LIZZIE THE TIZZIE

Excerpt #8 from Dr. Crittenden's Memoirs:

LIZZIE THE TIZZIE (1936-11 years old)

Our milk cow was named Lizzie the Tizzie. She furnished us with plenty of milk, cream and butter during the lean years of the Depression. We didn't live on a farm; we only had two acres of land. My parents had been raised on farms; we always had a large garden, a milk cow, one or two fattening hogs and laying chickens. Lizzie had a calf once a year which we raised for meat.

My brothers and I were taught to work, but I was the most reluctant worker on the place. I got a reputation for being lazy. Everybody had an anecdote about my legendary laziness. Since I weighed 14 pounds at birth, mama said I lay in the womb an extra month because I was too lazy to come out. Dad said I would get in the row in front of the plow horse and refuse to move when told to do so. He would have to tie the reins, go around the plow and horse, pick me up, and put me to one side. E. J. said he saw me sitting on the floor of the kitchen watching mama work and heard me say, "Mama, I think you just love to work." I don't think I was lazy, but I did prefer reading books to sweating in the yard.

All that changed when Lizzie the Tizzie came to live with us. It became my job to milk her morning and night. Nobody can milk a cow the first time. If you keep at it in four or five days you'll have the knack and your hands will be strong enough to do the job.

My routine began with the clean aluminum bucket that hung on a nail by the back door that mama had hung there. I ran a pint or so of water in the bucket to use in washing Lizzie's bag and teats. This was at 5:30 AM summer and winter. She was always standing by the stable door, because she knew it was time for her to be fed. I put 3 scoops of cottonseed hulls and 1 scoop of meal in an old feed bucket. I also picked up the stool on which I sat while milking. Inside the stable there was no floor. The ground was usually wet and muddy, covered with cow tracks and manure. The feed was put in a trough for Lizzie to eat, and I put the stool at her business end, always hoping there was enough feed to last until I had finished. If the feed ran out first, she would move her rear end around and might turn over or step in my milk bucket. I pulled my stool up close and leaned my face on her flank, used the clean water to bathe her udder, and began spewing white streams of milk in the general direction of the bucket. The bucket sat on the ground, because I used both hands to milk.

Pasteurization? Don't make me laugh. We had never heard of it.

In about 20 minutes her bag was dry.

Homogenized? What is that?

I didn't mind milking the cow. Once Don came into the stable while I was milking. I turned the teat up and squirted fresh milk into Don's mouth. It was too warm for his liking. On some occasions Lizzie stepped into the milk bucket. I had a difficult time picking out the bits of mud and manure, but what I didn't get, I'm sure the straining rag caught. I certainly wasn't going to tell mama the cow had stepped into the milk!

BULLY

Excerpt #7 from Dr. Crittenden's Memoirs

BULLY

Otis was my first cousin. He lived in my neighborhood and attended the same school I did. He was two years older than me and larger, but he had failed a couple of years and was in sixth grade with me. He was a regular member of our walk to and from school every day.

Otis was a wild youngster. As a child, he got into serious trouble in school and eventually dropped out. He played "hooky," was rumored to steal and shoplift, and was a bully. However, in later years he straightened out and became a good citizen, even a police officer.

He picked on me. Otis would wait in the woods on the east side of the street until I came along on my way to school and jump out to attack me, hitting me on the arms, in the back, and on the legs. One of his favorite tricks was to put his leg between mine, shove me in the back, and trip me to the ground. Another involved twisting my arm up high behind my back until I thought it was going to break; while in that position, he would tell me to bark like a dog, beg to be let go or any other humiliating thing he could dream up.

I had two older brothers who walked with us at times and also my cousin and best friend, Charles Emmett in the group. Their presence may have acted as a restraint on Otis, and he never hurt me seriously, but they didn't interfere, expecting me to get out of my troubles on my own, and I was too proud to ask them.

Mama didn't sympathize a lot either. I told her about the bullying, hoping she would say something to his dad; instead, she gave me a boxing lesson! She said, "Hit him BACK!"

"If I hit him back, he'll kill me!" was my response.

"Fight him anyway. You'll have to fight your way out of many tough situations in life; you can't let a bully think he can get away with his bullying scot-free."

