Eugene Debs
One of our regular readers turned me on to a statement by Eugene Debs (1855-1926). Debs was an American labor union leader at a time when workers were third class citizens and treated like slaves by their employers. He spoke for them, though his desire was to free them to equal rights rather than to become their leader. A commanding orator, he once said to an audience of workers, “I would not lead you into the promised land if I could, because if I led you in, some one else would lead you out. You must use your heads as well as your hands, and get yourself out of your present condition.”
His passion for the needs and abuses of the working class grew out of his ability to identify with them. Well acquainted with the inside of a prison for civil disobedience, he once told a judge, “Your Honor, years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.” And in the spirit of Saint Paul who wrote that he became all things to all men that he might by all means save some (1 Corinthians 9:22), I would add that as long as there is one soul who is lost in the world, I am lost too.
You know, I’ve been wracking my brain trying to figure out what to write next… how to expand on this… why it speaks to me… but I’m thinking now I will leave that to you. You write the next part. Let me know what it means to you that you, too, are lost, if indeed it means something…
John Fischer The Catch 
I was lost, but I’ve been found. But, I still get lost again when I lose my way. I am never lost (eternally) because I’ve been found and by the grace of God, I’m a child of the KING. And, I know The Way but, I still get lost in this present world whenever I choose to go my own way instead of God’s Way. So, why do I choose to go the wrong way sometimes? It is because I choose to believe a lie and don’t trust God in all things. And, sometimes I want to sit on the throne, selfish me. Thank God my righteousness in is Christ alone for all my own righteousness is but filthy rags. Yes, I get lost, but I am NOT lost eternally.
Is it just me or does Mr. Debs look like John Fischer?
Oh my…
Thx L.Smith 4 the very good chuckles! Now that you meantioned it, Mr. Debs does look a bit like Pastor John… LOL 🙂
What it speaks to me is how I need to love my neighbor as myself and in an honest way relate to and not think, nor regard myself as better then them and try to my best ability to see them as our Lord see them and loves them whenever their at.
Jesus once told us “pick up your cross and follow me.” Jesus’ cross was the entire human race. He was in tune with every misery, failure, joy and emotion felt by every human being. When I became a part of Jesus through His grace and salvation, I, also, had to feel and recognize the needs of those around me and of those who were not in my immediate world. This mandate called me into action and out of the spectator’s role. This action caused me to be uncomfortable in so many ways. But, being a child of God, I had to recognize that my limitations or in many cases, my own “lostness,” compelled me to rely on God for His strength and direction.
One step at a time— I must walk the path God has placed before me. I become lost when I choose to follow my own path and not the divine one created especially for me…
I am not free until all are free. I am not feed until the hungry are fed. Jesus gave a definition that makes everyone my brother or sister and very much my concern. I can run from this truth but it will always find me. How else can I follow Jesus if I don’t do as he did?
I was once a union worker, and am now embarrassed to admit it. Never looking beyond the veneer all those years, I never saw or heard the ultimate, hidden agenda that drives the union movement. I once heard a hushed conversation between two of our leaders re: how much we (the U.S.) needed a medical system like the one Cuba has…. how great it is compared to our’s with all it’s problems. And the Diversity there that is soooo great and desirable compared to our problems here. When the conversation was over, the one whispered to the other as they parted, “Keep your head down”. Flags started going up in my naive mind. After a curious, continued researching into the organization I was part of, I found out much more! This was some years ago…. and I stayed quiet till I couldn’t anymore, and I got out. Talk about rejection, and lost friendships! I began to see “red” buried and camouflaged in all the benefits promised and fought for. I also noticed, and even more so now, how the motivations were, and are, couched in out-of-context New Testament phrases cleverly chosen to frame their “benevolence” towards the worker-class of Americans. There is more division now in our Country than ever before. I believe it rivals the time before the Civil War. Divide and conquer seems to be a strategy hard at work. I don’t want any part of it any more. I don’t want to support, or encourage anything that gives it momentum. It is a movement that lifts up the State as the ultimate entity…. and whatever can be used to lift up it’s ideals is helpful to the end goal….even sacred things…. because it is ultimately a Godless system…the State being it’s god… and that State is man. A modern form of marxist/socialism is slithering between our feet, and most are oblivious to it’s presence as we have our heads to the grinding stone trying to pay our bills and raise our families. I believe the end-time world government, we read about in our Bibles is something of this sort….. something very deceptive, and enticing. I believe the only defense against being deceived is a clear, unclouded knowledge of the TRUTH. An un-confused, simple, Faith-of-a-child trust in the real Gospel of Jesus Christ…. no politics, no greed, no fame, no hunger for power or status attached. We need to throw away all our self-help books that are aimed at scratching our itchy ears and making us feel good about ourselves, and get back to studying the Scriptures to mine their gold. Otherwise, we will be like debris washed out to sea in the tsunami…..unrecognizable in the midst of all the other things carried away. It is very late! …,r
Ralph, you completely missed my point. This was not about unions. It was a little history about a guy who said a great thing about identifying with the poor, the sinner, the prisoner and I added, the lost. My question was what it means to you to identify with the lost. Please try and stay on track with us. I don’t want to have to block your comments, but you are a distraction right now and you are sowing fear.
