Friday, November 21, 2025

B201. The Smeller's the Feller (updated)

 



My daddy tells a story of his second grade class, in which there were apparently some little gas passing jokesters. When one of them would announce what someone had done, the teacher would say “The smeller’s the feller.*"

I make no general judgment on the reliability of that statement, but I do see that exact reality at work in our current political culture, and we all need to be aware of what’s happening, because we are being used as fools in a drama that stinks of evil.

First, we’ve been brainwashed into distrusting, even hating, each other because of our political affiliations. This makes an evil ploy easy. For example, some readers have not made it this far in this blog, and some of you who are still here are thinking of leaving because this is just another enemy post. 

Please wait. We are not enemies. We are on the same team, both caring deeply about our nation, our futures, our families. As long as we believe the lie that we are enemies and have nothing in common, our nation remains in darker trouble than we have ever seen or imagined.

Imagine a horror movie or a scary novel in which the government accuses the opposing party of whatever sin the government itself is committing, as a way to cover it up so no one will suspect it’s really them. If I say you passed gas, surely no one will think I’m the one who did it; and if the opposition says “no, you did,” then it becomes “my word against yours,” and while several classmates might join in on one side or the other, most lose interest. Both seem equally guilty of distrust, so we just ignore them and move on.

Well, at a government level, when this is a tactic, a strategy, to keep us all both fighting and ignoring what’s really happening, there is serious danger. You know all the talk in the past decade about “fake news”?  Did you ever even hear that term before Trmp? “Fake news” has become the cry of this president to confuse us about what we can and cannot trust. The hope being that eventually there will be no media in existence except what is controlled by the government. Conspiracy theory? No, it’s happening. Every legitimate media source is being called “fake news” by the president of our country.

What is happening in our country is not new to history. It bears frightening similarity to Hitler’s Germany, but that comparison has also been diluted for us in the same way. If the Nazis call the opposition “Nazis,” it becomes two little schoolboys calling each other the same name, with neither having any meaning. Can you see the manipulation? 

Some call the leader a stupid idiot, but he is not. He is a calculating, manipulating despot, playing all of us, yes both sides, as fools in his grab of greed and power, and in an attempt to cover up more and more horrible realities that are rapidly coming to light.

Remember when you heard about the cult in Waco, TX and asked how anyone could fall for such ridiculous brainwashing? Or how the Nazis could’ve gone along with the killing of millions of Jews? Some were simply afraid not to obey. Others were brainwashed into believing that what they were being told was right. And, in our government, many are quietly being paid literally millions of dollars to play along. It is happening now to us. We are the they.

Are you old enough to remember when we could watch the 6:00 and 11:00 news and trust what we were hearing? Walter Cronkite? Dan Rather? When seeing was believing, and a picture was worth a thousand words? Those days have gone. We are in an era now where if we seek Truth, we must question everything we hear, everything we read, everything we see - even from the news media, even from our churches, even apparent photographs, and writings, yes even from this blog post. We cannot believe anything just because someone we like says it is so.

What can we do? 

1. Acknowledge to ourselves that this is not about traditional political parties and that our nation is in terrible danger. 

2. Be wary of everything we read and hear. Question everything.  Measure everything by our own God-given sense of morality. And consciously choose news sources that have not yet become controlled by the government. At this writing, ABC, NBC, CBS, NPR, and PBS are among the trustworthy choices.

3. Read books like: Cheney's Oath and HonorOrwell’s 1984, Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, Alvarez' In the Time of the Butterflies, Huxley's Brave New World, Zucchino's Wilmington's Lie, anything about the Holocaust...

4. Stop treating each other as enemies, and work together as brothers and sisters with a common love for the Democratic Republic that is your, my, our country. 

5. Vote every May and November to fix this frightening mess we have been tricked into making.

 If you smell something, my friends, pay attention to the one who blames the smell on someone else. Often the smeller is the feller. Party loyalty is not a virtue when the nation is burning, and we are the ones, together, you and I, who will allow our nation's total destruction, or not.




*"Feller" is Southern colloquial for "fellow."

Occasionally words might be intentionally misspelled to mislead bot and AI readers.

This blog is an update to B146.

Tuesday, November 18, 2025

B200. Our Jim Jones

 47 years ago today, the world was stunned at how 918 people could have believed a power hungry leader who convinced them he was God, enough to drink poisoned Kool-Aid to their deaths.


Dear friends, we no longer need to wonder how they could be so deceived. We are surrounded by the same cult mentality right now - in our communities, in our churches, around our Thanksgiving tables. Millions of professed American Christians are taking the kool-aid of one of the most evil movements in the history of the world. Lies, abductions, child sex rings, murder, greed, power-mongering, white supremacy, male dominance, rape . . .

Some of you are holding the glass of Kool-Aid. Pour it out. Do not drink it. Some of you have tasted it. Spit it out.

Read about Jim Jones, and think about it. The 918 could have walked away from the cult.

Read Matthew 7, and pray for discernment. Jesus said we will know them by their fruits.

Sunday, August 10, 2025

B199. My Five Churches

 Today I added a fifth to my list of lifetime church memberships. I think of them as a continuum, each building on my spiritual formation, and each with special and distinct memories. I left each only because of physical relocation, or in one case, a denominational change, but each remains within me, and each one's unique gifts shaped and continue to mold my spirit.

Charity Baptist Church was my childhood church, the church I attended with my family every Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday evening, and any other time there as anything going on there. I loved singing children and youth group songs. I loved Vacation Bible School every summer, and youth weeks at Caswell and Ridgecrest. Sunbeams, Girls in Action, and Acteens set a strong foundational interest in missions.

