Saturday, May 31, 2008

Sojourner Truth - anti-slavery and for women's rights

Isabella Baumfree (1797–November 26, 1883) was the name she was given at birth, but God renamed her: Sojourner "because I was to travel up an' down the land, showin' the people their sins, an' bein' a sign unto them." She soon asked God for a second name, "'cause everybody else had two names; and the Lord gave me Truth, because I was to declare the truth to the people."

To me, she has the prefect name for a Christian living for Christ at the beginning of a new millennium. We are to see ourselves as travelers in a foreign land speaking out boldly for truth to ears that do not want to hear or be disturbed in the midst of their pleasure.

All of Sojourner's days of slavery were in the North not the South. She lived in New York, 95 miles north of New York City. Slaves were freed in NY on July 4th, 1827. She spoke only Dutch in her youth and carried the accent all her life. When she was 9 years old she was sold to John Neely who raped and beat her every day, she reported. She was beaten by others for her speeches and stand.

Reminiscences by Frances Gage of the Women's Rights Convention, Akron, Ohio, May 1851.
"There were very few women in those days who dared to "speak in meeting"; and the august teachers of the people were seemingly getting the better of us, while the boys in the galleries, and the sneerers among the pews, were hugely enjoying the discomfiture, as they supposed, of the "strong-minded." Some of the tender-skinned friends were on the point of losing dignity, and the atmosphere betokened a storm. When, slowly from her seat in the corner rose Sojourner Truth, who, till now, had scarcely lifted her head. "Don't let her speak!" gasped half a dozen in my ear. She moved slowly and solemnly to the front, laid her old bonnet at her feet, and turned her great speaking eyes to me. There was a hissing sound of disapprobation above and below. I rose and announced "Sojourner Truth," and begged the audience to keep silence for a few moments."

"The tumult subsided at once, and every eye was fixed on this almost Amazon form, which stood nearly six feet high, head erect, and eyes piercing the upper air like one in a dream. At her first word there was a profound hush. She spoke in deep tones, which, though not loud, reached every ear in the house, and away through the throng at the doors and windows."

"Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the Negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about?

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen (historians say she had five) children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?

Then they talk about this thing in the head; what's this they call it? [member of audience whispers, "intellect"] That's it, honey. What's that got to do with women's rights or Negroes' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it. The men better let them.

Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say.”
--Sojourner Truth

Her last words were "Be a follower of the Lord Jesus." This is the best advice anyone could ever give!

William Wetmore Story, the son of famed Supreme Court Chief Justice, Joseph Story sculpted his "Libyan Sibyl" and it is said to be modeled on Sojourner Truth. It is on display at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art. His "Angel of Grief" is one of my favorite statures, especially the copy in the Friendship Cemetary in Columbus, MS. My 5th great grandfather, Charles Story, is reputed to be from this family but I have found no connection.

Friday, May 30, 2008

Family Women's Suffrage and Temperance leaders

I am proud of the strong women in my family history. I never have been able to understand the feminists and their version of history with helpless women who hated their family responsibilities. I work in the prolife movement as the director of a Pregnancy Center which seeks to assist women to affirm their bodies, their pregnancies and their children. We also provide healing through Jesus Christ to women to have made poor choices. Here are two distant relatives who helped women get the right to vote and who helped to protect their families from the troubles which come from the abuse of alcohol.

Zerelda Wallace is a great niece of my great grandfather, Nathaniel Chalfant. Corporal Nathan Chalfant served in the War of 1812 under her grandfather, Lt. Col. Presley Gray.

Copied from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Zerelda G. Wallace
Zerelda Gray Sanders Wallace (August 6, 1817 – March 19, 1901) was a First Lady of Indiana, a contemporary of Susan B. Anthony, an early temperance and women's suffrage leader, a charter member of Central Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Indianapolis, and stepmother of Lew Wallace, author of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.

Early life and family
Born Zerelda Gray Sanders, August 6, 1817 in Kentucky , she came to Indianapolis with her family in the early 1830s . She was a charter member of the Church of Christ in 1834 (later renamed Central Christian Church) which went on to be the "mother church" of all Disciples of Christ congregations in Indiana. She was elected the first president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union of Indiana in 1874 and was a member of the Equal Suffrage Society of Indiana.