The next day when Otis tripped me the first time, I got up and hit him back. He laughed and punched me in the stomach, then tripped me again. I got up and bear-hugged him, trying to wrestle him to the ground, but he twisted my arm behind my back and held it that way as we stumbled on toward the school. I kicked at him, butted him with my head and kept trying to hit him in the face.

The one-sided fight went on all the way to school. When he let me go, he commanded, "Meet me after school at the flag pole!"

The day passed incredibly fast. I just KNEW he was going to beat me to a pulp after school, but I was determined to deny him the satisfaction of scaring me off. I was trapped anyway, because he would get me sooner or later.

News of the big fight spread, and a good-sized crowd of boys was waiting at the flag pole when I came out. In the middle was Otis with a group of six smaller boys, each about my size. Otis said, "Billy, I decided that it wouldn't be fair for me to fight you, since I'm so much bigger. I picked out these six boys, and you're going to have to fight them."

"All at one time?" I stammered.

"No. One at a time."

And so I fought those six boys, one at a time. Otis acted as the referee; he would pull a boy out to fight; we would circle, hit at one another, clinch, roll around on the ground, etc., for about five minutes; I would be allowed a minute to rest, and then he would repeat with the others until all six had fought. I don't know who won, but I didn't give up.

Evidently, when I started resisting Otis, it caused him to respect me more. When we had finished fighting, he put his arm around me and said, "Now you are a member of my gang." Then he took me to a house in the next block. We went in the back door and found an old lady in the kitchen. Otis told her, "I brought you a new member. He whipped six boys."

She looked me over and treated me nicely, saying I was welcome to come over any time. Well, I was scared. I knew something wasn't right about that old lady. I got out of there as fast as I could and never went back.

Mama told me later the police arrested that woman. They found a lot of stolen items in her house. She had organized a gang of boys who were stealing things for her to sell.

I don't believe mama called the police about Otis and the old lady, but I do know that Otis never lifted a hand toward me again.

MY GUARDIAN ANGEL WAS WORKING HARD

Excerpt #6 from Dr. Crittenden's memoirs:

Trains were the reason my hometown was founded. My dad was a carpenter for the train yard and the second brother in line worked on moving trains as a brakeman and conductor all his life. Both of them were given a gold pass to ride trains anywhere they wanted free for the rest of their lives but neither one ever set foot on another train after retiring.

I still love trains. During the 1930's mama and we five boys would ride to Texas to visit relatives. Since dad worked for the railroad, he had the privilege of securing free passes for his family to ride anywhere. Mama always took a big basket of fried chicken and other goodies for us to eat, because prices in the diner and from the butcher boy were at least double those at a restaurant. There were no air conditioned trains; therefore we rode with windows open. The cinders and smoke blew into the passenger cars. It was normal for us to get very dirty. The ICRR was the last rail company to switch to oil or diesel, because the line owned their own coal mines. We boys didn't mind the dirt. We each had a window and spent a lot of time hanging out trying to see the engine. When the train went around a curve, we caught sight of the engine huffing and puffing. We loved it.

There was no railroad bridge over the Mississippi River at New Orleans in the 1930's. To cross the river, the train had to use a ferryboat. If it had more than 12 cars counting the engine, it had to use two ferries and took almost two hours to get out of New Orleans.

We were allowed to get off the coach and go to the rail in the front or back of the ferry. It was always night when we crossed on the ferryboat. We would see the lights of boats and docks and hear the gurgling and splashing under our feet. My imagination would take me on a sea voyage to China or Australia.

While visiting my aunt who lived two blocks off Main Street in Houston, I got lost. Mama and my aunt had left me in the care of a tenant named Ruby one evening. Ruby was a good-time girl. She decided that she and I would walk the two blocks to N. Main to a fast food outlet of those days called a "Pig Stand" for a barbecue sandwich. While we were eating, a friend of Ruby's came in and sat down with us. They talked and laughed for a time and then decided to go out on a date. "Can you find the house, Billy?" She pointed to the first street and said, "Just go one block down there and then one block to the right." I was nearly 10 years old.

I assured her there would be no problem. So she handed me a wrapped pork sandwich to take home to my aunt. After that first block, everything was pitch black and I wasn't sure which way to turn. After a minute or two of failing to find anything familiar, I walked back to Main. I tried going down the next street without success. For an hour or two I walked back and forth one block off N. Main, until I couldn't even find the Pig Stand. That's when I sat down on the curb.

