Authored By J Parr
When I was a kid, I remember that the city of Detroit, Mich., was the 5th largest city in the U.S. I grew up close to Houston, Tex., which was, in 1960, ranked #7. But according to the latest census tallies, Houston (now nipping at Chicago’s heels) is the 4th largest city, and five cities in Texas are more populous than is Detroit (not including “metro” areas around cities). El Paso, Tex., is set to pass Detroit, which is now 18th largest, by the year 2020. (Regarding population decrease, Cleveland, Ohio, seems to have suffered as has Detroit, and, probably, for similar reasons.)
I’ll give my “unresearched,” simplified, abbreviated opinion as to why the city of Detroit has been experiencing net losses in population. Somehow, the world got the impression that the U.S. forgot how to build automobiles. Yes, I know that Texas is closer to Mexico, and that Texas’ population boost has resulted, to a large extent, from people emigrating from Mexico. I also know that if necessity—the mother of invention—can prompt those people in Mexico to cross the Rio Bravo del Norte (Rio Grande) into Texas, it could propel them to go right on up to Michigan, if the jobs were there.
Because I called my above-stated opinion “unresearched,” I’ll throw in something from the book, Iacocca, which is Lee Iacocca’s autobiography. As he was telling of the early 1980s, during the first time that Chrysler was facing extinction, and of his having gone, personally, to the airwaves with his message that Chrysler was a new, better company, and, “If you can find a better car, buy it,” he told the story behind some of what he said, in one of his televised advertisements. My parenthetical insertion is added.
“In a later commercial, which has also become famous, I started out by saying: ‘There was a time when “Made in America” meant something. It meant you made the best. Unfortunately, a lot of Americans don’t believe that anymore.’ At that point, I wanted to add the following line: ‘And for good reason. We probably deserved that reputation, because we shipped a lot of crap out of Detroit in our day.’
“When they heard that, even in the cleaned-up version, the (advertising) agency went bananas. They said: ‘This isn’t the place to make confessions. If you say that, the guy sitting in front of his tube whose 1975 Volaré has rusted through is going to write in for a thousand-dollar adjustment.’ So we compromised. I added the words “And maybe with good reason”—and we left it at that’” (Iacocca, Lee, with William Novak, Iacocca: An Autobiography, New York: Bantam Books, 1984, p. 270).
I can no longer call my above-submitted opinion “unresearched.”
If the U.S. at least temporarily forgot how to build cars, have we in the U.S. forgotten anything else? With Child “Protective” “Services” nabbing children without warrants specified by the Constitution, with police officials recently having been “caught on tape” advocating burning down a house in which a murder suspect was hiding (rather than attempting to capture him and allow him to stand trial), and with countless other incidents of the Constitution having been ignored/trampled by “government” “officials,” have we forgotten other things? Have we forgotten how to run a country? If we have, indeed, forgotten how to build automobiles, and televisions, and a country, why have we forgotten? Could forgetfulness possibly be in our...genetic code?
I grew up having learned a number of Scriptural accounts. I remember, as an example, the ten lepers healed, but only one was thankful (Luke 17:12-19). But I am strongly suspicious that, with the laxity in professing Christian churches, and with the attendant laziness, among the populace, concerning attending “Christian” worship services, many “Gen X” people (And isn't there also a group called “Gen Y?”) are unfamiliar with what I consider Bible basics. We—the American society—are forgetting Scripture. Assuming that you haven't heard the story, I'll tell of Joseph, the eleventh of twelve sons of Jacob—renamed Israel (Genesis 32:28). This story of Joseph includes a story of someone named after forgetfulness. I do hope that you will be able to distinguish between what is the true Biblical account, and my insertions, in the interest of attempts at humor, of anachronisms.
