American Traitor Betrayed By Parents by Frank Walton
(wfwalton@juno.com)
"The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child who gets his
own way brings shame to his mother" (Prov 29:15).
John Walker Lindh is an American captured while fighting with
the Taliban Muslim extremists in Afghanistan against Americans.
This terrorist is going to be tried for treason against America.
I found an interesting article about Mr. Lindh by Jeff Jacoby
from The Boston Globe (December 2001). The article reports some
enlightening background facts that answer how a terrorist and
traitor could grow up in our midst. He was a child of privilege
of permissive parents in Marin County, California, which is just
north of San Francisco. His parents, flower children of the 1960's,
named him after John Lennon. His parents let him basically raise
himself and "do his own thing." When he was 14, his
permissive parents allowed him to collect ungodly hip-hop CD's
with nasty lyrics. When he was 16, his permissive parents allowed
him to drop out of his elite "alternative" school where
students determine their own course of study and only see a teacher
once a week. His permissive parents did nothing when he abruptly
decided to become a Muslim after reading The Biography of Malcolm
X. In fact, his father was proud of John for pursuing an alternative
course and his mother told friends that it was good for a child
to find a passion.
His permissive parents willingly paid John's way to Yemen so he
could learn to speak pure Arabic to better understand the Koran.
When it was revealed that their son had enlisted in Osama bin
Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist group and that he supported the Sept.
11 attacks, this brought no words of criticism from his "tolerant"
parents. His mother was quite sure that "if he got involved
with the Taliban he must have been brainwashed.... When you're
young and impressionable, it's easy to be led by charismatic people.'"
Well, duh!! If they never bothered to teach him that some things
are wrong, of course he's open to bad influences! Maybe they didn't
teach him any moral principles because they lacked any standards
or absolutes themselves. The mother's religion consisting in dabbling
in Buddhism and Native American spirituality, which have nothing
to do with absolute truth revealed from God. In fact, when Osama
bin Laden's terrorists exploded the bomb next to the USS Cole
in Yemen and killed American sailors, John Lindh e-mailed his
father that the attack had been justified, since by docking the
ship in Yemen, the United States had committed "an act of
war." Yet, that admission didn't stop his father from wiring
his militant son another $1,200.
Mr. Jacoby observed, "Even in Marin County, there are times
when children need to hear `No' and `Don't.' They need to know
that there are limits they must respect and expectations they
must try to live up to. If they cannot find those limits and expectations
at home, they are apt to look for them elsewhere. Newsweek calls
it "truly perplexing" that Walker, who "grew up
in possibly the most liberal, tolerant place in America . . .
was drawn to the most... intolerant sect in Islam." There
is nothing perplexing about it. He craved standards and discipline.
Mom and Dad didn't offer any. The Taliban did...If they had been
less concerned with flaunting their open-mindedness and more concerned
with developing their son's moral judgment, he wouldn't be where
he is today. Walker is responsible for his own behavior... But
his road to treason and jihad didn't begin in Afghanistan. It
began in Marin County, with parents who never said 'No.'"
A Word of Encouragement to Parents
John Lindh was certainly "a child left to himself" who
brought "shame to his mother." In fact, this traitor
may get the death penalty because he was actually betrayed by
his permissive parents! Godly parents are entrusted with the awesome
duty discipline their children by word and example, so they can
grow up and eventually discipline themselves (Eph 6:1-4, Prov
4:10-11). Our children need to learn in this permissive age that
yearning for complete freedom to do whatever you feeling like
doing at the moment, regardless if it is right or not or if it
hurts anyone, is the worst kind of bondage to our fluctuating
moods and urges. "By what a man is overcome, by this he is
enslaved" (2 Pet 2:19). It is our job as parents to have
the love to tell them where the boundaries are and then have the
backbone to enforce them, especially when they're defiant. "He
who withholds his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines
him diligently" (Prov 13:24). Too many parents are scared
of crossing their children, like Eli and David were with their
children with tragic results (1 Sam 3:13, 1 Kgs 1:6). I've known
of several young people who grew up and regretted their parents
didn't care enough about them to apply more discipline to help
train them to cope with life. In the real world, they will not
always be able to get their way.
