Dr. Robert Sumner passed away in December 2016. The Biblical Evangelist newspaper is no longer being published and the ministry of Biblical Evangelism has ceased operation.

The remaining inventory of his books and gospel tracts was transferred to The Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles and may be ordered here.

Off the Cuff (Part 3 of 4)

WHO IS ACCOUNTABLE?

Thanks to a brand new bloody shooting of innocent people – you know, like the Muslims have been beheading and killing Christians by the hundreds in other countries – the vote-hungry politicians have been rolling out their favorite campaign speeches calling for more gun control in ours.

If they are serious, how about a law making parents bear responsibility for providing guns for their unstable children? That bloody shootout by 20-year-old Adam Lanza at the Sandy Hook Elementary School at Newtown, Connecticut, was a case of the mother making guns available to the killer.

The recent one in South Carolina was a case of the father providing a weapon for an obviously mentally disturbed 21-year-old son.

Let’s make parents responsible when they are!

FREDDY’S RAP SHEET

They tried – and almost succeeded – in burning down the city of Baltimore in his honor and in defense of his memory, claiming police brutality. Freddy Gray, the 25-year-old young man who lost his life in that major city on April 19 while in police custody, had quite a rap sheet. Here is his arrest record, courtesy of the Maryland Department of Justice, emphasizing that this was a minimum of his arrests (there might be others for which Maryland has no records, such as out-of-state):

1. Dealing cocaine (3/20/15), apparently one of the most recent.

2. Possession of narcotics (8/28/08)

3. Illegal gambling (10/5/12)

4. Possession of narcotics over 10 grams (1/25/14)

5. Manufacturing and distribution of narcotics (8/24/07)

6. Distribution of narcotics (8/29/07)

7. Distribution of narcotics (9/16/08)

8. Distribution of narcotics (4/16/08)

9. Distribution of narcotics (5/9/12)

10. Distribution of narcotics (1/4/15)

11. Distribution of narcotics (12/31/14)

12. Stolen property (5/13/14)

13. Distribution of narcotics (7/16/08)

14. Possession of narcotics (3/28/08)

15. Distribution of narcotics (2/12/08)

16. Distribution of narcotics (9/29/13)

17. Distribution of narcotics (12/4/14)

18. Possession of narcotics (12/4/14)

19. Burglary (3/20/08)

20. Possession of narcotics (3/20/08)

21. Distribution of narcotics (9/21/07)

22. Unlawful possession: two counts (4/30/08)

23. Possession of a controlled dangerous substance (3/20/15)

24. Malicious destruction of property, second-degree assault (3/23/15)

25. Fourth-degree burglary, trespassing (1/20/15)

26. Possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute (1/14/15)

27. Possession of narcotics with intent to distribute (12/31/14)

28. Possession of a controlled dangerous substance (12/14/14).

Six, you will note, were this year.

Deputy Police Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez stated about his apprehension: “We had officers in a high-crime area known to have high narcotic incidents. The officers believed that Mr. Gray was immediately involved or recently involved in criminal activity and decided to make contact.”

Freddy was very definitely not a nice young man. Five of the above cases were still active at the time of his decease. He was obviously someone familiar to the Baltimore police and the men and women on the force probably were understandably sick and tired of arresting him and hauling him down to the station. It is good that Freddy is permanently off the streets of Baltimore. That is a blessing for the people in that city.

But (we say “but” because all the facts are not in at this writing) if the reports of his treatment by the Baltimore blue on that fateful April day are true, he did not deserve to be cuffed, tossed in the back of a squad car, left with the seat belt unfastened in violation of stated department policy, and taken on such a wild ride – being tossed back and forth all over the rear of the vehicle – until, according to his family, he had three fractured vertebrae and a crushed voice box, the sorts of injuries that could have happened while experiencing being tossed around during an unbuckled wild ride.

If the previous paragraph is true, how come the other occupant in the van was not battered and why did he say it sounded like Gray was banging himself against the van wall – with his head injury being consistent with hitting his head on an exposed bolt?

