Driving through Cherokee, North Carolina, a visitor is greeted by majestic carved wooden figures of Indians standing in front of local stores. Country singer Hank Williams recorded a song, both grammatically and politically incorrect for our day, about one named Kawlija (Kaw-li-ja) who fell in love with an Indian Princess standing in front of an antique store across the street. But Kawlija, a wooden cigar store statue, could never express his love. Worse, as the song goes, he had a heart of "knotty pine" so he lacked a source from which emotions could be expressed.

The cigar store statue just stood there, mute to the events of everyday human life. "Poor old Kawlija," the song goes, "he never had a kiss. Poor old Kawlija, he don’t know what he missed." Ultimately, the Indian Princess was bought by a wealthy tourist and taken far away, while Kawlija stood speechless because he had no heart.

Arts can reveal the spirit in man through music and metaphors that express a deeper truth. Country music, often perceived as less sophisticated, is a testament to the genuine emotions and experiences of country people. Its authenticity, no less than those with classical tastes, speaks to universal themes of love, loss, and tragedy.

Recent attacks against Jews at major universities and large cities in America have revealed shocking heartlessness in a segment of the population. Several years ago, a group of us attended Kristallnacht, a memorial of the 70th year since the beginning of the Holocaust. It was the night that German citizens were encouraged to rampage through towns in and around Germany and burn Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues. I surveyed the faces of teens in the audience at Kristallnacht for telltale signs of the program’s impact. It was hard to tell what was going through their minds.

A letter was read from a mother to her daughter detailing how she had watched as Nazi soldiers came to town and called all the Jewish men into the streets. The children watched through windows as their fathers were beaten and whipped. The children wept but were not allowed to cry aloud.

There is a disturbing parallel between Kawlija and a world that stood by watching Nazi soldiers brutalize other human beings and seemingly devoid of a voice to resist. Did the world have a heart of wood? Did it lose its humanity? Was it the overwhelming crowd hysteria and Nationalism, fueled by Hitler’s propaganda that extinguished the spirit of human compassion?

One of the sad commentaries of WWII is the story of the SS St. Louis, a German passenger ship that was leased by Jewish refugees attempting to escape the Holocaust. Hitler’s propaganda machine devised a plan to demonstrate that Germany was not alone in its hostility toward the Jews. He wanted to prove that the "civilized world" agreed with him, that there was a Jewish problem that Germany was trying to resolve humanely. He sought to show the Jews that the entire world was against them. The SS St. Louis arrived in North America, but Cuba refused its entry. It then sought refuge in the United States, but Southern Democrats threatened to unseat Roosevelt and he turned them away. Finally, Canada also rejected them, highlighting the global indifference to the Jewish plight.

Today, we are witnessing a global resurgence of hatred for Jews. Violence against Jews is occurring, not only in America, but also around the world, including university campuses. Harvard University’s lawsuit is just one example of the global scale of this problem, as it did nothing to prevent the assaults or protect the victims of the racist violence.

Major cities are experiencing vicious aggression against Jews with little response from the legal entities. In France, Muslims are attacking school buses transporting Jewish children to elementary schools. Synagogues are being defaced, and individuals harassed.

If attacks against ethnic groups aren’t enough, every 24 hours Planned Parenthood is responsible for the murder of 1,076 unborn babies, which is 44 babies every hour. More than a million abortions occurred in the United States in 2023 by all combined providers in the fifty states.

When does a human being become real to other humans? The Apostle Peter said that love for our fellow man happens when the human spirit is "born again, not by corruptible seed, but incorruptible…" (1 Peter 1:23). We were born with the spirit of a human being that lacks an essential element. Man needs a better spirit and the only way to get it is through a new birth.

When Nicodemus had questions about eternal life, Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless they are born again." (John 3:3-7 NIV). Nicodemus asked the obvious question, "How can someone be born when they are old?" Jesus’ response was equally candid, "Flesh gives birth to flesh, but spirit gives birth to spirit." (verses 4-5)

One of life’s undeniable truths is that man needs a change of spirit. That change occurs by coming to Jesus Christ and receiving the Spirit that comes at baptism.

God condemned ancient Israel for using wooden statues to worship Him because God is not made of wood. God is spirit and He offers His spirit to mankind. In a world of Kawlija’s, real Christians respond to the Spirit.

Until next time,

Jim O’Brien