6 Non-political Ways To Serve Your Country and Your Community

1. Volunteer at a VA Hospital or Clinic. Volunteers can do anything from push a wheelchair to man a phone line. Also, while this is not official through the VA volunteer system, some vets are forced to undergo painful outpatient minor surgical procedures WITHOUT ANESTHESIA because there is no one to drive them to and from their appointment and VA policy forbids them riding a VA provided bus after having anesthesia. You can be real friend to a vet by "unofficially" driving them to a surgical appointment.

2. Volunteer with your local Police Department or Sheriff's Dept. Many departments have an unpaid volunteer service corps which frees up sworn officers for more important tasks. You duties may be answering a phone, sorting citations, making copies, filing or just running errands. In some cases, your duties may be more interesting depending upon your skillset and background. Some larger departments recruit people with a professional background to advise their detective and intelligence divisions in their area of expertise. Smaller departments often just keep a phone list of trustworthy experts. This work may be highly confidential but it is also highly rewarding.

3. If you are ordained, become a Police Chaplain. The requirements are pretty stiff. Mail order ordinations and informal calls won't cut it. But, if you meet the requirements, it offers an opportunity to show the love of Christ to people in really difficult situations. Among other duties, Police Chaplains often do death and serious injury notifications.
 
4. Volunteer at your local university. Student professional organizations are frequently looking for local professionals to advise and mentor students in their discipline. Someone with real world experience in a profession can make a lasting impact on young people just starting out.

5. Volunteer with a disaster relief organization. These organizations can use all kinds of talent and it is not all field work. They always need clerical people, skilled administrators and technical people. It takes several people in the background to put one emergency responder in the field. 

6. Volunteer at a nursing home.  It is highly likely that within a few blocks of your home,  
there are elderly, bed ridden people who never have a visitor other than their caregivers.  They have no family or their family doesn't visit.  A few hours per week chatting or reading to these folks can make a real difference in their lives.  The need for human social contact never goes away even if you are warehoused awaiting the inevitable.

These are just six of hundreds of ways a Christian can affirmatively show the love of Christ to the their community by actually doing something useful.





 

Blindess, Hubris and Political Foolishness

When my prediction that Donald Trump would betray his base on gun control came true someone who knows (or at least should know) me pretty well came online alleging that even if my analysis was accurate I would not be part of the solution because I refuse to vote for morally compromised GOP political candidates. 

This statement was incredibly short sighted for failing to recognize that calling attention to the President's duplicity on key issues is not only "doing something" but actually doing a lot more than the politically blind rabble of GOP sycophants in the Christian community now ducking for cover as Trump, in a matter of hours, has massively betrayed them by announcing homosexual advocacy policies worldwide and offering to cut a deal with the Democrats on gun control.  

I was tempted to follow Proverbs and "not answer a fool in his folly lest I become like him."  But then, I was reminded that the same verse orders us to answer a fool in his folly lest he think himself wise in his own eyes.

I am reluctant to share personal details of my life online but since the Apostle Paul did so in his letters, I will follow his example.

In 1978, I surrendered my life to become a foot soldier in the culture war for the cause of Jesus Christ.  I have paid a price for that decision. 

Over the next decade I spent thousands of hours working the in the pro-life movement.  Not the safe, churchey, get out the vote, lunch and dinner circuit, fund raiser, photos with politicians FALSE pro life movement of the GOP red flag issue vote machine but the real Pro-Life movement.  Two and three days a week, I was on the line in front of abortion clinics putting a face on God's objection to what was happening.  I preached God's wrath and God's forgiveness right there in the jaws of death.  I begged girls not to go in. I reasoned with workers. I was assaulted. I faced down cops constantly.  I was threatened with arrest more times than I can remember. 

During approximately this same time, I did several years as a teaching elder in a local church. I taught the pulpit class on Sunday mornings, filled the pulpit occasionally and "preached out" as requested.   I also served on the board of a Christian school which would later morph into something much larger.  In that capacity, we the board were each sued for a million dollars for expelling a couple of popular students that were making obscene phone calls to the girls of the school and their mothers. 

I did two (short) hitches on the Tulsa County GOP Executive Committee and served on the Oklahoma branch of the National Coalition for Families In Crisis during the Reagan Administration.

For almost a decade, I was a Christian writer when I wasn't driving truck, sweeping floors and working temp.  My articles were published locally, regionally and nationally.  I ghosted for some public figures.  For a while, I self syndicated a Christian conservative opinion column for small newspapers. I was a freelance contributor to a national Christian radio news network.  I did a turbulent year as the police crime and courts reporter for a daily newspaper.  I usually wrote most of the front page in that small town four days a week. My Christian worldview was obvious in my writing.

