First of all I am not “The Heath” in today’s Huffington Post and literary people will know the origin of the name together with the family crest and not be confused. But apart from the English heath and references to Shakespeare, and I must say very far apart, listening to some people talk about my old hometown here in Kern County you might be led to believe they think it would have been a nice touch in “The Shadow” when Lamont Cranston asks “Am I in hell?” had the Tulku answered, “No; you’re in Bakersfield.”

It is really sad to see Btown vying with L. A. to become like that cesspool of a third world city, but I have fond memories going back to the 30s and 40s of what Bakersfield used to be, which is why it is the focal point of my novel “Donnie and Jean,” and all the legitimate criticism of the town of that era justified as it is will not detract from the good things I recall and wrote about as it was back then.

But I grant it was the good people I knew and equate with Bakersfield back then that casts an oft time azure tint to my memories, especially those of the churches like that of my maternal grandparents and great-grandmother. Grandad being a preacher most of my childhood associations were related to this social function and the various churches throughout Bakersfield. And perhaps this is the reason I can appreciate really fine pulpit oratory, having been raised to it.

Michelle Malkin whom I highly regard mirrored my own reaction to Obama’s excruciatingly embarrassing attempt to disown Wright as a performance of someone having an “out-of-body experience.” And to think there have been those in the MSM calling Obama a “gifted orator.” He is as I correctly pointed out from the beginning at best sophomoric and hardly anything approaching a gifted orator. By now, anyone calling him a gifted orator ought to be looking for somewhere to hide. But can you imagine how well Obama might be faring if he had Jeremiah Wright’s genuine gift of oratory and showmanship?

Alas, it isn’t often gifted pulpit orators like Wright make it as big time politicians. In many cases such as his there is a restraining influence they seem to confuse with the spirit of God, and in this confusion they remain in their pulpits rather than “soiling” themselves in politics. After all, despite the confusion few are so confused they do not recognize politicians as being among the least admired, at the most charitable, of the human species.

But no matter one’s opinion of Wright there is no discounting his genuine gift of oration, though many of us can be excused for wishing it were put to better use. And too, there is this matter of conscience that in many cases proves to be a restraining influence even in people like Jeremiah Wright, something largely lacking in politicians. However, few of us would want to be judged by the conscience of another since in too many cases conscience seems often a victim of both common sense and vagaries of the human condition. Take Tony Blair for example:

Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer. April 30, 2008: LONDON — A cathedral is an odd place for a coming-out party. But not, as it turns out, if you're a former prime minister of Britain and you're preparing to tell the world that God was one of your senior advisors during your 10 years in power. Speaking one recent evening under the lofty Byzantine vaults of Westminster Cathedral, Tony Blair ended his self-imposed silence on the subject, declaring that his faith has formed the essential backdrop to much of his political life…

Blair goes on to say that his “coming out” as a man of faith is a matter of conscience. However, given his performance while in office most of us would question how reliable his conscience has been in matters like the Iraq war, etc. For my part, I would not want to be subject to his judgment in matters of conscience. That he has a conscience I do not doubt, but I do not trust his conscience.

When it comes to matters of faith the Apostle Paul points out in I Corinthians 10:29: “Why is my liberty judged of another man’s conscience?” Ah, dear brothers and sisters, Paul puts his finger on the problem with conscience. It can be a most unreliable source when dictating conduct whether that of the individual or that of others. Some of the most barbaric and savage crimes against humankind have been committed as a matter of “conscience,” many times a religious conscience. For this reason a legal system of laws is needed by all civilized nations so “crimes of conscience” are not excused, crimes such as those perpetrated by monsters attempting to excuse their crimes in the names of their peculiar deities and in the guise of “freedom of religion.”

