Posted on 05/02/2003 10:25:00 PM PDT by Luis Gonzalez
I had an epiphany yesterday.
I awoke the same man that I have always been, well, the man that I have been since Good Friday three years past, but laid in restless slumber someone else, well into the wee hours of the night.
Several things...
The newspaper headlines read like some absurd black comedy, and my nightmare sustained life even in my wakefulness.
In the aftermath of the most hideous and offensive display of oppression and absolute disregard for human rights, the Cuban government, unrepentant in their maliciousness, reveling in the putrid chest-beating of it’s surely disease-ridden Head-of-State, openly asserted their right to murder, and incarcerate their citizenry, laughing in the face of any country where men have a semblance of conscience, with no regard for international law, international pressure, or common, human decency.
For these actions, and the many, many more similar actions of savagery, murder, and repression, the Cuban government was awarded with another three-year term in the United Nation’s Commission on Human Rights; the crackdown on Cuba’s dissidents having begun as the Cuban attaché arrived in Geneva to attend the annual meeting of the panel, the panel's proclamation punctuated by the sounds of the firing squads in Havana.
Then, I saw the following in an article on the May Day celebration in Havana:
"Addressing the May Day crowd, the Rev. Lucius Walker Jr., an American pastor who has long backed Castro's government, said that Cuba is "loved, respected, appreciated and supported by millions of U.S. citizens.""Cuba: you are a world leader in human rights and respect for human life," said Walker, pastor of Salvation Baptist Church in Brooklyn and executive director of New York-based Pastors for Peace."
My mind reeled at the thought, and at the bizarre, surreal quality to the news.
Then I received an e-mail.
I’ve translated the text below, text that did something to me.
It’s a sermon, delivered by a simple man of God, from the pulpit of a small Church in a country where religion is considered sin.
It’s bravery at its purest form, heroism in its humblest manifestation; it’s love and courage, and undaunted determination in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds.
It is the essence of the heart of the many who ran into the flames as others ran out, or that rushed the cockpit with little more than the hope of dying as they had lived…proud, and free.
It’s courage, raw and vibrant, it's belief in the ultimate triumph of good over evil, and in the awesome power of freedom.
1 Cor.6:9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Rom.10:8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."
John 5:24 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
John 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 "And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
Acts 20:20 "I [Paul] kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, 21 "testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
Outstanding news.
The contrast between Padre Conrado and the sham pastor couldn't be starker. One risks everything to preach and live the Gospel. The other who travels to Cuba to praise Castro, risks nothing and preaches a false gospel of the anti-Christ.
Viva Cristo Rey!
Well said, succinct and spot on! Thanks for the heads up.
There is a sub-set of lunatic loons who appear to wish the end of American society as we know it. Like the Nazis and the communists in Weimar Germany, they have a great deal in common as ... potential destroyers --- of the social fabric.
I have engaged in several debates in the last few days, and I admire FreeRepublic as a forum for the free expression of ideas, but the overwhelming presence of this bunch of loons is very off-putting.
Lenin is supposed to have said that capitalists would sell him the rope by which they were to be hung. The “anarcho-loons” on this forum would not bother to sell the rope but provide it as a public service.
401 posted on 05/06/2003 5:54 PM PDT by moneyrunner (I have not flattered its rank breath, nor bowed to its idolatries a patient knee.)
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