Joseph's jealous older brothers threw Joseph into a pit (Genesis 37:18-35). Joseph was taken to Egypt by people in a caravan. The brothers killed a young goat, and put the goat's blood on Joseph's coat of many colors (v. 3b), which his father, Jacob, had given to Joseph. The brothers told Jacob that some wild animal must have killed Joseph. In one of the F.B.I.'s first attempts to cover up a crime, its crime lab announced that its test results proved that the blood on Joseph's coat matched Joseph's DNA, and that the same bullet which wounded Texas Gov. John Connally and killed the President also killed Joseph. Joseph was taken to Egypt, and was sold to Potiphar—a captain of Pharaoh's guard (v. 36). In Egypt, Joseph began to impress people in higher places. Unfortunately for Joseph, he also impressed Potiphar's wife (Gen. 39:7). Joseph tried to reason with her to control her passion, but she persisted, until, one day, she grabbed Joseph by his cloak. Joseph ran out of his cloak, which Potiphar's wife was clutching (v. 12). Having Joseph's cloak, Potiphar's wife went to her husband, showed Potiphar the cloak which belonged to Joseph, and asked him why he had brought Joseph in (thus she showed her depth of love for Joseph). She said that while Joseph feigned loyalty to Potiphar, Joseph was trying to sneak in through the back door to her (v. 15, 18).
Joseph landed in Leavenworth, Egypt, ZIP code 66666 (v. 20). According to some researchers, Joseph may have stayed in Pharaoh’s Alcatraz for ten or more years, though Adam Clarke, in his Commentary on the Whole Bible, expresses a notion that Joseph spent more time as Potiphar's servant than Joseph spent locked up. Joseph—the dreamer (Genesis 37:5-10, 19, 20)—had let on to at least one person in the prison that he had a gift of being able to understand/interpret dreams. Pharaoh had a strange dream, and he asked Joseph what the dream meant. Joseph told Pharaoh that the Creator is the true Mastermind of understanding dreams (Gen. 41:16), and that only with the Creator's help could he (or anyone else) unravel the mysteries of a dream. Joseph explained the dream, and, though Bill Clinton had refused to pardon Joseph, Pharaoh released Joseph from prison. Joseph was 17 (Gen. 37:2) when he was taken to Egypt, and was 30 years old when he got sprung (Gen 41:46). Joseph was very close to the same age as was the Messiah (Luke 3:23), when the Messiah began to preach. Joseph got married, and had a son, whom he called Manasseh, or “causing to forget.” Joseph said that his new family had caused him to forget all of his past trials (Gen. 41:51).
Descendants of Manasseh, the elder son of Joseph, are mentioned in several places in Scripture. I'll bring up some of those stories, and I'll mention, in passing, an interesting little book—Strange Parallel. The book's author is a Dutch woman—Helene Koppejan. In her book, she brings out some interesting similarities between Zebulon—an older half-brother of Joseph—and Ms. Koppejan's native country—the Netherlands.
According to original civil law handed down through Moses, males were to inherit property from their fathers. But there is a Bible account of a man—Zelophehad—who had five daughters—Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah—and no sons. Those women happened to be Manassites—descendants of Joseph's eldest son, Manasseh. If I read the genealogy correctly, Zelophehad was a great-great grandson of Manasseh (Numbers 27:1), the son of Joseph. The daughters went before Moses (Numbers 27:1-11), and told him that they believed that their father's land was rightfully theirs to inherit. My impression is that, in that time, women being so bold as to make requests of men in a “man's world” was unusual. It may seem, to us, to be a small step, but, for them, it was probably more like a giant leap. Think about it! The story made it into Scripture!! It must have been a big deal. It was probably similar to someone expressing disagreement with enslaving on the basis of race, in a society in which such a practice is widely accepted. Though I am no authority on history, I would guess that the daughters of Zelophehad helped to pave the way for women who, later in history, strove to influence policies in a “man's world.” Moses brought the case of the daughters of Zelophehad before the Creator, and His Supreme Court of the universe. The Creator expressed agreement with the women (v. 7). Immediately after His ruling for the daughters of Zelophehad, the Creator went on to make other clarifications/specifications in the civil law regarding inheritance (vv. 8-11). Those women set the example of women petitioning the government for grievances, and inspired clarifications applicable to others. Zelophehad's daughters didn't say, “I didn't vote, so I can't complain.” They didn't equate the word, submit, with rolling over and taking lumps.
In making their request for the right of inheritance, I don’t believe that the daughters of Zelophehad pointed out something which the Creator had overlooked. When those original civil statutes concerning inheritance were given, the Creator was aware that Zelophehad had daughters, but no sons. I believe that, just as a parent watches a child pull him/herself up, the Creator probably wanted to give those daughters of Zelophehad the chance to pull themselves up. I admit that the story of the daughters of Zelophehad comes to my mind much more easily than do many of the particulars of certain lists of genealogy in Scripture. (Those lists are boring to my untrained eye.) In Numbers 27, there is probably something for all of us to remember. Even people with little inclination toward the study of Scripture are able to quote the heart of Matthew 7:7 and Luke 11:9: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” In a “man's world,” the daughters of Zelophehad asked, and the Creator gave to them.
