To paint a thousand years

By Johnny D. Symon

I well recall years back a situation where I found myself dandering off into a Spanish Burger King. The folks behind the counter were most friendly and the service was good. When I ordered the usual fare that particular day, they handed me something a little extra inside a cardboard box, sometimes I wish they hadn't, because it was a coffee mug with the picture of a wharf by night against a backdrop of some high-rise buildings.

As I sat chewing down on the fast stuff, I grew more puzzled with the picture than engrossed in the taste of my cud. Time wore on, and the picture annoyed me all the more. It annoyed me because although at first sight I thought it was Miami, at second glance up and on I realized that I wasn't too sure. Then finally I was sure it wasn't. I looked underneath at the base expecting to find the answer, then around the picture's edge, yet to no avail.

I still have it, and happened to take another look this morning. Underneath on its base stands proud a company name, Pozzoni, Made in Brazil. The Pozzoni's were keen enough to also place their phone number on it, but no URL or email. The number is (11) 4587-2255. I've provided this number in case you all would like to be confused like me and own a Pozzoni Mystery Mug. You know the picture could be from anywhere; Seattle, Frisco, Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Japan, who knows? no one but the Pozzonis, but the Pozzonis ain't tellin'. I wonder if they told Burger King?

Well let me set matters straight here. I've gone through life this far with several strong convictions and none of them are criminal, one of those convictions though is that yours truly is a holder and user of gnat intellect. I convince myself and even pride myself on having the intellect of a gnat, and gnat's all she wrote, or gnat's gnat, take your pick. Well I reckon that at least personally, I live life as "if the gnat fits wear it!"

The Bible warns that "pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall," and it's a stern warning to those who try to lord it over others and rise above their station. But this stern Biblical warning does not apply to gnat-kind, you see, I reckon it's nigh on impossible for gnats to rise above their station and lord it over others, all they have to do in life is chew down on cats. It's a simple life and completely uncluttered. So simple and uncluttered that they're beneath contempt and beyond reproach ... that's the life for me.

If anyone called me a pinhead they'd be exaggerating, but my chosen intellectual lifestyle still has its limits and I control my gnatural tendencies, for where gnats abide and end in the food chain is as far as I'm gonna go, that's why I've often said, and with supreme conviction that come hell or high water I'll never enter the world of politics for you see, as I mentioned before, if someone called me a pinhead they'd be exaggerating, though if however I donned the hoary head of a politician their accusation would be an extreme hyperbole of my newfound status.

"I remain just one thing, and one thing only,
and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher
plane than any politician."
— Charlie Chaplin

I'm not trying to say that all politicians are worthless, for if I have to try and say it, implies that it takes work, whereas it's no effort at all. Though as with the picture on my mystery coffee mug, politicians nowadays neglect to present the origins of their big picture.

Lewis Carrol once said, "It's a poor sort of memory that works only backwards," maybe this is where gnats and I part company because gnats have poor memories, whereas my own is purrty good, and my present is served quite well too. I believe in the future, yet doubt if this is the portion of gnatmanity.

Someone said to me many years ago that truth is simple, and if anyone provides you with "truth unfathomable," beware. I firmly believe in cowboy logic and common horse sense, they're my tools of the trade, and if those tools fail to dig up the goods on any specific subject you'll always find me on the first truck out. Truth is simple to assimilate, but lies give you bellyache.

"In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far
from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for
it shall not come near thee.
Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me:
whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for
thy sake."
— Isaiah 54:14,15

"And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his
heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's
sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his
youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living,
as I have done.
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and
heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not
cease."
— Genesis 8:21,22

The above verses happen to be all you need to know about the ecological lie and liars, and the fear of war and terrorism and it's cowardly proponents. The simplicity of truth is embedded within those verses, whereas conversely unfathomable lies behind those fearing those very things against Biblical assurance, are digested without question by a majority of Western people.

Faith can move people and cast them to safety, yet many choose the opposite course ... the faithless lies and fears of faithless, atheistic and cowardly political leaders. Their grim picture of an enemy without and within is simply that; a picture bearing no resemblance to spiritual reality, and it's depths can only be fathomed if one can recognize and differentiate between "The God of creation" and "the god of fear, trepidation, and chaos" ... the god of lies and liars.