In a few minutes a police car pulled up. The officers came over and asked me if anything was wrong. I told them I couldn't find my aunt's house. They wanted to know her name. I didn't know her last name. They told me to get in the back seat of the patrol car and they would find my aunt. One clicked the button on his mike and said, "This is Car Three. We just picked up a white boy named Billy Crittenden. He is about 10 years old. He was sitting on the curb on North Main in front of the Bijou Theater. We need to find his aunt's house where he is visiting. A lady named Ruby left him at Pig Stand 6."

I rode in the police car for several hours, finally going to sleep. Ruby got home at 2:30 AM and called the police. When I woke up, there were my mama, aunt, and Ruby. I thanked the two policemen and handed the soggy mess of a sandwich to my aunt.

FIRE IN THE NIGHT

Excerpt #5 from Dr. Crittenden's memoirs.

FIRE IN THE NIGHT (1934-9 years old)

We used a monster wood-burning stove in the kitchen to cook with. It had the upper food warmers, a huge oven, and a tank that held water to be kept heated. Biscuits made in that stove were delicious. It ate up small sticks of stove wood in huge quantities. In the bedroom adjacent to the kitchen we had a large coal-burning heater. Its metal pipe joined that of the kitchen stove in a flue that served both. When we had a hot fire going in the cooking range, its stovepipe would turn cherry red, and it was teh same with the coal stove in the bedroom.

One cold winter night in 1934 we boys begged mama to parch us some peanuts. She agreed, as she usually did, and we fired up the big cook stove. We enjoyed eating the roasted peanuts and went to bed happy. Little did we know of what lay in store for us before the night was over.

All five boys slept in one room, three in one bed and two in the other. It was the same room that had the coal-burning heater. Dad discovered the house was on fire about 2:00 AM. The fire was centered in the chimney area of the kitchen and bedroom. The flue had a defect in it-a hole that allowed a spark to get out into the woodwork and to smolder until it finally burst into flame. Dad callled to mama to get the boys out while he got the garden hose and went into the kitchen to fight the fire.

We had no telephone. There was one a block away at the Bostick's house. Mama sent E.J. up there to tell them to call the city fire department. Neighbors began arriving and helped bring out some pieces of furniture. Dad was forced out by the thick smoke. He had been the busiest one, but he was the one who saw that Don was missing. We called for Don, thinking he was among the crowd, but there was no answer. Dad thought he might be still in the house. He plunged back into the smoking and burning house, going straight to the bedroom where the thickest smoke was. He felt around in the bed for Don, and sure enough he was there. Dad brought Don out. By that time the fire truck was there, and they helped to get Don breathing again. We always thought it was a miracle that Don was saved, and our dad was the bravest man we knew for going back after him!

BOOKS OF THE BIBLE-BACKWARDS

Excerpt #4

BOOKS OF THE BIBLE (1934 9 years old)

I loved the Royal Ambassadors, the Baptist weekday organization for boys. Mrs. Bob Smith, wife of our former pastor, was our sponsor.

We met at her house once a week.

The first thing she would do after the opening prayer was to call the roll. Each boy was to answer with a Bible verse he had memorized. She always went down the names in alphabetical order; my name was usually first, unless Eugene Bostick happened to be thre. I was unprepared, of course, but my old standby saved me many times--"Jesus wept."

The R.A.'s had a project once of memorizing the Books of the Bible, all 66 of them. Our chapter learned them well, better than most of the other churches in Pike County. We would stand in front of the congregation and recite them in unison. It was a crowd-pleaser, and a few other churches invited us to come and recite the Books to them. I thought that if reciting 66 names of Books was so exciting the people would get really high if somebody could recite them backwards, so that's what I decided to do. Actually, when I said them in reverse to Mrs. Smith, she got all excited and went and told the preacher. He gave me a nice build-up the next Sunday morning, and I said them backwards to the congregation. After that I had a dozen invitations from other Baptist churches.

GREEN BUBBLE GUM

Here is another excerpt from Dr. Crittenden's memoirs:

GREEN BUBBLE GUM (1934-9 years old)

One day while we were in Miss Holmes; fourth grade class, I found a penny on the school yard. That was a great deal more important incident in 1934 than it would be today, when most kids don't bother to pick up a lost penny when they see one. I was so excited that I thought I could feel it in my overalls pocket going into class. But when I reached in my pocket to make sure it was safe, it was gone. Evidently, it had fallen out of my pocket when I sat down.

