Twenty Thirty-Three

TWENTY

THIRTY-THREE

JAMES A TURNER

Copyright © 2014 James A Turner.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-2412-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-2413-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-2411-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014901592

WestBow Press rev. date: 02/25/2014

Contents

List of Characters

Chapter 1 Sunday School Party

Chapter 2 Orville and the Church

Chapter 3 Orville Meets Timmy

Chapter 4 For the Good of the People

Chapter 5 The Plan

Chapter 6 It’s Never Too Late

Chapter 7 The Declaration of Texas

Chapter 8 Expected Turn of Events, The White House

Chapter 9 Two Governments, One Country

Chapter 10 Howard Martin Meets President Wilson

Chapter 11 The New America

Chapter 12 Time to Cut Bait

Chapter 13 Equality for Everyone

Chapter 14 The Recording

Chapter 15 Ransom for Freedom

Chapter 16 The Transfer

Chapter 17 The Lone Star State

Chapter 18 Christmas 2032

Chapter 19 Mr. Hall Goes to Washington

Chapter 20 The Pentagon

Chapter 21 Can It Happen? Will It Work?

Chapter 22 One More Chance for America

Chapter 23 Starting Over

Chapter 24 Enormous Challenges

Chapter 25 Getting Through January

Chapter 26 Referendum

Chapter 27 Almost There

Chapter 28 Final Vote

Chapter 29 Happy Days Are Here Again

Chapter 30 The President Goes to Work

Chapter 31 Get ’Er Done

Chapter 32 The Ides of March

Chapter 33 One More Chance

List of Characters

Colonel Roger Barker U.S. Army …………Assistant to President Hall

Willie Barnes…………past U.S. speaker of the House of Representatives

Al Biggs…………Fort Worth meteorologist

Robert Bold…………Texas Speaker of the House

Ginger Brown…………vice president under Hal Wilson

Buddy…………Texas state trooper

Herman Butler…………U.S. secretary of the treasury

William Carney…………hief justice of the Texas Supreme Court

Neville Crow………… U.S. secretary of defense

Gerald Cunningham…………47th vice president

Timothy Dawkins…………speaker of the U.S. house of representatives

John Dewey…………renowned secular humanist

Ed…………Captain Smith’s partner

Evelyn…………Colonel Baker’s fiancée from the past

Glenda…………Colonel Baker’s wife

Becky Hall…………Ellie and Jesse Hall’s daughter

Ellie Hall…………Jesse’s wife

Jesse Hall…………Texas governor who becomes president

Orville Hall…………Jesse’s dad

E G Hill…………black activist preacher

Thomas Hardy…………colonel in the Texas Rangers

Pastor Harold Haynes…………Orville’s pastor

Paul and Cathy Hines…………members of Orville’s Sunday school class

Jim…………friend from Fort Worth

Joe…………barber

Leigh…………Les Mundo’s wife

Lenore…………Ellie’s mom

Howard Martin…………Texas’s attorney general

Les Mundo…………band leader from Ohio

President Oner…………Russian President

Luis Parton…………U.S. attorney general

Edwin Roberts…………director of Texas Department of Public Safety

Clint Ross…………lieutenant governor of Texas

Ruby…………Jesse’s secretary while governor

Juanita Salazar…………President Hall’s secretary

Robert Schultz…………chairman Joint chief of Staff

Bill Smith…………church member

Captain Smith…………Texas state trooper

Suzy…………waitress at Paris Coffee Shop

Vernon Wiley…………47th president

Wilma…………Howard Martin’s wife

Hal Wilson…………48th president

Major General John H. Williams..adjutant general, Texas State Guard

Sherry Wilson…………Timothy Dawkins chief of staff

George and Olivia Yates ….members of Orville’s Sunday school class

Chapter 1

Sunday School Party

Friday Night, October 28, 2016

Orville Hall was a bit nervous; he was hosting the First United Methodist Reformed Church annual Sunday school party. Usually thirty or forty people attended this gathering. Each person brought a covered dish, and the host supplied the meat and drinks. For more than twenty years, the party had been held at Orville’s house, but this was the first time he had hosted the party alone. Linda, Orville’s wife of nearly forty years, had died unexpectedly in January. This year, Jesse, his only son, and his daughter-in-law, Ellie, were going to help serve and clean up. Both Jesse and Ellie knew the guests well.