Later, I have more to convey about these bold, avant-garde daughters of Manasseh.
I mentioned that Joseph was the eleventh of twelve sons of Jacob (Israel). For the Bible novice who may have heard the term, the “Twelve Tribes of Israel,” now you know from whence this term came. Jacob had twelve sons, and the tribes of Israel descended from those sons.
Joseph had another son named Ephraim. Though Ephraim was younger than Manasseh, Ephraim is mentioned more in Scripture than is Manasseh, and was to receive a greater blessing than would Manasseh (Gen. 48:19, 20). Interestingly, though the term, twelve tribes, is common, each of Joseph's sons gave rise to tribes. That would make a total of thirteen tribes. Most of these tribes, though deemed “lost,” were not “lost,” according to James, because he addressed his epistle to the Twelve Tribes. Those tribes must not be “lost,” according to the Creator, because they, including Manasseh (Manasses—A.V., Greek spelling) and Ephraim (called “Joseph”) are mentioned in the book of Revelation (7:4-8). My belief is that the book of Revelation tells of things to occur during the time of the end of the, or an, age. This tells me that Ephraim, Manasseh, and the other tribes will be (are?) around, somewhere, just before the return of the Messiah. Somewhere, the tribes of Israel exist. 144,000 of them may well be in the process of being “sealed” (v. 3) as you read this. While Ephraim (Joseph) and Manasseh are mentioned in Rev. 7, another tribe—the tribe of Dan—is not mentioned. Explanations of the tribe of Dan's absence from the list in Rev. 7 abound.
Some people think of the tribe of Manasseh as the “thirteenth tribe.” There could be much to that, as I’ll relate.
In passing, I'll mention that some may believe that only Israelites will be “saved,” and only 144,000 of them, at that. Others think that only 144,000 of all of those who have lived since the Messiah ascended into the Third Heaven are “worthy” to partake of the bread and the wine (grape juice?) at what are called “communion” services (Passover?). They get these notions from Revelation 7:4-8. A look at v. 9 may help to dispel those notions. “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.” In addition to those who, among the Twelve Tribes, were sealed (assured a place), there is a great multitude (“Gentiles,” a word with common origins with the Spanish word, gente, and the French word, gens, the latter of both of which are equivalent with the English word, people) who praised the Creator before “the throne” (Daniel 7:10b; Revelation 20:11).
Paul declared that “All Israel shall be saved” (Romans 11:26); not just 144,000 Israelites, or “Jews.” I don’t claim to understand Romans 11:26, but it needs to be considered, when one tries to understand “the 144,000.”
When portions of land were assigned to the Twelve Tribes (The tribe of Levi did not inherit any land—Joshua 13:33.), the tribe of Manasseh received some land on the east side of the Jordan river, and some on the west side. In effect, there was a “split” in the tribe of Manasseh. There’s more about that division, later.
During the days of the judges, the Israelites experienced countless periods of having backslidden from the Creator. In one “backslidden” period, the Israelites were in bondage under the Midianites. The Creator led Gideon—a Manassite—to begin to fight for freedom from the Midianites (Judges 6:11-16). The Israelites were impressed to the extent that they wanted to crown Gideon as king (Jud. 8:22, 23). They wanted that Gideon, and, later, Gideon's son, and Gideon's grandson, rule over them. Gideon replied that the Creator; neither Gideon, nor his sons, would rule over them.