There were two girls sitting behind Charles Emmett and me. They were Doris Larsen and Mildred Smith. Doris sat immediately behind me. When the class stood to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, I noticed a penny lying on top of Doris' side of the desk. As soon as I could, I whispered to Charles Emmett, "Don't look now, but Doris found my penny." He dropped his pencil, leaned over to get it, and looked back at the desk. Coming up, he gave me a significant look, which I interpreted to mean, "That sure is your penny. You ought to find it back!"

That penny began burning a hole in my shoulder.

In a minute I dropped my pencil. Coming up I snatched that penny. At the morning recess, we crossed the street to the little store and bought a hunk of green bubble gum. They had red, yellow, black, and green but all the kids liked green the best. Since I found the penny (twice), Charles Emmett gave me first chew. He counted to 20, after which he took it and chewed his 20. We swapped back and forth until the bell ended recess and summoned us back to class. Since I "owned" the gum, it would be my job to hide it from Miss Holmes. Our usual hiding place for gum was under our seats, but after so many years there were no vacant spots left under there, so I intended to find a vacancy under the top of my side of the desk.

Doris was crying, and Miss Holmes was comforting her, "Now, now Doris. What's wrong?"

"Somebody stole my penny!" About that time, she caught sight of me.

Doris shouted, "I BET IT WAS BILLY! HE NEVER HAS ANY MONEY! What's that you're holding? GREEN BUBBLE GUM?!?!?! You stole my penny and bought green bubble gum with it!"

I had to think of something fast! "Well, that's all right, Doris. We hardly chewed it any. Here, you take the gum."

"But y'all got all the juice out of it!" she wailed. She took the gum anyway, put it in her mouth and began chewing. Her tears dried up. Miss Holmes made her stick it under the seat so she could chew it at lunch.

LESSONS HELP

Have you ever taken piano lessons? You don't just sit down on that wooden bench and begin playing Mozart. The following is a true story in Dr. Crittenden's life. It is an excerpt from his memoirs.

LEARNING TO SWIM

I had four brothers. (Dr. Crittenden is the last brother living.) I was the middle child. My older brothers, E. J. and Milton, and my buddy Charles Emmett along with my neighborhood friends made our way down the old main road in town. It was a hot summer day and we were looking forward to a cooling dip at Wardlaw's. This was my first trip with my older brothers and I was to learn how to swim that day. Some of the guys said that there was no way Billy could learn to swim in one day, but my brother Milton said there was only one way to learn and that was to throw me in and I would either swim out or drown. I would have voted with the first group, but I wasn't given a vote.

Naturally, I couldn't act scared by pleading for mercy, not if I EVER wanted to go with them again, so I swallowed my gum and acted like my brother had come up with a good idea.

E. J. gave me the kindest advice; he told me to just relax, hold my breath, and my body would just float to the top of the water, after which I could "dog paddle" out. They surrounded me, impatient for me to get my clothes off. They threw me as far as they could from the bank, hollering and hooting like westerners at a hanging.

That's the last I heard, for I immediately went under.

Later on, I wondered why I never touched bottom, because it was less than five feet deep. As I went down, my mouth was wide open, and it immediately filled with water, strangling me. I came up fighting for something to hold on to, but there was nothing but more water. I forgot the good advice to hold my breath and keep still, and soon I came up for the third time. I flailed about, trying to touch another swimmer, but down I went again. I was about to give up when I felt strong hands grasping my arms and pulling me above the water. It was my brother E. J., who realized that I was drowning, and he dove in and saved my life.

(Dr. Crittenden's oldest brother, E. J., was killed only a couple of years later at the age of 16, He was hit by a car while delivering papers on his bicycle.)

ONE OF MY FAVORITE SELECTIONS

This blog will give you an insight into the small town life of a poor boy with four brothers. I hope Dr. Crittenden recovers quickly but in the meantime, it is my pleasure to bring you some of the excerpts from his memoirs. (born 1925)

CABBAGE LEAF

(Name changed to protect the innocent?)