It is a good practice after the evening meal together to read
at the supper table with our children from the book of Proverbs
or the life of Christ (Deut 6:4-9). After the initial awkwardness,
it will become easier and even natural to discuss the applications
in the home. Our children need to learn that the good life comes
from learning to play by the rules of life. God sets the standard
of right and wrong, revealed only in the Bible. There is absolute
truth to which we all are held accountable (Jn 12:48, 17:17).
If parents will hang tough and not appease their children's whims
and tantrums, we will rejoice in the end when we see our children
saved in heaven (Prov 23:24)
Remember Your Creator by Jason Moore (Reprinted from
The Southside Reminder)
"When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the
night watches, for You have been my help, and in the shadow of
Your wings I sing for joy" (Psa 63:6-7).
Computers use a type of memory called ROM, or read-only memory.
A CD/ROM is a compact disk that operates as a read-only memory.
It stores information like programs, text, music or video to be
read by a compact disk drive. Three things are significant about
ROM as a type of memory. First, it contains permanently stored
information. Second, the information it stores can be read quickly.
Third, ROM can only be read--it is read-only--you cannot add to
it or rewrite it.
Solomon, who lived long before the age of computers, wrote a piece
of information for you to record in the read-only portion of your
mind. He said, "Remember your Creator in the days of your
youth" (Ecclesiastes 12:1, NIV). "God made you"
is information that you should save in the front of your active
memory. Like the data on a CD/ROM, it is information that you
want to (1) retain permanently, (2) recall immediately, and (3)
reserve from alteration. It is information to which you need instant
access every day. "God made you" is a message that,
in your youth, deserves reading, and re-reading, but never re-writing.
In fact, it is information that is necessary to writing Yourstory.
Yourstory is the history of your life. Yourstory began, not with
your birth, not even with your conception. Yourstory began, quite
apart from you or your parents, with an idea in the mind of God--the
idea of you. Having thought of you and brought the idea of you
to life, God handed Yourstory over to your parents to be a chapter
in Theirstory. They carried it along in Theirstory until the time
was right for you to take up Yourstory for yourself. Yourstory,
like Theirstory from which it branches off, like Mystory with
which it may connect in parts, like History from which Ourstory
branches, begins with the words: "In the beginning God created
. . .." Remember that. Don't forget it. What comes next is
up to you. If Yourstory is to be well written, you must remember
how it began--with the idea of you in the mind of God "God
made you." That piece of read-only information written indelibly
by the hand of God is especially important to remember as you,
"in the days of your youth," write the early chapters
of Yourstory. It is important for the middle-aged and old to remember
too, but especially the young. Oddly enough, it is in the early
part of Yourstory that you are the most likely to forget, or perhaps
ignore, how it began. When you are old, you are near the part
of your life where God takes up the pen again to write the ending,
so you are naturally forced to think more of where God turned
it over to you in the beginning and to reflect on what you have
done with it since. When you are young, you tend not to think
of how your life began, nor of how it will end, but of the middle
where all the action is. You think of today, and can't wait for
tomorrow. That is why Solomon told the young, "Remember."
In the bustle of the present, think of the past. Think of yesterday--the
day when God thought of you. That will help you today and get
you ready for tomorrow. "Remember" today, "in the
days of your youth," that "God made you."
What does that sort of thinking change? Only, everything. Every
ordinary aspect of your person and situation in life takes on
an extraordinary importance when you "remember God made you."
A Dress Code For Worship? (From The Beacon)
NO! God does NOT have a dress code for worship! Of course He does not! He assumes that a humble worshipping heart will dictate proper attire and behavior. A true spirit of awe, reverence and worship dictates dignity and propriety in dress and demeanor. When we dress appropriately we manifest a humbleness of heart that honors and respects the sovereign God whom we have come to praise and petition.
FINAL THOUGHT - "If you think of this world as a place intended simply for our happiness, you might find it quite intolerable; think of it as a place of training and correction and it's not so bad." - C.S. Lewis
MARK YOUR CALENDARS
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Phone: (352) 365-9946 for times of services.
Web site: http://www.geocities.com/~cdillinger/cocbs/cocbshp.htm
MONTHLY BIBLE READING: Aug. and Sept., Leviticus and Numbers
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS
BIBLE INSIGHT is published for the members of, and
visitors to, the Church of Christ at Beverly Shores, Leesburg,
Florida, USA.
Carey Dillinger is the editor. He can be reached at the church
address or via e-mail: dillinc@yahoo.com