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If God's talking, he ain't telling
By David Gerard, Muskogee Phoenix
We Sen. John Kerry received a lot of attention for a poorly told joke this past week, but Marine Gen. Peter Pace didn’t get much press for a good one he told last month.
Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Oct. 19, that Secretary of Defense Donald Rusted “leads in a way that the good Lord tells him is best for our country.”
That’s pretty funny.
I mean, if God was talking to Rumsfeld, the least God could have done was let Rumsfeld know there weren’t any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before we invaded it. God could have told Rumsfeld to put extra armor on our military vehicles and given Rumsfeld a strategy – any strategy – for conducting the war.
And definitely you would think that if God was talking to Rumsfeld, God would have told Rumsfeld to stop President Bush from declaring the mission in Iraq “accomplished” because there is still no end in sight.
I suppose Pace thought Americans would be comforted to hear that God was on their side.
That would be comforting, but our problems with Afghanistan, Iraq and several other countries half way around the world are the result of people who think God favors them and says it’s OK to strap bombs to bodies and cars.
No, when Pace said God talks to Rumsfeld, most people probably thought either one or the other of them belongs in a mental institution.
Speaking of mental institutions, about the time Pace made his comment, I picked up a copy of Mark Twain’s “Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc” in an antique store in Vinita, where a state mental hospital is located.
Twain researched his book for 12 years, so he knew something about Joan, the 15th century French girl who led a French army against English oppressors. A religious skeptic, Twain was fascinated with Joan’s claim that she heard voices.
Joan claimed Sts. Margaret and Catherine brought messages to her from God that France should be free. Political and religious leaders put Joan on trial, not because they didn’t think God talked to people, but because the English didn’t want anyone believing that God had an interest in French independence.
So Joan, according to Twain’s story, was burned at the stake for listening to the devil, not God. At one point, Joan’s accusers said they knew she wasn’t talking to God because God would not speak French. God would speak English, of course.
Funny thing about the book I bought is that it was withdrawn from the library of the Vinita mental hospital, formerly Eastern State Hospital, now the Oklahoma Forensic Center.
My question is do you really think people who are having a hard time dealing with reality should be reading about Joan, a person who heard voices?
It’s probably a good thing that book is not in the hospital’s library anymore.
And do you think it’s a good thing for a general to tell the guy who’s running a war that’s going badly that he and God are doing a good job?
Sure, everybody would like to think God was on their side, and some would like to think that he speaks Arabic and some others that he speaks English – but I don’t think God is too happy right now with the rumors that are going around. |
