By: Denny

I was 13 and excited that I would be spending the summer on my Uncle Raymond and Aunt Rhea’s farm in Northeast Iowa. I was a city kid from Cedar Rapids whose only work experience had been my newspaper route, but that was about to change dramatically. My uncle had lost his left arm in a farm accident at the age of nine, but even with his prosthetic arm and hook he worked just as hard as any other man. My cousin, Leland, was 15 years older than me and as he still lived at home, he pretty much ran the farm. I say farm, but they had two farms and rented land and buildings on another. They raised hogs, and not in confinement buildings like they do these days. In addition to that, they did custom silo filling and combining. I remember being awakened on my first day by my aunt calling me down for breakfast. Little did I know that Raymond and Leland had been up since 5:00 AM and had all the chores done. That was the last day I slept in, because I didn’t want to miss out on anything, and I didn’t. I learned to drive a tractor, pitch manure and run the spreader, carry two 5-gallon pails of pellets for the little pigs, separate the piglets from the sows (which was dangerous), fix fences, and operated the 1010 John Deere which ran the blower when we filled silos. The corn crop had been planted earlier, so by the time school was out it was high enough to cultivate and rotary hoe with the 3010 John Deere. I spent many days doing that. Needless to say, I was dog tired at the end of those long days, but I loved every minute of it. I was in John Deere heaven when I was allowed to drive the big (for those days) 4020 diesel.

On one farm there was a wood corn crib full of ear corn that had been there for some time. After chores and during breakfast one morning Leland announced that they were planning to shell the corn and the sheller would be coming that morning. The corn sheller was a huge, complicated piece of machinery mounted on the rear of a single axle truck. I never saw one before and it was interesting to see how it worked. The driver backed the truck up to the corn crib and then attached several sections of chain driven conveyors that laid on the ground next to where the corn would come out and be fed into the sheller. Another auger transferred the newly shelled corn into a hopper wagon while still a separate conveyor on the other side of the sheller dropped the kernel-less cobs into another wagon. There was this big tube that blew the corn husks into a pile on the ground. That and the cobs would be used as bedding for the pigs. Earlier, I was told to wear a T-shirt under a long sleeve shirt, tucked in and buttoned at the collar and sleeves, and wear gloves. Before things got started Leland handed me two pieces of twine string and told me to tie my jeans tight at the bottom. He, the man running the sheller, and the neighbor who came to help did the same thing. Bingo, their German Shepherd, was pacing back and forth with anticipation, though I knew not why. My uncle said, “Just watch him and see!” The corn sheller was started and all the parts began to move, and it got increasingly louder as it reached the maximum RPMs. The small doors holding the corn in the crib were opened and corn began to fall into the conveyor. As the flow slowed the men would use a corn rake to pull it towards the conveyor. A corn rake is basically a pitchfork with the tines bent at a 90° angle to the handle. All of a sudden there was yelling, “Get ‘em!”, “Look out!”, “Here come some more!” as rats (some as big as cats) and mice began to scatter from the corn in all directions. There were too many to count in all the excitement. Some rats met their fate at the end of a corn rake, while others were being dispatched by Bingo as he tenaciously bit them and tossed them aside, then grabbed another. Now I understood the reason for the clothing protection beforehand. There was a possibility of being bitten by the rats, and the mice might run up your pant legs looking for a place to hide. When the shelling was done it looked like a battleground with dead rats and mice everywhere, but the corn was saved. That was what I’m calling The Great Corn Shellin’ and Rat Killin’ of 1965. It was 59 years ago, but the memory of the sights, sounds, and smells is still so vivid in my mind.

This is a similar corn sheller set up for action. Notice the corn rake on the ground.

Now It’s time for another great corn shellin’ and rat killin’, because the corn is at risk. The corn I’m referring to is our nation, our freedoms, the rule of law, and the God honoring values that once made us great and respected throughout the world. When corn becomes rat infested it begins to have a foul odor, and that’s where we are today. Rats and mice are most active at night under the cover of darkness so as not to be seen, and so it is with these modern-day progressives and liberal Marxists. The stench of their twisted values and agendas have so infiltrated the political corn crib that even the daylight doesn’t deter their ungodly plans and deeds, nor do they care. The good corn that was put in the crib years ago was not the same corn we shelled that day, neither is the current Democrat party that many have supported and voted for in the past. It’s time to be rid of them at the corn shellin’ ballot box. Part of the reason our country is in such a mess is because too many Christians in the past stayed home on Election Day. Gone are the days when you can afford to say you aren’t voting because you don’t like either candidate, then sit back and complain about the stench and rats in the corn crib. This upcoming election is unprecedented, because it is more than ever about good vs evil than it is about personalities, and you need to see beyond that. We aren’t electing a “National Pastor”, so get over it. As believers and followers of Christ we are called and commissioned to first spread the gospel to the lost. However, we are also supposed to be salt which flavors, and light which pushes back the darkness. If it seems like we are losing this battle, it’s because we’ve spent so much time and effort on defense and not offense. No war has ever been won by defense, because you always end up compromising and giving up ground. Such is the condition of so many denominational churches that have capitulated to the Woke crowd. The rats and mice are not going to vacate the corn crib on their own. Do not be like the servant in the parable of the talents found in Matthew 25:1-30 who was given one talent and hid it in the ground. Unlike the other two who did something with theirs and we’re called good and faithful, the master called that one wicked and lazy. Such is the mindset of those who sit back on their laurels saying, “God is in control, and it doesn’t matter what I do because He puts those in authority that He wants.” Seriously? God gave you the freedom of choice and the power to express it through your vote. It may not matter to you, but it certainly matters to Him, and just like in the parable He will hold you accountable for what you do with what he has given you. And what of the men and women as mentioned in my last blog, who gave their lives defending our democracy that gives you that right? This isn’t about you and the one burr-in-your-saddle issue you have, so get over it.

Jesus spoke plainly about events and signs that would take place in the last days leading up to His return. He referred to them as perilous times. He also said it would be like the days of Noah. People would be nonchalantly going about their lives, ignorant, oblivious, and undiscerning of spiritual, moral, and political matters. They would be proud, arrogant, scoffers and mockers of God, His word, and His followers. That sounds like rats in the corn crib to me, but what good is knowing if you aren’t willing to do something about it. At least Noah built an ark, but evil and darkness prevail whenever good people do nothing. Math 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.” In other more graphic farming terminology; it’s just like the corn cobs and husks that are used as bedding for pigs to be trampled, pooped on, maggots to live in, and eventually hauled out to the fields in a spreader.

The big special interest political rats and the cowardly little mice of the media that live with them in the corn crib are counting on this: That you are too busy and not paying attention. That you believe and accept everything they say. That you can’t discern a lie from the truth. That you will vote Democrat because you always have. That you won’t see or recognize the “sleight of hand” they’re using to gain voters through millions of illegal aliens. That you won’t notice how they are even now planning to steal another election because they can’t win by debating the issues and their lack of meaningful accomplishments. Nor do they intend to win in the arena of ideas. That you believe Donald Trump actually got a fair trial, which is laughable, and now that he is labeled a convicted felon, they think you won’t vote for him. That you will give up and say, “what’s the use” not push back and not vote if you are a Christian or conservative. On the other hand, God is and has always counted on this: That His redeemed people, the true church, would pray effectively and fervently for Him to move and interfere with the evil plans of men. Can He count on YOU?

Revelation12:11 And they overcame him (the Devil, Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.