She married David Wallace on December 25, 1836; they had six children, Mary, Ellen, Sanders, Jemina, Agnes and David. She was stepmother to Wallace's three sons from his first marriage to Esther French Test. Her stepsons were William, Lewis and Edward. David Wallace became the sixth governor of Indiana, serving from December 6, 1837 to December 9, 1840.

Temperance and suffrage leader
Zerelda spoke nationally on temperance and suffrage. On January 21, 1875, she testified before the Indiana General Assembly, presenting 21,050 signatures on temperance petitions from 47 counties. (Do you see that petitions have a long and effective history?) On January 23, 1880, Zerelda testified before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary on women's right to vote. She died March 19, 1901 and is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.

Zerelda Wallace became a temperance leader first in the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ, when in 1883 she refused communion at Central Christian Church because of her convictions about alcohol. Her refusal eventually led to the use of grape juice rather than wine at communion celebrated during each worship service of the Disciples of Christ.

An Indiana State Historical Marker was erected in Zerelda Wallace's honor in 2004 along Fort Wayne Avenue in downtown Indianapolis on the grounds of the Central Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The marker is located on Fort Wayne Avenue, an angle street, in the block between Alabama and Delaware Streets. Indiana's first female lieutenant governor, Kathy Davis, led the dedication ceremony for the marker.

Caroline Thomas Merrick was the sister of my great, great, grandmother, Ellen Aurelia Thomas Miller. Here is a copied biography. The book that Caroline wrote in 1906 is available on line.

Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Person in Cyclopedia Form, Vol. 5, pp. 298 - 299.

Merrick, Caroline E., was a daughter of Capt. David and Elizabeth (Patillo) Thomas. She was born at Cottage Hall, parish of East Feliciana, LA., Nov 24, 1825, died in New Orleans, LA, 29 March 1908. Her father was a native of South Carolina and a soldier in the War of 1812, settling afterward in LA where he became a prominent planter.

Mrs. Merrick was secretary of the board of St. Ann's Asylum for Widows for 12 years, and in the constitutional convention of 1879 she with Mrs. Saxon petitioned the convention to remove those disabilities which restricted the independent action of women, and to grant them a vote in educational matters, since many were large tax payers. The convention gave them a public hearing, at which Mrs. Harriett Keating, of New York, and Mrs. Saxon spoke, and Mrs. Merrick made the concluding address. Her husband, Edwin Thomas Merrick - former Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, encouraged her to the undertaking which resulted in the concession which enabled women of 21 years and older to hold any managerial position under the school laws of the state.

Another constitutional convention was held in 1899 and another opportunity was afforded Mrs. Merrick and her associates to plead their cause. They begged for power for to sign notarial acts, to witness wills, to own their own wardrobes, to draw their own money from banks without written authorization from their husbands, and to exercise municipal suffrage. But the convention revoked the concessions granted in 1879, and gave in its place only the small privilege of voting when a question of imposing taxes came up, a privilege restricted to tax paying women. Mrs. Merrick continued to work for the enfranchisement of women in her own state and elsewhere. She was made honorary vice president for life of the Woman's Suffrage Association of LA when she resigned the presidency in 1900. For 10 years she was president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Louisiana, and was one of the first presidents of the Woman's general society of which she became honorary vice president.

She was the author of published stories of pronounce literary merit and of a volume of recollections of her own times entitled "Old Times in Dixie Land". She was a notable example of what a woman may do when actively interested in public and private benevolence, and at the same time maintain her position as a leader in domestic circles.

"She is clothed with strength and dignity." Proverbs 31:25a Hurrah for women who know their minds and speak them!

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Prince Caspian

We went to see PRINCE CASPIAN yesterday. Movieguide gave it 4 *'s (their highest rating and +1 for acceptablity) and found it to be an exciting, fantastic epic in the tradition of LORD OF THE RINGS. (Like LOTR it is basically a war/battle movie with some good lines and beautiful scenery.) Despite some loose ends, it re-imagines the C. S. Lewis book’s story, which is about having faith in God through the Christ figure of Aslan. (Aslan does not appear as much in the film as He does in the book which is too bad.) Ultimately it is God who determines the future of Narnia (and of America). MOVIEGUIDE® commends the filmmakers for being faithful to the book’s spiritually uplifting, redemptive themes. They turned a complex plot into an exciting adventure.