By way of background, Gray was arrested on April 12, struggling to walk, and when he arrived at the station 30 minutes later, he was unable to speak or hardly even breathe, suffering from the wounds that eventually killed him. Unbiased witnesses have testified that his first encounter with the police as noted is true. He died on April 19, five days later.

Freddy had a switchblade on his person at the time of his apprehension. No witnesses while he was in the custody of the police – and there were several – have spoken of any mistreatment. All the facts are definitely not in yet!

But, true or false, nothing above merited burning down Baltimore!

FYI: President Obama sent 3 (count ’em, three) White House officials to the funeral of criminal Freddy Gray. So how many did Barack send to the funeral of decorated NYPD officer Brian Moore’s Funeral? (Police Commissioner Bill Bratton described Moore as “an exceptional officer since joining the force in 2010, making 150 arrests and winning four medals for his police work), apparently murdered viciously by black Demetrius Blackwell (identified as the shooter by Moore’s patrol partner Erik Jansen and two other witnesses), who described himself to police when arrested as “a hellraiser.” At the time of his slaughter, Moore was merely sitting in his police car, apparently “rubbed out” simply because he was white.

The answer to our own question: three less than he did for the thug Gray (in short, absolutely none).

By the way, the Mothers for Justice United marched on Washington May 9th (day prior to Mother’s Day) carrying signs saying, “Stop Killing Our Children.” We can say “amen” to that (especially the ones still in the womb, although we don’t think they meant that)! Now when are those same mothers going to sponsor a march with signs: “Children: Stop Killing Our Policemen”?  

Don’t hold your breath!

Incidentally, property damage on that Baltimore game the idiots played is currently nearly $24 million and bound to rise drastically when all the “business interruption” claims are filed down the road.

TAX WHERE IT DOES GOOD

The “tax the rich” slogan should be replaced with “tax the boozers.” Why? To make our highways safer, that’s why! An article in the “Science & Tech” section of The Epoch Times (April 10-16, 2015) told the story in its headline: Fewer Fatal Car Crashes when Alcohol Taxes Go Up.

The item opened, “Increasing state alcohol taxes could prevent thousands of deaths a year from car accidents, said researchers. A new study shows that after taxes on beer, wine, and spirits went up in Illinois in 2009, fatal alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes declined 26 percent. The decrease was even more marked for young people, at 37 percent. Crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers and extremely drunken drivers had similar declines at 22 and 25 percent, respectively.”

The Illinois figures were compared with neighbor Wisconsin’s alcohol-related fatal crashes, that did not change its alcohol taxes, and they confirmed that the Illinois decease was due to the tax change, not any other factor.

University of Florida’s Alexander C. Wagenaar, a professor of health outcomes and policy at its College of Medicine, declared:

Similar alcohol tax increases implemented across the country could prevent thousands of deaths from car crashes each year … If policymakers are looking to address dangerous drivers on our roads and reduce the number of fatalities, they should reverse the trend of allowing inflation to erode alcohol taxes.

Regarding inflation, back in 1950, consuming over 10 drinks a day would have set the average person back about one-half his/her disposable income; by 2011 it had been reduced to a mere 3%.

Yes, let’s tax the boozers!

HOLLYWOODITE HYPOCRISY

Remember good old Meryl Streep – one of those Hollywoodites with the ability to parrot lines someone else had written for her – and her pronouncement in the Public Broadcasting System back in 1990 when she was hostess for a 10-hour series, “Race to Save the Planet”? She confidently declared: “By the year 2000 … the earth’s climate will be warmer than it’s been in over 100,000 years.”

That would be pretty hot, wouldn’t it? Or, at least I think so – records don’t go back nearly that far. But she was just getting “warmed up,” so to speak. She went on, “If we don’t do something, there will be enormous calamities in a very short time.”

How very short? She didn’t say, but it’s been a quarter of a century since she dropped those pearls of wisdom (sic).

