Natural Light Network

Foreclosed Husband to Wife

I see your dreams reflected in my own

whenever sunlight parts the clouds,

still strong, undaunted by our struggle

to love and live as we should.

And in darkness I hear you walking

beside me, resisting the winds

that would scatter our hopes,

unafraid of the journey

that must one day set us free.

Paul Howard Nicholas

 

The Parable of the Heathen and the Boom Box

To illustrate how easily the limits of human perception can lead to inaccurate
conclusions, Natural Light Network presents “The Parable of the Heathen and the
Boom Box.”

Picture yourself as a primitive person with no knowledge of electricity or electronics.

One day, while searching the forest for food, you come upon a clearing where a modern house has been built. You hear music and singing coming from the front porch of the house, but you don’t see anybody. As you edge closer to the house, you discover that the sounds are coming out of a strange black box with a colorfully lit face filled with dancing lights.

You marvel at the box, envisioning the pleasures it would bring to your family’s humble dwelling. And you start to think about how important you would become in your village if you possessed such a magic box.

You have no qualms about stealing it because the rules of your culture say that anything of value left unprotected outside the boundaries of your village is fair game. So you decide to take the box home.

But as you sneak onto the porch, you encounter a problem: the music box is attached to a long cord that runs into the house through the slightly opened front door. Maybe you could cut it with your sharp knife, and free the box from the cord. But would it still flash and make music?

Examining the back of the box, you find that the cord easily detaches, and, behold, the magic box still sings, and the lights still dance across its face! So you take the box and run, concluding that the cord is totally unnecessary, and that your magic possession, because of what you have seen with your very own eyes, will continue to operate just fine.

For those of us who understand the workings of an AC/DC boom box, the epilog to this scenario is easily predictable: Eventually the batteries will fail to produce enough power to drive the circuits and, unless the device is returned to a source of electricity, or its batteries are replaced, the magic box will slowly lose it's abilty to fill the air with music.

Compare this illustration to what we see in everyday life: People of every description, living what appear to be successful lives with no discernible connection to God:

Brutal dictators murder and torture human beings to stay in power; weapons developers devote all of their resources to finding more efficient ways to kill people; wallstreeters steal the life savings of mainstreeters to finance lavish lifestyles; and atheists campaign to keep God out of our lives while religious leaders teach us to worship a jealous, vengeful, and violent-when-provoked supreme being.

And most of these people, along with countless others who don’t know God, seem to be doing okay. They live, they laugh, they cry, and they die like everybody else, right?

Not quite. What these people don’t do is pray for God’s guidance in learning to utilize their talents to improve conditions for mankind, and what they don’t receive is the spiritual education that will allow them to advance to the next phase of life at the end of their allotted time on Earth.

One of the greatest messages Jesus brought to us is God’s promise of eternal life for those who qualify themselves for acceptance into Heaven during their tenure on Earth.

So do not be deceived, my brothers and sisters, by the limits of human perception. When confronted with circumstances that require an understanding that goes beyond what our eyes can see, and our ears can hear, ask for God’s assistance.

He will guide you to outlets that allow you to plug into the Eternal Power Source of Light, Life, and Accurate Information.

©Paul Howard Nicholas

A Different Religion

There are those who look for God in darkness,

on their knees,

bearing gifts like fearful slaves

seeking to appease a brutal master.

And there are those who find God

in the bright dawn of a new day

and in the words and deeds of those who

know Him well.

Paul Howard Nicholas

A Question About Time: Does it speed up as we get older?

The heartbeat of time never changes, but our perception of how fast it beats does. A year represents half a lifetime for a two-year-old. For a ten-year-old, a year is reduced to only a tenth of a lifetime on Earth.

As we age, each passing year becomes a thinner slice in the sweet and sour pie of life, and we consume them much faster.

So just thank God for the good days, pray for His protection during stormy weather, do your very best with every moment He gives you, and everything will be fine.

Paul Howard Nicholas

Happy Birthday, Miss Teenie Bird!

Miss Teenie, circa 1956, Port Arthur, Texas

Whenever I think about my brave and beautiful big sister, Argentine Nicholas Guidry, the word “fearless” comes to mind more than any other. 

Fifteen years my senior, “Teenie Bird,” as she was affectionately known to family and friends, taught me a lot. Among other lessons, she taught me how to “slam bones (dominoes),” how to attract the attention of a girl I was interested in, and trusted me enough to drive her car before I had a license. 