I am a Christian

In recent days I have run across several versions of the poem, When I say, "I am a Christian."

Here is the original poem.

When I say, "I am a Christian," I'm not shouting, "I've been saved!"I'm whispering, "I get lost! That's why I chose this way"
When I say, "I am a Christian," I don't speak with human pride I'm confessing that I stumble-needing God to be my guide
When I say, "I am a Christian," I'm not trying to be strong, I'm professing that I'm weak and pray for strength to carry on
When I say, "I am a Christian," I'm not bragging of success,
I'm admitting that I've failed and cannot ever pay the debt
When I say, "I am a Christian," I don't think I know it all, I submit to my confusion asking humbly to be taught
When I say, "I am a Christian," I'm not claiming to be perfect, my flaws are far too visible but God believes I'm worth it
When I say, "I am a Christian," I still feel the sting of pain, I have my share of heartache which is why I seek His name
When I say, "I am a Christian," I do not wish to judge, I have no authority--I only know I'm loved. Copyright 1988 Carol Wimmer

Next is the version, incorrectly attributed to Maya Angelou, I posted in a letter sent to friends and family.

When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not shouting 'I'm clean livin'' I'm whispering 'I was lost, Now I'm found and forgiven.'
When I say... 'I am a Christian' I don't speak of this with pride. I'm confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide.
When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not trying to be strong. I'm professing that I'm weak and need His strength to carry on.
When I say.. 'I am a Christian' I'm not bragging of success. I'm admitting I have failed and need God to clean my mess.
When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not claiming to be perfect, My flaws are far too visible, but God believes I am worth it.
When I say... 'I am a Christian' I still feel the sting of pain.. I have my share of heartaches, so I call upon His name.
When I say... 'I am a Christian' I'm not holier than thou, I'm just a simple sinner Who received God's good grace, somehow!'

Graham Weeks posted it this way and said, "I received this from an Afghan Christian friend who is suffering for his faith."

When I say, "I Am A Christian - A Follower of Jesus Christ" ... I am not screaming that I am HOLY! - I am only whispering that I was lost and now I am found and forgiven.
When I say, "I Am A Christian" ... I am not saying this with pride. I am only confessing that I slip and I am a sinner and I need Christ to guide me.
When I say, "I Am A Christian" ... I am not trying to be strong. I only confess that I am weak and to continue my life I need His Power.
When I say, "I Am A Christian" ... I am not proud of my achievements. I only accept that I have failed and need God to fix my life and my wrong doings.
When I say, "I Am A Christian" ... I am not claiming to be perfect. My weaknesses and failures are obvious, but God values me.
When I say, "I Am A Christian" ... I am not immune to pain and suffering. I have my share of pain and suffering, so I trust in His Name.
When I say, "I Am A Christian" ... I am not saying I am holier than you. I am nothing but a sinner who has received the Grace of God - His forgiveness through Jesus Christ. "

I must say like Graham, I like the last version best and thank God I can say, I am a Christian.

This quote goes well with it.

For whatever reason God chose to make man as he is--limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death--He had the honesty and courage to take His own medicine. Whatever game He is playing with His creation, He has kept His own rules and played fair. He can exact nothing from man that He has not exacted from Himself. He has Himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death. When He was a man, He played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it was well worthwhile.... Dorothy L. Sayers, Christian Letters to a Post- Christian World [1969]

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Bear Story

Today I would love to be a bear. This was an email I received from a cousin. The writer must have shared it as part of her Sunday School lesson. Forget the reincarnation junk and smile.

"Hey ladies! Several of you asked for the bear story from my lesson yesterday, (glad you go for the spiritual stuff ), so here it is...In this life I'm a woman.
In my next life, I'd like to come back as a bear. When you're a bear, you get to hibernate. You do nothing but sleep for six months. I could deal with that.
Before you hibernate, you're supposed to eat yourself stupid. I could deal with that too.
When you're a girl bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) while you're sleeping and wake to partially grown, cute, cuddly cubs. I could definitely deal with that.
If you're a mama bear, everyone knows you mean business. You swat anyone who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too. I could deal with that.
If you're a bear, your mate EXPECTS you to wake up growling. He EXPECTS that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat.
Yup---gonna be a bear."

