The Baptist Interpretation of the Bible

Alabama State Representative Will Dismukes

       I'm so happy that I'm not a Baptist. It seems their "politically correct" version of the Bible doesn't read like everyone else's. Will Dismukes went to a party celebrating the birthday of Confederate General and hero Nathan Bedford Forrest. The democratic party can't fathom why he did this, but the truth is, their party has no hero worth mentioning in the same sentence with General Forrest. You expect such ridiculousness from the democrats because they will use anything for a vote. The Baptist Church shouldn't have surprised me either. 

       In case you are wondering why I'm blaming the Baptists, they forced Will Dismukes who happens to be a Baptist preacher to resign because of his attending the Forrest party. Now why would the Baptist church do this? After all, doesn't the Bible teach forgiveness. Following the war, General Nathan Bedford Forrest became a member of the church and asked for forgiveness for all of his sins. According to the Bible, God forgave him of those sins, but the Baptist church obviously doesn't forgive. 

       For anyone who would like to know the truth about Forrest's salvation, I highly recommend the book called "Nathan Bedford Forrest's Redemption" by Shane E. Kastler. Mr. Kastler is amazingly a Baptist preacher, although once that denomination finds out about the book he's written, he'll probably be forced to resign. Mr. Kastler did some painstaking work tracing General Forrest's entry into the church and according to the Baptist General Forrest was saved. Now what will all these modern day Baptist do if they were to meet General Forrest in heaven. I suppose they will resign and ask God to send them elsewhere. 

       Let us look at a few Bible verses the Baptist need to read and learn. In Luke 6:37 Jesus says, "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven." Again from the book of Luke, 17:3-4 Jesus says, "Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' forgive him." 

       In Mr. Kastler's book, General Forrest confessed his sins and asked for God to forgive him, yet the Baptist refuse to accept this. They should try reading 1 John 1:9 it says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Matthew 6: 14-15 Jesus says, "For if you forgive others for their transgressions, you heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions." 

       I happen to have a friend who is a Baptist preacher, although I'm not sure which sect he is a part of, but I happen to know he thinks like Will Dismukes and forgives those who have asked for forgiveness. So please don't think I'm bashing all Baptists, but it seems the main leaders of that church are so politically correct they choose to please men over God. I would like one of them to explain to me how Will Dismukes deserves to be treated the way he was for celebrating the birthday of a man who completely changed his life and asked his Savior to forgive him his sins, yet they refuse to. 

       

The Frustration of Studying the Civil War

Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest

       Someone recently called my attention to a Civil War talk board online that mentioned a youtube video I posted several years ago. You would be surprised at some of the names I was called because some of these people didn't agree with my ranking of the Confederate lieutenant generals. If they had bothered to read the introduction they would have learned that I made the video just for fun and to spark some discussion, but now I've learned that I'm an idiot. The computer reminds me of the same people who drive automobiles. Behind a keyboard or a steering wheel it seems many of us become something we wouldn't be in person. If someone doesn't agree with your opinion, then you must be an idiot. It can't possibly be that they are the idiot, that would destroy the perfect world they've created in their own minds. 

       Is there no such of thing as friendly discussion with rational arguments anymore? After further study of my subject, I can honestly say I don't agree any longer with the way I have some of them ranked. One person called me an idiot because I didn't include General Beauregard in the list. It doesn't matter that Beauregard was never ranked as a lieutenant general, but was promoted from brigadier general to full general skipping the ranks of major general and lieutenant general, but of course, I'm the idiot. 

       In my "for fun" video, I ranked Stonewall Jackson as the best lieutenant general. Most people agreed with that choice, but after that I really rankled some feathers. I was attacked because I ranked Bedford Forrest second. The reason given was because Forrest wasn't promoted to lieutenant general until March 2, 1865 and this person called me an idiot for ranking him second when he only served as lieutenant general for a month and that isn't enough time to see how well he commanded at the corps level. What this genius fails to realize is the fact that Forrest had been commanding a cavalry corps since 1863 without having been promoted. Just because he wasn't ranked a lieutenant general, didn't mean he wasn't an excellent corps commander for two years. When he was promoted, his position as corps commander never changed, so why can we not judge him on his corps leadership ability for those two years. 