But one of the most lasting things she instilled in me was the importance of standing up for yourself, even in the face of overwhelming odds. 

I remember learning, while tagging along with her one bright summer afternoon in Port Arthur to run an errand downtown for our father, that my sister didn't just talk the talk about courage, she did indeed live what she preached. I was about ten years old. 

Shortly after turning off Houston Avenue and heading east on Procter, Teenie rolled dad’s ’56 Olds to a stop at a red light. When the light turned green, she started off, but immediately slammed on the brakes to avoid a carload of rednecks flying into the intersection from the right! 

With tires screeching and black smoke billowing from the rear, the raggidy, fish-tail Plymouth made a hard left in front of us, barely missing our bumper!  And as the car flashed past us, the scraggly, red bearded driver stuck his scowling face out the window and yelled "nigger" as loud as he could. 

My sister abruptly threw the transmission into "Park," jumped out of the car into the middle of Procter, and started yelling after the rednecks:  “YOUR MAMA’S A NIGGER, (BLEEPER BLEEPER!)!! 

For a split second I froze, paralyzed by the triple shock of almost being blind-sided by a Confederate flag-flying gang of klansmen, hearing the word “nigger” as only an angry white person can pronounce it, and by my sister’s explosive response. 

The sound of screeching tires brought me out of my trance as the Plymouth slid to a stop a few yards down the street! I whirled around in the passenger seat, trying to see what the rednecks were up to. 

The driver got out of the car, staring at Teenie! “What did you say?” he screamed! 

“You heard what I said, peckerwood!” Teenie screamed back. “Your mama’s a nigger!” 

Just as the big redneck lunged toward us, two of his cronies sprang from the back seat of the Plymouth and restrained him. From what I could hear, they were saying “Red, let it go! We gotta get out of here!. That nigger bitch is crazy! Let it go!” 

The two men managed to get Red back to their car. But before he got in he pointed at my sister. “I’ll get you, nigger!” he shrieked. 

As Teenie yelled a few more choice remarks in the direction of the Plymouth flying down Procter toward Houston Avenue, it dawned on me that these rednecks might change their minds and hook a U-Turn! 

I flipped open dad’s glove compartment and started frantically rummaging through papers, hoping to find the .38 he often carried! It wasn’t there! 

Small clusters of people, mostly white, were beginning to gather on both sides of the street. I couldn’t hear what they were saying to each other, but a few of them pointed at us and then pointed toward Houston Avenue. 

“Teenie!” I yelled, “Let’s go before those fools come back!” 

“I wish they would!” she said, surveying the flight path of the Plymouth one last time before sliding back under the steering wheel. I turned and scanned the street behind us. The car was nowhere in sight. 

“Never let ‘em see you’re scared,” said Teenie, touching up her hair in the rear-view mirror while we waited for the next green light. “If you do, they’ll make your life miserable.” 

Fortunately, my sister and I completed our trip to the bank to take care of dad’s business, and back to the West Side without any more problems. 

At the time of this incident Teenie weighed maybe a hundred and twenty-five pounds, tops. But as I and everyone who knew her can attest, when it comes to standing up for yourself in the face of adversity, you will never find a bigger person, or a better example of courage under fire.

“It’s better to die fighting,” she told me that long ago day in Port Arthur, “than to live your whole life being scared.” 

It is a lesson that has served me well, and a lesson I will never forget. 

Happy Birthday, Miss Teenie Bird! We all miss you so much. 

© Paul Howard Nicholas

Message to Black People in America, Part 3

This is the third in a series of three installments taken from Chapter Seven of Extinguishing the Flames of Hell: A Journey of Spiritual Evolution by Paul Howard Nicholas. 

Topics covered in Parts 1 and 2 of this presentation were: 

1)    Slavery and the destruction of cultural identity 

2)    Selective extermination 

3)    Economic oppression 

4)    Break-up of the black family 

 Part 3 continues with Insufficient transfer of assets and Development of a culture of mediocrity: 

5)    Insufficient transfer of assets.  Unfortunately, African Americans transfer less wealth from one generation to the next than any other group in the country. This means that the average black person starts his or her life at a significant disadvantage when compared to members of other ethnic groups.

Some would say this situation is caused by a “I got mine, you get yours” black mentality. The truth, however, is that this problem can’t be seriously addressed until we overcome economic oppression, and reunite the black family. 

In order to transfer wealth to our descendents, the wealth first has to be created the old fashioned way: through hard work, combined efforts, and sacrifice. Then we will have to ensure that our children are raised to become worthy recipients of their inheritance, and that they are inspired to pass on an even greater legacy to their own heirs.

