Bare-Faced Messiah (PDF) - Apologetics Index

giving up the struggle against the unforgiving elements, the climate suddenly improved and the
detested grasshoppers disappeared; unlike many small towns in the Nebraska prairie, Burnett
survived the crisis.
By 1899 the local newspaper, the Burnett Citizen, was able to report, as evidence of increasing
prosperity, that Lafe Waterbury was among those who had built new dwelling houses in the town
that year. It was a fine, two-storey, wood-frame house on Elm Street, sheltered at the front by two
huge elm trees. At the rear, beyond a stand of willows, it overlooked prairie stretching away into
hazy infinity; deer and antelope often ventured within sight of the back yard and at night the howls of
coyotes made the children shiver in their beds.
The Waterbury family photographed in their home town of Helena, Montana.
Ledora May Waterbury, Ron's mother (left), with an unidentified relative,
her sisters Toilie and Midgie and brother Ray.
The Waterburys certainly needed the space offered by their new home, for by now May and Toilie
had been joined by Ida Irene (called Midgie by the family because she was so small), a brother
Ray, and two more sisters, Louise and Hope. Another two girls, Margaret and June, would follow in
1903 and 1905. Lafe and Ida doted on their children, thoroughly enjoyed their company and liked
nothing more than when the house was full of noise and laughter. Ida was determined that her
children would have a happier upbringing than her own - she never forgot being constantly beaten
at school for writing with her left hand - and as a consequence the Waterburys were unusually
relaxed parents for their time, encouraging their offspring to attend church on Sundays, for example,
but caring little which church they attended. Surprisingly, there was considerable choice. For a
small town with a population of less than a thousand people, Burnett was an excessively Godfearing
community and supported four thriving churches - Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist and
Catholic.
Lafe and Ida always claimed they were too busy to go to church themselves, although Lafe openly
declared, to his children, his ambivalence towards religion: 'Some of the finest men I have ever
known were preachers,' he liked to say, 'and some of the biggest hypocrites I have ever known
were preachers.' He was a large, bluff man with an irrepressible sense of humour, a talent for
mimicry and a hint of the showman about him: he often used to announce his intention to put all his
children on the stage. In the evenings, when he had had a drink or two, he would sit on the porch