       The one that always gets peoples feathers ruffled is James Longstreet. Ever since the movie Gettysburg came out, he has been claimed by many people to be the greatest commander of the war. In this country today, all it takes is a fictional movie based on a fictional novel to change peoples perception of someone. Longstreet obviously fits this category. If I had a nickel for every time someone watched that movie and told me that Lee would have won at Gettysburg if he'd just listened to Longstreet. The move Longstreet proposed was expected by Meade and he was just itching to retreat to a better position on Pipe Creek. Without cavalry present (Jeb Stuart was off on a useless raid) it would have been almost impossible to perform the flanking move without Stuart's cavalry screen. Another question I have about Longstreet is why he made the move he made in Knoxville, Tennessee later the same year. On November 9, 1863, Longstreet assaulted Fort Sanders with around 3000 men. The fort only held a little over 400 Federal troops, yet the attack was a disaster. Longstreet lost over 800 men compared to just 13 Federal casualties he inflicted. Instead of responding as General Lee would have done and took the blame, he immediately began to emulate Braxton Bragg by arresting his subordinates. The mark of a true leader is when he takes the blame for his mistakes.

       If I had the video to make over, I'm sure there are several I would reorder. I ranked Jubal Early high because of his advance to the outskirts of Washington and Wade Hampton because of I felt he was an excellent cavalry corps commander especially his Beefsteak Raid. S.D. Lee I feel like I may have ranked too high. He made a severe mistake at Ezra Chruch and failed Hood at Columbia, Tennessee, however he helped save the army during the Battle of Nashville. I perhaps ranked Richard Heron Anderson low because of how he allowed his staff to run his forces. There were times when he acted like he had little interest in the war. Hardee is perhaps ranked too low because he was called "Ole Reliable," however he was the biggest back biter in the army. He undermined all of his superiors including Sidney Johnston, Braxton Bragg, Joseph Johnston, and John Bell Hood. However, when offered command of the army, he refused the responsibility. 

       Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of A.P. Hill, but he was often rash, just look at his actions at Bristoe Station. He was impulsive and got a lot of good men killed by his aggressiveness. He can be compared to the way General Hood is often perceived. The lieutenant general in my personal opinion that I believe should be ranked in the top five is D.H. Hill. He only saw action as a corps commander at Chickamauga was the reason I ranked him low, but he was a dependable commander and if he didn't suffer from chronic back pain which left him extremely sarcastic to subordinates and superiors alike he may have reached his true potential. He became so rude to others that General Lee was happy to see his dependable subordinate transferred to Bragg's army.

       I won't go into all the lieutenant generals that I listed. The full generals were listed in another video and I didn't rank them with the officers that only reached the rank of lieutenant general. If people would slow down long enough to read the descriptions of the videos before they decide to attack someone, they may find there is little reason to become so upset and insult others. 

A Mini-Civil Wargasm With My Buddy Pat: Part I

The New Nathan Bedford Forrest Bust in Selma's Live Oak Cemetery

       Stacie and I had been planning to spend the weekend with my good buddy Pat and his wife Ruthie for several months now. We went down on Friday afternoon on May 22nd and spent two nights there. If you know anything about the way our year began, we you understand how badly we needed the time away. Pat, Ruthie, and another couple of their friends were there the first night. When we planned this visit, we had no idea that the new Nathan B. Forrest bust was to be unveiled on this weekend. When Pat told me we were going the next morning, I was excited because it would add another three pictures of me with Confederate generals graves. 

       Pat cooked us all the biggest steaks I've ever attempted to eat in my life. I couldn't do it. Pat's buddy Larry not only ate all of his steak, but half of his wife Nita's. I couldn't believe it. Larry was a door gunner during the Vietnam War. Larry went to bed before Pat and I, so we sat on the front porch and discussed our favorite subject of course, the Civil War. 

       The next morning we arose early and headed to Selma which is about an hour south of Pat's house. The trip was relatively uneventful if you don't take into account the lady texting while meeting us in our lane. Pat has a brand new pickup that I thought was gonna need a lot of work, along with its three occupants. The wives were following us down in another vehicle. 

 

Pat and I at the grave of Catesby Ap Jones

       We arrived in Live Oak Cemetery at 9:30 a.m. just in time for the cemetery tour. The first grave we got our picture taken was at Confederate Naval Captain Catesby Ap Jones. Captain Jones was the man who took charge of the CSS Virginia during its engagement with the USS Monitor. We then were led to the grave of Brigadier General Edmund Winston Pettus. Pettus had the distinction of being captured three times during the war. We learned that Pettus was buried under a flat concrete marker because he was a very humble person. 

