Letters From Grandpa #272

LETTERS FROM GRANDPA # 272

Dearest grandchild,

Today’s letter will deal with the Scriptural admonition to “test everything”. It is found in 1 Thessalonians, which is generally assumed to be Paul’s first inspired letter. The context is: “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil” (1 Thess. 5:19-22). We are to welcome new prophetic revelations, but are to test everything. The world is full of deceivers who are like wolves in sheep’s clothing. Consequently, we are not to accept any idea or teaching without testing it. The word translated here as “test” is “dokimazo” which is used with regard to the assaying of metals. Every sample of ore is to be carefully “tested”. It could be valuable “gold” or it could be worthless “pyrite”.

By way of illustration let us test this famous statement made by President J. F. Kennedy before the Irish Parliament June 28, 1963. Kennedy said: “You see things; and you say ‘why?’ But I dream of things that never were; and I say ‘why not?’”

On this surface this looks like a wonderful statement, but let us “test” it. Let us examine it more closely. This quotation did not originate with Kennedy, it came from the play Back to Methuselah by George Bernard Shaw. According to Shaw this is what the devil said to tempt Eve. It was diabolical. Eve lived in a paradise where there was no bloodshed. The devil, however, dreamed of bloodshed. He didn’t like peace and harmony. He dreamed of murder and me hem and said “why not?”.

Shaw was himself a Fabian Socialist and also a staunch defender of Joseph Stalin. He felt that Stalin was justified in mass executions to keep his country safe from “exploiters and speculators”. In 1933 Shaw wrote: “The unfortunate Commissar must shoot his own workers so he might more impressively ask the rest of the staff whether they yet grasped the fact that orders are meant to be executed”. So Stalin dreamed of executing millions of his own people and George Bernard Shaw said: “Why not?” The estimates of Stalin’s staggering death toll ranges from 20 million to 60 million. So the quotation “Why not?” needs to be tested. It needs to be considered in the context of who is saying it. The fact that Stalin dreamed of killing millions of his own citizens was not a good dream!

In 1925 Adolf Hitler wrote the book Mein Kampf, which means “My Struggle”. In that book he advocated the “Big Lie” as a technique to deceive the masses. He felt that the bigger the lie the more apt it was to be believed because most people would reason that no one “could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously”. Hitler’s dreams of killing millions were not good dreams either!

At the risk of alienating those who are dear to me, let me encourage you to “test” what you are told about climate change. Tom Harris wrote on Mar. 29, 2019 that “man made global warming is the biggest lie ever told!” An article by Mark Hendrickson from the Epoch Times (Oct. 19, 2018) concurs and charges that: “Senior IPCC official Ottmar Edenhofer has openly said, ‘One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. Instead, climate change policy is about how we redistribute ... the world’s wealth.”” So the anti-capitalist dreams of the IPCC involve “rapid and far-reaching” changes “in land, energy, industry, buildings, transports, and cities . . . all we have to do is eat a third less meat, move into smaller houses, use mass transit, and switch entirely from fossil fuels to renewables.” Is this a good dream? Before saying “Why not?” we need to “test it” and ask “Why?”

In the 1970’s the “scientific” rage was global cooling. In 1977 Time Magazine featured a penguin on it’s cover with the words “How to Survive the Coming Ice Age”. When the thermometer did not support global cooling the pendulum swung to global warming. When the thermometer didn’t support global warming the “scientists” pivoted to “climate change”. How ingenious! Now no matter what the weather is those who want to redistribute wealth can use “science” to prove their point. Before permanently parking our cars, grounding all airplanes, and killing all cows, we need to test this theory. We need to judicially ask “why?” instead of blindly saying “why not?”

One of the saddest aspects of the climate scare is the impact it has on children. Sadly. the fear mongers live differently from the children they indoctrinate. For example, in his State of the Union speech on Jan. 20, 2015 President Barack Obama said that climate change was the greatest threat facing future generations. Yet his own carbon footprint is gigantic. On May 13, 2015, for example, Barack and Michelle both flew to California, on the same day but on separate planes. The tax payers, of course, picked up the tab. Sixteen year old Greta Thunberg, by comparison, is so terrified of flying that she endured two weeks on the high seas to avoid using an airplane. Thunberg also believes the seas are rising. She would never think of buying a house by the sea, but Barack Obama just purchased a $12 million dollar mansion that is a mere 10 feet above sea level. Poor Greta should have been more skeptical. Her sincere inconvenience didn’t change anything. The luxurious fiber glass yacht she used was made from fossil fuels and was even equipped with auxiliary diesel engines. Further, on one of her trips her crew had to “fly” over the ocean in order to “sail” her back. Her teen age years should be the happiest years of her life, but she is seething with anger and tormented by fear. The “threat” of “climate change” has turned her dreams into nightmares. Surely she should test everything, and so should we. This not only includes the teaching of climate change alarmists, but even these letters you receive from grandpa! Once tested we should hold to what is good and avoid what is evil.

For those too young to remember, a missionary kid named Dean Holmquist rode his bicycle from central Brazil to Carthage, Missouri. He even lived for a while with our family. Failing to find a sponsor he had to pay for the trip out of his own pocket. He was not protesting anything, merely dreaming of an adventure. At any rate, as I recall, the trip took three months and cost more money than a first class airline ticket. He did “cheat” a little and took a plane from the Amazon to Panama. Nevertheless his dream came true. He made it. He also dreamed of becoming a commercial pilot. That dream also came true. I instructed him through his Private, Commercial, Instrument, and Flight Instructor ratings. The pinnacle of his aviation career involved flying 737s for a freight company. His dreams did become reality! Why not? When “tested” we find nothing wrong with his dreams. If all dreams were that harmless and benign, the world would be a better place in which to live.

I love you,

Grandpa Boyce