The Real Fight & the Prize (Part 1)

Hi Steemers. It's been a while since I've posted. After this post and its sequel, we'll switch from the Long Blog Article format to a Short Blog / Long Vlog format. You'll know why in a minute.

The Steemit platform provides a tremendous opportunity to freely express unpopular thoughts and convictions without even the hint of concern that they will be censored. I must say, though, that I have spent the past four months since my second post longing to contribute. However, daily life with all its demands overwhelmed me, not to mention the occasional crisis. You know what I mean; because, everyone has to navigate the obstacle course we call life. Life is a journey driven by purpose ultimately leading to a destination. It’s important to be driven by truth. A person that is driven by any principle that is incompatible with truth lives a meaningless life. It doesn’t matter what they own or how they look or what family they come from. It doesn’t matter what their educational level is or socio-economic standing is or even their profession. The pursuit and acceptance of the truth ultimately leads to life. Rejection of and hatred for the truth leads to every injustice, poverty, corruption and tyranny. There is a war against the truth in America and Europe. The instigators of this war are using their wealth and political might to spread this war to the rest of the world. Freedom cannot exist in the absence of truth. And the freedom and liberty of any people group or nation begins with the freedom and sovereignty of the individual citizen.

Personal Context

Let me provide some context. To do so, I will share some aspects of my life that are both personal and applicable, not because I have a need to or want to vent, and definitely not because I need pity or sympathy. I seek neither. It’s my hope, though, that someone will be both encouraged and at the same time challenged to stand-up for what is right and true no matter what the personal cost.

So, I am legally blind. Therefore, reading and writing are time consuming. The irony is, I love to read. Other physical and medical challenges add to the challenge. And public speaking is the closest I get to "contact " sports. My visual impairment is due to ocular albinism? So, when I drive, I can't see well enough to read signs until I am right up on them. However, I can see well enough to see the stares and hear well enough to hear weird comments like: Mira Mami. Ver, ver un bino!!" (Mommy look, look a bino. (Bino is slang for albino in the Dominican Republic.) ...comments that are a throwback to my childhood years growing-up in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands during the 60s and 70s. I was called “retarded”, “white cheese” and “Booby” among other things. Those were the days. I can laugh about them now. But not then. You see? Back, then, my vision was worst than it is now and I also suffered from severe vertigo. I was the personification of Mr. Magou. You remember him? (If you are younger than 40 look him up.) My head bobbed and eyes moved involuntarily, and noticeably so. (They still do but not as much.) The involuntary eye movement is called nystagmus. To this day I have Intention Tremors and poor hand eye coordination. Let’s just say that I was and looked different, very different and was treated as such. Our parents separated when I was five. When I was six my younger brother Ronny and I were placed in foster-care. That year I failed the first grade. Can you imagine? I mean, really, how can someone fail the first grade in a public school? Well I did. Learning was a major challenge for me. There was no such thing as “Reasonable Accommodations” for persons with disabilities in the 60s and 70s. There is a lot more; but, I believe you get the picture. I had a tough early childhood impacted by the decisions others made and was also challenged with physical disabilities. Introverted as a child and adolescent , public speaking terrified me until I became a teenager. Now I am a minister, missionary and a broadcaster. My wife Judy of 30 years and I have four daughters, Jehnessa (24), A’Israel (20), Hadassah (14), and Aliyáh (10). Our younger daughters keep us young and their two older sisters keep us broke. We thank God that one of our older daughters will graduate from university in June. So, I have come a long way.

It is important for me to stop here for a moment to make a counter intuitive statement: Although my childhood was difficult, in other ways it was a blessing. Why? How? Well, in the middle of the dysfunction, disruption, disabilities, rejection and confusion that was my life, at the age of six our new “mother” introduced my brother and I to Jesus Christ. (Resist the urge to stop reading. I am not talking about religion.) We learned to read by reading the Bible. That’s right, I mean the old English translation. In fact the first verse that I learned was Psalms 27:10: “When your father and your mother forsake you, the Lord (YHWH) will take you (as His own)”. This was the seed of Truth that eventually transformed my life. Our new Mom insisted that we read, memorize and learn to interpret the scriptures. We were encouraged to think critically. We were challenged to apply the Scriptures to life. Born in 1921 she could easily be our grandmother. She was a committed Born Again Christian. (Dad became a Born Again Christian several years after.) She loved Jesus, she loved people (even her enemies) and she loved us as her own children. Daily, she demonstrated what it meant to be a true follower of Yeshua (Jesus the Christ). She made many personal and financial sacrifices to ensure that we were well, fed, clothed, educated and well rounded. She stood up to anyone who would try to denigrate us in anyway. She challenged us to read, to learn and to thrive. We read Reader’s Digest, Newsweek and Encyclopedia Britanica for fun. You would have never guessed that Mom was anyone other than our natural mother. It was her love and Christian example that most impacted me. She taught us how to live and how to die, that is, how to die to selfish desires. Her life challenged me to not focus on my disabilities or be bothered by the rejection and the other challenges my brother and I faced but rather focus on what I can do and do well. She told me that for me there is a four letter curse word that is even worst than the “F” word and that word was “can’t”. That was a taboo word for me. And she was serious. I wouldn’t tell you just how she demonstrated her seriousness about it because, if you are a Millennial, you may not understand. LOL. Let’s just say that I thank God for the discipline I received and learned, pun intended. Because this personal rule was the second seed of Truth that was planted in my life.

