Old Man of the Sea Part 2

                                                     OLD MAN of the SEA -- PART 2


This is a continuation of an interview with a bible reading Christian who
faithfully read scripture and studied religions of the world for nearly a
century while living and working in the United States.

Pastor: We'll get back to the drilling update, but I want to move on to an era
of great change in this country--World War I, prohibition, the rise of great
Christian Evangelists, the Great Depression, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt's
New Deal. Were you involved in World War I?

Old Man of the Sea: Yes and no. I was in the Pennsylvania National Guard
towards the end of that war. I was aide-de-camp under General Black Jack
Pershing at war's end, and was included in the group charged with working
out details of Germany's surrender and the following peace keeping. Being
a country boy, I didn't like the idea of all that water. It was a slow trip in those
days. I finished my enlistment and went home. In those days, the fighting on
foreign soil was done by Regular Army and support units. The National Guard
was kept for just that purpose--to guard the nation. In my opinion it has been
wrong to use National Guardsmen and Reserves to fight on foreign soil. That
has disrupted many families and ruined careers of people, many who served
previously and have been "held over".

Pastor: Do you think the military draft should have been continued?

Old Man of the Sea: Of course. Then our reserves and guardsmen could have
continued their civilian lives, helped raise their children and helped stabilize our
communities. Without the draft, millions of young people were denied the
privilege of serving their country, missed out on free training, a free opportunity
to see more of the world, and most importantly, received some badly needed
discipline. The fall out from service people killed and seriously injured will be
with us for a generation. People have been stressed terribly, and divorce has
been one result.

Pastor: What is your feeling about the bible's instructions on war? Christ
and the Apostles didn't really give us much scripture on that.

Old Man of the Sea: That's true, but they were concerned about teaching
God's completion of spiritual fulfillment and how Christians should live. One
of the problems today is what I call New Testament Churches. The Old
Testament is kinda put on the scrap heap and largely ignored. Funny about
that, because Christ often quoted from it. People who kinda ignore the Old
Testament apparently don't realize there wouldn't be a New Testament
without it. Beginning with creation, that collection of writings takes us through
His choosing of His people, the nation of Israel, His directions for morals and
living, family life and protection. The Jewish people were told how to form
military units, and all about strategy and tactics. Can I talk a bit about the place
of the military in Christianity?

Pastor: Certainly. I know some Christians don't believe we should ever go
to war.

Old Man of the Sea: That disturbs me almost as much as saved people
claiming they don't have to do anything until the rapture. It shows these people
have not read or understood the Old Testament. How could they not understand
that His people had to fight to get the promised land, and then fight to free it
from oppression? Now, if any of you Christians out there think warfare is not
part of your faith, look up Word War II and what Hitler tried to do to and did to
Jews. Look in the Old Testament Joshua 5.

Old Man of the Sea: I want to quote scripture here.

Pastor: By all means, continue.

Old Man of the Sea: Joshua 5:13-14 "And it came to pass, when Joshua was by
Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite
him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him,
'Are You for us or for our adversaries?' So He said, 'No, but as Commander of
the army of the Lord I have now come." Now that you've checked me out,
do yourself a favor and read Chapter 6, where the Lord's Commander of the
Lord's army directs Joshua in how Israel can and will capture Jericho. If the Lord
has an army and a magnificent Commander, that's good enough for me! His
people had to fight for freedom and to keep it. Read the Book of Judges, and
you'll see even a woman, Deborah, was a military leader. You should take notice
while reading about the Lord's military directions, that Israel fought only for the
land given it by the Lord and then to protect it. The Lord never directed Israel
to initiate aggression. If you have a sharp eye, pick up on Judges 8:21, where
you see that the people Gideon had to fight and defeat had camels with crescent
ornaments around their necks. I want to talk more about this later.

Pastor: Certainly. After all, we have more war years to cover. But we entered a
very interesting time after the Armistice was signed on Nov. 11, 1918. The Roaring
Twenties actually began after the conclusion of World War I and the signing of the
Prohibition Bill in January of 1919. The temperance movement was strong and
liquor was considered a major sin. At the same time, we had the clash about
evolution being taught in the schools and the rise of great preachers like Dwight
Moody and Billy Sunday.