Is it merely co-incidence that, just as Gideon refused to be crowned king, or to become a ruler, George Washington turned down offers to make him king? But before anyone lionizes the tribe of Manasseh, in their supposed opposition to having a king to rule over them (“as do all of the other nations”—I Samuel 8:5), realize that Gideon, alone, expressed opposition to becoming king. Whether the other tribes had approached him with their “king” proposal, or whether it was strictly a Manassite effort, is not stated in Scripture. But it may be that it is a vocal minority of Manassites who opposed monarchy. And, if Manassites are still extant, today, as a distinct nation, culture, and “tribe,” it may be merely a vocal minority which expresses opposition to monarchy, to autocracy, or to oligarchy. History tells that, years after the death of Gideon, the Manassites forgot, and allowed themselves to be ruled by King Saul, who was a Benjaminite (I Samuel 9:1, 2), and, eventually, the Manassites were ruled by King David—a Jew—a member of the tribe of Judah (Ruth 4:18:22) through his son, Pharez. After the death of King Solomon, as the result of a tax revolt, the Manassites got out from under King David’s dynasty, but, once again, they forgot the example set by Gideon. They chose to come under an Ephraimite king—King Jeroboam (I Kings 12:20). The majority of Manassites, again, if they exist today, may say, “It's the economy, stupid,” and will not care about whether their leaders are monarchs, plutocrats, philanderers, liars, and/or thieves, as long as there are enough scraps left over for that majority to have their vacations and summer cabins. If Manassites exist somewhere, as a nation, a vocal minority of them must keep the pressure on, in order to avoid falling under tyrannical rule of any sort, whether monarchy or not. That vocal minority—those with the spirit of Gideon—must not forget, as Manasseh may be prone to do.
As mentioned, Manasseh is a “thirteenth tribe.” Is it merely the result of chance that the current U.S. flag has 13 stripes (representative of each of the original colonies or states), and, originally, the U.S. flag had 13 stars?
I copied (with the original emphases) what is below from a web page entitled, “The Meaning of the Heraldic Symbolism of the American Coat-of-Arms and the Presidential Seal.”
“Now look at the American Eagle on the Official Emblem of the United States of America and you will see that in its left-claws it holds ARROWS, 13 of them. Britannia, in the full picture, sits under an OLIVE tree and in the normal picture of her she holds an OLIVE-branch in her hand. The American Eagle has in its right-claws an OLIVE branch, with 13 olives and 13 leaves on it. Israel, in Scripture, is referred to (metaphorically) as God's Wife and therefore, accordingly, Britannia is a WOMAN not a man, as one would expect a soldier-emblem to be.
“Joseph/Manasseh; which was one half-tribe of Joseph; was known as the 13th tribe of Israel. If we look at American Symbols we will see 13 over and over again. There are 13 stripes on the shield and on the national flag - 'the Stars and Stripes'. There were 13 founding states of America, and for those people who are tempted to say this is merely a coincidence; a man once said, wisely, that coincidence is only God (in Whom we trust) working anonymously.
“On the American Presidential Seal above the Eagle's head there are 13 stars (Genesis 15:5; 22:17; 26:4 and 50 on the flag) and above them 13 spheres of cloud.”
Concerning those who emigrated from England to the “New World, following is a portion of the book, In Search of…the Origin of Nations, by C. M. White. My parenthetical note is added.
“The Angles (common etymology with Anglo, in Anglo-Saxon, and Angleterre—the French name for England) settled in the eastern Anglia counties such as Norfolk and Suffolk. The Saxons settled the rest of England and pushed the original Britons further west in England. By far the heaviest concentration of people who migrated to America from England came from the Anglia counties where the Angles had settled. …Oddly enough the Angles, whose descendants comprise much of America’s Anglo population, gave their name to England which means “Angle-land.” The word Angle is probably derived from the Hebrew word “Eglah” meaning “Heifer of the wild ox or unicorn,” which is one of the animals on the British coat of arms. Instead, England is primarily Saxon and Anglo-Americans are descendants of the Angles” (White, C. M., In Search of…the Origin of Nations: History Research Projects, 2003, p. 394).
Half of Manasseh was on the eastern side of the Jordan River, and half of Manasseh was west of the Jordan. Half of the U.S. is south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Such a degree of difference there was between the “North” and the “South” that the two sides fought a war against each other. Some few people still fight that war, or, at least, are aware of the considerable differences between the North and the South. (I know that, when I was young, and people from New York moved to Texas, many of us would grumble about “Yankees” wrecking the state.) Let's go a little farther with this “split” theme. Just as the Jordan River split ancient Manasseh, the Mississippi River now splits the U.S. Further still, while many people migrated to the U.S. from the British Isles, which are west of the North Sea, many others came from the eastern side of the North Sea—from Germany (and, later, from other countries of eastern Europe). The “Pennsylvania Dutch” are, to describe them more accurately, the “Pennsylvania Deutch.” (I have a “dribble” of “Pennsylvania Deutch” blood, via one Dr. Augustus Eberle. My family once had a certificate which Dr. Eberle had earned, but it was lost in a fire.) Many Germans also came to my native state of Texas. One descendant of those Germans who found a new home in Texas was Dwight David Eisenhower, who was the Supreme Allied Commander in World War II, and who, later, became the 34th president. Another was Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, who was the Commander of the Pacific Fleet in W.W.II. In Texas, there remain a very few people who still speak what is called Texas German, or, in the German language, Texas-Deutch.