Over the decades of my life, my religious beliefs have followed a very circuitous route rather than anything approaching a “systematic theology.” But if there has been any one thing above others that has proven to be systematic it has been the gospel songs I learned as a child. Among my most precious possessions is the Latter Rain Revival hymnbook my grandparents used in our Little Oklahoma church in which is one old favorite of mine still sung in some churches today: “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.” As I read those lines “What a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms… safe and secure from all alarms” I’m transported to that time of childhood when these words were such a secure comfort to my soul. And even today what comfort there is to be found in the song Haven of Rest: “My soul in sad exile was out on life’s sea, So burdened with sin and distressed, Till I heard a sweet voice, saying, Make Me your choice; And I entered the Haven of Rest…”

Most people know the mood altering power of music whether for good or ill. In my opinion, the old gospel songs I learned as a child are unsurpassed and did more to form the character of children than anything they have today. Those old gospel songs were not so much theological as they were lilting, uplifting and comforting. I find myself asking what would D. L. Moody have been without Ira Sanky and his “Kist o’ whistles,” or Billy Graham without George Beverly Shea?

I think it is unfortunate so many church leaders seem to believe they “glorify” God in song in great cathedrals and seem to have forgotten the simplicity of the Gospel itself so well exemplified by the songs in the Latter Rain Revival hymnbook. When I think back to that time of the simple faith of the folks in Little Oklahoma and so many others in Bakersfield in those far off days it was the music that meant so much to us, and often more than the sermons expressed that simple faith.

As I said I appreciate fine pulpit oratory. However, while I may have forgotten even the best of sermons I heard as a boy and even as an adult I still recall the songs. The message to me brothers and sisters is that while people are joined in song they are not being divided by sermons. At least it seems that is what I was learning in our little church from the songs we used to sing way back then.

As a preacher I would try to reassure folks I had read the last chapter in the Bible and everything turns out well in the end. But there is this caveat that things are going to go to hell in a basket before this happens. It is during this interim that I would sometimes leave off preachin’ and go to meddlin’. The Weedpatch Gazette is just an extension of such “meddlin’.

Maybe America isn’t the “Babylon” of the End Times in Revelation chapters 17 and 18 as per my opinion, but it sure seems our leaders are intent on our nation being so and are bent on national suicide aided by the MSM, the universities, TV and Hollywood. Whether or not, it just seems the Devil is calling the shots for now rather than any of the “good guys.” But then again, where are the good guys? Well, I expect Satan to get his comeuppance as per Scripture however things are not going to get any easier till then.

It seems one of those unrelenting truisms of life that small-minded persons given a little authority will generally abuse that authority. The worst of these too often become politicians, university professors, school administrators, and preachers. There is a very good reason Scripture declares not many mighty or noble, not many “successful” by the standards of this world are called in the service of the Lord, but the truly humble seem in short supply when it comes to some of the “servants of the Lord.”

Seems to me the last thing God needs is more bad press by those like Jeremiah Wright, et al. wallowing in wealth while professing to represent the Almighty. At the height of his multi-million dollar empire and popularity when Jimmy Swaggart preached his sermon “Fields White Unto Harvest” years ago and claimed God had told him he was the only preacher the Lord could depend on to save the world I knew Jimmy was doomed! I was dumbfounded! Didn’t Jimmy realize he had just declared war on every other TV evangelist at that very moment by such a stark statement attacking their relationship with God!

I wondered at the time what could have possessed Jimmy to make such an outrageous statement? But not only was it never repeated, I concluded this was one of those moments of hysteria where Jimmy had gotten carried away “in the spirit,” but it was only a short time after this Jimmy “fell from grace” and I knew this was no coincidence, that there would be people “gunning” for him as a result of his unbelievably outrageous and conceited presumptuousness hysterical or not. Not a few like Jimmy have been brought low through believing their own press, becoming puffed up over worldly success despite implicit warnings in the Scriptures about the deceitfulness of riches.

Rex Humbard’s wife had doomed their “ministry” by the People Magazine interview in which she boasted of her collection of diamonds, declaring “God had nothing against her having diamonds.” The fall from grace of the Bakker’s because of an opulent lifestyle, his sexual escapades and their air-conditioned dog house and a little getaway “shack” in Palm Springs, etc. was widely publicized. God was going to kill Oral Roberts if people didn’t give millions to save him, and for the most part it seemed if one were to judge by their lifestyles the Lord was disposed to shower wealth on TV evangelists if you were to believe them to be the true prophets of God.

