First of all I am not “The Heath” in today’s Huffington Post and literary people will know the origin of the name together with the family crest and not be confused. But apart from the English heath and references to Shakespeare, and I must say very far apart, listening to some people talk about my old hometown here in Kern County you might be led to believe they think it would have been a nice touch in “The Shadow” when Lamont Cranston asks “Am I in hell?” had the Tulku answered, “No; you’re in Bakersfield.”

It is really sad to see Btown vying with L. A. to become like that cesspool of a third world city, but I have fond memories going back to the 30s and 40s of what Bakersfield used to be, which is why it is the focal point of my novel “Donnie and Jean,” and all the legitimate criticism of the town of that era justified as it is will not detract from the good things I recall and wrote about as it was back then.

But I grant it was the good people I knew and equate with Bakersfield back then that casts an oft time azure tint to my memories, especially those of the churches like that of my maternal grandparents and great-grandmother. Grandad being a preacher most of my childhood associations were related to this social function and the various churches throughout Bakersfield. And perhaps this is the reason I can appreciate really fine pulpit oratory, having been raised to it.

Michelle Malkin whom I highly regard mirrored my own reaction to Obama’s excruciatingly embarrassing attempt to disown Wright as a performance of someone having an “out-of-body experience.” And to think there have been those in the MSM calling Obama a “gifted orator.” He is as I correctly pointed out from the beginning at best sophomoric and hardly anything approaching a gifted orator. By now, anyone calling him a gifted orator ought to be looking for somewhere to hide. But can you imagine how well Obama might be faring if he had Jeremiah Wright’s genuine gift of oratory and showmanship?

Alas, it isn’t often gifted pulpit orators like Wright make it as big time politicians. In many cases such as his there is a restraining influence they seem to confuse with the spirit of God, and in this confusion they remain in their pulpits rather than “soiling” themselves in politics. After all, despite the confusion few are so confused they do not recognize politicians as being among the least admired, at the most charitable, of the human species.

But no matter one’s opinion of Wright there is no discounting his genuine gift of oration, though many of us can be excused for wishing it were put to better use. And too, there is this matter of conscience that in many cases proves to be a restraining influence even in people like Jeremiah Wright, something largely lacking in politicians. However, few of us would want to be judged by the conscience of another since in too many cases conscience seems often a victim of both common sense and vagaries of the human condition. Take Tony Blair for example:

Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer. April 30, 2008: LONDON — A cathedral is an odd place for a coming-out party. But not, as it turns out, if you're a former prime minister of Britain and you're preparing to tell the world that God was one of your senior advisors during your 10 years in power. Speaking one recent evening under the lofty Byzantine vaults of Westminster Cathedral, Tony Blair ended his self-imposed silence on the subject, declaring that his faith has formed the essential backdrop to much of his political life…

Blair goes on to say that his “coming out” as a man of faith is a matter of conscience. However, given his performance while in office most of us would question how reliable his conscience has been in matters like the Iraq war, etc. For my part, I would not want to be subject to his judgment in matters of conscience. That he has a conscience I do not doubt, but I do not trust his conscience.

When it comes to matters of faith the Apostle Paul points out in I Corinthians 10:29: “Why is my liberty judged of another man’s conscience?” Ah, dear brothers and sisters, Paul puts his finger on the problem with conscience. It can be a most unreliable source when dictating conduct whether that of the individual or that of others. Some of the most barbaric and savage crimes against humankind have been committed as a matter of “conscience,” many times a religious conscience. For this reason a legal system of laws is needed by all civilized nations so “crimes of conscience” are not excused, crimes such as those perpetrated by monsters attempting to excuse their crimes in the names of their peculiar deities and in the guise of “freedom of religion.”

Over the decades of my life, my religious beliefs have followed a very circuitous route rather than anything approaching a “systematic theology.” But if there has been any one thing above others that has proven to be systematic it has been the gospel songs I learned as a child. Among my most precious possessions is the Latter Rain Revival hymnbook my grandparents used in our Little Oklahoma church in which is one old favorite of mine still sung in some churches today: “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.” As I read those lines “What a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms… safe and secure from all alarms” I’m transported to that time of childhood when these words were such a secure comfort to my soul. And even today what comfort there is to be found in the song Haven of Rest: “My soul in sad exile was out on life’s sea, So burdened with sin and distressed, Till I heard a sweet voice, saying, Make Me your choice; And I entered the Haven of Rest…”

Most people know the mood altering power of music whether for good or ill. In my opinion, the old gospel songs I learned as a child are unsurpassed and did more to form the character of children than anything they have today. Those old gospel songs were not so much theological as they were lilting, uplifting and comforting. I find myself asking what would D. L. Moody have been without Ira Sanky and his “Kist o’ whistles,” or Billy Graham without George Beverly Shea?

I think it is unfortunate so many church leaders seem to believe they “glorify” God in song in great cathedrals and seem to have forgotten the simplicity of the Gospel itself so well exemplified by the songs in the Latter Rain Revival hymnbook. When I think back to that time of the simple faith of the folks in Little Oklahoma and so many others in Bakersfield in those far off days it was the music that meant so much to us, and often more than the sermons expressed that simple faith.

As I said I appreciate fine pulpit oratory. However, while I may have forgotten even the best of sermons I heard as a boy and even as an adult I still recall the songs. The message to me brothers and sisters is that while people are joined in song they are not being divided by sermons. At least it seems that is what I was learning in our little church from the songs we used to sing way back then.