Never mind that her “prophecy” didn’t come true, she and her tinsel town crowd have proven to the world what phonies they are. Do they try to “save the planet” by cutting back on what they say is ruining everything? Do they buy and drive smaller cars to save on energy. Do they take the bus or train? Do they rely on “shared” public transportation?

Not exactly!

Brent Bozell and Tim Graham authored a piece – in turn quoting The Media Research’s report “Climate Hypocrites and the Media That Love Them” – showing the gross hypocrisy of the celluloid crowd.

Noting that a 48,000 Gulfstream G550 burns in excess of 400 gallons of fuel per hour (and a private jet burns as much fuel in an hour as a car in a year), the pair pointed out that Leonardo DiCaprio (one of the big voices in global warming hysteria, saying, “If we don’t act together, we will surely perish”) used a private jet six times within six weeks.

Questioned about DiCaprio's hypocrisy, actor Mark Ruffalo responded: "Oh, brother, that is a question you shouldn't be asking here today because that defies the spirit of what this is about,” adding that anyone attacking (questioning) DiCaprio had to be "a coward or an ideologue" because "DiCaprio's voice carries farther than any one of those politicians, even the president."

In other words, because he was good at pretending he was on the Titanic and could memorize all the lines he was fed all men, women, boys and girls should sit at his feet and swallow everything he says – even if he is a major hypocrite who doesn’t personally practice what he is telling others to do.

For another example, here is this paragraph from the Media Research article:

Woody Harrelson is such a tree-hugger that he told CBC News in Canada that he'd "like to see it get to the point where we never use trees to make paper because to me it's just a barbaric way to make it. ... It'd be nice to just stop using the forest." But at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008, when Harrelson realized that he had left his vegan belt and shoes behind, he had them flown to France from California (emphasis added).

Or how about this one:

At least John Travolta offers self-awareness, that when he said global warming is a "very valid" issue, he added "I'm probably not the best candidate to ask about global warming because I fly jets." Travolta owns five jets and has flown tens of thousands of miles in the air. He thinks the answer may be "other planets," a natural suggestion for a Scientologist (emphasis added).

Yes, Travolta is a faithful member of that cult founded by a science fiction novelist, who wrote his best fabrications while founding his religion (which he admitted was to make money and get rich).

A GOOD WORD FOR JONES

Let me start by saying GRACE (a great word) is used as an acronym for “Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment” (something in itself commendable). The latter, however, spent two years studying how BJU investigated/treated abuse charges when Bob Jones III was at the helm of the school.

Its report was not good and it especially recommended harsh treatment for Dr. Bob Jones, III.

Since we have always maintained a high evaluation of the school we wondered if were possible the report was perhaps biased, or guilty of some other evil attitude against the institution. Fortunately, we were able to read an assessment of the GRACE evaluation by Dr. Martin Bobgan, who founded and has served as head of Psychoheresy Awareness Ministries for nearly a quarter of a century. We have learned to trust the research of Martin and his wife Deidre implicitly, finding them honest, reliable and objective in their writings.

Bobgan’s report, “A Critical Review of the ‘GRACE Final Report’ on Bob Jones University,” was exactly what I feared might be the case. His review was highly critical of GRACE and the way it handled the investigation, especially its conclusion offering “a blatantly biased recommendation of Dr. Bob Jones III.” We printed out his entire review for our files.

We are not going to print any more of the review here, but if you would like a copy, you may write to Psychoheresy Awareness Ministries, EastGate Publishers, 4137 Primavera Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93110. Be sure to enclose a generous offering with your request for the material (50 pages) which was very expensive to make and reproduce.

By the way, we find it strange that The Biblical Recorder (Southern Baptist), The Sword of the Lord (Fundamentalist) and Voice (Interdenominational, the publication of IFCA) refuse to accept ads from the Bobgan’s ministry, although we are not surprised that Christianity Today and World Magazine also refuse.

We have never turned them down!