You may wonder why I was watching Jimmy Swaggart those years ago when he made that startling pronouncement that in my opinion sealed his fate. Truth is I enjoyed Jimmy’s enthusiastic preaching as “theater,” and most of all I enjoyed the music. It is my opinion he should have left off preaching and stuck to his real gift of music, which is the reason I continue to listen to my LPs of his music I still have; and only goes to show you can appreciate music despite the character of the artist whether Mozart or Jimmy Swaggart.

I freely admit I thoroughly enjoy the old-time gospel music characteristic of our small church in Little Oklahoma, I enjoy the foot-tapping, hand-clapping kind of music like When the Roll is Called Up Yonder, Come and Dine, Beulah Land, I liked grandad’s preaching punctuated with “Amen” and “Hallelujah” from those in the congregation, I enjoyed the fellowship of good people, the friends and neighbors of our community. One of the songs we used to sing was titled If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again. I wonder if that song is sung anywhere now?

Somehow I seemed to have escaped those parts of college and university education and sophistication that are designed to remove the “rough bark” of humble origins from so many. But then I have met many of these “sophisticates” that seemed to spend a lot of their energy denying the things they believed would betray their not being of the “better classes.” Some of these folks struck me as being like the wealthy sister of Mammy Yokum who spent so much or her energy trying to distance herself from the denizens of Dogpatch.

One thing about it though, as I watch and listen to politicians and many preachers on TV II Corinthians 11:13-15 comes readily to mind: For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

Well, no need t’ go meddlin’ further; I think y’ all get the message. Besides, while Satan may be successful in his deception of transforming himself into an angel of light to those he deceives who is going to mistake this present bunch parading across TV screens for ministers of righteousness?

As with all things of the supernatural such as ghosts and spirits, Nostradamus and Edgar Cayce, whatever one’s thoughts about Bible prophecies there is a great deal of interest in such things, and it is of personal interest to me that Glenn Beck would be giving so much air time to this subject and so many people are tuning in. His latest guest Joel Rosenberg has a good grasp of the “End Times” doctrine to which most evangelical Christians subscribe, and reminds me of my spiritual mentor Dr. Charles Lee Feinberg who became the Dean of Talbot Theological Seminary where I first met him. Dr. Feinberg published many books of exposition and commentary about the Old Testament prophets, and gave me much personal guidance in my own Biblical studies.

With my background in such studies I find myself in my own element with those like Rosenberg, and understand his position very well. Though there are several forms of “Dispensational” theology, many interpretations of Eschatology, exegesis and hermeneutical viewpoints there is also much agreement concerning what Jesus referred to as the “end of the age” and the apocalyptic visions of Revelation. Rosenberg among others point to some of the “signs of the times” such as Israel once more becoming a nation in order for the end time prophecies to be fulfilled. There are other things like satellite communications enabling the whole world to view the things taking place during the end time.

Some of us believe it is no coincidence that so much TV programming has been given over to doomsday scenarios, many of which fit right in with Biblical prophecies concerning the end of the age, which according to the Bible is not the end of the world but results in a new beginning with a new heaven and earth where there will be no evil. It is my hope this will be the case, since I don’t find much basis for such hope in the works of men and the historical record together with current events doesn’t provide much room for optimism about the future.

Like Henry Thoreau I have always wanted wide latitude for my life, and “hobbles and fences” have never been to my liking either by lifestyle or in my thinking. It is for this reason I refuse to be confined by any doctrines of men whether of theology or science; but neither am I close minded to facts of either discipline. Neither am I close minded to the possibilities that may be in the domain of the supernatural of whatever nature, and I remain of the opinion there are things inexplicable to science that may well remain in the realm of the supernatural.