In the meantime, every black parent should dedicate a portion of every paycheck, no matter how small, to a savings/investment account for his or her children. The bottom line is that the children will benefit from knowing that their parents love them, regardless of the amount of money involved.

And, even if the weekly or bi-weekly contributions to the accounts seem small, these funds, wisely managed over eighteen years, will provide our young people with a foundation of financial stability as they take on the challenges of becoming productive, independent adults in a highly competive world.

Another thought to keep in mind is that love is also an important asset in the life of every human being. The same is true for integrity, sincerity, and faith in God. And they are assets that can be transferred from one generation to the next. 

6)    A culture of preferred mediocrity.  Why are so many black children terrified about being labeled smart by their peers? Like the black honor student who intentionally trys to appear less intelligent to gain acceptance among other blacks who are more interested in partying and fashions than they are in SAT scores, many of our gifted children are failing to truly appreciate and fully apply their God given talents.

 In today’s world, it often seems that the more intelligent a young black person appears to be, the harder it becomes for him or her to fit in with their "homies."

But how did we get to the point where a side-ways cap wearing, woman bashing, obscenity mumbling, crotch grabbing, saggy-pants rapper can count on much more respect and support from our young people than a dedicated black doctor, engineer, or scientist? And why has some version of this negative mentality been passed from one generation of African Americans to the next?

To understand this phenomenon, one must turn back the clock to a time in black history when stupidity was a more desirable trait than intelligence. Difficult to accept, but true. 

During slavery, if a black woman had an exceptionally bright child, the only way she could hope to save him from extermination or isolation was to teach him to conceal his intelligence. (This was a survival tactic similar to a slave mother teaching her healthy young son the “pimp walk” so the master would think the child was crippled and not bother trying to sell him.) 

Consequently, over the course of several centuries, a perverted, but necessary, set of equations became firmly entrenched in the minds of black people: mediocrity = life, intelligence = death. (See "Selective extermination" in part one of this presentation.)

In light of our history in America, it is easy to understand how our values regarding intelligence have become twisted. And four hundred years of indoctrination will be difficult to overcome. 

But if we don’t start teaching our children what mediocrity and intelligence really mean in a free society, they will never be inspired to use their God given abilities to reach their fullest potential. 

This presentation concludes Natural Light Network’s Black History Month Special. As always, your feedback is appreciated. 

 © Paul Howard Nicholas  

Message to Black People in America, Part 2

This is the second in a series of three installments taken from Chapter Seven of Extinguishing the Flames of Hell: A Journey of Spiritual Evolution by Paul Howard Nicholas. 

Topics covered in Part 1 of this presentation were: 

1)   Slavery and the destruction of cultural identity; and 

2)   Selective extermination 

Part 2 continues with Economic oppression and Break-up of the black family: 

3) Economic oppression. Traditionally, black people in the American workforce have been the last to be hired, the least likely to be promoted, and the first to be fired. And, until recently, start-up capital, mortgage loans, and other lines of credit, when extended to African Americans, came with interest rates much higher than the rates paid by whites. Stock and bond investment opportunities remain largely ignored in the black community due to a lack of education in financial matters. 

These factors over the years have combined to keep generations of black Americans in an economic rut. And just as we are starting to see improvements in certain areas of the financial arena, a new challenge has emerged: the loss of jobs formerly held by black people to undocumented immigrants. 

People desperate enough to work for significantly less compensation are steadily replacing the men and women that helped create the black middle class with wages earned in construction, maintenance, and the service industry. And judging by the seemingly unstoppable flow of unskilled laborers into the United States, the trend appears to be irreversible. 

So where do we go from here? Should we wait for others to improve our economic situation, or should we take control of our own destiny?  The only viable option for black people in America, if we truly want a brighter future, is to pool our available resources in the interest of creating our own corporations and jobs. 

This can be accomplished if wealthy black celebrities and athletes would be willing to come out of isolation and help lay the foundation for a black industrial and financial empire. Collectively, we have the resources. Individually, we must develop the will to move forward. And by the grace of God, we will succeed. 

4) Break-up of the black family.  The American system of welfare, as it existed prior to the welfare reform movement, was one of the worst things that could have ever happened to black people. 

In simple terms, the system rewarded black women for having babies as long as they agreed to live separately from the men in their lives. This condition for “staying on the county” put many black mothers in the position of having to choose between welfare benefits and the fathers of their children. 