Pat and I with Brigadier General Edmund W. Pettus

       We were then taken to the grave of "Old Reliable" himself. Confederate Lieutenant General William J. Hardee. Hardee fought with the Army of Tennessee from Shiloh until Atlanta when he finally left that army following an argument with General John Bell Hood. He would return to that army to finish the war in the Carolina's during the spring of 1865. General Hardee was my favorite general's best friend, Patrick R. Cleburne. Hardee was also known as the Army of Tennessee's biggest back biter, which says a lot when you look at all the turmoil that occurred in that army. 

Me and Pat with General William J. Hardee

       We then finished up the Civil War tour with little known Confederate Brigadier General John Tyler Morgan. Morgan was more famous as a post-war senator than as a Confederate general. Ironically, his monument is much larger than the others as you can see by the photo. 

Us with General John T. Morgan

       We remained in the cemetery for most of the rest of the afternoon listening to the unveiling ceremony. It was not in our original plans, but I'm extremely glad we did. There were four wonderful speakers that kept our attention. (Even with my narcolepsy I only nodded once or twice). During the cemetery tour, I'd learned there was an extremely interesting cannon at City Hall that I wanted to visit. Pat promised me we'd go there before calling it a day. My wife became extremely interested in a couple of strange looking grasshoppers on Catesby Ap Jones grave that we don't have in Northern Alabama. (She kept calling them crickets for some reason which caused Pat to laugh and say "Those are grasshoppers.")

The Eastern Lubber Grasshopper on Captain Jones's Grave

       The city historian was one of the speakers at the event and as soon as it was finished, I approached him and asked where the Confederate ironclads were built during the war. He told me where to go (it just happened to be very near where we ate dinner). Sadly, there is nothing left on the location but just some trees. After we ate, we headed to City Hall where one of the Seven Inch Brooke rifles that was on board the CSS Tennessee during the Battle of Mobile Bay sits today. Two Confederate sailors were killed serving this very gun during that engagement. The rifle is marked S-5, which means it was the fifth Brooke Rifle cast at Selma. 

Left to Right: Me, Pat, and Larry with the sweetest piece of history in Selma

       I thought this was a pretty neat little Civil War trip, but Pat had a surprise in store for me the next day. He took me to a Confederate ironwork's and cemetery. I'll write that blog tomorrow, stay tuned. 

Civil Wargasm #4

Timmy at Sam Davis's Grave

       Last weekend was a great weekend for me, my son Timmy, and three of my good friends. Stacie's girls had a lads to leaders convention in Nashville, Tennessee. Of course it was a chance for me to see the Civil War sights again. We went up on Friday and Timmy was excited because I told him it would be just me and him that day. With two girls and two boys, it gets difficult at times to have just one on one time. Unfortunately, by the time we got to the Opryland Hotel, unpacked and back to the car, we were running short on time. 

       Timmy and I headed south to Smyrna, Tennessee and arrived about thirty minutes before closing time and too late to take a tour of Sam Davis's home. I had told Timmy the story about Sam Davis, the "Boy Hero of the Confederacy" while we were driving. The story really interested him and he couldn't believe that the Federal troops could be so cruel. He has a lot to learn about war. Timmy is only six. 

Sam Davis's Home

       The fellow running the museum did allow us to walk around the grounds and visit the grave of Sam Davis. This also gave Timmy a chance to run off some of that energy that had been building all day in the van. Next I took Timmy to the rock and tree where Sam had hidden his horse during his last visit home. The tree he tied his horse to, still stands there today beside the rock Sam hid his horse behind. 

Rock and tree where Sam hid his horse

       The next day, Jerry and Lance came up and we were gonna tour Mount Olivet Cemetery and the Old City Cemetery. We prowled around Mount Olivet and I helped Jerry find a couple of general's graves he had missed on his lone visit last year. It was Lance's first visit to Mount Olivet and we would later learn why. 

       After spending a good hour at Mount Olivet, I learned that Jerry had never been to the Tennessee State Museum which houses a good deal of Civil War memorabilia. We left the cemetery and decided to eat at McDonalds before heading to the Tennessee capital. Of course, Lance has to use the bathroom before we leave and upon exiting the restaurant he opened the emergency exit. This seemed to have upset the manager as she gave him a look that seared his very soul. Jerry, Timmy, and I were of course, laughing.

       We spent most of the morning hunting a place to park, finally gave up and paid ten dollars to park for one hour. Jerry said, "I would love to own a spot of ground here. It would earn you a living just letting people park their cars at ten bucks an hour." We entered the state museum and headed past all the exhibits to the Civil War section. Now, I'm aware of a lot of Lance's fears. He is terrified of spiders and most other insects. He has a fear of most all animals at some level or other. He once beat himself mercilessly with an umbrella because a spider fell in his lap while driving down the highway at sixty miles an hour. A neighbors ostrich attempted to attack him through a fence while he mowed his grass. The list of animal encounters goes on and on. And then there's the story about the dragonfly that he swears had rabies, but that's another story entirely.