Thank you, Lady Bird

My daughter and I drove to North Carolina for the weekend, enjoying the wildflowers by the side of the highways along the way. Thank you, Lady Bird Johnson, for a great idea full of natural beauty. I would love to visit Texas and see the Blue Bonnets around the Lyndon Baines Johnson
Ranch when they are in bloom. I was hoping the Jenna Bush wedding photos had blue bonnets as a backdrop but I don't see any in the released photos. (Henry's father, Lt. Gov. John Hager, spoke at our Assist Pregnancy Center Banquet a few years ago.) I enjoy the beautification projects that Mrs. Johnson inspired here in the D. C. area as well. Here is an edited bio of my distant relative, Lady Bird.

Mrs. Lyndon Baines Johnson was born Claudia Alta Taylor in Karnack, Texas on December 22, 1912. She died in Austin, Texas on July 11, 2007 at the age of 94 and was buried beside her husband in the family cemetery at the LBJ Ranch in Stonewall, Texas.

Mrs. Johnson's father was Thomas Jefferson Taylor, owner of a general store who declared himself "dealer in everything." Her mother, Minnie Pattillo Taylor, died when the little girl was but five-years old. She had two older brothers, Tommy and Tony. After her mother's death, Mrs. Johnson's Aunt Effie Pattillo moved to Karnack to look after her. At an early age, a nursemaid said she was "as purty as a lady bird" -- thereafter she became known to her family and friends as "Lady Bird." Mrs. Johnson grew up in the "Brick House" and attended a small rural elementary school in Harrison County, Texas. She graduated from Marshall High School in 1928, and attended Saint Mary's Episcopal School for Girls in Dallas from 1928 to 1930.

Mrs. Johnson entered the University of Texas in 1930 and received a bachelor of arts degree in 1933 with a major in history. She earned a journalism degree in 1934. Many colleges and universities have awarded Mrs. Johnson honorary degrees. Throughout her life, she supported and was very interested in the activities of the Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Museum and the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, both located on The University of Texas campus in Austin.

After a whirlwind courtship, Claudia Alta Taylor and Lyndon Baines Johnson were married on November 17, 1934 at Saint Mark's Episcopal Church in San Antonio, Texas. Two daughters were born to the Johnsons: Lynda Bird Johnson (1944) (Mrs. Charles S. Robb) resides in Virginia; and Luci Baines Johnson (1947) (married to Ian Turpin) lives in Austin, Texas. Mrs. Johnson had seven grandchildren -- one boy and six girls -- and eleven great-grandchildren. President Johnson died at his beloved LBJ Ranch on January 22, 1973.

Mrs. Johnson was the author of A White House Diary, a record of her activities which she kept during the years her husband served as the 36th President of the United States. About writing A White House Diary, Mrs. Johnson said, "I was keenly aware that I had a unique opportunity, a front row seat, on an unfolding story and nobody else was going to see it from quite the vantage point that I saw it." She also co-authored Wildflowers Across America with Carlton Lees.

In 1977, President Gerald Ford presented Mrs. Johnson with this country's highest civilian award, the Medal of Freedom. Mrs. Johnson received the Congressional Gold Medal from President Ronald Reagan in 1988.

First and foremost, Mrs. Johnson was an environmentalist, and she was an active worker on innumerable projects. In Washington, she enlisted the aid of friends to plant thousands of tulips and daffodils which still delight visitors to our nation's Capital. The Highway Beautification Act of 1965 was the result of Mrs. Johnson's national campaign for beautification. In 1999, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt presented Mrs. Johnson with the Native Plant Conservation Initiative Lifetime Achievement Award. At that time he said, "Mrs. Johnson has been a 'shadow’ Secretary of the Interior' for much of her life."

Mrs. Johnson was honorary chairman of the LBJ Memorial Grove on the Potomac in Washington, D. C. On her 70th birthday in 1982, Mrs. Johnson founded the National Wildflower Research Center, a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the preservation and re-establishment of native plants in natural and planned landscapes. In December, 1997, the Center was renamed the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in honor of Mrs. Johnson's 85th birthday. In December 1972, President and Mrs. Johnson gave the LBJ Ranch house and surrounding property to the people of the United States as a national historic site, retaining a life estate in the Ranch. Mrs. Johnson continued to live at the Ranch in Stonewall, Texas until her death. She was a member of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Fredericksburg, Texas.