Unfortunately, countless black men, especially those with employment challenges, were told to “hit the road.” The situation was made considerably worse when the mandatory one-year residency requirement for welfare assistance was reduced to just three days. The result was a massive migration of poverty-stricken mothers with fatherless children from rural areas into the poorer sections of major cities, where they were guaranteed food and shelter indefinitely. 

To get a bigger welfare check, the only two things a woman had to do were: a) have more illegitimate children; and b) make sure there was no male role model living in the household.

Predictably, many of the daughters of these women followed in their mothers’ footsteps, becoming welfare recipients themselves. And the sons, like their fathers, walked away from their own children. 

The repercussions of this insane government program have been devastating to the black community: a culture of dependency, high crime rates, low self-esteem, and a lingering legacy of hostility between African American men and women that has contributed to the break-up of too many black families.

And the influx of poor people into traditional black neighborhoods, beginning in the late 1960s, had another lasting, often overlooked, negative effect. It encouraged black middle class flight. 

As the disadvantaged newcomers poured into the inner cities across the country, many upwardly mobile African Americans, newly emancipated by equal housing provisions of the Civil Rights Act, abandoned black neighborhoods in droves and relocated to white areas. This loss of resources and leadership at a critical time accelerated the decline of the black community and dealt a severe blow to black unity. 

In assessing the total impact of the welfare system on black people in America, it becomes clear that the government’s “free money” has come at a very high price: the break-up of individual black families and the displacement of the larger family of community. 

But we do not have to accept this sad state of affairs as a permanent condition. If we are ever going to turn the situation around, we must begin by instilling in our children one of the most important values of our ancestors: don’t bring babies into the world until you are married and prepared to make sacrifices to raise them. 

Strong families are the foundation upon which empires are built. 

And when you do establish a family, take care to create and maintain the type of environment in your home that is worthy of God's protection.  

(To be continued in the third of three segments.  The next installment will cover Insufficient Transfer of Assets and Development of a Culture of Mediocrity.) 

This presentation is an excerpt from Extinguishing the Flames of Hell. 

 ©Paul Howard Nicholas 

Message to Black People in America, Part 1

As an avid chess player since the age of twelve, I have encountered a number of white people over the years that were genuinely surprised to discover that a black person could give them a run for their money in such a “mental” game. Their stereotypical images of blacks just didn’t include people who played chess.

And, like the brother who underestimates a white opponent and loses his lunch money in a game of one-on-one playground hoops, a lot of them waited until it was too late to take the competition seriously.      

On one such occasion, after I had prevailed in two out of three close games, my opponent, a jovial, talkative, middle-aged white man offered his congratulations, and asked if I could spare a few moments. He said he’d never had much personal contact with black people, but had always wanted to know what the average intelligent black person really thought about their plight in America. (Apparently, in his view, beating him at chess qualified me as “intelligent.”)  

While he expressed admiration for our ability to survive centuries of adversity, he was, nevertheless, curious about my views on why, after over four hundred years in this country, black people still seem to be lagging behind other ethnic groups in every category of economics and education. 

I responded with the standard reasons for the slow pace of progress in black communities: the legacy of slavery, destruction of our cultural roots, lack of economic and educational opportunities, etc.   

But the man countered with the contention that other groups had endured severe hardships in America, with the exception of institutionalized slavery, and managed to move up the food chain.      

I stood my ground as best I could, stressing the devastating effects of slavery in a foreign land coupled with a complete elimination of self-identity. My strong point was that there are no textbook solutions for black people’s problems because no other group in history has ever been subjected to crimes of this nature on such a massive scale.    

And so our conversation basically ended in a stalemate. I understood why the man would ask such questions, and he accepted my answers. But the questions lingered.  

Why are we always at the bottom? Why are our test scores and incomes consistently the lowest of all American citizens?  Why do most of us live in the worst neighborhoods?  I couldn’t shake the feeling that there had to be a clearer picture of both the origins of our problems and the steps that will have to be taken to fix them.        

In response to my prayers for a better understanding of the plight of my people, I discovered pearls of insight hiding in plain sight.  The following is a list of historical events and forces that have played a large part in shaping the lives of African Americans: 

 1) Slavery and the destruction of cultural identity

 2) Selective extermination

 3) Economic oppression

 4) Break-up of the black family

 5) Insufficient transfer of assets

 6) Development of a culture of mediocrity 

 

1)    Slavery and the destruction of cultural identity.  While it is true that other ethnic groups have been enslaved by dominant cultures, the ancestors of the vast majority of African Americans arrived in this country as victims of the largest and most prolonged mass kidnapping in the history of the world.

