OCPAC e-mail - debate comments & reflections on our trip to Israel

[Charlie Meadows]

Members and friends of the Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee (OCPAC)

++  AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

++  ANNOUNCEMENTS

++  REFLECTIONS ON THE DEBATES

++  OUR TRIP TO ISRAEL

++  AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, March 26th 2014, will be held at Olivet Baptist Church, 1201 Northwest 10th street in OKC. A big thanks to everyone last week arriving as early as possible so we could get started on time. We also had our largest crowd of around 130 folks since moving our meeting to Olivet last September.  

Please arrive as early as possible this week as we will be interviewing the candidates for the 5th Congressional district. Confirmed to attend are Shane Jett, Steve Russell, Harvey Sparks, and Mike Turner. If she can get away from Corporation Commission business, Patrice Douglas will attend and when I had breakfast with Senator Clark Jolley several weeks ago, he needed to check his calendar and I just haven’t had time to contacted him again for verification. 

Hopefully they will all be able to attend so our members have a chance to evaluate all of them at the same time. We will give each candidate 4 or 5 minutes (depending upon how many are present) to tell us anything they want, and then the rest of our time will be Q&A. I prefer folks getting to ask the questions themselves rather than having to write them down. However, I will insist it be a question and not a speech as time is of the essence since we will have so many candidates. All of our dues paying members present, having paid their dues as of March 12th, will be eligible to vote for an endorsement or vote to make no endorsement. We do endorse for federal races; however, we do not contribute to candidates for federal races.    

++  ANNOUNCEMENTS

*  TUESDAY  -  KONAWA AREA  -  The Konawa tea party will host their monthly meeting this Tuesday evening, March 25th 2014, 7:00 p.m. in the Kennedy Library-Dougan Room, at the Konawa school, 701 West South street.  Speakers will be school board candidates Katie Akerman and Marion Hatter, Senate District 28 candidates Jason Smalley, Danny Williams and Mike Ballard will be speaking as well as Linda Murphy speaking about Common Core. This is a great group of patriots and I urge folks to attend is you live within a reasonable radius of Konawa.

*  FRIDAY EVENING  -  OKC AREA  -  The Give Me Liberty tour will make its final appearance for the OKC area this Friday evening at Windsor Hills Baptist Church, 5517 Northwest 23rd street in OKC. The program begins at 6:00 p.m. and lasts for 2 hours. Plan on a little additional time if you want to view and hold the War of Independence muskets and other relics, many of which are nearing 250 years old. If you live in the metro area and haven’t seen this presentation as yet, you really need to make every effort to attend this Friday evening. 

++  REFLECTIONS ON THE DEBATES

It was encouraging to see the debates attracting larger than normal crowds which shows interest in substantive information. The luncheon debate between Senator Standridge and I at noon in Norman on March 4th drew a larger crowd than normal. We had our largest crowd at OCPAC since meeting at Olivet and the crowd at the Norman Tea Party was in excess of 150, the largest crowd in a long time for their monthly meetings.

The debate on Thursday evening was more substantive and on subject (even though I believe Bob and I lost on Thursday) than Wednesday’s debate at OCPAC which turned out to be more of a vicious attack upon the John Birch Society than a debate on Article V of the Constitution. To view the OCPAC debate log on to www.oklahomacpac.com, and see it for yourself. 

To be honest I was taken aback when Mr. Farris set the tone of the debate on Wednesday, with his vitriolic attack upon the John Birch Society and putting Bob and me in a difficult position. While Bob Donohoo and I are both members of the Society, we were not representing the Society in any kind of an official capacity and for us to spend time defending the Society rather than speaking to the issue of Article V, would have made it appear as if we were in an official capacity. 

Basically, Mr. Farris charged that the John Birch Society was a do nothing and ineffectual organization, full of cowardice, promoting the fairy tale of nullification and being responsible for the $17 trillion dollar national debt. On a more personal note he compared me to Sanballat and himself to Nehemiah in the Biblical account of God’s people rebuilding the broken walls in the city of Jerusalem (see the book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament).  

Now that I don’t have to take debate time to address Mr. Farris’ attacks I will do so now. First let me say this. I have high regard for the work he has done over the years in defending home school parents, the founding of Patrick Henry College, his work trying to influence election outcomes and his current state by state work on parental rights. I consider him a conservative ally and not the enemy, with our friction being about the best strategy to be used in pushing back against the overreach and tyranny of the federal government. There is certainly no debate over the constitutionality of an Article V constitutional convention, for it is available, the debate is whether or not it is wise strategy. 

I would say Mr. Farris stakes the majority of his hope for our future upon being able to amend the Constitution. We probably both agree that Congress is very unlikely to offer any substantive amendments to the states for ratification, so Mr. Farris wants to use the other part of Article V which provides for the states to call for another Constitutional Convention (Con-Con). If a convention were to be convened, it would be the first time in 227 years or the first time since the Philadelphia convention of 1787.