Old Man of the Sea: The period of time between the end of the war and the
1930s was very confusing to a young man like me. The war had opened the eyes
of Americans about the rest of the world and its relationship with us. Veterans
then, as now, were not treated very well. It seemed our nation used them and then
threw them on the scrap heap. We now turned to religious and social issues,
pausing only briefly to note great advances in aviation, Lindberg completed the
first solo flight across the Atlantic and that was followed by the first trans-Atlantic
solo flight by a woman, Amelia Earhart.

Pastor: I have always loved reading about the Roaring Twenties because it
seemed to be a non-stop period of fascinating action and people.

Old Man of the Sea: That it was. We had a great stirring of Americans as Billy
Sunday conducted revival meetings across the country. He held over 300 meetings,
and over 100 million people attended. He was a Presbyterian and a fundamentalist
preacher who was embraced by most church people. Also at that time we had the
little parades of the temperance people.

Pastor: That was an interesting and inspiring sight. I'm old enough to have had
the experience of seeing one of those little demonstrations. I'll never forget the
sight. I was driving down a street in Atlanta, Georgia, early one evening when I
heard their "music". One man was beating on a big bass drum, which certainly
drew the attention of everyone. The women wore big, black bonnets and provided
the remainder of the "music". I was spellbound, because I had only read about
this phenomenon, and it was a lot more striking to see it in person.

Old Man of the Sea: There was a very strong revival movement. Billy Sunday
was a man who had strong real-life experiences before he became a revival
preacher. His father was a brick mason from Iowa who died a private in the Union
Army. He spent time in an orphans' home, then finished growing up on a farm.
He worked as an undertaker's assistant before becoming a professional baseball
player. After eight years in baseball, he worked for the YMCA. This was his
training for the revival. High school and world-wise training.

Pastor: It's interesting there was such a strong revival movement considering
that period of our history also brought us previous unimaginable wildness in
society.

Old Man of the Sea: Yes, as I said, it was very confusing. It seemed
prohibition split our society. There was a predominant part of us that wanted
to get closer to God, while at the same time there were those who wanted to
have a good--I should say--spectacular time. Prohibition brought about the illegal
sale of liquor--the hard stuff--speakeasies, rum runners and gangsters. I don't
believe we have ever had such a glorious or inglorious period in our history.
The rum running in cities was parallel to the moon shining in the rural areas,
especially the South. That, of course, was the actual beginning of the popular
NASCAR racing today that has become a big industry showcasing Americans'
love of cars.

Pastor: So while large numbers of people were going to church and trying to
eliminate whiskey from society, another large number simply went underground
to continue liquor consumption, and in so doing, sort of recreated a large part of
American society?

Old Man of the Sea: Exactly. This is probably the real beginning of the
separation of Christians

Pastor: You mean separation of Christians from the general population?

Old Man of the Sea: Not at all. I mean separation of the strongly committed
Christians from those Christ referred to as weak or lukewarm Christians in
Revelation. The prohibitionists made a major mistake when they tried to
legislate moral values. They actually acted unchristian because their elimination
of all alcohol also denied Christ's miracle of changing water to wine, and went
against the use of wine for communion and special observances. These are
biblical guidelines, not man's rules. Some Christians simply expressed their
defiance through wildness, while others kept to the biblical interpretation of
alcohol use. We were all pretty mixed up.

Pastor: I recall my parents talking about speakeasies, the flappers, zoot
suits and gangsters. For them it was a pretty scary time, especially in the
cities.

Old Man of the Sea: You bet. You never knew when a big, black sedan might
come speeding up, with men firing tommy guns at some target, and then
speed away. The illegal sale of liquor brought about bootlegging, which was
a highly profitable business. Prohibition, meant for good, actually spawned
great evil. The money from bootleg whiskey created an atmosphere where
prostitution, numbers and protection rackets flourished. The big time gangs
and the mafia rose to prominence, and with it, came increased political
corruption. Money is power, and power is money. A thinking man would try
to understand how a political job that pays less than $200,000 could possibly
cause someone to raise millions to get elected. Then he would have to wonder
what happened to a Christian country to accept this type of government.

Pastor: Let me interrupt our story about the Roaring Twenties to ask you
if you believe America is a Christian nation? There has been some controversy
about this lately.

