Volume XVI, Issue XXIV
Josiah
By Bob Kirchman
Copyright © 2019, The Kirchman Studio, all rights reserved
Chapter 10: Quandary
Young Josiah Zimmerman knocked on the office door of Abiyah Ben-Gurion. “Come in.” Professor Ben-Gurion said. “I am deep in a quandary.” The young man said.
Ben-Gurion loved young Zimmerman. The young man had originally arrived at the school to study Aerospace Engineering but after a stirring talk by Dr. Greene in chapel, he experienced what the old-timers call the ‘Burning Bosom.’ Persuasive and articulate, the young man saw his gifts most applicable to some sort of evangelism, but he still loved the sciences. As with many young people who are so blessed, young Zimmerman struggled with his calling and his passion, and that is why he sought out Ben-Gurion. Abiyah was a deeply rational man, but he seemed to understand that man was more than a rational machine. The professor’s walls were filled with amazing floral photography that he had taken. He was quiet about his faith, but it was well known that he always left his office on Fridays long before Sundown. He often slipped over to Wales in time to be there when it was Saturday so he could worship in the manner of his Fathers. His voice reading the Holy scrolls was known only to a few people, but they knew it was beautiful.
What his students saw was the strength of his character. He was tough, but fair. He met you at eye level and would listen. He was downright reluctant to give up on a student. He had helped Josiah Zimmerman understand that his heartfelt need to study Spiritual matters was a good thing. “The Divine will see to it that you have opportunity. You, my friend, must keep your eyes open and learn to recognize it.”
Ben-Gurion, at the moment, was wrestling too. He had just received the latest transcript of West and Josiah’s conversation on Mars. “Those Martians are like sheep without a shepherd,” he thought to himself. Peering at the young man seated across the desk from him he wondered, “Could this man be the answer.”
The reassimilation proposal had been floated with Josiah of Mars. He in turn had visited the Council with it. Not surprisingly, the APOLLONIUS faction was against it. Those closer to Josiah and Allison were cautiously interested in hearing more. As a group, they met the repatriation proposal with a resounding sentiment of “Not so fast.”
Ten spaces sat waiting in the lander. No one would step up to be first to go. Josiah might have been tempted but there were a few things that stopped him cold. First of all, he sensed that the volatile colony might indeed disintegrate upon his departure. More than once, he and Allison had defused some tense situations in the new colony with some old fashioned thinking. Josiah shuddered as he thought of how close the colony had come to chaos. He didn’t love his job, but he feared the vacuum.
He and Allison had children. If everyone dear to Josiah returned with him there would be room for only a couple of other colonists. Josiah would not leave his family, especially to an uncertain future. Their children knew nothing else than the red world they inhabited now with its green biospheres. If more landers were available in the future it would be fine but that would require some negotiations and some guarantees.
(to be continued)
“Painting Flowers on the Wall”
…Madeline Maas in Guatemala
Madeline Maas, designer of the 'Staunton Sunflowers' Mural, adds her hand to a mural painted by young people in Guatemala.
A Horse Named 'Socks'
[click to read]
Risen Ridge Ministry's First Horse!
By Jen Beck
On Saturday, June 8th, I got a phone call from a woman named Joanne. She introduced herself and began to tell me how she felt that Risen Ridge was an answer to her prayers. You see, due to her health, she is unable to ride anymore and needed a home for her horse, Socks. She got him when he was 4 years old and he just turned 19. This was her baby! She thought that he would be a great horse to work with veterans and people with PTSD. A friend of a friend told her about Risen Ridge, she looked up our website, and gave us a call. Not only did she want to donate her horse, but she wanted to donate a lot of horse equipment, too. She had 3 horses and, while the others had moved on already, she was waiting for the Lord to lead her to where Socks should go and she felt very strongly that the Lord lead her to Risen Ridge. We spoke for a long time, got some details about Socks and his background, and decided that we would come take a look at him to see if he would be a good fit for Risen Ridge. (read more)
Building the Pennsylvania Turnpike
Building the Massachusetts Turnpike
Valuing Human Life
Pope Francis Speaks Out about Abortion
Trinity Church, Staunton, Virginia
Photo by Bob Kirchman
A “War of the Worlds”
The Media Learns of its Power
People tuning in to CBS Radio on Halloween eve in 1938 were surprised to learn that “Earth was being invaded from Mars.” “Ladies and Gentlemen, we interrupt our program of dance to bring you a special bulletin.” Listeners were told that a fiery object had crashed in the countryside near Trenton, New Jersey. The announcer described the object as a huge cylinder. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is the most terrifying thing I have ever witnessed! Someone’s crawling out of the hollow top!” The terrifying scenario intensified as the mobilization of the army and the evacuation of New York City were described in great detail. Terrified citizens heard this broadcast and began to panic. They packed their cars and prepared to escape
A lot of people tuned in that evening after the announcement at 8:00pm that CBS was presenting a dramatization of H. G. Wells' Victorian classic “War of the Worlds.” As ‘Carl Phillips,’ actually actor Frank Readick, described the ‘invasion,’ many who had missed the announcement believed an actual invasion of Martians was taking place. The next day the national news media was filled with stories of how the fictional invasion had produced real panic.