       I had no idea that he was afraid of death until reaching the museum. In order to get to the bottom floor, one must walk past a mummy that has been embalmed since at least 1200 B.C. I thought nothing of it since I've been past that mummy at least ten times over the past few years. 

3000 year old mummy at the Tennessee State Museum

       We enter the room with the mummy and I walk right past giving it not a second glance. Jerry and Timmy immediately become infatuated with the dead man lying in the glass case. Lance walks over and bends over the glass and peers inside. Suddenly, he realizes that this thing is a real person and almost panics. He races to the edge of the room and stares from a distance. Jerry says, "Lance, come look at his lips." "Unnh Unnh," Lance shakes his head and takes a step toward the exit. "Lance, you gotta see his eyes," Jerry repeats. "Unnh Unnh," Lance repeats and takes another step toward the exit. Soon Lance races past me as if he is in a haunted attraction on Halloween. 

       We go on down the stairs to the Civil War section. Jerry catches up and asks, "Lance haven't you ever touched anything dead before?" Lance thinks a moment and says, "I touched a dead squirrel once. It was cracking on a power line and then both died." When Jerry attempts to reason with Lance that there is nothing wrong with viewing a dead body, Lance attempts to argue back. He said, "Yeah, but, but..." That was about all the argument he could think of at the moment. 

Flag of the CSS Alabama

       In the Civil War section, we viewed the flag that flew aboard the CSS Alabama during its raids on the high seas. We saw items that belonged to Generals Cleburne, John Adams, Zollicoffer, John Hunt Morgan, and James Rains. The collection is enormous. We stayed an hour and barely had time to view just the Civil War collection. Then came time to exit the museum. I told Jerry that it would be interesting to watch Lance have to walk back past the mummy. Lance immediately asked, "You mean we have to walk back past that thing?"

       Jerry went ahead of us because he had an evil plan up his sleeve. When Lance walked into the room, Jerry jumped from behind the door and attempted to push Lance over to the mummy. Lance is six foot, two inches and weighs about 270. There is no pushing Lance where Lance doesn't want to go. I asked Lance what would have happened had Jerry pushed him over there and they both fell across the glass, overturning the mummy, and landing on it in the floor. Lance said, "Mummy parts would go flying everywhere. I just don't like those things."

       We left the museum and I had left a message earlier with another good Civil War buddy, Doctor Rick Price. He'd wanted to visit another museum that I cannot name here at present. (I will get to that part of the story in a moment.) "Doc" as I call him was late. Jerry, Lance, Timmy, and I go to the place and begin talking with a tour guide there. By the time Doc arrives, she understands how passionate we are about the war. 

Jerry and Doc

       Doc shows up with an Auburn shirt on and I tell him I will not take him to anymore Civil War sites if he continues to wear such ugly clothing. The tour guide decides to give us an abbreviated tour since we are only interested in the Civil War part. Suddenly, she looks at me and asks, "Would ya'll like to hold Forrest's sword?"

       We all answer, "Sure." That is what I was thinking at the moment, was sure, I bet, right. There is no way in this world I am gonna get to hold the sword of Nathan Bedford Forrest. But, she says follow me. En route to the location of this treasure, she says, "It's not the one he carried in battle, but a presentation sword. It belonged to him just the same." My hands began to shake as I began to realize how serious she was. We arrived at the scene and she hands the sword to me first. Shelby Foote once said that the proudest moment of his life was when Forrest's granddaughter allowed him to swing Forrest's sword over his head. Well, it was one of the proudest moments of my life. I made sure Timmy held the sword and explained to him that this was one of those once in a lifetime achievements and he'd most likely never get the opportunity again. Timmy and I both decided that we'd never wash our hand again. Each of us held the sword with the promise that we would not mention the guides name nor where we held the sword. 

       We left the place all smiles. Especially Jerry, since Forrest is his greatest hero. Doc said he will never turn down another trip with me anywhere. (It seems every time Doc takes a trip with me, something neat happens.) I told him not to expect this every trip. I took a trip two weeks ago to Cleburne's grave in Helena, Arkansas and thought I had accomplished something just taking rocks off his grave, so you can imagine how excited I was holding the sword of the Wizard of the Saddle.