1870- THE PRAIRIE PROPHET

This week I read the book of Amos.

Amos was a prophet to the northern nation of Israel- 750-790 b.c. [though he had a few prophecies for Judah- the southern nation].

He was unlike the other Old Testament prophets- in that he was an ‘uneducated’ shepherd that came from a little village [Tekoa] about 5 miles south of Bethlehem.

Yet- Amos knew history.

He railed against the political leadership of the nation- he spoke up for the poor ‘in the gate’ and condemned the ‘church’ of his day.

He said they were spending all their time and money on religious celebration- on their own ideas of what they felt God wanted [Amos says they worshipped the ‘gods that they made’].

And yet justice was falling down in the street.

Yeah- Amos was a prophet sent from God- and the people knew it.

I watched [re watched] a documentary this week on the failed run for the presidency by George McGovern.

Now- as a news buff- I never really studied McGovern- but have heard so much about the guy [usually negative] that my view of him was formed by these little clips of his life.

McGovern is famous because his loss to Nixon in 1972 was one of the biggest landslides in presidential history.

As I watched the documentary- and read Amos- I began seeing a type of Amos in McGovern.

McGovern was from South Dakota- outside of the mainstream ‘machine’ of the Democratic Party.

He was raised in a preacher’s home- and dabbled at becoming one himself.

He would eventually enter politics- and also had a background as an historian [Amos].

They called him ‘the prairie prophet’.

He was not the favored candidate for his party’s nomination.

At first it looked like Muskie would be their man.

But old Ed didn’t seem to have the temperament for the job.

At one campaign stop he was picketed by some gay rights group.

He said- quote ‘If I have to be nice to a bunch of Soddomites to get elected- then fuck it’.

Unquote.

McGovern would eventually win his party’s nomination- and lose in the general election.

As I watched the rise of McGovern- the animosity- and outright hatred- from his own party.

I also saw that he indeed was a voice in the wilderness at times.

McGovern is most famous for his opposition to the Vietnam War.

It was said that just the name of McGovern being said would send Lyndon Johnson into a rage.

McGovern stood steady in his opposition- and as an historian he had read that other world watchers had predicted that there would be an uprising in Indo China and South East Asia.

They said the people groups were growing tired of colonialism- and they would eventually rebel.

So McGovern did not see the Vietnamese as a communist threat- that left unchecked would have a domino effect.

After the assassination of Bobby Kennedy he was convinced to briefly throw his hat into the ring and run for the 68 nomination.

But the 1972 nomination was his big achievement.

In the book of Amos there are some choice quotes [not like Musky].

‘Hate evil and love good- establish judgment in the land’

‘Let judgment run down as waters and righteousness as a mighty stream’ [MLK’s famous line too]

‘Woe to them that are at ease in Zion’ [the present day church]

The one that caught my eye the most-

‘He strengthens the spoiled against the strong so that they come against the fortress’.

At times in history there are voices that rise- sometimes they are Prairie Prophets.

Sometimes we don’t realize the importance of what they are saying- until after they are gone.

Rulers- people in power- they are not all corrupt- but many are.

LBJ referred to Vietnam as a ‘little piss ant of a country’.

He [and Nixon] bombed the hell out of the land- not wanting to be seen as week.

A small- little ‘piss ant’ country in South East Asia.

Hundreds of thousands would die needlessly.

Men like McGovern- for all their critics- saw the writing on the wall.

At the present day- as I write- we have been at war in Afghanistan for around 11 years now.

We just reopened a key ground [truck] route thru Pakistan- it has been shut for 7 months because we killed around 30 Pakistani soldiers in a mistaken identity case.

NATO was flying over the border- we were fired upon from the ground- and we bombed them.

We thought they were Taliban- they were Pakistani.

Pakistan got pissed off- and they forbid us to use the key supply route until we apologized.

We just did.

We are now having talks with the Taliban- to come to some type of Peace Terms with them.

Our goal at the start was to remove them from power because they gave Al Qaida a place to operate from.

At the start we were warned that the Taliban [and the Afghanis in general] are a resilient people.

That to enter into a ground war- in some ‘piss ant’ part of the Arab world would be foolish.

We are now trying to find a way to untangle ourselves from this mess.

Yeah- after 11 years- our guys coming home without their body parts.

Thousands dead- many of them women and children.

Yeah- after 11 years our only response is.

Well- in the immortal words of Ed Muskie #$@^%$

www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com

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