Usually their pastor would speak briefly, but this year he couldn’t attend, so Orville did the sharing. To accommodate this many people, the furniture had been moved to one side of the living room and den, and card tables were set up to hold the food and seat the people. Orville had smoked two large hams and a turkey, which he thought should be enough. Several of the ladies had come early to get everything ready. They probably thought Orville couldn’t do it by himself, and they wanted to help. He welcomed the help, which allowed him to greet everyone as they arrived.

Between the dining room and the living room were large French doors; you could see most of the guests from any area. Everyone arrived promptly, visited briefly, and stood together for the food to be blessed. Orville asked Jesse to offer thanks for the dinner that was about to be served. Father, Jesse said, we come together again to fellowship, eat, and return to our homes. We acknowledge You and offer thanks to You as our only God. You provided this great dinner. We confess our great sadness that my mom and Dad’s wife, Linda, is not with us today. At the same time we’re thankful that she is with You. We pray blessings on this food and on everyone here. I offer this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and only Savior. Amen.

From that moment on, not much was said. Everyone looked sad when Linda’s name was mentioned, but once their plates were full, their sadness was replaced with smiles.

After everyone had several helpings and a dessert or two, Orville spoke up. Folks, tonight I’m privileged to speak in place of Pastor Haynes, and I will do my best to keep your attention and not talk too long. As Orville began to speak, many of the ladies left for the kitchen. Cleaning the kitchen was their excuse for not listening. No sooner had he started to talk than a few guests politely got up from their seats, waved good-bye, and left.

Tonight I will share how my life changed after Linda passed away. It was last January, almost a year ago. It was so sudden—she just left us. I was a zombie; I would wake up in the middle of the night and drink coffee till daylight. Then I would sit there for hours not knowing what to do next. This went on until sometime in June. As Orville spoke, his lower lip quivered a little. Ellie went to Orville and put her arm around him. Orville wasn’t trying to stir up any emotions, but several of the guests had begun to cry. "I’m sorry, I’m very sorry. I didn’t want anyone to be upset, but I needed to explain where I was coming from. Anyway, sometime in June, I went to get my hair cut. I was sitting there waiting for my turn and looking for something to read. I found an old copy of a National Review magazine. The National Review is a very conservative far-right magazine. I don’t usually read this type of material, but the cover caught my attention. It read in large print, ‘The Four Horsemen of Progressivism,’ and in smaller print it read, ‘The Men Who Created Our World.’ I wanted to see what progressivism was and who these men were. No sooner had I found the article than Joe, my barber, said it was my turn. I kept the magazine and sat in the barber chair for my haircut. I asked Joe if he had read the article. He said he didn’t read that political crap. I politely laughed and asked if I could borrow the magazine for a day or two. Joe reached for the magazine and noticed it was several years old. He then said, ‘Keep it. It’s time for it to be thrown away anyway.’

"I don’t know what my fascination was, but I couldn’t wait to get home to read the article. I hadn’t yet realized that for the first time since January, I was actively doing something. It wasn’t much, but it was progress. A few weeks later, I realized that my life had made a turn for the better. I still missed Linda very much, but my life had taken a turn, and I wasn’t a zombie any longer.

It is not easy for me to describe progressivism. It is something that’s been here for a long, long time. What I learned from that article caused me to become obsessed with finding what truth really is. I’ve been a Christian since childhood. It is who I am, and it’s what I do. I’m basically a good person. I have made mistakes, I guess many mistakes, but my life is simple, and it keeps on going forward, no matter what. All of that applies to most everyone I know. As we live out our lives, we try to do better as we grow older. The article wasn’t about biblical truth, but that’s where it quickly led me. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I didn’t understand truth, and I thought I knew who Jesus was, but I really didn’t understand as much as I thought I did. I was a nice man who went to church regularly, and I thought that was enough. Everyone was used to hearing Orville each Sunday, but this was different; it wasn’t his regular message of encouragement.

Pontius Pilate sent Jesus to His death because of charges made against Him by the Jews. Pilate asked Him if He was a king and what truth was. Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to Me.’ ‘What is truth?’ retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, ‘I find no basis for a charge against him’ [John 18:37–38 ESV]. Jesus said in another place, ‘I am the way, and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me’ [John 14:6]. Orville went on to say, We may not fully understand what truth is, but this is the place to start our search, through Jesus Christ and in the holy Bible. My understanding of truth is that it is everything said by Jesus, it is who He is, and if we know Him, we can understand truth. It’s not a complicated word, but nowadays most people and many churches aren’t searching for truth.