and you missed mine, John ….,r
It’s a simple truth we all need, just to hear and to see.
None of us are free, one of us is chained.
None of us are free.
now I swear your salvation isn’t too hard too find,
None of us can find it on our own.
We’ve got to join together in spirit, heart and mind.
So that every soul who’s suffering will know they’re not alone.
None of us are free.
None of us are free.
None of us are free, one of us are chained.
None of us are free.
Well Tim, I am delighted to tell you that I have been set free and, I am not the only one! “So if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.” John 8:36 The Son has set free all who believe in Him.
Okay Jim, and enjoy that freedom. However Solomon Burke speaks well to how we are connected.
For me it will take death,heaven and the wiping away of tears to be able to fully rejoice in the freedom we have offered in Christ.
While I’m at church running around waving my hands yelling, Free at last, free at last. thank God almighty I’m free at last!” I am reminded of Christians in Africa dying from the hands of ruthless men, I think of parents who morn for their children that seem to be on a path of destruction, I think of the friends that long to be free from disease and are loosing the battle.
I think of the great need among us and while I rejoice in the freedom you speak of, and the chains that once held me down have been lifted I am reminded that all of humanity is connected and there is no room for self righteous pride.
The freedom we receive in Christ also opens us to a responsibility. That responsibility comes because I am my brothers keeper, I am connected to those around me.
In that light:
None of us are free.
None of us are free, if one of us are chained.
None of us are free.
🙂
Well Tim, if none of us are free if one of us is chained, then no one will ever be free because there will always be some who are chained. Sounds like the gospel of LYNARD SKYNARD just like “If you are living right, you have nothing to fear” or “This is The Way you do it.” I think it is a false gospel just like the Beatles’ “All You Need is Love”. It sounds real good but, how do you define love? Well, in the 60’s it was something you make and it was free! It was and still is a big lie! A casual intimate one night stand is not love and it is not free; there are consequences. Just like drugs and alcohol, it feels great in the moment but, where is all the love the next morning? I lived it Tim, I am sorry to say. It was all a lie. Self gratification in the name of love; I truly believed I was loving someone, making love. But like a vapor it vanished in the rising of the sun. I have since been on a long journey looking for love in the right place, God’s Word, the Bible. And, I’ve found it: God is Love and He demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. If you’ve ever had a son, you might have some sense about how much God loves us to be willing to sacrifice His One and only Son that we might be set free from the penalty of our sin. This is why I am free Tim, not my self-righteousness for my righteousness is but filthy rags. My righteousness is in Christ alone. If we are to love God and love others as our self, it is imperative that we have a correct understanding of just what love is and is not. It is not making love. God is Love and Love is patient, love it king, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rerjoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. And, Love is the fruit of the Spirit. And, I love you Tim, whoever you are. Blessings to you Tim. ~ Jim
Jim, Thanks for the true words. You’ve made a crusty old guy shed a tear of joy. …,r Heb. 13:1