In the mid 1990's, I decided to attend law school, not to become rich, but rather to represent the cause of Christ in the courts because that was where the battle was at that time.  I earned a BS, a JD and audited post grad studies in jurisprudence and philosophy of law.  Law school was a huge kulturkampf in itself.  I did well in law school despite the obstacles.  I was selected for and graduated from the Alliance Defense Fund's Christian Civil Rights Litigation Academy.

After graduation, I worked as local counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, Liberty Counsel, The American Center for Law and Justice and the Christian Law Association.  In the ten years after I graduated, I did almost a million dollars worth of pro-bono (free) legal work for Christians and Christian organizations. And, I was broke most of the time I was doing it.


I served as president of the Christian Legal Association of Tulsa both in the law student chapter and later in the professional chapter.  I did another turbulent year as the Christian Legal Society's professional advisor to Christian law students at the University of Tulsa College of Law.

I served as local counsel representing two successive speakers of the Oklahoma House trying to save Oklahoma's Defense of Marriage Act.  I was one of the two Oklahoma Christian attorneys who showed up to object at the Oklahoma Bar Association hearings that passed homosexual preference procedural standards for Oklahoma courts.


I was one of the two legal advisors on the board that founded Victory Christian Center's "Dream Center" in North Tulsa.   And for a while, I was a player in Tulsa's International Fellowship of Christian Businessmen. 


And now that I am mostly retired from the legal profession, eight months per year, I serve a hundred or more hours per month (pro bono) as Chairman, Counsel and Administrator of  the most professional church security training organization in Oklahoma and the region. 

For this person to say that I am not part of the solution because I don't play the game by their rules is massive hubris.  I have lived a life dedicated to the cause of Christ as an ordinary foot soldier in das kulturkampf, fighting the good fight a day and an issue at a time.

My critic is caught up in and blinded by the political addiction.  Worldly politics are an illusion as addictive as cocaine and just as dangerous.  It gives the addict an inflated sense of power, self worth and euphoria while compromising everything they should hold dearest .... their faith and their integrity.

I am still a player in my old age because I am willing to take God at His word, hunker down and do what has to be done a day a time without compromise.  That has been a hard learned life lesson but one that I am truly at peace with.  I can only hope that my critic will find similar peace.  When I am gone, I hope this will be my epitaph:

Ordained to tread the thorny ground, 
Where very few, I fear, are found;
Mine be the conscience void of blame,
The upright heart, the spotless name,
The tribute of the widow’s prayer,
The righted orphans grateful tear!
To virtue and her friends a friend,
Still may my voice the weak defend!
Ne’er may my prostituted tongue
Protect the oppressor in his wrong, 
Nor wrest the spirit of the laws
To sanctify the villains cause!

Let others with unsparing hand,
Enflame dissension, kindle strife, 
And strew with ills the path of life;
On such her gifts let fortune shower,
Add wealth to wealth, and power to power;

On me let favouring Heaven bestow
That peace which only good men know, 
The joy of joys by few possess’d
The eternal sunshine of the breast!
Power, fame and riches all resign
The praise of honesty be mine,
That friends may weep, the worthy sigh,
And poor men bless me when I die.

Sir William Blackstone
   

Political Pragmatism and Christianity

I was recently asked to explain the inner workings of the American political system to a local civic group.  That presentation did not go well.  After much reflection I can only conclude that the truth is so painful and unacceptable that the average American will believe almost anything rather than face it. 

Like all discussions at this level, you have to begin with philosophy.  The American ruling classes whether political, social, economic, legal or academic all tend to follow the uniquely American philosophy of Pragmatism as espoused by 19th Century American philosophers Dewey and James. Their work is in large part Darwinism applied to the discipline of philosophy.  For the purpose of this discussion here are three highly simplified propositions defining it:

1.  The truth of a statement is defined in terms of its utility.  Useful statements are true or can be made true if they tend to accomplish the desired objectives.

2.  The utility of a statement and thus its truth is measured in terms of what the person to whom the statement is made will do or tolerate in light of the statement.

3.  The only way to refute strategies based upon this philosophy is to make the down side cost or penalty higher than the perceived utility/advantage gained by the statement. 

Let us test this theory with a modern political questions.  The President of the United States announces his support for homosexual rights despite the fact that a majority of his most loyal base SAY that they oppose them.  The President has been told by his political advisors that most Americans actually support homosexual rights and that his support for homosexual rights is a useful political move.

While the loyal base may argue that they do not support this proposition by continuing to support the President they MAKE his statement true by their actions ie their continued support of the President.  So, because the base tolerates the statement and there is no down side penalty to the President or his political party, the statement that most Americans now support gay rights is TRUE for their pragmatic political purposes.  And, the President and his party now know that they can make similar statements on other issues pragmatically TRUE as well.

And that is the danger of pragmatic politics for the Christian.  Political pragmatism cannot be separated from moral pragmatism.  When the Christian makes a pragmatic political decision that accommodates evil they also make a moral decision to trust in man and man made systems of government rather than God. 

