Page 52 - Billy Graham in Heaven

The Promised Land Pub
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God-worshipping society.
“My God,” thought Jake, peeking at the thousands of bowed heads, “it’s a war against peace. There better be a few hundred winces going on in this drug-filled, law- evading and God-haunted bunch. If they aren’t getting that Inquisition feeling we’re in big trouble.”
Asheville’s mayor then called for veterans from World War I and II, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf War to stand. Over a third of the people rose and the place resounded with applause. Jake clapped some too, partly out of respect and partly out of fear of what might happen if he didn’t.
Next, Asheville’s Congressman Charles Taylor orated: “Desert Storm has helped liberate the people of Kuwait, but also helped liberate this country from a paralysis it had suffered for many years.”
Jake reluctantly applauded with everyone else. But he thought: “He has to be obliquely referring to the Vietnam horror. Losing over fifty thousand Americans in Vietnam and killing millions of Southeast Asians for highly dubious reasons does tend to give catatonic pause.”
The Congressman then read a personal message from President Bush which said in part: “We also remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice, those who lost loved ones, and all the innocent people who have otherwise suffered from the conflict.”
For the rest of the afternoon the U.S. Army Field Band superbly played everything from Concerto for Oboe by Marcello to the theme from the TV series Batman.
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