Since Mr. Farris is so invested in this strategy, I would suggest his anger and bitterness toward the Society is not because we are ineffective, but actually the opposite. Over the past 10 years our members have been successful in getting state lawmakers in approximately 15 states, including Oklahoma, to rescind all their previous calls for a con-con. 

In addition, the Birch Society along with Eagle Forum have been successful in preventing many states from issuing new calls for a con-con. Just this year, our efforts have been successful in defeating legislation calling for a con-con in Oklahoma, Utah, Montana, South Dakota and even Mr. Farris’ own state of Virginia. After the debate one of our OCPAC members asked him why he believed his own state of Virginia turned down a call for an Article V convention. He didn’t hesitate to proclaim it was the activities of the Birch Society that caused its defeat.

His allegations about cowardice are in regard to our unwillingness to even “TRY” the Article V convention method for amending the Constitution. The Birch Society opposition to a con-con is well founded as too risky, understanding the sin nature of man and how it plays out in ambitious agendas. Many of the delegates to the Philadelphia Convention violated the restrictions put on them by their individual states and rather then amend the Articles of Confederation (our first constitution), they created a completely new government. Over the past several decades there have been over 400 liberal or progressive organizations calling for another con-con.

Truth is, legislators voting for another con-con is the easy and less courageous way out. A lawmaker can cast a vote for a con-con, then dust his hands off and go home to tell his grandkids that he tried, he tried to make a difference. That lawmaker is likely not to have much more to do with the issue from that time forward. 

However, it takes a bucket full of courage for the governor and lawmakers to begin to nullify unconstitutional laws, explaining the path forward to their constituents while at the same time having to deal with the reactions of the federal government. It could well lead to a painful path forward, but only intellectual midgets are incapable of understanding there is no way out of the hole we have dug ourselves into without having to suffer pain to try and climb out of such a hole. 

Much like the government shutdown did not work, because many Republican lawmakers failed to support it and in fact tried to sabotage it by saying it won’t work, it won’t work, in the same way, it is much harder for nullification to work if conservatives are divided on this issue and folks like Mr. Farris are cutting the legs out from under other conservatives trying to get such a movement started.

My final point will be about what happens when any of us become so angry as to allow that anger to turn into bitterness and thus cloud our judgment. In a gall of bitterness, Mr. Farris made an irrational statement such as: the John Birch Society is responsible for our current $17 trillion dollar national debt.

Truth is, unconstitutional spending is responsible for our national debt as well as for our unfunded mandates. Nor other organization over the past 56 years has done more to curtail unconstitutional spending than the John Birch Society. For many years our members would purchase little stickers to put on our pieces of mail which read: “say no to Trillion dollar debt” For many years the Society would publish a TRIM (Tax Reform Immediately) bulletin 3 times a year for distribution by our members. There would be a bulletin for all 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives since the Constitution requires that all spending and taxing measures must originate in the House. Each bulletin would have 8 votes considered. To be in the bulletin, it had to be a final vote, be over a million dollars in spending or taxing and have a clear constitutional perspective to the vote. There have been many an April 15th where I would stand outside a post office door handing out these TRIM Bulletins, saying to the folks coming and going: “This is tax day, and this is how your congressman is voting to spend your tax dollars.” 

Try something like that some day or run for office and you will soon find out what America’s real problem happens to be. It is not a problem with our system, but rather we have a people problem in America. 

When the day comes that we have those 25 to 65 year old juvenile men finally grow up to a level of maturity to care at least as much about good citizenship as they do about the endless hours upon hours they spend watching sports or other venues of entertainment, we might have a chance to bring us back from the brink. 

In the same way, when the women of our country spend more effort educating themselves about establishing a home, raising their children and citizenship duties rather than watching endless hours of dancing with the harlots, American idolatry, and any other number of wasted diversions of time and energy, then and only then might we have hope in turning around our state and parts of our nation. 

Of course the underlying foundations for any of these things to happen is a Christian awakening. Where Biblical Christianity is healthy, conservatism will reign. When that is not the case, our society is headed for death, decay and destruction.                 

++  OUR TRIP TO ISRAEL

I have been asked by numerous folks to tell them about our trip to Israel and since time does not allow to tell it over and over again, I decided to relate it here for anyone interested. I will break it down in segments.

*  THE FLIGHT  -  We left Houston around 8:00 p.m., March 7th on a Turkish Airways Boeing 777 for a 13 hour flight time trip to Istanbul Turkey. One of the links on our personal monitors was a flight path visual. We basically flew North-Northeast past Montreal, through Greenland,  South of Iceland, North of the British Isles and then just West of the Ukraine into Istanbul. We had a short layover in Istanbul then boarded another 777 for our 2 hour flight into Tel-Aviv Israel. Our return home was basically the same as we left Tel-Aviv at 10 a.m. on Sunday the 16th, barely had time for our connection in Istanbul and then landed in Houston around 8:30 p.m. the same day. 

