The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1279811
A-6 Wednesday, August 19, 2020 The Press-Dispatch OPINION Submit Letters to the Editor: Letters must be signed and received by noon on Mondays. Email: editor@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg Race for the Cure By Star Parker Points to Ponder By Rev. Ford Bond Democrats bury the civil rights movement By the time you read this, Joe Biden may have already announced selection of his vice presidential run- ning mate. From everything we read, it is cer- tain that it will be a woman, and a good chance that woman will be black. But why, when so much of what dominates our national discussion today is the alleged importance of elimination of racism and sexism, is there open and unabashed talk about how sexism and racism must be the basis for choosing the candidate for the nation's second-highest office? Can anyone imagine what would happen if a presidential candidate were to announce that his running mate must be a white male? That, of course, would never hap- pen. Because we reject racism and sexism? No. Because white male, certainly in Democratic Party cir- cles, is politically incorrect, and black female is politically correct. Is this because selecting a black female implies more morality, fair- ness and justice? Anyone who believes that turns what the civil rights movement was allegedly about on its head. The civil rights movement was about freedom. We are just a few weeks from the 57th anniversary of Dr. Martin Lu- ther King's most famous speech, the "I Have a Dream" speech, deliv- ered in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28, 1963. In that speech, King defined the ideals of the movement he led. He embraced the ideals of Ameri- ca. His criticism was that the nation was not living up to those ideals, not that those were the wrong ideals for us to strive for. The promise of America, said King, was that "all men — yes, black men as well as white men — would be guaranteed the 'unalienable rights' of 'life, liberty and the pursuit of hap- piness.'" "Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children," he said. How can I not bring up the most quoted line of that speech? "I have a dream today that my four little children will one day live in a na- tion where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the con- tent of their character." The purpose of the civil rights movement, stated clearly by its lead- er that summer day in 1963, was that qualified candidates for the office of vice president of the United States would not be denied because they are a woman or because they are black. The dream, and the purpose, was not that an individual would be cho- sen for that job, or any job, because he or she is a woman or is black. The ideals of America and the civil rights movement, that every Ameri- can is a child of God and all God's children live freely under the same God-given eternal truths, have been lost by the Democratic Party. Why has it happened? Why have the Democratic Party and the liber- als who populate it and vote for its candidates buried the ideals of the civil rights movement? Because those ideals — one free nation under God — imply a deal they don't want to make. First, it means faith in God and God's word — the Bible. Second, it means every individual takes per- sonal responsibility for his or her own life. Liberals don't want it. They don't want eternal truths that apply equally to all. And they certainly don't want personal responsibility to be the hall- mark of individual behavior in a free country. They want a politicized nation where politicians gain power by mak- ing huge promises paid for by oth- er people's money. And they want to make sure that if someone's life is not working, they can blame it on some- one else. This may be the formula for elect- ing a Democratic president today. But it is also the formula for destroy- ing our country and certainly all the dreams that black Americans strived for in the civil rights movement. Star Parker is president of the Cen- Continued on page 7 Continued on page 7 Continued on page 7 Your sermons are priceless Probably the best sermons you will ever hear are those that you preach to yourself, coupled with the life you live demonstrating Christ's love to others. Preaching is the art of taking a passage of scripture and applying it to daily life with such conviction and through the help of the Holy Spirit, the listener grasps the implications and embraces the message. Likewise, reading a passage of scripture should produce similar re- sults. Scripture is the ideal we are to compare ourselves to—not to con- form by force of will—but to conform through loving God and tapping in- to the transforming power of the Ho- ly Spirit. It goes without saying—but I will say it anyway—that to read passag- es of scripture without contemplation and assessing how it applies to your life, is an exercise in futility. "So how successful has your preaching been? " Consider this: Much of the process of preparing a sermon is similar to writing or telling a story to another. It is the process of applying what is read to daily life. If you read a book and consider what you have read life changing— consider why? You know good preaching, though you seldom consciously pay attention to