Now here is something that to my mind, though it be of science has all the signs of the supernatural: Humans Almost Became Extinct 70,000 Years Ago: Human beings may have had a brush with extinction 70,000 years ago, an extensive genetic study suggests. The human population at that time was reduced to small isolated groups in Africa, apparently because of drought, according to an analysis released Thursday. The report notes that a separate study by researchers at Stanford University estimated the number of early humans may have shrunk as low as 2,000 before numbers began to expand again in the early Stone Age. "This study illustrates the extraordinary power of genetics to reveal insights into some of the key events in our species' history," Spencer Wells, National Geographic Society explorer in residence, said in a statement. "Tiny bands of early humans, forced apart by harsh environmental conditions, coming back from the brink to reunite and populate the world," he added. "Truly an epic drama, written in our DNA." Wells is director of the Genographic Project, launched in 2005 to study anthropology using genetics. The report was published in the American Journal of Human Genetics…

If in fact the human population had been so close to the brink of extinction, one can only guess what saved our species from utter extinction? If we accept such a premise we must also accept, discounting things like extraterrestrial influence, that everything leading to our present condition came from this miniscule number of human beings, and this would include all the myths and legends which this tiny number of humans passed on to future generations, each expanding and elaborating on these to fit their circumstances. At that, there are only educated guesses as to what eventually led to the beginnings of civilization as we know it. The wonder of it all, as the hymn so well expresses, is truly mind-boggling!

There is another wonder, and one which many like Dr. Feinberg pointed out, the fact of Israel becoming a nation. Not only was this thought to be impossible, neither would anyone suppose such a tiny nation could be so prominent in world affairs. Now it seems this tiny nation as per Biblical prophecies concerning the end times is pivotal to the fulfillment of such prophecies. If for no other reason I am willing to credit the truth of the Bible in this, and continue to be grateful I know it so well.

The many forms of religion have served in large measure to deceive and delude; but it is difficult to read the Bible in its entirety without having a sense of the truth of it in many instances, one such truth being that of John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress.” The righteous enter into life through much tribulation.

As I was discussing this the other day with my good friend Byron, the Episcopal Priest, the point of Jesus concerning the real prophets of God not living luxuriously is one that still separates the wolves from the flock notwithstanding how so many seem to flaunt wealth as a measure of God’s approval. One can only accept those following such “false shepherds” are willingly deceived. And it was this point I emphasized to Byron, that Jesus himself had pointed out very few would be saved.

Whatever one’s thoughts about the subject, I find it of continuing interest. And so long as I remain interested in such things my mind stays active and alert to others and present events, and like most people I have my own thoughts about such things like Biblical prophecies.

Over 150 years ago Emerson wrote: “The appearance strikes the eye everywhere of an aimless society, of aimless nations. Were the ends of nature so great and cogent, as to exact this immense sacrifice of men?”

These words of Emerson are nearly prophetic of the times in which we live. But no, we are not to blame nature for the actions of men intent on making wars for the sake of power and wealth for example, but as Emerson emphasized the delusion of religion is promising a reward for being righteous in the “sweet by and by” all the while refusing to confront evil and make every attempt to overcome it in the present world. However, as the Scripture has it if the righteous scarcely be saved what is to be the end of the unrighteous? In my opinion, we may soon find out. And in my opinion, Glenn Beck believes this as well. The question is why CNN is cooperating with him? In the words of John the Baptist to the Pharisees and Sadducees, “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come.” Perhaps some at CNN are listening.

In James Jones’ Pulitzer winning book “WWII” he includes a cartoon of an emaciated Japanese soldier obviously starving to death offering to surrender to some Marines with the caveat “My man are appoint me to offer surrendering—only under one condition—that we are not required to eat admirable American delicacy named spam.”

When it comes to sausage “Don’t ask; enjoy” has always been good advice. Of course, the same thing can be said for many food items and the jokes concerning Spam were legion among troops during WWII. But hunger will drive people to many extremes where even Spam may be considered a delicacy despite the point made in the cartoon, or even to the extremes of “No Blade of Grass” or “Soylent Green.”

Many are the accounts of cannibalism from the most ancient of times, and many such cases were reported in Russia and elsewhere during WWII. Even the Old Testament has a story of people eating their children, and some of the more grim fairytales of witches cooking children come from a background of famine and cannibalism. I have no doubt such things are happening right now, though not making it to the MSM. Such stories would not reflect well on tyrants and dictators in third world nations that are profiting by the food given them from countries like America while their people starve.