*  THE PEOPLE  -  Of the 44 people on the tour, probably only 4 of us knew Dr. Gary Crossland and his wife Carol before the tour. Most of the people on the tour had found it through an internet search or through the Passion Play in Eureka Springs Arkansas as the Passion Play has adopted Gary’s Merged Gospel Script for their outdoor drama beginning in 2013.

We had a pastor and wife from Emanuel Baptist Church in Altus who had received the trip as a gift for being the pastor for 25 years. 2 more folks from his church were on the trip. We had a home school family and friends representing 9 folks from Tulsa and then Linda and I from Oklahoma. We had a couple of folks from Ohio, a couple from Florida that were married on the trip, a couple from Iowa, Arkansas, Arizonian and the rest of the folks were from various parts of Texas. We bonded quickly and enjoyed each other a lot. Our youngest was Gary’s granddaughter at 8 and a couple of folks were around 78. Even at my age of 67, weight and having just gone through a sedentary winter, I made it fine though I had to huff and puff my way up and down numerous steps and hills all over the country of Israel. Gary is planning on taking another tour again next year during spring break time in Texas, log on to www.mergedgospels.com for more information. 

*  WHAT WE SAW  -  Linda and I went to Israel in 1980, 34 years ago during November. We loved that trip and saw many things we did not see on this trip. Conversely, I wanted something different this time and we sure got it with Gary’s tour as his “Jesus Only Tour” meant that about 75% of everything we viewed on this trip was different from what we experienced in 1980. 

Dr. Gary Crossland is a Christian apologist, theologian, historian, scientist and adventurer, who has as his goal to accurately put folks into what he refers to as the 3 foot circle of where Jesus was at some point in time according to God’s Word. While there are many churches or shrines throughout Israel to commerate a place or event, Gary has a great attitude about him as he constantly reminds folks to allow these places to be points of remembrance to stir the faith of Christ within us rather than to see these shrines as objects for men to worship. While Gary has a broad grasp of God’s Word, his main focus of study is on the events of the first century.

After landing in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening, March 8th, we had an hour and a half bus ride to the Maagan Kibbutz on the South shore of the Sea of Galilee. Kibbutz’s are basically socialist farming communes. The one in which we stayed the first 3 nights in Israel, was still an agriculture community, as they keep 300 head of dairy cows up on the Golan Heights while much of their crops are grown around the Sea of Galilee . However, they realized there was a lot of revenue to be made by creating a resort, which was truly in a beautiful setting, it even has a beautiful beach on the Sea of Galilee. Prior to Israel taking control of the Golan Heights during the 6 day war of 1967, this Kibbutz was taking rocket and sniper fire on a daily basis from radical Muslims up on the Golan Heights. The remainder of our nights in Israel were spent at the beautiful Olive Tree Hotel in Jerusalem.            

Following are some of the highlights of the things and places we visited. We went to Canaan, the location of the wedding feast where Jesus performed His first miracle by turning water into wine. While there, our couple from Florida were married in a small chapel on the grounds of the church built to commemorate the first miracle performed by Jesus. We went to the actual place Jesus fed the 5,000 and had explained how a message was delivered to a large number of people without the aid of electronics. 

In the ancient town of Magdalene we viewed the recently found Synagogue, which is currently an active archeological dig. We went for a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee and then returned to view the remains of a first century fishing boat which was discovered since we were there in 1980. The film on how it was discovered, reclaimed, preserved and now displayed was fascinating.

While at Capernaum, we saw the remains of a synagogue where Jesus would have gone to on several occasions and the remains of Peter’s house or actually the house of his mother in law. Since we were there in 1980, they have now build a large octagon building over the top of the remains. Not far from there, we climbed a hill to see a small cave where Jesus went to pray all night to the Father. This was off the beaten path and few groups go to this location.

We went to the remains of one of the cities of the Decapolis, the place where Jesus delivered the demoniac and cast the demons into the pigs. Of course like all tours we had a baptismal service in the Jordan river. However, unlike most tours which baptize on the river shortly after it exits out of the sea of Galilee, where it is serene and the water is clear, we went to the location where John baptized Jesus, where the river is muddy. 

Because of a time crunch and the fact that I am an ordained preacher, I was asked to help pastor Boyd from Altus perform the baptisms. Of the dozen or so I baptized, I had the privilege to baptize the former mayor of El Paso Texas and his wife as well as the couple from Florida that were married on the trip. The groom is new in the Lord and it was probably the first baptism for him. 