Concerning these Germans who moved to the U.S., Mr. White, in Origin, included the following.
“Raymond McNair makes these comments about how God kept track of the Israelites and guided other Manassites in northern Germany to America:
“[In the Encyclopedia Brittanica we read]: “There have been great oscillations in the actual emigration by sea. It first exceeded 100,000 soon after the Franco-German War (1872, 126,000), and this occurred again in the years 1880-1892. Germany lost during these thirteen years more than 1,700,000 inhabitants by emigration. The total number of those who sailed for the United States from 1820 to 1900 may be estimated at more than 4,500,000 …
“The greater number of the more recent emigrants [to the U.S.] was from the agricultural provinces of northern Germany—West Prussia, Posen, Pomerania, Mecklenburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Hanover, and sometimes the emigration reached 1% of the total population of these provinces. In subsequent years the emigration of native Germans greatly decreased” (11th ed., vol. 11).
“What is so special about northern Germany? Notice this reference from Ripley’s Races of Europe:
“Northwestern Germany—Hanover, Schleswig-Holstein, Westphalia—is distinctly allied to the physical type of the Swedes, Norwegians, and Danes. All the remainder of the Empire—no, not even excluding Prussia, east of the Elbe—is less Teutonic [long-headed] in type; until finally in the essentially Alpine broadheaded populations of Baden, Wurttemburg, and Bavaria in the south, the Teutonic race passes from view” (p. 214).
“It is generally known that the northern ‘Low Germans’ differ from the southern ‘High Germans.’ But there were differences even among the Low Germans.
“Another source comments,
“'A separate study, in the case of Germany at least would seem to indicate that those [immigrants] who went to the U.S.A. in the 1800s were somehow different from those who stayed behind and German officials themselves remarked on such a difference. The claim for such a distinction is based on consideration of physical types, areas-of-origin within Germany, religious orientation and social outlook' (Yair Davidiy, The Tribes, Russell-Davis Publishers, p. 430)” (Ibid., p. 393).
In ancient Israel, Manasseh was a “split” tribe—divided by the Jordan River. Many of the early immigrants to the U.S. emigrated from the western side of the North Sea, but many others came from mainland Europe; from the eastern side of the North Sea. And they arrived in a country which, eventually, would be split by a huge river, and also by a man-made Mason-Dixon Line, and a resulting war.
We think of Thomas Paine's widely-circulated pamphlet, Common Sense, as popular in the Colonies, but many copies of that pamphlet were distributed in Germany. Unfortunately, I am struggling to find information about the popularity, among Germans, of Paine’s pamphlet. Perhaps, in these days of lying down and cowering, Thomas Paine’s ideas are decreasing in popularity.
