then on Saturday night, February 23, we went to "The Little Shop of Horrors" at Wamego High School which is a dinner theater. We were able to see one of our special grandchildren, Melissa Slagle, in her last production as she is a senior this year. Sunday found us in church at Zeandale. Then Sunday afternoon we drove to Valley Falls to the Barn Bed and Breakfast.

The Barn was quiet. They had just said goodbye to 45 quilters. But for Sunday night there was just Arletta and me, and the Studebakers, who were enjoying their 20th anniversary. We had a great time of visiting with them as well as with the owners of the Barn. Great food, great facilities, and a great place to remember an anniversary.

During the big ice storm in December, Weststar requested the Barn to house and feed some of the crews coming in to help with the problem. But the Barn had no power either except for a large power plant powered by a diesel engine. It only cost $180.00 a day to keep the powerplant running. But the electrical crews were more than glad to be able to stay there. Good meals and good beds for the entire time. The barn is heated by hot water, so there was no need for electricity to provide heat.

The icing on the cake happened when the hostess of the Barn came to our room and brought us a basket of fruit that had been left by one of our wonderful people at Zeandale. I told my class on Tuesday night that someone loved us enough that they drove 90 miles to leave a fruit basket for our anniversary. The benefactor goes unnamed in the blog, but they already know how much we appreciate all they do for us.

Richard M. Nixon/Battle of Verdun—This day in history

Richard M. Nixon is not remembered for doing a lot of good. Unfortunately, what good he did is overshadowed by Watergate. Ironically 25 years later another president is caught in the adultery by seducing one of the young women on his staff and he walked away as though he had never done anything wrong. If Richard Nixon were president today he could have easily gotten away with what was done.

But on this day in 1972 Richard Nixon paid a state visit to the People's Republic of China. For good or ill this would lead to the opening of China for trade and eventually the Olympics.

Christians see Nixon's visit in a different light. He effectively opened the door to China so that we could see what was happening in this giant in regard to the church. From 1949 to 1972 the news about Christians in China was bad news. Great men like Watchman Nee were persecuted and imprisoned and eventually died for their faith. The question on everyone's mind was simple, "Is there anything left of the Christianity that was there in 1949.

Missionaries had worked in China over 100 years and had effectively planted churches across the landscape. But all missionaries were driven out in 1949. It is estimated around 5,000,000 Christians were in China.

News began to filter out of Christian activity and soon it became apparent that the church numbered around 20,000,000. All this without the help of any missionaries. Today there is an estimated 100,000,000 Christians in China and still no missionaries. The Communist government would like to put Christianity out of business, but so far has not been successful.

The battle of Verdun started today in 1916 and lasted until July. Here is Encyclopedia Britannica's description of the battle:

(Feb. 21–July, 1916), one of the most devastating engagements of World War I, in which the French repulsed a major German offensive.

German General Erich von Falkenhayn believed in a strategy of attrition and argued that Germany should bleed France to death by choosing a point of attack "for the retention of which the French would be compelled to throw in every man they have." The fortress of Verdun and its surrounding fortifications along the Meuse River was the point selected. The Germans massed huge amounts of artillery and troops for the attack, which the French knew was impending but believed would occur elsewhere. Thus, Verdun was unprepared when one of the heaviest bombardments of the war rained down on the area. From the offensive's start on February 21, the Germans advanced with little opposition for four days until they reached Fort Douaumont, which they took. French reinforcements arrived just in time and with them General Henri Pétain, who took command and managed to slow the German advance by several French counterattacks. In March and April the hills and ridges west of the Meuse and north of Verdun were bombarded, attacked, counterattacked, taken, and retaken. In June the Germans again assaulted the heights along the Meuse but were unable to maintain an advantage. By July they realized that their plan to seize Verdun and undermine France's will to resist had failed with a terrible loss of men—about 400,000 French casualties and nearly as many German—and material for both sides. From October until the end of the year, the French took the offensive and regained the forts and territory they had lost earlier.

The battle of Verdun was classic of the entire war. Very little territory taken and the death of thousands of men. Today the battlefield of Verdun is a vast quagmire that no one can enter. So much shelling took place the ground has been pulverized. Should someone venture out into the quagmire, they would simply disappear into the ground.

This day in history

Today is the day in 1945 that the U. S. Marines invaded Iwo Jima in one of the greatest battles of the 2nd world war.

It is also the day that the renowned astronomer, Nicolaus Copernicus, was born in 1473. Copernicus revolutioned astronomy and history by developing the helocentric theory that said the earth and other planets revolved around the sun. The opinion up to that point was that the universe revolved around the earth.

On a very sad note this is the day in 1942 that Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the executive order allowed the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Many of these people had been in the USA for several generations.

On this day in 1881 Kansas became the first state to include prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the state constitution.

Finally, on this day in 1878 Thomas Edison patented the phonograph. Most of the readers of this blog would have no idea what that was. But if you come visit we will show phonograph records that date back to the 1950s that we still have. Music experts claim that the quality of music on records is superior to CDs and tape because of the highs and lows that were recorded that we actually cannot hear, but add to the quality of the music. Melissa Boutz would call them Overtones.

Penguins and Polar Bears

Anyone who follows my blog knows I am not high on the global warming issue and certainly even less on evolution. But I have a question for the evolutionist.

Whatever happened to "survival of the fittest" and the purported fact that creatures adapted to their new circumstances which they found themselves in?

But we are concerned about the 50,000 polar bears that are almost on the endangered species list and the penguins that are losing their ice in Antarctica. If Darwin was really correct, why not let evolution take its course and let these creatures adapt to their new world? It seems that we are trying to avoid the evolutionary process.

