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An unusual title for a Christian message? Father Time permits us to become hazy over the past, and we do the usual human thing and distort or dilute history. We take a monumental achievement under God's direction, and over generations obscure the accomplishment. The question for November 11 is what do we call the holiday? It began on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month to mark the signing of the peace treaty to end World War 1. At the time, it was called the "Great War." It was Armistice Day. That was in 1918, 97 years ago. My father was a veteran of that war. The "Second Great War" is the term for World War II. My father-in-law was a veteran of that war. I am a veteran of the Korean Conflict, a "happy" name for a bloody war. For a veteran, the signing of a peace treaty is a very special day. It means you survived. We have Memorial Day to observe the sacrifice our soldiers and civilians have made in all wars and conflicts. Now we may call Armistice Day "Remembrance" Day to recognize all the above. I don't buy this watering down of something Jesus Christ taught...PEACE AND love.
A few years back, a woman commented on my Armistice Day message. She said words to the effect, "Let's get on with things. I have other interests." Sadly, I believe many, many Americans today have many other interests. We are down to the last few people of the World War 1 generation. It's been almost 70 years since World War II ended. I'm of that generation, and I'm ashamed of the way families who didn't lose members in the war now support those leaders who can only think of cutting services to those who served. Of course, cutting services to retired workers who need the money they paid to social security for living expenses is also a SIN. Yes, it's the simple sin of greed. Not to forget my Korean Conflict brethren...some who returned home were spit on, and some were picketed and called baby killers. This was from yet another generation, although the gap is only about 60 years.
Because I spent my early school years during World War II, our attention was on that war. We learned very little about World War I. It wasn't quite as big as number two, but it did include 18 nations, including Germany, Japan, England, France and Russia. It seems odd to recall that Japan was on our side. Germany was the big player, but none of the war was fought in that nation. War raged in the east of Europe, the area that Russia is now trying to take back that was formerly part of Russia, the north of Africa, and the main killing field of the flat land of France and neighboring small nations.
So you ask, "What does that have to do with anything?" This war of almost a hundred years ago was the incubator of new nations and new types of leadership. It was the beginning of ethnic cleansing in Europe, the birth of tanks, the use of machine guns, the birth of aircraft carriers and the first successful air sortie. The use of barbed wire and chlorine gas came to the battlefield. America showed the world we were racists. We had people of color serving in the military 100 years ago. But they were in separate units from whites. We sent these colored units to France, who was happy to have them. They were superb in battle and were awarded three unit citations, but they couldn't serve along side the white units. Today the military is one of the few places where racism is mostly under control. The major problem has become the treatment of women in the military. Harassment and rape are too frequent, especially in our elite academies.
Here's something to think about. The United States provided 80 percent of the oil used by the Allies in World War 1. We rationed gas and oil during World War II. What have our leaders and corporate people done to create today's prices? They say all storage is full, but they keep the price high. This is one of the little tricks our "smart' political and business leaders learned and improved upon during and after world War II. They learned how to promote greed, lie, create "cooked" books, and generally convince people they were good guys, even Christians. Many are church leaders today although they are not in the pulpit. Their specialties are influence and money.
The United States didn't enter the war until 1917, and our influence immediately changed the complexion of the situation. We mobilized by instituting the Selective Service (Draft), and soon we were sending 10,000 trained troops a day. When we went to a volunteer army, we took citizen participation away from the people, and you can see what has happened. We have become a "ME" nation instead of "WE." What have you done for our country? Few people want to serve in the military, and nobody wants to pay taxes. The worship of money has increased as Christianity --the real thing--is decreasing. The corporations and wealthy use our roads, railroads, airports and naval ports to acquire profits. They have security from our armed forces. They refuse to pay their share, and snooker middle class Americans with perceived sins not found in the Christian bible.
Many Americans weren't born yet when the two great wars occurred. They don't realize we could supply the weapons, oil, food and manpower to sustain victory. Our economic structure has enabled American business and political leaders to sell off our major industries and much of our other economic means. We have satisfied the desire of financial and industrial leaders. We are recklessly polluting air, water and soil. We are raping natural resources. Christians ignore the lessons in the Old Testament. Israel repeatedly passed through four cycles as the generations changed. They began in a poor condition, then worked to become strong; then had so many blessings they forgot where the blessings originated. When they short changed God, they went into captivity. Eventually the cycle began again. When the spiritual leaders strayed because of the good times, they were responsible for the downfall of the nation. The United States was given the opportunity to revisit God's favor by fighting to preserve Personal Choice in the world wars. Freedom does mean personal choice. Dictators have laws passed to restrict choice, usually connecting the laws to a set of religious restrictions. Think about this: Germany was a christian nation. They hated Jews. The German Christians told the public the Jews were becoming the capitalists of the country. Money was the seed that combined with religious hatred to create Nazi Germany and World War II.
World War 1 caused the death of 9 million soldiers and 7 million civilians. You can guess how many families lost soldiers and had to care for wounded and crippled people. In the last week of that war, 30,441 German soldiers were taken prisoner. In World War II, near the end, Germany's army partly consisted of 14 and 15 year old boys. A veteran who served in the artillery told me that his unit had a very difficult time because there were waves of these young soldiers being sent from the front to the rear lines where the artillery was set up. They had surrendered, and the front line troops didn't have the means to process them. In a four cycle system, Israel went from rags to rags. For them it was physical captivity.
God saw the repetition of man's way, and sent His Son to show man how to live. The very men who should have listened to Christ instead had Him killed. They were smart, right? They took Him out of the picture. Wait! They forgot He would be resurrected and they signed their personal ticket to Hell. Choose to remember Armistice Day as you wish. For anyone who has served in the military honorably, Armistice Day represents Peace and love. It means you can go home and see your' family. You can resume pursuit of life's goals. You can practice your Christian or other faith. Don't give up your precious right to choose, and don't try to prevent your brothers and sisters from choosing. Freedom is about Peace and everybody's God-given right to choose. Christ told us how to choose. Don't play the modern Christian and write your own rules and laws. Read the four gospels, and prepare
yourself for a meaningful Thanksgiving in two weeks.
Rev. Walbear
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