history Archives - Wheat and Chaff

*updates below.

I’ve been seeing a story about the so-called “Kissing Case” going around, primarily used as evidence of how awful America is. This happened in 1958, so about 50 years ago. It was a case where a couple of young boys were incarcerated and beaten for the crime of being kissed by a white girl. These boys were seven and nine. The KKK threatened the parents and burned crosses in their yard, and they weren’t even able to see their boys for weeks. The locals wouldn’t do anything about it. The NAACP wouldn’t get involved. Finally through a civil rights activist, Robert F. Williams, the story hit the papers in Europe, causing a huge international outcry leading to the president intervening with the governor of North Carolina, leading to the boys being released without explanation or apology, after three months of incarceration.

The case is certainly a travesty. That certainly can’t be doubted. There’s a lot about the case that isn’t clear given the rather sensationalized accounts I have read. One account says that the NAACP wouldn’t do anything and that Williams was a socialist, but other accounts have Williams as the head of the local chapter of the NAACP. So that’s not clear.

But more importantly, I think a case like this and the way it is being used is a great example of the wrong lessons being drawn from history.

Continue reading “The “Kissing Case” and the Misuse of History” →

The Bolshevik Revolution was all about creating a just and perfect society in Russia. When they tried to implement this society, contrary to the reality of God’s law and without the benefit of Christ’s redemption, they inevitably failed. When they failed, rather than admit their error and change course, they blamed scapegoats, doubled down, and tried even harder to impose their vision on reality. Result- tens of millions dead.

The Cultural Revolution was all about creating a just and perfect society in China. They tried to implement their vision without reference to God’s law, contrary to God’s truth, and ignoring the salvation promised in Jesus Christ. They inevitably failed as their dreams and plans clashed with God-ordained reality, just like the Bolsheviks. But rather than admit their fault and change course, they tried twice as hard, blamed scapegoats, and pressed on. Result- tens of millions dead.

In America and the West, we have likewise seen a revolution, an attempt to create a utopia. The sexual revolution is part of it, as is the War on Poverty, the New Deal, and all the rest of the welfare state. It is the attempt to overcome all the effects of sin, all the misery and suffering that comes from our refusal to acknowledge our Creator and accept the salvation and lordship of Jesus Christ. It is likewise failing. Wherever the statist utopian dream has been given the freest rein (Detroit, Baltimore, Chicago) the results have been disastrous. Terrible poverty, crime, and social dysfunction of every kind.

But this, true to form, has not caused the utopians to rethink their ways. They have doubled down, found scapegoats to blame for their failures, and continue to press on.

Results…?