The media had learned of its power.
People are extremely motivated by fear. This broadcast came just after Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia and there was growing genuine uncertainty about the security of Europe. Not only did U. S. broadcasters take note, but Stalin and Hitler did as well. The media, playing on genuine fears, could motivate the population into a frenzied response. Vannever Bush, FDR’s top science advisor, took note as well. Annie Jacobsen, in her book Area 51, describes how so-called ‘Black Operations,’ technology for future Armageddons, was sold to the public and the government through just such purposed hype.
The American press continued to discover their power to persuade. Saul David Alinsky masterfully created the art of rallying a community against a ‘common enemy.’ Some external antagonist would become the focus of urgent warfare and absolute defeat. “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Became one of his “Rules for Radicals.” Irrational fear of the unknown became a powerful media commodity. It has indeed remained so.
Conservative media today is heavily sponsored by gold merchants and ‘alternative investment’ strategists who all claim to know that the end is near and “here’s what to do to survive it.” Indeed, markets fluctuate and currencies sometimes fail, but usually these pitches end with a “buy my newsletter” offer rather than substantive analysis. Remember defrocked televangelist Jim Bakker? Well, he’s back on television. No longer does he offer a ‘prosperity gospel’ as he did in the past. Today, sporting a goatee and accompanied by a new blond wife to replace Tammy Faye, he hawks $2000 ‘survival buckets.’ The camera pans to his audience, a collection of elderly white people that somehow resembles a great flock of placid sheep. Today his guest is self-proclaimed prophet Jonathan Cahn. Cahn deftly mixes Kabbalah (a form of Jewish mysticism) and Scripture to paint an alarming end-times scenario. The problem is that people actually respond out of fear and send their money in.
Lacking in Bakker’s preaching is the true Scriptural admonition: “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.” – Phillipians 4:6-9. The Scripture does not diminish the importance of true planning and preparedness, but rather encourages us to do so in the light of a greater reality.
Perhaps nowhere is more filled with this than the world of modern politics. The photo below is a campaign mailer from an incumbent Virginia Senator about his challenger in a recent primary. The great irony is that this Senator is well known for saying one thing to his constituents and then throwing his vote with the other party, usually explaining it away under the guise of “needing to compromise to get things done” or “it is the fiscally responsible thing to do.” When Tina Freitas challenged the incumbent Senator, she was looking forward to a healthy debate on the actual record. Instead she was the brunt of this Alinskyesque counter-campaign. What was lost was a healthy dialogue about the responsibilities of representative government. We are the poorer for it.
An example of 'fauxtojournalism.' This unflattering image was actually taken from the photo below where Ms. Freitas and her husband Nick participated in a solemn wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery.
Photo: Tina Freitas Campaign.
The realization of this problem is the beginning of solving it. What if, instead of wildly packing the car on that evening in 1938 Mr. Trentonite had decided to call the radio station or the police department. He would have learned that the invasion was a fabrication. We should always inform ourselves on the issues that matter to us and know who to call when in question. We should do our homework. We should do our own research. This means going deeper than ‘Snopes’ or Politfact. [1.] We need to find the intelligent conversations – and listen.
The Two Voices
Reflections on Faith
[click to read]
In the movie: “The Longest Day,” which tells the story of Operation Overlord, the D-Day invasion of Normandy, John Wayne plays Lt. Col. Benjamin Vandervoort, commander of the 89th Division. There is a moment when he comes upon a road sign pointing out the direction to St. Mere Eglise, their objective. His men have already dutifully began to march in that direction.
Suddenly the General calls out: “Am I the only one in this unit that uses a compass?”
It turns out that the enemy has turned the sign around to lead them the wrong way! Vandervoort orders his men to turn around. He glances toward the sign: “Knock it Down!” he orders. And so we consider the voices that speak to us… offering to direct us, in our own day and time. How do we know which signs are right? What ‘compass’ is there to guide us? Are there signs around us that we should knock down? (read more)
Mountain Maple Blossoms
Maple Blossoms in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Photo by Bob Kirchman.
Monet Moments
Photographs by Bob Kirchman
Mary Gray Mountain, Staunton, Virginia. Photo by Bob Kirchman.
Sherando Lake, Augusta County, Virginia. Photo by Bob Kirchman.
Joseph Bryan Park, Richmond, Virginia. Photo by Bob Kirchman.