There is much to commend a vegetarian diet, and much like Thoreau to whom the eating of animal flesh became more unpleasant to imagination than any dietary concerns I took to a largely vegetarianism a few years ago, though not fanatically so. But with the apocalyptic scenarios playing out on TV such a diet may become more “convenient” to people because of the rising cost of meat. And as the costs escalate for so many things Americans have come to take for granted perhaps it would be of value to share a few memories of mine from that time past when we did not take so much for granted.

Along with our Victory Garden of WWII my grandparents raised rabbits and chickens, so while meat was rationed we ate very well though things like sugar, lard, cooking oil, dairy products, clothes, leather and metal products and many other items required ration stamps. And of course that “A” stamp for gasoline and the unavailability of new tires and spare parts certainly limited travel for many. “Is this Trip Necessary?” signs appeared everywhere in those days.

During WWII there were a great number of activities for those of us on the Home Front by which contributions were made to the war effort giving us the sense of participation, doing things useful in fighting the war. Some of these activities enabled even children to make their contributions, things like peeling foil from gum and cigarette pack wrappers, rolling it in a ball and turning it in to a scrap metal collection center. I would help grandad flatten tin cans with hammer and anvil for the same purpose. Many children were also turning in metal toys for the war effort, most of which would command a very high price today as “collectibles.”

 Few people today would think about wire clothes hangers being hard to come by, but even such a mundane though utilitarian item was scarce at the time, so, grandad made them. Being a jack of all trades, building our house, the church and grocery store in Little Oklahoma (Southeast Bakersfield) there were construction materials around the place before the war, and having a roll of wire on hand grandad fashioned a jig of a board and nails. Then cutting the wire to the proper length he would twist it around the jig and voila; a wire clothes hanger. Grandad was always doing things like this that made him my idol; grandad could do things, really fascinating and useful things, and he took the time to teach me to do things as well.

In so very many ways those of us living the events of WWII were made to feel useful in the war effort; we were making a contribution to defeat the Axis Powers. Rationing was hard on many, but more were making jokes about it than complaining. After all, our boys overseas were fighting and dying; what were the hardships on the home front compared to that, especially when those small flags with gold stars in the windows of homes in the neighborhood reflected the reality of the ultimate price being paid by so many?

You could depend on the funny papers, The Saturday Evening Post and Collier’s Magazine having cartoons about rationing; but very little of poking fun in such a way was of “gallows humor.” Most certainly there was no humor to be found in those fighting and dying overseas. Any such attempt at humor would have been met with an army of home front folk bearing tar and feathers.

Even Bill Mauldin was sensitive enough to know better than make light of the actual grim realities of what was happening on the front lines, though we all blessed him for the humor he was able to convey through “Willie and Joe” in the face of such grim realities. Which makes it all the more to be wondered why anyone would attempt “humor” in any fashion concerning 9/11, as some have done?

Much in the way of the preamble to Gone With The Wind, the way of life in the America of my generation of WWII is quickly passing away, perhaps never to be seen again, a time when people believed in virtue, believed crime did not pay, that honesty was the best policy. These values were taught in the homes and schools throughout that America. We trusted our leaders to have the best interests of America in view at all times in making decisions, passing legislation and making policies; it was a time when the courts had more concern for victims than for criminals.

Notwithstanding the legitimate faults and weaknesses that are to be found, my generation was a time reflecting the values of our Founding Fathers, whom we still held in the highest esteem, still reflecting the best of Western Civilization in our schools and society. If times become hard enough once more here in America I wonder how this generation will fare since the foundation of the America we knew, honored, and sacrificed for that sustained us during WWII has been destroyed and this generation is so fragmented and divided?

Today there is going to be a test here in the Kern River Valley of the warning siren to be used if (when) the Isabella Dam should break. But the warning sirens are going off all about us that the “dam” is about to fail in America. Mine was a “Can Do!” generation. This generation is simply not prepared for the dam to break, it is not equipped for “Do with, or do without” as my generation was.

