Posted on 09/14/2018 9:59:24 PM PDT by TigerClaws
Aug. 7 [1982]
Dear Loyal,
I hope you’ll forgive me for this, but I’ve been wanting to write you ever since we talked on the phone. I am aware of the strain you are under and believe with all my heart there is help for that.
First I want to tell you of a personal experience I’ve kept to myself for a long time. During my first year as Governor you’ll recall the situation I found in Calif. was almost as bad as the one in Wash. today. It seemed as if the problems were endless and insolvable.
Then I found myself with an ulcer. In all those years at Warner Bros., no one had been able to give me an ulcer and I felt ashamed as if it were a sign of weakness on my part. John Sharpe had me on Malox and I lived with a constant pain that ranged from discomfort to extremely sharp attacks.
This went on for months. I had a bottle of Maalox in my desk, my briefcase and of course at home. Then one morning I got up, went into the bathroom, reached for the bottle as always and some thing happened. I knew I didn’t need it. I had gone to bed with the usual pain the night before but I knew that morning I was healed. The Malox went back on the shelf.
[Read Karen Tumulty’s column on what this letter reveals about Reagan — and Trump]
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Wow, what a great letter! Praise The LORD!!! And to think that we Christians will after many, many years all will be great friends with Ronny.
I know from a close family member that Loyal Davis was a terrific hard *ss who put the fear of God in his students.
Didn’t know he wasn’t a Christian who didn’t believe in God, though.
Perhaps his lack of faith had to do with his freemasonry.
Truly beautiful.
May we all be so fortunate as to see Ronald Reagan in Heaven.
Reagan laid it out well in good fashion. Just don’t look at the WP reader’s comments.
My father was a renowned neurosurgeon and the head of the Dept. of Neurosurgery at Vanderbilt for many years. He was friends with Dr. Davis and attended his funeral where he saw the President and Mrs. Reagan. Another one of Daddy’s friends was Dr. Eben Alexander, a neurosurgeon in North Carolina. His son, also named Eben, and also a neurosurgeon, wrote the widely discussed book, Proof of Heaven, which dealt with his near-death experience.
Save
Thank you for that. Not only is it impressive what Reagan was trying to do here, it was impressive the faith he had to write such a letter. He knew God would carry the load, as soon as he Ronnie put his name on it.
Decades later, the letter serves to minister to those who read it again now for the first time.
We are indeed fortunate to have a God that asks us only to do good things. He doesn’t ask us to go to foreign lands and kill innocent people. He doesn’t ask us to execute people for no other reason than that they don’t worship Him.
He asks us to accept the sacrifice of His Son, and cling to that sacrifice as the payment for our sins.
This is the good news. God is looking for followers. He is willing to lighten our load, no matter what it is. Even if there is no solution, He can give us peace, if we will only accept it.
If we accept it, believe in it, we can sleep tonight without a worry in the world. God will help us to do that. Believe it.
Wow...
As a Mason, I wonder what you Allude to regarding his faith and Freemasonry?
The WaPo doesn’t allow me to read that article. However, I found this, very powerful, about the letter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuUhdUUW7bM
The Letter is uplifting and thoughtful.
It renews your Faith in Humanity.
Then you read the Comments below the Article from the typical Washington Post Readers and you end up right back where you started.
http://www.themasonictrowel.com/ebooks/freemasonry/eb0347.pdf
The whole history of Lincoln’s Republican party rests on the Christian foundation of the anti-Mason party.
Rev. Chas. Finney, a former mason, discusses the religious problem for Christians regarding freemasonry, and at length in the above linked book, published c. 1869
PREFACE TO THE THE CHARACTER, CLAIMS AND PRACTICAL WORKINGS
OF FREEMASONRY
by Reverend Charles Finney
In few words I wish to state what are not and what are my reasons for writing this book.
1. It is not that I have any quarrel or controversy with any member of the Masonic Order. No one of them can justly accuse me of any personal ill-will or unkindness.