Lady Bird or Claudia Alta Taylor was the daughter of Thomas Jefferson Taylor III and Minnie Lee Patillo and 5 generations ago we shared grandparents, George Alexander Pattillo and Martha Varner. Here is some information on our common ancestor.

George Alexander PATTILLO Birth: 1720 in Dundee, Angus County, Scotland Death: 9 Jun 1798 in Lunenburg, Charlotte County, Virginia
" George Alexander Pattillo, b. ca. 1720 in Scotland; d. 9 June 1798, Charlotte Co., Va. Married Martha Varner (Varnor, Vernon) of Penn. in Va., 1 July 1757. She was b. 1 Feb. 1735.
George came from Dundee, Angus County, Scotland to America with his brother, Henry Pattillo in 1740. George and his younger brother, Henry, had supposedly been in Penn. before moving to Va. They were closely associated with a large group of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians who had emigrated about 1734, by way of Penn., to the southern part of Virginia. The group we speak of settled in and around Cub Creek, Charlotte Co., then Lunenburg Co. John Caldwell seemed to be the leader of this particular group as the area near Cub Creek was known as the "Caldwell Settlement"(His grandson was Vice President John C. (Caldwell) Calhoun.) They helped establish Washington College and now Washington and Lee University and Hampden Sydney College.

It was located near Phenix near the Red Hill home of Patrick Henry. In 1742, the first log church was built as one of the first 6 churches of the first Presbytery of VA and it was used until 1820. The church was established in 1738 on more than 30,000 acres on Cub Creek by the colony of Scotch-Irish. In May 1739, John Caldwell got permission from the Synod of Philadelphia to ask the Governor of Virginia "with suitable instructions in order to procure ther favour of the government of that province to the laying a foundation of our interest in that place and to ask for the Colony Liberty of Conscience and the priviledge of worshiping God in a way agreeable to the principles of our education."

William Caldwell executed a deed, 2 Apr. 1751, in Lunenburg Co., Va., for the conveyance of one acre of ground on his land for a burial place to thirty-one men in his neighborhood. Among these men whose families we find closely associated with the Pattillo family were David Logan, James Logan, John Middleton, Isaac Vernon (Varner, Varnon) and Henry Pattillo. (Va. Hist. Mag., Vol. XVIII, pp. 40-41)

I hope you note that my claims to be Empress have some faint historic facts to support them. :)

Friday, May 9, 2008

Happy 60th Birthday ISRAEL May 8 2008

Happy Birthday, Israel. May there be peace in Jerusalem and throughout the land. Israel turned 60 on May 8th on the Jewish calendar. "We salute the brave men and women whom God brought back to the Holy Land to fulfill the prophecies of Ezekiel 36 & 37 -- to rebuild the ancient ruins, make the deserts bloom, create an "exceedingly great army" and forge a homeland to protect and defend the Jewish people from all enemies, foreign and domestic." (Joshua Fund)

God says: "I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. They will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them a singleness of heart and action so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good and will most assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul." (Jeremiah 32:37-41).

I am old enough to remember the excitement many expressed in seeing prophesy fulfilled in the early years of the nation of Israel. Certainly I grew up with an expectation of the soon return of Christ the Messiah to the earth. My expectation remains but, hey, Christians in the first century looked for the Messiah too. I am praying for the success of Jews for Jesus' "Behold Your God Campaign" which is underway.

When we spent two weeks in Israel in 1970, we decided that Israel would be a country we would enjoy living in. As we came in to the airport at Tel Aviv, we were addressed in Hebrew repeatedly. The customs men would not believe we were not Sabra (native born) or that at least
we had relatives in the country. It was late on Friday afternoon and when we went to the taxi stand I was questioned as to why a "good Jewish girl" was traveling, as the Sabath was about to begin. I stated I was a Christian so the man spit on the ground stating, "Well, that explains it." It was a funny experience as I attended University High School in West Los Angeles, CA. The high school was nearly empty on the Jewish High Holiday days and we Gentiles used to say, "Unihi was 99 and 44/100% Jewish."