Tragedy at Northern Illinois University

We are deeply saddened by the turn of events at Northern Illinois University. One of my students at MCC had a close friend who was in the classroom that the shooter entered and where several people died. That brings the event close to home, too close for comfort.

But we should expect such things to happen. We have been preparing people for such acts for fifty years or more. Post-modernism is the philosophy of our world today. Basically it means that I determine what is truth and who or what is in control. I don't trust the government, science, education, business, my parents, or the church for answers. If I disagree with any of the above, then I can establish my own truth. Post-modernism is existentialism on steroids. I would say that post-modernism is a major contributor to the rash of school shootings we have observed. Students are taught by the system that there is no truth and that they are a law unto themselves. Life is cheap. PETA says we are no more valuable than the animals. In fact the world would be a better place if we got rid of all the people and turned the world over to the animals. The Pro-Abortion movement tells us that the unborn life is unimportant and can be disposed of like an appendix or faulty gall bladder.

So it is only inevitable that people who have been trained by video games to kill should finally get around to doing the real thing.

The answer to all this is and always has been the same—a return to God. Not gun control, not more police, not intense analysis of what happened. The only answer is to change the human heart. Only Jesus has the answer. That fact will never change. I am not a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I will assure you that until we decide to turn to God and to the truth of the Bible, the tragedies we are witnessing are going to continue and intensify.

"Going Green, How Serious are you about it?"

Bryan Boutz is about as sincere and dedicated a person as I have ever met. Thus when he responded to my last blog, I had to give thought to what he said.

There is a lot of talk about going green which is politically correct language for being more careful about how we use energy. With all of the hype about "going green" I wonder if people really have any idea what they are talking about.

I have purchased the lightbulbs that require about 1/3 the amount of electricity for the same amount of light. But in my home we have ten times as many bulbs burning as my parents had in 1950. My parents were definitely far more green than I ever will be.

To heat our home here in arctic Kansas we have a main system using natural gas, a secondary system using wood, and a tertiary system using electricity. Around $200.00 a month is spent on heating and electricity. Most of the heat is for warmth and a small portion for hot water. How much of that am I willing to give up? My home in Leadville, Colorado had a coal/wood range that both heated and provided an oven and a surface for cooking. No one can bake bread quite the quality my mother made in that range's oven. Electrical use was for a refrigerator and two tube-type radios. When I compare the number of items that operate on electricity in my present home I am appalled in comparison to my folks' home. I can assure you that we are not really willing to give up any of those items.

Finally, look at the cars we drive. Most homes have at least two and they are major contributors to the use of energy in America. The Arab world is enjoying our gluttony and socking it to us for fuel to run them. We complain about the high prices of petrol, but I don't see anyone seriously cutting back. I read about the new Hummer which gets 4 mpg in the city, 10 on the highway. Do Hummer owners really care about being green? Other people want cars that will do 100+ mph. How serious are they about going green?

Bottom line. We don't want to go back to the "good old days." We have no plans to go back to the good old days. We are not about to give up the energy consuming lifestyle we lead. So when people talk to me about going green, I would like to see them walking to the store, riding bicycles, and cutting back on the horde of appliances they have in their homes. Changing lightbulbs is like putting a band-aid on a bleeding artery.

In America we are gluttons in many categories, but none is greater than our gluttony for energy. As some poet has said, "Someday you have to pay the piper."

More signs of global warning

As I watched winter develop in Kansas this year I am now more convinced that ever that Al Gore is right about global warming. This is the coldest winter I have seen in 13 years in Kansas and we have had far more snow that ever before, certainly indicative of fallout of global warming.

I also read today in the Christian Science Monitor travel section about a cruise that goes into the northern ice fields in June to give people the thrill of being up next to the ice. The crew said that the ice was heavier than they had ever seen it. The ship got stuck in the ice and they had to send for an ice-breaker to come rescue them. Several ports that they normally visited were also ice bound. Obviously this is all the result of global warming.

I am strongly recommending to the Manhattan Christian College administration that they require students to come with skis or snowshoes for future school years. As the fallout for global warming grows I am confident the snow is going to get deeper. We won't be able to have snow days because such conditions will be normal from December to March. I told my students today to look into getting skis and snowshoes for the coming year. I think we will be able to get by without them this year. We might also recommend that students come with adequate clothing to wear during the cold weather and for those icy commutes from dorm to classroom.

My guess that to go along with this global warming we will also have more ice storms as well.

Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing

Genocide is "the deliberate and systematic destruction of a group of people because of their ethnicity, nationality, religion, or race. The term, derived from the Greek genos ("race," "tribe," or "nation") and the Latin cide ("killing"), was coined by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-born jurist who served as an adviser to the U.S. Department of War during World War II."

Ethnic cleansing is "the attempt to create ethnically homogeneous geographic areas through the deportation or forcible displacement of persons belonging to particular ethnic groups. Ethnic cleansing sometimes involves the removal of all physical vestiges of the targeted group through the destruction of monuments, cemeteries, and houses of worship."

Incidents of ethnic cleansing:

• The Assyrians in the 9^th and 7^th centuries BC
  
• Mass executions of Danes by the English in 1002
  
• Czechs removing Germans from their territories in the Middle Ages
  
• Expulsion of Jews from Spain in the 15^th century
  
• Forced displacement of Native Americans by the white settlers in America in the 18^th and 19^th centuries
  
• Armenians by the Turks in 1915-1916
  
• Nazi holocaust against the Jews in the 1930s and 1940s.
  
• Expulsion of Germans from Polish and Czechoslovak territories after World War II
  
• Soviet deportation of Tatars from Ukraine to Central Asiatic republics during World War II
  
• The treatment of the Palestinians by the Jews in Israel since 1948, especially after the Six-Day War in 1967.
  

ethnic cleansing." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 1  Feb.  2008  <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9390062>.