2. It is not because I am fond of controversy — I am not. Although I have been compelled to engage in much discussion, still I have always dreaded and endeavored to avoid the spirit and even the form of controversy.
3. It is not because I disregard the sensibility of Freemasons upon the question of their pet institution, and am quite willing to arouse their enmity by exposing it.
I value the good opinion and good wishes of Freemasons as I do those of other men, and have no disposition to capriciously or wantonly assail what they regard with so much favor.
4. It is not because I am willing, if I can dutifully avoid it, to render any member of the Fraternity odious.
But my reasons are:
1. I wish, if possible, to arrest the spread of this great evil, by giving the public, at least, so much information upon this subject as to induce them to examine and understand the true character and tendency of the institution.
2. I wish, if possible, to arouse the young men who are Freemasons, to consider the inevitable consequences of such a horrible trifling with the most solemn oaths, as is
constantly practiced by Freemasons.
Such a course must, and does, as a matter of fact, grieve the Holy Spirit, sear the conscience, and harden the heart.
3. I wish to induce the young men who are not Freemasons “to look before they leap,” and not be deceived and committed, as thousands have been, before they were at all aware of the true nature of the institution of Freemasonry.
4. I, with the many, have been remiss in suffering a new generation to grow up in ignorance of the character of Freemasonry, as it was fully revealed to us who are now old.
We have greatly erred in not preserving and handing down to the rising generation the literature upon this subject, with which we were made familiar forty years ago.
(Finney is referring to the masonic murder of Captain Morgan on September 11th, 1826.)
For one, I must not continue this remissness.
5. Because I know that nothing but correct information is wanting to banish this institution from wholesome society. This has been abundantly proven.
As soon as Freemasons saw that their secrets were made public, they abandoned their lodges for very shame.
With such oaths upon their souls, they could not face the frown of an indignant public, already aware of their true position.
6. Freemasons exhort each other to maintain a dignified silence and are exhorted not to enter into controversy with opposers of Freemasonry.
The reasons are obvious to those who are informed.
We know why they are silent if they are so, and why they will not enter the field of controversy and attempt to justify their institution. Let anyone examine the question and he will see why they make no attempt to justify Freemasonry as it is revealed in the books from which I have quoted.
I greatly desire to have the public, and especially the church of Christ, understand what Freemasonry is.
Then let them act as duty requires.
7. Should I be asked why I have not spoken out upon this subject before, I reply that until the question was sprung upon us in this place a year ago, I was not at all aware that Freemasonry had been disinterred and was alive, and stalking abroad over the face of the whole land.
8. This book contains the numbers published in the Independent last year. These are revised, enlarged and rearranged. To these are added eight numbers not heretofore published.
9. I have said in the body of the work, and say also in this preface, that I have no pecuniary intent in the sale of this work. I have not written for money, nor for fame. I shall get neither for my pains. I desire only to do good.
C.G. FINNEY.
ping
And to think his atheist son Ron does commercials for separation of church and state, the one where he says he’s not afraid of burning in hell. Disgraceful.
I once knew and worked with a good number of neurosurgeons. As a group they are almost exclusively assholes. In fact the more prominent they are the greater likelihood of their being an asshole. Davis used to make a resident sit at the bedside of his post op patients overnight. I attended a AANS meeting where the President of the AANS gave his keynote speech promoting “Balance” in life and suggested spending more time with family. The asshole was on his third wife at the time. I could go on and on. I met Henry Schwartz once. His residents hated him with a passion. They called him “Black Henry”.
Thanks.
Sadly our children don’t always embrace our beliefs. Hopefully, though they depart, they will eventually return. My everyday prayer.
Fun fact about neurosurgeons no one knows. Almost every neurosurgeon in this country has been able to graduate residency, pass his boards exams, and obtain hospital accreditation without ever having seen even one neurosurgeon watch them do even a single procedure. I have actually seen guys finish the residency and literally try to do their first procedure (and kill the patient).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.