I loved seeing the sites where Jesus and other Biblical persons walked. Salvations history played out in time, space and history. Denny and I really enjoy the DVD's by Ray Vander Laan, founder of That the World May Know Ministries. You are see the places of Biblical history through them.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Veggie murder

In a culture which has little respect for the unwanted child in the womb, I thought this was a new low in craziness. With the thought expressed below, everytime you have a salad at a table with a floral arrangement you have become a mass murderer.

Switzerland Ethics Committee Calls for the Right to Life of PlantsBern, Switzerland (LifeNews.com) -- A group of Swiss experts are arguing that plants deserve the right to life and that killing them is morally wrong except when it comes to saving humans. In a report on "the dignity of the creature in the plant world", the federal Ethics Committee on non-human Gene Technology condemned the decapitation of flowers without reason. In a new article published in this week's Weekly Standard, bioethicist Wesley Smith opines: "Switzerland's enshrining of 'plant dignity' is a symptom of a cultural disease that has infected Western civilization, causing us to lose the ability to think critically and distinguish serious from frivolous ethical concerns. It also reflects the triumph of a radical anthropomorphism that views elements of the natural world as morally equivalent to people." Smith notes that once society began to diminish the view of the worth of human beings by abortion, euthanasia and other practices, it makes sense that scientists would push for the rights of plants. "Our accelerating rejection of the Judeo-Christian world view, which upholds the unique dignity and moral worth of human beings, is driving us crazy. Once we knocked our species off its pedestal, it was only logical that we would come to see fauna and flora as entitled to rights."

We went to see "Expelled" with Ben Stein today which pointed out that the acceptance of Darwin's worldview of the "survival of the fittest" was the basis of the eugenics movement in America, Germany and elsewhere. I was encouraged to see that abortion and euthanasia were shown to be an outcome of such thinking. Margaret Sanger and her Planned Parenthood continue the thought with abortion mills in black neighborhoods. Day Gardner, Lillie Epps and others protested at the DC PP last week. They stated that 39% of abortions are in the Africian American community which is 12% of the population.

May we properly appreciate and protect human life and value this beautiful creation from God.

Max McLean Screwtapes Letters

It was amusing today to go to google and put in “Max McLean Screwtape Letters” and find that they had posted Beth’s comments on the show from her Blog. From blog to published on a Theater website as a review. I love it! It was also interesting to view the TV interview posted there. Please do watch it. I think you would all enjoy it and would get a sense of the production.

Last night in small group we watched a tape of Dean Jones in his one man show “St. John in Exile”. It is a wonderful and insightful view of John at 86 on the Isle of Patmos. So much for my theater reviews for today. Next is Beth from the Screwtape website -
"This afternoon, my mom and I trekked downtown to see Max McLean in his one (well, really two) man show of CS Lewis' Screwtape Letters. I can't think of when I enjoyed a trip to the theater more - it was seriously wonderful.Max McLean has always been a dramatic reader to me. If you get the chance to hear his CD of Jonathan Edward's Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, do so. His voice and voice performance is amazing. But as Screwtape he was wonderful. And Toadpipe nearly stole the show - she was fantastic, not just as she scribbled down the letters, but as she became the personifications of the various illustrations Screwtape used in his letters."--Beth
This review by Perry (not me) was well word smithed and I wish I could write so well.
Usually, one-person shows stretch my patience, but this adaptation of C.S. Lewis's epistolary novel was a sinfully delicious exception. Scaling to an upper floor to St. Clement's Theatre, we look down on a wondrously appalling vision of hell, where His Abysmal Sublimity Screwtape has his efficient little office. McLean veers deftly between the various Screwtapes we encounter in his letters. Generally, he is avuncular in his correspondence with his unseen acolyte Wormwood as this junior temptor strives here on earth to recruit his first soul to the netherworld. Yet as Wormwood's fortunes shift -- along with his own -- Screwtape may rage, shrivel into unctuous servility, or reveal his primal cannibalistic core.Greatly enriching this infernal treat was Karen Eleanor Wight as Toadpipe, Screwtape's eternally silent personal secretary. Slithering on the floor to transcribe her master's dictation, slinking up a pole to post it, Toadpipe was a constant undertow of evil even when Screwtape himself was his most charming and provocative -- a Cirque du Soleil imp turned into nightmare. During those delicious instances when she bared her teeth, we realized that the servile Toadpipe was also a carnivore, hungrily dependent on her master's scraps."