Christians are not called to win elections.  They are called to be salt and light in a fallen world including the political system.  Christians are not called to compromise with sin for temporary political advantage, rather they are commanded to first expose it and then oppose it.  Christians are not called to be loyal supporters of any person or political party.  Rather, they are called to be a people set apart from the world system, to be the voice of the objective truth of God's world not the subjective truth of men and their politics. 

There is one facet of this argument where God and the philosophers agree.  Both God and the philosophers both correctly posit that you really believe only what you act upon and tolerate.  So, if you tolerate or vote for a politician who supports homosexual rights, no matter what you say on Sunday morning, in both the politicians eyes and God's eyes you support homosexual rights.

Think about it. 

   

Playing Sherlock

Sheila and I are mystery fans.  We watch a ton of them on TV, mostly British and European.  But, I have developed an annoying habit that drives Sheila nuts.  Half of the time or more, we will start a mystery program and five or ten minutes into it, I start doing something else. She will ask why and I will tell her I already know "who done it."  I am right a lot more often than I am wrong.  When I am wrong it is often because the writer "cheated."  Yes, there are rules for mystery writers and knowing those rules really helps you understand what is going on.

So, the question becomes, how do I do it?  The answer is pretty simple actually.  I don't let myself get sucked into the narrative.  In law school they teach you to think and present arguments in terms of "fact patterns."  Fact patterns are individual bits of information (which may or may not be factual btw) which can be put together in such a way as to win your argument.  This form of presentation was nothing new to me in law school.  I had been taught the same thing decades before in high dollar business persuasion classes.  The trick with mysteries is to ignore the story line itself and analyze the individual bits of information in terms of where the writers are trying to take you.  In short, you have to get into the head of the writers behind the stage not the actors on the stage.  After that, it is all pretty simple.

Politics, business and even religion all work the same way.  There is always a popular, attractive narrative, the zeitgeist if you will.  There are always actors on the stage and there always writers, producers and directors behind the stage who are actually controlling the events.  When you learn to ignore the actors and the public narrative and instead analyze the motives and goals of the writers, producers and directors you are much better equipped to both deal with the situation and predict where the real people in charge are trying to take you. 

By now, a few of you are thinking, "He is espousing a conspiratorial view of history."  Congratulations to those few.  You are absolutely correct.  History, whether it be of politics, business or religion is one giant ball of conspiracies. As a matter of fact, if you truly believe your Bible, history is one giant conspiracy to control the souls of men.  You would do well to keep that fact in mind when analyzing current events. 

But you may ask, "Since we only see the actors and hear the narrative how are we supposed to know what the controllers behind the scenes are planning and doing?  The details are too complex to describe in a blog post but here are some simple rules to get you started.

First, ABC.  Accept nothing at face value.  Believe no one.  Check everything.  The world is full of lies and liars.  For the purpose of this discussion there are three types of liars.  The first simply say what they have to say to accomplish their current goals.  These folks may border on sociopathy which is becoming more and more common in our culture.  But, at least this person knows he is lying.  He just doesn't care.  The second group honestly believe what they are saying but are mistaken.  For the record, in criminal matters eye witness testimony is notoriously unreliable.  The third group lie to themselves to the point that they truthfully believe what they are saying because the alternatives are simply too painful to accept.  The truth in any matter is usually the needle hidden in a haystack of lies.  This is especially true in politics.

Second, MOM.  Motive.  Opportunity.  Method.  When you are analyzing a statement or fact bit always look for a motive for its presentation.  What does this actor/speaker/organization have to gain or lose by offering this information?  If you hear someone presenting information out of a sense of duty that may cause them personal loss you can usually rely on it.  In legal terms this is called a "statement against interests" and is usually presumed to be the truth.  As you continue analyzing always keep the time line current.  Time is the task master of events.  Do the times line up with the statement?  And finally, is the method credible or even possible.  This works for criminal investigations or political analysis equally as well.  For example, there is no way 96 year old granny in a wheel chair could have beaten her abusive 25 year old drug dealing grandson to death with her fists even though she had both motive and opportunity.  Or, there is no way given the resources of the federal budget that the United States can offer free healthcare at current quality levels to every citizen.  Here, the motive is noble and the opportunity is there with a controlling political majority but the method fails because it is impossible with the resources available.

Third, always pay close attention to inside information.  The producers, directors and writers of this world do not publicly discuss their intentions.  They want you to listen to the narrative and watch the actors instead of watching them.  But, they don't work in a vacuum. So, when you get inside information evaluate it carefully.

In summary, don't get sucked into the popular narrative on anything whether it is your favorite mystery program or a political contest.  Always analyze everything carefully using ABC and MOM. And finally, when you have inside information pay attention to it.