Palin and Her God

It’s often interesting to find out what a person believes or thinks by reading either his own words or the words he chooses to stand by. I remember when a translation of De Gaulle’s Memoirs came out in the 1960s. I bought it and read it.
A couple of years later, De Gaulle threw NATO and the United States out of Paris, began his own atomic weapons program and announced France would go it alone. The State Department went into shock. The Washington Post and The New York Times were reduced to sputtering.
I did some checking and learned that almost no one in the State Department had bothered to read the Memoirs when they were published. Had they done so, they would by no means have been surprised at De Gaulle’s action – or his hostility.
Sidebar: the French have a much different view of World War II than we do. They see the British as happily gobbling up parts of the French Empire after the debacle of 1940, and they see the Americans as then devouring pieces of both the British and the French Empires. After the war, they see the British as becoming a cat’s paw for American aggrandizement.
In other words, both England and the USA are as much enemies of France as Nazi Germany was. Taking this view into account, the actions of a man who would order NATO (American led) out of Paris become completely explicable if not agreeable.
I could give other examples, but suffice it to say, a person’s words – believed and written – matter.
Sarah Palin, who seems to be frightening everyone to pieces with her affirmations of Christianity, sent out an Email to several churches this morning. In it she asked the churches to pray for her using the word of an ancient Jewish “psalm” or hymn.
When you ask a person to pray using certain words, one has to assume that those words are meaningful to you. So I quote some of the words Governor Palin chose this morning. They are from the 27th Psalm in the Old Testament or Jewish Bible. The words were written by the ancient Hebrew warrior/king, David, who faced some political difficulties of his own.
It begins with David’s affirmation: “The LORD [Jehovah] is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?” Then it gets darker.
“When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this I will be confident.”
David, the warrior, was called “The Lion”. Governor Palin is called a “Shark” or “Barracuda”. None are thought to be afraid of their enemies; all three are known for ripping and tearing.
She continues with his words, “One thing I have desired of the LORD, … that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, … .
“For in the time of trouble he shall hide me …, he shall set me upon a rock. And now shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; …
“… have mercy also upon me, and answer me. … Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. …
“Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.” (King James Version)
I would suggest these words offer an interesting insight into the governor’s character and beliefs. It suggests what her attitude toward life and political warfare might be. In short, it may give a little more insight into this mysterious, moose-hunting person from the far north.
Incidentally, moose are very dangerous animals.