Orville then said, "Next I’ll read from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, published Tuesday, June 13, 2006. I quote, ‘Truth is one of the central subjects in philosophy. It is also one of the largest. Truth has been a topic of discussion in its own right for thousands of years. Moreover, a huge variety of issues in philosophy relate to truth, either by relying on theses about truth, or implying theses about truth.’ End of quote. The great colleges and universities of our land and throughout the world have searched for their meaning of truth. They have made their own interpretation of what truth is without even considering what God’s truth is. Without knowing God they can’t possibly understand what truth really is. They teach our young what their understanding of truth is, not God’s. This has gone on since the fall of man." Several of the ladies came from the kitchen, and without saying a word, their husbands stood up, waved good-bye, and quietly went toward the door, their wives close behind them. Now there were only ten people left to hear Orville’s passionate story; half were very interested, and the other half were being polite.

Orville continued as if he didn’t notice that most of the dinner guests were now gone. Jesse and Ellie were left to finish cleaning the kitchen by themselves. "Soon after reading several articles and doing some research on my own, I discovered a simple truth. The answer to what truth is, its that there is only one truth. You do not have to be smart to know what truth is. It only matters that you belong to God and really want to know what truth really is. Truth is imparted to us by God if we seek Him. It’s that simple, and He is the only way for a person to understand truth.

"Folks, that was part one of my story for you this evening. The other part is that I finally came to understand something that’s bothered me for years. Next month we will vote for a new president. Have you ever wondered how a person who goes to church with you every week, a respected deacon in your church, a person who believes in God the same as you do, would be for abortion, forbidding school prayer, and homosexual marriage? This is my dilemma: we have basically two political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. Both parties have Christians and non-Christians in them. It would seem to me that the Christians would always vote the same way. Their vote would always be influenced by God’s Word, truth.

"Many years ago abortion became legal; now unborn humans are being killed by the millions. Prayer in school was eliminated. Same-sex marriage became normal. Over time being a Christian wasn’t a popular choice for most of America. These issues defined each political party. The Democrats chose what they called a woman’s right to choose: the one pregnant with a human baby could now choose to abort or not. Freedom of religion was used to expel prayers from school. If a man and woman could marry, why not two men marrying, and why not two women marrying? Fair is fair, and love is love. Also, it is very scary, but the government has started to decide who gets medical treatment and who doesn’t. I am afraid of what has started to happen to our seniors, especially since I am one of them. It’s been kept out of the news by the news services, but medical care is being determined by a government-directed board, and now some are left to die because of the common good for everyone.

"Over time a Christian’s freedom to obey God became a private, personal issue and a privilege and should not hinder society from advancing the common good of all its citizens. The American citizen’s rights and freedoms are upheld by the Supreme Court. Man’s rights given by man supersede what God has told us in His Word. A political party, the Supreme Court, and most Americans have gone their own way. It is the natural course of man in these times.

"America was founded on the principle of freedom of religion. Anyone could believe however they wanted to, or not believe. A government can’t mandate what is in a person’s heart. America wasn’t created as a Christian nation, dedicated to God, as most of us have always thought. The phrase ‘One Nation Under God’ was started in 1954. ‘In God We Trust’ was started in 1956. The founding fathers were good, decent men, but most weren’t recognized as great men of faith, just great men. In my quest for answers I couldn’t find one of our founding fathers who professed serving God and seeking His truth as the solution to our young nation’s problems.

"So here we have a nation with several kinds of people living together in peace. Unbelievers, people of other, non-Christian faiths, Christian people who aren’t committed to truth, and a small minority who are faithful believers or orthodox Christians. What is noteworthy is that in many orthodox churches not all are truth seekers. In many non-orthodox churches there are some truth seekers.

"From all that I have just said, there is only one conclusion. It is simply and only what is truth. Pilate didn’t understand, and executed Jesus Christ. Truth has slipped from America, and millions of infants are legally slaughtered. We forbid prayers in school to keep from being convicted of our ways.

"A few years ago in Austin they started a university, the John Dewey University of Philosophical and Theological Studies. Here man’s rational interpretation of truth and God’s unchanging truths are combined by mere men for the well-being of all men. Since America comprises many types, this will accommodate everyone, or most everyone. The only groups left out would be the small orthodox Christian group, and other faiths that actually practiced their beliefs. These may not necessarily be groups, but individuals who believe and know God. This small minority of believers are really disenfranchised, as the Bible says they should be. Man can finally distribute equality for all, and rule the day for the good of all. Man has