Black Americans are also unique in that we are the only group of people ever to have our cultural ties to our motherland forcefully and permanently severed. These are facts of history that cannot be altered. They are what they are. 

The down side of this travesty is that we lost our cultural identity. The upside, however, is that we have, by the grace of God and our own sheer determination, created a vibrant new culture of art, cuisine, and customs that has helped us become the healthiest and wealthiest group of black people on the face of the Earth.

And so it is important that we stop shedding tears over the indignities of our past and rejoice in the reality of who we are as a people so that we can build upon our strengths to ensure a brighter future.

2)    Selective extermination.  The main reason African American students consistently score lower than most other Americans on proficiency tests is that the gene pool of black people in America has been artificially manipulated to exclude intelligence.

The process of eliminating intelligent people from slave stocks began when slaveholders realized that large, strong, IQ-challenged slaves were desirable assets, while smart, resourceful slaves could be a dangerous liability. 

The very existence of an intelligent black man or woman contradicted the whole theory of white superiority. And there was the very real possibility that a smart slave might inspire other slaves to rebel against the master or flee the plantation. 

The exception to this rule was the intelligent slave that could provide entertainment for the residents of the “big house” and their associates. Since access to quality entertainment was limited in early America, these slaves were highly prized and, like successful black celebrities today, kept largely isolated from the ordinary laborers. 

The majority of intelligent slaves, however, from the beginning of the trans Atlantic slave trade, were effectively prevented from producing numerous offspring, more often than not, by homicide. 

After emancipation, the practice of eliminating intelligent black men and women continued virtually unabated. The code name used by whites for a smart, assertive black person well into the 20^th century was “uppity.” Being labeled as such usually meant a violent death or a long stretch in prison. 

This system of gene pool manipulation, perpetrated over hundreds of years, is unique in the history of mankind. Other ethnic groups have become victims of genocide, but African Americans are the only group of human beings that have been subjected to the surgical removal of the best and brightest among them over the course of several centuries. And the situation has been made worse by the absence of equal educational opportunities for most black children. 

This information is not offered as an excuse for the poor performance of black Americans. It is simply a statement of biologic fact, a perfect example of cause and effect. 

Think of it this way:  The next time you feel disheartened by consistent low test scores among black students, or embarrassed by loud, disrespectful brothers and sisters in a public setting, ask yourself what the average white American or Asian American would be like today if the brightest stars in the galaxies of their respective gene pools had been systematically snuffed out during the last four hundred years. 

The legacy of selective extermination is a lingering hindrance to progress for African Americans. On the plus side, we are blessed with many outstanding athletes and entertainers. The down side, however, is that we aren’t producing enough doctors, scientists, and engineers.

 If we are to overcome the negative effects of losing such an important segment of our genetic heritage, then we must begin by becoming more involved in educating our children, both at home and in specialized programs designed to address the specific deficiencies of black children. 

And it is essential that we pray for God’s guidance, and for an abundance of gifted children. 

(To be continued in the second of three segments.  The next installment will cover Economic Opression and The Breakup of the Black Family.)  

This presentation is an excerpt from Extinguishing the Flames of Hell.

 

Fifth Anniversary Edition

Available now at Barnes and Nobel

Topics include:

The Birth of Our World: Why your science teacher and your pastor are both right, and both wrong.

Racial Propaganda: Using religion to support the concept of racial superiority.

Blood Sacrifice: Can God's decisions be influenced by the sheding of innocent blood?

Jesus' Mission on Earth: Why the leaders of the day feared his teachings enough to execute him.

The Use of Deadly Force: Should human beings be held to a higher standard than God?

The Christmas Tree: A Parable about the dangers of becoming disconnected from the source of life.

Old Testament Gangs: A father's advice to his son recorded in the 1st Chapter of Proverbs.

Black People in America: A special message.

Fire and Brimstone: Would a merciful Father approve of eternal torture for His wayward children?

These are but a few of the thought provoking issues addressed in Extinguishing the Flames of Hell, A Journey of Spiritual Evolution. Also included are timely messages for athiests, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

Order your copy today and take advantage of an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the world we inherited and our relationship with our Heavenly Father, The Source of all Light, Life, and Knowledge.

Wishing you all Peace, Love, Health and Prosperity,

Paul Howard Nicholas