He is a successful investment broker and his beautiful bride was a former news director and on air personality for Fox News. Linda and I got along well with this couple and had several discussions with them about the Lord as they are very hungry to know the things of the Lord. One more thing about the baptismal area, about 8 or 10 feet behind me was a net right in the middle of the Jordan River which represented the border between Israel and Jordan. I contemplated swimming over to the other side of the river, but decided not to as I might have been shot by the Jordanian border guards, or if not, I might have been shot by the Israeli border guards when trying to return. No joke, the area was armed and the narrow road to the site was surrounded by fences with warning signs of mine fields on the other side of the fences.  

Another wonderful experience was to see Jericho, the oldest continuous city in the world. We took a tram ride over the remains of Jericho of Old Testament times, saw the remains of Jericho of New Testament times and of course saw Jericho of today. The tram took us to a cliff, where we then ascended another couple hundred steps to a monastery built around a cave in the wilderness where Jesus went to be ministered to by the angles after he had fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. It was a surreal experience and the view from the edge of the cliff was breathtaking. 

I particularly enjoyed going to Jacob’s well, which has both Old Testament significance as well as the place where Jesus ministered to the Samaritan woman. During the 70s the old church built on top of Jacob’s  well was in disrepair and the local Orthodox priest was killed by a Jewish settler. That is when the current priest, Justinian arrived. He is a gifted craftsman, deciding to use his God given talents to glorify God. Over the decades he has restored this church to a place of excellence and beauty. After putting a roof on the church, he built scaffolds inside and lay on his back to paint beautiful Icons on the ceilings much like Michael Angelo did in the Sistine Chapel. After greeting us he ran down into the cave area where the well is to work on crafts for sale, which helps to keep the doors open. At 78 he is still spry as can be. I bought a couple of small clay vessels which Justinian painted and filled with water from the well and corked them to sell for $5 each.  

I loved Nazareth, where Jesus grew up, and loved seeing the synagogue where He read from Isaiah about the Messiah, when he told those in His hearing that this day this prophecy was fulfilled in their hearing. It angered them so much that they rushed him to the edge of a high place to throw Him off, but the Word tells us He passed through them unharmed. We went to that high place, which is in a residential area today and off the beaten path for most tours.

Of course we went to Bethlehem to see the place of Jesus’ birth and in Jerusalem where we saw the place where he was crucified. We went to the Wailing Wall, the Temple Mount, Mount of Olives, Garden of Gethsemane and then the Kidron valley where we walked from its beginning, with the Mount of Olives on our left and the Temple Mount with the Golden Gate on our right, all the way down this valley to the Pool of Siloam. By the way, due to a heavy snow storm 2 years ago, which caused a stone wall to fall, the actual location of the pool of Siloam is now visible, though it is not completely excavated at this time. 

Another very interesting place was the jail where Jesus was kept between the time he was arrested and the time he went before Herod the next day. The jail was basically a cavern with a hole from the top side down through the roof of the cavern. Jesus would have been lowered down through the hole that night then brought up again the next day. 

I have only scratched the surface of the things we did and the places we visited. Jerusalem is a fascinating city, probably with a population nearing a million people. Though I personally detest large congested cities with seething masses of humanity (that is why I live in a rural area) it was well worth putting up with the crowds and congestion to get to see and relive this most important history (His-Story). I would urge every Christian to make an effort to do a pilgrimage to the Holy land at least once in their lifetime if at all possible. As pastor Paul Blair often says, a trip to Israel is like changing your personal Bible study from black and white into full color high definition. 

The price of the tour was $3700 and covered everything from Houston and back except the cost of lunch each day. Currently Gary is working on The Octagon Project which, when finished, will allow folks to do a virtual tour of Israel, we actually did a lot of filming during this trip for that project. For more information log on to: www.mergedgospels.com. 

I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.

Charlie Meadows

Charlie...@gmail.com 

To join OCPAC fill out the following and send your check to:

OCPAC

P.O. Box 2021

Edmond, OK 73083

Yes Charlie, I want to join OCPAC at one of the following levels:

___Basic membership at $50 per year.

Safari Club Membership:

___Elephant Provider at ___$180 annual or ___$15 monthly

___Elephant Provider & RINO Hunter, ___$360 annual or ___$30 monthly

For monthly payments please send a voided check so we may draft your

Checking account on a monthly basis. If you decide to discontinue

monthly support, simply contact me and we will stop the withdrawal.

THE FOLLOWING IS REQUIRED BY STATE LAW !

Print Name____________________________________________

Address___________________City___________State____Zip_____

Occupation____________________Employer_________________

Date___________________Amount $_______________

I have freely given from my own resources & have not been compensated

for this contribution. (Corporate contributions not allowed by law!)

Signature_____________________________________