The Turning Point

The turning point in my life came on December 12th, 1973, approximately one month after my 11th birthday. At that age I came to the realization that the difficult circumstances of my life and childhood had nothing to do with my value as a person, or my purpose and destiny. It dawned on me that I was fighting the wrong enemy and striving against the wrong issues. The bullies I fought in school were not the enemy. My parent’s divorce was not my main problem. My disabilities were not my main limitations. Of course I didn’t put it in those words or terms. The challenges in my life forced me, at an early age, to make the decision to not accept what my circumstances say I am or what other people said I was. The truth is: I am what Jesus the Christ says I am in His scriptures. (There are too many scriptures to list or quote.) But two will suffice: “I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.” “Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them.” Psa 139:14, 16. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says Yahweh ( God), “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope and a future.” Jer 29:11. The truth is, your are what God says you are not what someone else says you are. In the way that an 11 year old can understand, I understood that life isn’t fair. Because, people are not fair. At that age I realized that there is one true God and only He has the power to guide and empower me to live a life of meaning and purpose according to His expectations. But most importantly, I learned that life itself is only a journey. There is a destination after this existence. I chose Jesus and He transformed my life.

That was 44 years ago. I have been free person ever since. Some changes in my life were instant. Others occurred over time. And yet, even today at 55, I am still a work-in-progress. For starters, I became an A student. The hurting, angry confused albino underachiever that fought bullies in school everyday became a calm focused achiever and leader, a middle-school valedictorian and secondary school honors student. I skipped the 12th grade to attend university with a fully paid Early Admissions academic scholarship. Over the years I have started and managed an IT consulting / training business, founded and operated a full power FM radio broadcast station, founded a private Christian school and I am the founder and Director of FrontLine Missions International, Inc. which is based in Puerto Rico. (https://FrontLineMissions.org). My wife Judy and I are now missionaries in the Dominican Republic. Now we are working, praying and believing God for the financial resources to launch a hybrid satellite / Internet broadcast cable network using open-source and proprietary technology to broadcast uncensored international news, educational programs, movies and the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Yeshua ha’ Mashiach) uncut, raw and without fear and without compromise. (That’s all I will say about that for now.)

There are no limits to what can be achieved except for the limits we put on ourselves or the limits we allow others to put on us. How can I be limited when the Creator of the universe is my Father? How can I be defeated when my Father is the Mighty God (Elohim) strong in battle. Although life isn’t easy, I consider myself to be very blessed. My Savior my Master, Yeshua (Jesus Christ of Nazareth) transformed my life. By His power I am an overcomer, in fact, I’m more than a conqueror. He gives me the grace to overcome the challenges of life. And I am not an exception. There are many people like me in America and worldwide. We fight to overcome stigmas, our fears and the fears of others. We struggle ultimately learning that the greatest struggle is always the one within. Win that struggle and you are free.

I have taken the time to share a little about where I have been in my life because there are people, many people who have a similar background and childhood as I do. You may or may not be one of them But, I am sure you know at least one person. But unlike me they are angry. They are told that the world owes them respect. They are told that the world owes them success. They are told that the government must provide them with free food, free or very low-cost housing and free health-care. They are told that all of the problems in their lives and in the world are caused by white people, or Jews or rich people or Americans or Republicans or even Democrats. And today, in America and Europe, the growing trend is to blame Bible believing Christians, married heterosexuals or anyone who does not toe the globalist agenda ( no I meant to say globalist religion) for imagined and exaggerated “injustices”. I say this is hogwash. I am not Caucasian. I have physical disabilities. I came from a dysfunctional family. I was discriminated against based on the color of my skin. And so what! The not so funny irony, though, is that 90% of the racial discrimination I experienced was actually from those who love to play the race card. Go figure. But, I am not bitter. It has all worked for my good. So, no one and nothing can stop you or excuse you from playing your part in the fight for freedom except you.... Hardship can toughen you and prepare you for the fight ahead if you love the truth at all cost. ‘The Mission’ is clear; but, we must know the Truth if we are ever to be free…..

Watch out for Part 2 of this post ‘The Real Fight & the Prize: The Challenge America Faces and the Only Solution’.