We had a fifth grade teacher named Miss Guest. She had a standing rule that if you got caught chewing gum in class you would get a paddling. In those days each classroom had a long narrow cloakroom with one shelf on each side and pegs. The shelf was for lunch pails (although no one brought a lunch; we ate in the lunchroom or walked home for it) and galoshes; the galoshes; the pegs were for coats; and the cloakroom was where teachers always did their paddling. I guess the educational designers believed in revealing the swats and screams as a deterrent to misbehavior.

Well, it worked just the opposite for my cousin, Charles Emmett and me. Miss Guest did not paddle hard, and there is a sort of "macho" feeling of bravado in boys that makes them seek punishment when it's not too dear, because of the gratification they receive from their fellows too timid to risk it. Her paddle was a yardstick, and our baggy overall seats protected us from feeling much pain. So, we made sure we got caught chewing gum almost every day. She had a routine of administering her paddles immediately after recess, which gave us time to mosey around the playground being eyed by girls with sympathy or admiration for our upcoming ordeal.

There was one guy in my fifth grade class named Cab. I was afraid of Cab. He was the only boy in our school who ever got paddled for failing to shave. See, Cab was 16 and in the fifth grade.

Cab was twice the size of any other kid in our school. When Cab told us to do something, he didn't have to say it but once because we had seen what he did out at recess to those who resisted!

Students were divided according to when they enrolled in school. We had an A group that started early and a B group that had started later in the year. I was in the B group but I had an easy time academically, finishing my assignments quickly, and I learned most of the material taught to the A group, too.

Cab wanted me to sit with him when he took tests. It almost never happened, but one day when 5A was to take a geography test, Miss Guest put me with him. Cab used a crude but effective technique-he would jab me in the ribs with his elbow to get my attention, then point at the question he wanted me to supply the answer to. I had my tablet ready, and I would write the answer on it and cover it with my hand. When I thought Miss Guest was out of position to see, I would lift the side of my hand so that only he could see what I had written.

"In what year did Columbus discover America?" Elbow jab. "1492."

"Name one of Columbus' ships." Elbow jab. "Nina."

"Who discovered the Mississippi River?" Elbow jab.

"BILLY! LIFT YOUR HAND!"

There it was.......................DeSoto.

She grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me up from my seat. The rebel in me caused me to pull away from her and RIP. I ripped my shirt. I was sure that she had committed an act that even my parents would defend my actions. My mama made my shirts.

On my way home for lunch that day, I rehearsed the story that I would tell my mama. Don't think I wasn't scared; my parents were serious about supporting teachers. The rule was, "If you get a whipping at school, you get another one at home." I was counting BIG on the torn shirt. I even felt sorry for Miss Guest if my mama went back to school with me and lit into her. Just to improve my chances of a successful deception, I managed to tear the shirt more and more until it hung in tatters. As I entered the house, I managed a snuff or two out loud as if I had been crying.

When I saw her in the kitchen putting my dinner on the table, I began, "Mama, look what my teacher done! "

That was all she let me say.

She said, "HUSH!"

She took my dinner plate off that table and set it back on the stove and in a tone of voice that I dared not defy, she said, "Billy, you turn yourself around RIGHT NOW, and go BACK to that school and APOLOGIZE to that teacher because whatever you did MUST HAVE BEEN AWFUL!"

I asked, "Can I change shirts mama?"

"No!" was her wise reply.

I'LL BE BACK

Dr. Crittenden is recuperating from major eye surgery. He asked me, his secretary, to post a blog from one of his books and he will return to the Revelation series soon.

THE DAY OF THE LORD III: Armageddon

The Wedding Supper and Christ's Judgment Seat
Must wait, for urgent affairs lie at hand;
A huge army waited below, God's Host to meet;
Under the crescent flag, Satan's last stand!
Landing on the Mount from which He arose,
Christ entered Zion through the Eastern gate.
Where once rested the Holy of Holies,
The earth shook; thunder boomed; the sun grew dark;
Filled with fear, the lost turned on each other;
Deaths passed the thousands, then the millions' mark;
Violence Islam spawned became its smother!
Satan was captured to face future dire;
Live, his henchmen into the Lake of Fire!

We have already seen the tragic results of the slaughter of Armageddon in the two blogs on the Harvest of the Earth. It was not really a battle; Zechariah describes the results graphically.

