I find a direct correlation between those who stubbornly persist on waving the confederate flag and the unregenerated nature of man. They are both representative of broken systems who rose up in defiance of the greater good and wreaked havoc and destruction upon the land. Even though they see and recognize that only pain and misery can come from continuing down their chosen path they still persist on doing so.

They know that declining to hoist that emblem will not cause them any harm, discomfort or inconvenience. They know that it is a considerate, altruistic act, but they want to be seen as a bada*# “and insist on being “dead right.”

Furthermore, I want to emphasize that the majority of occupants across this region will vehemently exclaim that they are Christian, God-fearing  people, fully aware that that emblem is not the official flag of the nation of which they claimed to be a citizen.

Are they hypocrites?

Would they be insulted if we question their patriotism and loyalty when they stand before the national colors and recite, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States………………..?”

People who display and support the confederate flag shout at the top of their voices, “it is not about  hate but about their southern heritage of which they are justifiably and undeniably proud.”

However, what I find troubling and difficult to understand is why somebody would fight to maintain and fly high a symbol that:

1.       Tells the story of a group of citizens who rose up in rebellion to separate themselves into the Confederate States of America.

2.       Tells the story of those who threatened to dissolve the hard fought idea of unity which gave birth to this country. Less than 80 years before, they and their fellow citizens had sacrificed themselves to form a “more perfect union” and adopted the name United States of America for their new nation.

3.       In the states, whose overriding motto was, “States’ Rights,” the children of Africa were held in brutal servitude and were made to serve with rigor and hard bondage. They were considered to be three -fourths of a human being and had no rights other than those bestowed upon them by their masters.

4.       Reminds us of those who suffered a humiliating defeat with the loss of so many of its young, bright potentially productive young men. Who found itself in economic ruins from which took years to recover. Indeed, many never did recover and the program of ‘sharecropping” became a way of life.

5.       Validates the words of General Sherman who conducted his infamous march, explaining, “They needed to make old and young, rich and poor,  feel the hard hand of war.” (See the burning of Atlanta in the film, GONE WITH THE WIND) Where one resident, Mary Boykin Chestnut of South Carolina, seeing the horror unfold before her eyes, wrote in her diary, “I have felt as if we are going to be wiped off the face of the earth.”

6.       Witnessed the rise of the despised carpetbaggers who - like unfeeling vultures without mercy or conscience - exploited a weak and helpless people.

7.       Gave birth to the Ku Klux Klan. Angry, embittered and unrepentant sore losers, this organization was expressly created to strike fear in the hearts of helpless black people, and return them, if possible, to a form of de facto slavery. Their numbers vastly reduced, they continue to terrorize black people even to this day. (See the film Birth of a Nation By Kentuckian  D W Griffith.) Whose womb spawned John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of the Great Emancipator, Abraham Lincoln. This was the same president who espoused and encouraged forgiveness between brothers formerly at arms. He hated the conflict and pursued and cherished reconciliation between former enemies.

In March, just before Lincoln’s death, in his second inaugural address he mentioned , “with malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.”

On, April 15, 1865, in Ford’s Theater in Washington , D.C. all those noble thoughts and ideals were cut short by his assassin’s bullet.

With the foregoing as a backdrop, the following is what the bible records about the nature of man. Please note the striking similarities between the position and results of those who are confederate supporters and the ultimate fate of man.

There was another person, years ago who also came with a message of reconciliation whose birth was announced with, “peace on earth, good will toward men.”

This is what He said about us:

• ·         The way of peace we have not known and our feet are swift to shed blood.
• ·         We should love our neighbor as ourselves.
• ·         Be careful about offending the weaker brother and wound his weaker conscience.
• ·         There is a way that seems right unto man but the end thereof are the ways of death.
• ·         Pride goes before a fall and a haughty spirit before destruction.
• ·         We, his children, rose up in rebellion against him to pursue a way that was not right which resulted in great sorrow and anguish.
• ·         We are stubborn, rebellious and stiff-necked and we should consider our ways because even the ox and ass know their owner and provider.
• ·         A loving man would lay down his life(flag) for his friends.
• ·         Yet even though they know that the things they do are worthy of death, not only do them but delight and condone others who do the same.

Then, as now, they did not like him or his message. Guess what? They crucified him.

I am dumbfounded and flabbergasted that “sane, intelligent” people would want to be identified with something that didn’t just not work, but ended up in ruins. I would run like hell and as fast as possible to avoid anything that hearkens back to bitter defeat.

If I am seeking to turn my life around, to wind up on the winning side, I am not going to celebrate a lost cause.

This is what the Bible says of those of that mindset:

“If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice for sins, but only a fearful expectation of judgement and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”  Hebrews  10:26-27.