As a matter of fact I would rather live in the land of Everis than Neverwas, though I appreciated the film of the latter title with its remarkable cast. Imagination is a wonderful thing, but when it begins to confuse fantasy with reality there are some obvious problems not compatible with the real world in which we live. And there is no discounting the fact of what is, is.

The Apostle Paul correctly pointed out the things of childhood eventually give way to adulthood, and while parents encourage the best things of childhood they also hope their children will mature and not think or behave childishly when they become adults. But TV and the MSM presents an America of Neverwas as opposed to Everis.

In Everis the realities of life are ever with us and not only has all the memories of the past but builds on these enabling us to live in the present, hour by hour and day by day, the things that enable people to mature in their thoughts and actions. While living in the present, healthy maturation enables us to continue living with the people and memories of the past that mean so much to what we become as adults. And while the very best memories of childhood should remain with us, helping to fashion the best we become as adults being those things of Everis we learn to live with the realities of life in the present. Reverie and nostalgia can be fine things, but the best of these never remove us from Everis; quite the contrary.

Life is not what American TV and the MSM presents, it is not what ordinary Americans live in their every day struggles. In far too many ways TV and the MSM is a land of Neverwas in which, in no way to disparage a fine film, plastic representations of “life” are paraded onscreen and in the MSM as though they were the realities, punctuated here and there with some of the madness in America that is tolerated and becomes “news,” and a generation that has been immersed in this medium that is largely a canard has never matured. And because of this deep and widespread lack of maturity in some ways I see America slipping into the madness of Neverwas, and while some forms of madness may be relatively harmless those that lead away from Everis are leading America into a mad fantasy of which there can be no happy ending.

Who of a sane mind can view the political scene on TV or in the MSM and say this is the product of healthy minds? Rather, it is the worst form of childishness, a fantasy paraded before the entire world, a world that increasingly views these scenes and becomes increasingly concerned that America is in fact a childishly lunatic nation led of childish lunatics, and even worse dangerous, childish lunatics! Believing I am of a sane mind and in full possession of my faculties, I watch what is happening and have to wonder what kind of mental illness may be the driving force in America today that no leader arises to turn our nation away from the increasingly dangerous and consuming madness of it all? But I see none that give me any confidence they are themselves possessed of sane and healthy mind.

I often give myself over to whimsy; I am fascinated by ancient Egypt and things both supernatural and scientific but I retain a firm grip on reality and the present in which I live; and doing so I do not become lost in a world of Neverwas but live in the world of Everis. I’m among the last to find fault with the legends and myths of antiquity, with the wonderful fantasies of Hollywood like the great musicals of the past, but I have never allowed these to cloud my mind from the real world in which I live.

Life is not a game and I have no use for those that perversely “game” other people, like politicians seeking some kind of advantage whether it is to feed the conceit of an unhealthy mind or materially. I can abide a “Walter Mitty” so long as he remains in his own world without impacting mine or others adversely, I could wish I had my own “Harvey” but I don’t confuse the wish with reality. Even as I believe the spirits of loved ones and friends remain with me, they are a part of Everis rather than any apparitions of the past, and at that I do not insist any share my belief.

I’m surrounded by the mementos of the past such as pictures and letters of loved ones and friends who have gone on before me. But I don’t live in the past; I live in the present and these loved ones and friends remain with me in Everis. However, unlike Neverwas, Everis remains my hope of immortality and is itself I believe immortal since it never passes away, but like a circle without beginning or end simply Everis.

It’s the refrain from a song I recall, “this world is not my home, I’m just a’ passing through.” One of the things that brings this to mind is I hear more and more people even younger than I am are wishing for the past, for things that gave some assurance things were good and would get better, hope for the future rather than the chaotic dangers and aimlessness in the face of so much uncertainty today. And there are no leaders on the horizon that give us any assurance they are capable of dealing with these dangers and are anything other than aimless themselves apart from feathering their own nests and “the public be damned!” no matter what.