gestures and vocal projection, but you do. It would be interesting to vid- eo yourself while you read a good book—one you are engrossed in. How often do you shift positions, raise or lower your eyebrows, take a sip of coffee, reread a passage? How often do you cringe, laugh, squint your eyes, feel sad, happy, and/or angry. How closely do give attention to the detail and the feeling the author is trying to convey as you read? The same should be said as you hear a message or study the scriptures. Good Christians have been dis- cipled by someone—somebody brought them to the Lord—no one comes to Jesus on their own. Much of what preachers and laity exchange with one another is termed "Be-Like" message." A "Be-Like" message consists of reading and expounding upon a Bib- lical character and challenged each other to "Be like such-and-such." "Be-Like messages misrepresent the Bible by delivering law without gospel, obligations without the di- vine grace necessary to carry them out. We hear more of duties, works, ob- ligations and being a do-gooder than mercy, grace, and Christ. People in the Bible are REAL PEO- PLE. They have GOOD traits and BAD traits. Do you begin to see the picture here in yourself? Most Christians view Bible char- acters as examples and heroes to be emulated or, occasionally, as villains to be excoriated. However, this interpretation miss- es the Bible is the story of REDEMP- TION OF God seeking out man to of- fer grace and mercy. It has been said, "To preach to yourself is to challenge, to push, and to point yourself to the truth(s) of God. It is not so much uncovering new truth as much as it is remind- ing yourself of the truth you tend to forget." Sermons we preach to ourselves often lack the "feel" of hearing the spiritual truths of God as enunciat- ed by the Holy Spirit. But it is still the truth! Some of us tell ourselves the truths of God—or talk to ourselves, and we need to be aware we are being prompted by the Holy Spirit to redi- rect our thoughts to embrace these truths, even if we don't feel like ac- cepting the reproof of the Holy Spirit. You must realize you are the most important preacher you know and how you respond to your own mes- sage(s) has a direct impact upon your walk with God! AGAIN— When you preach to yourself you are challenging, push- ing and pointing yourself to the truths of God and holy living! We seldom uncover a golden nug- get of truth as we preach to our- selves, but we are reminding our- selves the eternal truths of God that will not perish! Continued on page 7 As schools have started in some areas and soon in some locations, I am flabbergasted and confused about what I'm hearing and reading. All four of our kids are at that point in their lives when their children are in various stages of education. They have communicated to Rose and me the schedules of their kids. They tell us how they are gearing up for the new norms, what days they have to appear in the classrooms, what days they may have to stay at home, what e-learning they have to do at home, etc. At the end of each conversation, I can hardly follow what they are tell- ing. I suspect they are sharing the information just to make us aware of what's going on, and to make us a sounding board for their feelings and thoughts. I also know that in case we're needed to baby sit, which sure- ly we would do, we understand ahead of time why they might need us. I feel bad for school authorities, teachers, students, bus drivers, and everyone else who is involved. I'm re- lieved Rose and I are past the stage of providing education for our children, but now we sympathize with the par- ents and guardians who are tasked with these unbelievable challenges. It is hard enough to learn well under normal cir- cumstances. But with the added bur- dens brought about by the pandemic, I wonder how this will affect our cur- rent generation down the road. We hope and pray that the Good Lord will give all of us the strength and wisdom to do the right things. Pray harder, everyone. • • • As we encounter these difficul- ties brought about by COVID-19, we still need to count our blessings. We are thankful for the advancement of electronic technology which makes it possible to transmit educational materials, do video conferences, fast and timely notifications, e-learning, homework and testing. We are grate- ful for new hardware and software, iphones, the availability of technical support, of companies that provide cable systems, wireless fidelity and satellite service. I could not imagine that 20 -30 years ago we would come to this lev- el of sophistication. I clearly remember when computer technology was starting to show early pro- totypes, and demonstrated them on T V networks. I re- member the early memo- ry devices like floppy discs , CDs and DVDs, and then thumb drives. There were so many terms to learn about computers that I found it chal- lenging but exciting to learn as well. I think at this stage of my life, I am not doing too badly. When I get bogged down by something, I'd fre- quently ask my grandkids and kids to help me out. Sound familiar? • • • Just to update readers on Some- body's Place-Pike County Christian Assistance, we continue to operate on a limited basis with new ways of accommodating clients. First, we are grateful for those who