A group of Manassite women—sisters with backbone—fought for inheritance rights for Israelite women. Are there any “Manassite” women with strong wills and personalities in the U.S., today? Have there been, in the past? Phoebe Ann Moses (Annie Oakley) gained fame as a sharpshooter. According to Wikipedia, “Oakley's perhaps most famous trick is being able to repeatedly split a playing card, edge-on, and put several more holes in it before it could touch the ground, while using a .22-caliber rifle, at 90 feet.” Martha “Calamity” Jane Canary also gained fame as a woman skilled with a firearm. Carrie Nation led a well-known fight against alcohol. The Seventh-day Adventist Church deems Ellen G. White a prophetess. Mary Baker Eddy's influence is apparent in the Church of Christ, Scientist (“Christian Science”) organization. After her parents were murdered in 1991, at the massacre at the Luby’s Cafeteria, in Killeen, Tex., Dr. Suzanna Gratia Hupp inspired modern-day “concealed carry” laws. Before Congress, Dr. Hupp, a Texas girl, boldly declared that the 2nd Amendment wasn't about hunting; that the reason for the 2nd Amendment was for “us” to be able to protect ourselves from “you,” she said, as she pointed to the Congressmen. Among those Congressmen was the “honorable” Chuckie Schumer. Devvy Kidd, who I suspect is another lady from Texas, though I have yet to be able to prove it (She's currently doing much work in Texas.), has, over the past five years, helped me to learn much about the dire straits in which we find ourselves, and why we're in those straits. “For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed” (Isaiah 9:16). She says that one of the reasons that the U.S. is in straits is because we have forgotten much. (Remember that the name, Manasseh, means, causing to forget.) She says that too many males are spineless. She says that, if males ever became men, the demand for “romance” novels would vanish. I'm certain that Mrs. Kidd is a lady in every sense of the word. I also know that I wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of a word fight with her, because she is informed, as few others are. One of the heroines of Mrs. Kidd is Vivien Kellems—an industrialist who led early fights against the actions of the Federal Reserve, and its S.S., the Infernal Revenue “Service.” Beverly Harris did what was probably ground-breaking work in revealing voting fraud, in which the perpetrators are not people illegally voting, but are people counting (or not counting) votes, with their illegally-rigged voting machines. Kristin Kanty recently produced a video production (Farmageddon) revealing terrorist tactics of agents of the U.S. government against small farms and their co-ops. Dr. Katherine Albrecht has done much work in revealing the methods used by “government” to spy on us. I’m certain that I’m failing to mention many more, Phyllis Schafly, for one.
Many strong women have helped the United States. And many strong women are now showing themselves to be courageous and patriotic.
Back in the 1920s and '30s, my maternal grandmother, Mrs. Verdie (Gibbs) Gose, just about ran the entire school district in Heavener, Oklahoma—famous for the Heavener Runestone. (In Wikipedia’s article about Heavener High School, I see that, in 1919, Heavener High School’s girls’ basketball team won the Oklahoma Girls’ State Basketball Championship. I know that Mrs. Gose coached basketball at Heavener High School. My grandmother seemed to be about 50 years ahead of her time, with her having been involved in girls’ sports in public schools in 1919.) Mrs. Gose—the eldest of eleven siblings—grew up in Joplin, Missouri, and died in 1946—nine years before I was born. In Heavener, she had such an influence that, when I paid my first visit to Heavener in 1976—30 years after the death of Mrs. Gose—the second person to whom I spoke in Heavener gasped, “Verdie Gose!” when I told her who my grandmother is. She said, “You've got to meet someone.” When that person heard that my grandmother was Verdie Gose, she also exclaimed, “Verdie Gose!” I then got hauled all over town. I felt like some newly-discovered, or long-lost, royalty. Again, those people remembered my grandmother thirty years after she'd gone to rest. My grandmother had made that much of an impression on Heavener. My mother—Mrs. Patricia J. (Gose) Parr—was valedictorian of her high-school class at Heavener. In the mid-1930s—during a time when not very many people even finished high school, my mother got her B.A. from what is now Texas Woman's University in Denton. I have yet to find out her class ranking, but she was hired in the accounting department by what was then Humble Oil and Refining Company (now Exxon-Mobil), in Baytown, Tex. I've heard, more than once, from “local yokels,” that, in those days, Humble sought out the top ten graduates of colleges to work in their offices. Mom told me about the summer after her first year in college. She said that, during the summer, she wanted to stay in Heavener, and not return to college. She said that it was her mom—the teacher/basketball coach/anything-else-you-need strong woman—who sent Mom back on her way to school.
For decades before the '60s, when the wheels began falling off the cart, strong American women held families together, “for the kids,” or simply because vows were spoken, and women's words were their bonds (Ps. 15:4b).
As you may notice, I didn't mention a number of other assertive women, among those being Hillary Clinton. Also, Margaret Sanger helped to spearhead eugenics policies extant today. Many other women have shaped America. Diane Feinstein is trying to shape America on her “no-guns” anvil. But I spent time mentioning women who, in my opinion, have done good things, or, at least, have made largely good efforts. Many capable people—men and women—have “played the game,” and have made names for themselves, and have contributed to shaping America, whether with smooth curves, or with dents and gaping holes. It's as Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) said, at the start of the undeniably ongoing banking crisis, to Neel Kashkari, “I don't think anyone questions, Mr. Kashkari, that you're working hard. Our question, is who you're working for.” My question, concerning some of these noted women now in Congress, is: For whom are they working?
Joseph named his eldest son “forget.” Joseph forgot any hard feelings which he may have harbored against his brothers.
