Some of y’all already know, that the day
after the Orlando murders, I remarked to our little congregation that the shooting
would surely be blamed upon me.
Sure as rain, within the week, the director
of Islamic Studies at Duke University blamed Southerners; the ACLU blamed Christians;
liberals in Congress blamed conservatives;
a feminist writer at Salon blamed men; and the New York Daily News had blamed gun
owners. As you can see, I was guilty on multiple counts.
All of this in spite of the fact that the
murders were carried out by an Islamic jihadist, who pledged allegiance to ISIS;
who was a registered Democrat; who had said that he was voting for Hillary Clinton;
and who, according to several sources, was himself a practicing Sodomite. Incidentally,
he had also passed numerous government background checks and was working as armed
security for a company on contract with the Department of Homeland Security.
Still it was somehow the fault of folks like me. Yes, I had anticipated these
bizarre and nebulous charges from the political left.
But I really did not expect the phone call I
received from our resident radical leftist, carpetbagging, militant atheist -- the leader of our local chapter of the American Atheists, headquartered in Cranford,
New Jersey.
This altruistic yankee made it very clear
that he hates the good Southern people of Levy County, Florida; he hates their
culture; he hates their morals; he hates their faith; and he hates virtually
everything else about them. Nevertheless, he has deigned to live among us and
to save us from ourselves.
After confirming that he was indeed speaking
to Pastor Greg Wilson, he informed me that I was personally responsible for the
deaths in Orlando. To be honest, I first thought he was a like-minded compatriot,
mocking the lunatic lefties and their bizarre charges; I even played along with
what I thought was his little charade -- but then it became clear that I was
actually speaking with one of those lunatic cultural marxists.
The caller’s vocabulary was as expansive as
his intelligence, limited primarily to a handful of words and phrases. Words
beginning with the letter “F” or with the letter “S”; mixed with frequent calls
upon God (whom he claims does not exist) to damn all manner of things and
individuals.
He informed me, time and again, that “this
was not going to happen anymore” or that “this was going to stop”, etc. He, and
his little band of yankee misfits, were going to stop us from celebrating our
culture and way of life and from sounding forth Biblical truths. Indeed, the
so-called “Williston Atheists” have long attempted to have the Ten Commandments
monument removed from the County Court House and prayers eliminated from School
Board and County Commission meetings. To date, they have met with no success
here in rural, conservative Levy County. I have no doubt, however, that at some
future date a liberal Federal judge will order the residents of Levy County to
conform to the wishes of this angry little band of interlopers. I have, in the
past, and will in the future, encourage our local leaders to stand up and say “no”;
to interpose themselves between the
federal tyrants and their constituents; and to refuse to comply with immoral,
illegal, and unconstitutional edicts from whatever source.
I was also informed that since I was a
Christian and a pastor, I was of necessity, a liar and a thief. Additionally, I
was responsible for all manner of evil since the foundation of the world. I really
could not keep track of it all.
Honestly, I have seldom heard such anger and
such vile and intemperate language -- and I was in the Marine Corps for eight
years. The more I maintained my composure and the more I assured him of our
prayers -- the more irate he became. All this anger vented primarily against a
God that he claims does not even exist. A bit strange that.
Eventually he informed me that he was writing
a letter to the Chiefland Citizen, a local
paper which recently published one my letters, and which evidently was the fuse
that set off this most recent tirade.
I’m actually hoping the paper publishes his
letter. It will only serve to open more eyes and cause more of the good
Southern folk of Levy County to stand up for their culture and their birthright.
I rather doubt that this is the end of the story;
I’ll pass on more should it develop.
On a related topic, I would like to note that
not everyone who moves to Florida from the north is a carpetbagger or a yankee
interloper. Many embrace our culture, our history and our way of life. They are
grafted-in and become Southerners. I would consider my own dear wife a Southern
Belle, though she was born and raised in Ohio. At our last Free Florida First
meeting the majority of our attendees were not born in Florida or even the
South, yet many of them are some of the most dedicated Southern Partisans you
will ever meet; folks from New York, Ohio, Indiana, New Hampshire and Maine.
I will go further and say that I have a
friend who self-identifies as an atheist, who has come to generally identify
with Dixie and will stand with us on most issues. He has not embraced our
Saviour -- that is a work of God alone – he does, however, respect our faith
and way of life.
Many not born among us embrace Dixie and become one with us.
Don’t come among us and attempt to make us
over in the yankee image. If you can live with us in peace and respect our way
of life, perhaps even embrace it, you are welcome -- otherwise just stay home
in yankeedom.