"This is the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations which fought against Jerusalem. Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets and their tongues will rot in their mouths. On that day, men will be stricken by the Lord with great panic. Each man will seize the hand of another, and they will attack each other." Zechariah 14:12-13

The army destroyed numbered 200,000,000 troops. When it is over, the world will be free of terror from Satan. The Church has been spiritualized with imperishable bodies and will be with Jesus Christ forever. What brought this gathering of armies to Israel is probably the great quantities of oil in the Middle East and the nations' desire to preserve and protect their resources. The economy of every nation is dependent upon an adequate supply of petroleum. The Arab nations control one-third of all the oil reserves on earth.

Satan controlled Islam, the Antichrist and the False Prophet. All nations were forced to send every soldier possible to the Plain of Megiddo at the first sight of the Lord's return to earth. (See Joel 3:16). The sword in the mouth of Jesus is symbolic of the roar He emitted from Jerusalem that instigated and won the Battle of Armageddo. (See Joel 3:16)

THE DAY OF THE LORD II: The First Resurrection

Christ stopped and so did the angels and souls;
He called to an elite angelic corps,
"Circle earth's corners, sea depths, land and poles,
Call my brothers to rise, and sleep no more!"
New bodies come forth, in the prime of life,
Rejoined their souls, for which the Lord had cared!
How joyful these, who'd been bought with a price;
The shed blood of Christ had this day prepared!
That wasn't all; living saints, next rose
To join the triumphant Host in the air,
Their bodies also eternal, as those
Resurrected, unending life to share!
At last, Christ with His church entire is joined;
Can punish whom so many souls purloined!

We continue describing the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to earth by describing the resurrection of all the dead Christians, their ascension together with those still living after the Tribulation, to join Christ and the heavenly Host in the air. Paul's account of this joyful reunion in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 is quoted.

"Brothers we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep (die), or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.

According to the Lord's (Jesus') own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from Heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." (1 Thess. 4:13-17) (Brackets added)

"The body that is sown (buried) is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body." (1Cor. 15:42-44) (Brackets added)

"Listen, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we will all be changed-in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we (the living Christians) will be changed." (1 Cor. 15:5, 51-52) (Brackets added)

Christian, why worry or grieve? Living for Christ, alive or dead, when He comes, you will be with Him forever! If dead, your soul is with Him from the moment you die. It is a win-win life, that of a Christian!

THE DAY OF THE LORD I: The Appearance

A strange bright light overwhelmed the sun,
Drew all eyes on earth to the eastern sky;
A great sign appeared, announcing the One,
King of kings, Lord God Almighty, was nigh!
A trumpet sounded; A Figure in white,
With blazing eyes, and in His mouth all Truth;
Riding a white horse; With Him, a great sight-
Heaven's angels and saints, showing no ruth*!
The wicked who lived mourned at His nearing
Knowing their cruel reign would come to its end;
The few surviving saints broke out cheering
At this answer to prayers they had sent!
"Vengeance is Mine!" says God; "Now will it be!
The blood of My martyrs cries out to Me!"
*ruth=mercy

Jesus Christ will return to earth soon; not as a baby in a manger, a gentle Savior, a meek, uncomplaining, unjust victim on a Roman cross, but as King of All the World, and He will wreak vengeance on the wicked armies of the earth.

"I (John) saw Heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider (Christ) is called Faithful and True. With justice He judges and makes war. His eyes are blazing fire, and on His head are many crowns. He has a name written on Him that no one knows but He Himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His name is the WORD OF GOD. The armies of Heaven were following Him riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of His mouth comes a sharp with which He will strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the wine press with the fury of the wrath of God Almighty." (Revelation 19:11-15) (Brackets added)

"At that time, the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn." (Matthew 24:30)

The nations living and functioning after the tribulation are fewer than today, comprising about one-sixth of the current population of earth. However, they are all Islamic, having delegated authority to the ruling Antichrist. They have forced everyone to worship the image and take his mark upon their heads or hands. Some Christians have succeeded in eluding authorities and are hiding, barely surviving and pleading for this day to arrive.

There is some symbolism in the passage quoted above. His robe "dipped in blood" is symbolic of His trampling the bodies in the wine press, which He does not actually do. The sword in His mouth is symbolic of His voice, which speaks only Truth and is His only real weapon in war. His angel armies will not actually fight; their clean, white linen is symbolic of their purity in loyalty as compared with the soiled clothing of Satan's fallen angels. Jewish hyperbole probably is involved in the amount of blood flowing 200 miles.