Do we, in the U.S., ever forget anything? Do we forget things which we should remember?
I mentioned Gideon's refusal to allow himself to be declared “ruler” of the Israelites. I compared that with Washington's refusal to accept a king's crown. Why did people in our fledgling nation offer a crown to Washington? Had they forgotten that we'd just gotten ourselves out from under a monarchy? In his pamphlet, Common Sense, Thomas Paine quoted I Samuel 8:11-18, and used Biblical opposition to an earthly king as one of his main arguments for severing political/governmental ties with King George III, whom Paine called “his Madjesty.” Yet, after Yorktown, people were trying to put a crown on Washington's head. Thankfully, Washington had the spirit of Gideon. Do we? Or have we forgotten?
Regarding Barry Soetoro's efforts to effect gun control with executive orders (when Barry's claim to be a U.S. citizen, much less Presdent, and resident in the White House, is shaky, at best), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) said that Barry is attempting to become a king. My bet is that about half of the people in this country are absorbed in their quests for Obama phones to an extent that they don't think about the differences between executive orders and legislation. Perhaps some don't know this dying republic was supposed to work, or even what its work is. (Was our government founded to provide so-called “welfare,” or were we founded in order that, in a free enterprise system, welfare could flourish on its own?) We've forgotten how we got where we used to be—at the top. Our “skoolz” are so busy trying to teach young, innocent children to put prophylactics on cucumbers that they have forgotten to teach students differences between legislation and issuance of executive orders. Too many people don't care whether it's King Barry, or President of the Obama Nation, as long as they get their free stuff (since “the economy” pays less and less), and as long as “we” can, in the fight against existing or imaginary terrorism, fire cruise missiles into wedding parties in Afghanistan. Do we have the spirit of Gideon? Or have we forgotten?
On his broadcast of Sunday, January 26, 2013, Alex Jones drew many comparisons between how, historically, many absolute monarchs have acted, and how people in Washington are now behaving.
In 1832, Andrew Jackson led a fight against renewing the charter of the Second Bank of the United States. It is probable that a handful of people who were alive when that dragon—the Second Bank of the United States—was slain were also alive when, 81 years later, that dragon was revived, revamped, and called the Federal Reserve Bank. How we forgot. How we remain forgetful, as we now watch every action of “the Fed,” and hope that they do this, or don't do that, when, in 1913, we should have run them out on a rail, along with those who initiated it, before they could initiate it! As things currently are, it's as an immigrant from Germany to Canada wrote, in his 1969 tune, “America.” “There's a monster on the loose. It's got our head into a noose. And it just sits there watchin'. America, where are you now? Don't you care about your sons and daughters? Don't you know? We need you now! We can't fight alone against the monster.” Had Joachim Fritz Krauledat (better known as John Kay) been alive in 1776, I wonder whether he may have read Common Sense, as did so many other German people.
During the War between the States, Abraham Lincoln, inspired by his son-in-law, Senator James Harlan of Iowa, made a speech in which he declared, “We have forgotten God.” One hundred years later, our public “schools” turned “Let's forget the Creator” up a few notches. Now, you'll do much better in at least some public schools if you actively make an effort to forget the Creator. If your child brings a copy of Scripture to school, that copy of Scripture may become, along with a bubble-blowing gun, an express ticket back home.
In what context did President Lincoln tell the U.S. that we had forgotten our Creator? Wasn't it during his announcement to establish a day set aside as a day of giving of thanks? When I was a kid, I used to hear that the first year which the “Pilgrims” spent in the New World was rough, and that the so-called “Indians” helped the Pilgrims through. As the Pilgrims became established, William Bradford—the governor of Plymouth—began inviting the Indians for a three-day festival set aside to give everyone a chance to watch the Dallas Cowboys play the Washington Redskins on ESPN thanks for the bounty of heaven. We haven't forgotten to set aside Thanksgiving Day on the 4th Thursday of November, but it seems that we've forgotten why we set that day aside. Once again, we have forgotten the Creator. We also seem to have forgotten that Native Americans helped our ancestors, during those rough early years.