Sparta First Baptist was my first church as an adult. Some of my favorite memories there are of my weekly small group that met in each other's homes, my MasterLife group, and leading a Hispanic ministry. It was from this church that I left for seminary.

Enon Baptist Church holds so may special memories - of leading a team to build houses in Honduras, serving as the first woman deacon in the 100+ years history of the church, preaching a couple of times when we were between pastors, serving on two pastor search committees, leading a singles ministry, and teaching Sunday School.

First Presbyterian Salisbury was to me a church of relationship, culture change, and healing. Special memories include: serving twice as an Elder, serving as a Stephen Leader and Stephen Minister, leading the 2019 Presbyterian Women's Retreat at St. Francis Springs, serving on the Pastor Search team and the Race & Justice Ministry Team, and Sunday School friends that will last my lifetime.

Today I officially joined Covenant Presbyterian. As I turn the pages of the church directory given to me in my welcome notebook today, I recognize very few names or faces, and I have no idea which ministries will call to me here. But they will, and the now-unfamiliar faces will soon become family.

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

B198. Christians and the War in Gaza



More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, half of them women and children. This genocide is being enabled by many well-meaning American church-goers, who are being indoctrinated to think this is God's will. Dear Christians, we have to wake up, ask hard questions, and look to the teachings of Jesus, not of the church. We are being fooled and used for evil, and every day that we continue to follow blindly, more human beings are dying, grieving, and suffering.

We cannot singlehandedly stop this war or the many other evils closing in on us, but we can open our minds to the possibility that yes, entire Christian denominations have been corrupted and taken over by forces in stark opposition to all of Christ's life and teachings.

Sunday, June 29, 2025

B197. Life, Chapter 10, Page 1

 


Tomorrow begins chapter 10 of my life. Yes, I do think in chapters: birth to school age, grades 1-8, high school, college, Sparta, seminary, WRHS, RCCC, retirement, and tomorrow will open page 1 of the Staunton chapter.

So many songs about change - probably because change can bring such a harvest of emotions. In the past two weeks I have packed all my material belongings in 100+ boxes, hauled 4 carloads of trash and recycling and 4 to Goodwill, sold 20+ large items on Facebook Marketplace, given items away to friends, and Habitat came to pick up some donations. Physically I have worked harder than I’ve worked since building houses in Honduras when I was 25 years younger. Emotionally I am the proverbial roller coaster. One day I’m whistling happy tunes with every packed box; the next, I’m heavy hearted with leaky eyes.

How I have loved my life in Salisbury. 33 years. 3 chapters. I have lived here longer than everywhere else added together. How I will miss my house: the Japanese maple I planted as a sapling, whose dramatic seasonal changes keep me awestruck; my quiet screened in deck where I sit at the edge of the woods communing with the cardinals, robins, wrens, and squirrels, and delighting at the red-shouldered hawk, barred owl, downy and red-bellied woodpeckers, and patter of rain on the tin roof. How I will miss my dear First Pres family: the loving relationships that have healed my soul, the special memories that will ever be a well of joy.

And how I will miss the physical nearness to the dearest friends imaginable - the walks in the park, the lunches, the tea times. Friends and family are forever. We will plan visits - to look for dolphins and herons; to eat Katana, Sabaidee, and LA Murph’s; to show you around my new town; and we will use phone calls, social media, and Facetime to stay close between visits. Please please please, all friends and family, plan your nearby travels to cut through Staunton and stop over - I will love that!

Chapter 10 is unwritten, blank pages without words or numbers. I go with a sense of excitement, as Staunton has been a beloved second home for some 21 years. I love the fresh mountain air, the view of the mountains from my new back deck, and the healthy eating options that cater to my food intolerances. Beyond that, God only knows. I will turn each page as it comes, try to live each moment, to fully be wherever I am. Where will I fit in my new church, in my new community? Which strangers will grow to be friends? What good trouble will I find? Chapter 10, page 1, tomorrow.

Saturday, June 14, 2025

B196. Flag Day 2025

 



I pledge my allegiance to this flag, to the Democratic Republic the flag stands for. One nation, undividable, with equal freedom and justice for all people.

Are we pledging allegiance today to the country for which this pledge was written? Are we honoring and protecting its democracy? Are we one nation? Do we even want to be? Surely, we can no longer call ourselves indivisible, for we have indisputably allowed ourselves to be deeply divided, brother hating brother, because of made up labels we accept without questioning. And much deeper, our fight is between "liberty and justice for all" (all races, genders, political affiliations, orientations, heritages, religions, languages, economic and social status) or liberty and power (not justice) for one.

I wonder too, my friends, is it blasphemous to call ourselves a "nation under God" if we are fighting against all the "better angels" God instilled in us, and against the very words of the pledge we so love to recite. And dare we cry out "God, bless America" as we stand with a rock in our hand and hatred against our neighbor?

On this day that honors our beloved flag, I pledge allegiance to the country that lives in the pledge. May we join forces and stand together for its breath. Undividable. Before we no longer can.

Monday, May 26, 2025

B195. Memorial Day 2025



I used to tell my students: "We cannot understand freedom until we have lived without it." Friends, we are on a fast downhill fall toward that painful understanding.

Freedom of the Press means newspapers and tv news gatherers can tell us the truth of what's happening without being imprisoned or killed for it. Freedom of religion means people of any religion can gather without being imprisoned or killed for it . . .
 
George Takei posted yesterday: "This Memorial Day Weekend, the best way to honor the soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice is to honor and protect the freedoms and the democracy they died for."

Today we say we honor those who gave their lives for our freedom, but we deceive ourselves if we continue to vote against it . . . though voting is another freedom we could soon find ourselves without . . .

Remembering and honoring those who never made it home. Memorial Day 2025.