so faith- fully provided this precious help to the community, but due to the pan- demic and other reasons, they had to quit or take a pause. Fortunately, several sets of kind- My Point of View By Dr. H. K. Fenol, Jr., M.D. New norms on education Heritage Viewpoint By James Carafano Voter fraud more likely to impact election than foreign meddling Washington used to abide by the maxim: "Politics stops at the water's edge." Those days are gone. Consider the reaction to a re- cent unclassified overview of for- eign threats to the 2020 elections delivered by National Counterintel- ligence and Security Center Direc- tor William Evanina. It should have sparked sober discussions of how to safeguard our electoral process. In- stead, it triggered a fusillade of parti- san screeds, each aimed primarily at knocking one's political opponents. What a massive disservice to the American people, whose main inter- est is in seeing their vote count. The apoplectic pundits would have us believe that foreign efforts to influence the elections have every- thing to do with helping one candi- date or another win. They don't. For- eign powers have tried to meddle in our elections—through overt action and covert manipulation—since we started having elections. Election meddling is part of for- eign statecraft. Perhaps the most expansive foreign effort to bend the American elector- ate came in the years leading up to Pearl Harbor. Our British cousins re- ally wanted to tilt a neutral America their way in the bat- tle against the A xis powers. Jennet Conant presents the story beautifully in "The Irregu- lars" (2008). It might surprise some to know that FDR knew about this at the time. On occasion, he used it to his benefit. Then, as now, the appropriate re- sponse to any activity that threatens election integrity is not to ask: "How can I use this to bash my political op- ponents? " Rather, the question to ask is: "What is the appropriate, propor- tional and responsible way to deal with this threat? " So much of the reporting and commentary surround- ing the release of Evanina's unclassified intelligence as- sessment was so wrong, it is hard to know where to start. Few reports bothered to parse the nature of the threats. Generally, there are two: efforts to actually manip- ulate and change voting out- comes and efforts to influence vot- ers. Efforts to actually change votes are an issue that the government al- ready takes very seriously. There is no proof that the Chinese, Russian, Iranian, or any other foreign govern- ment changed or interfered with bal- loting during the 2016 election. Even Continued on page 7 Minority View By Walter E. Williams Are today's Leftists truly Marxists? Most people who call themselves Marxists know very little of Karl Marx's life and have never read his three-volume "Das Kapital." Volume I was published in 1867, the only vol- ume published before Marx's death in 1883. Volumes II and III were lat- er edited and published in his name by his friend and collaborator Frie- drich Engels. Most people who call themselves Marxist have only read his 1848 pamphlet "The Communist Manifesto," which was written with Engels. Marx is a hero to many labor union leaders and civil rights organiza- tions, including leftist groups like Black Lives Matter, antifa and some Democratic Party leaders. It is easy to be a Marxist if you know little of his life. Marx's predictions about capitalism and the "withering away of the state" turned out to be gross- ly wrong. What most people do not know is that Marx was a racist and an anti-Semite. When the U.S. annexed California after the Mexican-American War, Marx wrote: "Without violence noth- ing is ever accomplished in history." Then he asked, "Is it a misfortune that magnificent Cali- fornia was seized from the lazy Mex- icans who did not know what to do with it? " Friedrich Engels added: "In America we have witnessed the con- quest of Mexico and have rejoiced at it. It is to the interest of its own development that Mexico will be placed under the tutelage of the United States." Many of Marx's racist ideas were reported in "Karl Marx, Racist" a book written by Na- thaniel Weyl, a former member of the U.S. Communist Party. In a July 1862 letter to Engels, in reference to his socialist politi- cal competitor, Ferdinand Lassal- le, Marx wrote: "It is now complete- ly clear to me that he, as is proved by his cranial formation and his hair, descends from the Negroes from Egypt, assuming that his mother or grandmother had not inter- bred with a n*****. Now this union of Judaism and Ger- manism with a basic Negro substance must produce a peculiar product. The obtru- siveness of the fellow is also n*****-like." In 1887, Paul Lafargue, who was Marx's son-in-law, was a candidate for a council seat in a Paris district that contained a zoo. Engels claimed that Paul had "one eighth or one twelfth n*****. blood." In an April 1887 let- ter to Paul's wife, Engels wrote, "Be- ing in his quality as a n*****., a de- gree nearer to the rest of the animal kingdom than the rest of us, he is un- doubtedly the most appropriate rep- resentative of that district." Marx's anti-Semitic views were no secret. In 1844, he published an es- say titled "On the Jewish Question." He wrote that the worldly religion of SERMONS LEFTISTS