Allegory Of Earth's Harvest II

From Titus to Hitler, the Jews have paid
God's price for Jesus' death on the cross;
The turn of those who Christian martyrs made
Has come, earth's harvest making blood-sauce!
It flowed like water two hundred miles,
Spilled fighting each other, caused by the Christ;
Bodies covered the plain, heaped in huge piles;
The slaughter was done in just a short tryst!
God had said to His people, "Vengeance is Mine!"
On Megiddo Plain, He showed it was true;
His children don't resist, avenge, malign;
God repays the carnage that others do!
The blood of the wicked flowed instead of wine,
And vultures feasted, on Muslims to dine!

This poem is a continuation for the previous one on The Harvest of Earth found in Rev. 14:14-20. It is an allegory, making the well-known (of that day) process of grape harvesting and wine-making an analogy to the huge slaughter by the followers of Satan that had killed so many Christians during the Tribulation. All Bible scholars are cognizant of Jewish writers' pediliction for using hyperbole (or exaggeration) for emphasis in significant situations. John's intention was to make the slaughter at Armageddon as extensive as possible; I am of the opinion that hyperbole in describing the horrible effect of God's retribution could never mount to its real extent.

"The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God's wrath. They [that is, the dead bodies] were trampled in the winepress outside the city [note the symbolism; Jesus was crucified outside the city of Jerusalem; so were these enemies] and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses' bridles for a distance of 1600 stadia." (Revelation 14;19-20) [Brackets added]

"Stadia" means furlongs, each one-eighth of a miles in length. The Jordan River borders the Plain of Megiddo; it flows into the Dead Sea. That distance is approximately 200 miles. God's children, Jews and Christians, have been taught to "turn the other cheek"; we are supposed to be gentle, and not to fight back or to avenge offenses.

"Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; their foot shall slip in due time; for the day of their calamity is at hand ..." (Deuteronomy 32:35, NKJV)

From the time of Moses, when God said this, until Armageddon is more than 3500 years; 'due time' to us means something different than it means to God. We must remenber that "a thousand years is as one day to the Lord", 2 Peter 3:8. The admonition to leave vengeance to God and 'turn the other cheek' is difficult for us; we want to get even. To be a Christiab, though, we need to teach this to ourselves.

Allegory Of Earth's Harvest I

Death to the wicked left after God's Woes!
The time has come for Him to kill them all!
Their spilled blood in rivulets deeply flows;
E'en those they martyred are shocked how they fall!
"There is no god but Allah!" they proclaimed
Five times each day one thousand years and more;
Christ endured His name to be profaned,
Until He returns and evens the score!
He has a sharp sickle ready in His hand,
But this bloody harvest needs but His voice;
Their mighty armies fill the Holy Land,
And the Christians left prepare to rejoice!
"Dear God, come now!" their pleas arise on high;
The Lamb-King hears, and is set to comply!

Rev. 14:14-20 is an allegory. Translated into clear reality, it describes the carnage done to Satan's armies at Armageddon. You will need your Bible to understand the verse-by-verse translation that follows. My next blog on July 4th, God willing, will complete the passage.

Verse 14:14---The one seated on the white cloud "like a son of man"; wearing a gold crown; holding a sickle in His hand; is Christ. Symbolically, as King of the Universe after His resurrection and ascension, the Bible speaks of Him as ruling from the clouds. Actually He sits on the throne on the right hand of the Father. Verse 14:15---The angel coming out of the temple is from God the Father, signalling to Christ the time for His return to earth has come. Heretofore, the date of the Second Coming has been secret, known only to the Father. The "harvest is ripe" means that all those on earth who have not repented have earned and will receive condemnation. The sickles are allegorical; the death of the wicked is compared to the harvesting of grapes, and the flowing blood in verse 14:20 is compared to their crushing to make wine. Verses 14:16-20---The swinging of sickles is symbolic. The sight of Christ returning will cause all people to mourn (See Matthew 24:31); the Antichrist-world ruler will call for every able-bodied soldier remaining to gather for war against Christ and the host with Him on the Plain of Megiddo, near Jerusalem. Two hundred million, about one-fifth of earth's population, will respond (See Joel 3:9-17). With one lion-like roar from Jerusalem (See Joel 3:16) Christ terrifies them; they turn on each other and die (See Zechariah 14:12-13). (To be continued July 4th)