On to Thanksgiving

By LEON YOUNGBLOOD

Halloween 2023 will soon be behind us, and I guess there are persons who will miss it.  Maybe I was not paying attention, but it did not seem to be a big deal, this year.  The traditional terrors of the season—witches, ghosts, demons and the like—are not as highly esteemed as they used to be, and new terrors have replaced them.  These terrors are real, too, and are not going to go away with the trick-or-treaters at sunrise.

BRIAR CIRCLE

So, what are people afraid of? 

Well, for one thing, inept governmental leadership.  There’s the old saying, “Power corrupts,” and all government offices have some degree of power; consequently, a person may be honest going into office, but the very nature of the beast will not permit a person to remain honest.

Personally, I’m not so sure about this.  I think the field of politics tends to attract corrupt people.  I grant that some politicians are honest, patriotic persons who are wrongly judged by the follies of their peers, but like they say, it’s the 97 percent of crooked politicians that give the honest three percent a bad name.  At any rate, the government is misguided.

So, I’m a little afraid of wingnut voters.  There seems to be large segments of the populace that feel entitled to entitlement, and goodness gracious, can they howl!  They can be pacified easily enough, though: merely give them whatever they want; do not do or say anything that upsets them; be thankful for government-forced opportunities to give them your money; and never, never suggest that they are the problem.

Deranged people scare me.  Mass murderers that come out of their hate-filled minds and start shooting are bad enough, and are taken seriously.  But really, they are amateurs.  Russia’s Putin, China’s Xi Jinping, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh—to name a few—are the real professionals.  These loonies are in countries that have nuclear weapons, too, with the exception of Haniyah.  I feel it’s not a question of “if”, but “when” somebody’s going to fire first.

Pandemics, famine, pollution, and other 21^st century harsh realities have had their effect on the ol’ standard Halloween spooks.  The simply aren’t scary anymore.  They haven’t changed with the times.

Satan has, however, and there may be some weight to the argument Satan developed the times in which we live.  The Apostle Paul cautioned the Ephesian church, “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”  Paul wrote this 2,000 years ago, but we’re still in the fight. Satan put away the pitchfork and got a laptop.  He’s changed his smelly cloak for an expensive business suit, and wears a stylish hat to hide his horns.  He’s still lord over his minions, though.  The sad thing is, most of them have no idea who they’re serving.

Regardless of what happens in the world, I’m like Mark Twain’s “confident Christian with four aces.”  Satan may busy in the world, but in the end, he loses.  As for me—well, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.”

Let’s move on to Thanksgiving.  It’s okay to start early!

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