Read through this patiently to see where "Will" finally hits the report.
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I nearly always think too much (according to my husband and all my close friends). My brain never turns off and a lot of the thinking is very serious. It’s also difficult to summarize the “thoughts”, especially to do with spiritual mapping and the other elements connected therewith. For instance, processing the differences and similarities between land defilement and redemptive giftings, between the fruits of sin and the spiritual roots that produce that tendency to specific sin in certain areas, etc.
Some time back, while re-reading a biography of Hudson Taylor, one of my all-time heroes, right at the end, a statement was made that expressed the concept of what I’ve been trying to explain for these past ten or more years.
It also explains quite possibly why certain events occurred here in Omaha and why they have continued to affect us. So I thought I would pass this on.
The subject of this quoted paragraph is the imminent anti-foreign terror in China during 1900 referred to as the Boxer Rebellion. Many missionaries and their family members and Chinese Christians were killed or wounded before the horror ran its course.
“Since Hudson and Jennie had left China, in September 1899, the political situation had deteriorated. The country’s defeat by Japan, the seizure of ports by European powers, the beginning of railway construction by foreigners, fear that the Empire would be partitioned by European powers, bitter feeling against some missionaries, and outbreaks of famine all contributed to a growing sense of unrest. The hostility to missionaries was stirred up, as so often, by rumours about cruel and immoral practices and disturbance of cherished customs. ... ‘Boxers’ ... became associated with secret societies, and indulged in charms and occult practices which they believed would protect them from foreign weapons.”
In terms of Omaha and our region, the following is an example of how this might work.
At the end of the 19'teens, major world-wide, national, regional, and city elements converged to result in, among other events, the tragic lynching of Will Brown on September 26, 1919.
World-wide – the end of WWI and the return of veterans back to their nations. In the States, adjustments to family structure and the job market gradually created tense situations resulting in race riots, an huge upsurge in the KKK, and other social ills.
The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 had ripples in nearly every community in our nation. In Omaha, where a normal death toll for the months of October to December would have been approximately 130, about 1,042 died.
Omaha was under the control of the Tom Denison/Mayor Jim bossism political machine. When reformers managed to get their own mayor in, the tension increased. The reformers did not have the power or the political expertise to maintain peace in a very non-peaceful town.
Where people had been bonded together socially by the common element of WWI, even though the US entered the war late in the game, afterward, the reality of everyday life set in, first, with family difficulties and unemployment, and, then, was exacerbated by the influenza epidemic with its loss of life -- and the bond fell apart.
Will Brown became the scapegoat for all of Omaha’s ills. He was set up by the powers that be – and as a result of his death, the Denison machine was reestablished in political power, mostly on its claim that the Reformers were to blame for the lynching and riot because they couldn’t control the crowds. Mr. Denison and Mayor Jim -- and their cohorts -- were back in power for several more years.
Today, we continue to deal with the results of these ungodly choices, these knee-jerk responses to heavy situations, and lack of seeking the will and protection and wisdom of our Father.
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Again, as I try to bug your brains/hearts/spirits, see where these aspects might apply to your town, region, or nation.