The Biblical verses above are an integral part to our understanding the world around us, and over the past few years I've rejected all political assurances that peace was possible in the Middle East. I rejected them because they were patent lies. Biblical Prophecy assures us that peace is not possible until after the world's nations are roundly defeated in bloody battle. Therefore all statements to the contrary are pure hokum and balderdash. So why do we still believe them? And why do we accept the subsequent theft of our God-given freedom and liberty?

"Avoiding (avoid) profane and vain babblings,
and oppositions of science falsely so called:"
— 1 Timothy 6:20(b)

To avoid "profane and empty babbling" from the mouths of ecologists and fear-mongers that collectively oppose Biblical truths with false science, is the way to go, otherwise we all become like them and join the club of "a final years Howard Hughes" and "Chicken Littles."

How far have we fallen then? Well far enough to believe the ranting and raving of silverspoon cowboys ... eight years that could have been golden, stealthily flushed down the toilet, to nourish their fears and heeere's Captain Kenya! Well that's what I'll most remember and thank G W for, is his unwavering quest to reject God and feed his fears enough to successfully have Obama fill his shoes and share in his faithless folly of "peace in the Middle East." Rampant and extreme stupidity.

Peace, peace, and then a sword. Peace, peace, and then Obama. Yes indeed, I have the intellect of a gnat, but my knowledge was not cooked up through foolish fears and imaginings, that's something I'm most proud of.

"The crown of the wise is their riches: but the foolishness of fools is folly."
— Proverbs 14:24

"The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart
fretteth against the LORD."
— Proverbs 19:3

I guess the bottom line is as follows. No matter who leads Western nations nowadays, they're all the wrong guys. Anything they promise, and rest assured they always do promise a multitude of things, inevitably turns to ash. Like my Pozzoni picture, the origins, the roots, of our leaders' good intentions are dark and unclear, unfathomable even, because what they present as honest plans fail to match up to our simple Biblical principles.

While G W Bush recently insisted that the "war against terrorism" should be foremost on Obama's agenda, the Bible reveals him as gravely mistaken, because first and foremost our war should be waged against the rising tide of atheism in the land, for atheism alienates a nation from God and subsequently that nation becomes easy prey to a host of potential enemies.

The war against terrorism is a smokescreen that conceals a far greater problem that has not been addressed, therefore the next four to eight years will prove to be darker than ever. And although what I've laid down may look most negative to the casual eye, it's really a foundation to help us focus on a potential way back, or forward as the case may be, because to my mind, the cause of our spiritual decay rests firmly in the political realm, and I believe there's one major reason for this decline, for when the Bible urges us to work with our hands that which is good, over the past few decades we've witnessed bums reaching the top, who've never performed a proper day's work in their life.

Yak-attack does not count as "working with your own hands," ask any skilled blue-collar and I guess they'll agree with that. Benjamin Franklin worked with his hands in numerous ways and invented things that proved, that on entering politics, he could readily relate to business, workers, and their needs.

So if ever new amendments are proposed to the electoral process, I recommend that no one should be eligible for presidential office if they haven't learned a skill, and held down a real job in a real market place with everyone else. After all, let's not forget that historically and Biblically the elders at the gate of any city, or any country, were people who had learned skills and worked their way through life, before they became eligible to make decisions over the people alongside their fellow elders.

To work with one's hands generates and sustains faith. To create and produce products, and market those items in a successful manner, is the root of any successful economy. Small to medium business and normal people make the world go round, and oil the wheels of industry. But when the tables get turned, and our leaders fear for the shadows, and enemies within and without, we see other nations taking up the slack and stealing our business. It's spiritual treachery and rebellion, yet for all right thinkers it's a reality, for others they fail to detect a distant though growing screech ... the screech of the banshee.

Yes indeed, I may have the intellect of a gnat, but my attention span and my hearing are most acute. It's cowboy logic, it's plain horse sense, and as the nose on one's face, that our priorities are ill-founded, and our energies are misdirected.

R B Fuller, who incidentally worked with his hands that which was good, and therefore should be heeded, said;

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes
the existing model obsolete."

And that's it in a nutshell. We need a new ballpark and a new ballgame. New rules and new players. Players who learned their skills and excelled at them. People who work with their hands according to their faith, and not ones who work with their lips according to their cheap and ill-founded irreligious and spiritless values.

This new picture is clear, true, and harbors no mysteries. It's a picture we all can relate to and follow on with. That, in my humble gnat-like opinion, is the way back, or the way forward, take your pick.

© Johnny D. Symon