Being forgetful, or, being able to forget, is like having water or fire. Properly placed and used, the ability to forget is a good trait. The Creator is able, at appropriate times, to forget human mistakes and shortcomings. Because His mercy “endureth for ever” (Psalm 136), the Creator is able to forget our shortcomings, and remember them no more (Jeremiah 31:34). But He remembers His promises (Leviticus 26:44, 45; II Peter 3:9). Humans tend toward being the opposite. We remember every little wrongdoing committed by someone else, but we forget mercy, and we forget what we promise to do, on occasions when keeping our promises puts us in a tight. According to Psalms 15:4b, we are to keep all promises, irrespective of whether we rashly made those promises (That should make us much more careful about making promises, or “vows.”) I know that I am guilty, in this area. If I make a promise which puts me “in a tight,” I want to “flick” my tail, as does a crawfish (crayfish), and quickly back out of what I had promised.
During the first Arab oil embargo—started as a result of the Yom Kippur war in 1973—Arab oil shipments were decreased to most nations, but were completely halted to two countries: the U.S., and the Netherlands. Could that have been because of genetic similarities between the people of the Netherlands and those of the U.S.? Earlier, I mentioned Helene Koppejan's book, Strange Parallel. In that book, she states that, according to extra-Biblical accounts, Joseph's brother, Zebulun, opposed killing Joseph. Scripture is plain in stating that Reuben—the oldest of the sons of Joseph—opposed any plan to kill Joseph. Could there be a deeper tie, than we realize, between the U.S. and the Netherlands? Could that be a reason that the Netherlands and the U.S. were the only two countries who experienced 100% oil embargoes from Arab countries? Are the U.S. and the Netherlands two of the twelve tribes of Israel? Some researchers say that much of the nation of France is composed of descendants of the tribe of Reuben. Could that be one reason why the French fought against the British in the Revolutionary War? Could that be one reason that the French gave the Statue of Liberty to the U.S.? I know. That doesn’t explain the French going to war with their supposed brother, Ephraim/Great Britain. Think about it. Though Reuben was not in favor of killing Joseph, he did want to do some harm to him. Is the historic rivalry between the U.K. and France merely an extension of the rivalry between Reuben and Ephraim/Joseph?
While I was on my way to a public library, I was thinking, as I drove, about the similarities between Manasseh and the U.S. I was thinking about so-called “theories” that the “Lost Ten Tribes” are lost merely from the eyes of mainstream history, and not from modern-day history. I had the radio on, and tuned to N.P.R.'s affiliate in Bay City, Michigan (WUCX-FM) as I was driving, and, on Scott Simon’s Weekend Edition Saturday, a musician named Christina Pato was featured, and excerpts of an interview with Dr. Pato were aired. Dr. Pato is originally from Galicia—a comunidad autonoma, or autonomous community, in northwestern Spain. She plays piano, but she is noted for her abilities with the Galician bagpipe, or gaita. Though I didn't know that a type of bagpipe is a traditional musical instrument in any part of Spain, I did know that some “off-the-reservation” historians claim that the lineage of the Basques, who dwell in the Pyrenees Mountains—between France and Spain—is traceable back to tribes of Israel. Could that be why bagpipes are found in Galicia, as they are in the British Isles?
We have seen that Joseph's son, Manasseh, gave rise to a “thirteenth” tribe of Israel. The facts that the U.S. started out as thirteen colonies, and that the U.S. flag has 13 stripes, have been noted. We saw that Scripture notes the assertiveness of certain Manassite women, when it came to an inheritance issue. We noted that certain American women have been very strong, and have not seen fit to sit on the sidelines in a “man's world.” We saw that, just as a Manassite—Gideon—turned down an offer to make him into a king, George Washington refused to be crowned as king. We compared Manasseh's name, “to cause to forget,” with the forgetfulness, in the U.S., about avoidance of monarchy, and about the dangers of a central bank, and about our forgetfulness to be thankful. I mentioned that, just as Manasseh of old was a “split” tribe (half having been east of the Jordan, half having been west), the U.S. was settled by people east of the North Sea, and west of the North Sea. The U.S. has the Mississippi River dividing it. Also, the Mason-Dixon line eventually became a huge social divide.
In this article, have I provided sufficient proof that the U.S., today, is the Biblical tribe of Manasseh? No, I haven't. But I do believe that, with Manasseh's shared traits with the U.S., we may be able to learn things from Biblical accounts of the tribe of Manasseh. Just as the tribe of Manasseh was forgetful, so has the U.S. been forgetful. We can learn from our own history, and from the history of the Biblical Manassites, or we can repeat history in unpleasant ways.
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