Old Man of the Sea: When the United States was formed, the leaders of all
the founding colonies were Christian, either Protestant or Catholic. Slaves had
a variety of mostly tribal religions. We are a nation founded by Christians. All
the way up through World War II, we were predominantly a Christian nation.
Even in the military, we had chaplains. They were expected to be able to conduct
services for both Catholics and Protestants. Dogtags were stamped with your
denominational preference.

Pastor: Do you think that has changed?

Old Man of the Sea: Consider what we see today. Christian principles are
trampled continuously. Symbols our founding fathers considered set in concrete
are taken away. The very symbol of Christianity--Jesus Christ--has been banned
from public places. We now have a holiday season instead of a Christmas
season. Christian prayers are not allowed in our schools. Our kids can't pursue
Christian subjects in school, but it seems there are no such limits on them
getting cultural instruction on foreign religion. We are told to accept other
religions, and to assume their god or gods are acceptable as well. They forget
the First Commandment, Deut. 5:7, "You shall have no other gods before Me."
That piece of scripture tells me there is no other god or god-object acceptable
and equal with the God of Abraham, Israel and Jesus Christ. So, yes, I fully
believe America is no longer a Christian nation. When you crossbreed a bunch
of non pure animals, you get a bunch of mutts, many of little value to society.
With humans, it's even worse, because there will always be the desire to be the
leader at any cost. Obviously, with the acceptance of Christian bans and the
encouragement to join with others who follow different beliefs, America is
rapidly becoming a nation pulling against itself. I bet you're sorry you asked that
question.

Pastor: I'm not sorry, and I'm afraid you hit the nail squarely on the head.
Rather than freedom to practice Christianity, pastors now have to be careful
not to offend anyone. Jesus Christ must step back so others can come forward.
Let me return to life during prohibition. Did you have any experience with
speakeasies and gangsters?

Old Man of the Sea: A little bit, and surely enough for me. When I visited
relatives in Buffalo and Chicago, they took me to speakeasies just to see what
they were. You had to have a password to get by the"guard". Some were quiet,
but others definitely lived up to the roaring part of the era. They were very
colorful, with women sporting the flapper costumes and hairstyles of the time.
They mostly drank too much and had loose morals. It's interesting to see women
with those 20s hair styles today. I never saw any gangster action, but you saw
certain tables of obvious "important" people who received special attention and
the general customers didn't approach. Usually they were sort of surrounded
by men in zoot suits or expensive black suits, and at least some carried pistols
in shoulder harnesses. There was always gambling. Not a comfortable place
for a Christian.

Pastor: Was there a carryover from the cities to the country?

Old Man of the Sea: The only carryover I saw was the moonshine business,
and of course, some wildness by the heavier drinkers. There always has been
a big difference between city and country life. Most of the old timers in the
country may have kept a bottle of whiskey in the barn, but they hardly ever
touched it. They had tough work to do every day, and no one would do their
work if they were drunk. There was somewhat of a carryover in music, because
we now had phonograph records and radio, and people brought the zany dances
like the Charleston back with them after visiting in the city. For several years it
was kinda like Chinese New Year.

Pastor: Did you take part in any of this?

Old Man of the Sea: No, except for visiting the speakeasies while visiting
relatives in the city. It was about this time I decided I'd better get some more
education. There was no online study, there were no computers, and college
was expensive, even in those days. I found you could do pretty well through
very well done books on most subjects like math and typing. I also found a
huge amount of books on religion, and could fill in information about other
"faiths". I found a great deal on how to live a clean life in some of the books,
but none had the real thing except Christianity. I also discovered that a few
of the religions either supported evil doings, or were outright evil. I want to
talk about this more, because I believe it is very important now.

Pastor: Certainly, we can do that, but I'd like to go through a few more
things back in the 20s first. Were the preachers of the time much different
than those of today?

Old Man of the Sea: I didn't get to city churches, but country preachers
seemed to fall into two groups. Those raised in the city followed the
instructions they received in seminaries. They were more stiff and cool,
and many weren't spiritual. You never knew what a country preacher would
be like. They were very different in many ways, and were a lot warmer and
understanding of country people's problems. And they sure loved country
cooking. I didn't learn much from the city types, but frequently picked up
some good "stuff" from the country boys.

(We'll continue this chat with the Old Timer in our next sermon.)

Rev. Walbear