Think life wasn’t simpler in the 30s and 40s? Then watch some of the films of those times. Think we weren’t optimistic about life and a future here in America back in the 50s? Watch some of the films of that era. And no, not the noir films but the ones that were upbeat and positive.

My greatest advantage at my age is being able to remember back far enough and to have experienced enough of good and loving people in my life to be able to recall the good times I have enjoyed in the past, a past that included being taught good manners and respect for my elders, Bible instruction and the basic principles of doing right rather than choosing to do wrong. I had good people serving as moral mentors as a child, people that lived what they taught me as a child encouraging the nurture of a tender conscience.

Another advantage I have at my age is being able to accept those things I am powerless to change, and being able to speak my mind heedless of those that disagree. You see, I’m no longer in the business of youth attempting to persuade anyone of my point of view. I’ve reached that happy state of the aged where live and let live suits me just fine. Sure I will continue to voice my disgust with politicians and others that are so obviously selfish they will lie, cheat, and steal at every opportunity, but I no longer do so in the hope it will cause the leopard to change its spots.

The few dear friends I have permit my crotchets even as I do theirs, and we often agree to disagree about some issues. But a seemingly curious thing seems to come with our advancing years, and that is our willingness to admit of some things we used to leave in some hidden drawer of our minds but are now willing to share with one another openly. One thing those my age confront is the looming fact of our mortality, and in doing so things of the hereafter become of increasing interest to us.

Take the subject of ghosts and spirits. If God is a spirit then that is as real as it gets; and if true, while we can’t see God this means the things most real and powerful are unseen. For example, I recognize when something is either dead or alive but I can’t see what it is that makes the difference, nor does anything in science provide an answer to this.

But those that dismiss God and angels are really missing something good in my opinion. While I say I live with ghosts this lacks any possible definition since it is the spirits that may manifest themselves in some way as to be visible to our limited ability to see what is beyond our physical capacity to see, and it is these manifestations that have led to so many ghost stories. And while the spirits of loved ones and friends do not make themselves visible to me I have no doubt they remain with me; so it is that while I say I live with ghosts it is actually their spirits I live with. But as with God, that which is spirit and unseen is more real and powerful than anything we have the ability to see limited by these bodies of clay.

However, even as Timothy I was taught in the Scriptures as a child and learned it is the spirit that quickens, that gives life; that the flesh profits nothing, and faith remains the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. A very large part of living by faith rather than sight is this hope I have of my loved ones and friends being with me, that they have never really left at all but are with me in spirit which is far more real than the things I can see.

But of course, if we accept the spirits of God and loved ones being with us, if we accept unseen angels being about us we might accept the Devil and fallen angels, the unclean spirits and demons being quite real as well; and this only makes sense, given the history of humankind that seems plagued by these.

The teachings in the Bible concerning the things unseen have a lot of credibility in my opinion; especially those of Jesus. He must have had a lot of insight into such matters and I credit many of the things he taught about these, not only because of Jesus but because of the things I have experienced of a similar nature, things that I must credit to the workings of God and the Devil, of angels and demons, things otherwise inexplicable.

You know folks the more I think about it the more I’m convinced the Bible has it right about the “end of the age” Jesus and others spoke of, a time when men’s hearts will fail because of fear, a time of great evil such as the world has never known, even of earthquakes and pestilence unknown in the past, a time when the earth itself in bondage to corruption is said to groan and travail in pain waiting upon God to be delivered. That last easily equates with what is happening to our planet right now.

While I expect to “awaken” in the presence of God, of loved ones and friends I can’t help but feel sorry for those without such a hope, without any such anchor of the soul that will see them through the time of trouble they and this old world is in for.

Of course, the things that sustain me, things like continued communion with God, with loved ones and friends, the belief in angels and things unseen may only be the product of my own imagination and beliefs. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t trade them for anything this world has to offer. After all, “this world is not my home, I’m just a’ passing through.” And the “treasures” the song speaks of “laid up beyond the blue” are the loved ones and friends I hope to see once more “in that great, gettin’ up mornin’, in that great, gettin’ up day.”